The Faire (Harrow Faire #5) - Kathryn Ann Kingsley Page 0,39
felt. She knew it could because everyone fell silent and quickly sat back down. She cracked her neck from one side to the other.
She needed a shower, food, a nap, and a trip to the chiropractor. She still ached. “Turk thinks Harrow Faire needs to die and has been working for decades to starve it to death. He’s in charge of Harrow Faire and has been the entire time.”
“But—” Louis began. “What about Mr. Harrow?”
Cora shook her head. “Mr. Harrow isn’t real. There is no one inside of boxcar number twenty-one.”
She paused to let the murmuring happen and slowly die down. “Harrow Faire needs a keeper. Someone to guide it. To be its lightning rod to Earth. Turk was supposed to be that person. He was supposed to take the responsibility from Clown, but he didn’t want the burden. Only the power. Because he wanted to use the power to starve it to death.”
“Why wouldn’t I want to see this demon destroyed?” Ringmaster hollered, his deep voice booming. “Why wouldn’t I want to see an end to all the terrible atrocities it has committed? It has destroyed so many lives—taken so many souls. We are monstrous things that should not exist. I seek to cure a blight that has haunted mankind for thousands of years. Why am I wrong in that?”
“Because you never let them choose!” Cora pointed at a crowded table beside her. The Twins, the Mechanic, Maestro, and Diva were all sitting there, watching her with eyes wide in shock. “Because you made the call for them. Because you never let them decide whether or not they wanted to live. They aren’t children.”
“It is not their decision to make, Cora. It is easy to live. It is difficult to choose to die. We are abominations. We should not be alive.”
More murmurs. More unrest. Cora shook her head. “Harrow Faire doesn’t want to destroy the world. It wants to live here in peace. It needs to eat, like anyone else. Do you hate Rudy because he eats raw meat? Do you hate any of us for needing to feed?”
“No. But a normal creature does not persist on parts of the human soul.” Turk was glaring at her, righteous and firm.
She felt like she was shouting at her dad. But she had to hold the line. “It can survive on what amounts to a hair on the head of every person who walks through here. You forced it to take large and larger pieces—like a toe, a finger, or an arm. If I hadn’t destroyed Duncan, we would all be dead by now.” That got a reaction from the crowd. Aaron was standing now, shaking his head, his hand over his mouth. The Twins were clutching each other in nervousness, sharing scared glances. “And you never would have told them they were about to die.”
“No. We would have gone quietly into the Inversion and met the void we all deserve. It would have been quiet. Painless. Why scare them?”
“Because they have a right to know.” She turned her attention to the others. “Because they have the right to be heard and know the truth. We should be able to travel. We should be allowed outside the gates to wander. To choose our own deaths if we want it. Not to be this…crippled version of ourselves. But you took that away from them, Turk. Like you would have taken everything else.”
“What do you intend, Cora? Shall we battle it out?” Ringmaster pulled down on the edges of his coat. “You and I? Or shall we gather our factions and wage a bloody war? All because you want to let this monster continue feeding on souls?”
“Do you know why Harrow Faire has a boxcar? Do you know why number twenty-one even exists, if there is no Mr. Harrow? Because it wants to be close to us. Because it wants to be Family. It loves us. It cares for us. It gives us everything we could ever want. Books, tools, toys—whatever we need to be happy. It even brought you Amanda in hopes she might quiet whatever insanity inspired you to turn on the people you claim to love.”
“Because it wants to survive! That is all! It is a trick to lull us all into complacency. That you cannot see it speaks to your naivety. You are a child, Cora. You are young. I have been here for over two hundred years.” Ringmaster stepped toward her again, intending to use his height to