I let out a deep breath. Here goes nothing. “Why did you want to talk to me?”
“Because you are my new master.”
Huh. Is it lying? Do I control it, or does it control me? It’s also possible Lorena still controls it. I hate this unknown, and I feel like even though Lorena is gone, she still has a hold over me. Maybe Reken is still communicating with her.
“Who was your old one?” I know this. I’m trying to establish what the hell this thing is, what it knows, and what it wants from me.
“Lorena, your mother.”
Maybe this is where all the magic is held. If I destroy this thing, then will the ghosts disappear and the islanders be free? Maybe, but it’s also possible this is nothing, and I could die trying to kill it.
I take a few steps back so I can see it more clearly. It hangs in the middle of the trees, and blackness surrounds its eerie green glow. “So, she controlled you?”
“In a way. Yes. I don’t like the word control. But she did create me.”
“So what do you do?” I can’t trust what it says, but I can at least see what it tells me.
The skull adjusts a little so it’s looking directly down upon me. “I keep the circus running and the island together.”
“So you are the reason the people here are trapped, and the ghosts exist.”
“Yes.”
“Can you let them go?” I ask.
“Who? The people or the ghosts?”
“Both.”
“I cannot. That is your job. You tell me the one ghost to let go at each full moon.”
I hate that it has no facial expressions, so I can’t read anything into what he says. It’s like talking to a computer. But even computers can use exclamation points and emojis to get the point across.
“What if I want to release them all?” I might as well go for the end game here. Maybe it will take less time than I thought to get rid of the island.
The skull sighs, and I nearly grin. He’s got personality. I just have to learn how to read his voice.
“That won’t work because of the magic that I was created with. I am bound by the magic Lorena cast. And now, so are you. You are in control, but the magic has restrictions.”
“But I was not created by Lorena. I am my own person.”
“Of course you were created by her. You are her daughter.”
He’s right, and that bothers me. I am truly the only person who could’ve fulfilled this role because I am Lorena’s daughter. She did, in fact, create me, so in some weird way, I am bound by her magic. Dammit. I want a way out of this. Maybe his knowledge is limited.
“Look, Reken, I am not interested in maintaining the island.”
“How do you know my name?”
“The ghosts.”
“Oh, that’s right. Lorena told them. They talk to me sometimes, but I can only talk to you.”
“Today I have only one thing I want. Can we make the island disappear?”
“Yes, that can be arranged.”
I stand up a little taller. I wasn’t expecting it to be that easy. He can’t possibly mean that. I’ve been looking for this for months now. “How?”
“A spell. Lorena taught it to me as a safeguard. But if you choose to use it, you need to understand the consequences. You will disappear as well as all other ghosts. And anyone on the island will die.”
“Where will we disappear to?”
“Wherever ghosts go. I don’t know. The great beyond. Heaven. Hell. Who knows? If we destroy the island, we all go with it.”
I shake my head. “No. There has to be another way.”
“There is not. You should know by now that every spell has a hidden cost. You should be very careful what you do.”
I clench my fists. Of course it’s not that easy. “I won’t kill the island without protecting all those here, including the ghosts.”
Reken lets out a laugh. It sounds more like a bark. “You will not succeed. Lorena is the one who created me, and she has no compassion. There is no way to protect everyone through her spells.”
“Then I will create my own.”
The skull cocks his head at me. “Perhaps Lorena has underestimated the power of her daughter. I’m very interested to see what you can do.”
Reken and I chat every day. He’s intelligent but is limited to the knowledge Lorena gave him, and he doesn’t share well. It’s like talking to a computer. I have to use the right language, and I don’t know how to do that. Each day, I try to get him to teach me something, but he shuts down. He says I’m his master, but he doesn’t treat me that way. I haven’t figured out how to take control of him. Lorena obviously did something to make it hard to talk to him.
The days are long since I can’t sleep and can’t leave. I decide that if I want to save the islanders and the ghosts, then I need to know them. Because then, I will have more of an incentive to save them. I don’t want it to come down to me picking and choosing who to save randomly. So every few days, I pick a different islander to study.
Today, it’s a clown friend of Juliette’s named Eric. He’s in his mid-forties, and I have no idea why he’s on the island. He eats oatmeal for breakfast and takes an extraordinarily long shower—which is ridiculous because the hot water doesn’t last that long. I don’t watch him in the shower, which would be gross. I wait outside his door.
After breakfast, he takes a long walk around the island and then goes to the docks. He sits on the edge just like the ghost the other day. His shoulders slump, and he stares off into space.
“It’s your birthday today, my love.”
The tears stream down his face like a waterfall.
“I’m so sorry, Penny. I only wanted to save our son. But I sold my life for what? Nothing. He died anyway. You are gone too now. Maybe you haven’t departed this world yet, but you have stopped writing. I want my family back, but instead, I’m stuck on this stinking island acting in this depraved circus.”
I sit next to him even though he can’t see me. The sounds of the swamp are everywhere, but all I hear is him. His sobs overtake him, and he nearly falls into the swamp.
