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Theta’s face was tight with fear, a sheen of perspiration betraying her struggle. The heat inside her wanted out.
“All right,” Evie said, swallowing down her own panic. “Let’s try not to make a scene. Isaiah, follow us.” Evie pushed against the crowd. “Excuse me, my friend is ill.” They were packed in so tightly it was hard to move.
Wisps of smoke curled along Theta’s fingertips and a faint orange glow silhouetted her willowy frame. “No,” Theta moaned, helpless. “No, no, no.”
“There’s one!” A matronly white woman in a too-large hat pointed at Memphis. “There he is! That one!”
Memphis put his hands up in a placating gesture. “Me? No, ma’am. You’ve got the wrong fella.”
The woman jabbed her finger excitedly. “That’s him! It’s him!”
“I saw him first!” another man said, advancing toward the Diviners.
“The devil you did!” another man shouted, pushing through the crowd. Fights erupted among the memorial attendees. They’d gone from sharing grief over Sarah to a frenzy.
Theta rushed toward Memphis, Evie and the others following.
“We need to create a distraction!” Evie said.
“We do that and we prove we’re a danger,” Jericho said, just as a man made a grab for Evie and Jericho knocked him down.
“Did you see that?” a woman called. “That Diviner hit him!”
“I-I’m sorry,” Jericho said, horrified.
“We do nothing and we’re going to be trampled by a mob of bounty hunters or shot by police,” Evie said.
Detective Malloy bellowed into the microphone. “Hold it right there. Don’t move.” A line of police pushed into the crowd, guns drawn.
“Shit,” Memphis muttered.
“You said a bad word,” Isaiah said.
“Come together and get ready,” Evie called, reaching out.
“Ready for what?” Ling said.
“I-I don’t know yet,” Evie said, joining hands with Theta and Henry. “Jericho?” Evie pleaded. “Please?”
“What are we doing?” he asked.
“Nothing like last night,” Evie promised, even though she couldn’t say for sure what would happen. “Jericho, we need you.”
Reluctantly, Jericho reached for Ling’s hand. The Diviners made a line facing the crowd, who began backing up.
“What are they doing?”
“Some kinda Diviner mumbo jumbo.”
“Get back! Get back!”
“Somebody stop them! We aren’t safe!”
“These aren’t ghosts, Evie. What are we going to do?” Theta said.
Ling was jostled. She cried out as she nearly lost her balance. If the crowd surged, if they had to run, what would she do? “Make an energy field!” she yelled.
“How?” Henry said. “This isn’t the museum. There’s no credenza to shape into something else!”
