Page 53 of Gabe

I shivered and pushed myself down the slide as quickly as I could to get away.

The slide was a twisted tube that went from dark to light and back again, like a very slow strobe effect. It would have been fun under a different context, but at that moment I just wanted it to be done.

Newt was waiting for me at the bottom of the tube, brushing dirt off the back of his pants where he seemed to have landed on the ground.

“Well, that was pointless.”

I shrugged and climbed out of the mouth of the tube.

“At least we know it’s actually him. Maybe there’s a way to get the guy fired from the carnival. Could we maybe frame him for something?”

“Hold on.” Newt sat down on a nearby bench and pulled out his phone. “I’ll ask Sebastian about it.”

His fingers flew over the keys as he typed out a quick message. With nothing better to do, I leaned against the bench and watched each kid that came out of the slide.

They seemed all right. None of them showed any signs of distress, but what was I expecting?

Big black handprints on their bodies to show if the man’s hands had wandered to inappropriate places?

“Sebastian says not to do anything to confront Ozias,” Newt reported after a moment of back and forth texts. “We’d only draw attention to ourselves. He’s going to see if Gabe can do anything to at least get the guy reassigned to a different part of the carnival where he won’t be in such direct contact with kids.”

“Better than nothing I suppose.”

Newt tucked his phone back into his pocket, and a flash of red caught my eye.

“Hey, Newt. Are you bleeding?”

Surprised by my sudden question, Newt held up his arm to reveal a single drop of blood running down his wrist to his elbow.

“Oh, I guess I am. Did I scratch myself on the slide? Weird. I didn’t feel anything.”

He wiped the blood away with a tissue to reveal the tiniest pinprick on his wrist, almost too small to see. For such a small wound to bleed that much, it must have been deep.

I stood up from the bench, intending to inspect the odd wound closer. Yet, the moment my weight settled on my feet I staggered.

“Frankie, you all right?” Newt shouted when my knee hit the ground. He stood, reaching out to help me, but he stumbled as well.

“What the hell...” My speech was slurred.

What was going on?

The image of Ozias’s hand gripping Newt’s wrist flashed through my mind. Following a sudden hunch, I craned my head to the side to look at my shoulder.

A drop of blood rolled down my arm, starting just under the sleeve of my shirt, where Ozias had touched my skin.

“We need to go. Now.”

I grabbed Newt and tried to stand, but my vision wobbled, and I fell over again.

To my side, Newt was having the same problem. He braced his hands against the ground to keep himself upright, but I could already tell it was a losing battle.

I pulled my phone from my pocket to try and tell Gabe what was going on, but my fingers were numb. The device slipped from my grip before I was even able to turn it on.

“Hey, are you all right?” someone asked.

I couldn’t see who spoke. Everything around me was blurring together, and I couldn’t even tell which direction was up and down.

The last thing I heard before I passed out was an unknown voice calling for the carnival staff to come help.

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