by Trudi Jaye
Rilla glanced at Maddy, her eyes suddenly serious. “I’m sorry, Maddy,” she said, putting one hand on Maddy’s arm. “We’re both scared as well—Garth has been our friend since we were kids. You’re right. Let’s get on with it.” She turned to Frankie and put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. He nodded and turned back to the screen.
Maddy took a deep breath.
Frankie gestured toward the screen in front of him. “I’ve been watching footage since Viktor called, and there’s one pattern I’ve found onstage. He has a fire addiction. He’ll do other tricks, but the big finale is always with fire. And he’s pretty good at it.”
“He’d have to be. He was on his way to being known internationally,” Rilla said.
Frankie nodded. “But a couple of years ago, he started having problems. He got into a couple of fights. People in Vegas started talking about him. Like he was on the way out.”
Maddy bit her lip. “Simon’s memory loss goes back about a year. Perhaps it’s linked.”
“So we just have to figure out what it was,” said Rilla.
Maddy shrugged. “It would help to know, but I don’t think it’s going to help us find Garth.”
“What’s going to help with Garth, then?” Frankie’s voice was rough, and for the first time, Maddy saw the real emotion on his face. Instead of unsympathetic and callous, he was truly suffering.
She caught a glimpse of tears, and her heart hitched. Of course these people loved Garth. She was the intruder here. Her hand started shaking and she put it into her pocket.
In a low voice, she answered him. “We look for things he does regularly. Patterns, habits. The kind of things he won’t break easily or even notice he does.” She noticed some casino chips on a table to one side. “You know, tells.”
Frankie glanced at the chips as well. “It’ll take forever to go through all the footage. I don’t think we have enough time for that.”
“No. But if we have Rilla here going through some of the stuff you’ve found, and you sit with me and we talk through what you know about him, between us, we might find something useful.” Maddy took another deep breath.
They had to. There was no choice.
***
An hour later, it seemed impossible they’d find anything useful at all. Ever. Maddy’s panic was starting to overwhelm her ability to think. “Think, Frankie. What else did he do?”
Frankie shook his head, his body tense with frustration and his hair sticking up all over the place. He pulled it through his hand one more time, as if it would help pull out more information.
“Essentially, all we have is a fire fascination and that he’s an arrogant bastard who hates you. It’s not enough,” said Maddy.
“What about all the other stuff I told you about his performances?” asked Frankie.
“They all boil down to the same thing. We need to know what kind of man he is. What actions he might take. Is he impulsive? Practical? Angry? Sad?”
“I think he’s a planner,” said Frankie slowly, nodding his head. “He thinks things through. His acts are all well planned and executed. And when he decided he didn’t like me, he organized to get me blacklisted fairly quickly and efficiently. I’m pretty sure he was the one who got me kicked out of the big casinos.”
“How long ago was that?” Maddy felt like they were missing something, and it was just on the edge of her consciousness, like an itch she couldn’t scratch.
“A few years ago.” Frankie glanced over at Rilla. “I’d kind of run away from the Carnival. I was out there, betting on the cards, making my living that way. I wasn’t card counting, but I was so consistently good they figured I must be.” He shrugged. “I’m just good at cards. Comes with the family talents.”
Maddy frowned. “So your talent is playing cards?”
Frankie shook his head tiredly. “No, it’s more about laying the odds. Working out the likely result of certain outcomes. A probability machine, that’s me. It just happens to be that cards fits in with that ability rather well.”
Maddy held her breath for a moment. “And what does your talent tell you about this? About us getting Garth back?” She kept her eyes on Frankie, watching his reaction. Everything in her stilled as she waited for his answer.
Frankie shrugged, his eyes on the screen. “It’s not good.” He glanced at Maddy. “But you’re a wildcard. You’re throwing off the odds.”
“Is that good or bad?” Her heart was in her mouth, and she struggled to keep her mind from veering into total panic.
Frankie grinned, one brief moment of sunshine, then was serious again. “It’s better than if you weren’t here.”
Maddy blinked and found his answer was enough to calm her down. “Why did you come back?”
He sighed. “My father died. I had to come back. I was the new Chancemaster. There was no other choice.”
Maddy frowned. “But surely someone else could have done it? If you didn’t want to?”
“The Carnival chose me. It didn’t want anyone else, and since I couldn’t go into the Casinos to play cards, I let it win. Reluctantly.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You have a choice. Everyone has a choice. The Carnival can’t just force you to stay here.” Maddy scoffed. She saw Frankie and Rilla exchange a glance. “Can it?”
Frankie answered. “My family, we’re different. It’s a calling, and if I’d said no, I don’t know what would have happened to everyone else in the Carnival, but I think it might have been bad.”
Maddy felt her annoyance rising. “Sometimes you people talk like you’re explaining something, and all I hear is gobbledegook. I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Maddy took another breath, trying to stay calm, when all she could think about was Garth’s body lying somewhere, covered in blood. They didn’t know where he was or what this lunatic wanted, only that he was a showman who would probably do something stupidly dramatic.
