Page 26 of House of Clowns

Christian forced a laugh, hollow, uneasy. "Good thing we don't share a mom, huh?"

Something in me, surgical in nature, twisted in my tummy, a simmering anger, and before I knew it, my hand moved. My palm landed on his face in such a firm slap that he staggered sideways, his mouth open in shock.

"Yeah," I said, voice low, "You didn't deserve her anyway."

Amber's face twisted and contorted, hand raised and ready to strike. I latched onto her wrist before she ever touched me, holding her still.

"What?" I dared her, voice steady. "Go ahead, say it.Freak.I dare you."

She froze, lips parting as if the word burned on her tongue, but something held her back. With a huff, she turned, yanking Christian along with her. He lingered and stood motionless as if a word was caught in his throat. But he didn't speak, and in their silence, a strange courage welled up in me.

I yelled after them, stamping my foot on the ground. "Yeah, that's right!"

"Run, you cowards!"

A voice cut through the tension. "Hey, Rio," Christian said, about as casual as a person could get.

I spun around and felt my breath catch. Rio was behind me, his shoulder bleeding and his face streaked with drying blood. There was something feral in his eyes, a darkness that withseeming ease swallowed the ice-blue hue I'd known, leaving them almost black. Even I stepped back, unsettled by the hardness in his gaze like he was someone else altogether.

"What… what happened?" My voice came out smaller than I'd intended, my hand gesturing toward his injured shoulder.

"A tiger bit me," he said with a crooked smile, his voice some odd cross between humor and something darker. "So I bit him back."

He turned to me then, his features hard, his face a mask of something far colder, distant, as if he wasn't even the same person.

"Should I…?" My voice sounded unsteady and I made to press closer in, but he pushed me away with an impatient look, his teeth clenched.

"What?" His tone was a challenge-sharp and resistant. "Afraid?"

I swallowed hard, not trusting myself to answer. Yes, I was scared—not just of the look in his eyes, but of what it meant.Was this the same Rio I thought I knew?

Or was he someone else, someone who turned to the dark?

In that heartbeat, I was afraid, truly afraid, that I was falling into something I didn't know - that I might end up trapped in the same kind of nightmare I'd left at home. But I forced a response. "N-no," I stammered, though my voice cracked under the lie.

He growled low and menacingly, "Maze. NOW!"

The command bucked through me, and I gasped, automatically launching into a dead run toward the house. Behind me, Rio and Christian spoke but not distinctly enough to make out what was being said. A piece of paper passed between them, but I didn't stop to speculate. I ran, the weight of Rio's cold stare still pressed against my back. I didn't want to be in that maze with him—not like this. So I turned and made for the House of Clowns, fleeing from the darkness I'd seen in his eyes.

Narrow, barely wide enough for my frantic steps, the path echoed with the loud clatter of my heels against the ground. As I rushed along, one heel snapped, and that jerked me to a halt.

"Fuck," I muttered, turning back. Rio was close now, the folded paper from Christian tucked into his pocket, eyes fixed on me.

I booted both heels off without a second thought, leaving them in the dirt to sprint towards the woods, cool earth sharp beneath my bare feet. Every time I turned and peered over my shoulder, I saw him too—running, closing the distance between us with his longer strides. I could feel the strains of music from the circus fade behind me, swallowed by the looming trees and shadows cast in a silver light emitted by the moon. The moonlight soon seemed to thin, too, swallowed by the dense canopy above into naught but shadows, stretched between the narrow pathways that twisted through the woods. I could hear him now, his breathing just behind me, closing in.

His hand had dug into my arm, pulling me backward, twisting me around. Suddenly we were falling together onto the ground in a bed of dead leaves beneath a huge oak.

Rio was over me, his face inches from mine, his breathing ragged, eyes shadowed and deep, catching what little light filtered through the branches. His knee pressed between my legs, forcing them apart, grounding me where I lay.

"Get off," I shouted, struggling, but his grip strengthened and he pinned my wrists above my head.

"Why would I do that, hmm?" he whispered, the low rough sound of his voice in my ear. "Bambolina…”

"You're scaring me," I whispered, the result barely a greeting, almost lost in the silence stretching between us.

He lifted his head and his dark gaze searched mine, unrelenting.

"What are you doing to me?" he said almost to himself, his voice frayed with something unspoken. One hand slid behind my back, pulling me closer to him, his gaze tracing every flicker of fear or something deeper in my face.

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