She hurried away, tripping down the steps to the first story.
Careening down the hall, she arrived in the kitchen.
She threw open the door to the basement and rushed down the steps, her heart in her throat. She didn’t know what to expect. Would it be carnage, the bodies of Melanie and Joan ripped to shreds, Holden buried in their grisly remains, his muzzle red with blood?
Well, Holden was in wolf form.
But he hadn’t touched them. He was circling them, sniffing, growling, but they were whole.
She let out a sigh of relief. Now, if she could only figure out how to teach him to shift back to human form too. Then everything would be okay.
She went down the rest of the steps, holding out her hand to Holden. She didn’t know what to do. Should she call him? Like a dog?
Mick appeared on the steps behind her. “What? What’s wrong with you, boy? Kill, damn it, kill!”
Holden snarled, his ears flattening against his skull.
“Stop it,” Carrie said to Mick.
Mick opened his mouth to say something else.
Carrie did it without thinking. The change came over her body as she willed it—easy and beautiful, like a waterfall rushing over her skin. The wolf streamed over her, through her, into her.
And she bounded up in one long, liquid leap, tackling Mick and pinning him to the steps.
Mick was too shocked to react.
And she didn’t give him the chance to gather himself.
She went for his throat, her sharp teeth ripping it out, taking his life, stopping the beating of his heart.
There was blood, spraying, flowing…
But Carrie didn’t get caught up in its delicious bouquet.
Instead, she turned to make sure that Holden…
Yes. He had already shifted back into human form. The bond with Mick had been severed along with Mick’s life.
* * *
Melanie rubbed her wrists where the rope had bit into her skin. She looked tired and haggard but relieved. Carrie thought that it was horrible what she had been through. She couldn’t stop apologizing.
“It’s okay,” Melanie finally said. “I know it wasn’t your fault. It was that Mick man who did this.”
Carrie and Holden were both wrapped in throw blankets from the sofa in the den, since they didn’t have their clothes anymore. At some point, Carrie figured she would find something for both of them to wear, but it was most important now to make sure that Melanie and Joan were okay.
Joan was shocked. She stared at both Carrie and Holden, wide-mouthed. “You guys are werewolves.”
Carrie nodded. “Yeah. Apparently, yeah. I was born that way.”
“But… but you don’t change on full moons,” said Joan.
“It’s a long story,” said Carrie. “And I promise I’ll get into it for you at some point. But the good news is that we’re safe now. Mick was hurting us, forcing us to do terrible things, and now he can’t do that anymore.” She wasn’t glad that she’d killed someone else, but someone like Mick surely deserved it. He had needed to be put down. He had proved over and over again that he wasn’t going to stop hurting them, so there had been no other choice.
“Well,” said Melanie. “Now, we need to call the SF.”
“What?” said Carrie. “No, I can’t let you do that.”
“Seriously, Mel, you can’t,” said Holden.
“Can’t?” Melanie’s eyebrows shot up. “Holden, you’re a monster. I just saw you shift back from wolf form. You could have killed me.”
“But he didn’t,” said Carrie. “Even without training, he wasn’t a vicious beast when he turned. He knew enough—”
“I didn’t know anything,” Holden said quietly. “It’s just dumb luck, I guess. Maybe the wolf wasn’t hungry.”
“You did it,” said Carrie. “Your will carried over from when you were in human form to when you were in wolf form.”
Holden shrugged. “If you say so. But I don’t feel like that’s true.”
“We have to call the SF,” said Melanie. “Otherwise, he’ll hurt someone.”
“He won’t,” said Carrie. “The only reason he was even shifted right now was because Mick made him do it.”
“Well, what about the next full moon?” said Melanie.
“Yeah, why don’t you shift on full moons?” said Joan.
“I do,” said Carrie. “Well, I did, but Mick stopped me from shifting. He was my alpha.”
“And now he’s dead,” said Holden. “So, next full moon, I’ll go nuts and kill my sister.”
“No,” said Carrie. But she had to admit, she wasn’t sure what might happen. She’d controlled her shifting now, breaking the ties between her and Mick, but when the moon called her… She remembered how strong the call of the silvery light had been, how much she was drawn to it. She bit down on her lip. “Maybe… maybe we should call the carnival.”
“The carnival?” said Joan. “What carnival? The one that Mick worked at.”
“It’s a carnival of wolves, apparently,” said Carrie. “His aunt and uncle run it.”
“We just killed their nephew,” said Holden.
“True.” Carrie felt a little sick. “But… I talked to his aunt once. She came to talk to me when the carnival was in town, and she said that I would be welcome there, no matter what.”
“I’m not sure what the problem is with going to the SF,” said Melanie.
