She was holding out her tickets and he was just standing there like a knob. He took the tickets.
“No, no,” he said, offering them back. “That’s okay. Go on in. It’s on me.” It was a dumb thing to offer, something so small and cheap.
“Thanks, that’s really nice of you,” she touched his hand for just a moment longer than necessary when she took back the tickets. “I’m Yukiko.”
“Elliot,” he said. “Nice to meet you.”
“Hey, Elliot.” Astrid was next to him. He hadn’t heard or seen her come up, but then, he was a little distracted. “Augustus said I have to give you your lunch break.”
“But what about Rick? He usually takes the mirror house.”
Astrid shrugged. “He said it, I come. It’s not like it’s brain surgery.”
She was right. The job only involved taking tickets and keeping an eye on things. Then he noticed that Astrid was glaring at Yukiko. Oh yes, she said that Yukiko had been the woman who attempted to pay for a pretzel with a leaf.
“Well, see you later,” said Yukiko and climbed the steps to the mirror house. The plush fox tail swung back and forth with the sway of her hips.
“I think you have a little drool, just here,” said Astrid wickedly, swiping her finger beside her mouth.
“Shut up.”
“I told you, she’s nuts,” said Astrid. “I don’t know why she’s here again.”
“I think she’s working for the stage show on and off.”
Elliot grabbed his water bottle and was about to leave when he heard someone crying from inside the mirror house.
“Aw, man. Some kid is stuck in there,” he said. A child would occasionally get scared or confused and he’d have to get him or her out.
Then he remembered saying those exact words before. Déjà vu.
“I’ll get him,” Astrid said and headed into the mirror house. He remembered her doing that too.
Without thinking, he followed her. He had always had incidents of déjà vu that weren’t really déjà vu in the normal sense. He didn’t remember doing the things before, but he remembered dreaming about doing them. This time, he remembered being in bed at his mother’s house when he had dreamt of saying something about a kid stuck in the maze. But he couldn’t remember the rest of the dream.
He followed Astrid, who followed the sound of the crying child. The maze was made up of tall mirrors, all packed close together to allow the entire maze to fit onto a portable trailer platform. The best way to get through was to hold one hand out in front to keep from running into the mirror walls. Astrid didn’t do this, but kept her eyes on the floor, looking for the places where the floor wasn’t reflected on itself.
Elliot almost ran into her when she pulled up abruptly. She had come to the end of the maze portion, and was at the back of the maze, where a series of funhouse mirrors let customers have a look at themselves as stretched, squat or distorted before they left through an exit door to the right.
They would have to go back inside and find the lost kid. They must have missed him inside. Wherever he was, he was no longer crying.
“Elliot?” Astrid said. Her voice was terrified and she was stock still, but she had not turned around. He looked over her shoulder.
The mirror, the wavy one that made a person look neither fat nor tall, but completely distorted, was moving. It was an undulating motion, then a flattening until the mirror was smooth. Then he saw a girl, as if the mirror’s frame was a window and he was looking through it. Her face and shape were as familiar to him as the girl in front of him. It was Astrid. She wore some kind of long, shabby dress and her feet were bare and filthy. There was someone near her, a figure with his back to them. The girl shook her head. No, no.
Then the figure threw something at the girl, the contents of a bowl of liquid. The girl whimpered and pulled at her clothing, which was now hot and clinging to her body. The figure cracked the bowl against the side of the girl’s head and she fell to the ground. She was not unconscious, but pressed herself to the ground, begging. The action was animalistic in its subservience.
She was groveling.
He did not think he had ever seen a human being grovel before, not with such complete lack of regard for her pride or dignity as a human being. He had never seen Astrid like this. She had always, even when cornered and crying, had a little defiance in her. An anger. A fire.
The figure kicked the girl and swept away. And then the girl lifted her head, and Elliot saw the anger in her eyes. Then she was gone, replaced by something that made Astrid involuntarily step back, bumping into him. He put his hand on her shoulder. He remembered doing this before also, this touching her, both to comfort her and to make himself feel less afraid.
There were creatures, black as cinders, some cracked and oozing, some feral and hairy. They clawed and screamed, inhuman howls that made him suddenly cold. They pressed against the mirror, furious at being held back. Sometimes a creature was torn away by others who then clawed and screamed as they bashed at the glass. And worst of all, a reptilian creature, toothless and insane in its motions, made eye contact with him. Its eyes were dead. Not blank. These eyes were not simply flat and black like those of a snake or a shark, but were instead pulling, sucking something vital from within him.
Then that creature was thrown back, and another took its place. Astrid did not move, her gaze riveted to the mirror. He also remembered this and knew he was supposed to do something. There was only one thing he could do.
“Astrid!” he shook her shoulder gently and she gasped as if she had been holding her breath.
The mirror went back to normal, returning to its wavy, warped shape. But Elliot thought he saw something fly from the upper edge. It was only a motion caught from the corner of his eye, but he poked his head around the edge of the mirror wall to see where it had gone. There was nothing, just the empty passageway to the exit from the mirror house.
