Circus of the Dead: Book 3

by Kimberly Loth

  Ruth stands up and blocks the door. “No. You’ve already messed things up. Don’t do another stupid thing.”

  This hurts. A lot. All I have ever tried to do is help the people I care about. Can’t she at least see that I have good intentions?

  With more anger in my voice than I’d like, I say, “Ruth, do you really think you can stop me?”

  She sighs and drops her old, bony shoulders. “No. But I’m begging you. Please don’t do anything stupid.”

  “I’m going to agree to whatever Lorena wants if she’ll bring Maddie back, but I’ll make sure I know exactly what I’m getting into before I agree to anything.”

  Ruth rolls her eyes and steps away. “That won’t work, but you’re right. I can’t stop you. Good luck making a mess of things.”

  I step outside into the sticky air, hike down to Lorena’s boat, and pound on the glass slider.

  She opens the door and smirks at me. “What do you want now?”

  “You brought a girl back to life, Jocelyn.” Ruth said it was Samuel, but I know better. Lorena was the power behind Samuel.

  “Samuel did that.”

  “But it was really you.”

  “What’s it to you? That was years ago.”

  I let out a sigh. “Could you do it again?”

  “Sure, but I won’t. Not for you.”

  “What if I was willing to do whatever you wanted?”

  Lorena’s eyes flash. “I want you dead.”

  “No, that’s not exactly true. What you really want is to get off this island. I’ll take your place willingly if you bring Maddie back from the dead and send her home to California.”

  She cackles and claps her hands. “Took you long enough.”

  “Wait, this was it? Why didn’t you tell me before?”

  This seems far too easy.

  “Because you wouldn’t have trusted me to not do something sneaky. I had to wait for you to discover it on your own. The spell. It requires a willing sacrifice. You have to give yourself to the island. I knew you wouldn’t do that without an incentive.”

  “What about all this nonsense of me being dead?”

  She sighs as if it’s obvious. “You’ll learn this with time. Always have a backup plan. There are multiple ways for you to take my place. The first plan was to kill you, but then you went and made yourself immortal. Maddie was my backup plan. And it looks like that worked. We will have to sign something to make sure you won’t try to summon me back. Do you understand what it means to control the island? That’s important.”

  “I’m not sure. All I really know is that you are somehow connected to the island, and you control everything, but you aren’t allowed to leave. If that’s it, I can do that.”

  Her eyes sparkle. “You really want Maddie to live again?”

  I take a step back. She’s scaring me a little now. “Yes. I do.”

  “No, I’m not convinced. And if I’m not convinced, then the island will not be either. You have to want this beyond anything, or it will not work. Finding a way to kill you might be easier.” She waves her hand in the air, dismissing me, but I’m not falling for it. I wonder for a second if she’s lying to me about all of it.

  “You speak of the island as if it were a person.”

  “In a way, it is. But it’s not exactly the island itself. It’s the magic that binds the island. It’s strong. A mixture of old voodoo and ancestral magic. Nothing like this exists anywhere else in the world. Trust me, I’ve sent my ghosts looking. I’ve wanted free of this place for years, and now you’ve finally provided me a way. But you have to want it.”

  She stands a little taller like a weight has lifted off her shoulders.

  “Maybe you can explain to me how this will all work?” If I tie myself to the island for eternity, I will get Maddie back to California alive and well, and Benny will still be mine. I’m already attached to the ghosts and am immortal, so I’ll just have more control. I don’t see a downside here. But it’s Lorena, so there has to be a downside.

  “You will rule the island and make sure the magic is satisfied. That means a death at every new moon and deciding who will move on during the full moon. You will have more power than you could imagine, but you will be trapped here.”

  I chew on my lip. “What happens if I don’t allow the ghosts to kill?”

  “You have to let them kill. It’s part of the magic. Trust me. You can influence them to kill a certain person, but you can’t actually stop them.”

