Luke scowls. “He’s going to hurt you.”
“Not as bad as Samuel if he has his way.”
Luke’s scowl deepens. “I wish you’d just stay away from them both.”
“I can’t avoid Samuel. I’m trying to make his life miserable, but I’m not exactly bursting with ideas. You got any?”
“Yeah. Stay away from him.”
I shake my head. “Not helpful.”
“You want to do dinner with me? I can make steaks.”
“That sounds awesome. But only if you promise to help me brainstorm ideas.”
He chuckles. “You’re on.”
Luke has no good ideas, so after dinner, I ask Amy, and she refuses to help.
For the next couple of weeks, I hang out in Juliette’s boat on her leather couch that looks like it belongs in a penthouse in New York. The day of the full moon, Juliette is all grins.
“What are you all excited for?” I ask just before dusk. It’s the full moon, so I don’t have to worry about dying, but the circus brings back a whole slew of people who can’t be trusted. Not that many of the permanent residents can be trusted here either.
“Victor’s going to be here.”
I give her a slow nod. In all the excitement, I’d forgotten about her crush, that vampire, Victor.
“Do you need to get ready?” I ask her.
“No. I’ve got about thirty minutes once the circus gets going before I have to get my makeup on. What about you?” She smooths down her wine red skirt and looks around.
“I’m not performing tonight.”
She jerks her head back to me. “Why not?”
“Because I’m not going to give Samuel the satisfaction.”
Speak of the devil. Samuel rushes toward us, all decked out in his ringmaster gear. “Where’s your costume?” he asks me, irritated.
“I’m not performing.” I meet his eyes.
He raises his brows. “Yes, you are.”
I stand tall. “Make me.”
He rolls his eyes. “Right. Your plan. Fine, don’t perform. See if I care.”
He strolls away, whistling and spinning his fake walking stick.
“Dammit. He didn’t care.”
Juliette chuckles and nudges me. “How’s your plan going?”
“How does it look? Aside from that, I’m plum out of ideas.”
“You’ll figure it out.”
The circus transformation begins, and for a second, I am mesmerized. This is my kind of magic. Not the creepy thing Lorena did with the rabbit. The rundown tents straighten up, and the dull colors become bright reds and blues. A few signs pop up out of nowhere and prop themselves up next to the tents, and the dusty paths almost glitter. A whine comes from the carousel that now spins with shiny horses, and amazing smells of funnel cakes and iced drinks waft over from my left.
All at once, the ghosts appear.
I swallow. I’m still not used to the ghosts. They freak me out a little.
Juliette squeezes my hand. “I’m going to go see Victor. See you later?”
I nod and wipe my hands on my shorts. Strolling right toward us is Benny. Juliette says hi to him, and he gives her a small smile, but his eyes are on me. My heart flutters. This is bad.
“Thanks for helping me out in New Orleans,” I say to get it out of the way. He smells like he always does, of whiskey and gunpowder.
He gives me a crooked grin. “My pleasure, doll. I should be upset that it didn’t work, but I’m not. Not really.”
“Well, I don’t feel the same way. No offense.”
I want to wipe away the hair that falls over his beautiful deep brown eyes, but I don’t. I’m not sure what I plan on doing here, but falling in love with a ghost is not on my agenda. Besides, look what happened last time I fell for a guy.
He turned out to be an asshole
Benny chuckles. “None taken.” He looks down and shuffles his feet. It’s odd to see him self-conscious.
“How did you get back here?” The creepy girl who tried to hold me down in the airport stalks up to me, one hand on her hip and a pout on her lips, her gray teeth poking out.
I take a step closer to Benny, and he places a hand on my back. I shouldn’t appreciate it, but I do.
“Samuel brought me back.”
The lice girl sidles up to Benny’s other side, and he wrinkles his nose. “Benny, can you tell Samuel that we’re trying so hard? We want to stay here after the circus is over.”
He shakes her off and steers us away from them. “Callie and I are getting food. You’ll find Samuel at the main event.”
