“You’re kidding, right?”
Divine glanced over her shoulder to see Marcus in the doorway, peering at her with wide, disbelieving eyes. Shifting uncomfortably, she asked, “About what?”
“About why our nanos wouldn’t work for dogs,” he said. “I mean, they were made to work with the human anatomy and chemistry only. The scientists who made them programmed them that way. They—”
“Scientists?” Divine interrupted with surprise before she could catch herself. She hadn’t realized the nanos that made her so strong and gave her such a long life were man-made. She’d thought . . . well, she supposed she’d just assumed they were a part of every immortal, as natural as gills on a fish. That immortals were maybe a different species to humans or something.
Divine hadn’t been educated on the origin of immortals before she’d been kidnapped, and certainly Leonius hadn’t had any desire to teach her anything that didn’t have to do with horror and pain. Once she was free of him, her time had been taken up with running and hiding and constantly moving to avoid the great and monstrous Lucian Argeneau. It had left little time to ponder the origins of her people or the source of their nanos.
“Divine,” Marcus said slowly. “Did no one teach you about—?”
“Of course they did,” she interrupted sharply. Turning away, she picked up a can of Spam as she added, “I was just pulling your leg.”
A long silence passed, and then Vincent said, “Marcus, come help me with this, will you?”
Divine remained completely still until he moved away and then let her breath out on a sigh. She should have just admitted that she didn’t know, but she hadn’t wanted to look stupid in front of Marcus. Divine had no idea why that should be the case. She wasn’t stupid. She knew that, and not knowing something didn’t make her stupid. It just meant she didn’t know something. It did not take away from all the things she did know. No one could know everything there was to know on this vast planet, no matter how many years or centuries they’d lived. For instance, she had no clue what Spam was and didn’t care who knew that. So why did not knowing their origins bother her and make her feel ignorant?
Sighing, Divine set the can of Spam back on the shelf. She wasn’t packing anything she didn’t recognize . . . which was pretty much everything in a can or box in the pantry. Shaking her head, she grabbed a folded bag from the shelf, opened it, and began to place vegetables into it.
Thirteen
“I’m just so glad that you’re both all right,” Madge said, beaming on both Divine and Marcus.
“Yes.” Managing a smile, Divine nodded and then changed her expression to an apologetic one. “I’m really sorry, Madge. I thought I’d left a note to let you know that Marco was taking me to get a new RV. I guess in all the excitement and chaos I just forgot. Or maybe it just got mislaid. I was sure I left that note.”
It was at least the twelfth time Divine had told that lie. She was beginning to find it hard to keep her smile in place as she repeated it, but then the past eight hours had been a bit harried. They’d arrived at the carnival site to find it empty The only evidence that it had ever even been there was some yellow police crime scene tape that had caught in the branches of a tree at the edge of the grounds and was fluttering in the hot, dry breeze.
Divine, Marcus, Vincent, and Jackie had headed straight to the police station from there and then the fire department. As Vincent had suggested, the arson investigator had quickly recognized the fire as deliberately set. Divine had apparently been the number one suspect at first. At least until they learned from various witnesses, both carnies and townies alike, that she had been in town when it started, had returned to find it in flames, and was now missing. When Marcus’s absence had then been noted, he had become the prime suspect for both the arson and her kidnapping.
There had been no other choice but for Divine, Marcus, Vincent, and Jackie to use a combination of finessing memories, influencing thoughts, and even a touch of mind wiping to turn the situation around. By the time they’d finished, the whole ordeal had turned from arson and kidnapping to nothing more than an accidental fire with no insurance claim, no one injured, and nothing of real note about the entire episode. They’d then ensured the file went missing, both hard copy and digital.
After that had been taken care of, they’d followed the carnival to its next scheduled stop. They’d arrived at the fairgrounds where the carnival was set up to find the midway silent and dark, and the carnies relaxing in the back lot after a long, hot day.
Divine had headed straight for Madge and Bob’s RV with Vincent, Jackie, and Marcus following her. But by the time she’d arrived at the older couple’s home on wheels, most of the carnies were following as well, every single one of them eyeing Marcus suspiciously and asking if she was all right, but leaving any other questions until she reached Madge and Bob.
There was a pecking order in carnivals and as the owners, Madge and Bob were Ma and Pop, King and Queen. The others left it up to them to get the answers they wanted and merely surrounded Divine and the three strangers accompanying her as they made their way to the Hoskinses’ RV.
Well, most of them had. Someone had obviously run ahead to tell Madge and Bob that she was back because the couple had been coming out of the RV when Divine led Marcus, Vincent, and Jackie to it. The mortal couple had greeted Divine with relief, ignoring the three people with her, even Marcus, until she’d explained that while the arson investigator had first mistaken the fire for arson, he had now determined it had been accidental, an electrical fire that had ended with the propane tank blowing up. She’d then explained that Marco had found her distraught after she’d stumbled away from her burning RV, had comforted her, and then had offered to help her replace the vehicle so that she could get back to work and that’s what they’d been doing the last couple days; visiting used RV lots and the bank to arrange for a replacement.
“Well, I’m just glad the fire inspector realized his mistake and informed the police it was an accident before they arrested poor Marco,” Madge said now.
Bob snorted at his wife’s words. “He’d have been lucky to have been arrested. If Marco had returned to us alone instead of with Divine alive and well at his side, our boys would have strung him up, no questions asked.”
“Yes,” Madge agreed solemnly, and then patted Marcus’s arm as if to soothe him. “Well, fortunately, he didn’t. He brought her back, and with friends too to help us.”
Divine’s smile became decidedly forced at this comment. Vincent had quite caught her by surprise when he’d informed Madge and Bob that he and Jackie were friends of hers who had come to help in any way they could, and who wanted to set up a gourmet candy apple stall with another couple, Tiny and Mirabeau, right next to Divine’s fortune-telling spot. She had been just as surprised when Madge and Bob had embraced the idea with enthusiasm, until she’d realized that Vincent and Jackie were using their special skills to influence the couple and ensure they thought it was a good idea.
It seemed that so long as she stayed with the carnival, Divine was going to have a trio of bodyguards/babysitters on her butt. Actually, a quintet of bodyguards/babysitters, she thought, recalling this unknown Tiny and Mirabeau.
“And your timing couldn’t be better,” Bob announced. “Jack’s submarine ride died on him today. We’ll move it out in the morning and you can park your RVs side by side where it was.”
“Oh yes,” Madge said happily. “That worked out well.”