Rilla sighed, then nodded, as if she were coming to some kind of decision. “Our families are all from the original shipwreck—Frankie’s, mine, Garth’s. Our families have particular powers, stronger links to the flow of the blessings we receive through the Carnival than some of the other families that came later. Everyone gets benefits, like healing faster and being better at what we do than the average person. But for someone like Frankie, who wants to go out and experience the world, there are downsides. It’s harder to refuse the power when you’re the best and strongest person for your talents. The Carnival loves us and doesn’t always understand when we want to break away.”
“So you’re all chained here? Even Garth?” Maddy’s heart felt like it had jumped into her mouth. They all seemed so happy here, but it was a prison if they couldn’t leave.
“No, you don’t understand,” said Rilla impatiently. “Garth loves the Carnival. I don’t think he would ever want to leave it. None of us do, except Frankie. But in his particular case, right at the moment, Frankie can’t. Not easily anyway.” Rilla glanced at Frankie, a softness in her gaze that Maddy hadn’t seen before. “Frankie wouldn’t tell you this himself, but it’s his love of all of us that keeps him here. He’s worried what would happen if he left us without a replacement for him. His power is so intrinsically linked to the Carnival that the stronger the Carnival is, the more his powers force him to stay here, close to the beating heart of the Carnival.”
“That doesn’t sound right. All of the rest of your powers help build up the Carnival. How does Frankie staying in his rooms, isolated, make it better or stronger?” Maddy’s analytical brain went straight to the heart of the problem.
Rilla frowned and looked at Frankie. “I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it that way. Frankie?”
Frankie shook his head. “Dad always said it was the price we had to pay for keeping the peace. He never really gave it much more thought. He was much happier keeping to his quarters. Give him a good book, some maps to pore over, and he’d be happy.”
“Maps. That’s kind of ironic,” said
Maddy softly.
“Yeah, I guess it is.” Frankie agreed. “Maybe he wasn’t as happy as he liked to make out.”
“So it passes down through the generations?” asked Maddy curiously.
Frankie nodded. “My dad wasn’t supposed to die so early, not like he did.”
“How did it happen?” she asked softly.
“Heart attack. He liked his raspberry cream buns an awful lot.”
“And where were you when it happened?” Maddy didn’t know why, but it seemed important to ask about Frankie’s dad.
“I was in Las Vegas. I felt it immediately. The pull on me was like a rubber band had suddenly attached itself to my body, and it got more and more painful as the days went by.”
“You weren’t going to come back for the funeral?” Her eyebrows stitched together in disbelief.
“I knew if I did, it would be all over. I’d have to stay.” Frankie shrugged, guilt darkening his eyes.
“So you tried to fight it,” said Maddy softly. She couldn’t imagine fighting a compulsion like that. It had been hard enough to stop making the origami elephants this morning.
“Yeah. Everyone said I looked like I was dying or something. And it felt like I was.”
Maddy mulled that over for a while. “Could Hugo have seen you?”
Frankie lifted one shoulder. “Maybe. He knew me and had taken a dislike long before then. He always used to make a point of talking to me, to make a few asshole comments.”
“What about Lucietta? Was she around at that time as well?”
Frowning, Frankie paused. “I guess so. I didn’t really have much to do with her, and even if I’d seen her, I didn’t know about her connection to the Carnival back then.”
“But could she have known yours? Do you look like your father?”
Frankie paled. “Everyone says I’m the spitting image of Dad. Do you think she knew where I was from? And told him?”
“Maybe.” Maddy stood and started pacing. “If what you’re saying is correct, then he’s been planning this for a long time. At least the two years since your father died, when it seems likely he recognized you, probably with Lucietta’s help. That shows determination. Focus.”
Rilla nodded. “And he’s smart enough to have realized who Lucietta was and how to take advantage of her position. She wouldn’t have come up with the sabotage plan on her own.”
Frankie tapped his pen on the tabletop, nodding in agreement. “Lucietta could have come back to the Carnival years before she actually did. It was only when Hugo asked her to do it that she found a reason.”
“She did it to help him?” said Rilla.
Frankie nodded. “Lucietta must have recognized me and for some reason she told Hugo, and they followed me back to the Carnival when Dad died. At least Lucietta did because she must have connected with Christoph not long after—that’s about when the sabotage started. Hugo figured out he couldn’t come in, or even see us, and he needed to weaken the Carnival.”
Maddy blinked. “He was sabotaging the Carnival for two years?”
“We didn’t notice it at first. It happened slowly, over time, and a lot of it just seemed like accidents,” said Frankie. “But it was getting weaker, and we all felt it.”
“I guess we did,” said Rilla, wiping a hand over her face. “We just didn’t notice it was over such a long period of time.”
Maddy stopped her pacing to look over at the other two. “So now we’ve worked that out. What does it tell us about Hugo?” she said impatiently.
“He’s known about us for a long time,” said Rilla slowly. “And he’s been planning for a lot longer. The storm didn’t work, but he’s started work on this new project far too quickly and easily for it to be anything but planned in advance. This was his plan B, coming to the Compound.”
Maddy took a breath. “But you tipped the scales, did something unexpected, when you took Simon. It changed the game, put him on edge.” Maybe put Garth in danger when he didn’t need to be.
