The Yellow-Bellied Scaredy Cat

by Amy Boyles

  “Do you want me to follow you?” The cat ran up to me and yowled before darting back. “I’m going to take that as a ‘yes.’”

  I strode quickly past the tents and booths, doing my best to keep up with Mr. Jingles, wondering what this whole thing was about. If that cat led me to an empty bowl, I was going to be ticked. Wasting precious time just to discover that Mr. Jingles was hungry wouldn’t help anybody.

  But the cat did not stop at an empty bowl. Mr. Jingles padded over to an old trailer with rust carpeting the roof. The cat darted up the steps and pawed at the door.

  “Meeooow!”

  I glanced over my shoulder to see if anyone had spotted me coming back this way. There was no sign of anyone behind me. My insides were a knotted twisted mess as I took the doorknob and slowly turned.

  The cat dashed inside, and I did, too. I quickly closed the door behind me and pressed my back to it. Darkness filled the cabin. The shades were pulled down, and little light came in.

  It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, and I blinked in an attempt to make them adjust faster.

  “Meooow,” Mr. Jingles said.

  I heard the cat scamper to the back of the trailer and scratch at a door. It was easy enough to make out the dark spot that was Mr. Jingles, so I crossed to him. He scratched again.

  “All right, let’s see what’s behind door number two.”

  I pushed open the door. A yellow light bathed the room. I searched out the source of the light first and spotted a small rock, about half the size of my fist. It took me a second before I realized what I was staring at—the heart! It had to be. Pepper had described the heart as looking like a rock. That must have been it.

  I was about to snatch it when Mr. Jingles meowed again. The cat padded behind me, and I turned, not having realized that there was more trailer behind the door.

  I gasped when my gaze landed on what the cat had wanted me to see. The yellow light illuminated Kimberly Peterson and Thorne.

  They stood upright against the wall. Their eyes were closed as if they were asleep.

  I grabbed Thorne by the shoulders and shook him. “Wake up! Thorne, wake up!” His body moved limply but he did not waken, so I tried Kimberly. “Kimberly, wake up! Wake up!”

  But she remained unresponsive, the same as Thorne had. I wasn’t sure what to do. Should I try to move them on my own, magically? Whatever stasis they were in, I felt that it had also been placed on them magically. The only slumbers I knew of that could cause a person to fall into such a deep sleep were created by witches.

  The best person to help was Mama. I needed to get her here, and I needed it to happen fast.

  “Mr. Jingles,” I murmured. “I don’t know how you found this trailer, but I’m certainly glad you did.” I pressed my lips to Thorne’s cheek. “I’ll be back with help soon. I won’t let the carnival leave with you.”

  Then the puzzle clicked together. Thorne and Kimberly were leaving with the carnival. Samson was packing up and taking them with him. Well, not if I had anything to say about it, he wasn’t.

  I snatched the piece of the heart and dropped it in my pocket. “Come on, Mr. Jingles, let’s go get reinforcements.”

  As quietly as possible, I shut the door softly behind me and headed to the front of the trailer. After saying a silent prayer asking that no one would see me exit the camper, I turned the knob and opened the door.

  Mr. Jingles dashed out, nearly tripping me. When I regained my balance, I glanced up. My heart nearly stopped.

  Samson Magnum stood on the steps. I sucked air, and he smiled the nastiest grin that I had ever seen in my entire life.

  “Howdy, Ms. Calhoun. It looks like you’ve found my little stash of people.” He clicked his tongue. “As much as I’d love to be able to let you leave, I’m afraid that now,” he said, lifting a knife for me to see, “I have no choice but to kill you.”

  Pepper

  We had just finished breakfast, which was the strangest thing I’d ever eaten, when I turned to Axel. “Do you think we should go out and help find Thorne?”

  We’d heard about the fact that no one had been able to get in touch with the police chief, and I’ll admit I thought it was about as suspicious as all get-out.

  “If you go, stay away from the carnival,” Betty said. “We’ll all head over there together, after Thorne returns.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  Her gaze flitted nervously to the floor. “Just because.”

