Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

JASON

E rin frowned down at her phone, listening, while I stood hovering at her elbow. She lounged on one bed of our cramped hotel room with Sylvester beside her while Zahira and Dale sat on the other. Coal perched on the dresser, head cocked, listening.

"No one informed me of any arrests, and they should have," the sorcerer named Waidner told her. "I'll put my people on it and at least see what information I can dig up."

Silas had put us in contact with Waidner, since he was still the head of the sorcerer side of NSEP, including the invisibility program— the one supposed to protect vulnerable magic folk. I was gritting my teeth, because the damned sorcerer kept waffling over not wanting to interfere with the human side of NSEP.

Erin said, "Can't you dig into their records? You're both NSEP, right? Do you have access?"

"I need their permission to view any records. We maintain strict separation, for our reasons as well as theirs. Now if they were kidnapping Healers, or familiars, that would justify any subterfuge."

"Alan has a familiar. And I guarantee, wherever Alan goes, Sunny goes."

Waidner's tone sharpened. "Do his guards at that facility know about Sunny?"

"Not as far as we can tell," Erin replied. "But that can't last forever. If they hurt Alan, Sunny's going to go beak-in-faces berserk. And it still leaves the question of why Alan? What are they up to? Sunny says they've brought in several new sorcerer-captives in the last twenty-four hours, all wearing bracelets."

"Indeed. I don't like it," Waidner agreed. "But I urge you not to do anything rash while my people investigate. Give us some time."

I burst out, "We may not have time. I saw it myself. They're dragging prisoners in and going out for more. Whatever they're planning, it's ramping up."

"Give me a few days. I'm not aware of any general sweep, or any new plan, but I will ask around. I'll be back in touch."

"Why don't you come out here and march up to their gates? Ask at the source?"

"Is that Mr. Miller? With all due respect, you're human. You don't understand what the Upheavals were like. I don't want to provoke anything. Sit tight." He cut the call.

Erin stuck her tongue out at her now-silent phone, then eyed us. "What do you all say? Do we listen to him?"

I scoffed. "He's too chickenshit to even come here and ask his own colleagues, ‘Hey, what the hell are you doing?' No, we don't listen to him."

"Zahira? Dale? Coal?"

Sylvester shook his cuffed fist in the air and shouted, "We march at dawn! Onward, on St. Crispin's Day. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers! Well, and sisters and… We band of siblings!" When Dale looked blankly at him, Sylvester added in a normal tone, "Shakespeare. What are they teaching in schools these days?"

Zahira said, "I hate sitting around. At the same time, Waidner's clearly not going to be the safe haven we can take Alan to once he's out. So who is? We can't break him loose without a plan."

A soft pop of air made us all turn to the door. Sunny appeared, gliding to a perch on the TV. "The Carnival is back!"

"The what?" Zahira asked, but I leaped to my feet.

"Errante Ame's Carnival of Mysteries? Really? Where?" I whirled to Erin. "That's our answer."

"Wait, slow down," Coal squawked at me, then turned. "I assume you're Sunny. Why's a Carnival important?"

Sunny shook his feathers. "Yes, I'm Alan's familiar. You're Coal, Zahira's familiar?"

"For my sins. Explain."

"The Carnival's a place of magic. Deep, wild magic. We encountered them last year and then they vanished without a trace. The man who leads it— Errante Ame?" Sunny shook his head. "I don't know who or what he is. There's a depth of power in that person I've never sensed before or since. And now he's right down the road."

"Friendly power?" Zahira asked.

I said, "They helped us, twice." I realized I had my palm over my empty T-shirt pocket where, for two short weeks, a magical pair of doll shoes had rested. I lowered my hand, flexing my fingers. The pain-memory of easing my horrifically burned fingertip into a satin shoe so I could make a wish still woke me in the night sometimes. "We were dealing with a fire elemental, and the Carnival gave us tokens that let us capture him and survive." I didn't mention the weird matchmaking efforts of the shoes, long after the Carnival had vanished. Although… "If the shoes are still around, they could get Alan out of his cell, easy as pie."

Sunny shook his head. "They responded to you, not him. And I think they've played their part. They left when he moved in with you."

"Shoes?" Zahira frowned at me.

"Magic doll shoes that can make you fly." Sylvester clapped his hands. "Do try to keep up. Where's Alan? He explains it best."

