He was glad, because that was exactly how he felt, too.
“I can’t tell you,” she whispered.
“Why?” he demanded.
Her lips parted.
And then, across the fairgrounds, generators started exploding.
CHAPTER 15
Hunter stood and grabbed at the bars of the car, feeling it rock with his motion. Two generators had exploded, and flames blazed against the sky. On the ground, people were screaming, forming panicked swarms moving in every direction.
He had a perfect view from up here, though the wheel was still turning on its axle, as if the fires were just another spectacle to see from up high.
Another generator exploded, off to his left.
More people screamed. The swarms shifted, moving in a new direction.
Kate was beside him, leaning out as well.
Then her phone chimed, and she looked at it.
What was up with her and this other guy?
Hunter leaned over the side, yelling for the ride operator to let them out—or at least to make the ride stop. He almost couldn’t hear himself over the pandemonium below, so he wasn’t surprised when the guy didn’t look up.
People from other cars were leaning out and screaming, too.
The panic in the air was almost enough to choke him.
Another generator exploded.
The kid running the Ferris wheel yanked a lever in his booth and bolted.
The ride lurched to a stop, so suddenly that Hunter lost his balance and clutched at the bar. The car swung wildly, stuck in the two o’clock position.
Fire was spreading now, leaping from one tent to the next, sending black smoke billowing into the air.
Another generator exploded, also off to his left. The entire carnival was surrounded by fire.
Five generators in a circle. Didn’t get much clearer than that.
Hunter looked for Gabriel, for any of the Merricks. The chaos on the ground was insane: he couldn’t recognize anyone, and the smoke was getting thicker. Several people lay crumpled on the ground, but he couldn’t make out any of them. Sirens screamed somewhere in the distance.
The rage in this fire was familiar: he’d felt it a week ago, during the inferno in the library.
Calla.
He’d been so stupid. He’d expected her to take out a house. One house.
There had to be hundreds of people here. He could feel the fire spreading, forming a true circle, preventing escape. She was going to kill them all.
And here he sat, fifty feet above the ground, unable to do a damn thing.
“We’re trapped,” said Kate.
Hunter looked at her. His head was clouded with too many complicated emotions, and he had to shut them down.
He studied the multicolored lights along the Ferris wheel supports. The whole thing was really just a big complicated wheel held together by steel bars and high tension wire.
The nearest support was in front of him, but lower, about ten feet away.
No, seven. Seven sounded better.
If he thought about this too long, he’d chicken out.
He climbed onto the safety bar, grabbing the steel frame and holding on.
“Holy crap,” Kate cried. “Are you insane?”
His hands were going to be making an impression in the steel in a second. He could feel sweat beginning to collect under his fingertips. “Don’t rock the car!” he shouted.
She went completely still.
Air whipped around him, excited by the frenzy of activity. He had nowhere near enough control to ask it to help him make this jump, but he tried anyway.
“You’re crazy,” said Kate.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he said.
And then he jumped.
He hit the supports hard. The entire frame rattled. The metal rails were narrower than he’d expected, wet and hard to grip. Blood streaked the white paint, and he realized the rusted metal had sliced into his hands.
It didn’t hurt yet.
That meant it would hurt a lot later.
He swung his legs until he found purchase, then looped an arm around the support to take the pressure off his palms.
He took a glance. His hands were a mess.
Then he heard another scream and realized there were a lot of people a lot worse off than he was.
Hunter started to climb. It was like this stupid Ferris wheel had been built precisely to frustrate him, because each support was about a foot too far from the next for him to reach. He had to climb in, toward the center, before he could start climbing down.
His hands were still bleeding. They kept slipping.
Something hit the Ferris wheel and sent a shudder through the frame. He swore and had to loop an arm to stay upright. Had some idiot tried to follow him?