“You’re a horrible liar,” Kade said, reaching around so he could rub my shoulders. “How are you really feeling?”
“Sore,” I admitted. “I’ll be fine.”
“How many times have you been struck by lightning?”
“This was the third.”
“I’m going to have a talk with Naida about her impulse control,” Kade said. “She needs to be more careful. She’s lucky she didn’t kill someone.”
“I’m fine.”
“Would everyone else have been fine?”
I bit my bottom lip. That was a loaded question. “I don’t know. I’m glad we don’t have to worry about it.”
“You’re glad Luke didn’t take the full brunt of it,” Kade corrected. “I saw your face. You’re glad it was only his pants that caught fire.”
“Ugh.” I rubbed my forehead. “I forgot about his pants. We’re going to have to go shopping again.”
Kade smirked. “I’ve never heard that much whining about a pair of pants in my life.”
“He wasn’t really upset about the pants,” I explained. “Well, he wasn’t happy about the pants. He was upset about me. He can’t always verbalize his emotions, so he pretends to be upset about something else because he can’t deal with what he’s really upset about.”
“You two really do know one another.”
“We do.”
“We do what?” Luke appeared in the bedroom doorway, a McDonald’s bag in his hand and a bright smile on his face.
“Do you knock?” Kade asked.
Luke ignored him and climbed on the bed so he could settle on the other side of me, dropping the bag on my hip. “I knew you wouldn’t be up for cooking, even though I was really looking forward to that omelet, so I bought your favorite breakfast.” He glanced at Kade. “I got you something, too. If you don’t like it … tough.”
“I’ll eat anything,” Kade said.
Luke opened his mouth to respond with what I was sure was an absolutely filthy retort. I reached over and squeezed his lips shut.
“Not today,” I said.
Luke’s face softened. “Are you in a lot of pain?”
“I’ve felt better,” I said. “I need to get my head in the game if I’m going to probe the changeling, though.”
“Yeah, everyone is talking about that,” Luke said. “Nellie is charging a fee for people to stare at it.”
I made a face. “That sounds delightful.”
“I think you should wait until the circus closes shop tonight,” Luke said. “That will give you a few hours to mentally recharge your batteries. It has to be exhausting to have your hair looking like that.”
“Will you leave her alone?” Kade asked, wrinkling his nose. “Your best friend could’ve died last night.”
“She’ll never die,” Luke replied. “I can’t live without her, so it can’t happen.”
“I won’t die, Luke,” I said, patting his arm. “It’s going to be okay.”
“I know.” Luke impulsively hugged me, pushing away Kade’s arm so he could get comfortable. “I love you, my Poet.”
“I love you, too.”
After a few moments, Luke pulled away and rummaged in his jeans pocket until he drew out a metal tin.
“What is that?” Kade asked, narrowing his eyes.
“It’s Nixie and Naida’s special blend,” Luke replied.
I perked up. “Seriously? I thought they were out.”
“Do I want to know what that is?” Kade asked.
“It’s magic ointment that’s going to make Poet feel like a human being again in no time,” Luke said. “It’s the last of the batch. They’re trying to find more mandrake, but apparently there’s a shortage.”
“How did you get them to give it up?” I pressed.
“I told them that since Naida injured you they owed it to you,” Luke replied. “I was going to rub it on you myself, but since Kade is here, and you two are already half naked, I’ll let him have the honor.
“Because you’re too sore for a slow tickle, this will have to serve as your foreplay for the time being,” Luke said, tossing the tin at Kade and hopping off the bed. “I have a bunch of stuff to get done. You need to rest with that ointment on you for at least an hour before you shower. You know the drill.”
“Thank you, Luke.”
“We’re also going to have to go shopping again,” Luke announced as he swaggered toward the door.
I saw that coming. “We’ll go when we find a decent mall,” I offered, resigned. “I know you need new pants.”
“And you need new underwear,” Luke said, gesturing toward my simple black panties, which were poking out from beneath the covers. “Those are embarrassing.”
“Thank you, Luke.”
Luke winked. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.” He extended a finger in Kade’s direction. “No funny business. She’s injured.”
“You and I are going to have a talk later,” Kade warned.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Luke said. “If you have underwear requests for her, now is the time to make them.”
Once Luke was gone, I watched Kade dole out the breakfast offerings as I struggled to a sitting position. He helped me as best he could, but every time his hand wandered to an exposed strip of skin we both blushed and pretended we hadn’t noticed. The ointment was definitely going to be an issue.
“So, I was thinking now is the time to argue about how you handled the situation last night,” Kade said.
Uh-oh. I’d forgotten about that. “I’m not in the mood to fight.”
“It’s not going to be a big one. Don’t worry.”
I groaned. “I’m already in pain.”
“This will only extend the agony for a few minutes,” Kade said, rubbing his thumb over my cheek. “Never, ever jump in front of Naida and her lightning bolts of fury again! I don’t care if you think you can stop her. I don’t like it.”
I waited. When he didn’t resume speaking, I arched an eyebrow. “Is that it?”
