Grim Hill: Carnival of Secrets

by Linda DeMeulemeester

  Alice walked over to her gate and stared past the hedge of roses. “I hear the carnival music through my window at night and think that this can’t be right. It’s like it’s the same carnival that came when I was a girl. I could never forget that eerie calliope music.”

  The tinny strains of the music drifting up from the river were disturbing me the exact same way at night. Realizing Alice had had those similar uneasy feelings all those years back sent that pesky ice cube sliding up my spine again.

  “The carnival came at Lamas,” Alice said. “I can remember because my aunt used to sing:

  At the ould Lammas Fair –

  Boys, were you ever there?

  Were you ever at the Fair

  In Ballycastle-O?

  “Do you remember, Cindy, how our auntie would tell us stories of Ballycastle? How it was on the coast in Ireland where the fairies landed?”

  Lucinda smiled. “Yes, I remember you sitting on her lap as she told us those stories.”

  Alice wiped her eyes which had suddenly gone misty. I realized that because the sisters had lost so many years together, they counted the few early memories they’d shared as precious. My own throat felt scratchy. I sure hoped Sookie and I had more good memories coming our way …

  Then an idea hit me like a soccer-ball header. “A carnival is like a fair, right?”

  Alice and Lucinda nodded. “Seems to me,” said Lucinda, “that the two big problems of Sookie changing and fairy enchantment overtaking the town might not be connected. It might be more due to the fact that it is Lughnasa on the Celtic calendar, and a Lamas fair has arrived. But how can we be sure? You still have to find some way to reach out to your sister, Cat. So we can begin to sort it all out.”

  Lucinda’s face clouded. “I won’t lie. I do sense terrible danger. And there’s a shred of a memory I can’t put my finger on. But … I wouldn’t tell you that Sookie could help if there wasn’t … a chance.” She gave Alice another one of those knowing looks. “If you and your sister worked together …” Lucinda let out a deep breath.

  “I told you there is no hope of that.” I shook my head. “I’m her sworn enemy. That’s our fate. I’m a fairy fighter and she’s a witch. Even if it wasn’t our fate, I can’t manage Sookie. She’s too powerful a magician, and I can’t tell her what to do now that she’s bigger than me.”

  “Don’t forget, you have magic too,” said Lucinda. “I can sense it.”

  My eyes widened in surprise. She was right. Once, a troll had saved me from drowning by breathing troll air into my lungs. It had a peculiar effect on me. Sometimes I thought about things before they happened. But was that real magic? Even my great Aunt Hildegaard didn’t know.

  “I still don’t think I could win any match with Sookie.”

  “You are still the older sister. Don’t forget that.” Lucinda slumped in her chair. Drops of sweat had beaded on her face. “I’m sorry, Cat. What I say feels right, but I can’t see more.”

  “Could our fairy friend Lea hold the key?” Jasper asked suddenly. “I mean, if she can help us capture the Grimoire Book, then we’d have lots of magic.”

  “What?” Alice said with a start. “No. Absolutely not. Do not touch that book – it is far too dangerous. The consequences could be deadly.”

  Lucinda put a hand on her sister’s arm. “Lea is important in this.” Her face grew paler. “Sorry, it’s another strange feeling I have – like when you go to a place you’ve never been before, and yet you’d swear you have. Déjà vu.”

  “Yes, but Cat almost didn’t return the last time she meddled with that book,” Alice argued. Her eyes bored into me with frightening intensity. “Promise me, Cat, that you won’t touch the Grimoire!”

  Lucinda stood up from her chair and took a shaky step. Jasper and I rushed to help but she waved us off. “It’s time for my medicine. Will you help me, dear sister?” Alice quickly guided Lucinda into the house. Distracted, Alice turned her head and smiled sadly. “My sister needs to rest now, goodbye dears.”

  Had Lucinda purposely led her sister away before Alice could get me to promise? If only I knew.

  Jasper and I let ourselves out the back gate. “I think we can trust Lea,” Jasper said.

