Circus of the Dead: Book 3

by Kimberly Loth

  Amy gives me a small smile. “I’m glad you’re optimistic because from where I’m standing, things look pretty horrible.”

  I reach over and squeeze her hand. “It will be okay.”

  On my way back to my boat, I think over the events of the last twenty-four hours. So much has changed, and I am grateful for the small group of people who I trust and who love me.

  But Lorena is right. Anyone could’ve started the fire. I stumble. That means anyone in my circle could’ve done it.

  I can’t trust anyone.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Three days later, I am no closer to finding anything new. I spend most of my time keeping a watchful eye on those around me. I should be suspicious of those closest to me, but I need their support, so I pretend like they can’t possibly be my enemies.

  I hole up with Lorena for most of those days. I should ask her to help me with my Obeah powers, but I can’t bring myself to do anything. Instead, I stick to silly books—Lorena had a decent stock of romance novels—and naps.

  I talk to Luke about it, and he says it is probably the grief.

  I hate grief.

  It’s ten before I roll out of bed and hop into the shower. The hot water rolls across my skin, and normally I revel in it, but it feels blah.

  I don’t bother drying my hair. I do two long braids and grab a piece of toast. Maybe today I can learn one thing. That shouldn’t be too hard, right?

  Yeah. One thing.

  I fling my door open, and a very wide-eyed child stands there. It’s Jeffrey. I haven’t seen him in a while.

  “I was just about to knock.” He’s always so polite.

  “What’s up?” I ask.

  “You need to go see Ruth.” He bounces back and forth on his feet and stares at Raptor.

  “What’s wrong?” I was just thinking about becoming a functioning human being again. I can’t take one more thing.

  He doesn’t take his eyes from the bird. “I don’t know. She said for me to fetch you.”

  I reach over onto my counter, grab a couple of grapes, and hand them to Jeffery.

  “You can feed him.” I nod to Raptor.

  Jeffrey’s eyes light up, and he sits down and holds out the grapes. Raptor takes one and climbs into Jeffrey’s lap, nuzzling his face. I chuckle.

  So much for tackling Obeah stuff first thing. I lock my door and head down to the circus, leaving Raptor and Jeffrey on my porch with a bowl of grapes. It will be empty by the time I get back. Ruth’s tent is one of the only ones that is used when it’s not a circus night. She’s never at her boat.

  I duck under the flap, and she gives me a grin. “Phone’s for you.”

  I give her a look. “I thought Samuel was the only one with a phone, and I thought they didn’t work.”

  “It’s the same line, but we keep one in here too for emergencies. It started working again the day you killed Samuel.”

  I can’t quite believe there is another phone on the island and I had no idea. I want to chide her for not saying anything to me, but I’m pretty sure it’s my parents. Who else would be calling me?

  I pick up the phone. “Hello?”

  “Oh, thank goodness, have you seen Maddie?”

  It’s been months since I’ve heard Mom’s voice. In some ways, I’m so grateful to hear from her. I miss her more than I thought I did.

  My voice catches in my throat. I have to keep her and Dad away from the island. I can’t have anyone else’s death on my conscience. “I haven’t. Why would I?”

  It shouldn’t have taken them nearly three weeks to assume she’d been here. They’re usually not this careless.

  Mom lets out a cry, and Dad takes over. “She was supposed to be at cheer camp. They just got back and said she didn’t go. She used an excuse of having to help a friend. You were the only one we thought she might’ve gone to see.”

  “How would she get here? She’s fifteen.” I hate lying to them. I want to tell them everything. How she came to the island and wanted to rescue me, and then an army of ghosts murdered her. But of course, I can’t. Even when I think it, it sounds crazy. Plus, they have to be under some kind of spell to not be worried about me. Someone made them think Luke needed me and got them to send me out here. They’re not thinking logically at all, or they’d have me come right home.

