The carnival was chaos manifested. People shuffled through the park shoulder to shoulder and dusk was falling fast. Penny's heart was beating so fast, she thought she was going to pass out. There was a reason the name of Charlotte Hale was known around Sugar Falls. Grandma Hale's Happy Honey, was not just any honey, because Charlotte Hale's bees weren't just any bees. The honey her bees made could could cure achy joints, clear skin blemishes, and solve a whole bevy of ailments that plagued the town that included, but weren't limited to, lackadaisicalness and bouts of nostalgia.

"What would a magician want with my Grandmother's bees?" Penny yelled over the din of the crowd and the haunting music from questionably safe carnival rides.

Leander stop in the middle of the midway. Several people gave him dirty glances, but the stream of people parted and began to flow around them. "Magicians don't have magic, but they are collectors of it. They steal it and then repurpose it into tricks and illusions and charge people hand over fist for it. I don't know what one would do with your grandmother's bees, but no one would care for them like she does."

"And you're sure the magician is here?"

"A magician can't miss putting on a show. They're like a moth to a flame and a carnival is just the flame they prefer."

"These crowds," Penny said as a woman jostled her with a stiff shoulder and didn't even hesitate to offer an apology. "We'll never find him."

"No. We will," Leander said with a shake of his blonde head. "We just have to go to where the crowd is thickest and we'll find him."

They weaved through the undulating mass of people. Penny started to panic as they were pressed against complete strangers. Leander then grabbed her by the waist and moved her to stand right in front of him, her back pressed to the solidness of his chest. When they could no longer move of their own free will, they let the crowd do the moving for them and they found themselves in front of a red and gold striped tent.

In front of the tent was a low stage, and upon it, a large box painted with yellow stars. There was a puff of thick smoke and a man matching Gammy's description stepped out from within the box. The crowd clapped at the magician's entrance.

"I am the Great Bellini," he said, waving a wand over the crowd and showering them with an explosion of white rose petals. "Here to mystify and marvel you with spectacular spectacles of magic most bemusing—" and then he froze.

Panic, like being doused with ice water, flowed through Penny's veins. The magician looked right at her and Leander as if he knew they weren't there to be mystified by his spectacular spectacles. She could feel Leander tense up behind her, his hands tightening their grip on her waist.

An oily grin slid onto the magician's face. "For my first trick," he said. "I'll turn this ordinary teacup, into something a little less ordinary." He pulled out a teapot and teacup as if from thin air, and poured himself a steaming cup of tea. The pot disappeared from his hand, and a wand took its place. He waved the wand over the cup, then slowly tipped it. Brown liquid slid over the edge of it, and a steady stream splashed onto the stage.

Fat droplets hit the wood, but as they came away, they were no longer tea. They leapt into the air as great, fat insects with clear, noisy wings. The bugs flew into the audience, inducing a panic that sent people scurrying away from the stage. One landed on Penny's arm and she brushed the thing away. "Cicadas," she exclaimed in disgust.

Leander swatted them violently, but the nasty, screaming, horde seemed intent on finding a way to him. And then he stopped. People fled for the safety of their vehicles as cicadas swarmed the Brambleberry Carnival with their incessant hum.

"Penny," Leander said, his voice taught. "Penny, we have to go. This was a trap."

Penny looked to the stage, but the magician had disappeared. "What's going on?" she pleaded as fear pushed tears into her eyes. She brushed the remaining cicadas off Leander's clothes.

"The cicadas, their song sucked away my magic," he said.

"We have to go make sure Gammy is okay," she said.

Leander nodded.

They followed the terrified crowds out of the park and found Gammy's bug idling in the street by the entrance to the carnival.

"Gammy!" Penny shouted as they were jostled by the crowd.

"Penny!" her grandmother shouted in reply.

Leander slid into the front seat, and Penny into the back.

"What's going on? What are you doing here?" she asked.

There were tears in her grandmother's eyes as she looked at Penny in the rearview mirror. "My bees are gone. He's taken them."