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“Yeah. Yeah,” Henry said, thinking of that bright glow. “I think it means we’re going to Kansas.”
In her bed on board the rolling circus train, Theta woke with a start. Dawn showed at the window. They’d reach their next destination soon. Beside her, Evie tossed and turned, moaning: “Don’t go, Mabesie.…”
“Evie.” Theta shook her awake.
“What? What? I… I was dreaming. Deeply dreaming,” Evie panted. She put a hand to her heart.
“Of Mabel?”
“Yes,” Evie said, surprised. “There was a place on a map—”
“Gideon, Kansas,” Theta said.
Evie was too stunned to do much more than nod. There was a knock at their door. When Evie opened up, she was surprised to see Sam standing there in the corridor, shirtless and barefoot, wearing a dazed expression.
“Hey. I hope I didn’t wake you. I had the strangest dream.…”
“A map. Gideon, Kansas. Mabel?” Evie asked.
“Okay. We might be spending too much time together,” Sam said.
Isaiah wandered down out of his compartment. “I saw Mabel,” he said on a yawn.
“Start packing,” Evie said, opening up her trunk and taking out the few things she’d need. She’d pay Zarilda for them out of her check.
“Packing for what? We got two days of shows in Jefferson City,” Sam called.
“Not anymore,” Evie called back. “We’re going to Gideon.”
By eight o’clock, they’d packed their things. Sam broke the news to Zarilda.
“I surely hate to see you go,” Zarilda said. They’d pulled into the depot. The whole circus had come to see them off. Johnny the Wolf Boy had tears in his eyes. “Aw, come on over here and give your Auntie Z some sugar.” Isaiah fell into Zarilda’s embrace. He hated to say good-bye. She kissed the top of his head and tucked a Hershey bar into his knapsack. “If you get hungry.”
The entire company lined the roadway to wave the Diviners off. Arnold had lent them a truck the circus used to move supplies. It was a big, lumbering thing, but it would drive them where they needed to go. He also provided a road map.
“You be careful now. What with those Shadow Men and that terrible Roy out looking for you. Not to mention the ghosts,” Zarilda said.
“Gee, Zarilda, when you put it that way, sounds like we don’t have a chance in hell,” Sam said.
“I’m serious, Sam Lloyd. Be careful who you trust. Stick to the back roads. And keep your head down—you tend to get a li’l cocky, my friend.”
Sam spread his arms wide while walking backward. “I’m not cocky. Can I help it if I’m just that good?”
Evie batted her lashes. “You could always try.”
Theta had opened the map.
“Lemme look,” Sam said.
“You can’t read a map,” Theta said without moving.
“It’s true. I hate maps. And directions. And rules.”
Theta hadn’t been back to Kansas since she’d run away after her power first came in. Kansas was the place where she’d been abandoned by her parents. Kansas was Roy and pain. She did not want to go to Kansas. But sometimes you had to do things you didn’t want to do, things that frightened you, if they were the right things. With her finger, she followed the squiggly line through Missouri and into Kansas. Gideon was a tiny town in the northwestern part of the state. She whistled. “That’s a long way.”
“Then we’d better get started,” Evie said. Mabel had reached out at last. Mabel would be there waiting. Mabel needed her.
“If you ever decide the circus life is for you, well, you know where to find us come November,” Zarilda said.
