by Trudi Jaye
The sparkling rainbow lights appeared, blocking out her surroundings. She didn’t know if it would be for Garth or the Carnival itself, but she had an idea the Carnival was in control and very present in her vision space.
Images appeared, but they were different from usual, too many to see clearly, all laid over each other, until it was just a mass of noise and color. She couldn’t make out individual people, or hear what was being said. Nothing made any sense, and she put her hands over her ears to block out the increasing level of noise bombarding her. But it didn’t make any difference inside a vision; when she closed her eyes, she still saw the images flashing and her hearing was still perfect despite her blocked ears.
Celestine’s heart thumped hard in her chest and knew that her real body would be shaking, in the grip of a seizure. This overload of sensation was too much for her to take in, and she could feel her body starting to shut down.
And then it stopped.
Only one image was left. The Blue Carousel, rotating slowly with the setting sun behind it, the internal hinges squeaking. The music was gone, and so were all the rides that usually lit up the interior. Cracked pieces of glass and plaster lay around the edges. There were stains on the ground that Celestine knew were blood. The scene of the carnage had been cleaned up, but some of the evidence remained.
A lone, silhouetted figure walked toward the carousel, limping slightly, a sad slump to his shoulders.
It wasn’t until he was right next to the carousel that Celestine could make out who he was.
Garth.
But not the Garth that she knew, the strong man who had stood before her in the clinic.
This Garth had a long, fresh scar across his cheek, his clothes were ripped and dirty, and his expression held a vein of sadness so deep that Celestine couldn’t breathe as she looked at him.
Chapter 24
Sam held Celestine’s shaking body in his arms. Despite knowing this was what happened whenever she looked into the future, his primal instinct was to protect her from it. If he had his way, she’d never do another reading.
“Is it always like this?” asked Garth, his black eyes shifting and spinning.
Sam nodded grimly. “She’s never seen it, so she doesn’t realize how bad it is.”
Celestine slowly stopped shaking. Her body went limp, as it had the other times she’d seen the future in his presence. Sam held her tight against his chest, leaning back against the wall behind them on the clinic’s bed. She opened her eyes slowly. He wondered how often she’d been surprised by a vision and had ended up on the floor with bruises and cuts to show for it.
Garth closed his eyes and then opened them. Instead of the all black they’d been only moments before, they now glowed bright with the colors of the rainbow, spinning and swirling across the surface of his eyes. Power emanated from those eyes, so bright that Sam had to look away.
“You truly do have the power of foresight, Celestine Rose Mayweather,” he intoned in a strange voice. “The Carnival has seen what you saw, and it is a frightening future. We thank you for letting us follow you into your realm.”
Sam felt a whisper of air against his skin and shivered. For the first time, he realized the Carnival was more than just a group of people. There was a presence with them in the room, using Garth as its conduit. It felt beautiful and magical all at once, a glorious outpouring of delight and happiness. The soul of the Carnival, the sum of all its people was here with them.
And then it was gone. Garth blinked again and his eyes returned to their inky blackness.
“We have to go talk to Rilla and Jack. All of us. This is more serious than we’d realized,” he said.
Celestine nodded. “I just need a few moments to get my bearings.” She tried to sit up, out of Sam’s arms, but he held tight. After a moment, she relaxed back against his shoulder.
Sam shook his head. “She needs more than a few moments. That was a really big seizure.”
“They’re not—” Celestine began to protest.
“I know you’re seeing something, and I understand that it’s really the future,” said Sam. “But to your body, here in the real world, it’s still a seizure, and it’s affecting you. It’s not something to take lightly.”
“I don’t take it lightly,” she snapped. “I just know what I’m capable of. You don’t need to baby me.”
“You’ve been taking risks all these years,” continued Sam. He hated to think of all the times something could have happened to her. He thought of her brothers. They had probably made her do reading after reading, looking for the money, unconcerned with her health. His arms tightened around her body.
Garth bowed slightly and stepped back. “I’ll leave you to your arguments. I must talk to Rilla and let them know what is happening.”
“You saw it too?” asked Celestine.
“Yes. Through the Carnival’s power, I saw my future. It’s not going to happen if I can help it.” Garth’s expression was grim.
“I’ve never had that happen before.”
“We’re both connected to the Carnival.” He shrugged. “It’s more powerful than all of us combined.” He nodded and left through the narrow door.
Celestine pushed herself back up into a sitting position, and Sam let her go. He moved so that he was leaning on the edge of the bed, right next to her.
“I’m not a child you know,” she said.
“I never said you were.”
“Don’t boss me around.”
“Did your brothers make you do it very often?”
Celestine hesitated and then nodded. “It brings in the most money, doing a skin-to-skin reading.” Her eyes were shadowed with remembered pain.
Sam wanted to gather her up in his arms again, to sooth away that hurt. He knew what it was like to have someone else directing his every move. It was something he vowed he would never go back to, and he would never let the same happen to her. “I won’t let your brothers find you again,” he said.
