by Brian Knight
“Don’t tell me you’re sorry.” She took the offered wand, happy to have it back in her hand. “I forgive you.”
She strode past Flanna and tapped her wardrobe door. She opened it carefully, found the break room of Golden Arts dark and deserted. She stepped through, and Flanna followed.
“Here.” Flanna walked to the corner where she’d hidden it and handed it to Penny. “You call your friends, there’s something I have to do.”
“Whoa, what?” Penny grabbed for Flanna’s arm, but missed. “Where are you going?”
“He’s here already. I did what I did last night so the last of the old Phoenix Girls and the traitors,” she paused, seemed to reconsider her words, and began again, “so Ronan, Bowen, and Erasmus would be out of his way when he arrived. He’s expecting me.”
“So what?” Penny felt confusion and outrage at her sister’s words. “After everything you learned, you’re going back to him?”
She reached for Flanna again, but her sister skipped deftly out of her reach.
“Yes, because we need to know how many family and allies he has with him. We need to know what he’s planning for the town, and if I don’t find him, he’ll come looking for me.” She slipped her wand inside her black robe and reached for the door. “He thinks you are all out of his way now, so you have time to make a plan, and I can help by being your eyes when I rejoin the family.”
Penny thought she knew where Flanna was going with this, and found herself in reluctant agreement. She saw only one problem.
“Won’t he know we’ve escaped?”
“No. They are cut off. The only way to communicate between worlds is at the portals.” She took Penny’s hand and squeezed it. “I am sorry for everything I did. I plan to make up for it now, and to pay him back for our mother. Go back, get your friends, and then try to find me. It should be easy now that we’re in the same world.”
She smiled, and Penny felt an answering smile of her own.
“I wish we could have grown up together,” Flanna said. “When this is over we have fourteen years of catching up.”
Flanna opened the door to the main shop floor and bolted through it before Penny could try to stop her again.
As Penny watched her depart, she thought, But only if we survive this.
Only if we win.
* * *
Penny resisted the urge to sneak into the storefront for a peek outside. As much as she wanted to know what was happening in town, if the wrong person spotted her she would give them all away.
She closed the door behind Flanna, tapped it with her wand, and opened it again on her bedroom. With downtown safely behind her, she took out her mirror and called to Katie. When a minute passed with no reply she remembered Katie was not speaking to her, and tried Ellen instead.
“What?” Ellen’s face popped into view, and Penny saw she was no less angry. Ellen’s scowl would have made Katie proud. Then she saw Penny’s face, the chopped hair, sunken cheeks and hollow eyes, and her mouth dropped open. “Oh my God, Penny! What happened?”
“I can’t explain right now, but you and Katie need to come to my house, now. Don’t go into town, just come over.” Then, as an afterthought, “Bring your bikes. You might need them.”
Penny said goodbye and tossed the mirror on her bed before Ellen could ask more questions, and before going back downstairs decided she had time to change. She wasn’t wearing the rags Tynan and his goons had put on her for another second.
Five minutes later she was back downstairs to find the adults arguing about what to do next.
“I don’t have cause to arrest or detain them,” Michael almost shouted. “At least nothing the city council would believe.”
“Well we can’t just let them march into town and set up,” Susan countered. “They’ll be at the hollow before the day is over.”
“I’m certain they’re already here,” Tracy said. “The key to stopping them is to stop him.”
Tracy turned to Torin.
“How did he get that scar on his cheek? He didn’t have it during the Traveling Reds last performance in Dogwood, but he had it eight months later.”
“I don’t know,” Torin said. “No one does. He visited the sepulcher one day, locked the door from the inside so no one could disturb him, and when he came out at the end of the day it was there.”
“You know my theory,” Erasmus said. His old bar stool stood in the center of the room, and he sat atop it, spinning in slow circles. It hadn’t been there when Penny went upstairs, hadn’t been in the hollow either. She wondered where he kept it when he wasn’t spinning on it.
