This way!” Lucky pulled Pru’s arm. She wanted to go into a colorful tent where loud music was booming.

“No, this way!” Abigail took Pru’s other arm. She wanted to go into a quieter tent where artists were showing new costume ideas.

Solana laughed as Pru was pulled tight, like a rope in tug-of-war.

“Help me,” Pru begged Solana. “They’re gonna rip off my arms!” They weren’t really, but Pru didn’t want to be in the middle of the fight.

“I vote for the big purple tent where the Clydesdale horses are kept,” Solana said, pointing at a large billowing tent in the distance.

“I hear horses!” Lucky cheered. She and Abigail both dropped Pru’s arms and hurried toward the purple tent.

Pru and Solana followed.

Inside the purple tent, they were welcomed by the Circus on Wheels. The name meant they had a huge caravan and traveled great distances to perform. They’d had to cross a dangerous mountain range to get to this gathering.

Pru was excited by the way the Appaloosas pranced in unison around the circus ring, lifting their legs at the exact same time in perfect harmony. They pulled a wagon and had a short parade before the circus ringmaster announced, “This is just a sample of what you’ll see our horses do during their exhibition performance!” He then reminded everyone that the grand opening ceremony of the circus gathering was the next night. It was the first time the public could see all the circuses in the same place. Pru couldn’t wait—there were so many tents they’d already seen but so many they hadn’t! This was her chance to catch a glimpse of everyone in the valley.

After the Appaloosas, Lucky wanted to go check up on Spirit. “It’ll just be a few minutes, then we can get back to exploring,” she told the others. Abigail wanted to go along, too. Pru wasn’t worried about Chica Linda. There was something she wanted to do, but she was embarrassed, so if everyone left her alone for a few minutes, she could make a quick stop.

“Solana,” she said, turning to her friend, “can you give an apple to Chica Linda for me?”

“I’d be glad to,” Solana said. “But where are you going?”

“Uh.” Pru glanced around. “The bathroom?” It sounded more like a question than a statement. “The bathroom,” she corrected. “Drank a lot of water today.” There were outhouses nearby.

“Pru…” Lucky gave her a serious eye.

“Oh, fine.” Pru admitted the truth. She could never lie to anyone, especially not her friends. “I want to peek in on Catalina. I know she’s working on something for the show, and I just want to see what she’s up to.” Catalina’s circus tent was the opposite way from their own circus.

“We’ll go with you,” Abigail suggested. “We could be spies, like Boxcar Bonnie. I can get a magnifying glass, and Lucky can write clues in a notebook—Oh, Pru, can we borrow your diary to use as a notebook? We’ll give it back after we are done.”

“I’m not looking for clues,” Pru said. “This isn’t a mystery.”

“Besides, Bonnie’s a detective,” Lucky explained. Boxcar Bonnie was the heroine of her favorite mystery novels. “It’s different from being a spy.” She considered it and added, “Though she does sneak around sometimes.”

Pru paused, wondering if they all should go, but then she blurted out, “I need to go on my own,” Pru told them. “I’m just going to take a quick peek and I’ll hurry back to the corral. We can go from there to get curry.”

“Yum,” Abigail said, rubbing her belly. “I was there when they were cooking it. I might have had a taste… or two.”

“Go,” Lucky told Pru. “But you have to tell us everything.”

“I will,” Pru replied. “I promise. Just a little look to see what she’s up to. I think it’ll take the pressure off me to come up with something new. Maybe I’m already better than her. I just gotta find out. I need to know!”

“Pru?” Solana had a question. “What if Catalina is out enjoying the foods at the tents, exploring and having fun tonight—like us?”

“She’s not,” Pru said, feeling assured. “She’s like me.” She looked at her friends. “If I didn’t have the most wonderful friends taking me around, I’d be back in our practice tent practicing, too. I know she’s there…. ”

Lucky, Abigail, and Solana took off toward the horse corral, leaving Pru to her detective work. She told herself it wasn’t a spy mission—just friendly snooping. Pru didn’t feel bad. She actually assumed that Catalina had probably snuck by earlier to see what she was doing, too—only to discover that Pru wasn’t doing anything but writing bad ideas in her diary!

Hopefully, Pru would feel more confident after seeing whatever Catalina was up to.

Pru heard the music before she reached Catalina’s circus tent. It was… awful. As if someone were banging on a piano with their forehead. Slam, crash, bang. She held her ears and shuddered.

“What is going on?” Pru quietly inched toward a slit in the tent fabric. She peeked through the slot and saw Catalina. “I was right,” she whispered to herself. Catalina was there, alone, standing in front of a piano, practicing… but practicing what? Pru moved to a larger gap in the tent where she could see better.

Now she could tell that Catalina was not alone. There was a horse with her. It was clearly a palomino, like Chica Linda, but darker in color and a little smaller overall. Pru stuck her face almost all the way into the tent gap, struggling to hear what Catalina was saying to her horse.

“Come on, Milton, you know what to do.” Catalina pulled the horse’s reins toward the piano. Pru could see that Milton was resisting. “Come on, please?” Catalina begged. “For me?”

Pru swallowed a laugh. Begging didn’t generally work with horses.

Then there was the music. Pru had been right! Someone was banging their head on the piano. It was Catalina. She was showing Milton how to bang his own head on the keys.

“Oh!” Pru spoke so loudly she had to step back from the tent so Catalina wouldn’t notice her there. When she felt the coast was clear, she leaned in again to confirm what she’d seen. It was true!

Catalina was stealing Pru’s act. Well, okay, so Pru was trying to get Boomerang to play drums and Catalina was trying to get Milton to play piano—and they were both failing—but still! Getting the horses to play music for the clown act was the same thing!

Pru’s head was spinning with questions:

Had Catalina seen Pru’s act and decided it was a good idea and stolen it for herself?

Did they both just have the same idea?

Why wouldn’t Milton play piano? Pru had to admit, that was a better idea than the drums. It would be easier to teach a horse to bang on a piano.

And then, there was one last question burning in Pru’s head:

What was she going to do?!

Obviously, the musical instrument idea was out now. It would be too weird if she and Catalina had the same act. And Pru recognized the determination in Catalina’s eyes. She often had that same look, and it meant just one thing: Catalina would get Milton to play—eventually. He’d play the piano and he’d play it well….

Pru also had to admit that although a horse creating music was still the best idea she had, Boomerang wouldn’t play along—that’s why she’d been looking for alternatives.

She needed something as good as the music idea, but not the music idea!

This was frustrating and terrible, and there was so much pressure.

Pru ran back to the corral, where her friends were waiting.

“Chica Linda is a happy horse,” Solana reported.

“It’s curry time,” Abigail said. She rubbed her belly. “I can’t wait to taste it.” She quickly added, “Again.”

“I can’t go,” Pru told them all.

“Why not?” Lucky asked. “You’ll miss the fun.”

“Catalina has a good act idea. Better than mine. She’ll win for sure.”

“It’s not a competition…. ” Lucky tried to remind her, but in Pru’s mind it was a full-on competition now!

“I gotta do better. I gotta get Lydia Sebastian to write about me. I gotta get in the newspaper so my whole family can see.” Pru climbed over the corral fence and whistled for Boomerang. “I’m going to work here with Boomerang—all night if I have to—until I come up with a great idea.”