He cocked his head, his comb over falling to the side and revealing a pronounced bald spot. “Perhaps you should consider couples therapy.”
“No way.” Leon’s eyes flashed with annoyance. “I’m not paying someone so my wife can talk more. That’s the reason I need a divorce. She never shuts up.”
I’d had enough of this conversation. “You want a divorce because the new clerk at your used car dealership has been flirting with you. You’re convinced she’s really interested in you and not the money she thinks you have. She won’t date you until you’re single, though, and that has you frustrated.”
I leaned close so he had nowhere to look but into my eyes. “She’s never going to want you for anything other than money. She thinks you’ll buy her things, but she’s afraid of your wife, who is already suspicious. Even if you managed to kill your wife and get away with it — which you won’t — Heather won’t be crawling into your bed.”
His mouth dropped open. “How do you know her name?”
I pointed toward the sign on the canvas wall. “I’m a fortune teller. That’s what I do.”
“But ... .” He worked his jaw. “Are you absolutely certain I’ll be caught?”
“Yes, and because you’re a wimp, you’ll be very popular in prison. You’ll have about three prison husbands.”
Leon’s eyes went wide with abject fear. “I ... um ... maybe being married isn’t so bad.”
“There you go.” I shook my head as I watched him go. “Moron,” I muttered. I was in a bad mood, but that didn’t stop me from faking a smile for the woman who walked through the tent flap next. She looked about thirty, and she practically skipped to the chair.
“I’m so glad I got in line early this morning,” she said as she started rummaging in her purse. “I tried to stop by yesterday but the line was, like, fifty people long.”
“Everybody wants to know their future,” I replied as I accepted the money she handed me. “What’s your name?”
“Carrie.”
I knew right away it was a lie. It was also a warning. If someone was willing to lie about their name, they were willing to lie about a great many other things. “Well, Carrie, what is it you want to know today?” I kept my face placid even though my inner senses were urging me to take great care.
“I want to know what my future holds,” she said, with a laugh. “Isn’t that what everybody wants to know?”
“People have very specific requests.” I looked inside her head and found a brick wall. She was shuttering. “If you want a general reading, that’s fine.” I extended my hands, ignoring the cards. “Place your hands in mine.”
She seemed surprised. “I thought you read cards.”
“I have multiple ways of divining the future.”
Her hesitation was obvious, but ultimately she placed her hands in mine. “Okay. I can’t wait to see what you have to tell me.”
“Yes, it’s always an exciting time.” I didn’t completely close my eyes, instead slitting them so I wouldn’t lose sight of her as I lowered my lashes. She made a big show of closing her eyes though I knew she was doing the same. “Let’s see if fame and fortune awaits.”
“Oh, I don’t want fame or fortune. I just want a happy life.”
“Right.” I gripped her hands tightly and then did what I normally would never do. I slammed through the brick wall and forced my way into her inner sanctum.
She gasped when she realized something had happened. “What are you doing?” She tried to pull her hands back.
“Well, Kelly, I’m trying to figure out exactly what it is that you want.”
“I said my name was Carrie.”
“Even someone who wasn’t trained to spot a liar would’ve seen through that.” I frowned as images started swirling in her head. She was doing her best to keep me out, but she didn’t have the power. After a few seconds of struggling, I found what I was looking for: Celeste. “You’re with the cult.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Don’t deny it,” I snapped. “You can’t hide the truth from me. Celeste might’ve taught you a few parlor tricks, but she can’t keep me out.”
“Stop.” Her voice was pitiable as she fought me. “You can keep the money. I just want to go.”
I dug deeper. “You guys have been busy. I see she’s using young converts to draw in her victims. These girls assume that if a young woman approaches them they’ll be safe. They’ve been taught to believe that.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kelly was breathless. “Let me go!”
I heard footsteps behind me. I didn’t need to look over my shoulder to know who it was.
“She’s one of them,” I gritted out. “She’s fairly effective at shielding, but there’s plenty in here.”
“Well, well, well.” Zoe’s expression was grim as she joined me beside the table. “It seems our luck is finally turning.”
“No.” Kelly shook her head, fear filling her eyes when she realized she was outnumbered. “I want to go. You can’t keep me here.”
“You’d be surprised what we can do,” Zoe countered.
Zoe slapped her hand over the young woman’s mouth before she could scream.
“This won’t hurt nearly as much if you don’t fight it,” Zoe warned. She pressed her hand to the side of the woman’s head. “Sleep,” she ordered.
Kelly slumped in the chair, her eyes closed.
“We can’t get information out of her if she’s unconscious,” I groused.
“No, but we can’t risk someone wandering into your tent when we’re holding her captive,” Zoe argued. “We need to move her to the animal tent and question her there.”
“Then we need Nellie. He has a laundry cart for situations just like this. We can dump her in, throw laundry over her, and transport her across the fairgrounds without anybody being the wiser.”
Zoe was grim as she pulled out her phone. “I’ll have Aric track down Nellie,” she said as she started typing. “We’re finally going to get some answers.”
23
Twenty-Three
“No one can see her,” I instructed Nellie when he showed up with his laundry cart.
