Hidden Magic (The Magic Carnival Book 5)

by Trudi Jaye

  The last whispers of energy led him to where Fee was sitting, morosely staring at a large funnel cake, she was holding in one hand. She looked like a little kid wearing her parent’s clothes in the giant overalls she’d been given, and her hair was falling out of its ponytail. He saw a glint of metal in the loose hairs at the base of her neck and realized the hair was actually being systematically pulled down. The little metal creature was working studiously to create a nest for itself. He almost smiled. She certainly was a unique individual.

  “Hey, Fee,” he said softly.

  “Hey,” she said. She didn’t look up, and he had the feeling she’d known he was there the whole time.

  “I’m sorry. I’m not normally like that. I didn’t mean the things I said.”

  Her eyes flicked up to his face. “You didn’t mean that you don’t trick women into liking you?” she said in a whisper.

  Henry blinked. What? He thought back to their conversation. “No! I mean I do like you. I want us to be friends. I agree with you that we shouldn’t be anything else, and that what happened back there in the office was a mistake. I’d like us to both forget that it ever happened, and try to get back on track. We have a job to do, and the others are relying on us to make sure that we don’t all lose our jobs.”

  “Well, technically I believe you can’t lose your job,” she said, her eyes flashing.

  “Okay, okay.” Henry held up his hands. “We need to make sure you guys don’t lose your jobs. I’m sorry; I hope you can forgive me and come back to work with the others. They need you on the team.”

  She looked at the funnel cake and then back at Henry. “What am I supposed to do with this thing?” she said.

  “Give it to me, and I’ll take care of it.” He held out his hand. When she handed it to him, there was a little zing of electricity as their fingers touched. They locked gazes.

  “Let’s try not to touch each other,” said Henry.

  Fee just nodded and looked away. “I better get back to the others,” she said and walked off.

  Henry looked down at the funnel cake in his hand. He took a bite and munched on the crunchy sweetness as he tried to figure out how he was going to survive a whole month.

  ***

  Fee looked down at the thrill ride internal mechanisms, and watched as Eugene used a spanner to tighten the bolts around the new part they’d just installed. Grimshaw had returned not long before, and asked what they’d discovered about the cracked valve. With a grin, he’d pulled the exact component they needed out of his pocket as soon as they’d finished their explanation. He’d told them to install it and disappeared again before they could ask him anything more.

  Eugene talked her through what he was doing, needing another person to confirm he was right. She nodded. She could see what he was talking about, and agreed with how he was fixing it. But she couldn’t help feeling she was just playacting. Like they’d been given a pretend problem to play with, and Henry was sitting back and waiting for them to finish so he could pat them on the head and tell them what good children they’d been.

  She didn’t like that at all.

  She also didn’t like the fact that since he’d returned to the maintenance shed, Henry hadn’t looked at her even once. Not even to say hello. Or to make sure she was all right. He was completely ignoring her.

  Which should have been good. It should have been perfect. She couldn’t handle what they’d experienced in the office. It was too much, too big, too full on.

  But Henry ignoring her made her want to throw things at him.

  “Okay, guys, Grimshaw will be back any minute. How are we going with the repairs?” Henry said.

  “We’re almost done,” said Eugene, his voice exultant.

  Fee smiled. They’d done a great job. She wished she felt more excited about it. For the hundredth time, she glanced over at Henry. He was helping David with the final adjustments to his section of the repairs. The two men were talking and laughing together. Fee frowned, and felt like growling.

  Which was completely irrational. She shook her head. It wasn’t going to work. She couldn’t be around him without feeling a rollercoaster of emotions that made absolutely no sense given the small amount of time she’d actually known him.

  “Hey, Fee, are you all right?” said Eugene. “I asked you three times to pass the wrench.”

  Fee blinked and looked at Eugene, who had oil all over his face, and a sparkle in his eyes. “Sorry, I was miles away.” She handed him the tool he wanted and then forced herself to watch as he tightened up the last few bolts.

