Circus of the Dead: Book 4

by Kimberly Loth

  “You freed me. Well, sort of. I don’t have to stay in my tent anymore. I can go wherever I want. Before, I couldn’t leave that tent on circus nights.”

  “Oh. You’re welcome.” Why is that possible? Maybe it was magic that Lorena used to keep them there. Well, like I said, I don’t care what happens to the circus. I’ve got bigger problems to deal with.

  It was nice to be appreciated for something even if I didn’t realize I did anything.

  “Do you think the circus goers will be upset if no one is putting on shows?”

  Tyson waves his hand. “I think most people are still doing their shows. Very few of us were tied to our tents, but Lorena locked me up when she discovered I would spend the entire time here at home.”

  “I’m glad you get to hang out with your family.” And I mean it.

  For the first time in weeks, Amy smiles, and I know I’m welcome here. Somehow, I have to figure out how to save this family before I take Lorena out. They don’t deserve to die with everyone else even if it is only a couple times a month they get to see each other. I can’t take that away from them.

  Luke, too. I should go visit him. He’s been gone most of the time or moping about his cats. Amy’s kids feed them when Luke can’t, but they don’t play or exercise them like I did.

  Juliette drags me to the table, and Amy sets the dishes out. It’s nice to feel like part of a family. It makes me miss my family in California. Luke isn’t quite the same.

  But I hunt him down anyway after dinner and find him in the big cage with Fiona. I long for family connections.

  “Hey, Luke, where you been?”

  He shrugs. “Just out and about. I don’t like being on the island.”

  I snort. “Me neither, but I’m stuck here.”

  He jerks his head up. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I can’t leave like the rest of you.”

  He scratches Fiona behind her ears and is quiet for a few moments. “That’s right. I’m sorry. I don’t know how to help you with that. I feel useless where you’re concerned. You have all this power, and I have nothing but my tigers. I’m pretty much a failure as a dad.”

  I open the cage and go in. I can’t let him think that. He’s done so much for me and helped me in ways I didn’t even realize I needed.

  I hold my breath and give him a hug.

  “No, you’re not. You’re my dad, and I love you. As long as you are here, that’s all I need.”

  Lorena’s library is beyond useless. I’ve read every book she has, and nothing tells me how to bring a ghost back to life. I did it with Maddie, but I don’t understand how I did that, and nothing I can find helps me know what it is.

  Humph. Well. Maybe Reken will have some insight.

  I fly to the middle of the island, and he immediately chatters on about the possibilities of how to get Lorena back to the island. I forgot that was the last thing I asked him to do. I pace in front of him and listen. None of the options are good. They all require her to come back of her own free will, but that will never happen.

  I’m distracted anyway. I need to save Juliette’s family first. But it’s complicated because two of the members of her family are ghosts.

  I wait for Reken to take a breath. “How did Lorena make Maddie come back to life?”

  He stops and bobs his head up and down. “I thought you knew that. You sacrificed yourself in her place.”

  I clench my fists. He doesn’t understand what I’m asking. “I thought that just allowed Lorena to leave the island.”

  “Oh, it was part of it. But not the whole thing. In order for one person to come back to life, someone has to sacrifice their own life for them.”

  I don’t know who would be willing to give their lives for that family. I mean, I could ask all the islanders if any of them want to die, but I doubt they would. It’s worth a shot at least. But I have to have a backup plan. Otherwise, that means for me to save Amy and her family, I’d have to do it without Juliette and her dad. Would they even want that? I doubt it.

  But maybe, if it means the difference between certain death. Amy would never want her kids to die, so she might give up Juliette and her husband to save them. The only reason the humans stay on the island is because they are trapped by the contracts they signed with Samuel.

  I should tackle this possibility first. Then, after I figure that out, I’ll see if I can bring the ghosts back to life.

  “How do I void a contract?”

  “You don’t.”

  He’s lying.

  “I know it’s possible. When I signed my contract with Samuel, it canceled out all the other contracts. How do I do that?”

  “You’ll have to find a clause that causes it to be void. If there isn’t one, it’s not possible.”

  When I get done here, I’ll scour Amy’s contract for that clause.

  “What if they sign a new contract with me that contradicts the current one? I wasn’t supposed to be able to die, but I did because I signed a new contract.”

  “No, you agreed to sacrifice yourself. That’s different.”

  “But theoretically, if I find a clause that voids a contract, they are no longer bound by it.”

  “Right. What are you getting at?”

  I shake my head. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

  “I can’t help you if you aren’t honest with me.”

  How can I trust him when I don’t even know how he’s controlled? He could still be under Lorena’s command.

  I chew on my bottom lip. “Do you have feelings?”

  I want him to understand why I’m not saying anything, but I don’t want him to be offended, or this could all go wrong.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, can you feel happiness, sadness, or jealousy?”

  “No. I can’t.”

  “But earlier you said you missed me.”

  He sighs. “Yes, I know. But there is a difference between experiencing those emotions and being bored because I have no one to talk to.” He might be lying, but I decide to risk it anyway.