The look he shot me was withering. “Oh, really? I can’t believe you don’t want me to just roll her out in front of the guests. That won’t be difficult to explain or anything.” He adopted a mocking face. “Hey, kids, if you join an evil cult, you too can get dragged to the back tent for torture and shenanigans. That should be a real crowd-pleaser.”
I flicked his ear. “Don’t be a douche. Nobody needs that.”
Zoe helped Nellie rearrange a pile of towels on top of Kelly “I’ll help you move her.”
Nellie wrinkled his nose. “I can do it.”
“Nobody says you can’t. Just in case she wakes up, it’s best I’m with you to drop her back into dreamland.”
“Oh, right.” Nellie nodded. “That would be better than her screaming.”
“Oh, you think?”
Zoe shot me a smile. “We’ll get her settled. You should get back to work.”
That didn’t sound fun in the least. “You need me to interrogate her.”
“We’ll get her settled and wait for you to take your lunch break.”
“You’ll wait for me?”
Zoe grinned. “I promise we won’t torture her without you.”
I wasn’t thrilled with the word “torture,” but she wasn’t far off. “Give me an hour and I’ll join you.”
Zoe moved to help Nellie with the cart. “Let’s do this.”
Nellie shot her a cheeky grin. “Have you ever pushed a laundry cart?”
“Why does it feel as if there’s an insult buried in that question?” Zoe challenged.
Nellie shrugged. “Probably because you’re the sort of woman who finds insult in everything.”
“I do not. I’m extremely easygoing. In fact, I would go so far as to call myself low maintenance.”
Nellie laughed so ha
rd I feared he might choke. “Yeah, right. You know I’ve met your husband and kid, right?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“There’s no way you’re low maintenance. Your husband is low maintenance. That’s the only reason you guys have survived without killing one another as long as you have.”
Zoe’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll show you how high maintenance I can get during the walk if you’re not careful.”
Nellie rolled his eyes. “Promises, promises.”
THE NEXT HOUR WAS TRUE AGONY. By the time I closed my tent for lunch, I was worked up enough to spring to the animal tent. When I entered, I found an argument taking place between Zoe, Aric and Sami ... and it didn’t look to be ending anytime soon.
“I want to help,” Sami insisted, hands on hips. “You never let me help with the fun stuff.”
“Interrogating people isn’t fun,” Zoe replied. “Go back and help Nixie.”
“No way.” Sami shook her head so hard her hair swished over her face. “Those dolls give me the creeps. Do you know there are evil people trapped in them? Nixie told me.”
“I told you the same thing,” Zoe pointed out.
“Yeah, but you used to tell me that evil spirits hid in stuffed animals when it was time to spring clean my room. I don’t believe the crap you tell me.”
“I told you that would come back to bite you,” Aric noted as he moved in front of the cage. Kelly was still out. They’d unceremoniously dumped her in such a position that she would wake up with a terrible pain in her neck. I didn’t feel all that sorry for her, but I couldn’t help but wonder if they’d done it on purpose.
“Hey, you’re the one who bought her a new stuffed animal every time we went to the mall,” Zoe argued.
“She’s my baby.” Aric refused to back down. “She liked stuffed animals.”
“See.” Sami’s smile was smug. “My daddy knows what’s best for his baby.”
“Don’t make me smack the both of you around,” Zoe groused. “You can’t possibly think it’s okay for her to be here when we question this woman.”
“Stand firm, Daddy,” Sami hissed as she moved to her father’s side. “Don’t let her bully you.”
Aric cast a sidelong look at his daughter and smiled. “You’re my sweet baby and you always will be, Sami. But your mother is right. You can’t be here for this.”
Triumph turned into a potential temper tantrum right before my eyes as Sami scowled. “You’re both on my list.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Aric gently nudged Sami to the side. “I’ll take her back to Nixie. I would appreciate it if you didn’t start the interrogation until I return.”
Zoe inclined her chin toward me, acknowledging my presence for the first time. “I promise we won’t do anything that requires physical torture until you return,” she countered. “I’ve got a feeling that Poet is working on a timetable.”
Aric turned his gaze to me. “Okay, I’ll be quick. Just ... don’t let her escape.”
“Listen to the insults,” Nellie complained from somewhere at the back of the tent. I had to search for him in the gloom, and found him reclining on a beanbag. “This isn’t the first time we’ve trapped someone in one of these cages to ask them questions. In fact, this isn’t the first time this month.”
Aric held up his hands in capitulation. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to insult you. I’ll be back.” He pressed a quick kiss to the corner of Zoe’s mouth and then wrestled a still complaining Sami out of the tent.
“It’s wise you didn’t let her stay,” I said when they’d left. “This could get ugly.”
“Oh, I have no doubt it’s going to get ugly,” Zoe said, folding her arms as she regarded Kelly. “I’ve tried to poke in her head a bit. There’s a brick wall.”
I cracked a smile. “I made it to the other side of the wall. There are still other failsafes in there.”
“That’s not what I want to hear.”
“Well, it’s what we’re dealing with. Whoever shielded her mind did a good job.”
