Page 36 of These Unhallowed Halls (Equinox Seasons Duet #2)

Twenty-Three- Ramifications Have Far-Reaching Wings

Lizzie

D ull pain thudded up my assbones as I craned my head back to see whoever we’d collided with. I was ready to give ‘em hell if necessary, but relief shot through me so hard, I actually let out a tiny sob when I saw Caleb standing in front of us.

Temps was quicker than I was, shooting up off the ground and straight into his arms. His brows remained pinned to his hairline as he held her, looking down, confused and slightly out of breath.

“What happened? Temps, you’re shaking?” He leaned her back to make eye contact, and I dusted myself off as I stood up, covering Temps with my body from behind. “It isn’t safe to be here.”

“No shit, Sherlock. Temps…” I sighed, shaking my head as I tried to force the image in my head away. “The Ring Leader just took another sacrifice at his stupid cult party. Her…mom.”

Not speaking or moving, Temps kept her face buried in Caleb’s chest. I watched him put the pieces together, and the shock played over his face before it melted into empathetic sorrow.

“Oh my gods, Temps. I’m so sorry. That’s…Fuck, we need to get out of here before they see us, though.” He shuffled her up into his arms, carrying her bridal style. “Come on, little flower. I’ve got you.”

I was right on his tail as Caleb carried Temps out of the fairgrounds and toward the alleyway ahead of us. We ducked into a shadowy corner, out of sight and earshot of the carnival, and he set her down, where Temps landed shakily on her feet, her stare fixed to the middle distance and unblinking.

“Baby, I need you to come back to me.” I held her face as I moved in front of her. “Don’t stay there. Come back to your people. We’re all right here.”

Caleb stood behind her now, and I watched just his hand shift, turning into this monstrous, clawed appendage covered in fur. A low growl rumbled out of his chest, and in that voice that was actually two voices, he said, “ We will ensure you have your revenge, little witch. They will pay for this. ”

Unable to keep from smiling, I chuckled lightly, which I knew was so inappropriate for the moment. Temps looked up at me at that, though, and I met her eyes as she found her way back to the present.

“Why are you laughing?” She furrowed her brow at me.

“You have a werewolf promising to help you get revenge on a circus.” I snorted. “That’s wild, babe.”

Temps’ eyes flared wide, but then she smiled—tiny and still shaken—before a laugh melted out of her. She flung herself into my arms, and I held on tight, letting her just squeeze me.

“I…I think…that I should be sadder. Really, I’m just shocked. He really did that. The woman isn’t going to be in my life anymore, but…she’d said such horrible things to us. She…She was a bad person.”

I nodded against her shoulder. “I know. It’s…It’s like we’ll never get to see her for the mom she could have been to you. It’s no secret I hated the woman. I don’t—Fuck, I’m sorry, but I don’t mourn her. I mourn that you lost the chance to have a better mother.”

“Dammit, that’s the most accurate thing you’ve said in your life, Lizzie.” Temps eked out a sob on my shoulder, and then pulled herself back, meeting my stare for a moment longer before she could stand on her own and nodded back at Caleb.

“I’m sorry, Temperance.” He stroked her cheek. “And I’m afraid I don’t have any better news. When I got to my apartment, someone was waiting. He was clearly sent by the carnival: decrepit clown costume and all. Something is going down tonight . We need—”

“The sacrifice,” she cut in. “We heard the Ring Leader talking about how ‘He’ was going to walk tonight. Shit, you’re right. I think Big Bad Evil Thing is going to make an appearance.”

I thought back to what Jeb Junior had said, the impending doom he was so on about. “He’d asked the followers to bring in more people. Like it was some important thing to have as many people in the tent as possible.”

“I can imagine that whatever this thing is, it’ll be hungry when it wakes up.” Caleb’s eyes circled before he landed back on us again, abruptly noticing our clothes. “What the hell are you wearing?”

Both Temps and I laughed, and I immediately peeled off the jacket that went with this horrible overdress-like thing that still itched my skin like a son of a bitch.

“Ugh, I need out of this. I feel like a damn toddler wearing Osbegosh overalls but designed for the Junior Yuppies of America meeting.”

“I’m almost grateful for them, though,” Temps pulled off her weird suit jacket too, tossing it to the ground, “because no one noticed us in the tent.”

“Well, that probably is a good thing, considering the cult is looking for more people. Gods, each member was probably recruiting from their own family. Ugh, that’s fucked up.”