“Yes,” Torin said, rolling his eyes. “But we’re going to save that as a last resort, when all of the sane theories have fallen through.”
“Well I wanna hear his theory,” Nancy said. “Because I think we’ve already run out of sane.”
Penny slipped into the room, unnoticed in the heat of the debate, and sat on the floor next to the couch.
“Mr. Pi thinks Tynan is possessed by the old Blood King,” Bowen said. “A voluntary possession akin to psychic symbiosis.”
Erasmus smiled, nodded, spun in another circle.
Tracy considered that, then said, “Why would he allow that?”
“Tynan was curious about the crazy old king’s lost magic. According to the family histories the Blood King collected magic from all of the known lands and beyond while he was exiled,” Torin said. “He refused to share most of his knowledge, and died with it.”
“It’s possible,” Ronan said. “Many of the Blood King’s artifacts were kept in the sepulcher. A powerful spirit can leave traces of itself on treasured possessions.”
“A revenant,” Erasmus said. “And it wouldn’t be the first time. More than a few of you crazy Reds searched for the Blood King’s lost magic and lost your minds in the search.”
Penny closed her eyes and found her sister almost at once. She saw downtown Dogwood in her mind, but it was hazy. She couldn’t be certain if it was her sister, or just imagination.
“Say it’s true,” Torin allowed. “So what? How does that help us?”
“If he’s been communing with the spirit...” Tracy began, but Erasmus interrupted.
“Not a spirit, just a trace, a piece left behind. It has memory, but no life of its own away from a host.”
Tracy nodded impatiently.
“A fine distinction, I’m sure,” she said, then continued on with her point. “If he’s grown too dependent on the symbiosis, separating them could weaken him.”
“The heart,” Penny said with such a start that she was forced out of her sister’s head. “He was wearing the heart of the Phoenix around his neck.”
“Was he?” Erasmus jerked his head in Penny’s direction and lost his balance. He fell from the stool, landed flat on his back. His dreadlocks spilled out and writhed on the floor around his head.
Nancy watched his bizarre display with a small shudder.
“Well that was worth mentioning,” Erasmus said, picking himself up and forcing his top hat back down on his head.
“Where is your sister?” Tracy noted Flanna’s absence with concern.
Penny braced herself for the expected reaction, and said, “She has gone to meet the Reds. They are here, and Tynan is expecting her.”
“Oh, Penny,” Susan said, almost groaned. “How could you let her go?”
Tracy frowned, but nodded at Penny.
“If Tynan is expecting her, then it would be dangerous for her to stay here. He would come looking for her, and he wouldn’t come alone.” Tracy began pacing the living room, agitated, until Nancy intercepted her and took her by the hand. “Are you keeping an eye on her?”
Penny had closed her eyes, but opened one to regard Tracy. “I’m trying,” she said.
“Try to get an accurate body count while you’re in her head,” Torin added. “And let us know if she needs our help.”
“I will,” Penny said, and went in search of her sister ag
ain.
* * *
Penny found Flanna near the gazebo where Tovar the Red had once entertained Dogwood’s children, and she saw that the fair was not setting up, but already completed. The rides were up and waiting. The games and food booths, a house of mirrors reminiscent of the Birdman’s dangerous and enchanted mirror maze, and in the center of it all, a giant crimson circus tent with banners promising a show that would amaze and life-sized cutouts of the Traveling Reds headliners.
It had all gone up overnight.
The carnival employees, hucksters, operators, roustabouts, cooks, and mechanics stood in regimented rows beside and behind the gazebo. They were silent, waiting.
The Reds themselves, Penny’s extended family, stood in front of the gazebo. Flanna was among them, her black robe discarded for a flashier crimson one to match the troupe. She kept her head down and her hood pulled low to hide her too-familiar face.
King Tynan ‘es Brom Fuilrix stood alone in the center of the gazebo. He held his position and his silence as the town’s people gathered in the streets, on the sidewalk, in the park, curious but keeping a respectful distance.
