Someone knocks on my door, shattering my spiraling thoughts. I stretch, still tired. A midnight zombie run doesn’t make for pleasant early mornings. Plus, my bed is cozy, and I don’t want to get up and face the day.
The knock comes again, more determined this time.
“Hang on, I’m coming,” I yell.
I slip out of bed and look for shorts. I find them on the floor by the bathroom.
The whole slider shakes with the force of pounding on it now. “Dammit, Callie, open up,” Luke hollers. I haven’t heard him yell like that since the first day I arrived. I slide my shorts on, pop the piece of wood holding the door shut, and fling open the curtains. I unlock the door and open it to my uncle, who looks like he wants to murder me.
“Those your zombies last night?” he asks with a growl.
I shrink from him. “Yeah.”
“What the hell were they doing on the island?” His face twists into an ugly scowl. My birds hang around him like they aren’t quite sure what to do. I hope they don’t attack him.
“They were looking for the other Obeah.”
Luke falters for a second. “Did they find him?”
I shake my head, and his murderous glare returns.
“What did they do with Shrek?” He moves closer to me, his fist clenched. My birds move in.
“I don’t think they did anything with him. They weren’t on the island long.” There was barely enough time for them to go to the lion’s cage.
He throws his hands up in the air and backs up. The birds scatter. “None of my cats ever get out, and you think it’s a coincidence that after you call your zombies, the next day all my cages have been unlocked?”
“Did any of the others get away?” I ask meekly. Why on earth would my zombies let out his cats? This makes no sense.
He shakes his head. “Bob and Marley got out, but they stuck around the cages. Fiona and the other tigers didn’t bother to leave.” Marley is his panther.
I let out a breath of relief. I don’t like the accusation, but I understand it.
I think for a second. I can’t imagine the zombies did that, but I can see why he thinks so. “I’m sorry they got out. Can I help you search for Shrek?”
He runs a hand through his hair and nods.
“Let me put on some real clothes. I’ll be out in a minute.”
I dress, quickly brush my teeth, and tie my hair back in a ponytail.
Luke is pacing on my porch, the birds moving with him.
I stretch, still not quite awake, and yawn. “The island isn’t that big. We’ll find him.”
“If a gator or cottonmouth doesn’t find him first.”
I put a hand on his arm. “Don’t worry. Now, where have you looked?”
“Just around the circus and on the way here. Are you sure your zombies didn’t eat him?”
I give a grin. “My zombies have their mouths sewn shut. I don’t know why all your cages were unlocked, but I don’t think it was one of them. I gave them a very specific command, and it didn’t involve your cats.”
Luke gives me a look. “Come on, you have to admit that it’s no coincidence.”
I nod. He has a point. “I’m not saying it’s unconnected, but that’s a mystery to solve later. For now, let’s find Shrek.”
He lets out a breath. “Okay.”
Shrek is the laziest lion I’ve ever met. He doesn’t move. “Chances are he’s curled up fast asleep in one of the tents.”
Luke gives a quick nod. “Or he went for a walk and got lost. Why don’t you go search the tents, and I’ll take a quick run down the docks and make sure he’s not on one of them. I hope he didn’t try to get out into the swamp.”
“Don’t take too long. If I find him, I won’t know what to do with him.”
Luke nods. “If you find him, just stand outside of the tent and holler. If I’m back in the circus, I’ll hear you.”
I rush down to the circus, keeping an eye open for a nappy lion, and Luke heads toward the big houseboats. I know he is worried about something getting Shrek, but I’m actually more worried about Shrek deciding one of Amy’s younger kids would make a good snack.
I duck into one of the tents the farthest away from the big cats. It’s the ratagator’s tent, which smells awful, but the tent is fairly empty. A few chairs are knocked over, and a worn stage is propped up at the back. No lazy lion there.
The next few tents are the same. I wonder what the magic is that cleans them up the night of the circus. It certainly isn’t me.
