Smoke, Mirrors and Demons (The Carnival Society Book 1)

by Kat Cotton

  I wouldn’t get into my costume until the last minute. I had time to double check out the venue.

  “The glitter cannon is in place?” I asked Duke.

  “It’s all ready to go.”

  I’d gone to the old woman, buying up her entire supply of demon powder.

  She’d shaken her head. “It’s a fool mission you’re trying.”

  Again, probably a lucky guess on her part. If someone is buying up your whole supply of demon weakening powder, chances were they were on a fools’ mission.

  I’d put my hands on my hips. “You want my money or don’t you?”

  That gold tooth had sparkled at me as she grinned at the thought. She handed over a bag of the stuff about the size of a small orange.

  “That’s it?” I’d asked.

  “I’m just one woman and this isn’t in great demand.” She still grinned. She’d be making a fortune off this. “That’s enough to take out a dozen or more demons.”

  I shoved the powder in my backpack and got up to leave.

  “Trust in your friends,” she’d said as she saw me out. “You have doubts but for this, you have to trust them.”

  Nuno and I had mixed the powder with a bucket of glitter and loaded up the cannon. At least if we died, we’d die sparkling.

  Duke pointed to where Nuno had set the cannon up.

  “When the cannon fires, it’ll cover the whole room?” I asked. We only had one shot at this.

  “I’m pretty sure. Without doing a test run, we can’t say for certain and I’m not bombarding this place with glitter before we even start.”

  That wasn’t good but I could see his point. This was a long shot but it was our only shot. We had to hope the cannon worked and that one of us could get to it in time. Nuno would man it between his slots and one of us would be there while he was on but that still left gaps.

  While we studied the cannon, a man approached us, red-faced and out of breath.

  “You can’t use that thing,” he said, pointing at the cannon. “No glitter.”

  “Yes, we can,” said Duke.

  “We’re doing the late show after you and we do not want a stage covered in glitter. There is no room for glitter in our show. I demand that you clean up any mess you make.”

  Duke raised his eyebrows and gave the man a look that made him shrink away.

  When the man left us, Duke turned to me. “He’s going to be a lot angrier if the stage is covered in blood.”

  “Yeah but we can’t tell him that.”

  “Go back and get changed now. There’s nothing more you can do out here.”

  I nodded and headed to the dressing room. Lilly and Nuno had already changed for their acts so it didn’t take long to get into my leotard. My other two costumes hung on a rail. I sighed as I hung my street clothes up beside them. I only hoped I’d be putting those clothes back on at the end of the day and they wouldn’t end up in a dumpster like Gretchen’s had.

  I opened the dressing room door.

  Shit!

  Clown!

  Evil clown.

  I screamed.

  He didn’t have his face painted but a grotesque mask hid his features. He did a little dance as though that would reassure me. That dance just made him look all the more evil. I had enough to deal with without a dancing clown.

  I pushed past him and ran to join Lilly and Nuno.

  “Clown!” I said.

  “Yeah, he’s part of the late show,” Lilly said.

  “You don’t think that’s suspicious? Why is he here already, dressed in that outfit? And why the mask?”

  Lilly’s gaze met mine. “You don’t think he’s...”

  “Yeah, I think. What better disguise for a demon than a clown outfit?”

  I shivered.

  We watched from backstage as the audience trickled in, holding back the curtain just enough for us to see out.

  “Good crowd tonight,” Lilly said. “None of them look like demons though.”

  “Because the clown is the demon,” I said. “It’s obvious.”

  “The clown isn’t the demon,” she said. “The clown doesn’t smell demonic. The clown is just a clown.”

  She could say that but she would never convince me that clown wasn’t demonic. Why would he pop up at the dressing room door like that?

  Nuno looked at Lilly questioningly.

  “We’re not sold out,” she told him. “Well we weren’t but with door sales we just might be. It’s going to be a big crowd tonight.”