They start to follow, but the birds that hover around Benny swoop down between us. “Those birds are handy,” I say.
“I know.” He chuckles.
A raven lands on his shoulder, and he pulls out a piece of jerky and feeds the bird. The raven nuzzles his face and flies away.
We wander out toward the food tents, past the bear pens, and Benny chatters about his last couple of weeks. I listen a little distractedly, unable to get Samuel off my mind. He isn’t taking my bait. He should be at least irritated with me by now, but he doesn’t seem to care at all. I don’t know how to make him not want me here anymore.
“You want more junk food?” Benny asks. “I convinced the lemonade maker to give blueberries a shot.”
My breath catches. Benny listened to me when I said I loved blueberry lemonade. That was a few circuses ago.
He reaches his hand out to me. I stare at it, but I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to give him the wrong idea. I can’t like him. He’d been too much of a distraction.
I don’t take his hand, but I give him a smile.
“A lemonade would be great.”
He lets his hand drop, but his expression doesn’t change. We spot Samuel near the big tent, and he heads straight for us.
He scowls at Benny. “Of course you’re with her. Kill her this time, will you?”
“Can’t pop her until the new moon,” Benny says with a wink at me.
“You haven’t succeeded so far.” He looks from me to Benny, and I realize that he’s jealous. Oh, this I can work with.
I loop my arm through Benny’s and lean into him. “Benny and I were just going to get something to drink. Then, we’re going back to my boat.”
Anger flashes across Samuel’s features for just a second. Then he gives a wide grin. “Well, enjoy your night. Benny, I hope you don’t fall for this. She’s just trying to make me jealous. For the record, it’s not working.”
I keep up the charade until Samuel is out of sight and then let go of Benny. I give him a pitying smile. “Sorry. He’s right.”
Benny chuckles. “It bothered him more than he let on. But honestly, if you want to really get to him, you’ll need to do more than just make him jealous.” He runs his hand through his hair and gives me one of his devastating smiles. “Though, I’m more than willing to help you in that regard. But if you really want to learn how to make him pay, you need to learn magic.”
I stare at him for a second. “I’m not a witch or a voodoo anything.”
“How do you know?”
I’ve seen all kinds of crazy magic on the island, but it never occurred to me that I could do it. I would know if I was a witch. But maybe not. Maybe magic only works on the island.
“I don’t, I guess. How would I find out?”
“Lorena. Or Ruth. But Lorena will probably be a better bet.”
I chew on my bottom lip. Lorena has always been helpful. I just hope she doesn’t laugh when I show up on her doorstep and ask if I’m a witch.
“You want to see a show?” he asks.
“Not really. I don’t want to watch anyone die.”
“I know all the shows. We’ll leave before they get scary.”
“Okay. Sure.”
We weave through the people and pass the bathrooms. I hold my nose. They obviously haven’t been cleaned in a while. Something like a gunshot goes off, and I jump. Benny chuckles.
“Here, this is one of my favorites.” He holds open a black tent flap, and I catch a glimpse of swords on the sign before he pulls me inside. There are no people here, but a large woman in a slip dress sits on the stage in front of the tent wall that looks like it’s made of brick. Every inch of her skin is covered in leopard print tattoos, but they appear poorly done. She has short dark hair with a round face and wears glasses, which I find odd knowing she’s a ghost.
She waves us in, the skin on her arms jiggling. “Come in, darlings.”
She fixes her beady eyes on us, and I give her a small smile, uncomfortable with her stare.
“Kid, you know it’s been a long time since Benny brought a girl to my show.”
I give a fake laugh.
“Seriously, sis, it’s been years. Do you know what happened to the last one?”
I shake my head, and Benny tenses next to me.
“She died, love. Shame. At Benny’s hand, too, I think.”
Benny chuckles uncomfortably. “Come on, Sara, this isn’t a girl you need to scare.”
