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“Could you love me a little less?” Evie grumbled.
“You wanna be real friends or pretend friends?”
Evie sipped her drink. “Fine. I love you, too. And I wish you’d trust me more.”
“I trust you.”
“Now who’s lying?”
Theta had spent her whole life pretending to be other people, both onstage and off. It was her armor. Her adoptive mother, Mrs. Bowers, had never wanted to hear about what Theta was feeling. “Betty Sue, no one likes a complainer. Now get out there and smile like you mean it.” Smile. Dance. Entertain. It was what she’d been taught. And then Roy had come along. At first, Theta had mistaken his interest for love. Everything she ever said to him became a weapon to be used against her. So she just stopped saying anything. It had taken a lot to trust Henry. She wanted to open herself up to Evie and Memphis and the others, but it was scary. What if she got hurt as she had been hurt before?
“Why would those gray suits burn down the village? Doesn’t make sense,” Theta said, changing the subject.
“I don’t know. But I’m starting to be very afraid of those men.”
Theta was afraid, too. The whole world suddenly felt like too much, as threatening as Roy in one of his slow drunks, when she could see his rage and disappointment rolling in like a destructive storm.
“Well, well, the party’s all here,” Henry said as he scooted in next to Evie along with Sam, Mabel, Memphis, and Ling. “Congratulations, by the way, you two.”
“Thanks. For what?” Evie asked.
“Seems Will got a call after your show tonight from the warden out at the asylum. We’re going out tomorrow to investigate ‘the ghostly menace.’” Henry wiggled his fingers and made a face.
“It worked!” Evie said.
“Yeah. And our reward is to spend a day at an asylum. Hip, hip, hooray,” Theta sniped.
“All we have to do is walk around w
ith the Metaphysickometer, talk to a few people, and get me in to see Luther Clayton.”
“Just promise me we’ll be out of there before it gets dark,” Theta said.
“I promise,” Evie said.
“Meet me downstairs?” Memphis whispered to Theta. She waited a few careful minutes, then slipped backstage and downstairs, joining Memphis in the small room where they’d had their first encounter six months before. She locked the door behind her and sat on his lap.
“Missed you,” Memphis said.
“Yeah?” Theta grinned. “How much?”
“I could show you, but I’m not real sure how good the lock is on that door.” He kissed her, slow and sweet. It made Theta dizzy with wanting.
“I was thinking about something the other day,” Memphis said between kisses.
“Don’t make that a habit,” Theta joked. Once she and Memphis started kissing, she never wanted to stop.
“When we first met, and you saw the drawing I’d done of that eye symbol, you said you’d dreamed of it, too.”
“Yeah?” Theta said, suddenly nervous.
“Well, just seems funny. You’re not even a Diviner.”
I’m not a Diviner. I’m a murderer.
“Maybe it’s from being around Henry so much,” Theta said, feeling rotten for the lie.
“Reckon that could be it.”
