is to you.”
“You don’t need to come with me.”
And miss all the fun? “And leave you alone when you are in need?” He stroked his hand over her hair. “Have more faith in me, Cora dear.”
“Thank you.” She smiled up at him gently. “Even if I don’t trust a damn word you’re saying. You’re just in this hoping there’ll be a good show. You want to see me try to kick his ass.”
He laughed. Good girl. “Guilty as charged.”
She laughed with him and reached for his hand. She squeezed it, and he returned the gesture. “You’re a jerk.” There was no weight behind her insult. She recognized in him who and what he was, and she…wanted him there with her anyway.
He scratched at his heart again for a different reason. You really are going to destroy me, Cora Glass. But maybe I’ll get to see you destroy someone else first.
Cora kept to the shadows and the alleyways between the buildings as they stalked her ex-friends through the park. The children wanted to ride everything and play every game, so the pack of them made a slow circuit around the park. They must have been at it for half an hour.
And she saw nothing that was out of the ordinary. No warning signs. Emily smiled, laughed, joked with her friends, and even kissed Duncan a few times.
And he, for all his credit, was fine. He looked mostly how she remembered him, even if ten years or so had passed. She hadn’t seen him in five before she came to the park, and it looked like five or six years had passed while they were in the Inversion. He was older, grayer, and a little chubbier.
But he was still Duncan. Dark hair, brown eyes, and a lopsided smile that she used to find so charming.
It wasn’t until an hour had passed of her and Simon quietly following the group through the park that it happened.
Lisa, Robert, and the kids wanted to go home. It was getting late, and the kids were coming down from their sugar highs. Robert was carrying Jane, even if she was a little too big and too old for it. Tom was sleepily rubbing his eyes and holding his mom’s hand.
After the family of four split off, Trent and his husband—she still couldn’t get over how happy she was for her friend—wanted to go see the animal show. Emily and Duncan wanted to see the freaks. They agreed to split and meet up later.
Cora watched with a sad smile as Trent and his husband walked past them and toward the big top where Rudy was scheduled to perform. She wanted to congratulate him on the wedding. She wanted to say she was sad not to be there. That she didn’t power through her illness to be his photographer. That she didn’t know his husband’s name.
She wiped at the tear before it could fall. No. It was a selfish sadness that she felt. It was a morose grief that she had missed out on the happiness in her best friend’s life. But he was happy. He deserved it. And she should smile and remember that.
“Goodbye, Trent,” she whispered once they were gone. “I’m so happy for you.”
Simon kissed the top of her head. “That’s better. Now. Our quarry is on the move, dear.” He was right. Emily and Duncan were already fifty feet away. She followed them, and the Puppeteer followed at her side. She hugged his coat around her, enjoying the feeling of it. It was soft, heavy, and smelled like him. It was a nice reminder that she wasn’t alone.
She was pretty certain he’d given her his coat to keep everyone from staring at her in her leotard. But she appreciated it anyway.
A hundred feet later, and Duncan tugged Emily aside and off the main path. Cora furrowed her brow. Emily shook her head, laughed nervously, and tried to pull away from him. But Duncan was having none of it. He tugged her harder, and she staggered as he yanked her between two of the game stalls. Cora cut between the rows, letting go of Simon’s hand to move faster.
Behind the game stalls and rides was a sea of cables, boxes, and other storage. Painted signs and statues that came out for parades and the like. She was still learning her way around all the nooks and crannies of Harrow Faire, but she mostly knew where she was going. She ducked underneath one of the steel cables