“Set up for what?” Barely listening, Esti studied the stage. She had strolled past the secret opening a dozen times during the horribly long week, casually brushing aside the curtain to reassure herself that the small door existed. She couldn’t help wondering if Alan had other secret passages as well; openings he could speak through, and strategic locations from which he watched and listened.

“Drug bust.”

“What?” Esti straightened, suddenly interested. “They caught Steve smoking?”

“Even better.” Carmen snickered. “A stash in his locker, confiscated by Headmaster Fleming over the weekend. Steve is history.”

“He was dumb enough to keep drugs in his locker?” Esti asked in amazement. “They can kick him out for that?”

“They have to kick him out.” Carmen almost sang the words. “School policy. Stupid Steve is gone.”

Esti looked around the theater as she realized the entire cast was buzzing with the news. “But who’s going to play Lord Capulet?”

Carmen burst into laughter. “You would worry about that! Hmm, I’ll use my own gift to read the future.” Her voice dropped an octave. “I now predict Lance as Lord Capulet. Want to put money on it?”

“I’ll take your word.” Esti had been wired with pent-up anticipation all day; this was icing on the cake.

Onstage, Mr. Niles’s expression was stony as he talked the boys through some fighting techniques for the Capulet-Montague brawl.

“I heard Danielle tell Niles that someone planted the stuff,” Carmen added in a softer voice. “Niles told her to shut up, which is the first time anyone’s ever told her off that I know about. You are making some good changes at this school, Esti girl.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Esti asked, startled. “I didn’t have anything to do with this.”

“Don’ vex.” They both whirled around at the unexpected whisper. Lucia sat down behind them, leaning forward so they could hear her. “Niles he talk like some freshwater Yankee, but he is West Indian, for true. Maybe ’tis someone he fear.”

“Who would he be afraid of?” Carmen glanced at Esti. “A jumbee?”

Lucia met Esti’s astonished expression with a steady, jet-black gaze. When Esti finally looked away, the overhead lights flickered, then dimmed. A spotlight swept the room, stopping briefly on Danielle sitting at the edge of the stage. She looked up with a tight, amused smile.

Carmen shot an impatient look behind them. “Lance keeps messing with the lights. I swear, he’s almost as bad as Steve. He deserves to inherit Lord Capulet.”

The spotlight made its way around the theater, gathering interest from the cast as it moved from seat to seat. Just as it fixed her in its piercing beam, Esti felt a tickle on the top of her head. With a disgusted sound, Carmen yanked something away from Esti and flung it toward the back. “Steve, what are you doing here?” she snapped. “Is this one of Danielle’s tricks?”

Esti spun around in time to see an evil-looking carnival mask land on the ground, made of black foam and glitter. As Steve ducked behind a row of seats, the main lights came on again, and the spotlight went dead. Onstage, Danielle didn’t bother to hide her growing laughter.

A sharp cracking sound cut the laughter short. One of the thin plywood sets was slowly tipping over, and with a shriek, Danielle scrabbled away from it on her hands and knees. She rolled off the edge of the stage, falling to the floor as the wall landed with a heavy thump where she’d been sitting an instant before.

“Who put these sets together?” she exploded, rising to her knees.

“Check Esti’s locker,” Steve yelled from his hiding place. “She’s got voodoo dolls in there. Who’s next on her list?”

Stunned, Esti felt her mouth drop open as Carmen jumped to her feet.

“Where’s Steve?” Carmen ground out. Striding to the aisle behind them, she stopped with her hands on her hips, glaring down between the seats. “Get off the floor, Stoner. I can’t believe you would dare accuse Esti.”

The shocked silence was broken by Mr. Niles’s steely voice. “Steve, I want you out of here, now. My theater department is not Carnival, and if the rest of you can’t keep your private lives off the stage, you will follow Steve out the door.” His eyes moved back and forth between Esti and Danielle. “No matter who you are.”

As whispers from the cast accompanied Steve’s sauntering exit, Lucia’s quiet voice startled Esti. “Don’ worry, gal.”

Esti spun around to look at her.

“Even if the jumbee he don’ like Danielle,” Lucia said softly, “he take care of you, mon.”

A chill crawled down Esti’s spine.

“Danielle, she have live on Cariba all her life.” Lucia didn’t bother hiding her amusement. “She need more respect for the West Indian way.”

“I want to see Act Three, Scene Five,” Mr. Niles snapped, “starting the moment Romeo leaves Juliet’s bedroom. Lance will play Lord Capulet, now that Steve is gone.”

“See?” Carmen crowed softly.

The sound of shuffling paper filled the theater, Lance studying his script more frantically than the others. As Danielle led the way, Esti followed Carmen toward the stage, wondering if her life could become any more surreal.

“You’re the one in control, Esti,” a deep voice murmured. “No one else.”

She stopped in shock, halfway up the first step. Alan sounded like he was right beside her, whispering her dad’s famous mantra into her ear.

“If you believe you’re in control,” he added, “people will believe you.”

It took every ounce of control she had to keep from spinning around to see if anyone else had heard him.

“Esti,” Mr. Niles said. “We’re waiting for you.”

Esti forced her legs to move, raising one knee, then the other, until she reached the level of the stage. Her eyes searched the steps as she climbed. Alan wouldn’t do this to her, she thought, if she didn’t already know he had hiding places. He obviously had the theater rigged so she could hear his voice. But why did no one else notice anything?

