Spencer tried to smile, but it looked a little strained.

“They aren’t both mine,” he said. “One is Eric’s. But he took his scooter to rehearsal and couldn’t take his home. I’m good, or I will be once I learn how to ride this thing, but not good enough to ride two at once.”

He picked up one of the unicycles, balanced it on an angle, and tried to get into the seat a few times, tipping over and falling again and again.

“What do you need?” she asked. “I mean, for the rehearsal?”

“Basically, we just need a large, empty room to work in. Nothing special. Maybe a place to store our stuff, set up some props. Something big enough to hold about fifteen people with room to move around.”

“That doesn’t sound too hard to find.”

“It’s not,” he said, steadying himself in the seat by spreading his arms wide. “There are a lot of rehearsal places around the city for rent, we just can’t afford any of them.”

He looked like he had basically gotten himself in position and was able to ride a few feet.

“Let me play around with this thing for a few minutes,” he said. “I have to blow off some steam.”

Scarlett knew that when Spencer was frustrated, the best thing to do was let him fall down a lot. He rode off unsteadily down the path, narrowly avoiding running over some small dogs and almost falling over into a stroller as he went.

A large empty space with storage. Something that fifteen people could move around in. It was a shame—they had nothing but empty rooms at their place. But they were too small, too full of fragile things. Except…

A little germ of an idea popped into Scarlett’s mind. At first, it seemed like a very bad, weak idea. But it didn’t bring any little idea friends along with it, so it was the only idea.

Spencer came back into view, carrying his unicycle under one arm. He was much dirtier than when he first rode off a few minutes before.

“You know what?” he said. “People give you really suspicious looks when you emerge from a bush, covered in leaves, carrying a unicycle.”

“I know a place,” Scarlett said. “It’s not pretty. It doesn’t have any fancy stuff in it. But it isn’t going to be condemned.”

Spencer cocked an eyebrow at her.

“And how much does this paradise cost?” he asked.

“It’s free.”

She definitely had his attention now.

“Our basement,” she said. “It’s big. It’s mostly unused. It isn’t covered in mold that will kill you.”

Spencer tumbled to the grass.

“I don’t think Mom and Dad will let us move an entire theater company into the hotel,” he said. “I think Dad would call that something like ‘guest disruption.’ Also, they might change their minds about my show counting when they find out that we don’t even have a place to store our unicycles. I don’t even think they should know about the unicycles. Otherwise, I like everything about your plan.”