Page 1 of Ensnared By the Stone Freak

Chapter 1??

Camryn

“You can’t flake on us again, Cammy,” my friend said from the doorway, startling meas I pored over the papers on my desk. Jerking my gazeawayfrom the contract’s fine print, I squintedasI realized how dark it had gotten inside my glass-walled corner office.Outside, the city glitteredbelow,whilethe stars glitteredabove. Time had slippedaway from me again, and yet, the pile of paperwork didn’t seemany smaller. Funny how that worked.

Sighing, I rose and stretched, my neck and shoulders popping as I uncurled from my cramped position. With a hand at the small of my back to rub out the last kinks, I surveyed the work left behind and began to shake my head. “I can’t, Lis. There’s still too much left to do. My dad…” She hissed like a kitten, offended by my words, and prowled into my office in her teetering heels, much like a slinky cat.

“Don’t do that, Cammy. That’s just an excuse not to go outside. You know it is. You’ve got to face the real world at some point.” I shot her a glare, but damn it, she was right. Three years ago, straight out of Yale, I’d accepted a position at my father’s prestigious law firm thinking I’d never stick around. I had dreams, ideals back then. I wanted tohelppeople. Now I was turning into the workaholic my dad was, and he hadn’t even been the one to pressure me into staying.

“You know why, Liz,” I said to her and hid a wince when those words came out cool and sharp. She was not ruffled by that, but that kind of patience wouldn’t last long. At some point, I’d driveawayeven my oldest friend. We were simply too different—polar opposites.Case in point:she slunk around the edge of my desk in a seductive manner, then perched against the mahogany slab with perfect poise. I could never slink around like that, especially not in heels as tall astheones she wore.

“You know what they call you behind your back, don’t you? I heard you shot down Greg in accounting this afternoon. It was brutal.” She was laughing as she said it, her dramatically made-up eyes twinkling with amusement. I knew why:Greg was a buffoon and an idiot, and he had deserved what was coming to him. But that did not change the fact that it was the third time this week I’d turned down a date. I had not had a date in months—not since… I did not want to think about the reason, and that was why my tone was even sharper when I demanded an answer.

“Ice Queen,” she responded just as sharply,“and don’t turn that on me. You know you’re hiding, running away. You can’t keep doing this.” She twirled a lock of her blonde hair between her fingers and narrowed her eyes at me. I knew she was trying to figure out if that name hurt my feelings, but I just felt numb. How did you respond to that? Did it even matter? It felt like there was a block of stone inside my chest these days anyway—not a heart. What good was a heart when it tricked you?

“How original,” I snarked,whichmade my friend laugh. She caught my wristand drewme away from my desk. Lis made those few steps look like dancing, shimmying across the carpetas ifwe were already at a party. In contrast, Ifeltlike a block of stone—dead weight. Boring, incapable of change,incapableof opening my heart and loving someone.

“Come on, there’s a carnival in town. It’s supposed to be pretty spooky! Everyone is talking about it.” When Lis said“everyone,”she really meant it. That woman knew all the high-flyers, all the debutantes—every rich guy in town had her number. She was the most connected person I knew. She was, in fact, my main source forturning down dates, as she’d been trying to set me up for months.

I gave her a suspicious look, half-expecting her to have turned our standard Thursday night drinks into an ambush date. She was capable of that kind of subterfuge—I really wouldn’t put it past her. But I wasn’t ready to trust a guy again;I didn’t think I ever would be. I clearly wasn’t built right for a relationship. No heart. No warmth. Hah. The office gossips had no idea how close they came with that nickname to the truth:Ice Queen.

Lis was a good friend—the best. She proved that when she slipped her arm through mine and kept urging me out of my office with gentle pressure. “Look, Thorn is not going to be there, okay? It’s totally not his scene. So you’re safe. It’s a circus show and a traveling carnival—just some harmless fun between the two of us. Kay? Come on, Cammy! I’ve been dying to go there! Do it for me?” When she batted her long lashes at me, there was no way I could say no. A circus show did sound fun. If only I’d truly known what I’d just agreed to. My life was about to change. But was it destiny? Fate? Or was it something else—something sinister—that drew us to this carnival?

***

Halvard

“You need to get laid,” Freddy jeered at me from where he stood in front of the mirrors,checkinghis costume. His bare arms were covered in tattoos, the ink shimmering on his skin. They writhed, appearing to move whenseenfrom the corner of your eye, and it always made me slightly uncomfortable tolook at him. His artwork was never the same. It wasn’t right. But then, this was the Twisted Carnival, and nothing was ever right here.

Raising my hand, I flipped him the bird without answering. It was the same old refrain anyway. Many of the guys here were my friends—brothers,if you will. We took care of our own, had each other’s backs, and we always would. This place was home, for better or worse, and the outside world had nothing to do with us. They came for a night, for an afternoon,to get their kicks, to be thrilled, wowed,orscared. To see things they knew could not exist but brush them off as careful illusionsortricks.

