Emily
Jacob, I need your help.
Jacob
How? Aren’t you where I left you by the bearded lady?
Emily
No — she was freaking me out.
Emily
So I went to get some cotton candy, but someone grabbed me by the arm.
Emily
Idk, but it was horrible.
Emily
Before I could scream, a sweaty hand clamped around my mouth.
Jacob
What?! That’s nasty. Are you okay?
Emily
Because that person blindfolded me.
Emily
And then threw me over their shoulder…
Emily
Yeah. We walked for a while. And then they dumped me into a pen.
Emily
When they left, I ripped this blindfold off and Jacob, it’s humiliating.
Emily
I feel like an animal, sitting in this hay.
Jacob
Oh God, Emily. We’ve got to get you out of there.
Jacob
Wait — if you’re in hay, does that mean you’re still at the faire?
Emily
Idk. I mean, I think so.
Jacob
Okay. I’m gonna find you.
Emily
Not if I don’t get out of here and find you first.
Jacob
That’s my sister. You’re a fighter, remember?
Emily
Trust me, I remember.
Emily
I notice that I’m different…
Jacob
Come on, we’re not all that different.
Jacob
I mean, we ARE twins, after all.
Emily
Yeah, FRATERNAL twins.
Emily
We have just as much in common as regular siblings.
Emily
Plus, I have this gnarled stump arm.
Jacob
Don’t say that — you have a GNARLY arm.
Jacob
That arm makes you awesome.
Jacob
It shows everyone that you’re a survivor.
Emily
A survivor of the womb? Lol
Emily
You lucked out — that amniocentesis needle didn’t even graze your body.
Jacob
Look, I’d trade places with you if I could, Em.
Emily
I know you think you would. But it’s so embarrassing walking around with a deformed arm.
Jacob
No way, I’d be proud of it.
Jacob
If I had it, it’d remind me that when I was in utero, I protected my twin.
Emily
Yeah, and if you had it, it’d remind you that you would be a one-armed freak.
Jacob
Hey — are you calling my sister a freak? 😤
Emily
Jacob, you know I’m a freak.
Emily
Remember when I was eleven?
Emily
Shit! Someone’s coming!
Jacob
What? Em, don’t go off the grid.
Emily
I have to — I don’t want them to see the glow of an incoming text.
Emily
Plus, my battery is gonna die at some point.
Emily
I’d better conserve it because I don’t have anywhere to charge it.
Emily
Love you too — and I’ll try.
Frantically, Jacob paces around the Bruinsboro Faire.
It’s the first time his mother has allowed Emily and him to go there by themselves.
If she knew Emily was lost, they’d never get to go back again.
In Jacob’s panicked search, he notices a distressed gray tent with an old, withering sign above it —
Like a message from God, it reads: Soothsayer.
Jacob inches closer, intent on finding his sister — and discovering the truth.
When he’s only a few feet away, a women’s smooth voice wraps around him.
Woman
I can tell your fortune, you know…
Jacob
Look, lady, I just need to know where my sister is.
Woman
Ahhh. Perhaps your sister is off discovering herself…
Woman
And you, young man, should discover who you are…before you look for her.
But Jacob’s anger subsides abruptly because in that moment,
The soothsayer lifts her head, revealing the smoothest, shockingly beautiful face,
And one mangled eye, permanently shut behind an excess of scar tissue.
Woman
Oh? Is it my eye that bothers you? You wouldn’t be the first.
Woman
But I can assure you, what I lack in this world’s vision…I possess in the foresight of the netherworld.
Jacob
Okay — cut the crap.
Jacob
If you could really see the future,
Jacob
You could tell me where my sister is.
Jacob
Then she’d be safe.
Jacob
And we could be done here.
The soothsayer’s good eye searches the depths of her crystal ball, as she rotates her hands over its surface.
Woman
I see that the two of you are very close…
Woman
That your astrological signs align.
Jacob snorts, and his voice comes out thick with derision.
Jacob
Yes, well, we ARE twins.
Jacob
Em was born one minute after me.
Woman
And you shouldn’t worry about her.
Woman
Because each of you will live happy long lives.
Woman
And one minute after you die…
Jacob
Seriously, shut up! You don’t know anything about me.
Jacob
Who are you, anyway?
Woman
My name is Rosemary.
Rosemary
And I joined the faire several months after I turned eighteen.
Rosemary
It’s been almost a full year now, that I’ve been traveling with them.
Jacob
Wow, I didn’t realize…you’re only three years older than me.
Jacob
You started working here so young.
Rosemary
Yes, well, when the faire came to my town, something…
Rosemary
Forced me to go along with these performers.
Rosemary
I took this mangled eye, and with my strong one, I began to see.
Rosemary
You know… fortunes, truths…
Jacob
I’ll listen to your predictions if you really think it’ll help me.
Jacob
What’s my truth? And what’s Em’s?
Jacob
Can you tell me anything about where she is?
Rosemary
Ahh, only you can find out the truth to those questions, Jacob.
Jacob
Wait — how do you know my name?
Rosemary
Like I said, I can see truths.
Rosemary
Talk to people, Jacob.
Rosemary
Anyone who might have seen her at the faire tonight.
Rosemary
And believe in the people who love Emily…and yourself.
Jacob gets up and walks numbly to the exit of the tent.
Right before he leaves, the sound of Rosemary’s chocolate-smooth voice makes him turn around.
Rosemary
Tell your mother.
Jacob shrugs and turns around quickly because tears are welling up in his eyes.
He swiftly exits the tent, scrolling through his contact list to text his mom.
But then he pauses, and at the last minute,
Clicks a few times to text Emily’s best friend, Celia.
Jacob
Celia, I need your help.
Jacob
Emily’s been kidnapped.
