My teeth cracked into the fizzy treat, and warm, sweet vanilla tickled my tongue. I nodded, “Yes, you should definitely make a chocolate tray of these.” Good grief, I was in love. But the candy paused on my lips when I saw something shift in the dark behind a tent.

I turned, gazing through the sheer fabric, unsure if I was imagining the set of bright eyes and white beard. I pushed into the tent and peered into the darkness; shoulders tight.

“Have you come to see the future?” A voice tore my focus down to a table where a tattoo-faced woman eyed me. Before her, a glass ball with a roiling haze rested on a pedestal.

My gaze flickered back to the shadow behind the sheer tent, but my shoulders dropped when I saw just another hollow corner.

“Helen, what are you doing in here?” Zane cast the woman a scowl. The woman released an unfeminine sound and began to examine her nails, seeming to grasp we wouldn’t be paying customers.

“Oh, um…” I took in the odd symbols dangling from strings above and the scatters of tea leaves in glass jars around the tent. “I…wasn’t looking where I was going.” I forced a laugh and turned to leave.

Outside, Zane eyed me as he stuffed the rest of the bubblebaker candy into his mouth.

Zane had downed three of the bubble wands before any of us had finished our first. It seemed to rush straight to his brain, and he bounced into the sky to see over the tents, his hat catapulting halfway across the circus and revealing his pecan hair for all to see. Kilen sprang after him, and it quickly became a contest to see who could jump the highest. “Save it for the records testing, sputtlepuns. We don’t have our weapons,” Mirkra scolded them, eyeing the crowds.

When Zane landed, I snagged his blue imperial coat and dragged him to my side to end his shenanigans. He flung an arm over my shoulder, laughing at himself and tousling his hair.

“He almost beat you, you know.” I nodded to where Kilen was pushing through the crowd to play a game.

Zane’s smile fell. “No, he bloody didn’t.”

I laughed.

“Don’t be so ubbersnugged. Kilen has a top-quality mentor!” Wanda called as she kicked a wad of snow at us. Zane slapped it out of the air before it hit me.

“There’s a merry show up ahead!” Kilen rushed back. “It’s about to start!”

“Wait.” Timblewon snagged Kilen’s sleeve. “Should we be going in there?” He made a face at the big tent.

“Why ever would we decline an invitation to a show?” Apple fanned her grinning cheeks.

“It’s a show put on by untrustworthy ring-hungries, that’s why.” Timblewon folded his arms and stood tall.

“Oh come, Mr. Timblewon. Let’s have a pinch of fun before we’re forced to endure more factory meetings,” Apple rolled her eyes and pranced toward the show.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Timbelwon muttered as he followed, but he smiled at Apple’s back. I barely caught the look before he recomposed his face.