by Trudi Jaye
Sam’s heart was pounding hard in his chest. He had been so sure it was Veronica in there, it had never occurred to him it could be something worse. This man seemed like he might be part of some kind of organised crime network. “There’s no need to go overboard. I’m sure we can come to some kind of arrangement.”
“The only arrangements that we’ll be making is how to get your body out of the river,” said the guard.
“What river? There’s no river around here.”
The guard shrugged. “It’s more of a saying. The boss’ll decide what to do with you.”
Sam shuffled slowly up the alley, trying to think of a way out of this situation. He kept glancing back at the guard, trying to find a moment when he wasn’t paying attention. But the man never took his eyes off Sam, and his finger seemed to be trained on the trigger of the small handgun he still had focused on Sam’s head. At least he was conscientious, whoever he was.
“In here,” he said, gesturing with the gun. A small side door stood near to the front facade of the old warehouse.
The door opened before he could even touch the handle.
A woman stood in the doorway, her blonde hair shining in the glow from a nearby street light. Her eyes sparkled unnaturally in the darkness. “Hello, Sam,” she said, lifting one hand in his direction.
Sam’s breath stuck in his lungs. “Hello, Veronica,” he said before blackness took over.
Chapter 38
Celestine opened her eyes. Something was wrong. She looked around the dark interior of her bedroom. It was still early morning. Artemis was stretched out along her side in her bed.
She’d been pulled out of her deep sleep, but she didn’t know why. All she knew was that she had an overwhelming sense that something was very, very wrong.
Scrambling out of bed, she pulled on some clothes. “What do you think it is, Artemis?” she asked her sleepy cat. Artemis meowed and rolled over the other way, ignoring her. “I think so too. Something is wrong with Sam.”
She’d woken earlier in the night with a nagging feeling that Sam was upset and worried. Their new connection might mean she couldn’t see his future any more, but she could feel him.
Like a damn extra limb.
A limb that didn’t want to be around her and was trying to leave.
But a limb nonetheless.
“What should I do?” she asked the sleeping cat. She sighed. She knew what she was going to do.
A few minutes later, she was knocking quietly on Jack and Rilla’s door.
Jack answered, looking ruffled and half asleep, wearing only PJ bottoms. “Celestine? What’s the matter?” He glanced around behind her. “Are your brothers here?”
Celestine shook her head. “Something’s wrong with Sam.”
Jack frowned. “He’s sick? Where is he?”
“No, no. I don’t know where he is. He couldn’t... He didn’t like being married to me, so he took off. But now something is wrong. Our… marriage bond… is telling me that something is wrong.”
Jack rubbed one hand over his face, as if trying to wake himself up. “We need Garth and Frankie. Wait here for a minute. I’ll be back shortly.” He shut the door.
Celestine sat on the small wooden steps, holding her hands tightly in her lap. The feeling of foreboding was growing inside her, but she couldn’t tell precisely what was wrong. She didn’t even know where Sam was.
After the detail and precision of the vision she’d had with Indigo, this vague feeling was frustrating. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have clearer visions of the people closest to you? So you could protect them? She gave a snort. Apparently not.
Jack yanked open the door, this time fully dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Rilla followed right behind him. Celestine nodded at them both. “What do we do?” she asked.
“I called Garth, told him to meet us at Frankie’s place. We start there.”
Celestine nodded and followed them through the maze of campers. Frankie’s trailer was close to the action of the Carnival and one of the farthest away from Jack and Rilla’s in the center. Even then, they were there in moments.
Jack banged on Frankie’s door. “Open up, Frankie. I know you’re awake.”
Frankie opened the door, rubbing his eyes blearily. “Actually, I was asleep, dude.” He frowned down at them.
“Celestine thinks Sam’s in trouble,” said Jack without preamble.
Frankie glanced back into his living room. “He was here not that long ago,” he said, pulling his door wider. “Come on in.”
