Page 112 of Chasing Never
“Promise me,” says Charlie. “Promise me—no more bargains. No matter what they offer you. No matter what they threaten.”
“Charlie, if it’s between making a bargain and saving my son, I know what I’ll pick.”
A single tear slides down her cheek. “That’s what I’m trying to say. That’s what they want to make you believe, that there’s a dichotomy. Only two choices. But Wendy… make a third. If it comes down to it—make a third.”
“I…”
But then Charlie squeezes my hand again. “Please trust me on this.”
“Okay,” I say. “I promise.”
And though it’s not a bargain, not binding like it would be with a fae or the Fates, its bonds wrap around me all the same. Except they’re not shackles like the bargains I’m used to making, but a tether—carrying me to my friend, joining our hearts.
A promise I know I won’t break. Not because I don’t have the ability to. But simply because I won’t.
“All right, then,” says Charlie, her face relaxing as her eyes flutter and she drifts off to sleep.
CHAPTER 49
Massive iron gates squeal on their hinges as we’re let into the carnival by a carny dressed in scarlet red robes that drip toward the ground, pooling at his feet, reminding me of puddles of blood.
“Welcome to the Carnival of Souls,” he says.
A shudder runs through me. I’m not sure whether this is the carnival that captured Tink—the one that imprisoned her for so many years as she was hiding from the Nomad—but it possesses the aura of a prison all the same.
It took a week for Nolan to hunt down a past informant who had heard rumors of a carnival boasting of its prized winged fae. It had taken another week for us to sail here. I should count myself fortunate that it’s only taken us that long, but every day away from my son is another I’ll never get back, never be able to give back to him. It’s as if the silent clock in my head is constantly accelerating, and though we’ve finally arrived, I can’t help but feel as if we’re too late.
The carnival itself is not the traveling sort. Instead, it’s hidden behind its own walled fortress, the gates allowing us in only because we have our paper stub tickets. As we enter through the gates, a pebbled pathway leads through a darkcourtyard. Fog hovers over the carnival grounds, though outside in the city there’s none to be found.
I glance around and find evidence of metallic boxes poking out from the tops of the carnival walls, plumes of fog spraying out of them. Even knowing the fog is fabricated, it’s still just as eerie.
Ahead in the courtyard rises a massive tent, striped red and white, matching the carny up front and the several hooded carnies walking around, their faces obscured by either shadows or masks.
Guests—mostly nobility, but some peasants—walk arm in arm around the carnival, shuddering next to each other, whispering excitedly. There’s a buzz in the air, one that is more dreadful than inviting.
Behind the massive tent is an even more massive wheel. It stretches out into the heavens, casting a shadow over the rest of the carnival. Tiny box cars hang from the wheel as it spins, and from up above I hear people from within the cars screaming, their voices a harmonization between terror and delight.
“I don’t like this place,” I say to Nolan. My own words strike me as strange. I used to be the girl drawn to the shadows. Now I know what the shadows can hide, and I’ve no interest in indulging in these.
“I don’t like it much either,” says Nolan.
He, Maddox, and I venture forward, our feet tapping against the cobblestone pathway that leads to the tent.
“Next show in five minutes!” yells a carny from the entrance.
We go to walk inside, and he holds up a white-gloved hand to stop us. Nolan produces our tickets from his pocket, but the carny shakes his head.
“The show’s extra,” he explains.
Nolan glares at him but takes some coins out of his pocket and places them in the carny’s grubby palm. The carny smiles,revealing several missing teeth—some, while technically still in his mouth, not long for this world.
“Enjoy the show,” he practically hisses.
The three of us walk down the first great hall of the tent. When we get to the end of it, we find a large circular room that seems oversized for even how the massive tent appeared from the outside.
In the center of the room is a ring, empty of people, but already sporting a variety of set pieces. Among them are a pair of cages, a high wire, and a few trapeze beams.
It’s all fairly standard as far as carnivals are concerned, or at least what I’ve read of them.