  “She had $3000 in her bank account that she drained at the beginning of the trip. I assume she flew out there,” Dad says. I swallow the lump in my throat. They’ll never see her again because she’s a ghost and is stuck here like me.

  “Then she would’ve shown up a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t seen her. Now you guys have me worried.” I close my eyes and see her eyes all stitched up and her body falling into the swamp.

  Mom sniffs. “She would never run off without telling us. We have no idea what’s going on either.”

  “I'm sure she’s fine. You know how she is. She’s probably off rescuing kittens or something, and she’ll turn up in a few days with stories that go on for hours. She was upset you let me come out here without her. She’s probably rebelling a little bit.”

  “I hope you’re right. If you see her, will you call us immediately?” Dad asks.

  “Of course. Please keep me updated. I hate that I’m not there.”

  “Us too.”

  I wonder what they would say if I asked to come home? Probably some magic-fed excuse.

  “Love you. Let me know when you find her.” I barely get out the last words.

  I know where she is. At the bottom of the swamp. I take a deep breath and hang up the phone.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lorena is a good teacher, but there are a lot of things she just doesn’t know. Honestly, I’m not sure if anything she has taught me is any better than the magic I have already.

  A few days before the full moon, I decide it’s time to clean up my boat. I’ve been spending very little time there except to eat, sleep, and shower, so it’s starting to smell a bit, and junk is everywhere. No need to become like Luke.

  Plus, I need to push away my grief and hopelessness and tackle all my problems. Which are too many for me to even list. That’s easier with a clean house, and it’s a good place to start. It’s also great for thinking.

  The air has started to cool down a bit, so I open the windows and turn on my music from Juliette’s old iPod. I pull my hair back, strip off my sheets and blankets, and dump them into a basket. I’ll pay Collette or Lizette to do my laundry. Then I move to the bathroom, which isn’t quite as simple. I hate cleaning toilets.

  I leave the kitchen to the end because crap is piled high on every surface. I run hot soapy water in the sink and let the dishes soak while I deal with the table. I pick up a sweatshirt and sniff. Not bad.

  I glance down. Under the sweatshirt is a small pile of books. The books I borrowed from Samuel that taught me how to take him out. The books that teach everything there is to know about being Obeah. I’ve already read all of them, but it can’t hurt to read them again because I haven’t read them since I took over.

  I set them on the table and count. There are four books, but I only took three.

  Huh. I recognized three of them, but not the fourth. I take it out of the middle of the stack.

  Advanced Obeah Magic

  Jackpot. I have no idea how it got there, and I don’t really care. I mean, I’m curious, but I don’t have time to think about that. Dishes forgotten, I collapse onto the bench with the book and thumb through it. There are spells on how to control difficult spirits, how to make deals with others, and more. This is what I need.

  How did it get here?

  I pause at the chapter about dealing with other Obeah and start to read.

  As an Obeah, you are the strongest voodoo practitioner until another Obeah comes to town. This is where things get tricky. How powerful is this other Obeah?

  Perhaps it doesn’t matter. Many Obeah over the years have learned to work with one another. They find a great deal of strength in worki
ng together. If all the Obeah in the world learned to work together, the world would be ruled by Obeah. But with power comes pride and ego, and most Obeah wish to be the only one in town.

  Sometimes, an Obeah might sense that another has moved into town but does not know who they are. For this, a simple revealing spell will do.

  The best way to defeat another Obeah is to increase your army of spirits to fight theirs. A few fights can be fought face-to-face, but the risk is too great. Obeah are typically obsessed with immortality and would not risk the possibility of death.

  Proceed with caution though. Many a town has been destroyed by warring Obeahs. Then you are both out of luck and need to move on.

  There are crude ways to defeat an Obeah, the best of which is to simply take over the Obeah’s spirits. Since Obeah are immortal as long as they have spirits, poisoning or stabbing will not work.

  I read on, but it doesn’t tell me how to make a revealing spell. Well, crap. It acts like that should be obvious.