  “Yes,” I answered, “but can we trust her plan? Alice seems to think we should stay as far away from the Grimoire as possible. And Lucinda sees danger ahead.”

  Worry creased Jasper’s forehead. “Oh, seeing the future. That brings up one thing I forgot to mention.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Lamas is also a time for scrying, um, you know, second sight. The sight is supposed to be clearer and stronger at this time of year.”

  “Oh, great,” I muttered. “And Lucinda sees peril.”

  “Yeah,” said Jasper, “But maybe like Lucinda says, you have power too. We could sure use it if we are going to get rid of this evil and change Sookie back. Do you think you can figure out what your power is?”

  “Maybe,” I said, not really listening. There had to be some way to get my sister back.

  I was willing to do anything, even ignore Alice Greystone’s good advice.

  With more than a little trepidation, Jasper and I climbed Grim Hill to the small clearing where we were supposed to meet Lea. About a third of the way up the hill, the shade under the heavy canopy of leaves blocked out any blue sky, and eerie shadows looked as if twisted fingers were reaching out to tangle us up in their madness.

  “It … it’s worse than yesterday,” Jasper said with chattering teeth.

  “There was something going on this morning on top of the hill,” I said, trying to keep my own teeth steady. “I saw the fairy lights from my bedroom window.”

  We huddled together under the same tree where we’d met Lea the day before, but no happy visions of making soccer goals or positive thinking could help us. Please hurry up, please, please, I kept thinking over and over – Come back, Lea, before our minds turn to a puddle of mush.

  “Lea knows what it’s like up here on Grim Hill. She wouldn’t make us wait,” Jasper said long after our appointed time of meeting her had passed.

  “Fairy time is different,” I began.

  Jasper shook his head. “Lea knows that. She’s spent lots of her life in human time.”

  We fell silent as we sat on the damp earth floor. The sun must have climbed to high noon because although we were shaded by trees, the air grew thick and smothering. Still, we waited. Gradually I realized there was a worse possibility than hearing whatever dangerous plan Lea was going to share with us.

  More time passed before I finally forced myself to say out loud what I was thinking. “She’s not coming. Something went wrong.” And as the words came out of my mouth, I worried there might be no possibility of Lea ever showing up.

  Jasper let out a sorrowful sigh, and I blinked back tears. It wasn’t just that we’d pinned so many of our hopes on Lea helping us. I knew the woods were casting their spell of sadness on us, but still I sensed my fairy friend was in danger. I had a strong intuition that we needed to help her. But how?

  “We need reinforcements.” I stood and began plotting while I stomped in a tight circle, snapping twigs and making a satisfying crunch on dried leaves. I didn’t have to tell Jasper twice.

  “You’re right,” Jasper shouted, and he jumped up and shot out of the woods and down the hill. I raced to keep up.

  But the baseball field was deserted.

  “The game was supposed to start a half hour ago,” Jasper said double-checking his watch.

  “Maybe it was too hot to play?” The sun was searing down onto the field, and my skin had started tingling – a sign I was getting sunburned. Then we spotted Raj, my friend Amarjeet’s kid brother, scurrying across the park.

  “Hey,” I shouted. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”

  Raj slid to a stop and eyed me warily. “What’s it worth to you?” Raj was known to exchange information for money.

  “Not much,” Jasper cut in. “W
hat’s it worth that I spotted you heading away from your day camp the other morning instead of towards it?”

  Despite all my worries, my lips twitched into a smile when Raj shrugged his shoulders and said, “Whatever, it’s no big deal. I’ll tell you. How come you haven’t heard? The carnival’s offering free admission on Saturday. That even includes the rides.” Then he scampered away like a puppy let off its leash.

  Jasper and I exchanged a look of dread. Jasper and I had quickly realized the creepy carnival was an unnatural place, and we’d steered clear of it. It had never occurred to me that people who didn’t hold the magic feathers wouldn’t sense the danger. That included all of our friends. Getting reinforcements wasn’t going to be easy.

