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“Hel- lo , I tell fortunes.”
    â€œCan you tell my fortune?” said Megan.
    â€œWhat did I just say?” said Quimby. “You want fortunes, I can give you fortunes. I’m just warning you; most people hate their fortunes, start wailing and crying. Then whose fault is it? Mine. I’m just saying.”
    â€œI want to know if I’m a banshee or what.”
    â€œDoesn’t work that way. Sorry.”
    â€œHe is the idiota ,” said Pearl. “Come, let us put this Quimby back in his darkness.”
    â€œWait,” said Megan. “How does it work, this fortune-telling?”
    Quimby sighed. “I can gaze into the future, tell you the vision. But there’s no way of knowing whether it’stomorrow, or next year, or never.”
    â€œNever?” said Falcon. “That’s not much of a fortune, if you’re telling us about things that will never happen.”
    â€œIt is as I said,” muttered Pearl. “He is the idiota. A fantasma of power would not place these rules upon you.”
    â€œSsh,” said Megan. “Go on, Quimby.”
    â€œSometimes the things I see are the things that will only happen unless you act to prevent them. Other times, acting to prevent them is the way you bring them about.” He smiled wanly. “It’s a slippery thing, the future.”
    â€œWhy can’t you just tell us?” said Falcon.
    â€œBecause I don’t control your future,” said Quimby. “You do.”
    â€œJust tell me what you see,” said Megan.
    â€œAll right already,” said Quimby. “Place your fingers on the lid of the jar.” Megan did as she was told. “Now relax. Focus.” Quimby closed his eyes. For a moment he was silent. His eyelids fluttered.
    Then he said, “Megan Crofton, crushed by fears, leaves her friends and disappears.”
    Megan looked at him with a bewildered expression. “What?” she said.
    â€œI’m sorry,” said Quimby. “That’s all I’ve got for you. You want to hear it in German? Megan Crofton, zerdrückt von Befürchtungen— ”
    â€œI leave my friends?” said Megan. “I would never leave my friends.”
    â€œAh, but who are your friends, Megan?” said Quimby. “That’s the question.”
    â€œWe are the friends,” said Pearl. “We who have sworn this oath.”
    â€œMy, my,” said Quimby. “That does seem hasty. I mean, you hardly know these children. You are certain you want to be bound to them forever?”
    â€œI have given my word. This is enough!”
    â€œYour word,” said Quimby. “And what will become of your word when everything changes? Will your words change as well?”
    â€œWhen everything changes?” said Pearl. “How shall everything change?”
    â€œLet me out of the jar and I’ll tell you.”
    â€œYou shall tell me now, and you shall stay in the jar!” said Pearl.
    â€œFine,” said Quimby. “Whatever. Place your fingers on the lid. You can do that, can’t you, skeeter?”
    â€œI can do as I please,” said Pearl. “And I choose—to place my fingers on the glass, and listen to the fortune.”
    Quimby sighed again and closed his eyes.
    â€œPearl’s true love’s a big mistake; she goes to sleep, then cannot wake.”
    â€œWhat is this?” said Pearl. “Cannot wake?”
    â€œYou mean she dies?” said Falcon. “Or she just can’t wake up?”
    â€œAnother satisfied customer,” said Quimby.
    â€œThis is stupid,” said Megan.
    â€œI have no true love,” said Pearl.
    â€œNot yet,” said Quimby.
    â€œThen I shall be the guardian of my heart,” said Pearl.
    Quimby shook his head. “Yeah, well,” he said. “Good luck with that.”
    â€œThis one, then,” said Pearl, buzzing around Falcon’s head, “the