  I shot Axel a look and he smirked. Something was up with Betty…but what?

  “Okay,” I said.

  Axel and I washed up our dishes, and then Axel took my hand. “Let’s go call Leopold, see if he’s discovered anything about Thorne.”

  I nodded. “Sounds good.”

  We headed outside. The sun shone bright in the sky. There was not one trace of cloud cover; not even one puffball lined the sky.

  “That’s strange about Thorne,” I said.

  Axel nodded. “I agree. I don’t like to contradict Betty, but I have the feeling that if we want to know the truth, we’ll find it out in the carnival.”

  “I know, I have the same feeling.”

  Axel’s eyes narrowed. “Should we head over, then?”

  “Absolutely.”

  We had only walked a little ways when Mr. Jingles appeared. The girl, she said. The one who lives with you—she’s in trouble!

  I grabbed Axel’s arm, stopping him. “In trouble? How? Where?”

  At the carnival, the cat screeched. The man has her. You must come. Save her!

  “What is it?” Axel said.

  “It’s Charming. The cat says she’s in trouble.”

  “Well, what are we waiting for?” he said. “Let’s go help her.”

  Charming

  I stared at the knife in Samson’s hand.

  “Don’t try to use your power on it,” Samson said, touching his finger to the blade. “That will just make me angry. Now, get inside the trailer.” He glanced around. “I’d hate for anyone to see me having to accost a lady.”

  The stone sat like a lump in my pocket, but I didn’t know how to use it. Since Samson was talking, I wanted to keep him talking, find out exactly why he had chosen to take Thorne and Kimberly.

  The odds that I would get out alive once I went into a locked camper with a madman were slim, but he didn’t know that I had the heart, so that was one sliver of information in my favor. It made the odds slightly better, and I could live with that.

  So I took one step in. Samson slipped over the threshold and shut the door behind him. “Good girl,” he murmured.

  “Why?” I said. “Why did you take them? What are you going to do with Kimberly and Thorne?”

  The words caught in my throat. A sob worked its way into my mouth, but I swallowed it back down. Right now I didn’t need tears, I needed anger and I had a world of that sitting in my gut.

  “What am I going to do with them?” Samson cackled as if that was the strangest question in the world. “Why, I’m going to keep them with me, use their power to make my carnival great.”

  “Huh?” I didn’t bother to hide my confusion. “I don’t understand.”

  Samson sighed and sat on a stool. He motioned for me to sit, too. It wasn’t the best choice of positions, but getting him relaxed was higher on my agenda than me being relaxed.

  He waved the knife around as he spoke. “This place, my carnival, has been suffering for years. We have wonders, but folks aren’t as interested anymore. I need things to keep it alive—more specifically, I need power.” He cleared his throat and smiled. “That Kimberly, with all that pent-up desire to be married, has a lot of power in her, a lot of magic that can simply be tapped and used to continue the allure of my carnival, here.”

  I held up my hands, confused. “Wait a minute. You’re telling me that you’re actually going to somehow steal Kimberly’s magic?”

  “Suck her dry, more like,” Samson said coldly. “I will suck every last drop of magic from
her bones and use it to make this carnival more magical to humans, so that all they’ll want to do is come and spend money.”

  What a sick idea. “Have you done this before?”

  Samson nodded. “It has been years since I found the need to steal someone’s essence to keep the place going, but what must be done must be done.”

  A cold chill swept down my arms. “And what about Thorne? Why do you have him?”

  “That, my dear, is the best question I’ve received all day. Why would I, a carnival owner, want a vampire in my employ?”

  I wasn’t sure that employ was the right word, but I didn’t correct him. “So that you can showcase his talents?” I said, taking a shot in the dark.

  He clapped the table beside him. “Exactly! What would the population do if I claimed to have a real-life vampire that they could see?”

  I shook my head. “You can’t keep someone chained against their will. Besides, once the rest of the vampire population discovered your plan, they would end you. No vampire in their right mind would allow you to reveal their actual existence to humans.”