  Then she sighed. I sighed too. A sold-out audience might be a good thing for the show but it made looking for a demon difficult.

  “There are kids at this show?” I asked.

  I’d just seen a family come in with two young children. They sat in the front row and the little boy gazed around him in wonder, pointing out things to his sister.

  “Not often but sometimes. There’s nothing in the show that’s not kid friendly.”

  Not unless I’m brutally slain in front of the crowd, I thought. That would make the show extremely kid unfriendly. I wasn’t sure little kids should be watching most of Lilly’s act either.

  “Those brats had better stay seated and quiet or a demon will be the least of their worries,” Lilly said. “I don’t like children in the audience.”

  I gave her a look and she laughed.

  “Just kidding. Well I don’t like them but I don’t wish them harm. But maybe we could send the clown out to entertain them.”

  Just the thought of that bought back my shivers.

  “That couple walking in look suspicious,” she said. “Way too in love.”

  I spotted the couple she meant, holding hands and laughing at some joke. There was nothing suspicious about them. I got the feeling Lilly thought everyone was suspicious.

  “Do you think he’s going to pretend to be part of the crowd?” I said. “Isn’t it more likely he’d be one of the crew, lurking around backstage. Or maybe that barman? He looks super dodgy.”

  Lilly glanced over at the bar. “More like super-hot. I wonder what he’s doing when he finishes work. Maybe I need to give him my phone number.”

  I rolled my eyes. At least she could make plans for after the show. I couldn’t even be sure there would be any afterward for me.

  As the buzz of the crowd revved up, we started on our warmups. The butterflies in my stomach went crazy.

  I could always turn and run. Get out of here and hide. Lilly had been right. Hiding was the best option. Then the demon wouldn’t have his sacrifice and I’d be safe. Except I never would be. I’d either have to live my life on the run and that was the last thing I wanted to do or he’d find someone else to sacrifice and the gates of hell would open anyway.

  I bent over, stretching out my side and tried to concentrate on the performance. Nothing more.

  “Hello, cutie,” Lilly said. She’d gone back to the curtain. “Check this one out.”

  I peered out from the curtain, following where she pointed. A man moved through the crowd trying to find his seat. I almost didn’t recognize Akira in his casual clothes. That tight white t-shirt and leather jacket really suited him.

  Lilly nudged me.

  “Maybe I’ll go for him instead of the barman,” she said.

  That gave me a twinge. She couldn’t do that. Not Akira. It’d be bad. Bad for the investigation.

  “He’s not that cute,” I said. “He seems to have a weird growth on his chin. And he looks really poor.”

  I spot a couple of other team members in the audience. George wore some weird hat. I bet he thought that hat was really hipster and cool. It wasn’t.

  That couple in love sat in the booth directly across from George. I could barely make out their features in the dark but they gazed at each other, all loving and sweet. Those kids in the front row jumped around in their seats as their anticipation of the performance grew. Three women sitting behind them clasped fruity cocktails while chatting. One of them threw back her head. Laughing.r />
  Those were the people I had to think about. The audience who’d paid to be here. I needed to keep them safe and I needed to keep them entertained. Hopefully they’d get through the show without every realizing their lives were at risk. Hopefully we’d get through the show and the world would stay intact.

  The music started and the four of us walked out onstage with smiles masking our fears.

  Duke started his spiel and I turned around, smiling at the crowd. That smile had to dazzle, no matter what. The audience cheered and clapped. Regardless of what happened, I needed to perform tonight. I didn’t just need to. I wanted to. I’d been born to this, no matter how much I’d tried to deny it. This stuff was in my blood. Those people had paid to see this show. Our personal issues like demon attacks shouldn’t affect that.

  I was about to get ready for the first in my series of ground moves when it started. The buzzing, the tingling, the pounding head. He was here. That demon was here somewhere, and I bet he was that damn clown.

