Hidden Magic (The Magic Carnival Book 5)

by Trudi Jaye

  He tucked the trolley to one side of the room, and waved at the men. “Take care,” he said, as he shut the door. “Now, where are the stairs?” He grabbed Fee’s hand, and followed as she led them to the stairwell.

  They were halfway down the stairs when the fire alarm started up.

  “Do you think it’s a real fire?”

  Henry shook his head. “I doubt it. But it’s to cover something. Either it’s the Witch Hunters, or it’s Rilla and the others trying to give us some cover. Hopefully, it’s going to help us some,” he said.

  They raced down the stairs, bursting out of the stairwell, and following the smells of food cooking along the main corridor. Fee was still leading the way, although he couldn’t make himself let go of her hand. Electricity charged between them; and for some reason, it calmed him. A little bit of magic was pulsing through their veins, helping speed them along the corridor.

  In the kitchen, they found chaos, as the chefs were both trying to turn everything off, to finish what they were cooking so it wasn’t ruined, and leave at the same time. They were all running around madly, and had no time to notice two more people sneaking through the room.

  Outside, Henry took a deep breath of fresh air—tinged with smoke—and smiled. It felt good to be outside again.

  “Come on, we have to go.” Fee pulled him and he ran after her, along the side of the building and out onto the main street, where chaos reigned.

  They were walking quickly along the street outside the hospital when a figure stepped out of the bushes in front of them.

  “Hi, Fee. Hi, Henry. Good to see you again,” said David, holding a gun in front of him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Fee came to a crashing halt, and Henry banged up against her back.

  “David. What are you doing?” she asked. It hurt to see him again, a gun held at her chest. She hadn’t realized it would feel quite this bad to have her suspicions confirmed.

  “My job. Ridding the world of people like you,” said David, his voice filled with an emotion she couldn’t decipher.

  “What does that even mean? What did I ever do to you?” Fee’s anger was surfacing. “Do you even realize the terrible things Witch Hunters do?”

  “I know it’s my duty, over everything else, to rid the world of disgusting magic users.”

  Something clicked in Fee’s head. “Your fiancée,” she whispered. “That’s why you left your old life. It wasn’t a choice; it was forced upon you. You turned eighteen and were told you had to give up everything else to become a Witch Hunter.” Her voice was soft with compassion.

  David’s eyes went dark with anger. “Don’t you presume to talk about my fiancée.” He took a calming breath, as if reminding himself to be rational.

  “How did you find me?” Fee asked, trying to stall for time.

  “I’ve been following you for a long time,” said David bitterly. “Useless lead after wrong turn for years on end. Even when I arrived at Callaghan, I thought it was another false lead. You didn’t match any of the descriptions. I was about to move on.” He glanced at Henry. “But then Henry arrived.”

  “The blue electricity?” whispered Fee.

  David nodded. “And your little robots. When Henry mentioned them to us, I knew it was you.”

  Fee’s stomach knotted. “And you planted the bomb?”

  “Eugene wasn’t supposed to get hurt. Just you.” David’s hand was shaking as he held the gun. “Come on,” he said, gesturing for her to go ahead of him along the footpath. “We don’t have time for chit-chat.”

  Fee glanced back at Henry. He nodded his head forward, indicating she should go where David was pointing.

  Just as Henry walked past David, she felt rather than saw him leap at David. Turning quickly, Fee tried to see if she could help Henry. But it was over in seconds; Henry had punched David in the face, knocking him unconscious almost immediately. He grabbed his gun, and then Fee’s hand in his and ran. “There are more of them. We have to get out of here.”

  The truck was down the street a little way. Fee pulled on Henry’s hand when they neared it. “The truck,” she said.

  Henry shook his head. “Leave it for the others. We need to get out of here.”

