Divine knew that Bob and Madge themselves had been approached twice now about selling. She also knew that they had seriously considered accepting the offer and retiring. They hadn’t said as much, but she’d read it in their minds. The couple were both in their late fifties, carnie life was hard, and the offer got better each time they were approached. The only thing holding them back was the carnies themselves.
Bob and Madge thought of most of their people as family. Many of the carnies had been with them from the start, others for nearly as long. Bob and Madge felt like they’d be betraying kin by retiring, but Divine knew it would take only one bad thing to change their minds, another greenie trying to lure a child away from the midway, or finding out someone they trusted was robbing them. It was why Divine had got in on the hiring and helped clean house when she’d joined the carnival. Well, that and because she had genuinely wanted to help the couple.
Divine glanced to the bundled sheets on the bed and frowned as it suddenly occurred to her that the RV fire might be the one bad thing to change their minds and make them accept that next offer. Certainly it could be if they learned the fire had been deliberately set. She’d smelled the gasoline around the burning RV. Had they? She wasn’t sure if mortals would have been able to, but certainly their fire inspector or whoever it was who investigated such things would be able to tell an accelerant had been used.
“Crap,” she muttered, and spun to pull open the door to reveal a startled Marcus standing in the hall, one hand raised and curled to knock.
“Oh. Good. You’re up,” he said after a pause. He shifted from one foot to another and then gave her a crooked smile and asked, “How do you feel?”
“We have to go,” Divine announced, pushing past him into the hall.
“What?” Marcus said with surprise, and then hurried to follow her. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Divine. You’ve just woken up. You aren’t really through with healing yet. You should rest a bit and—”
“What day is it?” she asked as she started down the stairs.
“It’s Tuesday evening. About 4 P.M.,” he answered helpfully.
“Damn, I’ll never make it to a bank before it closes,” she muttered and then shrugged. She would worry about that later. Right now, she had to get to Madge and Bob and see what was going on.
“Divine.” Marcus was sounding less caught out, and more exasperated. He was regaining his footing after his initial surprise. The fact that it had taken this long, though, told her that he, at least, still wasn’t fully healed. She supposed she probably wasn’t either, but she felt fine. A little thirsty, maybe, but the marks from his stabbing her with the arrow and clawing at her chest were gone. There wasn’t even the faintest scarring anymore. Any healing still taking place would be inside.
“Dammit, Divine, stop!” Marcus suddenly barked, catching her arm as she stepped off the stairs and headed for the front door.
“What’s going on?” Vincent asked, drawing their attention as he started up the hall toward them with Jackie at his side.
Marcus opened his mouth to answer, but Divine quickly said, “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for us. But I have to go now.”
She sensed rather than saw Marcus’s head swiveling sharply in her direction. “A minute ago it was ‘We have to go,’ ” he growled, sounding annoyed.
Divine shrugged. “Well, I do. You don’t though, so I understand if you want to stay here with your friends. I can always take a taxi back to the carnival grounds.”
“You are not taking a taxi—” He stopped suddenly, realization on his face. “The carnival won’t be there anymore. They were moving on to the next town on Sunday night.”