I head down the middle row and duck into Ruth’s tent. She’s usually here, but not today. Her tent has four rooms, and Shrek isn’t in the front two or her medical storage room. I open a tent flap at the back corner room.
It’s dark, and it takes a minute for my eyes to adjust. There is nothing in here but the tent walls. Strange symbols are inscribed on the walls. A lot of them. I step back. In fact, all four walls are covered in them, and so is the ceiling and the floor. The room buzzes with magic.
But it’s not voodoo. At least not any kind of voodoo I’ve seen.
Maybe it’s something different altogether.
Holy flip.
“Callie,” Luke yells.
I jump and duck into the front room and out a tent flap. He has Shrek by the scruff of his neck.
“You found him!”
“I did.” Luke nods but doesn’t smile. I follow him all the way back to the big cats where he puts Shrek away. He leans his head against the bars. Those symbols flash in my head. What do they mean? Is Ruth the witch controlling the island? And is she something different from Obeah? Maybe that’s why the zombies couldn’t find her. The spell is meant for Obeah. If Ruth is some other kind of witch altogether and is way more powerful than I gave her credit for, then the zombies wouldn’t have found her.
The silence between us grows to an awkward stretch.
“Where did you find him?” I ask.
Luke chuckles. “Curled up on Amy’s porch.”
My stomach drops out. “He was looking for a kid?”
Luke shakes his head. “Well, sort of. He walked home with Jeffrey.”
“Wait. It was after midnight. What was Jeffrey doing out?”
“He got sick yesterday and was sleeping in Ruth’s tent. When the screams started, he woke up, but Ruth didn’t. He’s not one to just decide to wake up an adult.”
I chuckle. “He’s not.”
“So, he saw the zombies and decided his best course of action would be to set my cats on them.”
“Oh my word. It was my zombies’ fault.” I put a hand to my chest and laugh. The poor cats were probably more scared than the zombies.
“Maybe a warning next time you let them search the island.”
“Can’t do that. It will give a heads up to whoever is in charge.”
And right now, Ruth is my biggest suspect.
Chapter Sixteen
Over the next few days, I keep a close eye on Ruth, but she doesn’t seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary. Though last night, she did ask me why I was hanging around all the time. I told her I was hoping to learn some healing magic.
She just laughed and shooed me out. Could she be the one I’m after? Maybe. Those symbols didn’t come out of nowhere.
I want to confront her, but if the claws come out, I don’t know how to fight her. Nothing I have discusses anything but voodoo magic. Though maybe the magic is still voodoo, but I didn’t recognize it.
I stare in the mirror and brush my hair. I’m already dressed in my circus getup. I don’t know why it’s so important for me to make myself look nice before Benny shows up.
If Benny shows up.
I’m going to think positive and believe he will be here because he wouldn’t kill Maddie.
I finish curling my hair, and Benny pops into view on the other side of the door. He crushes me in a hug, and relief floods through me. He didn’t kill her.
“I’m so sorry about Maddie. I wish I could’ve s
topped it.”
I thread my arms around his back and mumble into his shoulder. “It’s okay.”
He pulls back and gives me a quick kiss on the lips. “How are you doing?”
“You mean you haven’t been watching?”
“Of course I have, but that doesn’t tell me what’s going on here.” He taps my forehead.
I fiddle with his suspenders and lean my head onto his chest. Once again, I want to just hide out here with him, and I can’t. “I’m okay. How’s Maddie?”
“Come see for yourself.” He weaves his fingers through mine.
“Where is she?”
“On the porch with Juliette. We thought it would be best if I chatted with you first. Plus I wanted to give you a kiss.” He kisses me softly, and I melt into it.
“Thank you.” I give him a cheeky grin. If Maddie is waiting for me, she can’t be that angry. Everything is way better than I thought it would be.
We step onto the porch, and Maddie rushes for me, wrapping her arms around me. “I should’ve listened to you. I’m so sorry.”
I extract myself from her. “You’re sorry? I’m the reason you’re dead.”
