She’d expected the worst part of her day to be repainting white siding. That now seemed laughably optimistic.

***

The school gym smelled of floor polish and orange-peel cleaner. Plastic lanterns hung from the basketball hoops. Volunteers worked along the bleachers while Julian Pike stood beside a green tarp, charming two council members with a demonstration on his tablet.

Julian was forty-five, impeccably groomed, and wore mustard-yellow jackets in all weather. He had a stage presenter’s gift for making every question seem like the exciting prelude to his own answer.

“Mara!” he called. “Our structural guardian arrives.”

“What is under the tarp?” she asked.

“A surprise.”

“Surprises don’t belong under a volunteer safety plan.”

The council members exchanged uneasy glances. Julian spread his hands.

“An archival attraction. Nothing dangerous. We’re simply reproducing a beloved local spectacle.”

“Then uncover it.”

He watched her for a moment. His smile remained, but it changed temperature.

“Of course.”

Two crew members pulled away the tarp, revealing a platform nearly twenty feet square. Its surface was divided into dozens of narrow wooden squares. Beneath it ran a forest of cams, belts, and vertical rods. A central brass wheel sat on a reinforced axle. The piece was ancient, complex, and strangely beautiful.

Mara knelt to examine the nearest square. The mechanism could lift it three inches, making a subtle wave pass across the floor. Or it could open a gap wide enough to catch an ankle.

“Who rebuilt this?” she asked.

“Specialists.”

“Names?”

“Certified specialists.”

“Certification for what?”

Councilwoman Ada Flores cleared her throat. “Julian, surely she can have the documentation.”

“Absolutely. A complete technical packet is coming.”

Mara touched the brass wheel. A shallow scratch ran around its rim, ending in four tiny notches. She had seen those marks before, in a childhood memory of Evelyn using a broken biscuit tin as a makeshift gear gauge.

“Is Evelyn involved?” she asked.

Julian’s expression didn’t move. “We invited her. She declined.”

“Did she approve this?”

“Evelyn hasn’t held an active entertainment certification in more than a decade. Her approval isn’t required.”

“Her design is being used.”

“Inspired by local history,” he said smoothly. “Very different proposition.”

Mara asked the crew to activate one section. Nothing happened. Julian said the control console was still being wired. She checked the platform’s underside with her flashlight and found fresh motor brackets attached to old framing. The actuator housings were new, but several pivot pins appeared hand-machined from a softer metal than she would have chosen.

“Do not let anyone stand on this,” she said.

Julian laughed lightly. “You make it sound like a death trap.”

“I haven’t tested it. That’s enough reason.”

After an uncomfortable beat, Councilwoman Flores agreed. Julian promised to leave it disconnected.