I plan on having her head to the mainland with Elias when he goes to pick up his first boatload of circus goers. One of them will die tonight, and there is still nothing I can do about it. I try not to think about that. At this point, all I care about is getting Maddie to safety.
“Where’s yer sister?” Elias yells from his boat.
“She’s saying goodbye to Bob. She’ll be back in a few.”
He taps his watch. “I gotta go.”
“No. You don’t. You actually have two hours.”
“I don’t like pushing it.”
We wait another fifteen minutes. Then thirty. Where would she be? I can’t believe that tonight of all nights she would be this careless.
“I’m going to go get her.”
I head over to the big cats, my stomach tightening a little. She knew there wasn’t that much time.
“Where’s Maddie?” I ask Luke as he hoses down a cage.
“Haven’t seen her. Was she supposed to be here?”
“She was coming to say goodbye to Bob.”
“Oh, yeah. She said something about that yesterday, but I haven’t seen her today.”
My stomach drops. “We have to find her. She should be leaving, and now she’s missing.”
I race from boat to boat, not even watching the ground for snakes and alligators, and ask everyone if they’ve seen her. Luke does as well. We meet back up in front of my boat. Elias is gone, and Maddie is nowhere to be seen.
“Maybe she got on the boat with him,” Luke says.
“No. She wouldn’t do that. She would want to say goodbye.” I try to think about what happened. Maybe she just lost track of time somewhere and got distracted. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Luke takes a couple of beef jerkies out of his pocket and hands one to me. “But she knew how important it was to leave. If she couldn’t find you, she would’ve just gone to the boat.”
“True.”
“Look, change your clothes and get ready. After that, you can wait by the docks and ask Elias if she got onto the boat. If she did, then you’re fine. If not, you have to do your show, and then you can resume the search.”
My throat feels like it’s closing in. I don’t know how to do this. I have to find my sister, but I’ve looked everywhere. Her leaving without saying goodbye is the best possible situation, but somehow, I don’t think that’s what really happened.
Did someone kidnap her? If so, why? If not, then where the hell is she?
I change my clothes and do my makeup, which is difficult with shaking hands. Then I rush down to the docks to wait for Elias to bring the first boatload. After about thirty minutes, his boat comes into view. He bumps up against the dock just as Benny appears next to me.
He grabs my hand. I give it a squeeze and jump onto the boat. “Elias, did Maddie show up?”
He shakes his head. “I waited as long as I could for ya.”
I sigh. “I know. I don’t know where she is.”
I hop off and rush to the big top. Benny keeps step with me. “Callie, Juliette and I have been searching, and we can’t find her either. It’s like she’s not on the island.”
He’s wrong. She has to be here. She couldn’t have just disappeared.
I do my show and meet up with Juliette and Benny afterward. “We’ll spend the night searching for her. I have a couple of pictures in my boat, and we’ll ask anyone and everyone if they’ve seen her. We’ll meet back up at the docks every hour on the hour and hope she shows before sunrise.”
Because if she doesn’t, she could die. I try not to think about that. We’ll find her.
Each hour we meet up, but no one has seen her. A half-hour before sunrise, my whole body is shaking. Benny holds my hands, but it doesn’t do any good.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” I say.
“We’ll wait and see. There is nothing else to do.”
I swallow and nod.
“Callie,” a voice calls, and I turn because I’d know that voice anywhere.
“Maddie,” I cry and run for her. We collide in a hug, and I hold her tight. “Where the hell have you been?”
She pulls away and rubs her forehead. “I don’t know. I was walking to say goodbye to Bob, and I got really dizzy, and I think I passed out. I woke up in a storage building behind some boxes. Once I got out, I realized the circus was in full force. I came straight here. Am I gonna die?” Her voice is full of fear.
“No,” I say with all the strength I can muster. “We’ll wait right here for Elias to come back, and then you’ll be the first one on the boat. You will not die.”
Benny comes up behind me. “Callie, you know Elias doesn’t show up on the new moon until after sunrise.”
“So?” I know this, but I can’t think about it.
“So. She’s still at risk. There’s no way to protect her.”
“Do you have any better ideas?” I snap.
His head falls, and he looks to the ground.
I look around for some kind of shelter, but the docks are wide open, so unless I want to take her deeper into the circus or back to my boat, this is the best spot. And if I take her to my boat, we’ll run the risk of missing the ferry altogether. Sure, Elias comes and goes a few times, but with the strange way time moves, I’m not taking any chances. I will not have her stuck in this awful place for a second longer than she needs to be.
Maddie and I head down onto the docks with Benny and Juliette and sit. I hold her hand and hope against hope that no ghosts find us. I’ll fight them with everything I’ve got.
If something happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself. And when the sun crests, she’ll be in massive danger from every single ghost on the island. Including…
“You two need to leave. Seriously. Go away. I don’t want to see you until the full moon.” I stand up and lug Maddie with me. “You guys are just as much a threat to her as everyone else.”
Maddie’s eyes widen, and she scoots closer to me. “Callie, I don’t want to die.”
“You won’t. I promise.”
I look over at Benny. “Benny, Jules. Leave us, please.”
