CHAPTER NINETEEN

Jake reached into his backpack and pulled out the binoculars. This time, he’d remembered to bring them. Looking through the two eyepieces, he examined the loops of the roller coaster. Every bolt had the same amount of thread showing along the track. Meaning not a single one was loose.

He aimed the binoculars at the second loop. Same thing. Some rust had worn down parts of the track, but every bolt and screw remained solidly in place.

Amanda’s camera would come in handy. He could use her zoom lens to take pictures of the top loops, the bolt threads. To prove nothing had gone wrong in the coaster design. This also likely proved Bello and Toale hadn’t used cheap bolts like Randall had claimed.

Based on his exam through binoculars, he had to agree with the published report. It didn’t appear the track circuit had been the problem in the derailment. Something must have gone wrong with the roller coaster cars. And he needed to work his way through all that scrunched-up metal to find the answer.

As he stepped into the containing shed area where the roller coaster cars were kept, he exhaled with relief at his findings so far. Randall Kern might be kind of strange, but he wouldn’t design anything to harm others. No way. Knowing this—seeing the perfection of how well the coaster circuit had endured—sent a wave of comfort through Jake. Engineering outlasted everything, if done right. Those thousands of people who’d built the Egyptian pyramids knew that, and Jake knew it too. And it looked like Bello and Toale had known it too.

Humidity swept through the park. Jake rubbed the sweat off his forehead. Now was not the time to be in an enclosed space examining hot scrap metal from the cars. He could find Amanda now and get photos outside for a while.

When he walked through the red-and-white tent flaps, he found Amanda crying on the base of the carousel. Stiffness shot through his bones. Nothing made him more uncomfortable than her crying.

“Hey,” he said softly. “What’s wrong?”

She wiped her eyes. “Nothing. I’m just happy with this carousel research. I hope I get the apprenticeship.”

His throat tightened. Most women didn’t cry happy tears. How was he supposed to react?

“You’re crying because you’re happy?” Confirm first, panic after.

She nodded, ran into his arms. The rushed force pushed him back, but he regained his footing. Patting her back, he reached for the only words he could think of.

“It’s okay. Everything is going to work out fine.”

He repeated the phrase a few times. Maybe saying it more than once would make the words work faster?

After what seemed an unbearable amount of time, she stopped crying. Looked up and smiled at him.

“How is your roller coaster research going? Did you find out anything for your paper?”

“The coaster framework, including the track, was securely built. No bolt failure. I’ll examine the cars next, but it’s so humid outside I thought I could borrow your photography expertise for a few minutes?”

“Sure.” She stood on her toes and kissed him. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Amanda glanced up. The sky changed from cornflower blue to dark gray. An abrupt gust of wind prodded them forward with an invisible force.

“It’s not supposed to rain, is it?” she asked.

“Nope. Sticky but otherwise ideal weather.”

She glanced around and planned an escape route in case of a thunderstorm. The carousel tent was far behind them on the opposite end of the boardwalk. Up ahead, scraggly vines wrapped around the base of a structure.

“What’s that?” Jake asked.

As they approached the half-overrun Kudzu box, she said, “It’s one of those old fortune-teller booths.”

Jake frowned. “Hokum. I’m surprised they don’t have astrology machines here too.”

She glanced at the glass panels of the booth. In its dark interior, purple beaded tapestry cloaked the background. A mannequin woman with dark hair and eerie eyes remained frozen, requiring payment before offering fortunes to the masses.

“I don’t know. Sometimes fortunes and horoscopes can be right on target,” Amanda said.

Jake looked squarely at her. “Hokum.”

“Fine, be that way.”

She hadn’t been surprised by his reaction. How much worse would he become when he learned about her gift? If he had this much disdain for a fortune-teller booth? Could she really tell him the truth, or let him believe she needed a psych evaluation? She cringed inside. He’d said he wouldn’t go “through this again”—supporting someone who wouldn’t take medication for a mental illness…

Booming thunder echoed around them. She glanced to the right. “We can duck in the House of Mirrors. It’s about to rain.”

“No. Why don’t we head back?”

“Look how dark it’s become. I doubt we’ll make it back to the car or even the carousel.”

“I don’t like the House of Mirrors,” Jake said. Everything about his body language told her to back off. His posture stiffened. His smile vanished. He’d shifted from casual to strictly business.

“We can try, see how far we can get without getting caught in a downpour,” Amanda said.

As if to argue, the spongy dark clouds released their wrath in that instant. Torrential rain pounded them like tiny arrows, splattered against the ground, and bounced from the impact.

“Not worth it. Let’s do the House of Mirrors!” Jake yelled.

He grabbed her hand and ran inside, their clothes dripping from the sudden monsoon. Amanda wrapped her long hair, now heavy with the wet weight, in a rubber band behind her head.