  “Okay. Then I don’t trust you. I don’t know for sure if you are still working for Lorena. I need to learn things from you, and I enjoy our conversations, but I can’t tell you things in case you are feeding information to her. I want to believe you aren’t, but I don’t trust anyone these days.”

  The skull is quiet for a long few moments, and I’m afraid I offended him.

  “I understand. I was trying to think of a way to prove to you that I am loyal, but so far, I can’t.”

  “I wish there was a way for me to tell if I was in control of you or not. I can’t tell. I want to trust you.”

  The skull gives a giant nod.

  I hate that Lorena has basically made it so that I’ll never trust anyone, ever again.

  I stand outside my boat and wait for Benny to leave. He doesn’t leave his boat very often, but I don’t want to see him.

  “Whatcha looking at?”

  I jump and spin around. A ghost stands there. He’s young, maybe fifteen or sixteen, wears glasses, and has a pockmarked face.

  “I’m waiting for Benny to leave.”

  “Oh. Crazy that he came back to life. I heard he’s the first ghost in the history of the island to get thirteen kills. I wonder how he did it.”

  I level the boy a look. “Duh. He killed thirteen people. Everyone knows that’s how it works.”

  He guffaws, but I’m not being funny. “Yes, but every time someone gets close, they move on. No one dares to go above ten kills because that’s a sure sign you’re moving on. Course, some people want to move on, so they do it on purpose. It never fails. Ten kills, and the next full moon, they’re gone. Benny had to have made a deal with Lorena.”

  I’d like to know why Lorena never wanted people coming back to life. She had to have been keeping track, but why? Maybe it somehow made her weaker. I shove that onto my growing list of questions for Reken, most of which I forget the second I’m in front
of him.

  “I’ve talked with a lot of ghosts before I became one. How come none of them ever mentioned Reken before?”

  The birds float around the house, the chirping nearly unbearable.

  “We can’t talk about it around non-ghosts. It’s impossible. Try. I dare you. You’ll end up looking like an idiot.”

  “But some of the islanders know about him. They talk about him like he’s a silly story or something.”

  The boy shrugs. “Maybe they’ve been around longer than the ban to talk about him. Who knows? I just know that if I ever even think about uttering his name or anything about him on circus nights, I can’t say the words. It’s impossible.”

  The door to the boat opens, and Benny comes out, followed by Raptor. My throat tightens at the sight of both of them. I miss Raptor, but I don’t miss Benny.

  My heart says otherwise, but I ignore it.

  Benny strolls down the dock, and I hesitate. I don’t want the boy following me into the boat.

  “Why don’t you follow Benny and see where he’s going?” I tell him.

  The boy grins. “Okay.” He disappears behind Benny. I don’t think he could’ve refused even if he wanted to. Perks of being in charge, I guess.

  I enter the boat cautiously. I don’t want to see the influence of Benny. This is my boat, and I want it left alone. I see him everywhere though. From suspenders hung across a chair to coffee in the mug he always uses. This isn’t my boat anymore. It’s his.

  I grit my teeth and focus. This isn’t about my beef with Benny. This is about figuring out if there is a way to get the islanders off the island. I dig out the contracts. They all still have that silly clause Samuel put in there about if someone tries to kill me, it will void all the islanders’ contracts. Technically, Benny killed me, but I signed up for it, so I don’t think that applies.

  But if someone does try to kill me to void the contracts, that puts them in danger of becoming a ghost. Which means they have to do it between the new and full moon. I chew on my bottom lip. Would that really work? It could.

  They don’t have to succeed in killing me, just try.

  Oh, wait. I’m already dead. That won’t work.

  I flop back onto the couch. So many things to do. Free the islanders. Save the ghosts. Kill Lorena. Destroy the island.

  I can’t do all of them at once, and I have to decide which is the first priority.

  I want to take out Lorena. She put me in this horrible place and stole my life. Literally.

  But if I pursue that, I put the islanders and the ghosts at risk. Things are too volatile for me to trust that they will be safe if I somehow manage to get Lorena back to the island and kill her.

  First, I must save the islanders. I’ve put them through enough already. If I get them out, then I don’t have to worry about the residual impacts of my other spells.

  The door to the boat opens, and Benny comes in. Geesh. He wasn’t gone long. I wait for a second for the boy to follow him, and sure enough, he’s right behind him.

  “Oh, hey. He went to Amy’s.”

  “Thanks, you can leave.” I don’t want him seeing me mope about Benny.

  The boy glides away.

  I should go, but I don’t. Because I’m a glutton for punishment.

  Benny’s shoulders are slumped, and his eyes look tired. He sinks into a chair and stares up at the ceiling. I miss the little things he used to do for me like getting the lemonade stand to make blueberry lemonade.

  My heart twinges for a moment, but then I remember what he did. He killed me to bring himself back to the living. I will never forgive him for that.

  I sit up a little straighter. Wait. There is another way. Juliette and her dad can come back by doing what Benny did.

  They just have to be the ghosts who kill. But that takes thirteen new moons. So if they both did it, we’re talking over two years. We don’t have time for that.