Celestine followed the others up the steps. She’d never actually been inside in all the time she’d been with the Carnival, but she’d heard about it from other people. She looked around at all the computers and the eerie blue light that coated everything. It lived up to the hype.
Frankie looked over at her, and Celestine swallowed. “Something’s wrong. I can feel it through the bond we have. I woke up and just knew it.”
“But you don’t know what?” asked Rilla sharply.
Celestine shook her head. “This connection isn’t the same as my visions. I can’t tell you anything more. But it’s getting worse.” The feeling was intensifying, making her heart race, and leaving her breathless. She was having a hard time concentrating on what was going on around her.
“He was working on Veronica’s information. Going over the records, trying to find something that might lead us to her,” said Frankie. He moved over to a computer station near the kitchen. He pressed a couple of buttons and pulled up a Google map on street view and an old photo. “This was what he was looking at.”
Celestine looked closer at the picture. She recognized Veronica, looking young and beautiful, and a man who looked similar enough to be family.
Frankie was concentrating on the computer screen, so Rilla saw Sam’s note first. “What’s this?” she asked Frankie.
He shrugged. “What does it say?”
“Frankie, I’ve gone to check out a lead. Will be back soon. Don’t worry.”
“Turns out we do need to worry. Damn fool’s gone and found her, hasn’t he?” said Frankie, looking at Celestine.
Just at that moment, bright light burst into Celestine’s head, like an explosion going off. It flared bright and unpleasant, and she cried out. And then it was gone. Along with the feeling of fear.
She could no longer feel the connection to Sam.
Chapter 39
Sam groaned and rolled over. His hands were numb from the extratight ropes, and his shoulder was sore where he’d fallen on it.
He’d done it this time. He knew that now.
“No use crying over spilt milk, Sammy,” said Veronica, her voice smug. They were in a large open space inside the warehouse. A bunch of chairs were stacked on one end, and nearby a young woman in an oversized knitted hat was sitting at a table and chair, typing furiously.
Veronica was glowing, and Sam blinked, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Behind her, morning light shone through the high banks of windows.
The only thing that was missing from one of Celestine’s visions was Jack and Rilla being dead beside him. At least he’d spared them all that horror. “Go screw yourself, Veronica,” he spat out through his bloodied mouth. She’d let her goon punch him a few times before she’d started to work her own personal brand of magic on him.
“I always knew you’d come back to me,” purred Veronica as if Sam hadn’t spoken. “Our powers mesh so nicely together. You bring me greater power than I’ve ever known.”
“Everything you’re doing is against my will. You’re stealing from me.”
“You’re confusing me with someone who cares,” she replied with a smirk. “You’re mine again. The block I put on you today is ten times stronger than the one I had on you previously. There’s no way the Carnival’s paltry little Indigo—that’s her name, isn’t it?—will be able to get it off.”
Sam gasped for breath, like a fish that’s just landed in the bottom of a fishing boat. It felt
like a thousand pound weight had settled on his chest. “You’ve put another block on me?” he said.
“Of course. How else am I going to be able to use you?”
Sam started struggling, desperate to undo his bindings so he could reach Veronica and strangle her with his bare hands. Every single fibre of his being was focused on doing her harm.
Veronica frowned. “I know you can’t act on any of those urges you’re currently feeling toward me. But as punishment for trying, you’re going to stay tied up a while longer. You’ve done your part anyway.”
It was Sam’s turn to frown. “What are you talking about?”
“You’ve given me the extra power I needed to help Lacey here hack into a certain very secure server. A particular bank I wanted access to.” Veronica smiled. “And you’ve also drawn the Ringmasters here. They’re outside, trying to get in. There’s something about this warehouse that makes people think I don’t have any security.” She glanced over at the large television screen behind her that showed a bank of small cameras. “When in fact I have a huge amount of security here, and I know precisely when someone is snooping around.”
