Page 95 of You Can Make Me

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 beenkind. 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 onmyterms.

“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’dsurvivedmuch 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?—”