I told her, "One of the Carnival artifacts. Anyhow, Alan said the entire Carnival had a powerful magical barrier around it. If we can get him in there, I'd bet no mere humans could get him out."

Erin bit her lip. "Magic isn't always a match for human weapons."

"You weren't there, my lady," Sunny told her. "I think in this case, theirs would be?—"

"So we're all set," I interrupted.

Sunny gave me a stern look. " As I was saying, I think the Carnival could protect Alan. But there's no guarantee Errante Ame would want to."

"He helped us before."

Sunny shook his head. "There's a difference between handing out a few magical party favors and standing off an armed assault."

"Sunny's right," Erin told me. "Even if this guy really can stand up to NSEP, we still have to ask if he's willing. Make sure he'd even let us in."

"All of us should ask," Dale said. "Together. So they know who's on our side."

"And soon," Sunny said. "There's definitely trouble afoot at the compound. Someone flew in with a helicopter earlier this morning. They didn't stay long, but the guards unloaded something big from the chopper."

"Something or someone?" Dale asked.

"If it was a person, they were out cold." Sunny bobbed his head. "Then they loaded a bunch of their duffel bags in. I hid in a tree near the gate and the guards were bitching about losing their time off tomorrow. One of them said they'd used their lunch break to go to the Carnival and had planned to go back, which was how I heard about it. I flew off to check, and sure enough, Errante Ame and all that power."

Saving our asses again, I hope. "Do you think it's coincidence, or does the Carnival like Alan?"

"Well, it sure isn't your charm and beauty." Sunny opened his beak in a birdy grin. "Before we go, do you have more food? I've been doing a lot of distance flying lately."

"Of course." Dale jumped up, dug the bird food out of my pack, and poured a heaping pile onto a paper plate. "Coal, would you like some too?"

" My seed mix," Sunny said. "Crows eat anything, even dead bodies."

Coal snapped his beak at Sunny. "You'd be tasty if you were dead."

Dale looked worried, but Sunny chortled at them. "I have missed having other familiars around. When we get home, you and Erin should try a summoning, Dale. If we're going to keep having these adventures, I wouldn't mind some sensible backup."

"I hope we're not planning on more adventures," Dale muttered.

I quipped, "It's not what you plan for that matters, it's what happens." Fight the fire you have, not the one you expected. Two days ago, I expected to enjoy having Alan home for spring-break week, with nothing more exciting than some weekday mornings in bed for a change. And look at us now.

"We should all eat," Erin said. "It's past lunchtime, and I don't want to meet the famous Carnival on a growling, empty stomach. Even more, I don't want Jason to invade them on an empty stomach."

"Hey, I once fought a fire for nineteen hours without a break," I pointed out.

"The operative word being fought . It's not your fighting spirit, it's your diplomacy I'm doubting."

"I can be diplomatic as hell."

Sunny cackled, "You said it, she didn't. Hell is not diplomatic. Now eat something. Fuel up."

I wanted to head out now , find Ame, demand that he help Alan, but with Erin opening the mini-fridge and Dale unwinding the twist tie on the bread, it was clear I was outvoted. I dropped onto the side of my bed with a huff. Sunny had his head down in the seeds, Sylvester was arguing mayo and mustard with Erin. No one else seemed to feel the same gut-churning urgency.

Zahira crossed the room, sat down beside me on the bed, and murmured, "I know how you feel. I'd love to go out there and wrap a steel fencepost around some NSEP head honcho's neck, but we need strategy and planning, not wild swinging."

"Why do you hate NSEP?" I asked, accepting a plated sandwich from Dale with a begrudging nod of thanks.

Zahira took a big bite of the sandwich Dale gave her, and I thought she might not tell me, but after swallowing a couple of mouthfuls, she said, "Nineteen ninety-four. I was a little kid. My father, who was a trusting man for a sorcerer, fell in with the wrong crowd. He was in a house in Chicago with a dozen other sorcerers when NSEP bombed the whole building. Killed them all. They later admitted only three of the lot had done anything dangerous, but claimed they were too powerful to risk trying to arrest them. Collateral damage was acceptable if it was just more sorcerers, especially since only two of the collateral victims were white men."

"I'm sorry."

