by Trudi Jaye
Kara glanced out the window then back at Rilla. The noise of the Carnival setup could still be heard in the distance, the crews doing their last-minute checks. “I know the town. I’ve lived here my whole life.” She shrugged. “After the accident, my mother’s family tried to make me go and live with them. But I stayed here.” The look on her face dared Rilla to argue with her childish decision.
Rilla ignored it. “I could really use your help. I’m sure you know people who will be useful.”
“I can get the crash records. I know how to do that.”
Visions of Kara going through the official reports, looking for something that confirmed she was to blame, filled Rilla’s head. “Thanks, that would be helpful,” she said, taking a step forward. “Kara, do you mind putting the gun down on the bed? And maybe unloading it?”
Kara looked down at the gun, running her finger along the barrel. She sighed and put it behind her on the bed. “It’s not loaded. I just wanted to scare you, like you scared me.”
“It worked.” Rilla swallowed. “Look, Kara, I’m really sorry I went into your house. It was a dumb idea.”
Kara tipped her head to one side. “Why did you do it? What did you want?”
Rilla thought fast. She couldn’t admit her real reason. Kara would really shoot her if she started talking about magic Carousels and wishes coming true. “I miss my dad. I just wanted to see a real family again.” Rilla crossed her fingers and hoped her lame excuse was enough for Kara in her current distracted state.
Kara nodded. She seemed to accept someone might want to spy on others, no matter how crazy it sounded. “You sure picked the wrong house,” she said.
Rilla felt a pang in her chest. Kara had been alone all this time. “I’m sorry about your family.”
Kara shrugged one shoulder. “It used to be harder.” Lines of sorrow were etched on her face, despite her attempt at indifference.
Rilla wanted to reach out and hug her, to somehow ease the pain. It must have been devastating for Kara in the beginning, if she was still experiencing it so strongly this many years later. “So will you help me?” she said instead.
Kara frowned. “What do we do first? To find your father’s murderer?”
Rilla’s breath caught. Something about the way Kara said it made it seem so much more real. She cleared her throat and thought quickly. What could she tell Kara without seeming crazy? “The Carnival has been slowly declining in the last few years. My father thought it was because of deliberate sabotage. We kept having things go wrong, supposedly accidental things, but so many of them… It didn’t seem possible they were a coincidence.”
“It wasn’t just bad luck? A run of it?” Kara looked thoughtful. “Or maybe bad management?” she added carefully.
Frowning, Rilla shook her head. “My father ran the Carnival successfully for more than thirty-five years before the problems started. He knew what he was doing. He believed it was deliberate, and I do too.” She took a breath. “He was investigating who it might have been when he was killed.”
“You think he found something that got him killed?”
“Yes. If we find out who the saboteur is, we find my father’s killer.”
Kara blinked. “What makes you think you can find the killer if your father couldn’t?”
“Surprise. The killer thinks he’s covered it up, but I know my father was onto something. We just have to figure out what that was without alerting anyone else.”
“And without trusting anyone your father trusted,” said Kara.
Rilla paused. “What?”
“If you’re right and he was murdered because he was onto something, I’m guessing your father wouldn’t have told just anyone about what he’d found. He’d only have talked to his trusted inner circle of friends about it, right? It’s likely to be someone he trusted.”
Rilla felt as if the breath had been knocked out of her. She slowly sat down on the bed beside Kara. “It never occurred to me. I didn’t see that at all.”
They were right. She had lost her ability to see the puzzles clearly. But was it permanent, or could she get it back?
***
“Kara. Stop. Don’t do it!” yelled Garth, racing up the steps ahead of Jack. He came to an abrupt halt in the doorway. Jack tried to push him through the door, but he just stood in the way.
“What is it?” asked Jack. “Is she okay?” Visions filled his head of Rilla’s body on the floor, blood spurting from a gunshot wound. He didn’t think he could take anyone else getting hurt around him.
But when Garth finally moved into the room, leaving enough space for Jack to follow, he saw the two women sitting next to each other on the bed. Rilla was pale, her dark eyebrows standing out on her face and her expressive eyes seeming somehow shadowed. She appeared shaken but otherwise okay.
Next to her, Kara looked much as she had the other day at the Carnival when she’d first climbed on the dragon. Except for the gun that sat behind them on the bed.
“Are you okay, Rilla?” Jack asked, needing to be certain.
She nodded, looking up at them. “We were just talking. This is Kara.” Rilla gestured at the two men, giving them a stern look. “This is Jack and Garth. Kara’s helping me with a project.” Her voice was steady.
Jack let out a breath.
Beside him, Garth had the opposite reaction. He tensed and frowned. “What kind of project?”
Rilla glanced at Kara and hesitated. “We’re going to do an audience participation stunt, and Kara has agreed to be our guinea pig.”
“Audience participation?” Jack was confused.
Garth spoke to Jack, never taking his eyes from the pair. “It’s a stunt in an act where we choose someone from the audience to make it look like it’s a random pick, but really, it’s a plant. We’ve worked with the person and taught them how to respond.” He frowned. “But it’s usually one of our own people. Not someone local.”