She shakes her head violently. “No, you’re not. I came to this island even though you told me not to.”
She’s a ghost. Dead. I don’t even know how to help her.
“How…how are you doing?”
She shrugs. “Benny and Juliette have been awesome. They’ve helped me learn how to manage. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I’m supposed to kill someone, but I’ll learn. Benny said he’ll help me resist.”
I look at my three ghosts, and I’m so grateful I have them. “I love you guys. I wish you weren’t ghosts.”
Juliette snorts. “Oh, don’t be like that. I like being a ghost. It’s way more freedom.”
Benny and Maddie stay quiet though. Both of them would much rather be human.
“So…who killed Maddie?” I ask. I don’t know why this is important for me to know, but it is. “I know it wasn’t Benny even though it was his knife.”
“How do you know it wasn’t Benny?” Juliette asks, her head cocked.
“Because he only has one more kill before he’ll be human again, so if he killed Maddie, he wouldn’t still be a ghost.”
“Wait? It’s possible to come back to life?” Maddie asks, her eyebrows creased.
“Yeah, you have to kill thirteen people.” I’m surprised they haven’t told her about that yet.
Maddie taps a finger on her nose. “That doesn’t seem that hard.”
“Maddie! You’re talking about murder.”
“Oh, come on, I’ll only kill bad people. I don’t want to be dead. It’ll take me just over a year, but then I can go home and pretend this nightmare never happened.”
I loop my arm through hers. “And what will you tell Mom and Dad?”
She purses her lips. “Maybe the truth. Maybe I’ll tell them I ran off with a cute Greek tourist, and then when he broke my heart, I came home.”
“Mads. I’ve missed you.”
She laughs. “You too.”
“So who did kill you?”
“I don’t know. I was stabbed in the back.”
“And you haven’t asked?”
She rolls her eyes. “Like they would tell me. Who wants to admit they killed you? At this point, does it matter? I’m dead.”
It does matter. A lot.
“Benny, what happened to your knife?”
“It was a mess in there. It was wrenched from my hand when I went after Maddie. I’m glad I didn’t succeed.”
One of the ravens flutters down and sits on his shoulder. He strokes its chin absentmindedly.
“Did you see who took it?” I ask.
He drops his eyes. “No. Sorry.”
My breath catches. He’s lying.
“Juliette. Did you see?”
She shakes her head but won’t meet my eyes. “It doesn’t matter, Callie. She’s dead. We should focus on the problem at hand.”
“No, I need to know. You’re both lying to me.”
“No, we’re not. But we do need to help you find out who is really in charge.”
“Have you guys not been watching? I have no idea. Pretty sure it’s not even someone on this island.” I don’t tell them about Ruth. I’m not ready to talk about that yet.
“How do you know?”
“I summoned the zombies to find the other Obeah man, but they came back empty-handed. You look freaky as a zombie, just FYI.” I squeeze Benny’s hand.
“I saw. I didn’t realize that’s what they were doing. Not exactly the best light for you to see me in.”
“Ha. I like you better like this.” I kiss his cheek, and Maddie squeals.
“You guys are so cute. Shame you’re a ghost.”
Everyone goes quiet for a minute. Dammit. Benny knows, and so does Juliette. “Tell me who killed Maddie.”
“Why do you care?” Maddie asks. “I don’t.” She won’t look at me either.
I swallow. “I just want someone to blame, I guess.”
“What good will that do? I’m still dead.”
I shrug. “It’s important to me. I know it doesn’t matter because you were all forced to do this, but I just want to know who.”
Juliette looks at both of them. Benny shakes his head, but she crouches down in front of me and extracts my hands from Benny. She holds both of them in her own. “I’m the one who killed Maddie. I’m so sorry. Maddie was my first. I didn’t want to, but the desire to go after her was overwhelming. I literally couldn’t help myself.”
I jerk my hands out of hers. “How could you?”
