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Sam waved. “Hiya, Zarilda! Hey-o, Johnny! Remember me?”
Zarilda squinted, then her eyes went wide. She let out a whoop and threw open her arms. “It is you, you little cuss! Come on over here and give your Aunt Zarilda a proper hello!” A blushing Sam walked forward like a schoolboy and let Zarilda wrap him in an enormous hug. She was a tall woman, nearly six feet, and probably close to three hundred pounds, Evie figured, with a square jaw and a face that could be described as handsome. She kissed both of Sam’s cheeks, leaving red lipstick prints there. “Look at you!” she said, cupping his chin. “Why, you’re a man now!”
“Yeah. I suppose I am,” Sam said proudly.
Evie rolled her eyes. “Oh, brother.”
Sam gestured to the others. “Zarilda—these are my pals: The smart aleck with a heart of pure gold-plated tin is Evie O’Neill. The one who looks like she wants to make sure you’re not selling her a fake Rembrandt is Theta Knight. And this kid here, well, this is the Amazing Isaiah Campbell, seer of futures, the real McCoy.”
Isaiah grinned goofily to hear himself so described.
Zarilda squinted at the three of them and puffed on the cigarette sticking out from its pearled holder. “Y’all starting your own circus? I don’t need the competition, Sam.”
“We surely don’t,” the young man with the facial hair echoed in a gentle voice. Up close, Isaiah could see that his hair was more like a pelt of thick brown fur, and he was covered in it except for his nose, lips, and big brown eyes. “How d’you do? Name’s Johnny Mendez. But you can call me Johnny the Wolf Boy.”
“To what do we owe this sudden pleasure, Sam?” Zarilda asked.
“You mean you haven’t heard?” Evie said. Theta elbowed her.
“Heard what? To be honest, we’ve been busier than a tick at a dog convention. We’ve got a show to get ready for. Advance men are already out drumming up business—we hope.”
“Zarilda, on the level: I’m coming here hat in hand”—quickly, Sam removed his cap—“to ask for help. We’re on the lam, Z. We need cover.”
“Did ya finally rob that bank, Sam?”
“If I had, we’d be on our way to Mexico with the loot.”
“For all I know, you are on your way ta Mexico. You always did have a rotten sense of direction.”
“Say, I like her,” Theta said.
“There’s bad people after us, Z. Those same fellas that took my mom.”
Zarilda and Johnny exchanged a quick glance. “Aw, Sam,” she said in her thick Texas drawl. “Honey, I a’ready knew you were in trouble. The cards told me so.”
“We’re just glad you’re here,” Johnny said.
“I don’t want to get you into any trouble,” Sam said.
“I’m a circus girl. I live for trouble.”
“We’ve got to get to Bountiful, Nebraska,” Evie said.
“We figured we could travel with you without anybody knowing,” Sam said.
“What’s in Nebraska?” Zarilda asked on a thin stream of cigarette smoke.
“Another Diviner. We think she’s in trouble. Listen here, Z, I can tell you all about it later. Just believe me when I say we need to disappear and that we’re trying to stop something terrible from happening.”
“It’s a matter of life and death,” Evie added.
“Do you really have a tiger?” Isaiah asked.
Zarilda smiled, charmed by Isaiah. “We surely do, honey. A real corker of a tiger.” She tilted her head and took in the motley crew. Sam was nervous. If she said no, then they were really in a pickle.
“I know you have the circus to look after,” Sam said. “And I know the circus is a family, and you’re the head of that family.”
“That’s true. And I have to look out for my family. But that family includes you and yours, Sam Lloyd.”