  The door opened behind them with a swoosh of air, and Grimshaw strode in. Behind him was another man who was dressed in the same kind of casual outfit as Grimshaw, but had a great big beard and a shock of curly red hair on his head.

  “How are you all doing?” asked Grimshaw in his booming voice.

  “We’re finished,” said Eugene with a grin. “You’re just in time.”

  Grimshaw nodded. “Fantastic. Let me introduce my brother-in-law, Seth. He’s the real man in charge around here.”

  They all nodded at the big redhead, who looked solemnly back. “I hope you lot haven’t wrecked my baby,” he said in a growling voice. Beside her, Eugene paled.

  Fee narrowed her eyes. “It’s perfect. I think it might actually be better than before it was broken,” she said, elbowing Eugene. He grinned weakly at her.

  Seth lost his serious expression and grinned. “That’s what I like to hear. Now you lot can go and enjoy a couple of rides while we check through and see what you’ve done to her. Then we’ll give you a bit of feedback on what you could have done better.” Grimshaw and Seth glanced at each other, clearly expecting there to be a huge number of things to discuss. “Henry’ll show you the way.”

  They filed out of the room, all of them jumpy.

  “How long are they going to take?” asked Eugene in a plaintive voice. “I feel like I’m back in high school waiting for my grades.”

  Henry smiled. “You did a great job. I think they’ll even be surprised.” He looked around at the thinning afternoon crowds. “We’ve been in there for most of the day,” he said. “I think it’s time we had some fun.” Henry grinned and then gestured for them to follow him to the nearest ride.

  David started to look a little green around the gills, but Eugene and Nolan crowded in behind Henry when he joined a line. Fee brought up the rear, unwilling to get too close to Henry.

  The rollercoaster wasn’t the worst one in the park; there were no double loops or hanging upside down. In fact, it had way more kids on it than the other rides. Henry had chosen an easier one, because he knew how David felt about them. Fee clenched her hands, trying not to think how nice that was.

  He was still making David do it, when he clearly didn’t want to.

  They climbed in the seats, with Henry and Eugene in the first two seats, Nolan and David in the second two. Fee climbed into the third set of seats, and had a young teenage girl sitting next to her. She was delicately pretty and the only reason Fee knew she was older than she looked was by the group of teenaged girls she was with. They seemed to be whispering and giggling an awful lot together as they waited by the entrance.

  Fee smiled at the girl, who smiled back shyly. When the black padded safety mechanisms came down and locked into place, Fee sat still and took a breath.

  The roller coaster took off up the usual steep hill, and Fee tried to steady herself for the coming ride. Instead, her gaze fixed on the back of Henry’s head, which she could see through the seats in front of her. What was happening between them? One minute they were going hot and heavy in the office, and next minute they were barely speaking.

  She felt like she was a teenager again with a crush on a boy. Only for her, it hadn’t been the usual high school crush, because she’d been homeschooled at the Great Mother plantation. All the kids expected to hurry through their meagre learning, so they could head outside into the great outdoors, where they could work on the fa
rms. She’d gazed worshipfully at Tall Oak, one of the older boys who had strong arms, and a way with the horses. It had all ended abruptly when he’d run away from the farm with one of the older girls.

  But she still vividly remembered the pangs of angst, the terrible emotions of being a teenager. Especially because she had been a teenager who so completely did not fit in at a rural commune where living off the land was paramount.

  The first downhill slope of the ride came up, and Fee screamed as her stomach dropped out from under her. The rest of the ride was a blur, filled with screams and yells of surprise. She was glad they hadn’t gone on one of the big ones first.

  As they climbed shakily off, Fee gave the young girl an encouraging smile. She looked like she was about to cry.

  “Are you okay?” Fee asked, momentarily concerned.

  “I didn’t do it. I was supposed to do my prank, but I was too scared. They’ll kill me.”

