by Trudi Jaye
Fee sniffed. “I’m fine,” she said. “It just got the better of me for a moment.”
“Let’s load this lot up and get going,” said Henry. “The faster we get there, the faster we can get this over with.”
Fee nodded. “What about Max? Do we take him with us?”
Henry shrugged. “I’m not sure. What do you think?”
Fee swallowed. “He might be helpful,” she said. “But maybe we should leave him here? Just in case?” She couldn’t bear it if another one of her robotic family got hurt. She had the other two in her pockets and she’d seen the little thief hiding in Henry’s jacket pocket. She had a feeling she’d lost one of her robots to him.
She felt Henry’s hand on her back, and found comfort from that small touch. They would get through this together, and then she would be able to disappear, maybe work on a plan to take down the Witch Hunters.
Henry would go back to his Carnival under another name, and everything would work out.
***
Henry drove exactly the speed limit the whole way out to the old fair.
He’d been fascinated with the deserted fairgrounds since he was a kid. He’d even gone in a few times, trying to fix a few of the rides, to bring it back to some semblance of order. A few of them had started working again, but it had never been enough to resuscitate the whole area. He’d realized some time in his teens that it was never going to be more than a graveyard, and had stopped trying.
Now it was going to have a more deadly use.
He rubbed his hands over the soft leather of his steering wheel and pondered his plan. He knew a lot could go wrong. But it seemed like their only shot at convincing the Witch Hunters to leave Fee alone.
The freeway turned into a highway, and then they were there. Henry turned slowly into the old rutted driveway, and looked around. It was still pretty much as he remembered it, just even more overgrown and broken down. Old rides rusted over with vines and grasses growing high over and around them. The paths were dusty and cracked. High above them a small Ferris wheel was frozen in time, its seats rocking gently in the wind, and the sun shining through the crisscrossed metal rungs.
Fee held up one hand to cover her eyes from the sunset. “It’s kind of lovely, in a sad deserted sort of way,” she said.
Henry nodded. “I’m in two minds about using this place. I’ve loved it for so long. But it’s the only place around here that I know of that has stuff we can use as a distraction, and no other people around.”
“So what do we do?”
“We set everything up we need, and then we sleep. Then tomorrow we call David.” He strode along the pathway and gestured for Fee to follow him.
He headed for the administration block first. He wanted the plans for this place. They would have to use their combined abilities to set up a few of the rides. He glanced back at the car. Then they would blow everything up and hope David believed them.
Fee ran to catch up, and half trotted beside him. “So how do we hide out and pretend we’re dead?”
“Going through the tunnels at Alberta’s house reminded me about this place.” Henry pointed to a block of buildings off to one side. “That’s the sideshows area. It’s riddled with secret passages that lead to each side of the booths, but also into the building on the far side.”
“How do you know about this place again?” She was looking around as if she was trying to remember as much as possible of this place.
“My brother Daggen showed it to me one year when I was about seven. We traveled through here every year, though generally not into Little Rock. Stopping by and exploring became a kind of tradition. One year, I even started trying to fix a few of the rides.”
“Did you ever see it working?”
“Nah, it was closed down long before my time.”
“Why’s it still here?”
Henry shook his head. “No idea. Maybe the person who owns it doesn’t have the money to fix it, but loves it too much to destroy it.”
“We’re going to destroy it for him,” whispered Fee.
“That we are,” replied Henry softly.
They walked into the administration building quietly taking in the damp, dirty atmosphere. “Do you really think we’ll find a map in here?”
“I even know where it is.” Henry walked straight through the foyer and into the main office, heading for the old safe hidden behind a hideous landscape of the surrounding area.
He pulled it off the wall, and handed it to Fee, who screwed up her face. “I know why they left this here,” she said.
“I think they left it here for more than just its ugliness. It was hiding the safe.”
“Did they leave much in the safe?”
“Nah, not really. But I know I saw some maps one year when I was being particularly nosy.” He rummaged through the papers, and then grinned. “Aha,” he said, holding up the pages he was after.
Fee craned her neck to see what he was holding, her eyes taking in the blue and red markings on the old schematics.
“Let’s go outside to read them. There’s nowhere to sit in here.” He grabbed her hand, and pulled her outside, heading toward the teacups. They didn’t move around anymore, but they provided a seat on either side of a sort of a tiny table. “My lady, your carriage awaits,” he said with a flourish and a bow.
Fee smiled, but didn’t say anything, simply climbed onto the teacup ride.
Henry stared down at her for a moment, caught by how the late afternoon sun’s rays caught her blonde hair and made a halo of light around her head. She was beautiful. He’d been planning to sit across from her but instead slid into the seat next to her and pulled the maps out in front of them. His thigh touched hers and he shivered. The zing of electricity warmed him up and drove him wild at the same time.
Fee looked at him, her emerald eyes wide. Henry put one hand up to her cheek, and softly smoothed the skin, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. He leaned in and kissed her, gently and softly at first, using the growing electricity between them to add a spark to what he was doing.