  I put the book down and flip through another that is more spell heavy. Most of the spells are gross and dark, but a few look useful, such as the one that summons people to you. But that one requires a name. There is a spell that makes ghosts reveal themselves, and I bookmark that page. Maybe I can use that to see Benny more often. My stomach clenches. I still don’t know if he is even a ghost.

  No spells on how to make an Obeah man show himself.

  I go back through the book, more slowly this time. I read the descriptions on all the spells, even the really disgusting ones like the spell that causes all the genitals to rot on an unfaithful lover.

  Finally, I find what I’m looking for and realize why I missed it the first time. The page is covered in creepy zombies. At first glance, it looks like it’s a spell to summon the zombies, but the title of the spell is “Summoning other Obeah.”

  I read the description.

  One of the more drastic spells to pull off. Obeah often have incredible protections placed upon them to prevent summoning, but this spell circumvents that by using the bodies of the souls attached to the Obeah casting the spell. This spell awakens the zombies, and they hunt down the rival Obeah and deliver him to their master.

  Summoning creepy zombies? Oh, hell no.

  I fiddle with the edge of my shirt and think. This Obeah must be incredibly strong, which means I need a strong spell to reveal them. And I’ve found nothing else.

  I have to summon effing zombies. What on earth have I become?

  A dark Obeah woman. That’s what.

  I shake my head. I can’t quite believe this. I look over the spell. I need saltwater, two candles, thread, and incense.

  And I have to be out on a rowboat. Lovely.

  Plus, I have to wait until midnight. There is no way this could go wrong at all. I wish I could ask for help on this one, but I’m afraid if I bring any of my friends out on the boat with me, they will die.

  Anxiety blooms in my stomach. I don’t want to do this. Those zombies freak the hell out of me, and now I have to summon not just one but all 117 of them, send them onto the island, and wait for them to drag the other Obeah out to the rowboat.

  Then, the matter of that Obeah. They are obviously stronger than me. They could try to kill me for summoning them, and I couldn’t stop them.

  This is the only plan I have, and I can’t afford to wait. I have to stop the ghosts from killing even if that means risking my own life.

  I spend the day trying not to think about what I have to do that night, and I don’t tell anyone. I don’t want them trying to talk me out of it.

  I finish cleaning my boat and eat dinner with Luke.

  “You seem distracted,” he says. “I’ve said your name three times.”

  “Sorry, I am. I’m still worried about what’s going to happen with the island.”

  He takes a bite of his burger. “Maybe if you stop trying so hard, it will work itself out.”

  I snort. “Sorry. Life doesn’t work that way.”

  “For me it does.”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “Which is why you’re still stuck on this island.”

  “That’s not fair.” He looks down and picks at his food. I shouldn’t have said that, but I’m not thinking straight.

  I let out a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m just worked up about all this.”

  He frowns. “I worry about you.”

  “I know.” I’m grateful for his concern. I feel like over the last several weeks, we’ve finally connected. I feel like he’s really embraced this uncle role.

  I help him clean up and return to my boat around ten. I have all the ingredients, and I plan on heading out onto the water around eleven. I have to tie 117 knots and burn them before I can summon the zombies. Good thing I don’t have to know all their names.

  I shove the spellbook along with the ingredients in my backpack. My heart pounds as I make my way down the docks. I’m as quiet as I can be, but the water sloshes a bit once I’m in the rowboat. Funny that the things I was so scared of have now become my allies.

  I row out until I have a clear view of the sky. Only a few more days until the full moon. I’m looking forward to it but dreading it at the same time.

  Maddie will be there and maybe Benny. Maybe not. I still don’t know if I’m supposed to hate him.

  I pull the candles out and light both of them. One on my right and one on my left. I take out the thread and start tying knots. I keep careful count. One, two…thirty-five…seventy-two…ninety-one…one hundred and seventeen. I hold the long thread over the candle on my right, and the flames devour the knots one by one. When there are only five knots left, I let go and watch it all disintegrate.

