Page 32 of Aftermarket Afterlife

We couldn’t save the other four carnivals. We needed to save this one.

I concentrated and blinked out again, reappearing inside the tent. Alice turned to look at me.

“What did you see?”

“There’s somewhere between twenty and twenty-five people out there, all visibly armed, surrounding the tent,” I said. One of the children started to audibly cry. “I’m betting they’re waiting for the order to fire.”

“They won’t wait long,” said Alice.

“Annie, I know the Wi-Fi’s down, but I need you to figure out how you’re going to get a message to Sarah.”

Annie blinked at me, startled enough that the fire around her hands went out, and they were just hands again. “What? Why?”

“I told her we’d keep her updated on what was going on, and we may need her.”

“I’m not followingthat girlinto a dimensional rift,” said Jane. “I refuse to vanish on my family for a year.”

“Her control’s gotten better, but I’m not asking her to do that,” I said. “Just to be aware of the situation, in case we need backup.”

“Is there any break in their line?” asked Alice.

“They have the tent fairly well surrounded,” I said. “But they’re thinking like humans. I didn’t see any of them trusting the rides they broke to be stable.”

“Meaning they’ve left the high ground open. Sam?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“The Ferris wheel looks like it’s about to fall over, but I think it’s still in good enough shape to handle a little jostling. What do you think?”

Sam thought for a moment. Finally, ponderously, he nodded. “Those are the cables we used to use when we were worried about bad weather, but not bad enough to shut down preemptively. They’re graded to stand up to a tornado. I can get to the Ferris wheel without knocking it over.”

“Wonderful.” She pointed upward, to where one of the tent seams gapped just enough to let the daylight in. “Can you split that and get out?”

“I think so.”

“Even better. I want you to start taking the children to the Ferris wheel. Get them out of the line of fire.”

Sam blinked, and then nodded quickly. “I can do that,” he said. “What if the Covenant sees me?”

That was a possibility. Even with the forces surrounding the tent and on the ground, all it would take was one person looking up at the wrong time and they’d be trying to shoot a furi out of the sky instead of focusing on the traitors they’d come to apprehend.

“We hope they don’t see you,” said Alice. “But we need to get those kids out of here more than we need to worry about that.”

Sam nodded again, accepting the logic of her instructions, and moved to start talking to the children and their parents while Annie produced a knife and quickly shimmied up the central support pole. Once at the top, she started cutting stitches.

Alice moved over closer to Jane. “We could evacuate you, too,” she offered.

Jane shot her a withering glare. “I’m not achild, Mother. I don’t turn back into one just because you’re feeling bad and want a second shot at not fucking me up.”

“I didn’t mean...” Alice looked abashed. “It’s just that I know you prefer to avoid the field. Twenty Covenant operatives with guns is very field-shaped to me.”

“I’m almost done waiting, Annie,” called Leonard from outside.

“They really want her, don’t they?” asked Alice.

“A sorcerer? Even one who’s only half-trained? That’s a weapon you want with you, not against you,” said Jane. “All the better if they can get her by taking her away from us.”

“She’s not a weapon,” said Alice. “She’s a Price.”

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