“It’s actually ten days,” he corrected me softly.
“I have to go.” I pulled my hand away from his and opened the car door.
“Mara, wait,” he said, but I was already out the door. He got out too, and I didn’t want him following me into the carnival, so I stopped. “When will I see you again?”
“I don’t know.” I started backing away. “I’ll let you know.”
“How? You don’t have a phone.”
“I know where you live. I’ll find you when I’m ready,” I replied simply, and I hoped that that would satisfy him because I couldn’t keep having this conversation. I turned and jogged away, and at least the rain helped mask my tears.
35. gambit
“Can you grab me one too?” I asked Hutch as he pulled a beer out of the fridge in the trailer he shared with Luka.
Luka was sitting across from me in the dinette, and he gave me a look over his cards. “That’s your second beer tonight, and you’re not usually a drinker.”
We’d finished taking down the carnival for the night, and Roxie, Tim, Luka, Hutch, and I were all relaxing over a game of poker and a few beers. We used tokens from the digger crane games on the midway as poker chips, each with a theoretical value of a penny, though we rarely actually enforced payment.
“Your date with Gabe must’ve gone really bad,” Roxie commented as Hutch handed me a beer. She sat beside me in the booth, playing with her tokens. “Especially considering you won’t even talk about it.”
“There’s just nothing to talk about.” I rubbed my temple. “And it’s been a really long week, and that has nothing to do with Gabe.”
I wasn’t actually lying about that. While things with Gabe had taken a depressing turn tonight, one where I wasn’t sure that it would be fair to him if I saw him again, it was mostly the carnival and Caudry and everything around it weighing down on me.
“I will drink to that!” Tim lifted his beer up, like he was toasting, and then took a long drink.
Luka put one hand on his boyfriend’s leg. “How are you feeling?”
“My leg’s still sore, and I’m only levitating about a third of the time,” Tim said.
“Yeah, it’s about the same for me.” Roxie grimaced. “My pyro is a frickin’ joke right now. Like, I hated it when I first got it, but now my whole act is based around it, so I need it. This whole place sucks.”
Hutch sat at the end of the table, rocking on a crate that he used for a chair since the table didn’t comfortably seat five. “Is Jackie still planning on leaving?”
“I don’t know.” Tim set his cards facedown on the table and slumped back in his seat. “She wants to, but my brother is refusing to go right now, and I don’t think she’ll leave without him. At this point, though, I’d honestly be happy if we just packed up and left.”
Roxie folded her arms and leaned forward. “You know what my theory is?”
“What?” Hutch asked, looking up at her.
“That thing—whatever it is—is targeting us because we have supernatural powers,” Roxie said, like this was a theory she had worked out in her head even though I hadn’t heard it before.
Luka scoffed. “That doesn’t make any sense. The only things that have been ‘targeted’ so far were Seth and the tigers, and the tigers aren’t any more supernatural than any other cat.”
“Whoa.” Hutch sat back, and his eyes widened. “What if Safēda did have extra senses like you guys did? I mean, she was particularly well-behaved and nice for a tiger.”
“That’s not what I meant, but maybe.” Roxie shrugged. “Or maybe the thing just attacked them because they were outside and available.”
“Let’s say I buy your theory that we’re being targeted,” Luka allowed, but he did little to mask the skepticism in his voice. “What is this thing allegedly doing the targeting, and what’s its motive?”
“Gideon seems to think it’s some type of coyote, so maybe it is,” Roxie said, which only caused Luka to roll his eyes. “We all agree that Caudry has bad vibes going on, and it’s messing with all of us. Even those without extra senses have been having strange dreams.”
“Last night I dreamt that I had the head of a bear, and when I tried to talk to people nobody could understand me and they all ran away screaming,” Hutch interjected.
“So, it’s reasonable to assume that whatever ‘power’ is at play here is screwing with the local flora and fauna,” Roxie went on, ignoring Hutch. “This place could drive a wild dog or a coyote mad and cause them to lash out, especially at anything that they sense has supernatural powers.”