The zombies stir beneath our feet. They want to drag him into the depths, but they won’t touch him unless he falls in. The ghosts aren’t allowed to kill the islanders, but they must die in other ways. I’ve seen the cemetery on the island.
Eventually, Eric pulls himself together.
For three days, his routine is exactly the same. He cries every day, but each day he expresses sadness over a different occasion—the day he and Penny met, the day they had their first kiss, the day their son was born. Is he remembering the memories, or is he making it up? After the third day, I start visiting the other islanders. I avoid Benny at all costs.
I notice something. Each and every one of them is deeply depressed. There is no laughter, no smiling. The island is rotting them. I even camp out near Amy’s one day, but the same darkness has come over her house.
She’s snappy with her kids, and they don’t play. They sit and watch the bugs get snapped up by fish in the water. It’s unnatural and wrong. It wasn’t like this before.
The thing is I can’t say for sure when this happened. Maybe it was because of Lorena’s leaving, or maybe it happened before that. I was so caught up in my own problems I barely paid attention to those around me. I should’ve noticed the kids.
I go cold.
It was when Samuel changed the contracts. It was better before that. Before I came around and messed everything up.
One thing I know for sure is that every single islander is miserable. The only way to save them is to get them off the island. I open my palms. “Find Juliette.”
I follow the string to the docks. She’s gone.
“Find Luke.”
His string disappears off the island too. Ugh. I hate being the only one stuck here. I need someone to talk to, and the ghosts are the only ones I can. I touch each string on my palm, and it takes fifteen tries until I find one that doesn’t disappe
ar. The ghosts didn’t hang around this time. I guess it has felt quite empty.
I don’t know who I’ll find at the end of the string, but I follow it anyway. Hopefully, it’s not the giants.
But, of course, it’s them.
They’re in the big tent fighting in the circle. I’m not afraid of them anymore. Technically I should be able to control them, but I don’t know if Lorena has once again managed to steal that power from me. I haven’t actually tried controlling anyone because I don’t really like forcing people to behave in one way or another.
I sit in the bleachers and watch them. They tear at each other’s clothes and punch with enough force to kill a man. They don’t bleed or bruise, but I know they can hurt.
The smaller ghost punches the bigger one in the nose, and his head snaps backward. I flinch, but he kicks and sends the smaller giant flying. The guy lands on his backside, and his head slams onto the hard ground. He shakes it off and jumps up, hurling himself at the other one. The big one catches him around the stomach, and they both go down, a tangle of arms and legs.
I stand and approach the ring. “Enough!” I yell. I can’t stand fighting. There’s too much violence on the island already.
They both jerk their heads toward me and slowly stand. Then they stalk toward me, the big one cracking his knuckles. They think they can hurt me. I have news for them. They can’t. At least, I hope they can’t.
I force myself not to back up though I do clench my fists. I hold my head high. I cannot show my fear.
They stop, inches from me, hovering. “Who do you think you are, bitch?” the big one asks.
“I am the one in charge now, and I want you two to stop fighting.”
The smaller one laughs. “There’s never been anyone in charge of the ghosts. It’s every man for himself. I don’t know who you think you are.”
“Lorena was in charge.”
“No, she wasn’t. I know the rumors, but I don’t believe them.” He punches a fist into his other hand and glares at me.
“It was true. She never controlled them unless she had to. If you had gotten ten or so kills, I imagine you would’ve seen that control straight away. But she’s gone. I signed a contract with Lorena, and she turned her power over to me.”
The man rolls his eyes. “Nice joke. Now, bug off.”
I stand firm. “No. Why are you two trying to beat each other anyway?”
He shrugs. “What else are we going to do?”
“I don’t know, but fighting seems stupid.”
The big one backs away a few feet. “Stupid? We keep hoping one of us will knock the other one out for even just a blessed few minutes so we can escape this hell.”
Here I was thinking they were actually fighting for something.
“Has it ever happened?”
He clenches his fists and speaks in a low voice. “No. We can’t sleep, can’t eat, can’t enjoy anything. We barely even feel pain. This is truly hell on earth. Every day, I remember there is no escape. No way out. Now, you tell me why I should stop fighting.” He takes shallow breaths, and his nostrils flare.
I have no answers for him. All I know is they are miserable. Just like the islanders. Just like I am.
This is awful. I have to fix this.
I don’t bother answering him. As I leave, I realize that I still don’t know how much control I have over them.
I flee back to the skull. He immediately wakes up and stretches his jaw before he says anything. I should say something, but I don’t even know what I want to say.
“You’ve been gone for a few days.” Reken bobs his head.
I stare right into his green face. “I’ve been out roaming the island, watching people.”
“I missed you.”
I crease my eyebrows. This is weird. I didn’t think Reken could have emotions. He must just be trying to get on my good side.
“I’m sorry.” If I visit him more often, maybe he’ll give me more information.
“I know. It’s just lonely. Lorena visited me all the time.”
“How? She was human. She couldn’t get through the swamp.”
Reken cocks his skull to the left. “She has magic like you. You could fly here to see me even if you were still alive.”