  Fee ran after Henry trying not to think too hard about the possibility of someone shooting her in the back. Was that how her father did it? He had always avoided guns on the farm, so she didn’t even know if that was allowed with the Witch Hunters. David was clearly a new breed, ready to take arms to make it happen. She thought back to the explosion in Tampa. More than just guns.

  Henry ran a zigzagging path along the streets around the hospital, keeping to the smaller alleyways, and not stopping even for a moment. She was gasping for breath by the time he eventually slowed down. Even then, he kept them moving forward.

  “Where are we going?” asked Fee.

  “Home. We’re going to meet the others back home.”

  Fee thought for a moment. “The Carnival?”

  Henry nodded. “The Compound, at least. Where we live during the winter season.”

  “How are we going to get there?”

  Henry glanced back at her. “Don’t tell me you destroyed my car already?”

  Fee gave a half smile. “Jason took it to the airport with my mother, Alberta, and Max.”

  “Then we have to get to the airport.” Henry paused. “I can’t believe you let Jason drive it.”

  “Rilla will want you to get on the plane with the rest of them,” warned Fee.

  “Then we’ll get in and out of there before she even knows what I’m thinking.”

  He put up his hand and flagged down a taxi, and next thing Fee knew they were traveling down the freeway toward the airport.

  They sat in the back, thighs touching, holding hands. So much had changed in the last two weeks. She had thought she was happy in her little hidey-hole in the back of the lab. If Henry hadn’t come along, she would never have known what she was missing in life. She looked down at their clasped hands. Now she would.

  “Have you still got my phone?” asked Henry.

  Fee felt her jeans pocket, found the device and pulled it out. “Here you go.”

  Henry pressed a couple of buttons, and then it was ringing. “Rilla? It’s Henry. We’re out. I have Fee with me.” He listened for a moment. “Sure. We’re heading for the airport now. Okay. Bye.” Henry put the phone in his pocket, and settled back in the seat. “She’s still at the hospital. The police say they’re going to let them all go soon.”

  Fee nodded. She opened her mouth to ask Henry a question, but glanced at the driver in the front seat. They couldn’t trust anyone. She closed her mouth, and leaned her head on Henry’s shoulder instead.

  They were silent the rest of the trip out to the small private airport.

  When the taxi pulled up at the curb, Henry paid the driver, and Fee climbed out, looking around for his car. She spotted it down one end of the buildings. They walked toward it hand in hand.

  Fee’s head was filled with a million thoughts. “What are you going to say to Jason?” was all she asked.

  “Not much. He’ll understand.” Henry sounded pretty certain.

  “You’re close to your brother?”

  He nodded. “To all my brothers. We’re a tight family, remember?”

  Fee felt something stir inside her. Jealousy. She wanted to be part of Henry’s family, to be someone he could talk to anytime. She pushed that thought down and concentrated on their immediate problem.

  “What if Rilla has told him not to let you go?”

  Henry shook his head. “It’s not like that. Don’t get me wrong, Rilla will be pissed when we take off in my car and drive home. But she’ll get over it.”

  Fee thought about it for a minute. “Henry, why are we taking the car?” she said. “We’re here now; we can take the plane.”

  Henry stopped and grabbed both her hands, looking intently into her eyes. “They’ll keep following you, no matter where yo
u go, Fee. We have to do something about that. I have a plan and I need you to come with me for that plan to work.”

  Looking up into his golden eyes, Fee felt herself drowning. She realized she would do whatever he asked of her without question. It was a terrifying thought. She just nodded, unsure if her voice actually worked.

  Henry gave her a quick relieved kiss on the lips, and then dragged her at a fast walk toward the car.

  The keys were sitting in the driver’s seat, and Henry looked down at them frowning.

  “I figured you’d be along for them sooner or later, bro,” said an amused voice from the shadows.

  Henry grinned over to where Jason emerged from his hiding spot. He strode over to his brother and hugged him tightly.

  “You gonna drive it home?” asked Jason.

  Henry nodded. “Sure. I’m not leaving my baby here, am I?”