“You’re making big leaps on what it’s ‘reasonable to assume,’” Luka said dryly.
“They have purple fireflies here,” I said, remembering how magical that date had felt and pushing down all the feelings that went along with it. “Gabe showed them to me.”
“See?” Roxie glared at Luka, vindicated.
“Purple fireflies are a big stretch to supernatural-hunting-coyote,” Luka said.
I started peeling off the label of my beer bottle as something occurred to me. If Roxie was right about the flora and fauna being affected, and the purple fireflies suggested that she was, then Gabe would probably fall under the category of local fauna.
“Do you think Gabe likes me so much because this place is screwing with his head?” I asked quietly, interrupting Roxie’s argument with Luka about what constituted reasonable.
“No, he likes you because you’re likable,” Roxie said, looking at me like I was an idiot. “Is that what your deal is with him? You’re freaking out because a boy actually likes you?”
“I’m not freaking out, but that’s not the problem.” I lowered my eyes. “It’s because he likes me, and I’m leaving, and I don’t want to hurt him.”
“Not to ruin your touching moment here,” Tim interrupted, and his blue eyes landed softly on me. “I am genuinely sorry for the mess you’re in, Mara.” I waved it off, so he continued. “But if Roxie is right, doesn’t that mean that we should all leave immediately, before someone else gets hurt?”
“No.” Roxie shook her head so hard, her ponytail bobbed wildly behind her. “We’ll just take precautions, like Gideon said.”
“So you’re saying it’s dangerous, but it’s not?” Luka asked.
“No, I’m saying it is dangerous, but it’s not too dangerous that I can afford to leave,” Roxie elaborated. “I don’t know if or when Blossom is coming back, and with Seth out of commission, there’s a chance that Carrie might not want to travel for a while. Which means all the expenses fall back on me. I need the money.”
We sat in silence for a moment, letting the weight of Roxie’s words sink in. We were all basically in the same boat, Luka and Hutch more so because Seth was their roommate. But we’d each made choices in our life that led us to a place where we couldn’t leave a dangerous situation because we couldn’t afford to.
“So…” Hutch said. “Do you guys think that it might be a bear doing the attacks and not a coyote? Because that would explain my bear dream, right?”
“Sometimes a dream is just a dream, Hutch,” Luka told him, and picked his cards back up.
36. hunted
In the blackness, I knew she would be coming for me.
The air felt cold and electric already, and lurking in the darkness, I sensed her before she appeared. As she floated toward me, I didn’t cower or cringe. I wouldn’t back down from her anymore.
This time, she said nothing as she approached, and she drew closer to me than she ever had before. Her skin hung against her skull like gray plaster, flaking and falling off. I realized that her eyes weren’t black—they were missing. Where her eyes should’ve been were two empty sockets somehow staring back at me.
Her lips had pulled back, revealing yellowed and missing teeth. She was nothing more than a smiling skeleton before me, draped in old fabric with tufts of thinning, white hair floating above her.
She reeked of decay—of spoiled fruit
and must and something sulfurous that reminded me of Leonid’s apartment.
“What do you want?” I asked, since I didn’t want to stare into the abyss of her eyes any longer than I needed to. I wanted to get this dream over with.
Then she opened her mouth and began to shriek, her song of sounds and syllables sounding like nothing but nonsense to me.
“Id-hab-bee-in-who-nah!” she screamed frantically in my face, repeating the same words over and over again.
I wanted to tell her I didn’t understand, but she began to howl. Her voice took on a manic, agonized quality, growing louder and more high pitched. I covered my ears with my hands, trying to block it out, but it was coming from inside my head and reverberating all the way through me.
I was so focused on trying to block out her voice that I didn’t notice that she’d moved even closer to me. Not until she reached out for me, and then it was too late. Her long fingers tore through my chest and wrapped around my heart, freezing it completely.
Unable to move or breathe, I could only gape at her. With her face mere inches from mine, she softly said, “Mara, id-hab-bee-in-who-nah.”
