Hidden Magic (The Magic Carnival Book 5)

by Trudi Jaye

  “Rushing isn’t going to help.”

  “It’s not rushing; it’s giving ourselves a tight deadline. We can do this Fee. But we need to connect with David as soon as possible. We’ve already delayed too long.” He didn’t quite understand the sense of urgency that was pulsing through his veins, but he knew to trust it. It had the sweet tang of magic to it.

  They worked silently for the next half hour, making sure they had as much set up as they could. Fee walked over to where Henry was crouched over, pulling out weeds from the teacup ride’s rails.

  “Your phone or mine?”

  He got slowly to his feet and stretched. “Mine. You’re not supposed to know I’m calling, remember?” He quirked one corner of his mouth, but couldn’t bring himself to do more than that. This was the pointy end of their plan.

  He pulled out his phone, and dialed David’s number.

  “Henry. I’m surprised to say the least,” answered David. “Why are you calling me, Henry? To beg forgiveness? I have a lump the size of a baseball on my head, thanks to you.”

  “I have a deal for you.” Henry waited.

  “Come on then, tell me what you propose,” said David.

  “You let me go and forget you ever met me, and I’ll hand over Fee.”

  There was silence on the other end of the line. “I don’t believe you. You wouldn’t give Fee up like that.”

  “She’s not normal. There’s something strange about her. I didn’t realize until I spent a bit more time with her.”

  “Then why not just ditch her and move on?”

  “She told me a little about the Witch Hunters and what you do. She thought I’d be sympathetic. But I’m not willing to die for her.”

  “Then tell me where you are,” said David softly.

  “I want to make it clear that I have nothing to do with her anymore. You need to leave me alone,” Henry tried to make his voice sound scared. He looked over at Fee, and rolled his eyes. She watched him with a slight frown between her brows.

  David paused, but Henry could hear his excited breathing at the other end of the phone. Even if he didn’t truly believe Henry’s story, he was going to do what they wanted.

  “Where are you Henry?”

  “You swear on your honor that you will leave me alone when you come for her.”

  “I swear I will leave you alone. All I want is the magic user.”

  “We’re at the old Fergusson Farm. The circus graveyard.”

  “Ah, a fitting spot for a carny like yourself, I suppose.”

  “We won’t be here much longer. Fee is anxious to move on. We’re traveling by night, so you have until five o’clock before we leave.”

  “Why today? Why can’t we just catch up at a later date?” asked David suspiciously.

  “We could try.” Henry tried to sound unconcerned. “But I don’t know where we will be... and I might change my mind.”

  David’s breath hitched. “Okay. We will be there soon.”

  Henry pressed the end-call button.

  “I still can’t really believe it’s him,” said Fee. “I wouldn’t have thought he was capable of anything like this.”

  “Isn’t that what the neighbors of serial killers always say?”

  Fee smiled sadly. “Yeah, I guess. Are you going to make your other phone call now too?”

  Henry nodded and made his next phone call.

  “Hello, Special Agent Franklin,” he said.

  “Who is this?”

  “Henry Kokkol.”

  Henry could have sworn that he heard a growl from the other end of the phone line.

  “Where the hell are you?” asked Franklin.

  “If you want your gun and badge back, you’ll need to meet me.”

  “Tell me where the hell you are and I’ll be there to arrest you before you can take another breath.”

  “I’m not the one who blew up that building in Tampa, and neither is Fee. If you want to know who the real bomber is, you’ll meet us with an open mind. And get your gun and badge back at the same time.”

  “You can’t steal an FBI agent’s badge and gun, and expect to get away completely free,” said Franklin.

  “I didn’t steal them on purpose. I’ll even show you who did it. But you have to meet us out here. The man who did the Tampa bombing will be here soon, and he’s after us both. We’re not going to survive if we don’t have your help.”

  “Don’t talk shit to me, Kokkol. Just tell me where you are, so I can damn well come and arrest you.”

  Henry sighed. “Just try to keep an open mind, Franklin.”

  “Where. Are. You?”

  “We’re at the old circus graveyard. Fergusson Farm.”

  Franklin hung up the phone without even saying goodbye. Henry looked at the phone. “I don’t think we have long. Let’s finish the set up.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Fee ducked down behind the metal sign where she was hiding on the roof of a sideshow as the truck turned into the gravel drive. They were here. It was about to begin. Her heart began to pound as she pressed the button on the remote she had fashioned out of bits and pieces found around the old carnival. The first of the rides started up, the teacups circling around slowly. She watched as four men climbed out of the truck. She squinted, trying to see which one was David. He was standing next to the front passenger door, talking to the man who had driven them all out to this isolated spot. Fee froze as she recognized the driver.

  It was her father.

  She glanced around, looking for an escape route. She couldn’t go up against her father. He would see through what they were doing. He’d find and kill them both. She’d thought they could convince David. Her father was older, more experienced.

  Her breaths came in short panicked gasps and Fee struggled with the overpowering urge to run. It was Henry’s voice in her head, talking over the plan until they knew it inside out, which finally calmed her thoughts.

