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shoulder, she said,
    ‘Is moving. Dis? Is moving, see?’
    She jammed her finger into the lump, wriggling it roughly, until B-brr’s face burst from Delilah’s neckline and bit down firmly.
    ‘Aaaaaaaghh!’ The woman leapt from her chair, sending teacups flying, and bounced from foot to foot. ‘Owweeeee! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!’
    Aghast, Delilah cupped the nymph in her hands, but Drake was already in front of her, gently prising her fingers apart.
    ‘Agata,’ he said, ‘come here, you gotta see this.’
    ‘Is rat,’ the woman declared. ‘Is nasty rat. It bite.’
    ‘No, no, it’s not. Look. It’s a little guy. A tiny little guy.’
    The woman crept over and her eyes went wide. The girls were too panicked to speak and, in the silence, Agata reached out her finger again. B-brr snapped.
    ‘No!’ she said. ‘No bite, little man. Is bold.’
    She tapped him on the head in punishment, and quickly withdrew the finger before it could be bitten again.
    ‘Where’d he come from?’ asked Drake.
    Delilah seemed to be struck speechless for the moment, so Grace stepped up.
    ‘We, eh… we found him. Delilah did, anyway, and he kind of… he just kind of latched on and… and now he’s just here permanently, I guess.’
    Drake didn’t seem at all satisfied with the answer, but he didn’t push. He just smiled and looked closer at the nymph, laughing out loud when the little brat bent over and mooned Agata. The woman didn’t seem too bothered.
    ‘Is not polite, dis little man.’
    ‘I’m so sorry,’ Delilah said finally, and blushed bright red.
    Strange as it seemed, the tea party went back to normal after that. Grace couldn’t grasp why Drake and Agata weren’t freaking out about the faery hiding in Delilah’s long, black hair. The strongwoman went back to telling her stories, and Drake resumed his seat on the steps.
    ‘So how much can you actually lift?’ Jenny asked.
    ‘You want to know?’ Agata winked. ‘You see show.’
    ‘I saw show. I mean, I went to the show. You threw an anvil right across the tent. Was it fake? Was it made of polystyrene or something?’
    ‘Ha! Fake? Is no fake. Look at dis.’ The woman curled one arm and the rounded bicep swelled until it was the size of a football.
    ‘Woah.’ Without asking, Jenny reached out and squeezed the giant muscle. ‘It is real.’
    ‘Ja, is real. You lift weight?’
    She was asking all of them. Grace smiled and shook her head.
    ‘I’d love to learn, though,’ said Jenny. ‘Could you teach me?’
    A wide grin spread across Agata’s face. She went inside the trailer and emerged with a large dumbbell in each hand.
    ‘Ja!’ she said. ‘You start vit dis.’
    She dropped the weights in front of Jenny and they thumped to the ground, denting the grass.
    ‘Are you serious?’ Grace said to Jenny.
    ‘I’ve never been more serious in my life.’

    The discordant music from all the different stalls was like a cheese grater on Adie’s ears. It must be torture to listen tothat racket all day. She passed under the carnival entrance and relaxed as the noise faded behind her. She thought she might take the long way home since she had time to kill. She didn’t really have to clean out her wardrobe – well, she did, but she had no intention of doing it anytime soon.
    The sound of a snapping twig made her spin around. But there was nobody there. Just the carnival in the park and the empty road in front of it. Must have been a cat or something, playing in the trees that lined the street. Adie shivered, and she walked a little faster.
    It was never this quiet on the main road – she couldn’t see a single person – and the wind was picking up leaves and swirling them in a way that somehow looked deliberate.
    Great , she thought, the whole town is catching the creepy vibe from that carnival. Even the weather’s joining in .
    Another snapping twig. But when she turned this time, she saw him.
    The brim of his silk hat sagged to one side, and the long,