by Mac Flynn
The captain swept his keen eyes over us and stopped on the prop manager. "Are there any cameras that survey the table where the props were kept?"
She shrugged. "Maybe. I've never really needed to find out before."
"Find out, if you would." He next turned to the theater manager. "Have all the surveillance cameras of the entrances brought to my office as soon as possible."
The manager nodded. "Sure thing."
Then it was our turn for the harsh eye, especially for David. "Since you can't seem to keep out of danger even in a theater you are confined to your quarters until further notice."
David frowned. "Keeping us in one room will only help whoever did this reach us."
The captain shook his head. "We haven't proven your theory yet, and I'll have a guard posted outside your room until my order is lifted."
"Captain, please-" Captain Dux held up his hand and shook his head.
"Any further objections you have can be discussed tomorrow afternoon. For now-" he stood from his chair and winced when his back cracked, "-I need to hand command over to my first mate. If you manage to find trouble at the late hours you'll have to speak with him."
David pursed his lips, but remained silent. The managers returned to their venue while a ship officer with a sidearm joined us outside the office.
The captain nodded at our little group. "Take them to their room and make sure they don't leave."
The officer saluted the captain and turned to us. "If you would lead the way to your room, sir."
David led us back to our room. He unlocked the door, but paused and turned to our 'guest' with a sly smile. "We won't hold you to the captain's orders."
The man shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir, but I must obey the captain's orders. You will remain in your room until the captain says otherwise."
David shrugged. "Can't blame a guy for trying." He slipped inside, and Oliver and I followed.
I dropped my high heels off my feet and slumped down on the couch. David stood beside the coffee table while Oliver took a seat opposite me. My mate cupped his chin in his hand and furrowed his brow.
I leaned back and sighed. "This might not be so bad. Nothing's happened to me in here."
He dropped his hand and shook his head. "So far, but our foe may learn about our predicament and change their plans accordingly."
"Are we even sure there's a foe involved?" I asked him.
David looked down at me with his eyes tinged with yellow. "I don't believe-" I held up a hand.
"I know, I know, you don't believe in coincidences." I dropped my hand and stood. "Well, if I'm going to be attacked again I should get some sleep so I have enough energy to scream a lot."
"What are you two talking about?" Oliver spoke up.
David's eyes returned to normal and he turned to our young charge. "Think you can get comfortable on the couch in those clothes?"
Oliver looked down at himself and sneered. "I ain't sleeping in these things."
"I suppose there's a first time for everything," David commented as he stepped backwards towards our bedroom.
I beat him to the room. David closed the door behind us and turned to me with a grin on his lips. "Care for a little fun before you sleep?"
I picked up my jeans and shook my head. "I don't think I'm quite up to the challenge right now. Almost meeting death does that to me."
David glanced at the foot of the bed. His eyes widened and he lunged for something on the covers. He spun around to face me and held up the card. "Where did this come from?"
I shrugged. "Some creepy guy gave it to me."
David marched up to me and grabbed my arm. "Who? What was his name?"
I winced and tried to free my arm. "I don't know. He didn't say his name. He just gave me the ticket."
He narrowed his eyes. "And you accepted it?" he snapped.
I shrank from his fierce gaze and shook my head. "No. Oliver took it, and I took it from Oliver." I winced and twisted in his grip. "David, you're hurting me."
He pursed his lips and released me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."
I rubbed the sore spot on my arm and glared at him. "What's the problem, anyway? I wasn't going to go to the show, and that guy is definitely not my type."
David took a deep breath and caught my gaze. "What can you tell me about him?"
I shrugged. "Not much. He was big and had a kind of shadow over his face. The guy looked like he was the leader of some magic troupe from the bad side of the tracks. You know, the one with the bearded lady and stuff."
He ran a hand through his hair and nodded. "Yeah, I know the one. All too well."
I arched an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
David held up the card so I could see the name of the troupe. "This is the name of the gang who changed me into a werewolf."
I felt the color drain from my face. "You mean that guy-"
"Was Fennix, father of Asena, whom you met on Avalon Island."
I shuddered and wrapped my arms around myself. I remembered that hair-raising meeting all too well. My eyes fell on the card and my heart skipped a beat. I whipped my head up to look into David's face. "Does that mean that I'm going to change into a werewolf?"
He lowered the card and shook his head. "No. This card doesn't change people into werewolves."
My pulse raced. His tone didn't give me any hope. "Then what does it do?"
"It curses the person to die by horrible accidents."
I stumbled back like I'd been struck by a lead pipe. David jumped forward and caught me before I crashed to the ground. I clung to him as my wobbly legs trembled. I could hear my knees knock against one another as tears built in my eyes.
I swallowed. "Is. . .is there any way out of this?"
He nodded. "There are three ways out of this curse. You can give it back to the one who gave it to you-" I whipped my head up and my eyes widened.
"But that's Oliver!" I pointed out.
"Then there are two other ways," he assured me. "The others are for the creator to accept the card, or for you to break the curse through ritual."
