She trailed off, staring out over the black waves, her brows furrowed.

“None of this is your fault, Zora,” Ash said again. He wasn’t sure what else to say.

Zora didn’t appear to be listening. “I never understood before, how impossible this was. All this time I just thought you could make a different decision, change your future. But that decision is what brought you here. It’s like . . . it’s like fate.” Her eyes flicked back to him. “How do you stop a memory?”

Ash looked up at the Fairmont, eyes skimming over the lit-up glass. How do you stop a memory?

Maybe this moment right now was always the only one that’d mattered, this choice the only one he’d ever be given. Dorothy was waiting behind one of those windows. Finally, finally, he knew where she was. He knew she would kill him. He knew how and when.

He supposed he could choose to walk away. But that felt impossible, like choosing not to inhale.

And so he said simply, “You don’t.”

“Oh my God, finally. Do you have any idea what time it is?”

That was Chandra. Ash and Zora had just gotten back to the schoolhouse and found her sitting at the kitchen table, still dressed in her Renaissance-woman costume, though her makeup was smudged and she’d removed her wig, leaving her black hair flattened and sweaty against her scalp.

On the way back to the schoolhouse, Zora explained that there’d been an incident at the Fairmont: she and Chandra has been recognized by a Cirkus Freak and had left in a hurry before the entire Black Cirkus could chase them out. Zora had sent Chandra and Willis home in the motorboat while she’d stayed behind to find Ash.

Now, Willis was leaning against the wall, holding Chandra’s powder-white wig in his massive hands. He’d been gently finger-combing the curls back into place, but his eyes lifted when Zora and Ash walked into the room.

“We thought you’d both left us to join the Black Cirkus,” Chandra said.

“We did not think that,” Willis said. “But we were starting to get worried. It’s late.”

“Sorry,” Ash muttered, pulling out a chair. He felt them both watching him, waiting for an explanation.

A muscle in his jaw clenched. They knew about Dorothy, too. He dropped his head in his hands so he wouldn’t have to meet their eyes.

After a moment, Chandra cleared her throat. “What do you mean we didn’t think they’d join the Cirkus? You said you expected Zora to defect for the brownies alone.”

Willis sniffed. “They were very good brownies. Or, at least I dimly recall that they were good. I haven’t had one in a very long time.”

“Come on . . . I already told you I’m sorry I didn’t bring you any, will you get over it?”

With a grunt Ash reached into his pocket and pulled out two mushy chocolate brownies still in their cellophane wrappers, which he dropped onto the kitchen table.