Benny looks like he wants to argue, but he follows Juliette off the docks. Maddie lets out a strangled laugh.
“How long do we have?” she asks.
I look up at the sky. “A few minutes, I think. Then it will all be over.” Someone is going to die tonight because I couldn’t figure out how to control the ghosts. If it’s Maddie, then it’s my fault. No. It won’t be Maddie. All the ghosts are up at the circus. Unless one is hiding out somewhere close.
We’re too exposed, but the ghosts generally don’t come near the docks. It’s easier for them to kill in the middle of the circus where there are lots of potential victims. Her odds are good. At least that’s what I tell myself because I can’t think about the alternative.
For now, we’ll stay here.
I lean my head on her shoulder. “I’ll miss you.”
“Me too. Will I ever see you again?” Her voice shakes.
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. I wish I could answer differently.
“I love you, Callie. We’ll stay in touch with letters, right? I promise I’ll believe you now.”
“Okay. Tell me stories from home.”
I close my eyes, and she tells me gossip about all our friends on the waves and from home. There is something so comforting about her. Something so much like home.
Before I know it, I spot the ferry in the water. Elias is early, thank the stars.
“Mads, look. Time to go home.”
I stand and pull her up next to me. I drag her to the edge of the docks. A rumbling noise comes from behind, and I spin around. People are rushing to the docks. At first, I think it’s just the circus goers, but the sun crests above the trees, and I see them clearly.
It’s not the humans at all.
It’s the ghosts.
And Benny and Juliette lead the pack.
Chapter Seven
I grip Maddie’s arm and look for a way out. The ferry is still too far away. The only option is to jump into the water. Probably a death sentence, but it would be safer than the murderous horde running toward us. I lead Maddie closer to the edge of the dock and look into the water.
And scream.
The zombies have all come alive. Their heads poke up out of the water, their eyes and lips covered in creepy Xes. Long green fingers slide up and over the boards of the dock.
Maddie whispers fiercely in my ear. “What the hell is that?”
“Zombies. Mads, I’m going to try to keep you safe.”
Her eyes widen, and I see her brain racing to make sense of things. Just one more nightmare she’ll have when she gets home.
We creep away from the edge of the dock, but the ghosts have reached the other side, and they aren’t slowing down. I should’ve known this would happen when Maddie was kidnapped.
“Our best shot at surviving this is to run for the ghosts themselves. If we can get in the middle of them, maybe we can get out of the other side still alive.”
Even as I say it, the plan sounds stupid, but I don’t see how we have any other choice unless we just stand here and wait to be devoured by both zombies and ghosts. I want to hope that someone will magically come save us, but that someone is supposed to be me.
I grip Maddie’s hand tightly. “You ready?”
Her face is white, and her jaw is clenched. “No.”
“Come on, we’ve fought waves and scary boys. We can do this.”
Except I know we can’t. But we won’t go down without fighting. Maybe by some dumb luck, we’ll both make it out alive.
She nods once, and we run. I reach the ghosts first and crash right into Benny, sending him flying. Maddie keeps a tight grip on my hand, and I weave my way through angry, confused ghosts.
Maddie screams, but I don’t stop. I pull her along, hoping she’s just hurt, and we can visit Ruth’s tent and get her all fixed up, but then I feel her hand go limp, and I yank harder.
She falls, hauling me down with her in a tangle of feet and legs. Forget intentional death, we’re going to get trampled.
The ghosts disappear, and Maddie and I are left alone on the docks. I crawl over to Maddie.
Her eyes are glassy and unfocused. No breath escapes her lips.
A silver knife tip sticks up out of her chest, blood pooling around it. Stabbed in the back.
I hold her close to my chest and let out a wail. I’m such a failure. I can’t save anyone on this island, and now this is the most devastating of all.
I couldn’t save my sister. My best friend.
What have I done to deserve this?
I slide the knife out of her back. I’d recognize it anywhere.
Anger rages in my blood. “Benny!” I scream because I know he can hear me. “You did this. You killed her. How could you?”
Tears stream down my face and pool on my sister’s beautiful blonde hair. Why do I even try anymore?
Suddenly, Maddie stirs in my arms. What the hell?
Her face twists in pain. Black threads pop up from under her eyes and crisscross into her eyebrows. Then the thick black thread pokes up just under her bottom lip and threads in above the top. It weaves slowly, yet is done in an instant. My stomach lurches.
She thrashes, and I drop her. She lands with a thud on the dock. I jump up, shock taking over. I can’t think. I can’t move.
Maddie pushes up against the dock, and her fingers curl around my ankle. They are strong and jerk me down. I land on my backside and cry out. Maddie shuffles forward, lifting herself with just one arm, pulling me along. I lurch forward and tug at her ice-cold fingers.
I can’t seem to get them off, and we’re sliding closer and closer to the edge of the dock. If I’m not careful, she’ll kill me as well.
Is it even possible for me to die? I don’t think so, but there are things at work here that I don’t understand. Like how someone managed to kidnap Maddie, and no one could find her. Like how all the ghosts came after her instead of the other people on the island. Maybe I could die. Maybe this all happened just so I could be killed. After all, that’s what someone has been trying to do since I arrived.