  Chapter 32

  I COMPLETED MY INTRO routine then it was another circuit of the stage to the cheers of the crowd. I kept the smile on my face as I waved my arms in the air, but the whole time I scanned for the demon.

  Not just the demon either. I looked for Akira, trying to catch his eye. When I did, I raised my eyebrows, hoping that could convey enough for him to know there was actual danger in the crowd. He gave me the thumbs-up. Damn. That wasn’t the reaction I wanted.

  I walked back to the center, standing close enough to Duke to whisper to him.

  “He’s here. I can sense the demon.”

  Nuno did his intro, a short stint on the unicycle and Lilly slipped off to get ready for her first routine.

  “Can you sense where?” Duke asked.

  “Nope but there was a freaky clown backstage. That’s got to be the demon.”

  “You can’t assume that all clowns are evil. That’s clownist,” he hissed at me between smiles.

  “Maybe so but what makes someone decide to be a clown in the first place? It’s not normal. We need someone backstage checking on him.”

  “That might be true but who do we send? It’s not like we have a huge crew here.”

  Nuno did his circuit of the stage then it was time for us to get off for Lilly’s act.

  Duke walked off to check on the sound desk but he’d given me an idea. I slipped my coat over my costume so I wouldn’t look too conspicuous then wrote a note and moved around to Akira. He could check out the clown backstage. Luckily, his seat was on the aisle so I sidled up beside him without causing too much disturbance. I squatted down and tried to hand him the note.

  He didn’t notice me. His eyes were glued to the stage.

  “Akira,” I hissed.

  Lilly had mesmerized him. She had that effect with the way she moved her hips but he was here to work not to watch the show. He turned and I slipped him the note.

  “It’s important,” I whispered. “The killer is here.”

  Then I rushed off. By the time I got into position to go onstage, Akira had left his seat. It made me sick that I might be sending him into danger but someone needed to keep watch on that clown.

  Applause and whistles filled the air as Lilly finished up. Duke would come back on for two minutes then Nuno.

  I watched the crowd, just in case the evil wasn’t the clown. He was the obvious choice but he might not be working alone. I searched for the festival director, Jason, or anyone else suspicious.

  People walked around the crowd, most of them going to the bar. This would be way easier if they just stuck to their seats.

  Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe that tingling had been just nerves. It seemed to have lessened as the show went on. The demon might’ve just gotten bored and gone home. Maybe he got distracted and decided opening the gates of hell was a pretty lame plan and he’d rather sit around playing Nintendo and eating ice cream.

  Nuno rode around the small stage, performing tricks on his unicycle. I jogged on the spot, trying to keep warm while I waited to go on. Lilly joined me, in another of her spangly costumes, this one more revealing than the last. She had her fans with her.

  The audience watched Duke, spell bound. He seemed to be able to work crowds like that without actually doing much of anything. He built them up, got them on the edge of their seats just with his words. His voice rumbled around the tent, offering so much.

  Then, my cue.

  I shrugged off my coat and walked into position. Duke needed to keep the audience enthralled until Nuno had changed into his black clothes and moved to work the winch for my act. That seemed to take much longer than it had at rehearsal. I shut my eyes, praying nothing had happened to him. When I opened them again, Nuno was at his spot by the winch and Duke introduced me.

  When my music started, my worries left me. I knew this routine so well. The hoop had been lowered. I sat on the edge, anchoring my foot on the ground to start spinning before Nuno raised it in the air. As the hoop raised, I moved from sitting to standing then flipped around into a handstand. It didn’t take long for the hoop to reach maximum height. This stage wasn’t so high. The hoop twirled faster and faster as I twisted my body.

  As I moved into the next position, something exploded below me. At first, I thought it was the glitter cannon. Nuno had spotted the demon?

  I waited for the storm of glitter but that wasn’t it. There was no glitter, just lots of smoke.

  The little boy in the front row started crying and climbed onto his mother’s lap. The women behind him laughed, thinking it was all part of the act but their gaze flittered around.