He curled his tongue against hers, and the kiss deepened. The next minute Henry was consumed by heat, as the electricity zapped and zinged between them, creating a sensation like nothing else he’d ever experienced. He tried to get closer, to wrap himself up in Fee, pulling her against him. She moaned and put her arms around him, her fingers running through his hair.
Henry tried to be reasonable, tried to pull back and say they needed to plan, but something stronger than his resolve was driving him on. He needed to be closer to Fee, to make her his one more time before they did this crazy attempt at fake dying. It seemed imperative, like they needed to make love to ensure it all came out okay.
His hands roamed over her body, and he found her breast, the nipple hard beneath his fingers. He groaned, wishing they had more time, a better place, and more room. Something hard jabbed into his ribs, and he pulled back, trying to get in a better position.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” whispered Fee against his cheek. She glanced down at the hard metal. “And this isn’t comfortable.”
Henry looked down into her eyes, and tried to think sensibly. Instead, without a word, he picked her up, and carried her to his car, still parked not too far away. Opening the door and pulling the seat forward, he laid her on the back seat, climbing in behind her.
Fee sighed, and put her arms around his neck, pulling him down again to finish what he started.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“So the map says there used to be a haunted house over there,” said Fee, pointing to a burned pile of ash. Worry was gnawing at her insides. They’d looked at the plans of the area, talked through what Henry wanted to do, and even had a quick look around last night. Then they’d slept an uncomfortable night in the back of the car. The reality of what they were trying to do had set in sometime this morning as they ate breakfast from the meagre supplies they’d thought to bring with them.
Henry nodded, dist
racted as he worked a wrench on one of the cars of the bumper car ride. “Burned down a few years ago.”
“What if other things on this map are gone too? Like the tunnels you’re so certain are still here. What if they’ve caved in?”
“We’ll check them.” Henry glanced up and looked at Fee properly. His face relaxed a moment. “We can do it now, if it will make you feel better.”
Fee nodded, wishing she could be more blasé about what they were doing. She didn’t feel calm or confident, and she certainly couldn’t bring herself to smile.
Henry grabbed her hand, and rubbed his thumb over her palm before taking off toward the sideshow booths. He grabbed a broom with his other hand when he saw it leaning up against a food stand. He caught Fee’s raised eyebrows and shrugged. “There might be dirt and cobwebs,” he said. “I thought you’d want me to clear them for you.”
“It would have been too easy if it had been clean,” said Fee. Inside she was berating herself. She was a farm girl for crying out loud. When did she get so soft?
When robots started being your friends over people, she answered for herself.
Henry turned an old rusted door handle that looked like it was about to fall apart in his hands and led Fee into a dark room. “It’s just in here. I’ll go first, let you know how bad it is down there, and then you can follow me. You’ll need to acclimate to make sure you don’t freak out when we go in for real.”
Fee shook her head. “Before I met you, I’d never been in a tunnel in my entire life. Now, after only two weeks, I’m about to enter my second one.”
Henry grinned up at her. “Hey, the first tunnel was nothing to do with me. It just reminded me of these.” He opened a small doorway at the back of the room, and ducked his head to enter the narrow hole. A light flicked on and Henry showed her the little thief critter in his palm, a small torch shining out from one of his pincers. “He’s full of surprises,” he said.
Fee nodded. “I tried to make them useful.”
“You know, Fee, he’s more than just useful. He’s rather ingenious.” The robot chittered up at Henry, obviously pleased with the praise.
Fee shook her head, watching the interaction between Henry and the kleptomaniac. She was never getting that particular robot to come back to her. Not that it mattered; she liked the idea of one of her little robots taking care of Henry if she wasn’t around to do it.
“Come on in, Fee. It’s dark and damp, but it’s okay.”
Fee cautiously followed Henry down into the tunnel, wishing they didn’t have to be here. When had her life become so crazy? She’d always known that being raised in a cult by murdering farmers wasn’t exactly an average way to grow up; but since leaving the farm, she’d gone out of her way to make her life sensible and secure. Uneventful and safe.
Since meeting Henry, she’d gone from knowing exactly what the day was going to hold, to crawling through tunnels with spiders and god knows what else crawling around, trying to plan a fake death.
The only thing that was keeping her from running screaming was Henry’s solid form in front of her, leading her along the narrow tunnel, occasionally smiling back at her, and offering encouragement.
Last night in the car had been... magical. She didn’t usually use that word, because of her own associations with it. But the electricity that formed between them at the slightest touch was hard to resist. Henry was hard to resist. He was smart and creative, but relaxed and funny at the same time. He didn’t take himself too seriously, but he grasped the robotics concepts she threw at him with hardly a blink of the eye. She’d never met anyone so agile of mind. Something about Henry made her feel stronger and more powerful on some level that she’d never noticed before. Everything around her seemed clearer and she was thinking faster than she ever had before.
“There’s a small cave-in up ahead,” said Henry, making Fee blink and draw herself back to the present.