She thought of Simon’s intent expression as he folded origami animals and knew she would have done the same thing.
“And that makes him more dangerous,” said Rilla quietly.
“Yes,” she replied baldly. “But what works in our favor is that he’s the kind of man who will have some meticulous planning in place. He’s been thinking about this for a long time. His first plan didn’t work, so the backup plan is in motion.”
Frankie narrowed his eyes at Maddy. “So we look for patterns in how he operates, then search for something that matches what he’s doing here?”
“Precisely.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The large entranceway chamber wasn’t as big as he’d wanted, but it would have to do. Hugo glanced up through the glass ceiling of the abandoned shopping mall to the cloudy sky above. In some ways, he hoped it would rain in the next couple of days. The pounding of the water on the glass would make for a suitably dramatic backdrop to his act.
He’d had the two large reinforced plexiglass containers placed in the center of the room, directly underneath the glass roof. Gas cylinders were set up at the bottom of the containers and hooks would be attached to the chains that would bind them both in their hellish chambers.
Hugo smiled. Only his chamber had a means of escape.
He’d had some interest from several individuals who’d requested to be present at the event. They were offering enough money that it was tempting, but it would be safer for Simon if there were no witnesses. He was leaving his options open for now.
Hugo paced the room, measuring the dimensions using his stride, making sure his illusion would really work. He frowned when voices from down one long hallway disturbed his concentration. He turned and watched as Lucietta and Simon came closer, arguing in loud voices.
“He needs medical attention, you stupid old bat,” said Simon. “Dad. She’s saying you won’t care if Garth’s bleeding again.”
Hugo swore under his breath. It was only forty-eight hours until the big show. He couldn’t afford for Garth to die before his illusion—it would be a waste of all his planning. Who else could go into the tank and burn so masterfully for him?
“It’s a problem, Simon, definitely.” He glared at Lucietta. The woman had no subtlety. “I’ll go and have a look at him myself. See if I can sort something out.”
Simon gave a triumphant grin and raced alongside Hugo as he strode off. Simon shot Lucietta a look of pure dislike as he went past, and Hugo had to clamp down on his lips to keep from saying something to her that he would regret.
It was getting to be an issue, the two of them. Simon had developed an intense dislike of Luci, and she was just as bad, taunting the boy with sly comments. Once they’d played out the illusion, he would quietly help Lucietta disappear into some deep lake somewhere, and he and Simon could be alone again. He missed the way it used to be, when Simon was younger. Before he’d realized he was so close to the Carnival. Everything had been much simpler back then.
The abandoned shopping mall was perfect for his needs. It was a little farther away from the Compound than the motel, but that actually worked in his favor. He didn’t have to worry about Garth escaping and making it back too easily, and he was damn sure they’d never find him here. At least not until he wanted them to.
Garth was securely locked up in one of the shops, near where he’d set up himself, Simon, and Lucietta. They were roughing it a little, but he’d survived worse. It did Simon good to learn about living on the other side of the fence. He’d had it easy growing up in Vegas. When Hugo had been young, his father had just gotten by, using his power to get what they needed and nothing more. Hugo had felt the sharp end of his father’s knife more than he cared to remember as they traveled around the country like gypsies. That was why he’d chosen to stay in Las Vegas and make a name for himself after his father’s death. To prove to the old man that it could be done.
A pity he’d been too dead to notice or care.
Hugo shook
himself. He was going to have to get a little bit of energy from Simon at some point. He was so low on magic he almost couldn’t feel anything at all. Simon was going to have to learn about that aspect of their powers the hard way. But it couldn’t be helped.
He’d survived, hadn’t he?
You killed your father to escape it, a small voice whispered. Hugo put one hand to his head and rubbed at it, trying to drown out the voice.
“You okay, Dad?”
Hugo stopped what he was doing as soon as he heard Simon’s voice. He couldn’t show fear in front of Simon; it would only worry the boy. “I’m fine. Just itchy.”
He stopped in front of the store where Garth was lying on a mattress with a glass of water next to him. The Giftmaster lay on his side, his face white and blood seeping into the mattress from where the wound had reopened. Dammit. He’d hit him far too hard.
He glanced at Simon. Perhaps it was time to teach the boy a little bit about their family’s powers. It would only require a small cut to heal Garth enough to keep him holding on for another day or so.
“Come, I need to get closer to him.”
Simon followed close behind Hugo, his breath hitching as he looked down at the sleeping man. Or was he unconscious? It was hard to tell. Hugo crouched beside Garth’s bed and touched his face, making sure he was still breathing. It was there. Shallow, but still holding on.
Hugo sighed. “It’s time to show you a little of our craft, Simon. You have the same power as I do, maybe even more. It is hard to tell. Our family has carved out our living from what they call blood magic.”
“Blood magic?” Simon whispered.
“It’s the oldest of the powers and the strongest. It is what connects a family together and binds them to the elements around them.”
Simon nodded cautiously. His eyes were large in his face, as if he were taking in what Hugo was telling him through his irises instead of his ears.