“Thanks, Riley,” I said, climbing off the bike. I pulled the helmet off and handed it back to him. Suddenly shy, I gave him a smile. “I’ll see you later, yeah?”
Turning to walk away, I heard him say, “Hey, Icy!”
He reached out and caught my arm, tugging me back to him, before planting a kiss on my lips in front of everyone. My cheeks flared with heat, but I couldn’t help dissolving inside. He broke the kiss. “No more accidents, okay?”
I shook my head. “No more accidents,” I agreed, though I had no idea what the next few hours might hold.
Riley tore away on his bike. Everyone got back to their own business. I thought I’d been forgotten until I glanced around and locked eyes with a familiar aqua stare.
Flynn was watching me. Damn, he must have seen me with Riley.
I lifted my hand in a half-wave, but he just turned and walked away.
My heart sank, though I wasn’t sure why I even cared.
I only had half an hour before I needed to meet Laurel. Hurrying up to my room, I stood in front of the mirror and checked out the mark on my forehead. The wound still looked obvious and painful, but wasn’t as red raw as it had been a few hours ago. I would be able to use a little makeup to try and disguise the injury. I showered and changed and was ready to head out again within fifteen minutes. I didn’t have any wheels now, so I caught the bus into town and asked the driver to point me in the right direction of Laurel’s home. The house was a beautiful, white clad property set back from the road. A porch ran right around, a swing to one side of the front door.
As I approached, the front door opened and Laurel appeared, facing in toward the house, shouting her goodbyes. “Yeah, I’ll be back before eleven, Mom. Love you!”
She turned, pulling the door shut behind her as she did so. She caught sight of me and rolled her eyes back in the direction of her house. “My parents are over protective, you know?”
Then she got closer, and her eyes widened at the sight of my forehead. “Holy cow. What happened to you?”
Automatically, I reached up to touch the wound. “I fell up some steps,” I lied. “Smacked my forehead on the top one.”
“Wow. Too many drinks?”
I laughed. “If only. More like two left feet.”
She seemed to buy my excuse. “So, are you ready to meet my circle?”
I shook my head. “Not really. I’m nervous, to be honest. It doesn’t seem like they have a very good opinion of me.”
“They don’t understand you, that’s all. We’re used to knowing exactly who people are in the world, and you’re something of an anomaly. When they find out you’re nothing to fear, and that you want to help, I’m sure they’ll warm up.”
I hoped Laurel was right.
We headed down to the beach. Instead of staying on the natural C of the cove, Laurel headed northward, toward the cliff face that marked the end of the beach. I frowned, but stayed quiet and followed.
At first I thought she intended on climbing the rocky cliff, but then she turned to me with a secretive smile and nodded toward a craggy outcropping of rocks. “Do you see why I couldn’t just tell you where to come?” Her smile was borderline smug.
I still wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but another few footsteps, and a clamber on some slippery rocks, took me around the outcropping. A small natural archway was created in the cliff face, but followed the precipice around a bend so the gap wasn’t naturally visible.
I entered the rock, the temperature instantly dropping. The small tunnel was low, causing me to duck, and I reached out to protect my already injured head from any more knocks. Within a minute, I stepped into the open air again.
I found myself standing on a small, hidden cove on a different part of the beach. A bonfire burned, candles lit around it. The waves rushed onto shore, a rhythmical, peaceful shush of millions of grains of sand moving at once.
Three figures sat around the bonfire, surrounded by candles. The power of the sun had lessened, but it wasn’t yet dusk—that moment between day ending and dark falling. As I’d expected, Melissa was one of the three. The other two, though, I hadn’t been prepared for. One of the other figures was Kayla, Brooke’s friend. And the final one had a familiar halo of red curls.
“Dana?”
For some reason, she’d been the last person I’d expected to see here. She was one of the few people who’d been nice to me since I’d come to Sage Springs. But then I remembered when Melissa had collapsed at the dance, how Dana had been one of the people to rush in and help. I remembered how she’d kept pushing me toward Flynn, though I’d assumed it was because of the paper, not, I guessed, because she’d wanted Flynn to keep an eye on me.
Dana got to her feet as we approached, her expression neutral. Melissa and Kayla also stood, both facing me, their arms folded.
“Dana,” I said again. “I had no idea.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to,” she replied. “We’re very careful about who knows about us.”
“But …” I didn’t know how to say what I wanted without sounding totally pathetic. What the hell. Being pathetic was probably the least of my worries. “But you always seemed to like me.”
“I didn’t know what you were, at first. But after the incident at the carnival, and you being in possession of Melissa’s necklace, I started to see an aura around you. It’s not good, Beth. Your aura is red, or at least it was a few days ago.” Her eyes narrowed. “Right now, it’s black.”
I wanted to reach out and swipe my fingers through the cloud of color Dana claimed she saw around me. The reason for the change was clear to me. I had killed Jordy and fed from him. Perhaps it would go back to red eventually, but I wasn’t even sure if red was any good.