I blinked at him. "What kind of ritual?"
He pursed his lips and shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't know it. If Cotio or Doc were here, they might be able to help us, but I doubt I could perform the ritual myself or even find all the ingredients."
The tears pushed out of my eyes and slid down my cheeks. "Then. . .then does that mean-"
David grasped my shoulder and looked into my eyes. A small, tense smile lay on his lips. "Don't give up hope just yet. We still have the second option."
I swallowed my tears. "But how are we going to get him to take it back?"
David glanced around the room. "I'm not sure, but we won't have much chance to return his kindness from this suite." He turned to me and held out his hand. "Do you still trust me?"
I smiled and accepted his hand. "You know I do."
He slyly grinned and pulled me against his side. "Good. Now let's stay here in this nice, safe room and try to figure out what to do." Even as he said this he pulled me towards the door.
We reached the entrance. David grabbed the knob and flung open the door. Oliver stumbled into the room. He caught himself and straightened.
David smiled down at our little imp. "How good of you to join us in our joint escape plan preparations."
Oliver folded his arms and scowled at David. "I wasn't doing nothing wrong. I was just-well, just offering my services."
David arched an eyebrow. "What kind of services?"
The young boy rubbed his fingernails against his chest and grinned. "I can be a distraction.
David chuckled. "And how do you propose to do that?"
Oliver smirked and jerked his head towards the open door. "The same way I did the last time, with a little climbing."
"But the guard isn't that way," I pointed out.
He rolled his eyes. "I'll just get into another room and go out into the hallway. The guy'll see me and try to g
et me, and then you two can do what you want to do."
"And what's that?" David questioned him.
Oliver shrugged. "I don't know and I don't care. If you don't want my help then that's fine." He turned to leave, but David grabbed his shoulder. Oliver glanced over his shoulder and frowned.
David pursed his lips. "Please. We need your help."
Oliver grinned. "Don't be so serious. I'll help ya."
Oliver led us to the sliding-glass door and past that onto the balcony. He grasped the railing and swung one leg over the side. David grasped his shoulder.
Oliver looked over his shoulder and frowned. "What's the big idea? You want me to go or not?"
David looked him square in the eyes and his voice was firm. "Whatever happens, remember that we'll help you, no matter what. Do you understand?"
Oliver pursed his lips, but gave a single nod. David released him, and the boy climbed over the railing and down to the lower balcony. He slipped into the lower room and disappeared.
David turned to me and sighed. "I guess we'll see how binding a short friendship can be."
"So you think he'll come back?" I asked him.
He took my hand and led me to the front door. "I'm not really sure, but we'll find out-"
"Hey! Copper!" Oliver's voice yelled from the hallway.
"What are you doing outside the room?" the guard yelled back.
"You gotta catch me to find out!" Oliver taunted.
"Hey! Get back here!" The guard's footsteps pounded down the hallway away from our room.
David opened the door and peeked into the hallway. He glanced over his shoulder and grinned at me. "Remind me to pay him well for his services."
7
David led us back to the theater area. The sounds of the play wafted through the closed doors. He frowned and lifted his head to sniff the air. "Damn it. . ."
"You can't smell him?" I asked him.
He pursed his lips and shook his head. "No. He's using the same technique Asena used on Avalon Island to mask his scent."
"Then how are we-ah!" Something strong tugged on the arm not looped around David's arm. I whipped my head to my left. Nobody was there.
David looked at me. "What's-Dakota!"
The strange tugging returned, and brought some friends. A pair of hands grabbed my arm and yanked me from David's hold. It dragged me past the theater and down the hall towards the elevators. David grabbed my other arm and pulled. I felt like I was being split into two.
"Not helping!" I yelped.
David stopped his pulling, but the invisible hands didn't. It pulled us to the elevators where it pressed a button and one of the doors opened. We stepped inside and the doors closed behind us. The same invisible hand pressed the button the lowest floor available to the elevators, the cargo hold.
I tried to twist out of the thing's grasp, but it held. David squeezed my arm, and I looked up at him. He shook his head. "You can't free yourself from this with brute force."
I cringed. "Any way your werewolf spit or something can scare it away?"
"I wish that were true, but no."
We were forced to ride the elevator to the last floor. The doors opened and I was pulled into a dark, straight hallway lined with shut doors. Only the emergency red lights gave us light.
A door stood open at the end of the passage. I was pulled through with David latched onto my other arm. Our footsteps echoed in the large, pitch-black space. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. The invisible hold released me some five yards into the area and I winced when I heard the door slam shut behind us, blocking off all light.
Then the lights flickered on, and I wish they hadn't.
Around us stood the horrible, painted faces of the carnival people. They surrounded us on all sides, and beyond them were towers of tall, packed crates with narrow paths between them. The carnival folks' black-ringed eyes stared at us without blinking, and they stood as still as statues. All but one, that is.
The man in black stepped from their ranks. David pulled me behind him and narrowed his eyes. "Fennix."
The man in black stopped two yards in front of us. He swept one arm over his chest and gave a deep bow. "At your service, Mr. Dives."