  They had to do this, here, today; otherwise, these people would be chasing Fee for the rest of her life. And Henry’s family at the Carnival would be in danger too, if they ever made a connection between Henry and magic. They needed to think he was a duplicitous bystander in the battle between the Witch Hunters and the magic users they so hated.

  She took a deep breath and pressed the second button on her remote.

  The kid’s rollercoaster ride clicked into gear and began the slow ascent to the small hill at the top of the ride.

  The reaction from the men was instantaneous. They all pulled out guns from various hidden spots on their bodies and aimed them squarely at the ride. Her father barked instructions, and the other three men spread out, walking slowly toward it.

  One of the booths to one side of the children’s ride started up, and the clowns began to move back and forth to a tinny tune, their mouths open wide in a perpetual scream. Two of the men turned their guns toward the clowns, but they managed to hold fire.

  Fee shivered. It was such a silly little thing to do, having all these rides start up one by one, but Henry had said they needed to amp up the fear and expectation in their audience, so they would be more likely to believe their ultimate con.

  Fee shrugged. She was prepared to believe Henry; he seemed to know what he was talking about.

  Down from her hiding place, the men were switching their aim between the kids’ ride and the clowns, unsure where their targets might be coming from. Her father barked another command, and one of the men approached the clowns, clearly checking for who was there.

  Another ride started near the men, and they jumped again. Henry was hiding on the other side of the Carnival space with another remote. They were rattled, but Fee didn’t think they were rattled enough. They were still too calm in the face of the creepy carnival rides around them. She pressed her remote, and ghostly sounds came out from the loudspeaker that was now working across the whole area, thanks to Henry’s tinkering. She’d found the box of spooky sound recordings in the office.

&nbs
p; They were definitely looking more rattled now. But they were used to dealing with people who had magic. If you believed it was the devil’s work, you probably had a high level of fear in your daily routine. They would need to amp up the fear factor another notch to get them to the right temperature for their finale.

  Fee pressed another button and the Ferris wheel at the back of the carnival started up, its ancient gears shifting slowly, grinding and squeaking through its slow turn. A loud screeching indicated the lack of oil between the metal, something Henry had insisted they leave to give more of an effect. It raised the hairs on the back of Fee’s neck, like fingernails down a chalkboard, and she shuddered, trying to keep her own nerves in check.

  The men were yelling to each other, back and forth. Her father barked yet another order, and all three of the other men ran over to him. They huddled together, talking and gesturing, clearly making a plan for dealing with the moving parts.

  They all stood up, and two of the men headed toward the clowns, while her father and David came toward where Fee was hiding, in the direction of the Ferris wheel. Fee scuttled back from the edge, and held her breath, trying not to make too much noise.

  “I know you’re here, Wild Feather. I can feel you.” Her father’s voice rose over the noise of the Ferris wheel.

  Fee shuddered, remembering what Summer Dawn had said about her father’s magic powers. Little metal feet pattered across the nape of her neck, curling itself into her hair. All she had was some strange ability to make metal creatures out of nothing. Her father apparently had some kind of sensing magic, so he could find her wherever she went.

  Fee frowned at that thought. Hadn’t her mother said that her father couldn’t find her using his own magic? So was it something to do with David, some kind of magic he had that was allowing her father to find her again? Or was he just an excellent showman who knew the right thing to say to freak out the person he was chasing?

  As Henry had said, sometimes it’s about smoke and mirrors.

  “David here is quite eager to see you. You’ll be his first sacrifice, you see. He’s been waiting for you for so long.”

  Fee shivered. Why had David waited so long? He’d been there six months before Henry arrived. She thought about the nights the two of them had been working in the office, not talking or interacting, just doing their own work on their own part of the project. He could have killed her any number of times. Had he really been unsure it was her?

  It made her very glad she’d never invited him back to her house to meet Max, and that she’d kept her robots secret. They were her magic, her creatures outside the normal bounds of reality. She’d changed the color of her eyes, and her hair was longer and blonder. Her appearance was different enough that perhaps he really had been uncertain.

  Or maybe he just hadn’t wanted to do it. The David she’d known these last few months didn’t fit with the Witch Hunter stories that she’d learned about since leaving her parent’s farm.

  “Hey! Down here!” Henry’s voice called out and she heard the crunch of gravel stop, as the men turned around to look in Henry’s direction.

  Murmured voices discussed something, and then she heard the sound of her father and David walking back toward Henry.

  The next phase of the plan was in play.

  ***

  Henry forced himself to walk down the wide path between the broken-down sideshows and the rusted rides toward the men who would kill him in a heartbeat if he showed any kind of resistance.

  Or if he showed any signs of magic use.

  Luckily, his magic was less showy than most others. It just meant that he could see things more clearly and build things faster than most other people. Those kinds of skills could just have been because he was smarter than everyone else. In fact, he liked to hassle his brothers that was just what it meant.

  In front of him, David and another older man were coming toward him. He slowed to let them come closer to where he wanted them to finish up. He sensed rather than saw the men behind him, and stepped to one side as one of the men charged him, tripping him as he went past. The other man, his partner, simply held up a gun at his face, and Henry held up his hands.