  Samson tapped the table. “There, I have another plan.”

  I cocked a brow. “And what is that?”

  “A little something up my sleeve that will secure my carnival. Get up.”

  I rose and Samson directed me to the door. When we stood in front of it, he opened it wide and scanned the room. “Where is it? Where is my rock?”

  It was my turn to smirk. I pulled the stone from my pocket and flashed it in front of him. “Do you mean this?”

  His gaze filled with confusion and fear. He opened his mouth to say something and then thought better of it. “Why don’t you hand that over to me?”

  The power of the stone buzzed down my arm, making my elbow hum. “There’s something I’d like to know before I hand it over.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Why did you kill Arnold?”

  His eyes narrowed. “Arnold never should have had such power—ever. He didn’t deserve it, so I took it from him.”

  “And the carnival goers last night? What about them?”

  He smiled. “For one, it was an accident, but sometimes the most unlikely events are the best accidents, don’t you think? The fear that those people had should spill over into today and will hopefully keep the police busy while I quietly pack up and me and my carnival…disappear.”

  Feeling very confident, I said, “That’s quite a lofty plan, isn’t it?”

  Samson tutted. “Lofty? I don’t think so. That’s a real plan and will happen exactly the way I need it to.” He extended his hand. “Now, if you’ll hand the stone over.”

  I didn’t feel his persuasive magic at first, but I did a moment later, feeling the power as a tingle at the base of my neck. It spread like water over my head, pushing me back.

  Samson knew I wouldn’t hand over the stone easily, so he figured he’d spell it from me, which wasn’t exactly a bad idea.

  But before his power got a good grip on me, I squeezed the heart and turned my attention on Samson. The next thing I knew, his eyes were widening and he shrank back.

  “Please, don’t hurt me! Whatever you do, don’t hurt me!”

  I exhaled a sharp breath. Good, this was almost over. The bad guy was taken care of, and now all I had to do was save Thorne and Kimberly.

  “What sort of spell do you have on Thorne and Kimberly?”

  Samson lifted his hand, shielding his eyes. “Spell?”

  “That keeps them in stasis,” I snapped. “Whatever it is, I want you to remove it. Now.”

  “Okay, okay,” Samson said in a pleading voice. “Just don’t hurt me, whatever you do.”

  “I won’t.”

  Samson placed his hands on Kimberly. Power glowed from the tips of his fingers and washed over her body. Within a moment her eyes fluttered open.

  Kimberly yawned. “Wow, I just had the strangest dream—the weirdest thing. I was helping out in the magic show, and the next thing I knew I was in a trailer and being put to sleep.” Her gaze cut to me. “Charming, what are you doing here?”

  “First answer—your dream was no dream. Your soul mate turned out to be a dud.”

  She gazed at Samson. “Not again!”

  “Yes.” I pointed to Thorne. “Now it’s his turn. Save him.”

  Samson placed his hands on Thorne. Just then, a loud crash sounded from outside. The trailer shuddered, and something hit it with a loud boom. The next thing I knew, I was losing my balance and the trailer was tipping over, falling to the ground.

  Charming

  Even though Thorne was pretty much invincible, I threw myself over him, not wanting falling debris to poke his eye out or have a random wooden stake pierce his heart or anything.

  Kimberly’s screams filled my ears as we toppled over. I clung to Thorne tight and prayed that nothing would fall on me. Dust drifted in the air as we settled to a stop.

  I opened my mouth to ask if Kimberly was okay when the door flew open. We were sideways and so the door flapped down. A man hunkered in the doorway. He had a beard and piercing eyes.

  “You must be Charming,” he said.

  “Who are you?” I asked, certain that whatever this guy wanted, I had no intention of giving it to him.

  “My name’s Blake Calhoun.”

  Anger, bright and hot, took over my body. Without thinking, I threw out my hand and called the wind. A strong gale ripped through the top of the camper, yanking off the roof. It then plucked Blake Calhoun from the camper and tossed him out of sight.