  Fee frowned. “What kind of prank? Who will kill you?”

  The girl shook her head. “Nothing. Don’t worry.” She took off at a run.

  Fee considered following to make sure the girl was okay, but Eugene grabbed her arm before she could take a step.

  “Hey, come on, Fee. We’re going to do the Ferris wheel. David says he thinks that one will be easy. I wanna see him hurl.”

  She grinned. Like Eugene, she didn’t think David realized what he was getting himself into. It might be funny to watch.

  She glanced around, wondering about the young girl. She shrugged. The girl would find her friends again. Maybe whatever prank she’d been planning would be forgotten in the fun of the theme park.

  Again, they lined up, and this time, Eugene angled himself to sit next to David, grinning back at Fee. Nolan ended up sitting next to a pretty, young woman, and Fee somehow ended up next to Henry. As she scrunched herself up into one corner of the bench seat, she wondered how she’d managed to get herself into this position. Henry was trying not to look at her, despite being right next to her, and after another moment or two of crushing herself against the side, Fee changed her mind. Why did she have to be the one to try to avoid him? She moved over. What did she care if she touched his leg with hers?

  She placed her hands onto the metal bar in front of them. What did it matter if their hands accidentally touched in the middle? They were both grown adults, and just because he was acting like a child, didn’t mean she should as well.

  The ride lumbered forward, the little car rocking slightly as it moved upward. The scenery below them levelled out, and Fee could see the surrounding views of Tampa. The river meandered slowly to their left, the lush green vegetation of the wilderness preserve visible on the other side. And directly in front of them was the city, with the water of the bay sparkling in the distance.

  “It’s lovely,” said Henry softly.

  She glanced at him. He was staring at her, the heat in his eyes unmistakable. She glanced back out at the scenery before them. “Yes. Lots to see in Tampa,” she said. Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat.

  “I’m sorry, Fee. I’ve been acting crazy.”

  Fee nodded. “I guess we both have.”

  “Can we call a truce? Agree to take better care of each other?”

  Fee nodded, not sure what else to say.

  Henry moved his hand over so it covered hers for a moment. Without warning, hot sparks of desire hit her right in the belly. Fee gasped, and next to her, Henry pulled back as if he’d been electrocuted.

  “Why is it doing that? What is happening to us?” asked Fee, her voice high pitched and hysterical.

  Henry just shook his head. He opened his mouth to say something, but a terrified scream from above had them both scrambling to see what was wrong. Fee’s eyes locked on the same girl who’d sat next to her on the last ride, as she dangled out of a Ferris wheel carriage overhead. She was holding on with one hand and screaming hysterically.

  Without hesitation, Henry stood, making their little seat swing back and forth. “Hold tight,” he said. “This is probably going to make the carriage rock.”

  Then he climbed through the side and out onto the metal spokes of the Ferris wheel. No one at the base of the wheel had noticed the girl, so the ride was continuing its slow motion movement around.

  “Hey, down there. Turn this thing off!” yelled Fee toward the operator in the distance below, as loudly as she could. But there was too much noise from the rest of the theme park, and no one heard her. She looked up to where Henry was climbing, and her heart jumped into her throat. As they went around the curve of the Ferris wheel the carriages turned, and so did the spokes of the wheel. As they neared the top of the Ferris wheel, the spokes went from lying flat, to being perpendicular to the ground, and Henry had to climb carefully using the bars between the spokes, as well as the spokes. He made it seem easy, climbing as if he’d been doing it for years, and Fee realized that he probably had. He’d grown up in the Carnival, and hadn’t he said he’d worked on the thrill rides? He’d probably done this kind of thing his whole life. The thought settled her stomach down a little, but she still watched his every move with one hand over her mouth.

  As more people noticed what had happened to the young girl, they began calling out to the operator below. Eventually one of them must have noticed, and pushed some kind of emergency stop button.