“That’s it.”
“Well, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” I said, reaching for my breakfast bagel.
“I also promised you I would kiss you senseless after we were done arguing,” Kade reminded me.
I froze with the sandwich halfway to my mouth.
“That’s going to have to wait until you shower,” Kade said. “I’m not going to lie. The bedhead is freaking me out a little bit this morning. And the reek of that ointment is far from perfume.”
Hey, you win some and you lose some.
THE afternoon got away from me. Even Kade’s flirty kiss promise wasn’t enough to distract me from the work that needed to be done. By the time 6 p.m. rolled around and the gates opened, I was ready for whatever the world had to throw at me.
Nixie and Naida’s ointment did what it was supposed to do and after an uncomfortable medicinal session – during which Kade swore up and down he didn’t have a problem with my underwear – I let the salve seep into my skin and slept for another two hours.
Kade was gone when I woke. He left a cute note on his vacant pillow telling me he was sorry, but duty called. He also left two chocolate kisses with the note and a promise that he would have better “kisses” for me later.
He got cuter with every heartfelt gesture, and that meant I was getting schmaltzier with each increment. It was horrible. My hard-earned reputation was crumbling. I knew I should care more … yet I didn’t.
I went about my evening readings with a smile on my face, telling each customer exactly what they wanted to hear. That was so unlike me. The burden of truth is hard to bear alone, so I’m prone to sharing the misery. I didn’t do it once this evening, even when I caught a glimpse of infidelity and an imminent pregnancy trap.
I figured that was their problem.
Once my tent emptied, I locked away all of my belongings in the trunk and was debating about checking on the show before going to the animal cages when Kade wandered in.
<
br /> My heart rolled at the sight of him. It had only been a few hours and yet it felt as if days had gone by.
“Hi.”
Kade grinned. “Hi.” He scanned the tent and then returned his eyes to me. “Are you done for the night?”
“I’m done with this,” I said, gesturing to my small corner of Mystic Caravan’s world. “I was just trying to decide if I was going to the big tent to watch some of the show or head straight to the cage to tear Nellie away from our new friend.”
“He’s infatuated with it,” Kade said, shuffling a bit closer. “He tried to charge me to see it earlier.”
“What is it doing?”
“Sitting there and staring at the wall,” Kade replied. “If I didn’t know any better I’d swear it’s waiting for orders. You said it couldn’t follow orders, though, so I guess I’m projecting my feelings onto it.”
“I said it couldn’t reason for itself,” I corrected. “I think someone is definitely controlling it. I hope I can find out how.”
“How will you do that?”
“There are thousands of threads in someone’s mind,” I explained. “Because our changeling doesn’t appear to be processing those threads, that doesn’t mean they’re not still there.”
“Are you going to follow thousands of threads? That sounds as if it could be a long night.”
“I’m hoping it won’t come to that,” I said. “I’ll start with the brightest threads and follow those first. If someone is controlling the changeling, it stands to reason those threads would be the brightest.”
“Well, that sounds very reasonable,” Kade said, smirking. “I was going to volunteer to stay with you while you work. I’m not sure that you need me.”
I didn’t technically need him. Wanting his company was a different matter. “I … .” I broke off, unsure what to say. I didn’t want to come across as needy.
“See, if you don’t tell me what you want there’s no way for me to know what it is,” Kade prodded, taking another two steps in my direction, linking eyes with me. “Tell me what you want.”
“You’re putting me in an awkward position.”
“Okay, I can see that,” Kade said. “How about I tell you what I want? How does that sound?”
Terrifying. “I’m waiting.”
“I want to go with you while you work and then I want to see if we can spend some time alone together when you’re done,” Kade said. “That’s what I want.”
That sounded just about perfect. “Well, I can probably live with that.”
Kade snorted. “You’re cute, so I’m going to let you slide on that,” he said. “You’re still recuperating, so I’m not in the mood to pressure you. You’re going to have to become more vocal, though. That’s the only way something like this can work.”
He had a point. “Well, in that case … .” I moved closer to him. “We’re alone now.”
“We are indeed.” Kade’s eyes were heavy-lidded as I slipped as close to him as I could without touching him. “What are you doing?”
“You said last night that you were going to kiss me before all the talking next time,” I said. “You’re falling down on the job.”
Kade’s smile was lopsided. “Do you want me to kiss you?”
“Only if you want to.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
I sighed. He was frustrating. It was a good thing he was handsome enough to make up for it. “I want you to kiss me.”
Kade grabbed the front of my peasant top and pulled me up to my toes, our mouths only half an inch apart. “That was a really good answer.”
He didn’t give me a chance to respond, instead swooping down to close the rest of the gap.
I saw stars. I’m not joking. He was that good of a kisser. It was as if something exploded in my head. The kiss seemed to last forever, but when Kade finally released his grip on the front of my shirt and pulled away, he looked as dazed as I felt.
“That was … wow!”
Kade was panting. I wanted to laugh until I realized I was panting, too. Well, that was undignified. “It was pretty … .”