  “Are you sure?” She might be lying to me, or maybe she just doesn’t know.

  “Yes.”

  I nod. I wish I had my friends. I have no one to discuss this with and find out what I’m missing.

  “Can I think about this?”

  “Certainly. You have to want it with complete conviction, or the spell won’t work. Take as long as you need. Would you like to come back for dinner, and we’ll discuss it further?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, I will see you around six.”

  When I took out Samuel, I did it with the full intention of stopping the ghosts’ killing. But Lorena just said I couldn’t, and that doesn’t sit well with me. I want to stop the deaths.

  On my walk back to my boat, I play all the possible scenarios in my head. How can I let the ghosts kill and maintain my conscience? I still have to let the ghosts kill, but maybe I could influence who the ghosts recruit to the island.

  I falter. I’ll be playing God. That’s a scary role…to decide who might live and die. It’s a role I don’t want because what if I choose wrong? I could just make sure the ghosts recruit criminals and thugs. People who might not deserve death, because no one does, but at least not those who have families and good productive lives in front of them.

  I’ll have to learn about the magic and how it works. Then, maybe I could figure out how to end the magic once and for all. Maybe I will never be able to. The worst-case scenario is that I would be trapped here forever, having to watch someone die each new moon.

  Which is what I’m doing now. I just don’t have any control.

  But at least Maddie would be alive. That’s what I want.

  I sit on my porch, and Raptor jumps into my lap. I literally cannot see a downside. I’ll be open and honest with the islanders. I’ll develop decent relationships with my ghosts, and hopefully, we can only have assholes killed on the new moon until I find out a way to stop it.

  And even if there is a downside, Maddie is worth it. I can’t let her stay dead. She needs to live.

  I stroke Raptor’s feathers. “Guess what, buddy, I’m going to be a god.”

  He squawks as if he understands, but of course, he doesn’t. I hope against hope I’m not doing something wrong. Lorena has never been on the up and up, but I have to take my chances.

  For Maddie.

  Before dinner, I hunt down Ruth and ask for her strongest bottle of wine, hoping that maybe I’ll loosen Lorena’s tongue a bit. I knock on Lorena’s door at exactly six. She opens it with a wide smile, and I hand her the bottle.

  She waggles her finger at me. “Ah, you know my weakness. Come, let’s both get a little tipsy and share all our secrets.”

  This is the best mood I think I’ve ever seen her in. She’s getting what she wants.

  She’s made some sort of Cajun chicken dish that smells delicious. “I didn’t know you were such a good cook.”

  “I’m good at everything because of magic. Soon you will be too. Have you made your decision?”

  “I’ll take your place. I want Maddie to live.”

  I wait for her to berate me again, but instead, she claps her hands together. “Excellent. We will have to wait until the new moon. You will need to be prepped, and I need to make sure everything is in place for the transfer spell.”

  “Prepped in what way?”

  “You’ll need to tap into your ancestral magic side. Plus, I’ll need to teach you how to control the ghosts and show you how you choose who moves on. You won’t be able
to do it until after the spell is complete, but you should know how, or chaos would reign for a while, and I do so want you to have a good transition.” She smiles, and I get the niggling feeling that I’m missing something. Whatever it is, I’ll figure it out after Maddie gets her life back.

  I take a bite of the chicken, and the flavor explodes in my mouth. Forget magic lessons. I want to learn how to make this.

  “Where will you go?” I ask just to make conversation.

  “I don’t know. I came here as a young woman and never had the opportunity to explore the world. I’ll travel and revel in the fact I am no longer trapped. If I had known it would be this easy, I would’ve asked you this ages ago.”

  “But ages ago, I wouldn’t have agreed.”

  She takes a sip of her wine. “Exactly.”

  “I am your daughter. Yet, you would willingly consign me to a fate you can’t stand.”

  “You may have my blood, but you are not my child. In fact, the only thing that blood is good for is to get me the hell out of here. The spell won’t work with anyone else.”

