“You wouldn’t have dared.” Still, she smiled and chuckled at the idea. “I’d have kicked the guy out.”
“Psh. Not with the quality I would have hired. I was about to start a GoFundMe for your love life.” He really did sound overjoyed. It was touching. “Oh, Cor, I’m so happy for you!”
If only you knew. “It was just a kiss. I wouldn’t get too jacked up about it.”
“But kissing leads to other things. Then other things lead to you finally getting laid. I can’t wait to actually meet this guy now. He seemed a few crayons short of the full set. I never figured you for the kind to like the crazy fucks. They are the best in bed, though. I can attest. There was this one guy, nuts as a bag of cashews, but he could do this thing with his tongue, that—”
“Stop, stop.” She melodramatically gagged. “Too much info, Trent.”
“Prude.”
They laughed. She smiled sadly and looked down at the image of him that showed up on her phone. It was a picture of them all together. And right then and there, she made up her mind.
She didn’t have a choice. He was like her little brother. And she was going to protect him like she had on the playground as kids.
This really was goodbye. “All right, T-bag. I’ll see you for dinner at the Faire.” No. I won’t. I’ll probably be dead…or a “doll.”
“Great. Seven? Maybe they’ll let us talk them into leaving the Faire for once. I can’t get Ludwig to come to my place to save my life. Oh, well.”
I don’t think he could if he wanted to. She rubbed her hand over her forehead. “Maybe he’s shy.”
“He really is. He’s such a sweetheart. I wonder what he wants to talk to me about that’s so important. I can’t wait to find out. Oh. I hope he’s not breaking up with me. That’d be terrible.”
“I’m sure that’s not what it is.” I think the Faire is going to make him kill you. It’s not exactly the same thing. “Who would ever want to break up with you?”
“Plenty of people. Trust me. Well, I have to finish my omelet and head to the office. I’ll see you later.”
“Talk to you later, Trent.” Very later. Afterlife-style later. “Bye.”
“Toodles!” Click.
She put her good arm down on the table and rested her forehead on top of it. She felt tears sting her eyes, and she didn’t bother fighting them. She couldn’t let Trent die. She knew—just knew—that it would happen today if she didn’t intervene.
How could she let him die? How could she throw him away, knowing she could have stopped it? She couldn’t live with herself if she did. That was the simple, sad fact of it. She had no choice.
She’d finish her coffee. Shower. Dress. Put the vacation feeder on her fish tank and hope someone found them before it ran out. She debated writing a goodbye email to her friends and letting it send on a delay in a week, but she didn’t know what she would say. The idea of writing it hurt too much to try.
It was at around eleven in the morning that she finally became too anxious to wait any longer. She was pacing her apartment uselessly, like waiting to go in for surgery. It was time to rip the bandage off.
Going into her bedroom, she picked out a few pieces of jewelry. They were all things that had been given to her by her family. She shouldered her camera, said goodbye to her fish, and…left her apartment. It was the last time she was going to see any of it.
She chewed on her lip as she drove down the road toward Harrow Faire. Half of her expected to find it totally abandoned again. She could only hope. That was the best possible way any of this could go. Sadly…it was still intact. The gates were open, although the Faire didn’t open for another hour or two.
Simon hadn’t said when to come by. She was certain he didn’t really care.
She parked in the lot and got out, looking at the entryway façade and its ticket booth. She picked up her camera and flicked it on. “What do you want me to do? Help me understand. How do I save Trent’s life?” She took three photos of the façade. Click, click, click.
She reviewed the images. A normal one. A second normal one. And a shot of the entrance of Simon’s tent. The Faire wanted her to go to him. That was what it had shown her last night in the mirror maze. But if Simon and the Faire were caught in a competition for her life…why would it want her to go see him? Didn’t the Faire want her instead?
It made no sense. But none of this made any sense. “Fine. I’ll go.” She sighed, turned off her camera, and headed up to the gate.
There, at the counter, was Aaron, the Barker. He looked at her and blinked in astonishment. “Cora? What on Earth are you doing back here?” His face fell. “Oh. I know. You’re here for your friend.”
“Huh?” She blinked. “Trent?”
The man raised one shoulder in a dismissive shrug. It was clear he couldn’t give two shits about the name. “Twinkle Toes is about a half an hour ahead of you. He’s off with Ludwig.”
“Oh, no…” She cringed. She thought she had more time. “Oh, fuck.”
“Mmmhm. Exactly.” Aaron stood from the counter and opened the little door to the booth. He strolled out, cracking his back loudly. “C’mon, toots. I shouldn’t do this, but I’ll let you in the service door. Turk’ll be pissed, but it is what it is.”
“Why? Why help me?”
“Something’s going on. I don’t know what, but it’s going to be interesting.” He looked at her curiously for a moment, as if pondering what kind of secrets she had. She wished she knew. “If the Faire is putting your friend in danger, then you’re here to save him. And if you’re here to save him, you’re giving the Faire what it wants. Who’m I to get in the way?”
“Thanks. I think.”
“Don’t thank me, toots.” He pushed open the door that was hidden in the paint of the façade. “Now, go on in after…whatever it is you’re after.” He pondered her for another long moment. “It isn’t for your friend, is it? You didn’t even know he was here. Why?”
“I like cotton candy.” She glared at him flatly. She tried to walk around him, but he grabbed her by her upper arm. She yanked out of his grasp.
He didn’t care about her annoyance. “No, really, why are you here, Cora?”
“I need to save my friend.”
“But how? You didn’t know he was here, so how is coming back going to do that? What do you know?” As she started to walk away, he followed her. “You didn’t tell us the whole story last night, did you? What is going on, Cora? What has the Faire told you to do?”
“It told me how to save Trent.”
He sighed heavily. “I want to help you, Cora. I really do. But I can’t if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, Aaron. That’s the problem.” She stopped walking to turn to look at him. “But I think today is the day I die.” She was scared. No, she was far past scared. She shook her head and tried to keep her hands from shaking. She did it by shoving them into her pockets. As she did…she felt a pair of glasses. She knew what they were without looking. They would be red and black antique sunglasses, of course.