Juliette is my best friend on the island, and she knows how much Maddie means to me. I can’t believe she did this. I stand, anger building in my chest. It gets hard to breathe, the humid air growing thicker with each passing second.
Tears swim in Juliette’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Get off my porch. I…I can’t even look at you right now. Go! Get out of here! You killed my sister!” I’m yelling, and both Benny and Maddie take a few steps back.
Juliette doesn’t hesitate. She runs.
Benny touches my elbow with a frown. “That’s not fair.”
I clench my fists and spin on him. “She killed Maddie.”
“But it could’ve just as easily been me.”
“No. It couldn’t. You were supposed to kill me on multiple occasions, and you never did. You always found a way to wait long enough so you didn’t have to. Juliette could’ve done the same thing.”
Benny runs a hand through his hair and grips it. “I’ve had years to learn how to deal with the need to kill. It’s still so new to Juliette. She couldn’t see through the rage. Trust me. You should forgive her and apologize.”
I want to tell him where to go, but I catch sight of Maddie out of the corner of my eye. She’s sitting on the porch swing, staring off into the distance. This is so unlike her. Maybe she’s grieving her own life, the one she lost.
“I’ll deal with her later. For tonight, I’m focusing on Maddie.”
Benny shuffles his feet. I’m positive he would like me to focus on him instead. “Would you like me to go?”
“No, that’s silly,” Maddie says, standing up from the swing and plastering on a fake grin. “Stay with us. Callie loves you.”
“First, we need to go open the circus,” I say.
Maddie claps her hands. “Ooh, yes, I loved watching that show last time.” Her enthusiasm is fake, but I pretend not to notice.
We head into the circus and pass Giselle and her cronies hanging out near the snake charmer tent. She snaps her teeth at Maddie, who jumps, and Giselle cackles. That girl is nuts.
After my show, we return to my boat to get out of the humidity and away from the people. I don’t want to risk running into Juliette again.
We all pile onto my bed and chat for hours. Maddie is still a little distant, but she seems almost herself. She tells storie
s of the surfers at home, but they are starting to get repetitive, and I notice she avoids talking about our parents. I don’t bring them up either. It’s too painful for both of us.
Instead, I just let her talk. Eventually, the conversation comes back to me and my own predicament.
“Maybe the Obeah man isn’t on the island, but he still has to have some kind of connection. Someone on the island knows something,” Benny says.
I lean up against his chest. “How am I supposed to figure that out?” Ten bucks says it’s Ruth.
Benny goes quiet for a long time. “What about the contracts?”
“What about them?”
“Well. If someone is in the pocket of the other Obeah, they wouldn’t have a contract with Samuel.”
Holy smokes, he’s right. All I need are those contracts, and I’ll know. Then I deflate.
“Those went down with the boat.”
“But they’re still there and probably intact. If you can get your zombie army to go after a person, you can get them to go after the contracts.”
“They’ll be ruined from the fire. Or the water.” If they hadn’t been destroyed, then that would actually be a good idea.
“You think those are ink and paper? Those contracts are magic. They’ll still be perfectly intact. Find someone to get them, and you’ll discover who the other Obeah is, or who’s working with him.”
It’s the best idea I’ve heard in a while. I can see if Ruth has a contract. If not, then I’ll have even more ammo to go after her with.
Maddie stands up abruptly. “I’m going to find Juliette.”
“No, wait. Maddie, don’t go.”
She squeezes my hand. “It’s okay. We only have like an hour before sunrise.”
I jump up and grab her before she can escape out the door. She crushes me in a hug and whispers fiercely in my ear. “You have a boyfriend you can only see twice a month. You deserve at least one hour alone with him. I’ll see you in two weeks.”
She lets go of me and rushes out. I stare after her for a moment, wondering when she got so grown up. Probably when she died. My chest clenches a bit.
Benny and I haven’t had alone time for a while. We’ve been stealing kisses, but there has always been too much going on for us to do anything more than that.
Circus of the Dead: Book 3 Page 9