  Her words sting, but I press her anyway. “Did Luke know what you had planned?”

  She shakes her head. “But he knew what kind of woman I was. I was furious with Luke and Samuel. I needed my firstborn daughter, and those two went behind my back and got rid of you.”

  “So what will be the consequences of setting you free?”

  She takes another sip. “Even if I knew what that was, I’d never tell you. No one would ever accuse you of being stupid. You’ll have to trust that it will be worth it.”

  I raise my glass. “Here’s to hoping I don’t regret this.”

  She nods. “To freedom.”

  She clinks our glasses together, and I can’t help but feel I’ve done something terribly wrong.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “You cannot make a deal with her.” Benny stands in my room, watching me do my hair and makeup.

  “I can, and I will.”

  He slams a hand against the wall. “This won’t work out like you think it will. Please don’t do this.”

  I put down my mascara wand and spin on him. “Then tell me please, exactly what is going to happen?”

  He lets out a long breath. “No deal with Lorena is a good one.”

  I grab his hands in mine. “Look, I’ve been over this a thousand times. I’ve read the contract at least ten times. Maddie gets her life back, and I get to be with you for eternity. Where is the problem?”

  He squeezes my hand tight and clenches his teeth. “I don’t know. I just know this isn’t the right thing. Will you please trust me?”

  “I do trust you, and if you had a good reason, I’d listen, but you don’t. I need to do this. For Maddie.”

  He pulls me closer. “I really wish you wouldn’t. Lorena is the devil, and I don’t want you to become that as well.”

  “I won’t. In fact, I’ll make it my life’s mission to get rid of this island once and for all. I can’t do that until I have control of it.”

  “Eternity on this island. Is that really what you want?”

  I give him a soft kiss. “What I really want is eternity with you. This isn’t the ideal way to get it, but at least I get you. I know there are downsides to all of this, but maybe we can just look at the positives.”

  He kisses me again more forcefully. “Okay, but you have to promise that the nights I’m here, I’m all yours. We spend the whole time trapped inside this little boat and see no one else.”

  I wrap my arm around his waist. “I can do that.”

  He grins, kisses me again, and pushes me toward the bed. I pull away. “But tonight, I have a contract to sign.”

  His lips on my neck make my knees go weak. “But you have time until that happens. Just a half-hour. Please?”

  I duck out from under him. “Oh no, I know where this is going. A half-hour will turn into an hour, and you’ll have me all caught up in the moment, and I’ll forget all about Lorena. Your tactics are good, but I can see straight through them. On the full moon though, I’m all yours. All night.”

  He lets out a breath and sinks down onto the bed. “I don’t like this.”

  “I know. Will you come with me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Wait, where’s Maddie? I want to say goodbye.”

  “I haven’t seen her in a few days,” Benny says. “But she has to be on the island. Let’s go find her.”

  “Nice try. I’ll find her after I sign the contract.”

  I take his hand, and we walk the docks to Lorena’s boat. She’s showed me how to manage the ghosts, and it seems pretty straightforward. Plus I now have a large box with books on how to be an ancestral witch. Aside from the nagging feeling that something isn’t right, this all seems on the up and up.

  The next few months will be difficult, but at some point, I’ll figure out how to free the islanders and the ghosts and destroy the island.

  Lorena opens the door before we even knock. “Come in, come in.”

  Benny follows me. “For the record, I don’t agree with this,” he says.

  Lorena swats him on the shoulder. “Of course you don’t.” She’s almost giddy, and it’s strange to see her this way. “Do you know where Maddie is? I want to say goodbye first.”

  Lorena grabs my hand and leads me into the room. “No. The whole thing won’t work until the sun rises anyway. So, we can have you sign the contract now, and then you can go find her. This won’t take very long.”

  I hesitate though I don’t know why. This is what I’ve wanted since Maddie died. We all sit down at the table, and Lorena takes out the contract. I want to read it one more time to make sure she hasn’t changed anything. The wording all seems to be the same.