“You okay?” Jake asked. He shook his head, and droplets of water fell from his hair.

“Fine.” She glanced around at their surroundings. At least they were out of the rainstorm for a few minutes.

The House of Mirrors had ornate gold-leaf frames lining every wall. Each mirror showed distorted images. One turned her squatty and fat. Another, tall and powerful like an Amazon woman. She laughed as she walked between the two mirrors.

Jake gripped her hand. “Stop playing around. As soon as the storm clears, we need to get back to our priorities.”

The tone in his voice reminded her of the strict schoolteachers she’d known as a kid. For some reason, Jake had passed his comfort zone.

“Why don’t you like it here?”

He said nothing.

“Didn’t you ever go into a House of Mirrors when you were a kid?”

He stared at her. “No.”

Now he’d piqued her curiosity. Why would anyone have such visible animosity for a carnival ride? For someone so logical, Jake didn’t make sense.

“Why not?”

He glanced outside, where the pounding rain continued to fall across the boardwalk, washing away debris like a giant Zamboni.

“We have time until the rain stops,” she said.

Time to finish this conversation. Learn why he had such a deep-seated resentment for the supernatural or anything that manipulated people into denying logic. Maybe this rainstorm had been the sign she’d been waiting for, the chance to get answers.

“The roller coaster is one thing,” he said. “Bolts, wheels, velocity, and motion. Concepts I respect and understand.” He stood rigid, fists clenched.

“And the House of Mirrors isn’t?”

“The House of Mirrors is nothing but trickery,” Jake said.

“Tell me why.”

“Why what?”

“I know you said your mom was schizophrenic, but what does that have to do with the House of Mirrors?” She leaned against the rail, attempting to relax even as he tensed.

He stared at her a long time before answering. “The rest of the place is just a showy manipulation. A way for charlatans to exploit people’s imagination and need for entertainment.”

“What’s wrong with entertainment?”

“Nothing, as long as no one gets hurt.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the mirror reflecting where she and Jake stood. This one had turned her into a squiggly figure with a giant head. His reflection made him appear like a miniature human. Or, more appropriately, a little boy.

His ambiguous answer begged the question. Finally, she decided to ask it.

“Did you get hurt?”

He peered outside. “I think the rain is beginning to let up.”

“No, not yet. C’mon, Jake. Tell me why you have such a disdain for anything except the roller coaster.”

“That’s not fair. I like the carousel.”

She smiled. “Okay, except the roller coaster and the carousel.”

Shrugging, he said, “I guess I don’t like anything that takes advantage of people with trusting personalities. The House of Mirrors isn’t real. It cons people into paying money to see themselves in squiggly lines.”

His words sounded like a foreign language. Why would anyone have a problem with things that were fun? If he didn’t want to pay money for something, why be angry at someone else who wanted to enjoy the experience? Something deeper was going on here.

“People like to be entertained,” she said. “What’s wrong if they are fine with paying admission for the circus, the amusement park, whatever? I still don’t understand.”

Once again, he looked out at the pouring rain. “The weather never has been on my side.”

She smiled, knowing full well that nature had her own agenda.

“Remember when I told you my mom was ill?” he asked, clasping her hand in his.

“Yes.”

“Well, the part I didn’t mention happened close to her death.”

Amanda clasped his hand tighter to offer support. “What happened?”

“Some charlatans came through town. Promised all-natural healing, for a price. Everyone knows you can’t cure cancer with snake oil, but Dad paid every cent. He abandoned all logic, all reason, to keep my mother alive for even one more day. The schizophrenia grew worse, and she was in pain.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too. Most of the money those con artists swindled was for my dad’s retirement and my college education.”

“What?”

He squeezed her hand before releasing it. “Yep. All their savings, Dad’s reward for decades of hard work, and my future. My dad poured it down the guzzling drain to heal my mom. All so those damn charlatans could make money and head to the next town of suckers.”

At a loss for words, Amanda stared at the ground for a long minute. Everything made more sense now. His disrespect for anything supernatural or what he called hokum. His lack of empathy when she showed faith in something. His following a career based on logic and reason.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” she whispered.

“Yeah, well, I wound up getting loans for school. Still paying them off. That’s why this department promotion will really help.”

“I thought your paper was your way of staying on track for tenure.”

“It is, but any raise will help lower my debt in the meantime. And no matter what, at least I know that you and I are different. We won’t be fooled by the supernatural, by the con artists.” He reached for her and hugged her close. “That’s why I want you to see someone when we get home, if stress causes you do see things that you might not see otherwise.”

She bit her lip as she hugged him back. Now, more than ever, she would need to make sure Jake never learned about her ability.