She shook her head, staring at the closed curtains backlit with spring sunshine. "My mother was bitter and angry, and raised me to be as well. I never registered, of course, stayed beneath NSEP's radar. Planned all kinds of revenge scenarios, but there was no target, no opening. And after Mamma died, the urgency faded. I was making art and I could put the things I felt into my pieces. But now those bastards are up to their old tricks, and I want to hurt them where it counts."

"Me too," I muttered. "They just showed up with their guns and hauled my boyfriend away."

"Right. They are going to deeply regret that."

I held up a hand for a high five before remembering sorcerers didn't do touching. But she grinned fiercely and slapped my palm with hers.

When we were all done eating, Zahira and Coal got into her truck and the rest of us piled into Erin's car. We had several little ziplock bags of Dale's ointment that we could cut down small enough for Sunny to deliver, possible party favors for other sorcerers in the prison, and I packed them into Erin's purse. While our plan was to wait till after dark for the jailbreak, I wanted Alan to get his slippery as soon as possible. Visions of just-too-late disasters hovered in my head.

The Carnival had set up outside the little town of Forville, the multicolored tents visible as we drove the two-lane blacktop toward the town. We weren't the only ones heading for the attraction, and our cars were camouflaged by a fleet of other old sedans and pickups from the countryside all around. We parked in the lot, stopping close to the exit for a faster getaway if needed, and got out. The sound of the carousel music carried in the still air and the scent of fries and popcorn wafted our way.

"Are you sure this is magical?" Zahira murmured near my ear.

But Coal said, "Hell, yes. Magic's all through this place, wild and powerful, the colors…"

She peered more closely and her eyes widened.

"Said so," Sunny told them. "Come on." He winged across the parking area and perched on the edge of the ticket booth awning.

We joined the line snaking forward to buy tickets. As far as I could see, the people around us were ordinary folk, enjoying a day off for the spring-break Monday— lots of kids who'd otherwise be in school, teens trying to look bored and unimpressed but craning their necks to see in through the gate, retired couples enjoying something novel in a community where things pretty much stayed the same for decades. We moved forward a few feet at a time.

"Can't we just go ask to see Errante?" Erin suggested.

"No, we have to buy a ticket." I wasn't sure why that was so imperative, but it felt true.

"Part of the barrier, I think," Coal murmured, just loud enough to hear. "No one enters except with a ticket through the gate."

"Makes sense." Zahira shuffled a couple of steps forward and glared at a teen who was giving her a leer. He suddenly saw something fascinating in the other direction.

At the booth, I looked for the person in white who'd sold our tickets last time, but instead, a very old woman perched on a stool.

"Five adults and two birds," I said. The couple behind us snickered, but I had no doubt Ame's Carnival knew Sunny and Coal were people.

"A hundred dollars," the old lady said. "And the birds can pay with a ziplock."

"With a—?" I glanced at Erin.

"We don't have much to spare," Erin said, a hand on her purse.

"Just show me."

Erin flicked a look at me and I could read, Do you trust these people? in her eyes. I didn't know this old woman from Santa Claus. And yet, if we couldn't trust the Carnival, we had no other ally to turn to. I nodded.

As I fished out five twenties from the envelope of cash I'd brought for this trip, Erin handed over one small ziplock bag. The old woman opened it, dipped a finger in, and sniffed loudly. Then she handed the rest back. "Oh yes, that's good. Talented youngster." She waved toward the archway. "You can go on in."

"We'd like to talk to Errante Ame," I told her. "It's urgent."

"I'm sure he'll find you. Now go on, you're holding up the line. Enjoy the show and if you like a performance, tip the artist." She looked pointedly past me at the couple behind, and I let Erin nudge me along.

When we strode through the archway with "Welcome, Traveler" overhead, the Carnival stretched out before us. I surveyed the familiar line of colorful tents with the big top at the end, the food booths off to the right, and the rides beyond. Overhead, the implausibly tall Ferris wheel turned slowly.

Dale pivoted, looking around. The wide smile on their face reminded me how I'd felt the first time I entered the Carnival grounds, that family-holiday-safe sweetness that'd made me almost giddy to be there with Alan. Even now, the mouthwateringly scented air and the tinny music washed some of the tightness out of my chest. I resisted, though. I wasn't here to have fun this time. I was here to save Alan. "Maybe the games of chance," I suggested. "Last time, we won a prize that was important to our mission."

"You don't know where to find Errante Ame?" Erin asked.

"No. He seemed to wander around the grounds."