  I mean, I guess we do, but too much can happen. At least I’m in charge, and I won’t make them move on during the full moon. They would have to be on board as well, and somehow, I can’t see either Juliette or Tyson being willing to kill people without coercion. Though, I could do that as well.

  It’s a horrible plan. But right now, it’s the only one I’ve got. They’ll hate me in the end, but they’ll be alive.

  Maybe there is another way. If anyone knows that, it will be Benny. He always seems to know more about the island than anyone else, including Reken. He shifts for a moment and drops his head into his hands.

  I can’t talk to him until the full moon. Not that I want to talk to him. I wonder how many ghosts have been around longer than he has. Probably not many.

  I float out of the boat because I don’t want to see him anymore. His face makes it hard for me to concentrate. I want to kiss it and punch it at the same time.

  Punching would probably win if I had the choice.

  I pass by Margaret and Jane. Those two have been through the wringer with Samuel. They don’t deserve to die on this island.

  I’ve been thinking too small, just about Juliette and Tyson.

  I had to save them all. Before I do anything about Lorena. For now, I will forget about her and focus only on getting the islanders to safety.

  After that though.

  Lorena will die.

  By my hand.

  “Is it possible to summon the ghosts?” I ask Reken. The full moon is coming, and I don’t want to make a random choice again. I want to do my job better than Lorena did.

  “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “I want to call them all to me. I want to talk to them all at the same time. Is that possible?” This will be so much easier than tracking them all down one by one.

  “Yes, of course. I can do that.”

  I pace on the swampy land in front of him. “Do all the ghosts know about you?”

  “Yes, but few have dared to come close.”

  I don’t have time to worry about their reactions to Reken. The full moon is coming, and I have some decisions to make. Also, I need a plan. The ghosts could prove invaluable.

  “Summon them. I don’t care where they are. Bring them here.” That might mean bringing Juliette back from Fiji or wherever she is hiding these days, but I don’t care. I need to talk to them all and make sure they understand who I am and what I can do. I could probably summon them myself, but I don’t have time to figure out how to do that.

  Reken nods.

  A few minutes later, they start to arrive. Some seem shocked by the sight of the skull, but most look indifferent.

  Juliette shows up near the end, absolutely livid. “I was laying on a beach in Tahiti. What the hell am I doing back here?”

  Ha! I was close.

  “I need to talk to you. All of you.”

  Most heads turn toward me, but a few eyeballs are on the skull.

  “I’m sorry for pulling you back to the island on a non-circus day, but I need to talk to you all. Before now, you probably weren’t aware of powers that influenced you. Everyone thought it was Samuel, but it wasn’t. It was Lorena. She used Reken to control your lives, and now I have the same privilege. But I will not behave as she did.”

  The ghosts murmur amongst themselves, but no one says anything to me. I hesitate for a moment, then catch Luke’s eye. He gives me a smile and a thumbs up. Always the supportive dad.

  “First of all, is there anyone who wants to move on during the full moon? I don’t want to deprive anyone of their current happiness if they like being a ghost.” I worry that all of them want to stay ghosts or that they all want to try to come back to life. If they do, I don’t know what I’ll do.

  About half the ghosts raise their hands. This is good. But now I have to choose. A tiny ghost in the back catches my eye, and I approach her.

  She clears her throat. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t know what’s on the other side, but it has to be better than this.”

  I let out a breath. At least that wasn’t
as hard as I thought it would be. I don’t have to make a random choice this time. I wonder how long it will be before none of them want to move on. Hopefully, long enough that I can figure this all out.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Cecilia.” She’s tiny, but appears older, maybe in her fifties.

  “Okay, Reken, Cecilia is moving on during the full moon.”

  Reken gives a nod, and I hope against hope that when the new moon rises, only one string is glowing pink so I know exactly who I need to choose.

  I make eye contact with a few of the ghosts. “I do not want to do things the way Lorena did. I’m hoping to find a way to bring you all back or help you move on. But first, I want to help the islanders.”

  Tyson stands next to Juliette with his arms crossed. “And how exactly will you do that?”

  My chest constricts. I don’t know how I’m going to save everyone. “I was hoping maybe one of you could help me. I want to free them from their contracts, but I don’t know how to do that yet. The biggest issue I’m running into is that if I free them and they choose to remain on the island for any reason, then they run the risk of being killed by you.”

  He rubs his beard and frowns. “True. But you could ensure they will be off the island on the new moon.”

  “If they go. What about your family? They will want to stay with you.”

  “I see the problem.” He never takes his eyes off of me.

  I wring my hands. “I won’t do it until I can guarantee their safety. But that might mean binding you all to another contract.”

  A tall ghost in the back flies forward. Greasy dark hair falls into his long face, and he bares his teeth. “I thought you said you didn’t want to be like Lorena.”

  I hold my ground. I control them, not the other way around. Even if they don’t believe me. “I don’t. But I’ll do what I need to, to protect those that need protecting. If I could find a way to prevent you all from killing, I’d do it.”

  The greasy-haired ghost glowers at me. “But that is the only way we’ll ever be free. We have to kill. Thirteen is the magic number, and then we can come back. Now that you’re in charge, we should be safe to reap thirteen souls.”