“I don’t want to risk it,” said Carrie. “That place doesn’t seem like a good place. I don’t want to suppress my wolf.”
“You don’t?” said Holden.
She touched his arm. “You’ll see what I mean. It can be so beautiful.”
“You sound nuts,” said Mel.
“I’m just going to call.” Carrie figured it couldn’t hurt, right?
* * *
“Is Mick dead?” said his Aunt Calla when she heard Carrie’s voice.
“Uh, how did you know that?”
“You had to kill him, didn’t you? He went mad, didn’t he? He tried to hurt people, tried to rape you, maybe, got a head full of grandeur and wouldn’t listen to reason?”
“Uh… well, yeah,” said Carrie.
Calla sighed. “I knew it. I warned him. I told him that creating a pack like that—an unnatural pack—with him so young and inexperienced… The wolf bonds don’t play nice when they are manipulated in that way. You can’t fool nature. Adding the boy in as well, that was last straw. It broke him. I could tell when I talked to him. Damn it.”
Carrie swallowed. “So, you aren’t, uh, angry with me for killing him?”
“I’m sure you only did it because you had to.” Calla sighed. “Are you calling because you need a place to stay?”
“Actually, yes. It’s either the carnival or the SF. I’m not sure we can make it on our own. If we shift at the full moon…”
“Please come,” Calla said. “Please come as soon as you can.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
They drove all day. It was late when they first saw the carnival in the distance. The circle of the Ferris Wheel rose up above the tree line. As they got closer, they could see the other rides as well. The carousel, its horses circling endlessly. A swinging pirate ship. The Tilt-A-Whirl. The carnival was open for business, and the rides spun and gleamed in the evening light. The sounds of laughter and screams of joy filtered through the open windows in the car. They could smell roasted peanuts and the sickly sweet scent of cotton candy.
Melanie still wanted to call the SF, but they’d persuaded her to let them try going to the carnival.
Carrie didn’t know what it would be like here, but there was something about the place that whispered to her, that called to her. It made her wolf feel soothed.
She realized that it always had, every time the carnival had appeared in her hometown in April. The sight of the carnival had given her a peace that she’d never recognized until now.
They pulled in behind the carnival, where a cluste
r of RVs and trucks were parked.
Carrie reached over and grabbed Holden’s hand. “It’s going to be okay now,” she murmured. “I can feel it.”
He took a long, slow breath. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”
And they got out of the car, looking around. They weren’t waiting long before someone approached them. “Hello!” called the woman as she walked over.
Carrie waved tentatively. “Hi?”
The woman closed the distance between them and smiled up at her. She looked just as she had that night weeks ago—older, but still pretty. When she smiled, there were crinkles around her eyes. “I’m Calla.”
“Oh,” said Carrie. “Um, I’m Carrie. This is Holden.”
“Pleased to meet you,” said Calla. “You two want to look around tonight, ride some rides? We’ll get started in the morning.”
Holden and Carrie exchanged a look. “Get started?”
“You’re staying at this carnival, so you’re going to make yourselves useful,” said Calla. “I got jobs for the both of you.”
Well, Carrie hadn’t expected that, but she realized she didn’t have an objection. “Okay,” she said.
“Good,” said Calla, handing tickets over to Holden. “Here’s some tickets. Have a bit of fun. I’ll see you right here at seven sharp tomorrow.” She gave them another smile and then left.
Holden looked down at the tickets in his hand. “Here we are at the carnival again.”
Carrie smiled. “Last time, you barely knew who I was.”
“I was an idiot.”
They spent the evening playing games, going on rides, and eating funnel cakes.
When the carnival shut down, they weren’t sure where to go, so they headed back to Carrie’s car, where they climbed into the backseat.
Holden wrapped his arms around Carrie and she tucked her head against his shoulder. She closed her eyes, and they sat that way for quite some time. Holden’s fingers moved rhythmically over her arms, and she liked the way it felt to be close, to be touched.
She sighed.
He kissed the top of her head.
She shifted, tilting her head back.
Their lips met.
The kiss started out slow and soft, just a meeting of the lips. But then they found themselves pressing their lips together again. They found themselves exploring each other’s tongues.
Little bursts of delight began to explode through Carrie’s body. This was nice. The backseat was small, but it was cozy.
She eased her hand inside Holden’s shirt. His skin was hot and smooth.
His breath caught at her touch. He broke their kiss. “Do you want to—?”
“Don’t you?” she whispered. “We only did it once, and when we did… Well, I strongly got the impression that it was something we were supposed to do together. Like a lot.”
He chuckled, and she felt the vibration of it in his chest. “Supposed to do?”
“Fated to do.”
“You believe in that kind of thing? Fate?” His hands were inside her shirt now, skimming over her waist, moving over her ribcage.
