Forever

Page 10

“How many ride tickets do you want?” Julianne piped up and pulled out a roll of pink tickets. “Everything is two tickets, and each ticket is a dollar.”
“Okay then, twenty,” Mina handed over the bill and paid for the tickets.
“Be sure to check out the dunk booth,” Makaylee whispered to Mina. “You won’t want to miss it.”
“We won’t miss it,” she answered, unsure of the hidden message.
Ever and Nan met up with them on the other side of the ticket tables.
“Highway robbery,” Ever scoffed.
“It’s a fundraiser,” Nan corrected. “We do this to raise funds.”
“Well, the rides better be good after what I paid to get in.” She held up her wad of pink tickets and made a joke of emptying out her pocket.
They started with the food vendors. Ever stopped grumbling when she got a cotton candy as big as her head. Charlie munched away happily on an elephant ear while Nan skipped joyfully and waved to each of the students working the booths.
They came upon the infamous dunk tank that Makaylee had suggested they stop by, and Mina was surprised to see how long a line it had. The cheer squad was running the dunk tank. Mina couldn’t help but slow down and stare as the one and only Savannah crawled up to the seat above the tank of water and perched on the edge with her pom poms.
Mina watched in fascination as one of the basketball players, Avery Picket gave his money to take a shot at the target.
“Oh Avery, you don’t really want to hit that target and get me wet, do you?” She smiled sweetly at him. “How about you give another donation, and I’ll let you take me out on a date.”
He paused in his throw and tossed the ball up and caught it in his hand. “How about Friday?” he asked.
She turned in her seat, and Pri held up a date book and shook her head. “How about three Fridays from now?” Savannah smiled and twirled her hair.
Avery thought about it and said, “Deal.” He tossed the ball into a large bucket next to the dunk tank. Someone had plastered a big old white sign with red letters over the word “Dunk,” changing it to “Date.”
So instead of Dunk a Cheerleader, the squad had turned it into Date a Cheerleader. Mina watched, amazed, as almost every guy lined up booked a date with either Savannah or one of the other girls.
When a girl did make it to the line and chose to toss a ball at the target, they either didn’t have enough power to make it to the target or they had terrible aim.
“You gotta admit that’s pretty genius,” Nan chuckled. “Wish I would’ve thought of it first.”
“Yeah, well you didn’t,” Ever grumbled, following Charlie as something caught his eye.
He stopped in front of a milk-can toss and stared in awe at the large wooden popgun prize.
“Three throws for five dollars,” the wiry carnival vendor coaxed. He was in his thirties and was one of the traveling fair’s employees.
“There’s no way we can win that, it’s rigged.” Mina tried to dissuade him from the game.
“Nonsense,” the vendor replied. “It’s easy as pie.” He came over to their side of the booth and, with one easy lob, tossed the softball into the milk can.
Charlie lit up. He wasn’t going to leave the booth until he had at least tried the game. So they wasted five dollars on the game to watch the ball spin around the top and roll right across the opening. Instead of falling into the hole, it rolled up and over the side. Charlie was devastated.
“Too bad. Maybe next time.” The vendor smiled, showing tobacco-stained teeth.
Ever slapped five more bucks down and gave Charlie a wink. “My turn.”
She grabbed the softball and tossed it underhand in a perfect arc for the milk can. It hit the edge, rolled around the rim and fell off. She frowned and tried again. This time, the ball went up and was falling in a perfect arc, right at the hole. But it changed course and bounced off the lip at the last second. Ever tossed her last throw—even more on point than the last—and it rolled into the middle, then popped out.
“That’s impossible,” Ever touched her finger to her lips and cast a suspicious glance at the vendor. He smiled slyly while counting out the bills in his apron.
“Oh, too bad. Better luck next time.” He waved them on.
Ever rolled up her sleeves and slammed another five dollars down.
The vendor smiled. “Oh you want to try again?”
“No, I’m betting you five bucks that you can’t make the shot again. If you can’t do it. I get to pick a prize.”
His eyes lit up in challenge. “Deal, and I’ll only need one toss.”
“Don’t count on it,” Ever said under her breath to Nan and Charlie.
The vendor picked up a softball and came over to stand behind the counter and toss the ball into the same milk can.
Ever stood slightly off to the side and, as soon as he tossed the ball, flicked her finger. When the ball hit the can, it rolled around and around the can but refused to go in. With another flick, Ever made it roll out.
“Oh, that’s too bad,” she said.
“No, wait. I get two more shots.” He stormed behind the counter to grab two more softballs. Mina could see sweat beading on his forehead in concentration as he tossed the ball perfectly. It would have been a perfect toss, if Ever hadn’t flicked her wings at the last second and blown it off course.
Now he was really nervous.
“One last shot, bub.” Ever sat on the edge of the booth and crossed her legs. “And I’ve got my eye on the popgun.”
“You won’t be getting it,” he growled.
And Mina realized suddenly what was going on.
He was Fae, and Ever knew it.
“We’ll see,” she smiled knowingly.
The man took his time lining up the last shot. Mina could tell he was trying to figure out what was going on. He tossed the last ball, and before it even got to the can, Ever knocked the whole milk can over, and it rolled away.
“Hey, that’s cheating.” The vendor turned on the girls in anger.
“So was what you were doing,” Ever snapped back. “Don’t even pretend you weren’t doing that to us. Don’t try and out-cheat a Fae.” Ever glared at him, and her skin glowed a bit, making the vendor cower in fear.
“Sorry, Miss. I didn’t know. I’d never intentionally cheat my own kind.”
“I may be Fae, but I’m not kind—or patient. Now give me my prize.” Ever pointed at the popgun.
The vendor nodded quickly, grabbed a hook, and reached up to grab the wooden gun off the display. He kept looking around nervously.
“Here. Now take your prize and scram!” He turned his back on them and went behind the booth.
“Wait, so he was Fae?” Nan asked.
“Yeah. Not a very strong one either.” Ever shrugged and handed Charlie the popgun. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Nan. There are lots of Fae living on the human plane now. Most of them are harmless, and you don’t even know they’re here.”
“Most…” Nan said and waited for Ever to continue.
“Like me. I’m harmless, unless someone tries to cheat me, and then… you know.”
Mina felt uneasy running into a Fae at the school fair. Still, Ever wasn’t worried, so Mina told herself not to worry either. Just because there was one Fae here didn’t mean there were others.