He yelled at first, but let it go once I told him what had happened. He had questions, I could read them behind his eyes, but he wisely refrained from heaping them on me. I was tired and needed rest. That’s what I got, and for the first time since arriving in Las Vegas my slumber was dreamless.
I woke feeling better than I had in days.
“Good morning,” Kade murmured, stroking the back of my head as he shifted to get more comfortable. He didn’t seem keen on rushing to start the day.
“Good morning.”
Kade kissed my forehead, resting his cheek in the same spot when he finished. “How did you sleep?”
“Hard.”
“I figured that. You snored like a logger with a freshly tooled chainsaw and an entire forest in front of him.”
That sounded bad. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I was glad to hear it. And I was so tired that it didn’t stop me from following you. Nothing woke me, so I’m guessing our troupe is safe for the time being.”
“I hope so.” I rolled a bit, resting my chin on his chest as I stared at his strong profile. “Either the dreamcatcher isn’t working or whatever that thing was last night doesn’t trip it because it lacks physical form.”
“Hello.” Kade’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “You’re getting right to the heart of matters this morning, huh? I thought we’d get in some mindless flirting and groping before tackling the serious stuff.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” I wiggled my butt so it brushed against the hand he draped over my hip. “Better?”
Kade snorted, genuinely amused. “Much better.” He squeezed for emphasis and then heaved a sigh. “What do we do about the dreamcatcher?”
“I don’t know. There’s no way to test it without an evil paranormal entity,” I replied, sobering. “You don’t happen to have one of those in your pocket, do you?”
Kade’s grin was mischievous. “Why don’t you check for yourself?”
I lifted the covers to look beneath and smirked. “I don’t think you have anything in your pockets.”
“Looks can be deceiving. You might want to feel around for yourself. You know, just to be on the safe side.”
It was an interesting offer – and I wasn’t opposed to taking him up on it – but I also wasn’t finished with this conversation. “We have to check the dreamcatcher, although at this point I’m not sure what good it will do. We only have a few nights left.”
“That doesn’t mean something terrible won’t happen in that time frame,” Kade pointed out, resting his hand on top of mine and pressing the covers back to his abdomen, earning a questioning look from me. “I was starting to feel a draft.”
“Ah, well … .”
Kade ignored the flirty opening I gave him. “You were tired last night, but you said you didn’t think the normal way you approach things – the normal way your group takes down enemies – would work in this situation because the beast wasn’t corporeal. What does that mean?”
“It means that it doesn’t really have a body,” I replied. “It simply has a shadow shape and things fly through it.”
“I know what corporeal means. I’m not an idiot.” Kade tweaked my nose. “I meant what you said about fighting it. How do you fight a ghost?”
“Well, when you fight a ghost you have to find what anchors it to this world and release it,” I answered. “Most ghosts really aren’t dangerous. They’re more annoying than anything else. They also haunt people rather than kill people. I think this creature is different.”
“You saw it when you were in the past. What did it do to those men?”
I ran my tongue over my lips as I searched my memory, choosing my words carefully. “I didn’t technically see what it did to them. I saw the run-up to the first grab and then a lot of flashes after that.”
“What did you see in the flashes? Could you make any of it out?”
I brushed my hair from my face, my eyes landing on a framed photograph hanging on the wall. The photo of Luke and me had been taken about six months after I joined Mystic Caravan. We were young – both of us mugging for the camera in front of the big show tent – and looked as if we didn’t have a care in the world. It wasn’t entirely true for that particular moment in time, of course. Even then we dealt with issues. That photograph was from a time before things seemed to so regularly hover between life and death, and for a moment I wanted to be in the photograph.
“Poet?” Kade prodded, forcing my eyes to his.
I cleared my throat to cover the fact that I’d become lost in the past for the second time in one twenty-four hour period. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“Where did you go?”
“I … .”
Kade flicked his eyes to the wall. “Were you thinking about Luke?”
“I was thinking that sometimes we don’t realize when we have it good,” I clarified. “Luke and I had already dealt with terrible things when that photograph was taken, yet things seemed so much easier then.”
“Honey, you’ll fix things with Luke,” Kade supplied. “You haven’t had time to really deal with him yet because of everything else we have going on. That time will come.”
“And we have to focus our attention on the creature,” I added. “I know. As for what I saw in the memory, it was bits and pieces of horror. I heard screaming. All of the men huddled together in one corner, yet the creature returned regularly to grab another one of them.
“There was nothing they could do to fight it off,” I continued. “I didn’t realize when visiting the memory, but the creature isn’t corporeal so there’s absolutely nothing they could’ve done. All they had was the knowledge that eventually it would come for them.”
“And you still think there are two entities out there?”
I nodded. “I saw the figment – and I’m certain that’s what it was – in the storm before we went into the House of Mirrors. It watched us. It was waiting to see what we would do. It didn’t move to hurt us.”
“It didn’t move to help either,” Kade argued, his tone gruff. “I’d feel better about that thing if it had tried to help.”