“Beth, black indicates an absence of life. Clearly, you’re very much alive, so why should I be seeing an aura which tells me you’re not?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
Dana jerked her head at Laurel, and her red curls shimmered in the firelight. “You told us she’s a precog,” she said, directing her words at Laurel.
“She is,” Laurel said, eager in her response. “She knows something is going to happen in Sage Springs. I told her about the Disruptive Convergence, and about—”
“You did what?” Dana snapped, her green eyes flashing with anger.
“She knows something bad is going to happen in Sage Springs. She’s already seen it, and she’s seen the pools too. Flynn took her there.”
“Flynn? Damn him. I should have known a pretty face would get in the way of his duty.”
Okay, I’d had enough of them talking about me like I wasn’t there. But I had no intention of telling them Riley had also taken me to the pools, and that we’d dumped a dead body there. “Look, Dana, I understand your concern, but I’m no threat to you, or anyone else. I want to help. I want to understand exactly what is going on here and do something to stop it.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know if it can be stopped.”
My eyes widened. “It has to be! If we don’t, it could mean the end of every one who lives in Sage Springs. I’m not sure, but it might spread even further. Everyone is in danger here, we have to do something.”
“We can’t change the pattern of the planets,” she said.
I shook my head. “It isn’t just because of the planets. Someone here, in Sage Springs, causes what’s going to happen.”
She gave a cold laugh. “How can you say that? Nothing is more powerful than the Convergence.”
“Maybe not, but someone is going to use that power, and it creates what I’ve seen. Please believe me.”
“Why should we?”
I tried to think of something I knew that would help her believe I was on her side.
“The carnival guys definitely have something to do with it,” I said. “They made the accident happen on purpose so they could stay in town while the Disruptive Convergence was happening. They knew the cops would shut them down while they investi
gated the accident. Of course, they hadn’t expected for me to see it before it happened. They’d been expecting people to be more badly hurt than they were.”
Dana’s eyes narrowed again. “How do you know this?”
I had to lie, at least a little. “I picked it up off one of the carny guys when he pushed me to get me off the midway.”
“What were you doing at the carnival?”
I shrugged. “Snooping around. I knew something was up with that place, I wanted to know what.”
“And what did you find out?”
“Nothing more than I’ve already told you.” I thought for a moment. “But I might know someone who I can ask.” I wasn’t sure how Riley would react to me asking him about this stuff. Our relationship was still so new, fragile, careful pieces slotted together. I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that, but if I didn’t, there might not be an ‘us’ to save.
“Who?” said Dana.
“I don’t want to tell you. Sorry.”
“I thought you were on our side,” said Laurel.
“I am. But the carny guys are really private. If he knows I’m trying to get information out of him, he might just shut down on me.”
Kayla gave a smirk. “I know who she’s talking about. It’s that hot guy on the motorbike you’ve been hanging around with.”
Laurel turned to me. “The same one working the ride that night?”
Suspicion thickened the air like syrup. “How do we know she’s not here to get information for them?” Melissa declared.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Because I’m not. What possible information do you have that they would want?”
“There’s a spell we can do,” Dana said. “An honesty spell. It will show us the truth about you.”
I blanched. I didn’t want them to conduct any spells to do with me. There was a good chance they would not only find out that I was half vampire—from past experience I was aware vampires and witches had a long standing hatred of each other—but also that I was responsible for the murder of Jordy, a death I felt sure would become public knowledge in the next day or two. As long as the Convergence didn’t end everyone and everything in Sage Springs, that was.
They took my hesitation as an admission of guilt.
Melissa lifted her hand and pointed a finger at me. “See! I knew she couldn’t be trusted.”
I wanted to cry in frustration. “You’re wrong! I only want to help. Something is coming tomorrow night, and I’ve seen what it will do to everyone. It’ll take their souls, everyone in this town!”
They exchanged worried glances.
“I won’t let you do spells on me. It might affect my ability to predict things, or see things about people, and I can’t afford for that to happen.”
“The spell is safe,” said Dana.
“So you say, but how do I know I can trust you? It goes both ways, you know, and I’ve hardly been welcomed in with open arms. I thought you liked me, Dana. I thought you saw something in my writing, but all along you were spying on me.”
“I always liked your writing, Beth. The offer to join my staff had nothing to do with what’s happening now. As for spying on you, well, I had to do what I had to do.”
Anger roiled within me. “By sending your little spies after me? And what about Flynn? I assume he’s in on this, too?”
“Flynn is the guardian of the pools. Of course he knows.”
I thought back to how a wind seemed to have frightened him away from the very place he was supposed to be guarding. “For a guardian, he’s not doing a very good job.”
“This is harder for Flynn. He feels the water so much more intensely. The position of the planets has already created a change in the depth of the pools, the divide between the two worlds has grown thin, the water more shallow, even if it looks the same as it always has. He can tell a change is coming, and it’s unnerved him. He’s not himself.”