Goosebumps erupted over her flesh. Her nipples tightened, and she felt arousal begin to spread through her. She gasped. “I believe in us.”
His hands closed over her breasts. “I do too,” he breathed. “More than anything.”
She moaned.
He kissed her, and it was a gush of sparks, of pleasure.
Outside the car, the windows were getting steamed up, enclosing the two of them in their own tiny world together.
* * *
The sun woke them the next morning, struggling into the sky.
Calla was hot on its heels. “Good morning!” she said. “Let’s get moving.”
She led them through the camp, where the rest of the workers had set up their RVs and campers. Most people were up and about now, but some were still asleep. They were sprawled out in chairs around now-dead campfires—a few still clutching half-empty bottles of beer.
When they got to the edge of the camp, they came upon the outskirts of the carnival. Here, the rides stretched up into the blue, morning sky. They weren’t moving now, of course, so they were silent behemoths. Up close, their lights extinguished, they looked worn and tired—not as glitzy as they did in motion.
Calla strode between the rides, banging on each one of the cars of the Tilt-a-Whirl until a few heads appeared. Teenagers—not much older that Carrie and Holden—had been sleeping there. They yawned and rubbed their eyes.
“Morning,” said Calla cheerfully. “Time to get moving.”
Carrie scurried close to Calla. She lowered her voice. “Do they… do they work here?”
“Absolutely,” said Calla, grinning. “We take what we can get around here. The lifers will have RVs and transportation, but the drifters will sleep wherever they can.”
Carrie looked back at Holden. So, this was the only alternative to the car? Well, she didn’t expect she was going to let Holden sleep anywhere but right next to her from now on.
Holden didn’t notice her look. He was too busy craning his neck around at the sights.
Calla looked over her shoulder. “Mick’s RV is empty right now. I think the two of you deserve it.”
“Really? But that’s… No, that would be wrong.”
Calla shrugged. “You think about it, all right?” She led them past the rides and stopped in the middle of a grassy area where the games and concessions stands were set up. She turned to them. “This is the midway, and we’ll start you out here. It takes some special training to work the rides. Not because there’s a lot to stopping and starting them, but because there are things you need to know to do if something goes wrong. If you’re around here for a while, and you take an interest, we can show you how to do that. But for now, what the two of you will be doing is spelling the workers in the games.”
Carrie furrowed her brow. She wasn’t sure what Calla meant.
“You’ll need to have a working knowledge of each of the games, since you’ll take them over for a half hour while the person who generally runs them takes lunch or dinner. So, this morning, we’ll go through each one, and you’ll get started this afternoon, all right?” Calla smiled.
Oh. Carrie thought she understood now. She peered around at the games. All of them? Well… how hard could it be? Mostly, she’d hand out balls and take money, right?
It turned out to be a bit more tricky than that. One of the things that Carrie and Holden had to learn to do was to demonstrate how “easy” it was to win each of the games. Of course, it wasn’t actually easy at all, because all of the games were rigged.
Now, Calla didn’t use the word rigged. She said they were enhanced to make them more challenging, and she said that they shouldn’t share this fact with the people who were forking over their money to play the games.
But Carrie knew what she meant.
Still, Carrie wasn’t about to refuse to do the work. For one thing, she had nowhere else to go. And besides, there was something charming and exciting about the carnival. There might be a layer of sleaze here, but she didn’t sense any real malice from Calla. She was a woman trying to make a living, that was all.
And once the carnival opened, Carrie had to admit that there was something magical about being part of it. She loved watching the crowds of people, the wide-eyed children, so excited for their day of fun. The teenage couples, their fingers entwined, gazing into each other’s eyes and grinning stupidly. The parents watching their kids and beaming.
It was all bound up in the warm spring air, the smell of popcorn and hot dogs and cotton candy, the sounds of the carousel and the workers hawking their games… She felt as if she’d been spun into a different world, and she loved it.
She and Holden would pass each other as they made their way from game to game to spell the workers there. And both of them would grin at each other.
“This is cool, huh?” she said to him, as the sun began to sink behind the hori
zon and the lights came up on the rides and the stands.
He looked around appreciatively. “Yeah.”
It was magic—an electric fairy land. Maybe it wasn’t innocent, and maybe it was a little frayed at the edges, but Carrie knew the old stories of fairies, and there was something sinister about them anyway. All magic had its dark side. She liked this carnival. She wasn’t sure if she liked the events that had brought her here, but she was glad that she was here.
That night, after the carnival had closed down and all the light had been extinguished, she and Holden made their way back to Mick’s RV, having decided that it was stupid to refuse it, both happy in a way they hadn’t been expecting.
Things were going to be okay here. A place like this had too much magic to be a bad place.
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