Sunny came in for a landing on my shoulder. "The ticket lady said he'd find us. We might try the fortune teller."

I looked around for Madame Persephone's purple tent and couldn't spot it.

"Well, if your man's going to come find us, I vote for some home fries," Zahira said. "This place is teeming with power. I'm not sure I want my fortune told here." She strode off across the grass toward the food with Coal winging overhead.

"We probably shouldn't split up." Dale's smile had faded.

"Right. Fries it is. They're awesome." I tried to sound cheerful and was rewarded by Dale's shoulders unhunching. "Come on."

"I want to ride the Ferris wheel," Sylvester said. "I bet I can see Alan from up there."

"Fries first," I told him. The idea of being able to overlook the compound, a mere six miles away, was tempting, but Errante Ame wouldn't be able to talk to us if we were riding circles in the air.

"Ice cream," Sylvester countered. "Better."

"Whatever you like," Erin agreed, hooking her arm through his. "Let's go see what they have."

I kept my eyes peeled as we walked to the food booths, hoping for a glimpse of Errante Ame in his blousy white shirt, black breeches, and boots. I spotted other people dressed in clothes that would've fit a Renaissance Faire, although I couldn't tell if they were Carnival people or just locals dressing up for the outing. The only other person I'd really paid attention to had been Madame Persephone, the fortune teller, and neither of the women in corseted dresses were her.

Gritting my teeth, I stood in line for donuts, remembering Alan that day, how his eyes had lit with heat and his fingers had brushed mine as we ate amazing donuts crusted with cinnamon sugar— I turned abruptly away from the donut line and bought a lemonade at the next booth instead. Even that managed to be the perfect blend of sour and sweet, soothing my dry mouth.

"We'll get him back," Sunny murmured in my ear. "I promise."

"So good," Sylvester crowed, coming toward me with pink and white smeared on his lips. "I love this place. We should've come sooner." He stood tall, looking around with a wide, ice-creamy grin, his head high and the light breeze playing with his silver hair. For the first time since I'd known him, no shadow seemed to lurk in the back of his old eyes.

I wished Alan could see him. I wished we could just give Sylvester this day to enjoy an outing before he became confused enough to lose interest in carnivals. Erin met my look and I had the feeling she was thinking the same thing.

"He is always welcome with us," Errante Ame said from behind me, his warm, slightly accented tones unmistakable.

I whirled around. "You're here! I mean, thanks for finding us. We need?—"

"Not here." Errante gestured. "My office is over in that first trailer. Come with me." He strode off past the game booths to where a group of motorhomes and trailers sat at the back of the lot under the shade of a few scrubby trees. He held open the door of the first trailer, a classic silver Airstream.

Erin gathered up Sylvester, dripping cone still in hand, and I motioned Dale and Zahira to follow us. We all climbed the two steps past Errante into his private space, the birds flying in after us. He followed last, closing the door.

The interior seemed roomier than the outside would've suggested. Errante sat in a tall chair behind a desk and waved us all to other seats. A coat-stand by the small window gave both birds a good place to perch.

I took the chair nearest the desk and Erin sat beside me. Before I could launch into my appeal, Errante said, "Welcome, Travelers, to my Carnival. Welcome back to Sunny and Jason. And greetings Coal, Sylvester, Erin, Zahira, and Dale."

While I was stuck on the fact that he greeted the familiars before humans, Erin said, "How do you know who we are?"

"I guide my Carnival along a Path, a quest if you will, to do good in the multiverse. I had wondered what purpose brought us to this small corner of this world, but when I saw you, I knew."

I cut to the chase. "Does that mean you'll help us?"

"Perhaps. It at least means the Carnival intersects with your fates. What assistance do you need?"

Erin gave him a fast, concise account of the events so far.

Sunny added, "There's something brewing in that compound, and I deeply dislike the sense of urgency, the bustling preparations. We need to get Alan out before they leave."

"Do you know what's actually going on?" I asked Errante. "Would Madame Persephone?" I'd thought she was a convincing fake at the time, but events later proved she was the real deal.

"I am afraid I do not." Errante steepled his hands together and tapped his lips with his forefingers. "As for Persephone? You can ask her yourselves."

"And will you help us?"

"I rarely leave the Carnival," he said. "And never to meddle in the affairs of individuals—" He cut his words short as the door of the office opened and the broad-shouldered ringmaster in his coat and top hat stuck his head in.