“Do you believe me now?” said Astrid. “About the stones?”
“I never disbelieved you,” he said. And he had a memory of saying these same words to her in just that way. And then, the memory ended, and he recalled waking in his bed, the alarm clock beeping on his nightstand.
“I want to leave,” she said.
They left through the back exit and walked back around to the front of the mirror house. As they took their positions behind the counter, the old woman from the Chumash Legends show hurried up to them.
“You two okay?” she asked.
“You’re Red Fawn, right?” asked Astrid. Her voice was steady, though Elliot could tell she was still shaky.
“That’s me,” said Red Fawn, glancing up at the giant head of Poseidon, grinning overhead. She then looked at Elliot. “Keep an eye on your girl,” she said and went into the mirror house.
“You saw it too, right?” said Astrid. “I’m not going crazy?”
“If you are, then we both are.”
“That wasn’t me. The girl.”
“What do you mean?”
“That stuff never happened to me.”
It occurred to Elliot that he and Astrid had not run into a single soul inside the mirror house. And now, no one was in line to go in. The place felt wrong, as if something evil emanated from it, but the feeling was fading with each passing moment.
A minute later, Red Fawn was back. “What did you do?” she said, pointing a gnarled finger at Astrid. “Tell me right now.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
Red Fawn hesitated, then looked at Elliot, sizing him up. Apparently she was not impressed, as she turned back to Astrid.
“Something happened in there. Something came through. And you did it.”
“Leave her alone. She didn’t do a thing,” said Elliot.
“Oh yes she did. Now tell me.�
�
“First, are you the Red Fawn who gave me salt packets when I was a kid? It was in the Valley, about ten or twelve years ago.”
“Salt packets?” Red Fawn looked thoughtful and a little worried. “Stick out your tongue.”
“What?” said Astrid.
“Your tongue. Stick it out. Quick.”
Astrid did, and the woman put her hand under Astrid’s chin. “Say ‘aaah.’” She looked into Astrid’s mouth and then nodded.
“It was me. Now be honest. What happened? I need to know.”
“We just went in,” Astrid said. “And then we saw these things, these creatures, scratching at the glass like they wanted to come through.” Elliot noticed that she didn’t mention seeing herself being hurt. Was that some kind of vision of the future? Like his déjà vu dreams?
“And did any come through?” asked Red Fawn.
“No,” Astrid shook her head.
“Wait. I think I saw something,” said Elliot. “It was up near the ceiling. But birds sometimes fly in there and get caught.”
“It wasn’t a bird,” said Red Fawn. “And you, young lady, let it through.”
Chapter 17
“What do you mean, I let it through?” asked Astrid.
“You did something,” said Red Fawn. “You opened a Door. I could tell clear across the park.”
Astrid exchanged a look with her cousin. She could see from his expression that Elliot agreed with her that Red Fawn sounded insane. But they had been in the mirror house with those horrible creatures, scratching to come through. Elliot said he had seen it too. That meant she wasn’t seeing things. She wasn’t crazy.
“So, what is it, exactly, that you think came through?” Astrid asked Red Fawn.
“It could be any of a hundred things. This place, it’s a borderland. There are things from all over that could come through. And now we have to somehow get rid of it. Shit. Shit! I’m going to have to ask that stinking bastard for help.”
Two Luna Park security guards jogged past, walkie-talkies bouncing from their belts. Astrid hesitated and then ran to catch up.
“What happened?” she asked them.
“Tell your boss that there’s a problem with the logjam ride. He’s going to have some pissed off customers.”
“What should I say happened?”
“They radioed that a couple of the logs somehow sprung leaks. Bad ones. They took on water, got stuck on the bottom of the flume and other logs are piling up.”
So there was a logjam on the logjam ride. She let them continue on and turned back to find Red Fawn approaching.
“Where is it?” Red Fawn said.
“There’s a problem with a ride. It’s nothing.”
“What was it?”
“The logjam ride. Some of the logs are leaking.”
“Let’s head over there. If it’s done with that ride, it may move on to others.”
“Breaking rides? Is that what demons do these days?”
“I didn’t say it was a demon. And yes, some creatures love to cause mischief. We’re lucky if that’s all it does.”
They passed the Typhoon ride, the line of two-person cars spinning endlessly on an undulating round track, and moved past the midway games, scanning for trouble, but found none.
“I think I smell smoke,” said Astrid. It was faint, but definite.
Red Fawn followed her. An employee was about to pull the window closed at the pizza counter. Astrid ran up and asked him what was happening.
“Kitchen fire. We have to close up until we clean up.” He pulled the window closed.
“I’m not sure,” said Red Fawn before Astrid could ask the question. “Could be the creature, could be coincidence. Let’s see if that pattern holds.”
“There’s a pattern?”
“So far, the level of mischief is potentially harmful, but not clearly malevolent. Since we don’t know what it is, we observe its behavior and see if we can figure it out.”
