Her body blazed with fury. “Ihave lost those privileges? Ha!Youhave lost those privileges with me!”
“That’s not how this works, Dovie. You—”
She shoved her finger into his sturdy chest. “Do not call methat.”
“Esmeralda,” the ringmaster’s voice rang out.
She spun around, attempting to shield Ignacio’s hulking body from Ángel Veracruz, but there was no use. Ignacio loomed over her like a clown on stilts.
This was it. The ringmaster was going to think she’d gone behind his back again. There was no doubt he would kick her out of the Running now.
“Señor Veracruz,” she said, smiling shakily. “I didn’t see you there.”
His curled mustache crept upward. “You were rather busy. And it’s Ángel, remember?” He grinned and met Ignacio’s eyes. “I see you have found your long-lostfriend.”
Esmeralda’s jaw dropped. “Pardon?”
The ringmaster chuckled. “The kid nearly lost his life trying to board my train. He said he was searching for someone.” He leaned forward and dramatically whispered in Esmeralda’s ear. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. “A special sort of someone, if you understand my meaning.”
Ignacio had been lying. Hewaslooking for her.
And he thought her special.
Ángel winked as he stood to his full height, which was identical to Ignacio’s.
“You knew he was here?” she asked Ángel. He hadn’t said a thing to her when she saw him in her wagon. When he punished her for stealing and took the badge. “But…he…he’s the officer…”
The ringmaster waved his hand. “What’s in the past is in the past. Let’s move on to more important things, shall we? What are you two discussing? Anything fun or scandalous?”
The ringmaster must know Ignacio was the officer she had dispatched from the carnival. He knew everything. Everyone who wished to work within carnival grounds had to gaze into the ringmaster’s enchanted mirror. It was how Ángel understood their intentions. Perhaps Ignacio wasn’t here to arrest her or anyone else, then? Either way, she didn’t want the ringmaster to think for a single second that she wasn’t serious about becoming the lead act.
Because shehadto be the lead act.
“Ignacio and I were discussing the first challenge,” she said.
The ringmaster’s brows rose with surprise. “Were you now? And have you two come up with something?” he asked, curiosity playing on his face.
She had his attention. She needed to keep it. “We have indeed. It’ll blow your socks off. But you’ll just have to wait and see what it is,” she said flirtatiously, and she could have sworn she heard Ignacio growl behind her.
Ángel guffawed. It was a boisterous sound that reminded her of how Ignacio laughed the night they snuck out of his father’s estate and went to the boardwalk. They had played ring toss a thousand times and eaten ice cream too quickly to beat the summer heat. They held hands on the Ferris wheel and danced to the pretty harmonies of a barbershop quartet. Truly, it was the most fun she’d ever seen him have. It was far more magical than any enchantment within the carnival.
Her heart pinched. That boy was gone. She had known that would happen once he joined the Blackbirds. Once he joined his father’s war.
“I, for one, look forward to seeing whatever the great Paloma Blanca has in store.” The ringmaster pulled out the timepiece from his pocket. “You have four hours left in this challenge. Two of your competitors have already passed. You’d better get on withit.”
With that, the ringmaster swept away like a phantom.
Slowly, she turned to face the boy who had apparently chased after a moving train to see her.
She put her hands on her hips. “Not here for me, huh?”
He mimicked her, placing his large hands onto his toned waist. “Paloma Blanca, huh?Did you, perhaps, name yourself after the nickname I gave you when we were kids?”
“Ha!” she barked, rather childishly. “You wish.”
Rosita the ticket agent passed by the other side of thebirdcage. She sported a twinkling tiara and sequined jumpsuit. The ostrich in the enclosure chomped his flat beak. His bulky body flopped down from the swing he’d been perched on and landed with a hard thunk. Estefan was a strange and ugly bird. She’d never even heard of an ostrich enjoying a swing. Or sequins for that matter. He’d once chased a customer dressed as a silver fox through the menagerie for hours until he could be caught.
An idea sparked.