  The sun shone down on us. Samson screeched in fear. I rose, brushed myself off and helped Kimberly up. I turned toward Samson.

  “Free Thorne. Now.”

  “Yes,” Samson said, practically crying. He pressed a hand to Thorne’s chest, and an instant later Thorne’s eyes opened.

  He took Samson by the neck. “What did you do to me?”

  “Please don’t hurt me,” Samson pleaded.

  Thorne opened his mouth to say something and dropped Samson. “Never mind. We have worse problems to deal with.”

  I glanced in the direction he was facing. At least half a dozen vampires that I did not recognize stalked toward us, led by Blake Calhoun.

  On the other side of the carnival, Mama, Leopold, Pepper, Axel, Betty, Rose and half a dozen of Thorne’s deputies stood, ready to fight.

  Pepper’s gaze snapped to mine. “Blake beat us to you,” she said. “We were coming for you!”

  Thorne grabbed my hand. “I never thought I’d say this, but I believe I may need your hand in this battle.”

  I smiled at him. “I’m proud that you asked.” I knew what I needed to do. I had the piece of heart, and I needed to get it to Betty or Pepper as quickly as possible. That was the only way this would be finished.

  Thorne smashed through the last bit of wall that separated us from the vampires, and then he unleashed his power, throwing himself into the middle of the fight.

  I raced toward Betty, keenly aware that Blake Calhoun was close by. “Betty,” I yelled.

  Betty threw a line of magic into the vampires, trying to slow them. She turned at the sound of her name. Just as I was close to her, a hand wrapped around my collar and yanked me back.

  I reached into my pocket, grabbed the heart and tossed it toward Betty.

  The hand released me, and Blake rushed forward, snatching the heart from the sky. Axel rushed him, hitting Blake like a freight train. The wizard’s hands glowed with magic and Blake hollered.

  The piece of heart hit the ground, and I threw out my hand, calling upon the earth. The ground rumbled and rose. A hill of earth lifted the heart and rolled it toward me.

  Blake got away from Axel and ran toward it. I threw out my other hand, and a wall of earth jutted into the sky, blocking Blake’s pursuit.

  He punched a hole through the earth as if it were nothing more than a sheet of paper. But the distraction had lasted long enough. I grabbed the piece of heart a
nd got it to Betty.

  “Here it is! Anyone who was afraid, they need to be helped.”

  She clapped a hand over it and whispered a few words. The next thing I knew, a covered dome appeared, and Betty placed the heart inside before vanishing it.

  “No,” Blake screamed.

  His shouting took me by surprise. I spun around and found him glaring at me and Betty. He stalked forward. There was no one to stop him as everyone else fought their own battles against his men.

  Feeling triumphant, I said to him, “My name is Charming Calhoun. You killed my father…at least, I think so.”

  Blake paused. “What was your father’s name?”

  “William Calhoun.”

  He smirked. The world behind him was full of chaos and fighting, and all Blake did was smirk. “So you’re little cousin Charming.”

  A frigid chill swept down my back. “There’s nothing little about me.”

  “Since you’re family, I’ll tell you the truth. Yes, I had your father killed for what he knew—about the blasphemy regarding vampires being made by witches.” He took a sliver of my hair between his two fingers and inhaled, drinking in my scent. “And if you’re not careful, I’ll kill you, too.”

  A magical spear hit him in the shoulder. Blake howled, falling back. I glanced over my shoulder and found Betty holding another glowing spear, ready to thrust it into Blake.

  “One more move and I’ll kill you,” Betty said.

  Blake scowled. “There are still two pieces of the heart left. Watch your back, Betty. You won’t win the next piece; I can promise you that. It will be mine. In fact, I already have an idea of where it is.”

  Betty threw the spear at him, and Blake dodged it. He raced back into the foray, yelling at his men to leave. With no one stopping their fighting, Blake pulled a pouch from his pocket and blew a golden powder into the air. It grew like a fog, enveloping everything and everyone. All sounds of fighting stopped. The grunts, the scuffling feet, the yelling—it all ended in a blink.