Of course Lorena managed that. I don’t know why I keep forgetting she has magic and is all-powerful. But even when I had magic as a living soul, I couldn’t walk on water. Or maybe I could, and I didn’t know it.
I sit and float in the air in front of him. “The islanders are miserable. So are the ghosts.”
Reken nods. It’s a bit disconcerting. “I do believe Lorena planned it that way. She wanted everyone to be miserable.”
“Why?” I cannot fathom a person wanting everyone around them to live such an existence. Life is better when people are happy.
“I don’t know. Maybe she was sad and wanted everyone else to be too.”
“She deserves to pay for this.” I clench my fists. I want to hit something, but my hand will go straight through it. I could hit Reken, but that would probably not be wise. Now I understand why the giants want to fight all the time.
Reken snaps his teeth together. “I don’t think that will work out the way you want it to.”
“Can we get her back to the island?” I’m practically seeing red. She’s the reason all of this has happened. She’s destroyed so many lives. If we bring her back, then I can end her once and for all.
“What would you want to do with her?”
I hesitate. I need to think before I speak. I bite my tongue, hoping for pain to calm my anger, but it doesn’t come.
I don’t know if the skull is loyal to her or if he would help me since she abandoned him. I can’t even tell if the skull feels anything at all. This would actually be a good indicator of his loyalties. I choose the truth.
“I want to kill her.”
“That’s impossible.” His voice is void of emotion. I wish I knew what is driving him.
“How do you know? I am supposed to be immortal as well, and she managed to kill me.”
The skull bobs back and forth like he’s thinking. “But that is because you willingly sacrificed yourself. She didn’t actually kill you. Even if you use deceit, she won’t fall for the same trick.”
“I don’t have to have her sacrifice herself. I just need to know if it’s possible to get her back here.” I’ll figure it out on my own. Nothing is impossible. I’ve at least learned that much during my time on the island.
The skull is silent once again. “I don’t have the answers right now. I have to filter through the things she taught me. There is no single spell that would bring her back, but maybe a combination of spells would work. Can you give me a few days?”
“Of course.” A few days are nothing in the grand scheme of things.
“If I bring her back, how do you plan to kill her?”
“I don’t know.” I need to do some research on my own. Not that I would tell him even if I did know. At least not until it is absolutely necessary. I don’t trust him. First, I need to figure out how to get her here because if I can’t do that, then this is all pointless.
Reken chuckles. “You might want to figure that out.”
“Oh, I will.” I’ve managed to do everything I needed to.
Except go home.
The skull could be the answer. If I make him destroy the island with the spell he talked about, and Lorena is on it, then she’ll disappear and won’t be able to hurt anyone else.
Yes, that will take all the islanders and the ghosts out, but they are literally living in hell as my recon has proven. Surely whatever happens after the island disappears is better than that.
That means I’ll disappear as well.
But if I take out Lorena, then it’s worth it.
Then, she can never hurt another person again.
Chapter Seven
On the new moon, instead of starting the circus-like I should, I hunt down Juliette. I don’t really care what happen
s to the circus now. There’s no reason for me to put on a show.
She’s been gone nearly every time I need to talk to her, and I try not to let my anger show too much when I find her on her way to her mom’s house.
“Where the hell have you been?” Okay, that didn’t come out right.
Juliette laughs, her eyes shining. “This time? I went to Australia. It’s beautiful there.”
“Why?” My curiosity has replaced my anger. We slow down a little bit.
“Why what?”
“Why did you go to Australia?”
She laughs. “Why not? I’ve been given this amazing gift. I can go wherever I want and do anything. So I do. I visit a different country between the moons. I’ve been to Thailand, Egypt, China, England, and Japan.”
My mouth drops open. Every ghost I’ve talked to is miserable, and here Juliette is… embracing life. Or… her ghostly life. It wouldn’t be fair to take that away from her.
Maybe I should rethink my plan.
No. I have to take Lorena out even though that means sacrificing everyone else. I can’t allow her to ruin even more lives.
We come around the corner, and Jeffery is waiting. He pounces, and she catches him, giggling. She flips him over and tickles him. He laughs and wiggles out of her arms then slips his hand into hers.
“I missed you, Jules,” he says. “Mom is making your favorite.”
“Oh, yay! Do you think Callie can join us?”
He looks at me and slides his other hand into mine. It’s nice seeing Jeffrey smiling again. I haven’t seen him like that in a very long time.
“Duh. Mom loves company. Come on.” He jerks us both, pulling us forward. I’ve missed him too.
We enter Amy’s house, and I hang back, not sure if I’m welcome. The whole house is alive with noise. Juliette’s dad stands behind Amy, his arms wrapped around her waist. He whispers in her ear, and she giggles.
Tyson’s eyes twinkle when he sees me. “Uh-oh. The boss is here. Do you think I’ll get in trouble for abandoning my post?”
He lets go of Amy and gives me a big bear hug.
“What’s that for?” I ask.
Circus of the Dead: Book 4 Page 4
