3.

"Hey," Londeen smiled. The seat creaked and vibrated as the roller cage ride started. 

Instantly, he grabbed the wheel in front of them, flipping them upside down, causing Londeen to scream, and him to burst out laughing. While upside down there was a brief pause where they both made eye contact. He stared deep into her dilated eyes. 

Tobi, after walking for several minutes, walking down a row of food stands, finally saw Bryce. He was leaning against a light pole, and his face was inches away from a girl Tobi knew as one of Londeen's friends, Beeatrice. 

Seeing Tobi out of the corner of his eye, Bryce said, "Oh, he finally arrived." He waved him over. 

They began to walk around, going to the different rides and fun houses. 

Walking out of the 'Crypt Keeper's Manor,' an admittedly pretty scary haunted house, where people dressed up as zombies would chase you around with a chainsaw, Tobi felt that all that running and fear made him pretty hungry. He saw a vibrant purple food truck. It proudly displayed its signature, 'Meat drumstick.' A massive thing that resembled a crude club. Walking up, he decided against his better judgment and purchased one, knowing it would cost him on the toilet later. Turning around, he came face to face with that girl he saw earlier, though she seemed to be almost in a trance. She stared through him, the neon light reflecting off her hungry eyes.

She was quite tall for her age and gender, wearing a large t-shirt with the sleeves crudely cut off, revealing her muscular arms. Her cargo shorts were a faded camo, and her combat boots were ratty and looked like they would fall apart any second. A backpack with only a single shoulder strap was slung over her shoulder, the other strap looked as if it had been violently torn off. The girl's long, thick, messy black hair hung down almost to the small of her back. 

Her gaze focused on Tobi, noticing him staring. Under the purple glow of the food truck, her face appeared gaunt. Her large brown eyes locked onto his. A look of recognition, then confusion crossed her face. 

"Oh hey, uh…" Tobi started, "I know you from somewhere."

"Yeah. Me too." Her eyes not leaving his, "I'm Ivy," she offered. 

"Ivy…" Instantly, it clicked. He remembered the strange encounter he had almost two years prior—that night on the beach. The girl who was on a secret mission and guilt-tripped him into adopting Tuck-Tuck, the Charcat... "Are you on another secret mission?"

A smile of recognition washed over Ivy's face, "Oh, uh, no…I'm not really doing that anymore." 

"Oh?" Tobi crossed his arms, "How'd the first one go?" He was asking somewhat sarcastically, but for some reason, in the back of his mind, he found himself believing what she told him that night. He thought about mentioning her to Bryce or his sister in the past, but he knew the whole thing sounded ridiculous. But there was just something so intriguing about this girl in front of him. 

Ivy's eyes followed the movement of the heavy drumstick in Tobi's hands, before shooting back to look at him, "It was great, actually. I really learned a lot."

"Can you tell me what the secret is now?" 

She cocked her head to the side, thinking momentarily, then gave an 'oh, what the hell' shrug. As she was telling the story, Tobi noticed her eyes locked on to the food in his hand, seemingly subconsciously following it. 

"Are you hungry?" Tobi asked when she finished. He had been silent through the whole thing, just listening. 

Ivy licked her lips, and even over the screams and the buzz of the crowd, he heard her stomach growl, "A little bit." 

"Here," he turned around, bought another drumstick, and handed it to Ivy, who muffled a grateful "Thanks" between bites. She was almost ravenous. They found some tables to sit at and continued talking. 

"So, lemme get this straight… That guy was actually a werewolf? And your arm was actually blown off?" He studied her muscular arms, and besides some minor scratches and bruises, there was no indication that her arm had ever been missing. 

"Yeah." Ivy nodded, trying not to laugh at the confused look on his face. 

Londeen walked toward the carnival food area, wanting to get something to eat before they had the carnival cook-off competition. However, when she pushed through a crowd of people, she saw Tobi sitting with a strange girl she had never seen before. She stood there frozen, staring in disbelief. Londeen stood for so long that she didn't notice she had missed the window to buy food and the winners of the competition were being picked. Her fists clenched as jealous thoughts began to swim in her unsober mind. 