But we did not dabble in illusions and trickery;we were the real deal. That created a bond—secrets had a way of doing that. Ever since my particular skill set had gotten twisted up, tangled,andwarped, all my friends had been trying to get me back on the market.“Just for a fling,”they’d say. “You don’t have to take off your sunglasses;they’ll just think it’s part of the mystery.”I’d been there, I’d done that. Contrary to what they seemed to think, I was no saint. It didn’t make me feel any less lonely. In fact, it made me feel hollow inside.

“Ignore Freddy,” Sally said in her creaking voice. The old fortune teller always had mischief on her mind and a twinkle in her eye. She was supposed to be outside, manning her booth as droves of visitors arrived on the carnival grounds. Her scarves jingled when she sidled closer to me, the many gold chains around her neck hidden but heard. “Tonight is the night. Remember that. A gaze is all it takes.”And with those mysterious words delivered, she was off, slipping through the throng of showmen and women preparing for tonight’s show.

Sally had a way of vanishing in crowds like that;my eyes lost track of her almost as soon as she stepped around the Fire Breather in her burlesque-style outfit. I thought I caught a glimpse of her on the other side of Boris, our Strongman, but I could just as easily have imagined it. Now I had a prophecy hanging over my head—a vague one. That did not help me feel less tense about tonight’s performance. Funny how a year made such a difference. Once, I’d lived for a packed tent and a huge crowd, but now the fear kept me from enjoying what I’d once loved.

A gaze is all it takes, Sally had said. Didn’t I know it. One look from me,and anyone who looked back turned to stone.Thankfully,it only lasted a minute,but it was not a fun minute. Some people found it terrifying to be frozen in place like that—unable to move or speak, unable to feel the beat of their heart orthe breath in their lungs. A gaze was all it took? That was nothing new at all. It was a stupid prediction. Itwasn’t even a prediction, so why had she said it like it was?

“Groink?” There was a nudge against my leather-clad thigh, followed by a bump strong enough to nearly knock me over. I laughed,thestrange prophecy momentarily forgotten at the rough greeting from my favorite companion. Hogzy always made people think he was part of one of our many acts, but other than entertaining kids on the carnival grounds when he felt like it, he deftly avoided the limelight.

“I don’t have any apples on me,” I told him, but he nosed my pocket anyway,making a mournful noise. He had a fantastic nose, so I knew he knew I did not have his favorite treat. This was an act designed to take my mind offthe pre-performance jitters. Scratching him behind his tufted ears,I hearda satisfied noisefrom him before he threwhimself ontohis side and rolledto expose his fat belly. I got the message and squatted down to give him a good petting. It helped, and by the time I had to step out into the big ring, I was completely relaxed. The words Sally the Seer had said to mewereall but forgotten.

So when I locked eyes with the pretty brunette in the first row, I did not expect her gaze to hit me in the gut like a punch. My sunglasses shielded her from the effects of that look, but she jolted in her seat. A gaze was all it took. Was this whatSally had been talking about?

The woman was dressed in a business suit with a crisp white shirt beneath it. Golden hoops gleamed from her ears, and freckles dotted her nose. She elbowed her friend, a blonde wearing a slinky red dress more appropriate for a nightclub than the big top. Unless, of course, she expected to be in the ring. My mind whirled, and I locked gazes again with the freckled brunette. Tonight was the night. Would my curse be broken? Would I finally stop turning people to stone? Only one way to find out. I had to start the show.

Stepping from the shadows and into the light, I raised my arms and began.

Chapter 2??

Camryn

The field in which the carnival was set up was slightly damp and soft,causingmy heelsto sink into the surface with each step I took. Even Lis struggled to look graceful as we walked from her German sports car to the entrance of the grounds. The ticket booth sat beside a pair of imposing gates,theirmetal twisted and warped,withthe spikes at the top reaching towardthe bright,starry sky.

My eye was instantly drawn to a macabre shape sitting atop the booth—a gargoyle,of all things. The type of statue that wouldn’t seemout of place on the side of a church: angry, scowling features;hunched forward on its legs;brawny shoulders exposed. It was a “he,” there was no doubt, and I felt drawn to him—which was ridiculous because he was a statue. A statuethathad been decorated with a pair of sunglasses perched on his rugged nose. He wasn’t looking my way but had his head angled toward the forest in the distance.

I elbowed Lis to point him out to her,but she was staring through the gnarled gate, completely entranced. The big top loomed in the distance,once striped in white and yellow,but the colors had long since faded. More tents with a tattered appearance dotted the field, and rides sat between them that lookedrusty rather than inviting. “Lis, look!” I said. But when she finally glanced up to where I was pointing, there was nothing to see.

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