I wonder what he means by that. Is it because he doesn’t want me to be scared or because he knows I can totally handle it? I clutch at my sides. This tent is dark and shadowy and smells like death.
She raises her eyebrows at me. “He must really like you. So, sweetie, tell me which sword would you like me to swallow.” She waves her hand over a table in front of her that I somehow didn’t notice before. She rattles off the names of the swords: Smiter, Rusty, Mr. Pricks, Sharpie, Bendy, Longfellow.
Two more people enter the tent, and she waves them in.
“Where you folks from?” she asks, and they just stare at her.
“Let’s go,” the girl says.
“No, we’re staying,” the boy argues with a tone of voice that I would never put up with.
“Sit,” the sword swallower says. “And tell me where you kids are from.”
“Chicago,” the boy answers and pulls the girl into the chair next to him.
“Ah, Chicago,” Sara says. “I’ve been there. Can’t say I miss the horns honking and the smell of the sewer.” She looks at all of us like we are supposed to laugh, but it isn’t funny.
She chuckles. “Okay then.” She picks up a sword. “I’m not getting any lighter, so I’ll start with Mr. Smiter.”
She grins and waves the sword in front of us. Nobody reacts, but she doesn’t seem to notice.
“We should all have a little iron in our diet.” She slides the sword into her mouth and down her throat. I expect blood to spurt out or something, but nothing happens.
“Oh, come on,” says the girl. “I’ve seen that trick a million times.”
Sara pulls the sword out of her mouth and hands it to the girl. “If you’re hungry, I’ve got plenty of swords around. Help yourself, smarty pants.”
The girl just stares at her. Sara looks around at the rest of us and sighs. “Well, if you didn’t like that one, perhaps we should listen to Henry Wadsworth and go with Longfellow.”
Benny whispers in my ear. “We should go.”
I get up and follow him.
“Where are you two going?” Sara calls. “It’s about to get good.”
“Told you, Sara, Callie doesn’t like scary.”
Sara cackles. “Then you are in the wrong place, dearie. Have fun.”
We escape into the crowds of people as my mind reels.
We walk past the big cats. Fiona growls in her cage, and I do a double take. Her hackles are raised, and she’s bearing down on a young woman.
“Benny! There’s a girl in the cage with Fiona.” My heart thumps in my chest.
He chuckles. “That’s Alia. She’s a ghost. No one chokes tonight, remember?”
The last time a girl was trapped in there with Fiona, it was me, and I wasn’t a ghost. And it happened on a night like tonight, when I was wandering around with Benny. Except tonight is more like a date.
But his last date ended up dead, according to Sara.
“You hungry? Those sandwiches look good.”
“Um. No. Can we talk?” I need to know about his last date. The one who ended up dead.
He furrows his brows. “Sure. Let’s find a quieter place.” He hands me my lemonade, and the sweat on the cup makes it slick in my hand.
He leads me toward some tables away from the hustle and bustle of the circus. The scorpion man steps right into my path, and I scream. He looks down at me and grins, and someone cackles to my left.
“Come on, Benny, you’ll have more fun with us,” the lice girl says. The tall boy is back with them, but he’s watching the scorpion man.
Benny grabs my hand and drags me away from all of them. It takes a few minutes for my heart to stop racing.
“What’s up?” he asks, his face suddenly serious.
“Did your last date really end up dead?” I slide my fingers along the gritty table.
He runs a hand through his hair and lets out a breath. “I thought we weren’t on a date.”
“You’re avoiding the question.”
“Fine then. No, she did not. That was just Sara.”
“Are you lying to me?” If he answered that outright, I might have believed him, but he didn’t.
We’re nearly alone. The sounds of the circus float back to us, but aside from the lights, I can’t see anything.
He purses his lips. “Why would I lie to you?”
“Luke told me how you brought him to the island and what you did to his friend.”
“Ah, that was my more vicious time. I’ve changed.”
I take a step back from him. He doesn’t seem all that bothered by his past. Maybe he did kill his last date. “How do I know you’ve changed?”