"Everything all right? Nik said he saw a lot of people coming in here. You don't usually bring patrons into your office." The ringmaster looked around our group, suspicion on his attractive face.

"Rafe." Errante's cool expression melted into a smile of open affection. "It's fine. These are fellow Travelers on a challenging path of their own. But thank you for checking."

"Always." The ringmaster took off his hat and ran a hand through his dark hair. "I know you can handle things. I just…" He looked Errante up and down.

I just worry, I filled in. Anyone with eyes could tell these two men had affection for each other, and probably a lot more.

"Actually," Errante said, "why don't you come on in for a moment, Rafe? I value your opinion. Jason was about to ask a boon of us."

"A favor." I fumbled for the best words. "Yes, right. See, we can break Alan out of the prison, maybe."

"His lover," Errante murmured to the ringmaster. "Held in a magical prison nearby."

I nodded. "But the problem is, then what? Where do we go? We can't just drive for the border. Well, we could, but it's a terrible plan." That was our last resort. Canada rarely stood up to the U.S., but they didn't like American cops barging across their border uninvited. We might end up in a Canadian jail, but I was willing to bet it would be better than that compound. "We need the help of someone powerful enough that NSEP can't just haul Alan right back and the rest of us with him."

The ringmaster leaned against the wall by the door. "Can't you go to your own authorities? If your man was taken against his will."

"The captors are the authorities," Sunny said. "They've run amok. The leader we asked for help blathered about have patience, he'd look into it , but I don't think we have that luxury."

"The Carnival's Path brought us here," Errante noted. "There is always a reason. I have been walking among the patrons and found no one else whose fate seemed tied to ours."

The ringmaster turned to me. "What's your plan if we help you?"

"We break Alan out and any others of the sorcerers we can get free, drive hell for leather here, and…" I realized I hadn't thought much beyond hauling Alan safely through the archway into this place that felt like a sanctuary. "I'm not sure what comes after that."

"Publicity, I guess," Erin suggested. "NSEP probably doesn't want a light shone on whatever they're doing, given that they officially denied they knew anything about Alan. There's at least one more sorcerer in there who simply vanished from their normal life. Maybe others. If we can get the media involved, go online, suggest NSEP is kidnapping people, that's insurance of sorts. They can't make Alan disappear if the whole world knows where he is."

Zahira said, "As long as the Carnival can hold off NSEP long enough for publicity to happen. They'll be coming after us hot and heavy." She fixed Errante with a steady stare. "How much protection does this place have, and will you risk it for us?"

"You probably shouldn't," I told him reluctantly, pressing the heels of my hands over my eyes. We're asking way too fucking much. The Carnival's arrival had seemed like a godsend, but there were dozens of innocent people working here. Some kids, even. I remembered the little girl with the doll, Errante's niece or daughter or whoever she was. NSEP had dropped a bomb on Zahira's father without a qualm. Would they even be slowed down by all the innocents here? "They like their guns."

"I can handle guns," Errante said. "What I would rather avoid is publicity. But I have a different solution for you. If you hold off your escape until midnight, when the patrons are long gone, you can join us and then I will move the Carnival."

"Move it where?" Erin asked. From the depth of her frown, she'd caught the emphasis on the word move . "To Canada?"

"To another time and place." Errante looked at Erin, then me. "Come now, you are aware of this. You searched for us last time and didn't find us anywhere we could physically have reached."

"How did you know we looked?" I demanded.

"You are a logical man, Jason Miller, and you hate mysteries. And I expect you wanted to ask me about the doll shoes."

"Are they still around?" What a tool to have in my pocket.

Unfortunately, Errante shook his head. "They are not my doing. I helped them find you the first time, but they have a life of their own. I haven't seen them since then."

"Oh." My head spun with the idea that the doll shoes had a life, although they had seemed obnoxiously sentient toward the end.

Zahira leaned forward. "Explain for the kids at the back. What precisely do you mean by move the Carnival?"

"I guide my Carnival across time and space, following its Path. We rarely linger anywhere more than a day or two. When we leave this time, I can take you with me."

A smile slowly crept across Zahira's face. "You mean we and the whole Carnival will vanish— poof! — right from under NSEP's noses?"