Up on the screen, Sam saw movement in a couple of the cameras. He recognized Jack’s tall frame and Rilla’s dark head. Then his breath stopped. He saw Celestine’s long curly hair, and he wished he could die right there.
“No,” he said. “I’ll do whatever you want of me. Just leave them out of it.”
“Oh, are you concerned because your girlfriend is out there?” asked Veronica with a sneer. “Don’t worry, she won’t be around much longer.”
Sam burst into action—he pushed and pulled against the ropes binding him, but they didn’t budge. He kicked his legs—also tied up—and his muscled bulged. But nothing came undone. Tears coursed down his face. He couldn’t do anything. This was his worst nightmare, the future he’d least wanted, and he’d led them all storming toward it from the beginning. He may as well have pulled the trigger himself.
He’d rather be dead than lead the Ringmasters and Celestine to their certain death. The thought calmed him and made him think properly for the first time since he’d seen Veronica. It gave him something to work toward.
“How did you override my connection to the Carnival?” he asked quietly.
“It was easy. I’m surprised the Carnival is still going. So much for their superior strength.” Veronica shrugged and kept watching over the shoulder of her young companion. The young hacker hadn’t looked up from the screen even once the whole time Sam had been there. She had long, dark, scraggly hair and dark brown eyes that seemed to absorb the light from the computer. He could feel the indifference rolling off her from across the room.
No help there.
He thought through her answer. The Carnival was strong. He knew that. So if she thought it wasn’t, perhaps that was on purpose? Perhaps the Carnival had somehow managed to trick Veronica into thinking she had control of him, when she didn’t? He poked around inside his head, trying to feel where the block was situated. He found it straight away, a stinging bright light that hurt his eyes.
He tried to access it at different points. Each time a jolt of pain shuddered its way through his body. She’d protected it much more this time. If he’d been the same young guy she’d first trapped into working with her, he might have stopped. If he didn’t feel the weight of the Carnival somewhere behind him, the knowledge that Jack, Rilla, and Celestine would do everything they could to help him get out of here, he might have given up.
But he had people on his side now. He wasn’t going to let it go, and he wasn’t going to lie back and let Veronica win.
He pushed at the block, hard. It stung, but a crack appeared. She was relying on the pain to hide the fact that her block wasn’t actually that powerful after all.
He glanced over at Veronica. She was the master manipulator. Her talent was persuasion, at least it had been in the beginning. Her power had expanded out so far that she’d been able to use the magic of The Experiment for more than just her original talent.
But she knew how to get people to do what she wanted. And for the years that he’d been with The Experiment, Sam had always given in. He’d waited for something to happen, for someone else to get him out of there. He’d thought he couldn’t do it by himself. And perhaps he couldn’t. But he’d never really tried.
He shoved again at the block. Stinging pain ricocheted through his body and he gasped. But the crack grew bigger. Veronica was lying. This block wasn’t bigger or stronger than the last one. It was an illusion, designed to keep him within her power while she tried to finish whatever she was doing with the hacker.
Veronica was whispering to the young girl who nodded without ever stopping the movement of her fingers on the keys. Veronica glanced over at Sam, who was careful to look beaten, and then she walked to where two large security guards stood bristling with guns. “I want you to bring the intruders inside. Tell them Sam will be killed if they give you any trouble. It should make them more docile.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said the second guard he’d met when he’d been pushed inside. The man had dark hair, a moustache, and a dead expression in his eyes that said he was under Veronica’s control.
Panic surged through his body, and Sam wasted a few precious moments trying to pull his hands out of the ropes. He couldn’t let the others be caught because of him. He wouldn’t. He tried rolling over but just crashed into a chair that skidded on metal legs across the concrete floor. The noise made Sam wince.
He heard the sound of Veronica’s laughter across the room. She was watching him, amused by his efforts. She was so sure of herself, so confident that she would succeed. He gritted his teeth. He could turn that into her downfall. There must be some way he could use her arrogance to his advantage.
