Lily turned around in the passenger seat, bringing her attention toward the bac
k of the SUV. Maggie was there in her car seat, her eyes as wide as her smile. Well, the one eye that Lily could see anyway. The other one was covered up by her pirate's eye patch.
“We're almost there, Maggie. Just a few more minutes,” Lily said. “Are you excited to see the fair?”
“ARRRR!” Maggie's response made both Wyatt and Lily chuckle.
“I'm ready, too.” Lily turned back around in the seat, admiring the scenery out of the front window.
The festival was held about fifty miles from town. It was in a rural area, a place where most people would probably never go if it wasn't for the fair. Now, though, there was endless traffic as guests practically clamored over each other to get in.
Wyatt drove the SUV down the dirt road until they got to the very end, where it ran into two giant parking lots that were overflowing with cars.
“Looks like we weren't the only ones with this idea,” he said.
After driving around for a few minutes, though, they finally found a place to park. It was toward the back of the lot, but Lily didn't mind. The weather was perfect for a little stroll anyway.
Lily got out of the car and took a quick glance in the reflection of the glass to make sure that everything was in order. After turning her closet upside down to try to figure out what to wear, she'd decided on a simple pink blouse and jeans. It was casual enough to walk around outside in, but also nice enough so that they could go get dinner somewhere afterward and she wouldn't have to feel out of place.
“Come on, little pirate,” Lily said, lifting Maggie from her car seat.
The three of them walked across the dusty parking lot and toward the front entrance of the fair. Lily couldn't believe what she was looking at. In front of them was what appeared to be a giant castle, with two huge wooden doors in the center. They were open and people were lined up outside of them to buy tickets.
They got their tickets and Maggie was so excited to get inside that she was jumping up and down.
“Come on, guys,” she said.
With one hand on Lily's wrist and another on Wyatt's, she began pulling them forward. She couldn't get inside fast enough.
Lily looked around as soon as they'd walked through the entrance doors. She expected to walk into the interior of a castle, but was surprised to find that they were still outside. It turned out that what had looked like a castle from the parking lot, was really only one wall. It was only an illusion that there was actually a giant building there.
However, what laid before them was not an illusion. On both sides, as far as she could see, were little shops. It looked like a town from the middle ages. To their right, was a blacksmith's shop. A man with a gray beard and a black apron was busy clanging away on what appeared to be a sword. He'd just pulled the piece of metal out of the fire and had it laid against a giant anvil. It was red hot and sparked with each strike of his hammer.
When she looked a little further ahead, she noticed a dress shop. Beyond that, there was a guy selling fancy knives with bone handles. In addition to that, there was also a psychic doing palm readings, a juggler who was tossing flaming sticks into the air and even a man riding around on a live elephant.
“Wow, this is already not quite what I expected,” she said.
“How do you mean?” Wyatt asked.
She shrugged. “I thought there would be some tents set up with a few vendors. This looks like an actual town.”
Wyatt nodded. “Yeah, from what I read, they keep all of these buildings up all year long. They only have the fair in the summer, though.”
“That's crazy,” Lily said. “So it's like a ghost town for half of the year?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Wyatt said.
Maggie had released Wyatt and Lily's wrists and was now skipping ahead of them.
“Don't go too far,” Wyatt said. “Stay within sight. We don't want to lose you.”
Lily couldn't stop smiling. Everywhere she looked, she saw something else that amazed her. All of the vendors that occupied the shops were dressed up. Every single one of them looked like they were from a different time and a different place. It was as though they'd taken a time machine and traveled to the future to be here. They were so authentic, it almost made her feel like it wasn't all just pretend.
“This is actually pretty cool,” Lily said. “You know what we should do while we're here?”
Wyatt glanced over. “What's that?”
“I read online that they're doing a jousting competition.” Lily's face lit up as she spoke.