“I’m not great with mind magic,” Zoe admitted. “In fact, it’s probably the weakest of my skills. Don’t ever tell Sami I admitted that. I’ve been telling her since she was three that I can read her mind if I put effort into it. Still, usually I can get a sense of people, but no luck this time.”
“That’s because somebody went to a lot of effort to wipe her mind of anything that could be used as a weapon.” I moved closer to the prone woman. “I need Raven.”
“I’m here,” Raven announced as she strolled into the tent. She was blasé as she regarded our captive. “Nellie texted me. I figured this might be a two-woman job.”
“Three,” Zoe corrected. “I’m in this, just the same as you guys. I want to take a look.”
Raven’s nod was curt. “Fair enough. Poet takes the lead, though. She’s the strongest when it comes to mind magic.”
“I’m fine with that.” Zoe was grim. “How do we do it?”
“We just shove ourselves in.” I moved closer to the cage. “Nellie, we need you to stand guard.”
“I’m a tiger ready to pounce,” he drawled, his attention on something in his hands.
I narrowed my eyes as I tried to figure out what it was. “What are you doing?”
“He’s playing Animal Crossing,” Zoe replied. “My mother has become addicted to it. I heard him making noise about spiders a few minutes ago.”
“It’s a civilized game,” Nellie announced. “My island is to die for.”
“Well, just make sure you don’t get so focused on your island that you forget about us. I’m not expecting anything to go wrong, but I’m not infallible.”
“Definitely not,” Raven readily agreed.
I ignored her and blew out a sigh. “Here we go.” I extended a hand and rested it on Kelly’s forehead. “Just ... follow me in.”
“She says that like it’s a normal thing,” Zoe muttered. “Just ... follow me in.” Oddly, she made her voice sound just like mine. “Like, there’s no effort involved or anything.”
“That’s because, for her, the effort is minimal,” Raven replied. “We all have our strengths. This is Poet’s world. We have to follow her into it, let her lead. She’s the boss this go-around.”
“Well, whoopee.”
I tuned them out and faced the wall in Kelly’s head. This time, rather than knock it away with an invisible sledgehammer, I used dynamite to blow it up. I didn’t want her to have the wall to hide behind when she woke. It was time to make her see reality.
“Oh, well, this place is just filthy,” Zoe said as we descended into what looked to be an absolutely disgusting basement. “Is this what everybody’s mind looks like when you visit?”
“No, I think this is a specific place ... though I have no idea where it could be. Look around for anything of interest.”
“I’ve been in a place like this before,” Zoe lamented as we descended the stairs. “This weird god was living in a hole under a fairy ring. It had snakes and everything.”
Raven was incredulous. “You met a god who was living in a hole in the ground?”
“Yeah. Bob.”
“I’ve never heard of a god named Bob. Are you sure he was a real god? I once met a homeless man who couldn’t keep his hand out of his pants. He told me a god lived in there.”
Zoe snorted. “No, he was a real god. Cernunnos.”
I froze. “You know Cernunnos?”
“Wait ... he’s still around?” Raven’s mouth dropped open. “I thought he died a millennia ago.”
“You know him?” Zoe looked at Raven with keen interest.
“Let’s just say I used to hang with a very specific crowd.”
I snickered. “Raven was the party girl of her time. Is Cernunnos a partier?”
“He strikes me as more of a pothead,” Zoe countered. “He’s also a pain. I ran into him recently.”
“Really? Where is he?”
“He was in Detroit. They
’ve got a door issue.”
“A door issue?” Raven slowed her pace as we continued our descent. “What sort of door issue?”
“I guess they call them gates,” Zoe corrected. “The reapers there have a revenant problem.”
Raven sucked in a breath. “Revenants are supposed to be extinct.”
“That’s what they said, but somebody has been opening doors for them to cross over.”
Raven darted her eyes to me. “Did the Grimlocks mention that to you when we were working with them?”
“No, but we had other things on our minds.”
“You know the Grimlocks?” Zoe broke into a wide grin. “I guess it’s a very small world. We stayed at their house while we were visiting. If you think Sami is bad with your men, you should’ve seen how she was with the Grimlock boys.”
The mere thought made me laugh. “Which did she like the best?”
“She wasn’t too particular, but Redmond taught her some new games so I would say him. I mostly spent time with Aisling and Izzy. I even went through one of the doors with them. The thing is, someone had been creating doors, not the doors they monitor.”
“How were they creating doors?” Raven pressed.
I was having a hard time following the conversation. “What doors?”
“There are multiple planes of existence,” Raven replied. She didn’t look altogether happy about having to break things down for me. “The reapers help souls cross over to those planes.”
“It’s kind of a waiting room,” Zoe volunteered. “That’s how they explained it to me. The souls are placed in the waiting room and then sorted for their final resting place. In some instances, it’s Heaven. In others it’s Hell.”
“That’s a simplistic way of explaining it, but she’s essentially right,” Raven said. “If doors are being created, that could result in a huge problem for ... well ... everybody. Creatures have been banished to other planes of existence for centuries.”
Mystic Caravan 11 - Freaky Mage Page 22