“You can’t control that.” Celestine shook her head. “I still have to leave. They were suspicious of Missy.” She stood up from the bed and started pacing again.
“You don’t know that.”
She turned and faced him. “The fact they stayed and tried to argue with her tells me they suspect something. Even the way they decided to fight you so easily. They were angry because they thought you were hiding me.” She hesitated. “They could probably feel my presence, the same way I felt them.” She resumed her pacing.
Sam stood, stepping into the middle of the aisle and into her path. She stopped abruptly in front of him, and he placed his hands on her shoulders. “You don’t have to go anywhere, Celestine. Stay here at the Jolly Knight Carnival. We’ll all protect you from your brothers.”
She shook her head. “But that’s just it. I keep seeing futures where the Carnival has been destroyed. You can’t save me if you’re dead.” Her words reverberated around the otherwise silent trailer.
Sam shook her gently. “Your visions of the future... Are they set in stone?” he asked.
Celestine blinked and looked up at him, her violet eyes staring right into his soul. “I... I don’t think so. Your future has changed every time I’ve read you.” She blinked again. “I don’t usually see into people’s futures more than once.”
“Then you have to stay and tell us what you see. You can help change the futures you’ve been witnessing.”
“Is that the only reason you want me to stay? To tell you what I’ve seen?”
Sam hesitated. He shook his head. “No. I want you to stay for me.”
Celestine’s eyes darkened, and she leaned forward, falling into his arms, her head against his chest. He held her tight, a warm bundle that he never wanted to let go. He kissed her on the top of her head, and Celestine leaned back, gazing up at him. He leaned in and softly kissed her, pulling her to him, and trying to let her know by touch how he felt about her. For a moment, there was nothing but sensation, the feeling of her aga
inst him, the rightness of her lips against his.
And then he felt her body shaking against his.
He pulled back; her eyes were closed and she was in the grip of another seizure.
His heart stuttered in his chest as he realized what he’d done. Through his own selfishness, he’d sent her off into another vision, exactly what he’d vowed he’d protect her from.
Chapter 25
Sam grasped Celestine under the shoulders and knees, lifting her back onto the clinic bed. He stood over her, watching her beautiful face, his heart wrenching in two. He couldn’t ever kiss her again.
It wasn’t long before she opened her eyes again.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she said with a frown. “I keep telling you, it’s completely normal.”
“What did you see?” he asked.
She shook her head and looked away. “Nothing has changed.”
“I’m so sorry, Celestine. I didn’t mean to send you into a vision. I won’t do it again.”
She quickly turned her gaze back to him. “What do you mean?”
“We can’t kiss again. I can’t keep sending you off into visions every time I touch you.”
“It is inconvenient,” she said with a small half smile.
“It’s not safe,” Sam said, wishing she would accept how dangerous her seizures were.
“My mother and grandmother had exactly the same talent I do. They were both fine.”
“I thought your mother died because your father forced her to continue reading fortunes for too long?”
“He forced her to keep going even when she was so exhausted. She could barely keep her eyes open. As long as I’m in control of them, I’m fine.”
It was when others took control that there were issues, Sam thought sourly. Her brothers were a big problem. He’d have to talk to Jack about what they could do to help Celestine.
Celestine pushed herself into a sitting position using her elbows. “I need to talk to Rilla and Jack. You’re right. I do owe it to the Carnival to tell them everything I’ve seen.”
“Do you want a drink or something to eat first? Does it tire you out, having a vision?”
Celestine shook her head. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”
They were quiet on the way to the Ringmaster’s Airstream, each of them lost in thought. It was still midafternoon, although it felt much later to Sam. So much had happened, he wondered how it had all been crammed into one day.
The door to the trailer opened as they approached, and Rilla poked her head out. Even outside of the ring, she was stunning; her straight, dark hair was arranged with not even a strand out of place, and her bright blue eyes were sharp as she gazed at Celestine and Sam. “You coming to see us?” she said.
“Yes,” said Sam. “Is Garth with you?”
Rilla nodded. “He’s been telling us an interesting story.” She smiled at Celestine. “We need you to fill us in on everything. Come inside.”
Sam stood back and let Rilla lead Celestine to the table. Jack and Garth were already there, cups of coffee in front of them, serious expressions on their faces as they considered whatever dark future Garth had seen. He knew Celestine had seen his death more than once. Perhaps Garth had seen a similar future. His brain refused to think too far on that topic—they just had to prevent whatever dark future Celestine had seen for the Carnival.
“Coffee, Celestine, Sam?” asked Jack.
They both shook their heads.
Rilla pulled a chair over from beside her bed, and offered Sam the other stool from the kitchen. Even in a trailer this size—one of the larger silver Airstream models—it felt cramped with this many people. He was still getting used to the idea of living in such small spaces and being so intimate with other people—he could actually see into the bedroom from his perch in the kitchen. At The Experiment, he’d had an entire house to himself behind the medical center. Veronica had given him every possible mod con and the best of everything.