“You don’t. But I can try to explain.”
“Why bother? In the end, when you get bored of me, you’ll just kill me.” My voice has risen a few notches, and I can’t believe I let the island blind me. He’ll hurt me just like Samuel did. Yeah, he protected me from Samuel earlier with his birds, but what if he was just doing that because he didn’t want Samuel to have me? No one on this island is sane. Luke tried to warn me that both Benny and Samuel were bad. He is right about Samuel. He’s probably right about Benny, too.
“I’m not going to get bored of you, and I won’t kill you.”
“What you did to Luke’s friend. That was way cruel. Is that the worst of it?”
He hangs his head.
“That’s what I thought. I can’t do this. I appreciate the birds more than you know, but you are a cold-blooded murderer. For some reason you decided not to murder me, but that doesn’t mean you won’t kill again. I’m sorry.”
I flee. He doesn’t chase me, and I make it back to my boat and slam the door and lock it. I flop onto my bed, wondering if I’ve done the right thing. My mind is spinning. I don’t trust my thoughts or my feelings anymore.
Benny isn’t trying to kill me because he wants to. He’s doing it because he has to. Because of Samuel. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s all Benny. I don’t know anything.
This island is getting to me. All this death and mysterious people.
The truth is I have no idea who I can trust or really if I can even trust anyone.
Maybe, in the end, they’ll all betray me.
Chapter Four
After a nap the next day, I peek outside. The sun has chased the clouds away. I take a shower and head over to Lorena’s, wondering how I’m going to ask her, mostly because her answer will depend on her mood. The image of that rabbit still floats in my head.
In spite of that, I’m kind of excited. What if I can do magic? That would change everything. If I could do magic, I could protect myself.
The air smells like wet dog, and I look around. It could be any sort of animal, and I don't want to be taken off guard. I listen. Nails click on the surface of the docks, and I wait, ready to race back to my boat if I have to.
One of the acrobats, Jane, comes around the corner, her dog following. Sh
e gives me a nod but doesn’t say anything. Her dog looks at me with those wide brown eyes but stays close to Jane. I wait for them to be out of sight because I don’t want her to think I’m following. She’s always been pretty stand offish. Which is strange because she’s near my age, maybe a couple of years older, and she’s here with her younger sister.
Lorena’s on her porch, mixing herbs. I sit next to her and decide to just get it over with.
“Is it possible to learn magic?” I ask. I pick up a tennis ball from a bucket on her porch and bounce it. It gets away from me and splashes into the swamp. Oops.
Lorena doesn’t look up from her task. “Anything’s possible.”
I sit up a little straighter. “Then, I want to learn magic,” I say. I’m sure she can sense my eagerness.
“It’s not something you can just want. It takes years to properly learn magic.”
“Apparently, I’ve got years.” I can’t believe I was so close to being home and I ended up back here. I feel like I should feel worse about this, but it’s my reality right now. I need to get my feet underneath me first, figure out how to survive here, and then maybe figure out how to get the hell away. Jane jogs by, and her dog barks at us. Lorena glares at her, but she ignores us.
“What’s going on with you and Benny?”
“We hang when he’s here.” I need to get her back on track. I need to know about magic, not talk about boys. “I like his company.”
“And Samuel?” Lorena asks.
I shake my head vigorously. “Nothing.”
“I thought I saw you locking lips with him.” She scowls at me. I wonder why she even cares.
“That was so he’d let me off the island.”
“Looked a bit steamier than that.”
I don’t know what she expects me to say. Like I’m going to spill my guts about my feelings—or lack thereof—for Samuel.
“Does magic work everywhere or only here on the island?” The words come out in a rush. Suddenly, I desperately want to know more. This opens so many doors for me. It would change the fight with Samuel by heaps.
“Everywhere.”
“Then, why have I never witnessed it before the island?” The rain starts up again and plinks in the water behind me.
Circus of the Dead: Book 2 Page 2