“Is it going to interrupt our plans?”
“We might have to dig it out a little, but no, it’s not going to stop us doing what we need to do.”
“Good.” Fee paused and glanced back behind her. “You know, I think I need to work on my part of our planned maintenance before David gets here. I’ll be fine in the tunnels now, as long as you search them to make sure they’re okay, and then come help me finish off.”
Henry stared at her intently for a moment. “Are you sure you’ll be okay down here once it happens? It’s an important part of the plan.”
“Of course. I’m not claustrophobic or anything.” I just need to get out of here for a while, she admitted to herself. Away from Henry and how he made her feel.
It was more than the addiction to being closer to him that made it impossible to resist touching him when she could. It was the feeling that she could do anything, or be anyone she wanted, if she would only open herself up fully to the energy that flowed between them. It just didn’t seem possible and it was making her nervous.
He nodded. “Okay, then that’s a good idea. We should get it set up as fast as we can.”
“I’ll see you soon,” she said, and turned to go. She stopped when Henry’s hand grabbed her wrist. Suddenly he was there right beside her, pulling her into his arms. His lips crushed hers in another electric kiss that left her gasping.
“Take care of yourself,” he whispered, then let her go.
She nodded, and turned, blindly heading back out the way she had come. Her feet were unsteady, and she touched a shaking hand to her lips.
How could one kiss affect her like that?
***
Henry was just crawling out of the last tunnel, when his phone rang. He checked the screen. It was Rilla. He sighed, and pressed to answer the call. He wasn’t afraid of their Ringmaster, but he knew it was going to be an unpleasant conversation.
“Hey, Rilla.”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she said, her voice colder than he’d ever heard it.
“I’m driving my car home.” He held his breath, wondering if it was going to be that easy.
“No, you’re not. I can feel where you are through the Carnival. You’re still in Little Rock.”
“Then I’m keeping a dangerous group of murderers away from the Carnival,” he said calmly. “We wouldn’t just lead them to the Compound. That would put everyone’s lives in danger.”
“You don’t just go haring off on your own without discussing it with me.”
Henry noticed she didn’t argue with his assessment of the Witch Hunters.
“I need to fix this, Rilla. I’m the one who might have connected them to everyone else. I need to fix it.”
“You tell me where you are right this minute.”
“I thought you could tell where I was?”
“I can tell you’re still around. I don’t know exactly where. But I will figure it out, and when I do, we will be coming to find you.”
Henry shook his head, even though she couldn’t see it. “No. Fee and I will handle it. If too many people get involved, they’ll suspect something is up. You’ll ruin everything.”
“We can help, Henry. Let us help,” she said softly, her voice almost pleading now.
“You are helping. Take Alberta and Fee’s mother to safety. Make sure everyone else in the Carnival is safe and cared for. We’ll sort it out here, and be home soon.” Hopefully.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Henry.”
“Stupid? Me? When did I ever do anything like that?”
“Every damn day while we were growing up,” growled Rilla. “You promise me that you’re not doing anything dumb trying to protect the rest of us.”
“These people are dangerous, Rilla. I can’t let them find the Carnival. And I need to go, in case Dad’s trying to track this call.”
He heard the small intake of breath on the other end and grinned, knowing that was exactly what they were trying to do. “Tell my brother and father that I love them too much to let them get involved in this. That goes for you t
oo, Rilla. Fee and I can take care of it. You go home.”
“You know that’s not going to happen, right? And we’ll find you. It’s just a matter of time.”
“You won’t find us soon enough, Rilla. Stay away and this will end well for everyone. If you love the Carnival, you’ll stay away.” He pressed the end button on his phone. They needed to hurry. Rilla wasn’t going to stop looking for them.
He strode out of the sideshow room at the end of the tunnel, and into the sunlight outside. He saw Fee immediately, some kind of internal radar catching on her blonde hair. He waved and broke into a jog.
“How’s it going?” he asked, looking at what she was doing.
“I think I’m almost done. It’s hard to know before I start it up.” She stepped back from the small children’s rollercoaster ride, frowning down at the small carriage that sat next to the ride mechanicals.
“Let’s test it then,” he said with a grin. Being with Fee made all his other worries seem insignificant. She focused his energy on what was in front of him and kept him in the moment. He wasn’t sure what he thought about it, but they didn’t have time for an in depth analysis right now. They just had to get the next few hours over and done with first. He flicked the switch and the small carriage clicked into place then rolled down the tracks, pausing at the first small hill, and then tracking over the edge. They watched silently as it ran the small course, and then came back to settle in front of them.
“That worked well,” said Henry.
Fee nodded. “Seemed to.”
“I’m going to call David soon. We have about two hours to set everything else up.”
“Shouldn’t we give ourselves more time to get it all sorted?” Fee frowned at Henry.
Henry shook his head, letting his instincts take over. “We need to get to him as soon as possible. If we wait, he might leave or do something drastic. We need to provide him with hope.”