And then I sat up in my bed, gasping for the breath that my lungs had been deprived of. My whole body felt cold, like I’d been dumped into a bath of ice water, and I shivered.
In the twin bed across from me, Mom was sleeping soundly. Since Caudry was taxing to her, I didn’t want to disturb her, not now, but the second she woke up, I would tell her about this dream. I’d been putting it off, and it was only getting worse.
I pulled the covers up around me, wearing them like a shawl, and I walked out into the kitchen. After that nightmare, sleep would no longer be an option for me.
I grabbed the old quilt off the couch and wrapped it around me over my other blankets. I needed as much warmth as I could get, but I didn’t think anything could drive this cold away. It felt embedded deep inside me, in my bones and coursing through my veins.
Based on the bluish glow of the sky outside, I guessed it was just before dawn. I went about making myself a cup of tea, hoping to help thaw my insides. As I filled up my gramma’s antique teapot, I looked out the window above the sink and noticed the door to Luka and Hutch’s trailer opening.
Roxie came out first, pulling a hooded sweatshirt around her to keep the night’s chill at bay, and Hutch followed a few steps behind her. His dark hair stuck up at odd angles from sleep, and he shivered in his muscle shirt.
Concerned that something might be wrong, I abandoned my teapot in the sink and opened my front door. Roxie paused when she saw me and offered a small wave.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, leaning on the rusted doorframe of the Winnebago.
“I was getting a crick in my neck from sleeping on the couch.” Roxie stuck her thumb back toward Hutch and Luka’s trailer. “I wanted to get back to my own bed to get some shuteye before the day started, and Hutch insisted on walking me back.”
“The rules are that you’re not supposed to be out after dark,” Hutch replied, suppressing a yawn. “I’m just making sure that you’re safe.”
“But then who will protect you when you’re back on your own?” Roxie asked. “This just becomes a never-ending cycle.”
Hutch pointed at me. “Mara will keep an eye on me.”
“I’m like a neighborhood watch here,” I replied dryly.
“See?” Hutch asked, but Roxie just shook her head and started walking.
Since I’d agreed to watch Hutch for safety, I kept my post at the open door and watched as they walked across the campsite. Besides, my stomach had started to sour, twisting and turning inside me, and I didn’t feel like I could just go back inside and sit down.
Hutch stumbled once, tripping on a divot in the grass, but Roxie caught his arm and steadied him. When they reached Roxie’s Airstream, she stopped just outside the front door and turned back to talk to him. I could hear their voices, but they were too far away for me to understand what they were saying.
Behind Roxie, her motorhome rocked so subtly I wasn’t sure that anything had happened at first. Then it happened again, jerking more forcefully, and the trailer creaked audibly.
Hutch grabbed Roxie’s arm and they both stepped back from the motorhome. Roxie glanced around, probably checking to see if any of the other trailers were moving, but they weren’t. Something was happening inside her trailer.
Then I saw a rustle in the window above her bedroom. A curtain moved, blowing out through broken glass.
“Roxie, Hutch!” I shouted. “Get away from there!”
They both turned to run away, but it was too late.
A dark blur of teeth dove out the broken window. It landed right on Hutch, knocking him to the ground and choking the scream that had started escaping from his lips. There was the awful sickening sound of ripping flesh and gnashing teeth.
Roxie faced the creature, holding her palms out toward it, and two fireballs burst out from her hands. One was small and orange—a pitiful shell of what Roxie was usually capable of with her pyro—but the other was a large, blue ball that flew right at the animal.
That was enough to frighten the thing, and it disappeared into the protection of the swamp behind the campsite.
37. justice
The air around Roxie’s trailer still smelled of sulfur and blood.
Inside, it was a mess. Broken glass, shredded cushions, even some of the pictures on the wall had been torn up. Roxie was still at the hospital with Hutch, so my plan had been to clean up the trailer before she came back.
“This is … bad,” Luka said, echoing my thoughts.
He stood behind me with a garbage bag, but this was far more than just picking up trash. Cupboard doors had been ripped off their hinges. Costumes had been shredded, so glitter and sequins covered everything.