  Calliope June Spruce willingly agrees to sacrifice herself for Maddie Jane Spruce and give herself to the service of the island. She will replace Lorena Devereaux as the witch of the island to serve for eternity.

  The rest of it is pretty standard, and I’ve read a lot of contracts because of Samuel. I pick up the pen and let out a breath.

  Benny squeezes my hand. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “Oh, but I do.”

  “Yes, she does.” Lorena’s eyes are practically glowing.

  I scrawl my name on the page. I know the process is not done yet, but that was the first step. Lorena signs it as well. Then she pricks her finger and presses it on the paper next to her name. She reaches for my hand and stabs my finger.

  I stare at the drop of blood forming on the tip. This is it. I swallow and look at Benny. He shakes his head, but I have to.

  I press my finger next to the signature, and Lorena cackles. “It’s done.”

  She rolls up the contract and seals it. She puts it in her desk and hands me the key to the desk. “As soon as that sun rises, you’re in charge.”

  Benny takes my hand. “Come on, let’s go see if we can find Maddie.”

  I wait until we are under the cover of the tree canopy. “See, that wasn’t so bad.”

  “We won’t see the real consequences until you’re actually in charge. Hell, we might not even fully understand this for a few months.”

  I loop my arm through his and lean my head onto his shoulder. “Probably not. But we’ve been through worse. At least we are together. We’ll save the island, and Maddie will live once again.”

  He kisses the top of my head. “I hope you’re right.”

  “Now, we need to find Maddie. I want to say goodbye to her.”

  The circus is packed. Someone is going to die tonight, but next time, it will be my choice who. That’s the deal I made. We go to Luke’s first because Maddie likes Bob, but she isn’t there. Luke chats with us for a bit, and I’m itching to move on, but I don’t want to be rude. Once we escape from him, we check the lemonade stand. But it’s just full of circus goers who argue over whether strawberry or blueberry is better.

  We check the illusionist tent, but he’s got some creepy haunte
d house thing going on, and she’s not there either. Finally, I spot her blonde hair on the docks all alone.

  The sky is lightening, and I don’t have much time. I rush to her, and Benny follows. She’s sitting in the middle of the docks, crying. I wrap my arms around her, and she sobs into my arms.

  She sniffs. “I spent the whole two weeks with Mom and Dad, and I tried so hard to do something, anything, but nothing worked. No matter how angry I got.”

  I can barely contain my excitement. I’m so happy that I get to give Maddie her life back. “I’m sorry. But I have good news.”

  She turns to me. “What?”

  “I found a way for you to have your life back.”

  Her mouth drops open. “What? How?”

  “It’s complicated, but I had to promise to never leave the island, and Lorena agreed to give you your life back.” It’s more complicated, but I don’t want her to know that. I’m not actually sacrificing anything. I was already trapped on the island. So what does the contract mean? I push the thought away. I can’t worry about the consequences now.

  “You can’t do that. I will not spend my life knowing you gave up yours for mine.”

  “I’m stuck here anyway. Besides, I have Benny.” I squeeze his hand, and he gives her a weak smile. “I want to stay here. But you don’t belong here.”

  A few tears escape down her face. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “I love you, and I want you to live the best life you possibly can. For the both of us.”

  Maddie stands and pulls me up. She gives me a tight hug and whispers in my ear. “I love you, and I’ll miss you every day. Thank you. I will never forget this. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

  “Of course, I am. I’m used to all this by now.”

  She lets go of me and stares into my eyes. “How does this work?”

  “I don’t know. I'm guessing as soon as the sun rises, you’ll pop up back in L.A. just as you are now. Fully alive.”

  She lets out a breath. “Thank you so much.”

  No matter what happens, I’ve given Maddie her life back. She deserves this. She’ll live to have kids and will grow old. She’ll tell her grandkids scary stories about a circus island where she once died.