Page 19 of The Best Trick

My heart began to pound. “What? Tell me!” I didn’t dare hope…

Zeus handed over a program he’d snagged. “Why don't you look on here and see who's up for a class C small-farm sheep gouda medal?”

Hands shaking, I scanned the list, and there, listed in the field of ten finalists, was Sunny Sisters Sheep Farm.

“They’re here!” I whispered. My first impulse was to take off sprinting, to run all around looking for my sisters—who I hadn't seen for what felt like a lifetime—but of course that was impossible.

Zeus looked at me sadly, following my train of thought. “You know you can't...”

“I know,” I said.

It would be far too dangerous to make contact with my sisters in such a public place. It was always possible that ZOX was on our tail, and the last thing we’d ever want to do was lead them to my sisters. ZOX had no idea who I was or where I was from, and it was important to keep it that way. If they knew who my sisters were, or the fact that I would do anything for them, they’d use that information ruthlessly.

“But they're here. You’ll get to see them competing—from afar, anyway,” Zeus said.

“I’ll get to see them achieve a dream,” I said.

Odin and Thor had caught up to us. We lingered discreetly in a cluster of people watching a cheese-making demonstration.

Odin lowered his voice. “Your sisters will kick the living shit out of everybody in this place,” he stated.

“Maybe you could at least say hi to Vanessa,” Thor suggested to me.

Vanessa was the oldest of my three sisters, and the most chill of the group. Unlike my younger sisters, she knew I was alive.

“There’s no way they’re, you know,” Thor added, meaning there was no way ZOX was on our tail right now.

“We don’t know that,” Odin said. “We have to follow the protocols we've developed. It’s how we keep ourselves—keep everybody—safe.”

Such a Zeus thing to say. I smiled approvingly, loving that he wanted to show his commitment, to keep things cool after their fight. We watched out for each other. We supported each other. That’s what kept us strong.

“Yeah…” Thor mumbled with a significant glance at Odin and Zeus. “Right.”

“’Yeah, right’ what? Is there some reason to be worried?” I asked, because Thor clearly had something on his mind.

“There’s always reason to be worried, is there not?” Odin said.

“Look, here they are.” Zeus showed me the festival map, finger tapping a spot with his big, meaty finger.

I examined the map. The Sunny Sisters’ table was near the far corner of the field, third from the end of a row of small sheep-cheese producers near the concession stand. I wanted to go over there, but my sisters would definitely recognize me no matter how good my disguise was. What's more, my sister Vanessa had met Odin, Zeus, and Thor last year—she might see through their disguises, too—especially if they showed up together. We decided that Odin looked the least like himself, so we elected him to go over to their table, get some of the cheese samples, and maybe even talk to them.

“Ask them how they feel about their chances,” I said. “Ask them what their favorite cheese is right now and if there are any new offerings on the horizon.”

Odin nodded.

“Wait, no, ask them…” I pressed my fingers to my forehead, wanting the perfect question. “Hold on, let me think.”

Strong hands settled onto my shoulders. “You want to know how they are, and if they are happy,” Odin said.

“Yeah, but…” It’s not like he could ask them that.

“Am I not a professionalfucking-ginterrogator?” he said to me. “You think I can’t conduct a casual conversation where I figure out how three girls are doing and get some fun details of their lives?”

“Okay, yeah. Try to get a lot of fun details. Everything you can,” I implored him.

“I will, goddess.” Odin set off.

The three of us stayed back in the group watching the demo. I studied the map some more, staring at my sisters’ table—number 803—just wanting to go there with Odin. After way too much time doing that, I forced myself to look at the rest of the map. I recognized the names of some of the big players in the cheese world. The larger producers were assigned to long tables on the ends of the rows to accommodate the crowds. There were also tables with industry experts here and there, most of whom would be judging. Some of them, like me, taught online cheese-making classes, but way more popular ones than my measly little classes that I didn’t advertise. A few had YouTube channels about cheese.

---