  “He attacked me first. I was just defending myself,” he said mildly, trying to seem innocuous. Truth be told, he could disarm the other man just as easily if he was so inclined. He glanced over to where David was approaching, trying to decide if it was better to seem like he couldn’t get himself out of this situation.

  Then David was there, and the point was moot.

  “So, Henry, here you are. Finally.” David crossed his arms, and glared at Henry.

  The older man behind David cleared his throat, and David stepped back, still clearly annoyed.

  “Where is Wild Feather?” the older man said, his voice soothing and calm. He smiled at Henry, and his perfect teeth seemed to sparkle in the light.

  Henry shook his head slightly. The man was a damn persuasion talent, more powerful than anyone he’d ever come across before. How could he be a Witch Hunter?

  Unless...he was doing it cynically, killing off competition, perhaps getting some curse magic from it, making himself more powerful. And keeping the poor, stupid people who he was using appeased by using his persuasion magic.

  It made a terrible kind of sense, and suddenly Henry was worried about their plan for the first time. He’d expected David, not some all-powerful wizard.

  “She’s gone crazy. Started making the rides go all by themselves,” said Henry, glancing around as if searching for Fee. He needed to be extra convincing to make this work.

  “He’s lying! This is a trap,” said David urgently from behind the older man.

  “I’m not saying it’s not a trap, David. But I plan to find out exactly what we’re dealing with here instead of stumbling around under assumptions.” The calm voice had a way of drawing everyone around him under his spell. David immediately calmed down, and the other two men almost swayed where they stood.

  Henry focused all his energy on the man in front of him. He assumed he would be just as susceptible to his persuasion talent, but there had to be a way to answer but not answer at the same time and he would damn well find it. He did not intend to go out this way.

  “Henry, look at me,” said the older man.

  Henry found himself staring into a pair of the most mesmerizing dark green eyes he’d ever seen. A small part of his brain was yelling and jumping up and down inside his head, but the rest of him was just waiting to see how he could help this man with the hypnotic eyes.

  “Henry, is this a trap? Do you really plan to give Wild Feather up?”

  “Fee doesn’t want to go with you,” replied Henry, madly trying not to answer the question.

  “Yes, I can understand that on her part. But what about you, Henry? Did you really plan to give her to me?”

  Henry managed to keep his head from shaking the negative, but only just. “I said that on the phone, didn’t I?” he said.

  The compulsion was like a weight pushing down on him, and Henry could feel the sweat running down his back. But he was determined to make his words his own. He could use his own power against this man, however subtle it might be. He wished he could ask about the magic that this man was using against him, but that would give away his own magic, and that would only work against him in the long run.

  The older man narrowed his eyes. “Do you know who I am?” he asked.

  Henry shook his head, grateful for the easier question.

  “I am a Witch Hunter. And not just any Witch Hunter, I am one of only three Great Witch Hunters left in this fine country of ours.”

  Henry nodded again, not entirely sure what was expected of him.

  “But I am also a father. A father who has a terrible duty to perform. Do not make this any harder that it needs to be Henry. Is this a trap? Or are you prepared to give up Wild Feather to us?”

  Henry felt like his eyes were as wide as saucers as he looked at the man in front of him, finall
y realizing who he was. “You’re Fee’s father?” he said.

  “I am.” He nodded ceremoniously.

  “And you’re here to kill your only daughter?” For some reason Henry felt like it was important to spell it out.

  “I have that unfortunate duty, yes.”

  As soon as Fee’s father said the words, the swirling persuasion magic seemed to lose its effect on Henry. “That makes you one sick bastard,” he said under his breath.

  The realization that he was here to kill his own daughter had been shocking enough to ensure that Henry was free of the magic the old man was using on him. “But no, it’s not a trap. And yes, I will give your poor, unfortunate daughter to you.”

  “Excellent. See, David? It’s always better to clarify who your actual enemies are.”

  David still eyed Henry dubiously, but he obviously had either enough experience of Fee’s father being correct or was too scared of him to disagree, because he remained silent.

  “Then how do we get Wild Feather here? How are you going to hand her over to us?”

  “I need to go and talk to her. I’ll convince her to come with me to the building just over there, saying that we’re going to hide in there. Once we’re inside, you just have to come in and get her. Between the four of you, I’m sure you can manage one small woman.”

  “I’m sure we can.”

  “Now, if you could stay here and pretend you’re searching this area, I will go find her and finish this off.”

  David glanced at one of the other men, but other than that, there was no indication they would follow his suggestion.

  “If you don’t stay here, she will see you, and decide to cause me trouble. I thought you’d want this to be as easy as possible?”

  “We will wait here,” said Fee’s father. “But you only have five minutes before we come get you.”

  Henry nodded. Fine with him, the faster they got this over with, the better.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Fee ducked down when she saw Henry coming out from the dark alley where he’d been talking with the others. She took a deep breath, pressed the last remote control button, and waited for the last toy to start. The carriage of the larger roller coaster started its laborious climb upward, giving Henry and Fee a chance to set up the rest of their con.