“I’m not sure it knows how to help. I’m not sure it’s corporeal either,” I explained. “We’ve been assuming that the dreamcatcher is failing. In the case of the figment, I don’t think it’s evil, so it wouldn’t trip the dreamcatcher. I don’t know what to think about the shadow. It needs form to grab someone, but you can see right through it, which seems to suggest it doesn’t have physical form.”
“I’m not an expert or anything, but wouldn’t it make more sense to organize the dreamcatcher so that it alerts on all paranormals?” Kade asked. “That doesn’t mean you have to kill something whenever it alerts, but you can always sort the good from the bad after the fact.”
“That’s a great idea. I can’t believe we never thought of it before,” I drawled.
Kade tickled my ribs. “No one needs the sarcasm. It was simply a suggestion.”
“I understand that. It’s just … what’s to stop it from alerting every time one of us crosses the threshold?”
“I … huh.” Kade took on a far-off expression. “I didn’t think of that.”
“Yes, well, we didn’t the first time we put up the dreamcatcher either. It alerted every thirty seconds for twenty-four hours before we were ready to kill one another. This is the compromise we developed.”
“Yeah, I can see that driving you batty. That makes sense.” Kade traced a lazy pattern on the back of my shoulders. “Okay, ignore what I said about modifying the dreamcatcher that way. What are you going to do about it? If it’s not going to alert us when someone is close it’s not much good.”
“I have no idea what we’re going to do. It’s a mess. The dreamcatcher isn’t even our biggest problem.”
“No, our biggest problem is that we can’t fight something that doesn’t have a body for Nellie to hack up,” Kade said. “I’ve seen you guys use magic in the past, but if you can’t get in its head o
r rip its body apart, what does that leave you with?”
“Very little.” It was a chilling thought. “I’m not sure what we’ll be able to do.”
“Well, we’d better figure it out,” Kade said. “We have only a few days left here, and I have a feeling this thing won’t want us to go because we’ve been providing nonstop amusement.”
That was something I hadn’t considered. Hmm. Still, I had another idea before we got out of bed. “I thought you wanted me to frisk you for evil beings?”
Kade’s grin returned. “Oh, now you want to play, huh?”
“I always wanted to play. I simply wanted to get the serious stuff out of the way first.”
“Well then … bring it on.”
That’s exactly what I was planning to do.
RAVEN, NAIDA, Nixie and I planned a strategy session for after breakfast. We were just finishing our cleanup when Raven alerted us to an incoming police presence by flashing an image of sizzling bacon into our heads.
I wiped my hands as I turned, shooting a gleeful-looking Raven a warning scowl before plastering a welcoming smile on my face as Detective Dorsey approached. I’d made a mental note to question Raven about what happened with Percival once we left – I’d lost track of his rather hilarious reaction to what happened in the House of Mirrors – and I didn’t want to fall behind when it came to those developments.
“Detective Dorsey, we just finished breakfast but if you’re hungry I’m sure we can scrounge something up,” I offered.
Dorsey flashed a smile that didn’t make it all the way to his eyes. The closer he got, the more tired he looked. “Thanks, but I had a doughnut for breakfast.”
Raven widened her eyes. “Isn’t that a bit of a stereotype?”
“I might take offense if doughnuts weren’t the best breakfast ever,” Dorsey replied, running a hand through his hair as he stopped in front of us. “I’m actually here on official business.”
Oh, well, that couldn’t be good.
“And what business is that?” Kade took the question out of my mouth when he moved to my side and fixed Dorsey with an even, though also a bit challenging, look. “Has something happened?”
“That’s what I’m here to ask you folks,” Dorsey replied. His tone wasn’t accusatory, but he seemed on edge. “As you know, I keep track of the missing persons reports coming out of this area. I’ve been worried about your proximity to what I’m calling the dead zone. It’s been relatively quiet – at least compared to normal – for the past few days, but we got a new report early this morning.”
I pursed my lips, unsure how to proceed. “I see. Usually when someone goes missing at a circus it’s a child and the parent comes to us for help. We didn’t get any reports like that last night.” I looked to Kade for confirmation and he nodded.
“Everything was smooth sailing last night,” Kade offered. “No one went missing to our knowledge, and we lucked out that the dust storm the news warned everyone about blew through after we closed for the night.”
“There aren’t any leftover cars in the parking lot either,” Naida noted. “How did someone go missing without leaving behind a car?”
“The woman in question doesn’t drive,” Dorsey replied. “She took a cab out here to see the show – although I’m not sure why she would do that, given her circumstances. Her sister reported her missing this morning.”
Something about the way Dorsey phrased the statement set my teeth on edge. “Why would her coming here be such an issue given her circumstances?”
Dorsey answered without hesitation. “Because she’s blind.”
My stomach painfully flopped as I risked a glance at Raven. “Was her name Dana Andrews?” I probably shouldn’t have asked, but lying about my suspicions didn’t seem prudent. Any number of people could’ve seen Raven and me in Dana’s shop. Pretending otherwise would only make us look guilty should Dana’s body turn up near the fairgrounds.
“How did you know that?” Dorsey’s tone registered surprise and I nudged his brain a bit to see what he knew. It wasn’t much, so I decided to fill in the blanks for him.