"And the winner is…" The announcer paused for dramatic effect. "Rock Sushi!" The crowd erupted into cheers. 

Pushing her way through, giving a slow, performative, sarcastic clap, she walked toward the two. 

Tobi made eye contact, seeing her expression, and shook his head slightly as if trying to will Londeen to go away. 

An evil smirk crossed her face as she approached their table. 

"Yeah," Ivy said, not noticing her approach, "And he just grabbed my arm like this. And he just blew it off!" She mimicked the scene dramatically. 

The people in the crowd around them seemed to sense what was about to happen—an imminent confrontation. 

"Who's this?" Londeen glared down at Tobi. 

After a long sigh, Tobi looked up at her, "What?" 

"You heard me!"

"Londeen…what do you want?" 

Londeen looked over to the girl sitting across from him, who was observing calmly. Londeen opened her mouth, about to go after her, but when the girl glanced up at her, something told Londeen to keep her mouth shut. It was something about the look in that girl's eyes...

She turned, stomping back into the crowd, passing Bryce, who had come back to see what the commotion was about. 

"Sorry 'bout that," Tobi said to Ivy, who had an amused look on her face. 

"It's okay." 

"Yoo," Bryce walked over and grinned at Tobi, mimicking his voice, "Things are cool between us, bro." 

"I don't even know what happened there, dude. I told you before. She's crazy!"

"Yeah, for sure." Bryce's eyes wandered across the table to Ivy, looking her up and down. He looked back at Tobi and gave an approving look, plus a bit of a nod, which Tobi ignored. "I'm gonna go walk around some, if y'all wanna come."

Tobi looked at Ivy.

"Okay," Ivy said. 

After about an hour, the carnival started to shut down for the day. The rides went dark, and so did most of the food stalls. 

"Welp," Bryce said, looking at his phone, "T'was fun…Imma go see if Bee's around." He said, wandering off back into the carnival. 

Ivy and Tobi continued walking a bit further. 

Glancing at the clock on his phone, he felt like it was time to wrap this up. He thought back throughout the night, the stories that Ivy told him. They sounded crazy, but he didn't feel like she was lying. "Hey, Ivy," he started. 

"Hm?" 

"So, like, what're you doing now? As in, do you…live around here?" 

Ivy shrugged, "I don't really live anywhere." 

"Wait, so you don't have a place to stay or anything? Where do you sleep?" 

"Wherever is comfortable."

"Where did you sleep last night?"

"In the woods."

"Oh." It was silent for a long time. 

"I mean, my friend Colson, a few months ago, he randomly transferred a lot of money to my account, and I could buy food and a place to stay for a while, but it's kinda gone now."

Tobi stopped walking. They were standing in front of the bike racks at the entrance of the carnival. "So, what are you gonna do now?" 

Ivy shrugged. 

Tobi looked around, mulling the situation over in his head, debating himself on what to do next. "I mean, you can come with me…if you want. You can stay at my house for a while, or at least just tonight." 

Ivy's eyes lit up, "Really?" 

"Yeah. I mean, I don't think my mom will mind. As long as you don't break anything and listen to what she says, my mom will like you." 

Putting her hands on his shoulders and standing on the back pegs of the bike, Tobi rode them home. 

When they arrived, he silently slipped the bike inside the messy garage, careful not to make any loud noises. 

Walking inside, they went to the living room, where there was a folded futon in front of a tv. 

Sitting down, Ivy looked around the room, studying it. 

Tobi turned on the tv, "What do you wanna watch? I think we basically have all good streaming sites."

Ivy clicked her tongue in thought, "I've never really watched anything." 

Tobi gave her a strange look, "Really?" He sat beside her on the futon, "Here, I feel like you would be a fan of slasher movies. The new 'Halloween' is alright, I guess." He put the movie on. 

Within fifteen minutes, they were both fast asleep.