  There was an urgency that had been building up all morning from the strange light on the hill, Lea not meeting us, and now the carnival luring everyone in. Events were reaching a boil. I could tell that Jasper felt it too. “I’d do anything to avoid going to that carnival,” said Jasper. “I walked by it only once, and my feather grew so hot I thought it would burn through my shirt.” I nodded in sympathy, but we’d both started walking automatically toward the fair.

  Just then, faintly on the wind, we could hear the cheap tinkling music wafting from the carnival rides.

  We broke into a run racing toward the river where the sinister carnival crouched, awaiting its victims.

  CHAPTER 6 A Creepy Carnival

  We arrived at the carnival just as the breeze from the river picked up. Cool air drifted across the grounds and goose bumps erupted over my sunbaked arms. Shiny green leaved poplar trees cast writhing shadows across the crimson and gold tents. A hard looking man with a chiseled face and mud brown eyes glanced up at us as we pushed through the admission gate. His greasy hair was tucked under a black captain’s hat. “Sometimes the admission here is steep,” he growled, “Be sure you’re able to pay the price.” Then he waved us through.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I muttered. “There’s no charge at all.”

  “You know,” said Jasper glancing suspiciously over his shoulder at the man, “I have a weird feeling he’s not talking about money.”

  “We’d better be careful.”

  “Do you think he’s one of those fairy people?” asked Jasper.

  “I don’t think so,” I said slowly. “He doesn’t look like one.” Most of the fairies I had encountered had a mesmerizing beauty even though there was a horrible emptiness that showed on their cruel faces, and a wicked light that shone out of their frozen eyes.

  This man’s skin had practically turned to leather from days of sun and wind. He also had a big, bulbous nose that didn’t look at all fairylike. “His eyes don’t have that dead look to them, but I bet they hold secrets. He has a shadowy feel about him.”

  “I agree,” Jasper nodded. “There’s something not right about him, but it’s hard to tell. My feather started heating up as soon as we approached the gate, but I think it’s because of this whole place and not anyone in particular.”

  I felt the heat of my own feather sear through my soccer shorts. “We’d better keep a low profile.”

  The carnival was packed with people taking advantage of the free entrance. We hid easily among the crowds, but we also did not see any of the gang. We kept searching and wandered by some games. We passed by a long line of booths where carnival folk hawked their wares. They were selling old-fashioned kewpie dolls that had cracked porcelain faces and googly eyes, eerie Jack-in-the-boxes with garish painted clown heads that wobbled on rusty springs, and old-fashioned windup toys that creaked and groaned as if in pain as they marched across the counters beating their tiny drums.

  “Get a look at those,” Jasper pointed. The tent next to us had rows of straw wrapped dolls. Some were big, the size of my arm or even as long as my leg and they looked like mummies or voodoo dolls with bug like black eyes. I shuddered. There was something just not right about them. And considering what a weird carnival we were in, that was saying something.

  “Poppet? Would you like to buy a pretty poppet?” A woman in a long, old-fashioned dress and an embroidered shawl waved to us. The patterns of her shawl seemed to jump out and swirl in front of my eyes as if I was wearing 3D glasses. I felt myself drawn in, and I moved closer. Then she grabbed one of the straw dolls off the shelf and waved it under my chin. It smelled of spice and dead roses. Gagging, I turned away and Jasper and I moved quickly into the crowd.

  Just when we had almost given up on finding any of our friends, we finally ran into Mitch, who had just bought a bag of roasted chestnuts.

  “Mitch,” I called out urgently. “Where are the others? We need to talk.”

  Mitch said “Hello,” but he barely seemed to notice us. He took a chestnut out of the bag, and it crumbled into dust when he peeled the shell. “Another bad one!” he complained.

  “I wouldn’t touch a smidge of food here,” I warned him.

  “Maybe you’re right,” Mitch said uneasily, and he dumped the bag into a trash bin.

  “Do you know where the others are?” asked Jasper. Mitch shrugged his shoulders.

  “If you see them, can you ask everyone to wait at the exit?” I asked.

  Mitch nodded, but his eyes had clouded and he looked like he was only half listening.