Astrid didn’t voice her thought that she would be useless in diagnosing demonic activity. Or, if the creature wasn’t a demon, evil creature activity. Whichever.
“Tell me about the salt packets,” said Astrid. “Why did you give them to me?”
“I don’t remember. Now, don’t be upset, I’m not lying to you. I really don’t remember doing it. It sounds like something I would do though.”
“What did you see when you looked in my mouth?”
Red Fawn waved the question away and her turquoise and silver ring gleamed bright on her wrinkled hand. “The important thing is that you opened a Door to somewhere else. Lots of dangerous beings don’t like salt. So if I gave salt to you, it was for protection.”
“Protection.”
“Yeah, protection. It’s an ancient warding measure to protect from fairies, goblins, demons and other things that go bump in the night.”
Salt. She thought of her grandfather’s books. Running water, knots, salt and other things all were protection against bad spirits. And Red Fawn had thought Astrid needed such protection. It was one thing to think that the creatures were real. It was another to think that she might somehow be attracting them.
Red Fawn said, “Now, you brought the thing through, so I want you to try to concentrate. See if you can tell where the creature is now.”
Astrid paused and tried to concentrate, but she didn’t know exactly what she was supposed to be looking for. She pictured one of the horrible creatures, but that only made her stomach clench in fear.
“Anything?” asked Red Fawn hopefully.
“No. But how come you can’t feel it? I thought you felt it across the park.”
“I felt the Door, not the creature.”
Elliot ran up. “Over by the carousel. It was there. A horse came off.”
When they reached the carousel, they found that the ride had stopped and one of the carousel horses was lying on the ground, its mouth open and its wooden mane and tail flying. A woman held a boy who was a little too big to be comfortably carried. His face was pink from crying. She spoke with a park employee.
“Rick was over here,” said Elliot. “He said that the horse’s legs moved. Actually moved. And then the horse ran for a few seconds before falling to the ground.”
“And the kid was on it?” asked Astrid.
“He looks fine,” said Red Fawn. “Tell me about the horse.”
“That’s all,” said Elliot. “He said it looked like the horse ran, but it had to be the movement of the carousel or something.”
“No, he saw what he said,” said Red Fawn. “Funny that he told you though. Most people would just write it off or keep quiet.”
“We’re friends,” said Elliot. “But more importantly, where is the thing now?”
Astrid was a little surprised that he so easily accepted the existence of this creature. He had seen what she had in the mirror house, but it still seemed impossible. But the stacked stones were real, as were the burned grass circle and the salt packets. She wasn’t sure what was reasonable and what was too strange to be real.
“It’s going to be over that way next,” said Red Fawn. “See, it’s making a path. Logjam, pizza counter, here. If it continues, it’ll be in that direction,” she pointed.
They moved on. Astrid didn’t know how the old woman planned to catch this creature once they found it. It wasn’t like she could snap a leash on it. Or could she? Maybe she could sprinkle it with salt.
Astrid scanned the area. The Sea Swings twirled, the riders flying out on their individual swings as the mushroom-shaped support structure spun them around. Panels with Italian paintings of schooners, clippers and frigates flashed by. Some sailed under sunny skies, some were buffeted by storm winds and gray sheets of rain. The images blurred as they whirled
. Nearby, the swinging pirate ship ride took on new riders and the multi-colored kiddie boats made a leisurely circle in their water-filled track.
“Red Fawn?” she said. “Other strange things have happened.”
She told her about the stacked stones and the burned grass. Red Fawn grew more serious. “When you opened the Door today, it was accidental. If you can do that, then you might have done it before. Maybe when you were asleep or distracted. I don’t know much about opening Doors like that. But there are some that can do it. Dangerous business. I’d recommend against it.”
“It’s not like I did it on purpose.”
A man was watching them. He had tousled sandy hair, cowboy boots and was very good looking. He gave Astrid a wink and she looked away, embarrassed to be caught staring at him.
“Shit, it’s him,” said Red Fawn. She muttered something under her breath and then called over to him, “Come on over here you, old smiler.”
He walked over, his movements loose and fluid. Astrid wouldn’t have called him graceful, as that somehow implied a certain femininity. But he had an easy manner, as if he was entirely comfortable in his skin.
“What is it?” Red Fawn asked him. “What sort of spirit?”
“Well, it’s no hob, Granny. It’s a slaugh.”
“First, don’t call me Granny.”
“Fine, May.”
“It’s Red Fawn.”
“All right. Red Fawn,” he said. “Since you’re going by that name nowadays.”
“As if I’d tell you my own. So a slaugh. Part of the Wild Hunt?”
“More than likely,” he said. “But the big question is how an Unseelie came through.”
“The girl opened a Door.”
“Oh, did you now?” he looked at Astrid in approval. He was even more good looking close up. “That’s something you don’t see every day.” He made it sound like she had accomplished something wonderful. “And who might you be?”
The Time Corps Chronicles (Complete Series) Page 67