Call of Water (Madame Tan's Freakshow #1) - Marina Simcoe Page 0,86

know you. The day we escaped the menagerie, I saw the true you. And you were magnificent. I had no choice but to fall in love.”

Magnificent?

I thought back to me shivering in the huge, wet hoodie on the night of our escape. The sight must have been rather pitiful than magnificent.

Deep inside, however, I understood what he meant. When I slammed that barstool into the water tank, I’d never felt stronger in my life. No matter what might come my way in the future, I now knew I could survive anything.

Carefully setting the tray aside, I kissed him, whispering against his lips, “I love you, Zeph.”

“You’re mine, Ivy,” he murmured, kissing me back. “Fully and completely. For as long as you’ll have me.”

“For as long as I shall live.”

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Serpent’s Touch

Madame Tan’s Freakshow

Book 2

Chapter 1 (unedited and subject to change)

“BRING ME THE MIRROR!” Madame’s voice rang through the hallway outside of the VIP room where I was cleaning up. Her footsteps moved this way.

Panic spiked painfully in my chest, though I didn’t think I’d done anything wrong today. Regardless, worry and fear were always there in her presence.

I hadn’t finished sweeping the floor yet. Not wishing to face Madame if I could help it, I shoved my broom and the dust pen behind the huge crate that stood near one of the walls in the room, then squeezed myself into the narrow space, too.

“Place the mirror right there by the wall, facing the crate,” Madame ordered as she entered the VIP room. “And get me a chair.”

The sounds of furniture being moved around reached me in my hiding place. Thankfully, no one came close enough to spot me.

“Is he chained?” Madame asked.

“Yes,” Bomid, one of the new bracks replied.

Six of them had arrived from Nerifir to replace those killed by Zeph, the siren-man, during his escape last week.

I suspected the girl Madame had kept in the griffin cage somehow helped him to get free. No matter how it had happened, I would’ve been blamed for their escape had Madame found out I’d been the last one who saw the girl. I had taken her to Zeph’s room when I knew very well I shouldn’t have done that. And I had left her there alone, thinking she’d go back to her cage when Nid, another brack, had called me to come upstairs.

That was when Zeph broke out of the water tank Madame had held him in, killed three of her men, and escaped taking the girl with him.

Trez knew all about me being left in charge of the girl, and he would have told Madame on me. I had no doubt he would. That brack would’ve sold his own mother just for a minute of Madame’s attention.

I’d heard Radax making a deal with him: Trez’s silence about my unintentional involvement in Zeph’s escape in exchange for the position of the leader over Madame’s bracks in this world.

Radax had been bracks’ leader for as long as I could remember. Even after he had lost his ability to travel between dimensions, Madame trusted him to be in charge. He had given it up, to save my useless life.

Trez was now dead, killed by Zeph during an attempt to recapture him. Madame was still furious about that failure. Maybe it made me heartless, but I didn’t miss having Trez around. Besides, after his death, Radax got his position as the leader back.

“Put the blindfolds on and open the crate,” Madame demanded.

I froze in my spot between the crate and the wall, desperately hoping that no one would spot me here as the bracks’ footfalls sounded around the crate.

Initially, I’d thought Madame would just glance into the room and leave, maybe even pass it by without looking at all. I didn’t want to face her when I could help it. So I hid out of sight.

Now, I was stuck here for who knew how long.

A crashing sound made me jump. It appeared one of the crate’s sidewalls had been dropped down.

Suddenly, terrifying growling noises filled the room, accompanied by loud, ferocious hissing.

I’d spent nearly my entire life here, in Madame Tan’s Menagerie. I’d seen a lot of different creatures. None of them had come from Earth and some were