She was all show, he knew that.
And the Carnival had overcome her once. They could do it again. She wasn’t all powerful, especially not now.
At least he didn’t think so. Did she have full access to his amplifying powers? Or was she simply siphoning off enough to use for whatever evil she was creating with her hacker? Surely the connection to the Carnival couldn’t have been lost so easily? And what about his connection to Celestine?
Sam glanced over as the doors opened again, and Jack, Rilla, and Celestine walked in. Their grim faces said it all. They hadn’t been expecting to get caught so easily. He wished he’d slowed down, woken Frankie. Talked to the others. Made a plan. Everything Jack had been telling him they needed to do.
He would have done anything in that moment to avoid the situation he’d gotten them into.
“Welcome to my abode,” said Veronica. “Try not to burn this one down.” Even from this distance, Sam could feel the anger emanating from his former boss. This was not going to end well.
He had to act fast.
While Veronica was distracted, Sam slammed into the block again, this time trying to use any spare ounce of power he had lying around inside him. The crack widened. He searched again through his consciousness. The connection to Celestine was there, but it was muted, as if something was covering it. When he searched for it, he realized the Carnival connection that Garth had forced into place floated everywhere inside him, mimicking his own presence so well, that it was like it wasn’t there. The Carnival had hidden in plain sight, allowing Veronica to put the block on him and think she had him back in her control. Sam clenched his fists and gathered the energy from the Carnival and his link to Celestine—apologizing silently to Celestine in case she felt something—and hit the block with everything he had.
Sizzling light flowed out like a starburst and made him jerk in surprise. It burned his eyes and pain crackled through his body. More powerful than anything he’d ever experienced, it left the taste of cotton candy on his lips and the dizzy feeling of being on a roller coaster. When he looked again inside his head, the block was gone.
Sam opened his eyes and glanced up. Veronica was still talking to Jack and Rilla, h
er tense shoulders saying everything about how much she loathed the Ringmasters. Somehow she hadn’t noticed the block being destroyed; perhaps with help from the Carnival. It didn’t matter, as long as it helped them escape.
His gaze caught and held Celestine’s where she was standing to one side, watching Sam. He nodded slowly.
She nodded back.
He pushed at his ropes; something to do with the Carnival’s burning help had loosened them off. He pulled his hands free, but discovered that the knots at his feet were too tight. He needed a knife.
But before that, he had to stop whatever it was that Veronica was planning. Checking to make sure she was still preoccupied with the others, he managed to crawl toward the young girl who was apparently some kind of hacking savant.
He was almost there when the young girl looked up at him. Her eyes were burning bright, like flames at the center of a forest fire.
“Don’t bother,” she said. “It’s done.” She slammed the laptop shut, put it under her arm, and moved silently out of Sam’s reach. She was gone almost before he realized it, slipping into the shadows at the edge of the building. He didn’t think she was coming back.
“No! Don’t!” the words were ripped from Rilla’s throat.
A gunshot echoed loud and clear through the entire warehouse.
Chapter 40
Celestine froze.
Even though it was all part of the plan, she couldn’t help the feeling of dread crawling up her spine. The gunshot had been too loud, too real.
Jack collapsed to the ground, with Rilla next to him. Celestine concentrated on what she could see of the tableau in front of her. It was the same as in her vision. Rilla would be next.
She stepped up to Veronica, putting herself in front of the Ringmasters. “Where’s Sam? Is he okay?” Her hands twisted in front of her as she tried to calm her pounding heart.
Veronica turned her attention to Celestine, allowing Rilla and Jack to make their next move. They were all wearing superthin bulletproof vests designed by Henry and Viktor, and throughout the entire car ride, they’d been planning what they’d do if Veronica decided to get trigger-happy. They had a certain amount of protection because of the Carnival, and the vests added to that. But they needed to control her and keep her contained somehow.