  Something flashed in the corner of my eye. Flames. This structure was made of wood and sure, there was a ton of fireproofing done to it but that didn’t make fire any less dangerous.

  Had Duke seen it? Had the venue crew?

  The flames burned higher and a few people nearby left their seats. Others stayed seated, watching. Smoke billowed around them.

  Why weren’t they leaving? I wanted to shout out, to tell them the fire was real, not a stupid trick.

  I signaled for Nuno to lower the hoop but before I got to the ground, the crew had dealt with the fire, smothering it with blankets.

  I jumped from the hoop but Duke signaled for me to extend my act. I’d come to the ground way too early but I wanted to stay on the ground too until I knew that fire was completely out. Fire in a place like this would spread so fast and I didn’t want to be suspended in the air if that happened.

  Then, bang! Another explosion. Shit. On the other side of the tent. Duke gestured for me to get back on the hoop but fear choked me. The smell of smoke became stronger and I could feel the heat.

  There was only a canvas strop holding up my hoop, and that canvas wouldn’t take long to burn.

  I did as Duke wanted though and Nuno raised the hoop.

  More of the crowd moved out. The remaining audience barely watched the stage. Their heads turned from the fire on one side to the other, watching the crew trying to smother it.

  The family sitting at the front had gone. Thankfully. I didn’t want those kids sticking around for this. Even if the fire got put out, even if the demon didn’t appear, smoke damage posed a real danger.

  Whole sections had cleared out.

  Was it even worth continuing?

  I swept the tent. Sitting there, right at the back of the empty seats was Jason with someone in a hooded coat sitting beside him.

  And that someone started walking toward the stage.

  Chapter 33

  I GESTURED WILDLY FOR Nuno to lower the hoop while trying to get Duke’s attention at the same time. Then Duke spotted the demon-man.

  The remaining audience gasped. Again, they seemed unsure if this was part of the act or not.

  It seemed to take forever for the hoop to reach the ground. I wanted to stop Duke. I couldn’t watch him get attacked while trying to protect me. But Nuno had stopped lowering the winch and I was stuck up here.

  Duke
rushed toward the demon-man and reached out, putting his hand on the demon’s wrist. I could see him talking. He’d be telling the demon to leave. Trying to use his persuasion but it wouldn’t work. Not on that demon.

  Duke kept talking but the demon shook his hand off and threw Duke aside.

  Why wasn’t Nuno firing the glitter cannon? It was the perfect timing.

  Lilly walked onstage and down the steps into the crowd, blocking the demon’s way. She kept eye contact with him until he had to look at her.

  As he gazed at her, she shimmered and shone, then she changed. She completely changed. She was no longer herself but had become me!

  She walked like me, she wore my costume. Her hair, her face, everything was the same.

  I blinked. Had she really done that? She glowed now, sort of blurring between being herself and me. Wowsers, that was some kind of magic.

  I sat on the hoop, watching what she did, open mouthed with shock.

  Then I realized what she was doing. The demon would go for her, thinking he was attacking me.

  She couldn’t. She just couldn’t.

  As the demon got closer to her, his claws grew. His features changed. The nose became more hooked, the eyes beadier. His skin took on that slimy appearance.

  Lilly took another step forward, luring him in.

  I had to get down. Where was Nuno? Where was Duke?

  I searched for them and found them moving through the crowd, directing people to the exits. George remained in the audience. There was no mistaking his ugly hat. He should get out. His police training wouldn’t help here.

  That meant I was on my own here. Bastards wanted me to remain up on the hoop out of harm’s way but I couldn’t let Lilly sacrifice herself. I had no idea why she’d put herself out for me. Well, maybe not so much for me but to stop the gates of hell opening. I guess that’s what she was doing.

  Still, I couldn’t just watch. Not when I could kill that bastard demon. The rumbling in my stomach intensified. The buzzing in my head grew louder. Maybe I could do this but first I needed to get down from the hoop.