“We stopped and visited her the other day,” I replied, opting for honesty. “When you told us the stories about people going missing in the area and seeing things in storms we thought we’d conduct a little research.”
“And why would you do that?”
“Because we work for a circus,” Raven replied. “We deal in the odd and absurd on a daily basis. If there’s a local legend we could use to our advantage we’d want to know about it.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Dorsey rubbed his chin. “What did you find?”
“Well, for starters, we went to that paranormal library on the far side of town and attempted to do research there first,” I volunteered. “We didn’t find any information to help us there.”
“You can say that again,” Raven muttered.
“The girl behind the counter – I believe her name was Rowan – pointed us toward Dana,” I added. “She said Dana was a witch and knew what was haunting this area.”
“Yeah, I know Rowan.” Dorsey sounded more disgusted than amused. “She shows up at all of the paranormal conventions and causes a scene to draw people to her store. Then the people who visit the store complain because she’s clearly clueless and has no idea what she’s doing.”
“She recommends excellent vampire porn.” Raven’s lips curved.
“I’m sorry … what?”
“It’s a dirty book,” I supplied, annoyed that Raven needed to bring up something so embarrassing in front of an audience. “She recommended it when we were leaving.”
“We both bought a copy,” Raven said. “I’ve found it very … stimulating.”
Kade arched in intrigued eyebrow. “You bought a dirty book and didn’t tell me about it?”
“I forgot,” I protested. “I’ve been busy.”
“Well, I know what we’re doing tonight. Don’t make other plans.”
“I think you’re imagining a different sort of book,” I argued. “There aren’t any pictures.”
“There will be when I’m done.” Kade straightened his shoulders. “But we’re off topic. So this Dana Andrews came to the circus but didn’t return home. I think Raven and Poet were the only ones to meet her. Did you two see her last night?”
I shook my head. “I was busy in my tent for most of the night. I spent an hour with you on the midway after. If she was here, she didn’t go in that area.”
“She wasn’t in the House of Mirrors either,” Raven said. “I would’ve seen her. I was there all night.”
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried,” Dorsey admitted. “She’s blind and was at a fairground surrounded by desert. She could’ve easily been turned around.”
Or led away by a malevolent force, I silently added. “We can get our people to search the surrounding area,” I offered. “We have the bodies and it won’t take long. Perhaps she’s close.”
“I won’t turn down the offer, but if this case holds to what I’ve seen with the others, odds are we’ve already lost her and she’ll never show up again.” Dorsey seemed defeated.
“Well, it can’t hurt to look,” Kade said, turning his attention to the table where the majority of our companions sat and chatted. They seemed interested in Dorsey’s arrival, but wisely stayed back a bit. “I’ll rally the troops.”
He didn’t get a chance to move in that direction because Dolph appeared from between the tents that formed the main aisle that led to the big tent. His face was red and he breathed in heavy gasps as he pulled up.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, instantly alert.
“Mark Lane came and got me about twenty minutes ago,” Dolph replied. “He said there was a body behind one of the game stations.”
My heart twisted. “Did you look?”
Dolph nodded, flicking a curious gaze toward Dorsey before continuing. I gave him a small nod to tell him it was all right to talk openly. We were beyond hid
ing things now.
“It’s a woman,” Dolph volunteered. “Her eyes are open and staring at the sky. They’re completely white, as if she saw something really terrible.”
“I don’t know if she saw it, but she clearly ran into something terrible,” I said, shaking my head. “Come on. Take us to her.”
“I was afraid of this,” Dorsey said. “This area isn’t safe.”
He was right. But I had no idea what to do about the situation.
21
Twenty-One
“We have a situation.”
Max was a master at appearing calm, but he practically vibrated with energy when he joined us around the picnic tables an hour later.
The far side of the circus buzzed with activity, bodies rapidly moving around the fairgrounds to make sure we were ready for today’s itinerary. We weren’t due to open for another three hours. Dorsey said his people would probably be gone by then, but he didn’t look thrilled when I told him we would have to call City Hall if he cut it too close. I wasn’t keen on threatening him, but I didn’t know what else to do. We could hardly have the police wandering around a dead body when kids showed up to see the sights.
“Oh, really? We have a situation?” Nellie wasn’t in the mood to be handled as he sat in a lawn chair and rested his feet on a picnic bench, his pink toenails gleaming in the bright sunshine. His short legs and slinky dress allowed us to see everything north of the equator.
“Put on some underwear, Nellie,” Raven groused, making a face. “No one wants to see that.”
“Says you,” Nellie countered. “I happen to know a lot of people who would pay for the privilege to see what I’m offering you for free.”
“Name one.”
“Um … everyone who pays to walk through the front gates,” Nellie shot back, not missing a beat. “You wouldn’t believe how many people pull me aside and ask about my equipment. Most of them don’t even beat around the bush. Wait … that came out a little filthier than I intended. Still, people have no qualms about asking. They’re curious.”
[Mystic Caravan Mystery 04.0] Freaky Games Page 18