I don’t believe him, but it’s not impossible. I was in a bit of a daze from the high of being onstage.

“Should we know who you are?” Aristelle raises her eyebrows.

I could drop my last name. I could tell them about Mom and what she wrote in her journals, but I don’t. There wasn’t just a desire for her old life in Mom’s journal entries. There was fear, too. And there was one page I’d written off before, but it digs into my mind now.

I don’t know if he’s coming after her or me. Probably both.

I always wondered who the he was in the entry. And if I was the her. It could have been written before I was born. Mom could have written it about one of the members of her troupe, but who was after her? We did move around a lot. What if it was about another magician chasing us? A rivalry? What if the vampire who killed her was involved?

I think of the tall, creepy dude who warned me away from here.

My uncertainty keeps me from sharing.

I also don’t like the way they keep stealing glances at each other. But I notice things like that—probably more than most. When you don’t have stability in your life, reading people can be the only way to see what’s coming.

I don’t have their whole story yet, so I’m not going to give them mine.

“Are you somebody?” Aristelle asks. I don’t like the way she phrases the question.

“No,” I say.

They sit silently for a moment, like I’m going to change my answer.

“You’re not answering my question. Tell me why you were waiting for me.”

Xander nods like he’s made up his mind about something. “We travel in troupes because if we perform together, we all get that boost of magic in our blood. We can also feel other magicians when their powers are being used or sometimes if we’re just close by them. People who don’t know any better pass the feeling off as attraction.”

I work hard to keep my face straight, because I definitely felt that pull to be close to him, to be close to all of them, really, and I wrote it off as wanting the illusions or, in Xander’s case, being attracted to him. I’m almost relieved to know it’s not real.

“So when you were on the stage with me, I could feel the power building in you.” He pauses. “A lot of power, actually, and then I watched your coin trick on the street. You’re a natural. That’s why I told you to come again, and that’s why I invited you backstage. You clearly have the ability to be one of us with the right training.”