Page 42 of You Can Make Me (Carnival of Mysteries #28)

Twenty-Four

C ooper

The drive took an achingly long time—almost thirty minutes despite Walter speeding—and Denny’s breathing grew shallow as we began to climb the grade into the Grapevine at Castaic Lake.

“Walter, I need you to drive like the devil is after us.”

“The devil is after us,” Dane said, turning to look down at Denny. “He doing okay?”

“I don’t think so. He stopped shivering, but his breathing is shallow and his pulse doesn’t feel right. I’m not a doctor, but I think he’s in shock. Walter?—”

“Charlene was a medic. If she can’t help him, we’ll call an ambulance when we get there. Holy shit . Hold on.”

Traffic came to a quick halt, and Walter had to pull onto the shoulder to avoid ramming the car in front of us. I held on to Walter to keep him from rolling forward, but he didn’t open his eyes.

“That was close. Dane, text Ryan and see if they’re okay. They hit the guardrail.”

Denny didn’t move. I shook him a little and got no response. I patted his cheek. Nothing.

“Walter, he’s not responding. Can you go around?”

“Ryan says they’re fine. Go! Go!”

Walter proceeded to do some terrifying driving, but that didn’t scare me as much as Denny’s cold skin. I willed the truck to go faster, to get us to whomever this woman was who they were putting their faith in, otherwise I was about to lose the most precious gift I’d ever been given.

Walter took a corner too fast and the truck bucked, as if his tires lifted, and gravel sprayed everywhere, then he fishtailed up a long driveway that looked like it would dead end in the side of the hill.

But we rounded a bend and Walter slammed on the brakes in front of a small house tucked out of sight and surrounded by brush.

“Let me carry him inside,” Walter said, as he flung open the back door. Together we pulled Denny out, and Walter tossed him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Denny moaned, which gave me hope.

Dane took my elbow and helped me hurry up the drive toward the house. Ryan and Kal came screaming up behind us a second later, and Kal was out the door before Ryan shut off the engine.

The front door flew open and three pit bulls came flying out. Dane sucked in a breath, but I wasn’t going to let any fanged beasts deter me.

“Jesus, Walter, get him inside! Hurry up, all of you.”

I stopped short at the sight of the woman the voice came from. She was not at all what I’d expected. She was older, maybe in her sixties, leaning on a cane. She was heavyset with muscular arms, and she had a buzzcut of white hair.

She took one look at my cane, then at me, and raised an eyebrow.“You, too, pretty boy. I’ll deal with you later.”

Walter carried Denny into a sitting room that had been transformed into a clinic space.

“When I Saw you were coming, I got a few things ready. Get him on the gurney and get his clothes off.” She handed Walter a pair of scissors, and he began cutting up the legs of Denny’s jeans and his shirt. The woman stopped him.

“Don’t pull that denim off yet, we have to be careful of the burns.”

“You have what you need, Charlene?”

“I do. I can dress those burns, but depending on how bad they are, he might need the ER. Let’s see what we’ve got.”

I cried out when I saw the state of his legs.

I don’t know how he’d moved at all when he got to Walter’s. The skin on his lower legs was burned, as well as on his right arm and hand.

I moved to Denny’s side and took his uninjured left hand in mine, daring anyone to move me.

The woman—the psychic, apparently—set her own cane aside and limped over to the table, where she moved swiftly, like she’d done this a million times.

“He’s got a pulse but it’s weak. Blood pressure is dropping. Has he had nitro?”

“Yeah, the fire captain said one.”

“Alright, I’m starting an IV. Let’s get him calmed down. You, Calliope Man, grab those extra blankets. We need to get him warmed up while I start working on these burns.”

Denny moved his head from side to side and his eyes fluttered open, but he didn’t speak as Kal brought the blankets over. We couldn’t wait anymore.

“We need to call an ambulance?—”

“You worry about your own task and leave him to me. You and Calliope Man, take the pretty one outside,” she gestured with her head at Dane. “And you,” she said to Ryan. “Rock Star, you stay here and help me and Walter.”

“I’m not leaving him.”

Walter put his hand on my arm, but I pulled away.

The woman rested her knuckles on the table beside Denny. “You’ve got work to do. You have to finish this. Staff Sergeant Hamilton needs you to hold up your end of the deal, now go on. Get.”

Dane took my hand as I opened my mouth to clap back at her, and he pulled me toward the door.

Kal was already there, holding it open.

Like I did when the alarms went off, I wanted to fight them all when they tried to keep me from Denny, but there was something compelling in the woman’s voice, and I found myself stumbling forward with Dane at my side. I tripped as I got to the doorway, and Kal caught me before I faceplanted.