Kade arched a challenging eyebrow. “Don’t even think of playing that down.”
“It was amazing,” I conceded.
“Good. Let’s do it again.” Kade reached for me, but our lips didn’t get a chance to meet again because Luke picked that moment to rush into the tent.
“We have a huge problem,” Luke announced.
The look on Kade’s face was murderous. “I’m going to kill you, Luke.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt your tongue shuffle,” Luke said. “I really am. I’m not joking, though. We have a huge problem.”
“What is it?” I asked, sensing he wasn’t exaggerating for a change.
“Nellie had to leave the changeling to do his gig in the big show,” Luke said. “He was only going to be away for twenty minutes, and we didn’t think it would be a big deal.”
“Did it escape?”
“Worse.”
“What’s worse than that?” Kade demanded, furrowing his brow.
“Someone snuck in and killed it,” Luke replied. “They didn’t just kill it. They eviscerated it.”
Well, things were officially worse. I didn’t even think that was possible.
Thirty-Two
“I don’t understand how this happened,” I said, kneeling next to the open cage and peering inside.
Luke wasn’t joking when he said the changeling had been “eviscerated.” Whatever had been inside the changeling was now outside. Even the twisted facial features were hacked and slashed. You could barely tell the remains belonged to something that once drew breath. The scene was straight out of a horror movie – one I didn’t want to watch.
Kade moved in next to me and leaned closer to the body, his eyes fixating on the changeling’s torso. “Do you see that?” He pointed to a particularly vicious and jagged wound.
I nodded.
“That wound was made with a fixed-blade hunting knife,” Kade explained. “The blade itself is smooth on the bottom edge, but serrated on top. That’s why it’s so … .”
“Ripped?” I supplied.
“I was going to say rough, but … .” Kade shrugged.
“Does that tell us anything?” I asked.
“You can buy a knife like that on the Internet, so I don’t think it’s going to narrow a suspect field down for you,” he replied. “It’s a serious knife, though.”
“I’m so sorry,” Nellie said, placing his hands on his hips in a manner that caused his red evening gown to bunch. It looked new. The sequins, a nice touch, set off his eyes.
I thought about complimenting him on his new find and then realized the sentiment was out of place. “You couldn’t have known this would happen,” I said, straightening and glancing around the enclosure. The animal cages were kept in a big tent at the back of the fairgrounds whenever we moved. Technically there was no way to completely secure them. Someone would have to be ballsy to wander into a tent without knowing who was inside, which meant … . “Who was in the big tent when you were there?”
Nellie shot me a questioning look. “What do you mean?”
“She wants to know who can be accounted for,” Kade said. “Whoever did this is … one of us.”
Nellie balked. “You can’t know that. Anyone could’ve wandered in from the woods. It’s not like we lock the tents.”
“In theory, anyone could walk in here,” I agreed. “In practice, though, that’s a little hard to believe. I mean, how did someone pick the exact right time to come in here? You’ve been hanging around here for almost twenty-four hours straight. When you did take a break, Dolph was here.
“When you add in the fact that Rodrigo, Seth, Kade and Luke have been making regular visits, too … well … that’s an incredibly lucky window for someone to stumble upon,” I said.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Nellie said, tugging his beard thoughtfully. “You think someone was watching the t
ent from inside the fairgrounds, don’t you?”
“I don’t see another option.”
“But … we’re family,” Nellie said. “Whoever did this is … .”
“A monster,” I finished. “It has to be someone we know. The question is: Why?”
Kade pinched the bridge of his nose as he began to pace. “We need to approach this as the police would when conducting a murder investigation. What do we know?”
“I know I don’t like cops,” Nellie replied.
“None of us do,” I said. “That’s not what he meant. Now is not the time to be difficult.”
“Why don’t you like cops?” Kade asked.
“Because we’re magical beings who take out criminals and hide bodies all over the country,” Luke replied. “Heck, sometimes we shrink them down and sell them as voodoo dolls. Why would we possibly like the cops?”
“Point taken,” Kade conceded.
“We know that we have at least two changelings who have had their minds … ravaged,” I supplied. “They look as if they’ve been kept in rough conditions. While I didn’t get time to study the one that attacked outside of the trailers, he was filthy. The one we captured last night was, too.”
“So who here doesn’t like showers?” Luke asked, his eyes traveling to Nellie.
“I shower, you asshat,” Nellie snapped.
I flicked Luke’s ear to get his attention. “Now is not the time to … be you,” I said. “We need to focus. I don’t like this. I don’t like what it means.”
Luke looked confused. “What does it mean?”
“There’s a murderer here with the circus,” Kade answered. “Someone was controlling these changelings and whoever it is sent them after Poet and Nixie.”
“Can we be sure Poet and Nixie were the actual targets?” Nellie asked.
That was a good question. “It could’ve just been a crime of opportunity,” I said. “The changelings could’ve been set loose to attack the first people they came across. We don’t know that Nixie and I were specifically targeted.”
“If you were, it would be significant,” Luke interjected, his face serious.
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