  But the emergency stop jerked the Ferris wheel to a sudden halt, making all the carriages swing dangerously back and forth. There were screams from several people around the wheel, and the petrified young girl who had been hanging precariously lost her grip.

  By this time, she was high in the air, almost to the top. She screamed as she fell, grabbing at nearby bars, trying to halt her descent.

  Fee felt a wrench on her magic, making her physically jerk backwards. It felt like someone was dragging her across hot coals. She gasped for breath as a flash of blue lightning split the air between her and Henry, and then the girl found purchase on a cross bar. Seconds later, Henry was there, holding onto the teenager as she sobbed into his arms.

  Fee stared as Henry grasped the girl with one arm and climbed to the nearest carriage using just his other arm and his legs. He was like a spider with his incredible balance and strength. She also noticed a blurring around the edges of what she could see of him up there. He was using magic to help save the girl, and he was hiding it from the other people on the ride. The only reason she could tell was because he was still using her magic to amp up his own.

  She couldn’t be angry with him; after all, he’d saved the young girl from what would have been a certain death if she’d fallen. But it frightened her to know that he could just reach out and take what was hers so easily.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Henry climbed down out of the carriage, still holding the young girl in his arms. She was quieter now, but had been hysterical for much of the ride down, and he’d sat with her, trying to calm her down. If there had been a way to get her down without continuing the journey on the ride, he would have done it.

  Now there were medical people rushing toward him, and he gladly handed the girl over. She protested weakly, but he sent some calming thoughts in her direction and she quietened down. She needed proper help and care, and he didn’t know how to give it to her. They would call her family to come and take care of her too.

  He looked around for Fee. Drawing the magic from her had been instinctual, something he’d done on the spur of the moment when he needed it most. He knew he would have questions to answer from her, but he just needed to see her, to calm his own mind.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Grimshaw striding over. The older man was going to be furious about the repercussions of this day’s events on his rides. Henry shrugged. He hadn’t told the girl to climb out up there.

  He’d asked her why she’d done it, and she’d whispered something about a dare. His own teenage years had included multiple dares from his older brothers. They were all bigger and stronger than he was; ready to knock h
im around for being too different from the rest of them. He’d probably done much worse than climbing the Ferris wheel—but then he’d been a carny kid.

  So yeah, he understood the young girl’s motivations. He just wished she’d chosen something a little less dangerous. And he had a terrible feeling she was younger than she was trying to pretend.

  He could feel the shakes setting in, the result of doing something far more dangerous than he was used to these days. He’d climbed riggings, wasn’t afraid of heights. But climbing a moving wheel was a level of stupid that he didn’t like to think about. And if he hadn’t been there, that girl would have died. He knew it without a doubt.

  Grimshaw clapped him over the shoulder. “What the hell happened up there, man?” His voice was accusatory, as if he thought it was Henry’s fault.

  Henry raised his eyebrows at Grimshaw, but didn’t get a chance to respond.

  “He just saved that girl’s life; that’s what he did,” said Fee, striding up to the two men like a little ball of fury. “If Henry hadn’t been there to risk his life, that girl would be splattered all over the ground and you’d have an even bigger mess to clean up.” She pointed her finger at Grimshaw as if daring him to disagree.

  He frowned down at Fee for a moment, and then his shoulders sagged and he looked back at Henry. “I know, man; I’m sorry. Of course, you saved the day. It’s just going to be a bitch around here for a while. Some kid almost falling from the Ferris wheel? We’re going to have to close her for a while, figure out how to stop that from ever happening again.”

  Henry nodded. He knew exactly what Grimshaw was talking about. “Sorry, Grimshaw,” was all he could think of to say. His brain was fogging over a little. He swayed a little where he stood.

  “Hey, man, are you okay?” said Grimshaw, grabbing Henry’s arm and holding him steady.

  “I think... I think I may be having a reaction to using so much magic, so far away from home,” said Henry groggily.