“What are you doing?” Ignacio whisper-yelled.
Voices rang out. People were cursing and yelling Estefan’s name.
“I’m stealing this cage.” Esmeralda jumped to her feet. “Help me push it to the parade floats. They’re getting ready at the front gate.” The voices grew quieter. Estefan must have gotten away. Yelps of surprise rang out from the direction of the meal tent.
Esmeralda tried to push, but the grass made the massive cage hard to move.
“Help me,” she grunted, her lovely cheeks spotting with red.
“Why should I?”
“We made a deal. I told you I’d assist you, didn’t I? But you must come through for me first,” she said through clenched jaws.
Cowboys ran past swinging lassos over their heads. They’d catch the wayward ostrich and bring him directly back. This was Ignacio’s chance to get the answers he needed from his firstlove.
Something loud crashed nearby. That ostrich was a terror.
Ignacio wrapped his fingers around the bars of the cage and shoved. They cut left, passing by a tent that rumbled and flashed bright light from inside. The marquee above the entrance warned of shifting weather patterns and sudden storms.
They moved through the inner ring and then toward the entrance to the carnival. He watched her from the corner of his eyes as they gained speed. Watched her nose scrunch up as she focused. There were so many questions he wanted to ask her. Mostly he wanted to know if she was happy. Happy without him. But he decided to start with something simple. Esmeralda clammed up when things got too hard. The girl had always been quick to cut a person off if they pushed to know her too fast. She deflected emotions like it was a sport.
“How long have you been part of the carnival?” he asked.
“I joined just over two months after you left.”
You mean afteryouleft, he wanted to volley back. But he held his tongue.
“What were you doing during the months before you joined?”
Her knuckles turned white as she squeezed the metal rungs. “Are you trying to make me angry?”
“No. Why?”
They shoved the cage through an empty alley at a steady speed.
“Ask your daddy what I was doing.”
“What did he do?” he questioned. But he could tell by the bitter snap in her tone she was ready to end this conversation. He led them into a safer one. “How did you come to be a fortune teller? I don’t remember you speaking to spirits before. Only to yourself.”
A hint of a smile fluttered over her pretty face. She steered them to the right. Then to the left.
“It was Gabriel’s idea,” she said. “We arrived at Carnival Fantástico together. The ringmaster was excited to have someone like Gabriel added to the team. He’s so smart. He can fix just about anything.” Ignacio ignored the stab of jealousy piercing his heart. “Me, on the other hand, I didn’t exactly have a skill to offer, unless sneaking around to find out intel or running top-secret missives counted. Luckily for me, I’ve always been good with cards, and I’m decent at reading people. Gabriel mentioned that to the ringmaster, and Ángel said his previous fortune teller had recently met the end of her term, so it worked out.”
Ignacio had seen her playing cards with tourists perusingthe markets a time or two growing up. Locals didn’t dare try their hand with her. She was a masterful cheat.
“And Gabriel? Is he your—”
“Stop,” Esmeralda ordered. They dug their heels into the ground and halted the cage. And not a moment too soon. A shrieking clown with sparkles in his wig ran past, followed by a frenzied Estefan, and lastly, a pack of lasso-toting carnival hands.
Esmeralda had the decency to appear mortified. But then, she giggled. She whooped and laughed so hard that tears fell down her cheeks. He liked her like this. Liked her free from all the angry burdens of life. And her laugh was always so infectious. His own lips pulled into a grin, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.
She’d been the only person to ever truly make him laugh after his mother died. Before Dovie barreled into his life, he’d been a quiet and sad boy with no one to talk to. Sure, he’d had his nanny, but she didn’t really care. Not like Esmeralda. Whenever they were able to talk face to face, she’d look up at him with those big brown eyes as he spoke about the most ridiculous things, and she’d listen. She’d laugh and then tease him and then make him smile through his sorrows. And he’d loved her desperately for being a true friend.
Merry bells began to clang near the carnival gates. She cursed.
“The parade is about to start. We must go faster!”
Together, they shoved and grunted and cursed as they pushed the heavy birdcage through the gates. The parade floats werelike nothing Ignacio had ever seen. They were massive and each made up with their own unique theme.