Maddie reaches the edge of the dock and slides over the end. I kick at her wrist and hear a loud crack. Her fingers loosen, and I shake her off. Her body lands in the water with a splash.
I sit there for a moment, unable to move. Maddie is dead, zombiefied. She’ll come back as a ghost in two weeks.
If she hadn’t come to the island, she’d still be alive. If I had been able to control the ghosts like I should’ve, she’d still be alive. If I had gone with her when she wanted to say goodbye to Bob, she’d still be alive. So many ways this could’ve ended differently.
But it didn’t.
She’s dead.
A huge gaping hole opens in my chest. I want to cry, to scream, to hit something, but all I can do is sit here and not move. The sun is rising, and the humidity hangs thick in the air. Sweat pools under my arms and slides down my forehead.
I should get up and go back to my boat.
But I can’t. I stare out into the watery grave that claimed her, my mind racing, yet not comprehending.
This was Maddie. Sweet, sweet Maddie. Who had stories that would go on for days and who helped me find adventure in everything. She was my main reason for wanting to go back home, and now she’s dead, cursed to live forever on this island as a ghost who kills people.
That isn’t Maddie. She’d never kill another living soul. She couldn't even kill flies when they got into her room.
I can’t believe she’s dead. It’s all my fault. I stare unblinking into the murky water, willing Maddie to resurface so I can try and convey how sorry I am that she felt compelled to rescue me. That she loved me that much. I did this to her.
No. I shake my head vehemently.
Benny did.
I stand up. I want to see him and punch him in the nose, to yell and kick him and make him hurt like I do. But of course, he’s gone. A raven floats down and lands on a post on the dock.
“How could you?” I scream. “That was my sister, and you killed her. Not only that, but you brought all the ghosts with you. You wanted to make sure she died even if you didn’t succeed.”
There were tons of people at the circus. Why did they all go after Maddie? It had to be Benny or Juliette. But why? That made zero sense. Maybe Juliette was doing it as revenge. Maybe Benny was trying to stop her.
“Was this you, Juliette? I already apologized for getting you killed in the first place. I didn’t know what I was doing with Samuel.” The tears are threatening, and I croak out, “Why Maddie?”
That knife was Benny’s. I collapse on the dock sobbing. She’s gone. Or at least the person she was is gone.
What will I tell Mom and Dad? Will I even tell them, or will I let them assume she disappeared. If they think she is here, they will come as well and be killed too.
I need to call them and head them off. I’ll tell them Maddie said she was coming to get me, and I told her not to, and she never got here. They’ll start a manhunt, but it is better than the alternative.
All the people I love end up dead.
Chapter Eight
I take deep shuddering breaths and stand up again. The birds have come. All of them. They flutter around me, but none of them chirp or quack. The silence is a little disconcerting as they are always making noise. All I hear now is the rustling of wings. Some of them land on the ground around me, some weigh down the tree branches, and others stay in the air, surrounding me.
I don’t know if I should be pissed or comforted. It all depends on the circumstances. This is either Benny’s fault, or it isn’t.
Well. It’s my fault.
But Benny had either helped or hindered the situation, and I have no idea which one it is. His knife killed her. Did that mean he stabbed her? Maybe. I can’t believe he would do that to me.
I wipe my han
ds on my face, and they come back black with dirt and mascara.
I step away from where Maddie disappeared, and my chest tightens. I’m leaving her there in the swamp. I take another step, and my stomach lurches. I take a few more steps and make it all the way to the swampy path.
Maddie’s zombie face floats in my head, and I vomit all over the ground. Will I always remember her that way? I dry heave for a few seconds, squeeze my eyes shut, and force myself to see her as she was on the waves, smiling and laughing. I manage to make it to the path before her face changes to one with Xes over her eyes again.
I trudge down the wooden path. The birds surround me in a flurry of black and white with a few other colors sprinkled in. They only leave a few feet of space for me to walk, and then they move again. If I wasn’t so distraught, I might have found it beautiful.
The birds do help. They give me something to focus on and be aware of.
I will see Maddie again when she comes back as a ghost. She might not talk to me, but at least her face will be her own, and I can apologize profusely. I am supposed to be able to control those ghosts. If I could, I would’ve been able to stop them from murdering her.
My little boat comes into view, and Raptor sits on the porch. I hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t among the birds surrounding me. He squawks, and I approach slowly and pat him on the head. I open the door, and he waddles in behind me, leaving the rest of the birds on the porch, the roof, and the trees. I haven’t seen this many since the day Samuel attacked me.
I should’ve done more to protect her. I have magic, and it never even occurred to me to use it. I was so panicked.
I collapse onto the bed, and Raptor rests his head on my shoulder. I spent the last two weeks not sleeping and barely eating so I could figure out how to control the ghosts.
But I failed.
I let the grief and exhaustion wash over me.
A few days later, or maybe it is weeks, I still haven’t left my boat. Mostly, I cry. And I actually am able to sleep, and so I do. A lot.
Circus of the Dead: Book 3 Page 5