Rilla smiled, glancing at Kara and then back at the two men. “It was something my father was working on before he died. He thought it would give more credence to the participation stunt if he actually had someone who was known to be part of the local community.”
Kara’s cheeks had paled a little, but she remained still. Jack could have sworn he saw a look of panic flicker across her face.
“What are you planning?” Garth’s voice was soft.
Rilla smiled. “We’re still working it out, but I thought perhaps the elephants?” she said, looking at Kara questioningly.
Kara shook her head vehemently. “Oh, no. No. I don’t like them. Too big. Pick something else.”
Rilla glanced over at Garth, as if she were asking him a question. He got the message, whatever it was, but didn’t reply. Clearly, he was letting Rilla lead this show, possibly even dig her own hole.
She looked lost for a second.
“What would you like to do, Kara?” Jack said into the deepening silence. “I mean, it would probably be better to have something you really wanted to try, right?”
Rilla shot him a look of relief before she looked back at Kara. “He’s right. It should be something you’re really keen to try. We can teach you anything you like. You can do any of it.”
Kara paused, a dreamy look in her eye for a second. “The silk ribbon. I’d like to try the silks,” she said, her voice low. “I mean, if I can.” She glanced down at her leg.
Jack blanked for a second, not sure what act Kara meant. Then he remembered. Missy up on the silk ribbon, curling gracefully around the silken material several hundred feet up in the air. He swallowed. Could a person even do that with one leg? What would happen if Kara fell? Would the Gift be gone…? Or worse, would they all be left in a field somewhere?
“The silks it is,” said Rilla, shooting a look at Garth. He was frowning at her, an angry look in his eyes.
“That seems pretty dangerous, Rilla. Do we have enough time to teach Kara?” Jack raised his eyebrows.
“I said we’d teach her, and we wi
ll. It can be part of the final show, in two weeks’ time. That’s enough for Kara to learn a basic routine.” Rilla patted Kara’s good leg as she spoke, and Jack could see the idea of going on the ribbon was already lifting Kara’s expression.
Garth’s face seemed to be going the opposite direction. He was not happy with Rilla’s idea. “I don’t think we can do this, Rilla. She hasn’t trained properly. It goes against regulations,” he said.
“I did gymnastics for years,” said Kara, a light in her eyes. “Until the accident.” She looked down at her amputated leg, rubbing one hand against her thigh. “I still keep pretty fit; you have to if you want to get around properly on a prosthetic. And I do yoga, so I’m still strong and flexible, even with this stump.” She looked hopefully up at Rilla again.
Rilla nodded encouragingly. “We can definitely work with that,” she said, ignoring Garth’s darkening face.
A loud knock on the door interrupted the conversation. Tension rippled around the room.
“Who is it?” said Rilla.
The door swung open and Joey poked his head through, panic clear on his face. “Rilla, come quick. Something’s wrong.” He didn’t seem to see them, his focus entirely on Rilla. Jack frowned slightly. She was the one they counted on to fix the problems.
Rilla watched Kara for a moment, looking for something in her face. Clearly, she found it because she stood and went over to Joey. She reached down and put a hand on his arm. “What is it? Joey, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but… Just come.” Joey grabbed her arm and attempted to pull her outside, his movements jerky.
She glanced at Garth and Jack before following him outside. “We all better go, I guess.” She gestured for Kara to follow them as well. “Where are we going?” she asked Joey.
“Food hall. Something’s wrong with the food.”
“What?”
“Tami says it’s food poisoning. She’s real upset. She says it can’t have been her people.”
“Food poisoning?” Rilla’s voice held real fear.
A chill went down Jack’s spine. It was the last thing they needed, on top of everything else.
It was the kind of thing that could ruin a Carnival.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“I’m sorry, Rilla. I have to close down the Carnival.” Deputy Fordham rubbed his hand over his eyes. His weariness was accentuated in the darkening light.
The air was warm, and the lights of the Carnival had flicked on a few minutes earlier, lending a falsely festive glow to the early evening. “You can’t open the gates tonight.”
Rilla nodded. “Nothing else you could do, Deputy. I understand.” Despite her calm reply, a surge of panic raced through her body. She’d never heard of the Carnival being closed down. Not once, not ever, since the shipwreck. And it had happened on her watch.
It was their rotten luck Fordham’d been here. If he hadn’t started the desperate search for Kara, they might have had a chance of fixing it themselves, without official ‘help’.
“The doc and his wife said they’d be back tomorrow for a check-up. Hopefully, you have enough of the medication he gave out for tonight?” He looked to Rilla, his eyebrows raised, concern in his kind eyes. When she nodded, he continued. “Just be glad it didn’t make its way into the food for the visitors.”
Glancing at the empty food tent beside them, Rilla couldn’t quite agree. When they’d first arrived, it had been teeming with people, some throwing up into the garbage bins, others trying to help. They’d had thirty-four people from the Carnival admit they were sick, probably more not willing to show up and say they were experiencing upset stomachs and vomiting. That was a chunk of them. Their workforce couldn’t take a hit like that easily.
But then again, they were now officially shut down. So it didn’t really matter, did it?