My eyes widened. When Fennix bowed he revealed a small figure behind him. "Oliver?" I whispered.
The young boy pursed his lips and averted his eyes. Fennix stepped back to stand even with Oliver and set a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I must admit I wasn't sure Oliver here would be useful, but placing him in your care was in the end he proved to be very helpful for both of us."
David's eyes narrowed as he studied Oliver. "You tricked us?"
Oliver shrugged, but still didn't look at us. "Yeah, so what?"
David glared at the young boy. "We trusted you."
Fennix stepped in front of Oliver and clucked his tongue as he shook his head. "I'm afraid your trust was misplaced, and now you find yourself in quite the hopeless predicament."
David pulled out the death card and held it out to Fennix. "Then this truly is yours."
Fennix chuckled. "Yes, and you can't seriously believe I would accept the curse so easily, do you?"
He snapped his fingers. The shadowy puppets around us moved in. The man on stilts grabbed David, and a midget and the bearded lady grabbed me. They pulled us apart, and David was bound in heavy chains. The bearded lady grasped my arms and stood behind me.
David narrowed his eyes at Fennix. "If it's money you want, then I'll pay you. I'll pay you anything you want."
Fennix sighed and shook his head. "You're still so naive, Mr. Dives. I can't very well have so many wealthy individuals leave me without payment. It would start a very bad habit among those I wish to-"
"Blackmail?" David interrupted.
Fennix chuckled. "Among my clients, shall we call them. I would be out of business very quickly. That is why I must make an example of them by taking in exchange something very precious to them." He cupped his chin in my hand and studied my face. "You did choose a very pretty little mate, didn't you? But it's only the best for the wealthy while we honest folk make a hard living."
I wrenched my chin from his hand and glared at him. "You wouldn't know honesty if it bit you in the ass."
Fennix smiled and stepped over to David. He reached down and picked up the death card from the floor, and straightened to examine it. "Quite an ingenious little trick, isn't it? A voodoo priest taught me the basic spell, and I added my own little flair to the affair."
"Hilarious," I quipped.
Fennix held the card over his head. The air around the card rippled and became distorted. A few fragments of shadow flickered into view, forming a whole creature that floated above me. My eyes widened as I beheld a scythe-wielding creature of darkness.
David struggled in his bindings and tried to lunge at me, but the rest of the gang held him in place. "Dakota!"
The bearded lady made a hasty retreat away from me. I stumbled back as the shadowy figure floated towards me. It raised its scythe over its head. I flung up my arm. The thing brought its scythe down on me, and all turned to black.
I felt cold. So very cold. Something ghosted over my face. My eyes fluttered open.
I found myself on my back on a hard concrete floor. Above me was a gray sky of clouds that never moved. I sat up and blinked. The world around me was a mess of thick fog. The cold, thick air moved over me and tingled my skin. I stood and wrapped my arms around me. The air was deathly cold.
"Hello?" I called.
I stiffened. A pair of shoes clacked against the hard surface. I whipped my head left and right. A figure in black walked out of the thick fog. My pulse quickened. Fennix.
But wait. It wasn't Fennix. The shadowy figure became focused. It was a man in the black garb of a funeral director. He wore a top hat and in one hand was a cane. His tails fluttered behind him as he walked over to me and stopped. He was thin and impossibly pale.
The brim of hit hat covered his eyes, but I could tell he
looked me over. A smile curled onto his red lips. "You are rather more well dressed than my usual fare."
I glanced down at myself. I still wore that stupid white dress from the theater. I looked up at him. "Your usual fare?"
He clasped the cane between his hands and nodded. "Yes. I received your ticket a half a day ago, and have been waiting." He held up one hand and pinched between two fingers was the death card.
I blinked at him. "What are you talking about?" I looked around us and furrowed my brow. "And where are we?"
The man swept his arm over the area. "This is the junction between life and death."
My eyes widened. "Are you serious?"
His dark eyes fell on me, and for the first time I saw they weren't black. They were red. "Death does not lie."
A wave of deep, dark despair washed over me. I gasped and stumbled back. My mortal self recoiled from this immortal being. I clutched my fast-beating heart.
He chuckled. "You needn't touch your heart. It no longer beats."
I narrowed my eyes. "Of course it beats. I can feel it right now."
He swept his hand over me. The beating in my chest ceased. I looked down and gaped at my chest.
"What you felt was only an echo of your body's response to my presence," he told me.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded at him. "Then you're. . .you're-"
He bowed to me. "Death."
I felt the color drain from my face. Or rather, I thought I felt it. I stretched out my hands and looked at them. "Then I'm-"
"Very much dead," he confirmed.
I slid onto my knees and stared dumbly at the gray concrete floor. "Dead. . ." I raised my hands and looked at their lively skin. "I'm really dead?"
Death walked up to me and set the bottom of his cane a half foot in front of me on the floor. "Yes."
I closed my eyes and shook my head. "I. . .I knew I'd end up here sometime, but not like this. Not this soon."