"Something like that, yes. Usually, when we leave, we do it quietly under cover of darkness. We are simply gone when the morning comes, and if people think our absence is uncanny, there is still nothing they can do to prove we did more than pack up and head out. My magic makes them forget there's anything to the story except a vagabond circus moving on. This would be more dramatic."

"Are you sure you want to show your hand like that?" Rafe asked.

"I think so, yes." Errante nodded slowly. "I am not Persephone, to read all the threads in the tapestry, but something tells me a show of magic beyond what they understand may be good for these NSEP people. They will forget the details, come morning light, but the sense of awe will remain to unsettle them."

"Then yes!" I said. "Hell, yes!" Excitement flooded me and I wanted to cheer. Wanted to fly. "We can do this thing!"

Errante held up a hand, though, looking somber. "A word of warning first. I control the Carnival, but yours is not the only Path that pulls me to times and places we are needed. I can't promise I will bring you back to this specific world at the precise time you left it, or indeed ever. I will try, but I can't promise."

Zahira flinched. "You mean, we might never come back?"

"You have to be willing to accept that possibility when you travel with us."

The ringmaster said, "Are you selling yourself short again, Errante? You steer this Carnival like a race car driver on a mountain road and juggle Paths like a master."

"I have simply learned never to promise more than I can guarantee. I have failed people in the past."

"Nonsense." The ringmaster shook his head. "I mean, sure, everyone does. But you need to stop carrying that weight." He turned to Zahira. "If Errante plans to bring you back to the correct moment in time, he will. Bet on it."

"You always think the best of me," Errante said.

"Of course I do." The ringmaster and Errante exchanged the steady, smiling gazes of men who loved and trusted each other, in bed and out of it.

Dammit, I want Alan back. "I'm in," I said. "Even if we end up somewhere else. I mean, I'd rather not. I have family and friends and a good job here. But if it's that or Alan, I'll take Alan."

"Same," Erin agreed. Dale nodded.

Sylvester said, "That paperweight on your desk gives off rainbows. Never cared, but then I mentored this queer kid. No, they say gay these days. Or queer again? Have you met Alan? He's going to be something special one day."

"I had that pleasure." Errante's soft tones went warmer. "I hope to again soon."

"A good kid. He has a… a whatsit… an affinity, that's it. For plants, of all things. Giant spinach we had one year. Never eaten so many salads in my life."

Zahira eyed us, then got up and went to the window of the trailer. Beyond the glass, the booths and tents stretched out in a sea of color and motion. A pure white horse trotted past, richly harnessed but with no one on its back. It turned our way and tossed its head, mane flowing like a shampoo commercial, then continued out of sight behind a booth.

"Oh, hell." Zahira turned back to face us. "I always claimed I wanted adventure. Wanted to see something more of the world, but my workshop wasn't portable, and there was always a new project I was working on. Half of them titled, Fuck NSEP and Defy Authority . I'm in."

"Well done," Errante told her.

I kind of expected Zahira to resist that as patronizing, but something about the way Errante's presence filled that small space made her offer a nod in return.

"A fellowship can often accomplish what one hero cannot," Errante added. He exchanged looks with the ringmaster again. "We are agreed, then. At midnight, my gates will be open to you and your band of fellows, and closed to those who pursue you. You will come to me for sanctuary, and what will happen, happens."

The ringmaster pushed away from the wall. "Well, you did complain life was getting mundane, Errante. Despite the unicorn. I have a show to announce. See you later."

"Thank you, Rafe." Errante stood as the ringmaster slipped out the door, moving gracefully for a big man, and was gone. "You should go on as well," Errante told us. "Enjoy the Carnival. You have time to pass. Eat the delicacies offered by our talented chefs, watch the shows of skill and daring, gain strength and hope for tonight."

Sunny shifted foot to foot, then bowed his head deeply. "We're grateful, Traveler."

"None of that, old bird," Errante said. "We all have a part to play in the universe, and yours is no less than mine. Now, I believe one of the food booths just introduced a tropical fruit skewer you might enjoy. Go partake of the wonders and delights, until it is time for heroes."

He waved us toward the door, and we all filed out into the bright, mid-afternoon sunshine.

"Well," Sunny said, taking his place on my shoulder again. "That was something. I think some light refreshment is in order. The fruit booth, James, and step on it." Then he cackled laughter in my ear.

I couldn't put a name to the jumble of emotions inside me, so I said, "Okay," and strode off to find Alan's familiar a stick loaded with fruit.