“Cooper, look.”

I lifted my head to where Kal was pointing—and gasped.

Where the long drive to the house had been moments before, there was a collection of brightly colored tents strung with lights. And right before us was a gate with a familiar sign.

Welcome, Traveler.

The man with the hat and coat stood on the other side of the gate, but shadows hid the eyes that I somehow knew would be swirling with color.

Wait, how …

I thought I’d never seen this place, or this man, outside of my dreams, but the board had shown me the truth. I knew about the sign. I knew that if I inhaled deeply, I’d smell fresh cotton candy. And if I listened carefully, I’d hear the bells, pops, and shouts from the arcade.

Dane and Kal stood on either side of me and helped me keep my feet.

“I’ve never seen it from this side,” Dane said.

“I have,” Kal said. “I came back with Ryan after I left. It was…unsettling.”

“I knew I could count on you, Cooper Harris.”

The three of us turned our heads to find a decrepit old man emerging from the brush.

Kal stepped in front of me and Dane and pushed us both behind him. I felt a jolt go through Dane, and he trembled as he pressed against my side.

I shook too, but mine was from fury. I refused to be afraid anymore.

“You are not welcome here,” Kal said, his voice taking on a surreal tone. It reverberated off the hillside, sending rocks cascading down around us.

“I’m welcome wherever I choose to be,” Virgil Evans said.

I knew Cooper would lead me here, knew the three of you together would be able to deliver the carnival if you had enough motivation.

I hadn’t counted on the detective escaping my colleague’s clutches, but it seems to have done the trick.

If the three of you would kindly step aside, I’ll be going in now. ”

Kal held firm. “You will not.”

“You’ll pay for your crimes with your soul, Deathbringer.

“That’s sweet coming from you, Dee Dee the Troubadour, but you can’t stop me.”

A blinding pain stabbed through my skull, and Kal and Dane both cried out, grabbing their heads, too.

He’s trying to get inside.

“That’s not happening.” I stepped around Kal and approached the shell of a human.

His clothes hung off him, his cheeks were sunken, his teeth were gone, and his eyes bulged in their sockets.

Wherever he’d been hiding out, life had not been kind.

Evans didn’t have much time left…but he was vibrating with evil.

He ambled toward the gate, his bony arms hanging down at his sides, ready for a showdown.

I blocked his path. This was going to happen on my terms.

“I knew you could do it, News Boy. Now step aside. I’ve got business with the man in charge.”

“No, you don’t.”

I wouldn’t budge.

He stopped two feet from me, and I felt the pain surge in my brain again. But I’d felt worse. I’d survived much worse.

I took in a deep breath—and suddenly, it was as if something powerful stirred within me, a long-dormant eye opening to finally show me…

The truth.

Images snapped into view, along with the physical sensation of a ride like The Rambler, where the cars shot out toward the fence at the far edge before being yanked back and flung toward the next edge, and the next, over and over.

But with each fling, a new piece of the puzzle that was Virgil Evans emerged.

“You think they’ll take you because your mother was once employed here.”

Evans’ frown shifted into an expression of disbelief.

“She ran away from the man you believed to be your father to join the carnival for a time. She worked as an assistant to Gentleman Jim, the knife thrower.”

The wraith laughed but it sounded raspy. “Correct. So you see, I’m connected to this carnival too, and I plan on taking my rightful place?—”

“As soon as she realized she was pregnant, she became desperate. She returned to her husband and tried to pass you off as his. But he knew you were illegitimate. He made you pay for it your entire childhood.”

The pieces of his life he hated the most were coming to me rapid-fire, though from where, I had no clue.

“How…? Big deal, News Boy! I was an abused kid. Wah-wah. Don’t you think I know the psychology of why I am the way I am? I take pride in it! I became a brutal killer, and I’ve loved every minute, so dear old Dad did me a favor . So if you’ll excuse me.”

He tried to push me aside—and his hand disintegrated.

We both looked down at the stub, and Evans screamed.

“What did you do?!”

I opened my mouth to reply that I didn’t know, but instead, the truths kept coming.

“When you were twelve, your mother admitted you were the biggest mistake of her life. Your siblings turned their backs on you, began to ignore you. They refused to speak to you, pretended you were invisible, that awful game kids play…but they excelled at it. You often went days without a single member of your family saying a word to you.”

His mouth opened and he tried to respond, but his jaw disappeared.

“Oh my God, Cooper,” Dane gasped. “Keep going!”