“She’s not gonna be able to sleep in here for a while,” I said.
“She can stay with me and…” Luka trailed off, choking back Hutch’s name. “He’ll be okay, right?”
My thoughts flashed to this morning, to Hutch lying facedown in the grass. His back had been covered in blood, and his left shoulder appeared to be missing a chunk of flesh and muscle. I’d wrapped him in the old quilt, trying to hold his body together.
Roxie and I tried to help Hutch to his feet, and he’d only groaned at first. He made a few attempts at words, but they sounded like nonsense. We’d half-walked him, half-carried him to Roxie’s truck and loaded him in.
“Do you think that was the bear from my dreams?” Hutch asked before Roxie sped off, taking him to the hospital.
“Yeah,” I told Luka now. “I think he’ll be okay.”
“What the hell kind of animal does this?” Luka asked, gesturing to the mess around us. “What was it even after? There’s hardly any food in here.”
Our conversation was interrupted by the loud wailing of sirens. I peered out the broken window above Roxie’s bed. It was just after eight in the morning, and the sun was already blazing down on us, and the air was thick with humidity and mosquitoes.
Everyone in the camp was already awake, thanks to the attack on Hutch just before dawn. Gideon had come out, shotgun in hand, and while Roxie and I had gotten Hutch up and out of here, Gideon had been patrolling the area for whatever had attacked Hutch.
He’d come back an hour later with nothing to show for his search and told everyone to go about their business. There had been some grumblings that something else should be done, but with Hutch at the hospital and the animal/creature/thing gone, there wasn’t much that could be done.
So I wasn’t entirely surprised when the police car pulled into the middle of the campsite with its lights flashing and sirens blasting. Gideon came out of his trailer to greet the car, but it was still a couple more minutes before Deputy Bob finally turned off the sirens and stepped outside.
Luka and I went out to get a better vantage point on what was happening, as had everyone else. My mom sat next to Betty Bates at a picnic table, help
ing shuck corn we’d be eating for lunch, and Jackie Phoenix cradled her young daughter against her.
“I’m here to shut y’all down,” Deputy Bob announced loudly and proudly. His small, shifty eyes were hidden by dark aviator sunglasses, and he smirked as he surveyed the campsite.
A few people gasped and murmured, and my mom actually shouted, “You can’t do that!” Gideon held his hand up, silencing everyone, and kept his cool gaze on Deputy Bob.
“On what grounds?” Gideon asked.
“The hospital reported another animal attack,” Deputy Bob explained. “It seems this area is unsafe for humans, so we can’t have you camping out here or having innocent townsfolk coming out and getting mauled by some kind of wildebeest.”
My mom snorted and returned her attention to shucking the corn. “A wildebeest is a kind of antelope,” she said dryly, loud enough that Deputy Bob could hear her clearly. “I sincerely doubt that whatever is going on here has anything to do with an antelope.”
The deputy pushed his sunglasses down so he could glare at my mom over them, but she didn’t pay him any mind.
Gideon stood before the deputy, not saying much and picking absently at his hands, big and leathery from years of hard labor. His white tank top was stained with oil and dirt and red paint, and the thin suspenders he wore accentuated his broad shoulders. Black tattoos trailed down his thick biceps, and he towered over Deputy Bob.
“What are you doing to protect my people?” Gideon asked quietly, still staring at the ground.
Deputy Bob pulled his eyes from my mom to look at Gideon. “What?”
“You have a problem.” Gideon lifted his head to meet Deputy Bob’s gaze, and his voice was low and rough, like gravel crunching beneath tires. “Whatever has been hurting my people is your problem, not mine. All the blood that’s been spilled is on your hands.”
Gideon stepped closer to Deputy Bob. “So you need to take care of your problem, or you need to pay us what we’re owed.”
The deputy swallowed, and his eyes darted around at the semicircle of carnival workers glaring at him. He pushed his sunglasses up and opened his pouty lips, but no words came out. For the first time, he seemed to realize the gravity of the situation.
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