Her shivering grew stronger.

“Let your emotions build,” Alan said softly as she crossed the stage. “Work up the confusion and the anger. Use that frustration you’ve stored for so long. And stop walking before you come so close that the others might hear me.”

She came to an abrupt halt ten feet away from Danielle, relief sweeping over her in huge waves at his warning. If there was a chance that others could hear him, then maybe Esti wasn’t going insane.

“Look at Juliet,” Alan whispered. “Does she look smug? Think about Lady Capulet’s purpose now, as you show Niles some real acting.”

“Esti,” Mr. Niles said in growing annoyance, “do you know your lines?”

“Ho, daughter! are you up?” she forced out.

“Who is it that calls?” Danielle replied. “Is it my lady mother?”

“Let Shakespeare’s words use your voice to become real.” Alan’s whisper wove seamlessly through Danielle’s response.

“Why, how now, Juliet!” The words burst from Esti’s mouth.

“That’s good.” Alan’s compliment sent goose bumps up her arms. “I see your confusion. Once again, you are creating Lady Capulet’s reality.”

Whose reality? she wondered wildly. Not just Alan’s voice, but his dead-on perfect advice following her through thin air across the stage. As the scene progressed with Juliet, then with Nurse and Lord Capulet, Esti felt herself getting worked up in a way very different from this afternoon. Confusion about Alan, anger at Danielle and Steve, agitation and bewilderment at herself as she tumbled headlong through the scene, dragged along by Lady Capulet’s lines.

By the time Lance haltingly finished his new role, demolishing Juliet as convincingly as he could, emotions crashed through Esti’s mind and body like a fierce, cascading waterfall. Fury and confusion filled her, leaving room for nothing else as she spat her final words at Danielle. “Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.”

Raising her chin, Esti strode from the stage and flung herself into a seat at the edge of the third row, as far as possible from the others.

“O God!” Danielle flung herself to the floor with a wavering cry. “O Nurse! how shall this be prevented?”

“You’ve rattled her.” Alan’s voice tickled Esti’s ear again. “She will never play an audience the way you can.”

Esti shivered and spun around, searching the theater with her eyes. She sat alone beside the coral-studded wall of the building, but Alan’s voice still seemed as close as it had been onstage. A speaker in the wall or the seat, perhaps?

“What sayst thou?” Danielle shrilly begged Carmen forward. “Some comfort, Nurse?”

Esti looked up to see Mr. Niles staring back at her from beside the stage. His face reflected a mixture of uncertainty and admiration. Esti met his eyes, unable to hold back her own astonished smile.

After rehearsal, she listened to Carmen’s excited chatter as they walked outside together.

“That was good,” Carmen said. “I mean, really good. Wow, Esti. I always thought of Lady Capulet as kind of a non-character. Boy, was I wrong.”

“Thank you.” Esti hoped her expression didn’t look as foolish as it felt, as her memory replayed Alan’s glowing words.

“Nice job, Leg-guard,” Greg said, Danielle pausing beside him. For a moment he looked like he wanted to say more, then he actually smiled instead of the usual wink. He turned and walked away, his arm around Danielle’s shoulders.

“Lady Capulet is one mean mother,” another voice said from behind them. “No wonder she married Lord Capulet.”

Esti couldn’t help laughing in surprise. “Thanks, Lance.”

“You scared the hell out of him, Esti,” Chaz teased, ducking to avoid Lance’s fist. “It was supposed to be the other way around.”

“Ooh, do you wish it was you?” Carmen said to Chaz. “Don’t tell me you like girls who intimidate you? Can I try?”

“Peace, you mumbling fool.” Chaz grinned at her. “Hold your tongue.”

Carmen stuck out her tongue at him, shrieking when he reached up to grab it.

“Careful, or I’ll hold it for you.” He abruptly glanced around at a honk from one of the cars in the parking lot. “My own mean mother is waiting. Come on, Lance. Carmen, I’ll see you later.”

Esti watched them sprint away. “I think Chaz has a crush on you.”

“Maybe he’ll finally admit it.” Carmen’s eyes gleamed. “Especially if Danielle’s stranglehold is crumbling.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, come on. Steve is gone; check. Greg’s got his eye on you; check. Juliet was totally outperformed by her mama; big check. Go, Jane Doe, go.” Carmen laughed as they reached the edge of the parking lot. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow,” Esti replied in bemusement.

Leaning against a palm tree, she looked out at the sea and waited as the last cast members trailed out of the building, laughing and talking. Manchineel Cay had become a delicate silhouette in black, surrounded by a ring of pale sand and silver glints of moonlight on the water. Esti stretched her arms over her head, tingling with anticipation. A fragrant breeze whispered across the courtyard, as sweet as the flower Alan had given her last week.

“Esti.”

She spun around at Lucia’s voice.

“I thought you had maybe sneak back to the theater.” Lucia flashed a rare smile.

Esti studied her, unsure how to respond

“You come to my house soon,” Lucia said.

“Why?” Esti demanded, then immediately softened her tone. “I mean, of course I would love that.” She smiled, even though this seemed more like a command than a casual invitation.

“We go on the boat.” Lucia handed Esti a scrap of paper with a carefully drawn map. “This show you to find my house. Ma, she want to meet you.”

“Why does your mom want to meet me?”

“You gon find out.” With a piercing look, Lucia turned and walked away