“Uh-oh, did you run out of purple suckers?” I teased as he walked over, flipping the camera around so he could see his own bright red tongue in the viewfinder. Roland let out an exaggerated sigh.
“Had to wake up so early to make my first flight, I forgot to bring them,” he told me, pulling a red sucker from his pocket and peeling off the wrapper. “And that shop over there only had strawberry. Give me grape, or give me death.” He popped the sucker into his mouth and shuddered. “Disgusting.”
“But still better than cigarettes,” I pointed out. Roland’s sucker obsession had started after he quit smoking. “Hey, where’s Oscar?”
“Went to get snacks for the flight.” Roland sank into a chair and glowered up at me. “So. Looks like we’re going all Nickelodeon after all.”
“Huh?”
“He’s talking about you and Oscar being on the show.” Sam settled into the seat next to Roland. “Hello, Kat,” he added with a smile.
“Hi, Sam,” I said. “I’m not going to be on the show.”
Roland’s eyebrow shot up. “No?”
“No way,” I said forcefully. “I don’t want to be on TV.”
“Sweet.” Roland crunched his sucker. “That means Oscar can’t do it—the network wants you both together. And no offense, but I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of this turning into a kids’ show. Neither was Jess.”
“Adding a few children to the cast wouldn’t necessarily make it a ‘kids’ show,’” Sam said patiently. “Personally, Kat, I was hoping you would accept.”
“You were?” I said in surprise, and he nodded.
“Spirits are often more inclined to communicate with children. Particularly if they’re children as well.”
I knew he was thinking of Levi, Lidia’s twin brother, who had died when they were teenagers. His ghost had spent weeks trying to send me messages that Lidia was in danger when Dad and I first joined the show.
“They can still communicate with her all they want,” Roland said, stretching his arms and yawning. “Just not on camera. Which is for the best—no one’ll ever take what we do seriously if we let Fright TV turn this show into some sort of Haunted Hannah Montana. Again, no offense.”
He gave me a pink-toothed grin, and I crossed my arms. “First of all, saying ‘no offense’ doesn’t magically make what you said not offensive. And second, you’re a parapsychologist. Most people already don’t take what you do seriously.”
“Ouch.” Roland clutched his chest, his expression wounded. “Right in the heart, Kat. This is my life’s work you’re talking about.”
I laughed, although I wasn’t entirely sure he was being sarcastic. That was the thing with Roland. He was constantly mocking everyone, including himself. He talked about ghosts like they were a joke, even though he believed they were real. Parapsychology might have been Roland’s life’s work, but sometimes it seemed like no one took it less seriously than he did.
“Hey, Doctor Pain.”
I turned to find Oscar behind me holding a plastic bag stuffed with chips and candy bars. “Hey! How was . . . um, how was your trip?” I stopped myself just in time from mentioning Oscar’s father in front of Roland and Sam. Lidia might have told them about her brother being in prison for embezzlement, but I didn’t know for sure.
Oscar shrugged. “Fine. Yours?”
“Fine.”
“Cool.”
There was a pause, and Roland turned to Sam. “What sparkling conversation. Maybe we should put them on camera after all.”
I rolled my eyes, but Oscar looked confused. “Wait, what? Aunt Lidia said we definitely were going to be on the show.”
“You were,” Roland agreed. “But it looks like it’s not going to happen.”
“Why not?”
Roland pointed his sucker at me. “Kat doesn’t want to.”
Oscar’s eyes widened as he faced me. “You don’t?”
“You do?” I said in disbelief.
“Uh, yeah?” Oscar squinted at me like I’d sprouted fangs. “We’d be on TV, Kat. On television.”
“Exactly! Why would I want that?”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
Flash! Tutu’d Troll. My stomach churned at the memory of that particular dress. Elena had fallen over in hysterics when I’d walked out of the dressing room, but my mom still took a photo.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we will begin boarding Flight 2278 to Salvador, Brazil, in just a moment. Please have your ticket and ID ready.”
Relieved at the interruption, I knelt down and unzipped the front pocket of my bag to find my ticket. I could feel Oscar still staring at me as everyone around us began to move closer to the gate. As soon as I straightened up, he started in again.
“Why don’t you want to do this?” he asked, following me over to where Jess and Dad had claimed a spot in the line. “How many people get a chance to be on TV, Kat? And did you see that article on Rumorz? Everyone already knows about your blog, the fans would probably love it if—”
“Having a blog is different than being on a television show,” I interrupted. “I don’t want to do it, okay?”
Oscar opened his mouth to argue some more, but Jess beat him to it. “Kat, what if we did a trial to see how you two are on camera? I was thinking we could shoot a mini episode, maybe five or ten minutes, of just you and Oscar, and post it on your blog. It’d be a nice way to test this out with viewers before we actually add you both to the cast.”
I could feel my face growing warm. “I thought you didn’t want a ‘kids’ show’? That’s what Roland said.”
“I didn’t,” Jess said bluntly. “But Lidia and I had a call with Thomas this morning, and the network is dead set on doing this.