  Jasper and I ploughed through the crowd until we found Zach and Emily standing at a huge wheel of fortune. A woman with gray hair teased into a frightful haystack was running the attraction. She placed a claw like hand on the large, fretted roulette wheel. “Are you ready to test the fates? Do you want to know your future?”

  I shook my head when I saw the checkered spaces on the wheel. Each square had disturbing messages such as: “Your enemies are masking as friends,” “A secret will destroy you,” and ”Trust no one”…

  I pulled Zach and Emily back. “I wouldn’t gamble anything here.” For a moment it was as if they didn’t even recognize me. A milky light veiled their eyes. Then Emily shook herself and said, “Oh, hi, Cat.”

  Emily was the most popular girl in school. She had it all – gorgeous looks and expensive clothes. She was back together with Zach, the golden boy – he could take a girl’s breath away – not that I really noticed anymore.

  “Spin the wheel; see your fortune,” said the woman. As if in a trance Zach moved forward. His golden hair shone like a helmet over his ghostly pale face.

  “Don’t do it,” urged Jasper.

  “Listen to your friends. It won’t be happily ever after,” said the strange woman. But then she stepped aside and waved Zach forward.

  “Stop,” I said.

  Ignoring all of us, Zach lifted his arm and spun the wheel. I froze as the wheel turned. The clacking sound made it feel like a fistful of moths were gnawing away at my stomach. The wheel slowed and after a tick, tick, tick, the arrow pointed to a square.

  You will dance your whole life through. That message was oddly cheery compared to the others.

  “I hate dancing,” Zach complained.

  “Don’t I know it,” said Emily as she tugged Zach’s arm and started dragging him away. “But I hear music at the end of the midway, and you could at least come and listen with me.”

  “But we need to talk,” I protested. Whatever hold I used to have over Zach was gone. He disappeared with Emily without giving me a backward glance.

  “I don’t like this,” said Jasper. “Not one bit.”

  He didn’t have to convince me. “C’mon, let’s find the others.”

  But instead, they found us.

  Mitch had returned with Amarjeet, Mia, and Clive. Clive broke from the group and hurried toward me with a desperate expression. “Cat,” he said in a rush. “I can’t find Skeeter.”

  Skeeter was Clive’s little brother. He’d been inconsolable after Sookie was lost to Fairy. Younger children in our town were more in tune with the magic that was afoot, and Skeeter remembered that he had been Sookie’s playmate.

  “How long has Skeeter been gone?” I ask
ed. This wasn’t good. I could smell the sharp scent of danger in this place.

  “My gran said he’s been missing since morning.” Clive kept gazing over the midway, rocking back and forth impatiently on his feet.

  “Clive’s searched everywhere,” said Mitch. “And then for some reason, I thought maybe we should find you and ask.”

  “Actually, that was my idea,” Mia interrupted.

  “And you would be the one to ask, wouldn’t you,” Amarjeet said slowly as she fastened me with a searching stare. “Something’s going on around here,” she said. “It’s sort of like everything is reversed lately.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked carefully.

  “I mean, when I’m asleep my dreams seem more real than when I’m awake.” Amarjeet’s arm swept around, indicating the carnival grounds. Our eyes followed as she pointed out the rickety Ferris wheel, the carousel with garish, paint chipped horses, and the old fashioned calliope pumping out a scratchy tune from a long time ago.

  “And when I’m awake, all of this seems less real than my dreams.”

  The others nodded in agreement.

  The hair stood on the nape of my neck. What Amarjeet had said reminded me of my recurring nightmare of riding on a carousel. It’s going faster and faster, and I’m hanging onto one of those horses as I feel my body being pulled off by someone. Sometimes I stare helplessly as people melt and change right in front of my eyes. I shuddered and snapped myself back to the moment.

  “What do you know about all of this?” Clive demanded, looking seriously worried about his brother. He rubbed his hand through his black, curly hair.

  Before I could answer, the little kids I’d seen yesterday playing jump rope came running up. A freckle faced girl said, “We saw Skeeter leave the carnival a while ago. He told us he was heading to the witch’s house.”