“If he can control the water, can’t he just make it deeper again?”
“He’s tried, but something is working against him. Another force.”
“From below?”
“We don’t think so. Until the Convergence, the other world’s magic can’t affect us. We think it’s someone else with great power.”
“Maybe someone from the carnival?” I suggested.
Dana nodded, seeming to appreciate the suggestion. “Yes, perhaps. It would explain why they’ve stayed in town.”
“But what would they achieve by doing this?”
“Maybe power. Perhaps they have a way of harnessing the darkness for themselves.”
Something occurred to me. “Did Flynn take me to the pools for a reason? Did he want to check if they had a reaction to me?”
“I don’t know. Did he?”
I thought of the reaction the pools had. They definitely responded, though I didn’t think it was to me, and as far as I was aware, neither did Flynn. Besides, when I’d gone later with Riley, even considering what we’d been there to do, they’d not reacted in the same way. Something else had been responsible.
I couldn’t worry about that now.
“Let me go back to the carnival, see what I can find out.”
“One of us should go with you.”
So you can keep an eye on me, I thought. “No, it’s too dangerous. It’s easier for me to go unseen, and my friend won’t talk to me unless I’m alone.”
Dana exchanged a glance with Laurel.
“I trust her,” Laurel said, giving an apologetic shrug.
I could have hugged her.
“Okay, fine. Go alone,” said Dana. “Meet us back here in two hours. The Convergence is almost upon us, and time is running out.”
Chapter
20
I found Riley riding his bike inside the huge metal cage I’d seen him in the first night I’d come to the carnival. I stood back and watched him for a while, appreciating the air of danger combined with skill that his performance displayed.
I’d sneaked in the back route Riley had shown me, avoiding the midway and the people milling around. Riley had told me the carny folk were night owls, but there seemed to be more activity tonight than I’d seen since the place had been shut down. The air was filled with the clang of metal on metal, of the roar of machinery being used, of men shouting instructions to one another. I didn’t like it. They were up to something.
Riley rode one final, dizzying loop and brought the bike to a skidding halt at the bottom of the cage. He must have sensed me standing there, hiding beside one of the trailers, for he turned and looked directly at me. I lifted a hand to wave, but he didn’t respond, not even with a smile.
My heart sank. What now?
He opened the door in the cage and climbed out, dragging his bike with him. He left his bike beside the cage and ran over to me with a slow, easy lollop. “Icy, what are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Yeah, I need to talk to you, too.” He grabbed my hand. “Come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“To my trailer. There’s a lot of people around tonight. It’s too easy for you to be seen.”
I looked again toward the midway, where people worked on the rides, unscrewing bolts and taking things apart. “What’s going on, Riley?”
“Just come with me.”
He led me to his trailer, drawing me inside its now familiar warmth and atmosphere. But instead of pulling me into his arms, as I had hoped, he stood in front of me, his arms folded across his chest, his lips pressed together, a line between his deep blue eyes.
“What is it, Riley? You’re scaring me.”
“We got the okay from the police department that no foul play was involved in the accident on the Waltzer. We’re allowed to move on.”
The ground shifted under my feet, dropping away, together with my stomach, leaving me weak and empty. My head spun. “You’re leaving?”
“We missed the slot for our next pitch a couple of towns along, so we d
on’t have anywhere to go until tomorrow night, but yeah, we’re leaving.”
“You’re leaving?” I repeated, unable to make the words feel true. My voice sounded tiny, disbelieving, even to my own ears. “No, you can’t leave me. Not now.”
“I’m sorry, Icy. You must have realized I’d move on at some point. The carnival is my home. These are my people.”
No, I wanted to cry. I’m your people now.
But I couldn’t get the words to come out.
“How could you?” I said instead. “How could you be with me, knowing you were going to leave?” My heart was surely breaking, fracturing into tiny pieces. I felt it would shatter through me, slicing me into so many parts no one would ever be able to put me back together again. How stupid I had been. Of course he was always going to leave me.
“Baby, please …” He reached out to me.
I slapped his hand away. “Don’t ‘baby’ me.”
“I’ll stay in touch. I’ll call you. I’ll come back and visit when I can.”
I shook my head, staring at his face and wondering how something so beautiful could cause so much pain. Tears built inside me, swelling like a balloon inside my chest, rising to create a painful lump in my throat and making the backs of my eyes burn. “It won’t be the same.”
He stepped toward me, moving into my personal space, his arms slipping around my waist. He pulled me to him, and I couldn’t resist. Though I was furious at him, I was also hurt, and he was the only one who could make the hurt go away. I pressed my face against his chest, the familiar sensation of leather against my skin. I inhaled the scent of him, the warmth of his body heating my cheek, trying to commit the moment to memory. I didn’t know how many more times I’d be able to do this.
Riley pressed his nose and mouth against the top of my head, kissing my hair. “I don’t want to leave you.” His breath heated my scalp.
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