  “I figured you’d be against that part of the plan. But I’d get out of here quick. Rilla and the others are due any minute.”

  “Did she call?”

  “Yeah. Wanted to make sure everything was ready. I’ve got the other two on the plane.” He cleared his throat. “The, uh, machinery, wanted to wait with the car.”

  Fee glanced back to where Max was waiting in the back seat. She grinned. He’d guessed what they would be doing. Not bad for ‘machinery’.

  Henry frowned. “You keep a close watch on Fee’s mother, Jase. I’m not entirely certain we can trust her.”

  Jason shrugged. “She’s been swept for bugs by Fee and her metal friend. The Carnival won’t let her in if it senses that she means us harm. That’s all we can do for now.”

  “Just keep an eye on her. That’s all.”

  “Will do. Come on, bro, you better get going.” Jason clamped him on the back and half-pushed Henry to the car. Fee climbed into the passenger’s seat beside him.

  Henry waved one arm out the window at his brother and backed his car out of the spot in one smooth motion. Fee waved goodbye from her seat and wondered why, yet again, it felt like such a final farewell.

  ***

  Henry’s head was buzzing with ideas and they all focused on how to get Fee out of the bull’s eye of her father’s manic desire to kill her.

  “Where are we going?” asked Fee.

  “Back into Little Rock. I’m guessing David is still there. He doesn’t know where we are and needs to sniff out another clue.”

  “I can’t believe it was David,” she said softly.

  Henry clenched his hands around the steering wheel. He’d been the reason Fee had been discovered. “How long had he been on the team?”

  Fee paused and took a breath as if trying to remember. “About six or seven months.”

  A chill went down Henry’s spine at the sheer determination and patience involved in that kind of hunt. “He was just sitting there waiting for you to make a mistake.”

  “I was pretty careful. I didn’t really talk much to the others, except about Violet. That trip you took us on was the first time I really interacted with them outside of work.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Henry, his voice raw. “I didn’t mean to help them find you.” He glanced over at her.

  Fee shrugged. “I know you didn’t do it on purpose.” Her hands were clenched in her lap.

  “Still. I want you to know. It was the last thing I would have done.”

  “Thanks.” She glanced over at him. “I appreciate that.”

  Henry felt his heart constrict at the expression on her face. She’d realized the lengths they’d go to in order to kill her and she was scared. But that wasn’t going to happen. “We have to decide how we deal with him,” he said.

  Fee blinked. “What do you mean?”

  Henry sighed. “They won’t stop, Fee. That’s what we’ve learned here today. They keep coming after you, using all their resources, forever. It’s like having a human Terminator on your tail, except they’re a little less dispassionate about why they want to kill you. It’s more personal for the Witch Hunters.”

  Fee shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

  “I’m not trying to upset you, Fee.” He put one hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze before putting it back on the steering wheel. “I have a plan. A way for you to get them off your tail.”

  “And what’s that?” said Fee, staring out the window.

  “We fake our deaths.”

  Fee’s head whipped around to Henry. “What?”

  “We make them think that we’ve died. I figure it’s just like a circus act, and I’ve designed enough of those over the years. We just have to plan and execute it so that it appears that we died—probably in an explosion—and they don’t need to chase us anymore.”

  “Why both of us?”

  “They’re suspicious of me too. I don’t want to lead them to the Carnival, so I need to disappear as well.”

  “You can’t do that! What about the people who love you?”

  Henry shrugged. “I wasn’t planning on leaving the Carnival. Just rejoining them under a different name.”

  Fee stared at him for a moment. “How will we do it?”

  “David’s not the only one who knows a little bit about fires and explosions. I’m sure between us we’ll come up with something.”

  Fee was silent for a while, clearly thinking it over. Henry left her to it.

  “Will I be officially dead? Or will I have access to my bank accounts and just be dead to the Witch Hunters?”

  “I think, until we know their true reach, you need to be officially dead for a while. You can always go back and tell them it was a mistake later.”

