The Nightmare Thief by Nicole Lesperance

Author:Nicole Lesperance
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2020-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

“Singing bubbles, five dollars a bottle!” called the freckled woman. A couple wearing identical Rockpool Bay T-shirts stopped to inspect her wares while their three kids raced in circles, singing along with the purple bubbles and trying to clap them between their hands. The late-afternoon sun glinted off the harbor’s flat water and gulls wheeled overhead. Chattering tourists jammed the pier, looking for dinner and entertainment and maybe a little bit of magic.

“You hungry?” Amos inclined his head toward the disco donut machine, which blared thumping music from the seventies. No one knew who operated the machine or how it worked, but the donuts that came out were covered in flashing sprinkles and were utterly delicious.

“Not really,” said Maren, thinking of Obscura, of Lishta and Hallie. “Go ahead and grab something if you want.”

While Amos waited in line for a donut, Maren wandered down the row of fortune-tellers’ brightly colored tents. In the midst of the striped yellow and red and blue cabanas, she discovered a new one, midnight blue with silver moons and stars stenciled across the top. While all the other tents flapped gaily in the breeze, this one stood silent and still.

A man came barreling out from between two cabanas. His braided goatee swung over his dark T-shirt, and Maren gasped. She flattened herself against the midnight-colored tent as he barged past, not bothering to excuse himself. As the spindly man rounded a corner and disappeared, Maren sagged with relief. He didn’t seem to have recognized her.

The wall of the tent rippled against Maren’s back, and she leapt away as the entrance flap swung open. A woman wearing a long, velvet dress emerged, haloed in a cloud of acrid-smelling smoke. Her moon-white hair hung down past her waist.

“Would you like a reading?” The woman’s bright yellow eyes fixed on Maren, making her feel dizzy and a tiny bit trapped. She wondered if the woman wore contacts or had some kind of…eye magic.

“No thanks,” she said. “I’m just waiting for my friend.”

“I’ll read your cards for free,” said the woman. “You’ve got an intriguing aura.” She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. “Fear and desperation. But also disobedience. And fierce passion.” The woman’s lip curled, revealing broken teeth. Her yellow eyes snapped open, and Maren flinched. “Such strong emotions for a child. I’d love to know more about you.”

If Maren had a list of things she’d love to do, getting to know this woman would be dead last on it. “Umm. Maybe another time.”

Before the woman could answer, she dashed away. At the end of the row of tents stood a little blue booth with a teapot painted on the side. It belonged to Beverly Thomas, who sold ten flavors of loose-leaf tea. If you brought your empty paper cup back to Beverly, she’d read your fortune. But the booth was empty, all of the tea-making equipment gone.

COMING SOON: BITTERBLACK BREWS, read a silver and black card taped to the counter.

Maren shivered despite the warm sunlight.

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