Agreeing with Caleb, I looked back the way we came, the point of the circus tent visible through the gaps in the building. Forty-some people were in that tent, pulling in their children, mothers, and fathers who—

Oh, no.

“Dad! Shit, we have to get back to the house, Temps. There’s no telling what your mom did to him before coming to get us. I mean, why wasn’t he there? Fuck, what if he’s—”

“Hey, it’s okay. We’ll go now.” She turned to Caleb. “Can you do the bamf thing? We need to get back to our house. She’s right. The people there were hypnotized. I’m…I’m worried she really could have done something.”

“Of course.” Caleb glanced to the side, his brows down over his eyes. “You think you can get us there, buddy?”

There was a brief pause, and then Caleb nodded, taking our hands and pulling us in close. “Hang on.”

In a flash, we were standing in the front yard of our old house. The white two-story, with its charming trim and blue door, looked quiet, just like it always did, and it still struck me that in the blink of an eye, we’d traveled to the outskirts of Rockport, where it sat.

Jumping into action, I rushed forward up to the front door, pounding on it and trying the knob. But it was locked.

“Dad! Dad, are you okay?!”

“ Step to the side, young morrighan. ” I looked over my shoulder. Caleb’s eyes glowed yellow, his hand shifted again, and I nodded as I scooted over, knowing that Cerberus was driving the car right now.

He reached for the knob, squeezing it in his clawed grasp, and then turned hard. The sound of something metal breaking was loud, and then the door swung open. I pushed past him, rushing inside to find my father.

Please, Gods…he’s not that big of a dick. Don’t let him be dead.

It didn’t take long to stop short, my hands flying up to my mouth as I took in the sight of the living room. The place was a mess, cushions and pillows scattered to the floor, the coffee table broken, and shelves and shelves of those dumb knick-knacks emptied onto the floor.

In the center of the room, my father sat tied to a chair, his mouth gagged and his forehead bleeding.

“Dad!”

I was there in seconds, going for the ropes to get him untied.

Caleb got behind him quickly, using one of those long claws to slice through the ropes.

I didn’t even know we had something like that.

Was Barbs secretly into knots or some shit?

Still, it was probably a lot more likely that she’d brought it with her from the carnival or dug around in the little-used shed outside to find it.

Taking off the gag, which I realized was made of stockings, I held my dad’s cheeks. “Dad? Dad, are you okay?”

He blinked several times, my touch seeming to rouse him. When he looked at both me and Temps, he sighed, a cry croaked out as he shook his head frantically.

“Your mother. Barbara. I don’t know what got into her. Is she gone?” His arms swung around him as Caleb released him, and he rubbed his wrists, slightly pink and raw from where the rough rope had rubbed against him.

“Yes, she’s gone. She’s…” Temps couldn’t finish, and I didn’t blame her.

“Dad, what happened?”

For a second, he tried to stand up, but then he collapsed back down into the chair, and I steadied him to keep him from pitching forward.

He was clearly beaten to hell. His forehead injury was obvious, but his shirt was messed up, and going by the state of the room, there had probably been one hell of a scuffle.

“She…she’d come back from an early visit to that church of hers.

I didn’t want to go with her, as usual. You know I’m just not into that kind of thing.

Not like that. When she got back, Barbara asked if I’d go again.

When I said I wasn’t interested and had things to do for the hospital, she freaked out.

She picked up the vase over there and smashed it against my head.

I swear to God, I don’t know what happened.

It was like she was a different person. She threw all her favorite things, screamed about me being a blasphemer.

Elizabeth, it was insane. Temperance, I…

I don’t know what to tell you. I know she’s your mother, but I think she needs some serious help. ”

Temps shook her head, standing to the side with Caleb. “Lizzie, I…can you?”

I swallowed. I knew what came next, and I knew that Temps couldn’t do it. I wasn’t mad. Hell, it’d been a handful of minutes since we’d seen Barbs die. I wasn’t about to put breaking the news to my dad on her.

“Dad, Barbara is…dead. She went to that church thing after this, and…Dad, they’re not right. They’ve been brainwashing people. It’s—”

“What the hell are you talking about?” A look of such anger crossed my dad’s face that I actually reeled back. I’d never seen him looking like this, and fuck, we needed to call EMTs to look at his head or get him to the hospital.

“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to upset you, honestly. There’s some horrible shit going down with that carnival. They’re hurting people and—”