  Fee nodded slowly, taking it all in. “Then I’d like to go to a bank before we blow ourselves up, and take a bit of money out to tide me over. Maybe buy myself a new persona.”

  “Sure. That’s a good plan. Does that mean you’re willing to fake-die with me?” Henry asked, a laugh in his voice.

  Fee looked at him, her eyes intent on his face. “Sure. I’ll fake-die with you.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “If I’d known how much work went into fake-dying, I might have reconsidered it,” muttered Fee as she lugged yet another heavy box of equipment up and down the stairs at the Carnival’s house. Turned out Henry knew where the spare key was hidden, and he wasn’t above using it, despite the annoyed phone call he’d received from Rilla moments after they’d arrived back in the city.

  Fee had been able to hear Rilla blasting him from her place in the passenger seat, and had winced.

  But Henry had been unrepentant and completely silent on his plans for a fake-death.

  He was clearly trying to protect them, but it would have been easier to have another hand or two helping carry what they needed down to the car. Apparently, the Carnival folk liked to be prepared when they had a bolthole in a particular city.

  “Why do you have a place in Little Rock? With all this stuff in it?” asked Fee as she dumped the box next to the boot of the car.

  “We have a few places around, mostly in the capital cities of states we pass through regularly during the season. It’s helped us out a time or two.”

  “The Carnival seems to be pretty well off, if you’ve got properties everywhere.”

  Henry shook his head. “Kind of the opposite at the moment. These boltholes, they’re not owned by the Carnival, as such. There’s this weird contract that governs all the property the Carnival bought about a hundred years ago when they were doing particularly well, and it’s owned by a Trust corporation. They were paranoid we’d fall on hard times and sell it all I suppose. We can’t touch it, and we don’t make the decisions over what happens to the properties. They’re just here for us to use.”

  “Who does decide?”

  “I’m not entirely certain. Rilla and the bank have more of an idea of the specifics.”

  Fee looked at the car, now stuffed full of various pieces of equipment, including some explosives that she was particularly nervous about. “Where are
we going to do it? Our fake deaths?”

  “There’s this place...” He hesitated. “An old deserted fairground on the edge of a farm on the outskirts of the city. We used to pass through here pretty regularly when I was a kid, and one of my older brothers showed it to me.” Henry paused to lift another box into the trunk of the car. “But now we’re going to blow it up.”

  “Don’t we need to have bodies? To prove we’re dead?”

  “We’re going to blow ourselves to smithereens. And we’ll be so convincing they will be certain we’re dead, and won’t try to prove it.”

  “I’m no good at acting.”

  “I’ll give you a non-speaking role,” said Henry with a grin.

  “I’m glad you think it’s funny,” snapped Fee, sudden tears filling her eyes.

  Henry was by her side in an instant. He bundled her into a massive hug, smoothing one hand over her hair. The now-familiar zing of the blue electricity skipped along her senses, heating her body.

  “I’m sorry. You’ll be fine,” he said. “We don’t need to do much acting; we just need to pretend our plans went wrong, and instead of blowing them up, we accidentally blow ourselves up. It’ll make them think they’re smart to avoid our evil plots, and it will convince them we’re dead. That’s all we can ask for.”

  “Do you think they’ll believe it?”

  “If we do it well, they will. It’s all about showmanship. We need to practice, and we need to have it set up perfectly. Luckily, I’m good at practicing and I’m a perfectionist. We’ll be fine.”

  Fee felt stupid taking comfort in Henry’s arms, but it was all so overwhelming. She’d taken twenty thousand dollars in cash out of her account, and it was burning a hole in her purse. She was casually planning her own death. She had a hot guy giving her comforting hugs.

  A couple of weeks ago, the most excitement she’d had was trying to decide whether to have sushi or sandwiches for lunch. Now she was trying to stay alive and she’d brought Henry and his family into it as well.