She rolled her shoulders, trying to relieve the tension that seemed to have permanently settled around her neck. “I’ll come talk to you tomorrow. We need to know what caused this,” she said to the deputy.
He nodded but didn’t say anything. His eyes were on Kara, standing off to one side. She’d lost Kara in the confusion of the food hall earlier, but the younger woman had calmly set to helping those she could, giving out the drinks and medication recommended by the local doctor Matt had called. Now Kara just watched, her eyes taking on a bruised quality in the twilight as Rilla and the deputy talked.
Rilla waved her over. “Kara, perhaps Deputy Fordham could give you a ride home? We can meet up again tomorrow for your first training.” Barbarina and Missy were both sick, but Rilla could manage a beginner’s lesson on her own, until one of them was feeling better. What had begun as an off-the-cuff idea had now merged into part of her plan to give Kara something else to focus on, and she was determined to get it going as soon as possible.
“Are you sure about training tomorrow, Rilla? Will you have time?” Kara glanced around at the empty area. “If you have all these people sick?”
“It’ll be fine. We all know what we have to do, even when we’re down a few people.” Rilla crossed her fingers behind her back. She didn’t want Kara to worry and not turn up the next day. Whatever else happened, the Gift had to continue.
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, kiddo.
Rilla shifted from one leg to the other, uncomfortable with the reminder of her father’s favorite saying. She wasn’t sure she was strong enough to survive too much more of this.
Kara smiled. “Great. I can’t wait.” She had a shine in her eyes that was very different from the wild look she’d had only hours earlier. The rest of the Nine might be concerned about the way the Gift was running, especially if they heard about the gun, but Rilla’s gut instinct said she was on the right track.
She fell in beside Deputy Fordham as he walked back to his car with Kara. “When will we know the results of the tests? Can you ask them to rush it through the lab for us? We don’t have much time in town.”
The deputy’s eyebrows rose, but he nodded. “I’ll talk to the hospital lab, see what I can do. But sometimes things like this just happen, Rilla. It might not be anyone’s fault.”
Things like this didn’t just happen to the Jolly Carnival. Not when it was operating properly. Rilla just nodded grimly. “Thanks, Deputy. How long will it take?”
“I’ll give you a call when I know more.”
Rilla watched them drive out, her thoughts on the Carnival and its chances of survival. Off to one side, the Jolly Carnival sign was dark, its flashing lights shut down for the night. She rubbed her shoulders, feeling chilled in the night air.
Turning back toward the food tent, Rilla decided to see if anyone still needed help. But when she saw Garth and Jack talking at the entrance, grim expressions on their faces, she turned off down an alleyway, unable to face either of them.
The food poisoning was a symptom of a sick Carnival, and she was the acting Ringmaster. It was another strike against her, and a reason why a stupid greenhorn like Jack might actually win the race for Ringmaster. What would she do then?
Rilla ran blindly along the lane, turning randomly a couple of times. Eventually, she came to a halt outside the hall of mirrors. She wiped away a tear and tried to smile. When she was younger, this had been her favorite place in the whole Carnival. Something about the multiple mirrors and being able to see things from every angle had always appealed to her.
She pushed open the door and walked into the darkened area. It was as familiar to her as her own caravan, and she walked carefully through the dark to the mirror that hid the lighting switches. She turned on a couple of low lights, just so she could see the room, and smiled. In front of her was a tall and incredibly skinny version of herself, alongside a short and ridiculously fat version. Around the circular room were other distorted versions, each watching her with dark eyes and mixed-up expressions.
What would these other versions of herself do in the same situation? The matching eyes around her seemed to stare back, trying to tell he
r what it was she just wasn’t getting.
Did this latest attack mean she should let the race for Ringmaster go? That she should just give it up to Jack? They really couldn’t take any more damage, and the last couple of attacks were far worse than anything that had happened previously.
And while she knew she was right about Kara, she didn’t think the others would see it in the same light. She was going to have a fight on her hands if she was going to convince the Nine to let Kara be part of the show. It was just another reason they would think she was unstable.
A new wave of emotion pushed at Rilla’s chest, momentarily locking her in place. Perhaps she wasn’t looking at this the right way.
A Jolly had always been in charge, and even in the hard times, no one had ever suggested the Ringmaster role be moved out of the family line. But if she took away that expectation and looked at it seriously, what did she see?
Maybe the food poisoning was the sign she’d been looking for, the Carnival telling her what it wanted her to do. Perhaps all that was required to make the Carnival run properly again was to give in to Jack and Blago.
The breath left her body in a whoosh, and she took a step backward. A dozen shapes around her took a step back, as well. Her knees caved in under her, and she thumped down onto the ground. All around her, the action was repeated by her lookalikes, but she barely noticed.
Hot tears welled in her eyes. Had she missed the signs because she didn’t want to see them? Was she just being stubborn?
If she became Ringmaster, the sabotage probably wouldn’t stop. They couldn’t continue to operate under that kind of threat. She didn’t know if it would be better with Jack as Ringmaster, but if things continued as they were, the Carnival would cease to exist.
She thought of the people she’d seen tonight, pale and sweating, doubled over in pain. It was the last thing she wanted, for everyone in the Carnival to suffer.