  Two minutes to midnight. I hope the zombies won’t hurt anyone else while they are out. Truthfully, I have no idea what they’ll do. Maybe I should’ve warned the island.

  No, that would be stupid. Then I would’ve tipped off the Obeah.

  At the stroke of midnight, my stomach ties up tighter than my knots. I stand and pick up the candle on my right and blow it out. The water stirs.

  I grab the candle on my left, and the flame turns a bright green.

  “Souls come forth,” I command. The water ripples, and I blow out the candle. I hold my breath and wait.

  But nothing happens.

  Come on. Can’t I catch a frickin’ break!

  The water suddenly explodes around me and nearly throws me out of my boat. I fall to the floor and am soaked with swamp water.

  I struggle to get back to a sitting position. Surrounding me are 117 zombies hovering just above the water. Their flesh is surprisingly intact, but their eyes and mouths are all stitched over with thread. Briefly, I wonder which one is Benny. They all look the same, though they have different clothes, and some have long hair, and some have short.

  They look at me expectantly. Oh yeah, I have to tell them what to do.

  “I want the other Obeah on the island. Bring him or her to me.”

  I expect their movements to be swift like the ghosts, but they trudge away, the water rippling with every foot drag. After several long minutes, the first zombie hits the docks and then the second, their clunky steps echoing through the air. They will wake the whole island. Tomorrow morning, I’ll have some answering to do. Oh well, at least then I’ll know who I’m dealing with.

  As soon as they are out of sight, I get the other ingredients out of my bag. I pour salt in a circle around me and light a candle infused with lemon. I have to protect myself from this Obeah.

  “Protect me from all outside forces and allow nothing inside.”

  It’s not the best spell, but it’s a good one. Then I wait. I hear a few screams from the island, but that’s to be expected. Those zombies will scare the crap out of more than one person. I just hope against hope they don’t hurt anyone.

  After what feels like forever, the zombies return down the docks once again. I stand, my hands shaking. This is the moment of truth.

  They trudge off the
docks and across the water and form a circle three deep around the boat. One floats out in front of the rest, and with a start, I realize it’s Benny with his suit pants and suspenders. His face is twisted, but I know this is him.

  He brings his hand up to his mouth and tugs at the string that crisscrosses his lips. The string slips through the holes, and I wince when it gets stuck. Zombie Benny yanks harder, and the string slides out of four more holes. He clenches it tight in his palm.

  He wiggles his jaw and opens his mouth wide, revealing swampy green teeth and a black tongue. I recoil.

  “We have searched the island.” His voice is gravelly and strange. “You are the only Obeah. There is no other.”

  I swallow. I hadn’t anticipated this. That means whoever is pulling the strings is off-island or is one of the ghosts. Right? Ugh, this is so frustrating.

  I would send the zombies off the island to look, but there are many Obeah, and I have no way of making sure they grab the one I want.

  “Thank you,” I say because I don’t know what else to say.

  “Do you release us?” Zombie Benny asks.

  “Yes. You can return.”

  Most of the zombies drop into the water, but Zombie Benny takes that creepy string and weaves it back through his lips. It takes an excruciatingly long time, but eventually, he gets it done, and he falls back with the rest of them.

  I sit in the boat. I have no idea what to do. The Obeah is not someone on the island. It could be anyone, and I’m completely stumped.

  I dip the oars and slice through the water easily. I make it back to the docks in half the time it took the zombies.

  What am I going to do now?

  Chapter Fifteen

  The next day, my nerves start to get the better of me. I’ve been so focused on the problem of the other Obeah that in some ways I’ve forced away other problems.

  Like will Maddie hate me?

  Is Benny still a ghost, or did he kill Maddie?

  If he didn’t kill Maddie, then who did, and what will I do once I know?