supposed he could choose to walk away. But that felt impossible, like choosing not to inhale.
And so he said simply, “You don’t.”
“Oh my God, finally. Do you have any idea what time it is?”
That was Chandra. Ash and Zora had just gotten back to the schoolhouse and found her sitting at the kitchen table, still dressed in her Renaissance-woman costume, though her makeup was smudged and she’d removed her wig, leaving her black hair flattened and sweaty against her scalp.
On the way back to the schoolhouse, Zora explained that there’d been an incident at the Fairmont: she and Chandra has been recognized by a Cirkus Freak and had left in a hurry before the entire Black Cirkus could chase them out. Zora had sent Chandra and Willis home in the motorboat while she’d stayed behind to find Ash.
Now, Willis was leaning against the wall, holding Chandra’s powder-white wig in his massive hands. He’d been gently finger-combing the curls back into place, but his eyes lifted when Zora and Ash walked into the room.
“We thought you’d both left us to join the Black Cirkus,” Chandra said.
“We did not think that,” Willis said. “But we were starting to get worried. It’s late.”
“Sorry,” Ash muttered, pulling out a chair. He felt them both watching him, waiting for an explanation.
A muscle in his jaw clenched. They knew about Dorothy, too. He dropped his head in his hands so he wouldn’t have to meet their eyes.
After a moment, Chandra cleared her throat. “What do you mean we didn’t think they’d join the Cirkus? You said you expected Zora to defect for the brownies alone.”
Willis sniffed. “They were very good brownies. Or, at least I dimly recall that they were good. I haven’t had one in a very long time.”
“Come on . . . I already told you I’m sorry I didn’t bring you any, will you get over it?”
With a grunt Ash reached into his pocket and pulled out two mushy chocolate brownies still in their cellophane wrappers, which he dropped onto the kitchen table.
“They got a little wet,” he muttered. “But they’re still chocolate.”
Willis’s eyes lit up. He put down Chandra’s wig and picked up a brownie, carefully unwrapping the cellophane.
Zora took a bottle of Dante’s moonshine from the fridge, slamming the door a little too aggressively.
“What crawled up your butt?” Chandra asked.
“Don’t start with me,” Zora said, scowling. She swigged moonshine straight out of the bottle.
“I don’t see why everyone’s in such a bad mood. It was a great party. Good snacks, good dancing, good company.” Chandra wiggled her eyebrows at Ash.
Good company. She was talking about Dorothy, he knew. He glared at her.
“Too soon?” Chandra asked, all innocence.
Now Zora was staring at her, her face incredulous. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and said, “What the hell, Chandra?”
Chandra shrugged, unapologetic. “I refuse to be upset that Dorothy’s alive. I like Dorothy. And, yeah, okay, she’s working for the enemy now, which isn’t awesome, but it’s better than if she’d gotten lost somewhere in time and Ash fell in love with a soulless monster we didn’t even know.” Turning to Ash, blinking. “Well? Isn’t it?”
Ash hesitated. Nodded.
Chandra chewer her lower lip. “I’m . . . well, I’m a little surprised that she didn’t . . . you know . . .”
Willis said, blunt, “She didn’t want to come back with you?”
“No.” Ash fell back into his chair, suddenly exhausted. “She didn’t.”
“Oh. Well that makes sense, she has the big mission tomorrow morning, right?” But Chandra didn’t look convinced. She hesitated, glancing at Willis. “Now might be a good time to tell them about the other thing.”
Ash felt a flicker of interest. “The other thing?”
Willis took a small bite of brownie. “I was going to make you wait until tomorrow, as punishment for not letting me come to the party. But the brownie has put me in a better mood.”
Zora set the moonshine down. “You were going to make us wait for what?”
“It turns out I was right about the Fairmont walls. Easy to climb, and some fool on the fourth floor left his window open.” Willis took another bite of brownie, giving his head a slow shake.
He was enjoying this, Ash could tell.
“After that, it was a relatively simple matter to find out which room belonged to Roman. I ran into a young Cirkus Freak in the hallway, and you’d be amazed at how helpful he was.” He licked chocolate off his fingers. “Given a little incentive, that is.”