More came by the minute, and if they grew impatient with the troupe’s silence, they hid it well. A constant low rumble of conversation was the only thing that convinced Penny the people of Dogwood had not been replaced with living mannequins.
About the carnival people, she was not certain. Their enduring stillness and silence was unnerving.
Then finally, when it seemed the entire town must be out and waiting for what would come, Tynan spoke.
“Good people of Dogwood,” he began, and though he had no microphone, no megaphone, nothing but his own mouth, his words carried loudly to every ear. Those closest moved back a few steps, not stopping until they bumped into the people packed in behind them. “It has been fourteen years since we’ve last visited your special town.”
His pause seemed to indicate appropriate timing for applause, which the town provided almost as if by reflex, though it was tepid, lackluster.
Tynan held up a hand, and the applause died.
“When we heard that a man visited you last year, a fraud passing himself off as one of us,” Tynan spread his arms wide to indicate the troupe of Reds gathered before him, “and attacked your children, we could not delay our return.”
Another pause, this time met only by a somber silence and a few coughs.
“The man who styled himself Tovar the Red was not one of us, but he used your familiarity with us and caused great harm.” He lowered his arms, took a step forward. “As a way of rebuilding the trust between the Traveling Reds and the town of Dogwood, I am pleased to offer free admittance for the first two days of our stay.”
More applause this time, a few hoots and hollers. Free was good, and on a morning that had begun with a total loss of electricity and phone service, a free circus promised to be a good diversion.
“The Traveling Reds are happy to pay for all of your rides, games, and food today and tomorrow.”
“That’s good to know,” a man from the crowd called out to scattered laughter. “Because I can’t cook without my microwave.”
Tynan smiled, and if the crowd gathered before him found it as unnerving as Flanna always had, they hid their discomfort well.
“I have sent members of my troupe toward Centralia to inform the authorities of the situation here,” he said, a lie, Penny knew, because Flanna knew it. “In the meantime, we have cold drinks and hot food to tide you over.”
The applause this time was tumultuous, an uproar that Tynan could not hope to overcome. He waited for it to die down on its own before he spoke again.
“So come one, come all!” Tynan shouted at full volume. “Welcome to this year’s Harvest Fair, and The Traveling Reds Show!”
The strangely subdued carnival folk drifted away to take up their posts, but the Reds stayed together, as the town’s people surged forward into the park. A few stopped to thank them, a few even paused to talk, but the majority was eager to take Tynan the Red up on his generosity.
Soon they were alone, and Flanna felt comfortable enough to let her hood down.
“Hello, Little Bit.” Her cousin Imogen tousled her hair and bent to speak. “You did well here, your father is pleased.”
Flanna nodded, though she would never have known to look at him. Pride and gratitude were never Tynan’s strengths.
Imogen was a second cousin descended from the younger brother of Old King Corridon, older than Tynan, fierce looking with her short cropped hair, a little darker than usual for the family. Her face was a forest of freckles with narrow eyes, a blade of a nose, and thin lips that rarely smiled. She did smile for Flanna though.
“The King is expecting you, child.” Imogen straightened, ruffled her hair again, and moved along to their tent.
Flanna moved slowly through the press of cousins, some familiar to her, some not. Her cousin Finian brushed past without a look or a word, but Tabor gave her a nod and a pat on the shoulder. Fabia, a favorite and former teacher of Flanna’s, bent to give her a hug, and as soon as she moved on old Yaegar took Flanna by the arm.
Yaegar was not a favorite, he was old, cross, and had always been openly disapproving of Flanna. He thought a girl an unfitting only heir for a king, and had often encouraged Tynan to send her away to be fostered in the border regions and trained as an envoy.
He spoke, not bothering with English, though he knew it as well as the rest of the family, and pulled her toward the man she had once called father.
“He’s waiting for you.”
