Illyana waited to be asked to enter before letting herself fully inside, and closed the door behind her. She moved to the chair and took a seat, folding her hands in her lap and attempting to keep her expression blank. There was a twinge, one so slight that only those who knew her well could pick up on it, of trepidation. Her mouth remained relaxed, but there was tension in her brow.

She tilted her head in acknowledgement of his assumption, although she had only guessed, not "known" in the way he implied. She touched the edge of the rough pages with the tips of her fingers, leaning forward slightly to read them more closely. With no attempt to hide it further, her brow furrowed even more, but this time with concern. Lucien was absolutely right; the troupe was in even more trouble than she thought. He hid is concerns from the carnies well. They had three, maybe five if they stretched it, more days on the road before they would have to stop again. The price of gas for the trucks and trailers alone would nearly run them dry, not to mention enough food to feed everyone.

Illyana was silent as Lucien spoke, mulling the situation over in her head. He was right again, "not a fan" didn't even really begin to cover her feelings on the matter of which they were now speaking. But, they were stuck.

They lay at a literal crossroads; up the track a bit, maybe a couple of miles, there was a split. East would take them to Allentown, a small and rural farming town with barely two pennies to rub together, but it was closer by about a day's journey. To the west, was Graston, a larger city center with some industry and more coin to go around, but the farther of the two. If they chose Allentown, they may be able to scrounge enough coin to move on toward the coast, but if they didn't get anything there they would be stranded. If they made it to Graston, they would certainly hit a bigger payload...but all their supplies would barely get them there. It would be Graston and bust, and if they made nothing from their haul there...well, Illy didn't want to think about it.

She shook her head and pushed the papers away slowly, biting her bottom lip. There was silence between the two of them for a moment before she spoke, choosing her words. [color=598527]"I know what's at stake, and I still think this is a bad idea."[/color] She then raised her eyes to the Ringleader, almost imploring him to go back in time and not ask this of her, [color=598527]"It's never been that way before, the way it was with him...it was just...wrong."[/color] She'd told him in detail about what had happened, shared everything, and with that came its cost. The allure of the coin may just be too powerful for any of them to resist, and she knew if they were stranded somewhere, she would never see her sister again, but still something sinister gnawed at her. Just the thought of it gave her the heebies all over again.