He would rather be here with these people than back at The Experiment with her. A million times over.
Rilla cleared her throat and exchanged at glance with Jack. “Celestine, did my father, Abba, know that you were for real?”
Celestine shook her head, nervously twisting her fingers together on the table at the booth. “He knew I was desperate, and that I was hiding from someone. He never knew more than that.”
“Those two men we threw out today,” said Jack, “were they the people you’ve been hiding from?”
She nodded jerkily. “They’re my brothers.”
“We would have protected you from them,” said Rilla softly. “You could have told us.”
“You don’t understand....” Celestine looked desperately over at Sam. “That woman Veronica, the one who held Missy, she put a block on Sam, right? So he had to do everything she said?”
Rilla and Jack nodded.
“My brothers, they can tell me to do whatever they want, and I have to do it. One part of my brain knows that I don’t want to do it, but it’s hidden away, subverted by whatever part of me is linked to them. Once they have me under their control again, I’ll happily tell you all to go to hell, to stop trying to protect me, and I’ll leave with them.” Celestine let out a hiccuping sob and covered her mouth with both hands.
Sam pulled his chair over and sat next to her, putting one hand on her back. He made sure he wasn’t touching her anywhere near to her bare skin.
As he watched her pull herself together and face the others again, he realized something important. He’d been under Veronica’s control for approximately ten years. He’d been in his midtwenties, a freshly minted doctor looking for adventure and exciting experiences when he’d crossed her path. He’d chafed and howled against the world when he realized he was stuck there with her, forced to do her bidding or receive bolts of unimaginable pain.
But Celestine had experienced the control of her family her entire life. She had always been under their power, and somehow she’d found the strength to fight her way out of that trap. She’d made it here and survived for three years on her own, living life her own way and with her own agendas. She was amazing.
“Did your brothers always have control over you, even when you were younger?” asked Rilla.
“No, it was my father up until he died a few years ago, just after my mother. The ability to control my actions passed from my father to my brothers.”
“They both have it?” Rilla asked.
Celestine nodded again. “I think it’s shared somehow. They can’t do it without both of them present.”
“You said your grandmother had it as well as your mother? So it’s genetic?”
“Yes.”
Cogs began to turn inside Sam’s head as he listened to Rilla’s questions. “So it’s a talent that’s been passed down. What about your mother? What happened to her?”
“She was powerful, more powerful than my grandmother. She was also pretty headstrong. She ran away a few times when she was a kid, because she hated my grandfather telling her what to do.”
“Did he have the same power over her?”
Celestine paused, a tiny line appearing between her eyebrows. “I’ve never thought about it before. She never said so explicitly.” She hesitated. “But he must have, and she hated it.”
“How did she get away from him?”
“She ran away from home when she was sixteen and married my father.”
“When did your father discover he could force your mother to do whatever he wanted?” said Sam softly.
Celestine put her head to one side. “Long before I was born,” she whispered. “It was passed on from my grandfather to my father and then to my brothers.”
Rilla leaned forward. “So if you marry, the persuasion magic passes from your brothers to your new husband?”
Chapter 26
Celestine swayed in her seat. The only thing holding her in place was the warmth of Sam’s hand at her back. T
here was a way out of this? She could get her brothers to leave her alone? It was too good to be true.
But then reality hit, and she realized the other side of this new coin. “There must be a way to do it without having to give someone else control over me,” she said. There was no way she was willing to do that.
Rilla nodded. “I understand, Celestine. We’ll ask Indigo to research it for us in the archives. She might come up with a better solution.”
“In the meantime, we need you to tell us everything you remember about your visions,” said Garth, cutting into the discussion for the first time.
Jack nodded in agreement. “Garth’s right. Tell us everything.”
“I saw two different futures for Sam. And...” She glanced around the room nervously.
“What else did you see?” asked Rilla suspiciously.
“I saw you both die,” she said in a rush, looking at Rilla and Jack.
Jack abruptly sat back against the padded booth seat.
“How? What happens?” said Rilla.
“Veronica. She’s been in most of the visions. Definitely in all of Sam’s futures. She gets him under another block. And Viktor as well. He... he sabotages the carousel because of her.”
“What! Viktor would never....” Rilla hesitated, and Celestine didn’t need to see into her head to know she was remembering Christoph’s betrayal.
“She takes his granddaughter,” said Celestine softly.
“Ruby?” blurted Jack, surprise in his voice. “She’s only a couple months old. Surely even Veronica wouldn’t stoop so low?”
Sam cleared his throat. “Yes, she would. She’s done that kind of thing before.”
Rilla and Jack gaped at Sam. “But a baby?” said Rilla.
“She doesn’t have a sense of right or wrong. She only knows what she wants and then does everything she can to get it,” said Sam quietly.
Celestine shivered. The thought that Sam had been in the power of someone like that for ten years made tears choke up her throat.
“What else, Celestine? Tell us everything.”