Tynan was no longer at the gazebo, but striding toward the shore of the river on his own. Once free of the press of people, Flanna yanked her arm from Yaegar’s grip.
“I can walk on my own,” she said, and hurried ahead of the old man.
On her way she saw one child, a skinny girl of around ten, wandering on her own. She was dressed like one of the carnival people, not a town person, and had short brown hair and wide eyes.
She noticed Flanna watching her, then looked quickly away.
Most of them are under his control now, Flanna thought, hoping Penny would pick it up if she was paying attention. But that one isn’t, and she knows something is wrong.
Flanna hurried along and met Tynan at the water’s edge.
“Is it done?”
“It’s done,” Flanna said. “Everything you asked of me. But the gateway didn’t close. It’s open now, and growing.”
Tynan smiled.
“Good,” Tynan said. “Then our soldiers will have a clear path.”
“But you told me I was closing the gate forever. You said we could leave once that was done.” She knew better than to question him. He did not suffer questions to his actions and decisions, but she wanted the truth from his own lips. “Why are you bringing soldiers?”
Tynan looked at her, through her it seemed, and she fought the desire to shrink away from him.
“Why did you lie to me?”
“Yaegar, Flanna wishes to return to the citadel.” He looked over her shoulder, and Flanna turned to find Yaegar standing close behind her, the brown-haired girl at his side. Her eyes were even wider now, overflowing with tears.
“Pardon, King Tynan, but this one is resisting again.” Yaegar gave the girl a sharp shake. “I found her trying to sneak away. We seem unable to control her.”
“Then she can accompany Flanna back to the citadel,” Tynan said. “Put them in with my brother and his friends, but make sure no one sees her. The family would not understand the need for such stern treatment. We will tell them that young Flanna took on other responsibilities... away from Galatania.”
“Yes, King Tynan,” Yaegar said, and then took Flanna’s arm again.
“No,” Flanna protested.
Tynan drew his wand, pointed it at Flanna and spoke his spell before she could finish her protest. “Tacitus.”
Flanna was struck dumb, unable to unlock her clenched jaw or make a soun
d. She drew her own wand, but Yaegar let go of her arm and caught hold of it before it cleared her robe.
She turned to run away and felt the impact of Yaegar’s hand against her face. She dropped, stunned, and Tynan’s man yanked her back to her feet again.
“You will do as you are told,” Yaegar said.
Tynan turned away from her without another word, and Yaegar dragged her away.
* * *
Penny opened her eyes and found herself at the center of a very concerned circle of spectators. Katie and Ellen were present now as well, crouched down in front of her, their faces pressed in so close she flinched back from them.
“They told us what happened,” Katie said, then whispered, “is that really my aunt?”
“She is,” Penny said.
“What’s going on?” Ellen asked. She took hold of Penny’s arm and helped her to her feet. “When we left it seemed like everyone in town was gathered at the park.”
“They’re here already,” Penny said to the room at large. “A lot of them. We have to save Flanna.”
“What’s happened?” Tracy shoved past Torin and Erasmus to confront Penny.
“Is she okay?” Torin, no less concerned, elbowed Tracy aside.
“Tynan is sending her to the cell, her and some other girl.” She drew her wand and shoved her way through toward the hallway. “Yaegar is taking her to Aurora Hollow now.”
“Let’s go,” Ronan growled. He lumbered his way through the crowded living room to follow Penny to the front door.
After first shrinking away from this new and frightening version of their old furry friend, Katie and Ellen followed as well.
Penny closed her eyes and tapped the front door with her wand, then opened the door, but not on the hollow. She turned to the others, near panic.
“It didn’t work.”
“The door in Aurora Hollow is no longer in our world,” Tracy said.
Penny kicked the door the rest of the way open in frustration, then darted through it. She dashed across the porch, down the steps to the driveway, found her bike standing by the steps, next to Katie and Ellen’s, and mounted it.
