up sitting on the stairs if he hadn’t caught himself on the jamb. “O-o-oh. Uh. Morning, Zookeeper.”
Rudy grunted. “Come.” He turned his back to Aaron and stormed away. He knew the Barker would follow. He would always follow. He was a curious creature by nature and would never resist the temptation of a juicy piece of gossip.
His ear twitched upon hearing the rapid footsteps speed up to reach him. The Barker was predictable. A good man. A kind man. But a predictable one.
“What’s the matter, Rudy?”
“Something’s happened.” He tilted his head back and sniffed. There it was again. It wasn’t fear. It wasn’t blood. It was the scent of something new. Something dangerous. A predator had arrived.
“Why come and get me?”
“She might kill me. But she might not kill you.”
“Sh…f…uh…wh…”
Rudy grimaced again, tasting the air through his teeth. It was thicker that way. Yes. A predator and something familiar as well. Something like honeysuckle and lavender. He had smelled it many times in the past few weeks.
He had a theory. And if he was right, he might need someone more tested in the art of speech than Rudy tended to be. He had no desire to be pulled to pieces. “Hopefully, you won’t be needed. But you might be.”
Predictably, Aaron followed him. “Are you going to tell me anything about what’s going on?”
“You’ll know soon enough.” The scent trail was taking him to the observation tower. He had tried to climb the exterior of it a few times out of curiosity, as a spider and as a wolf. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get a purchase on the structure. It seemed to reject all efforts to be scaled. It was unnatural; it made no sense.
But this was Harrow Faire.
And where he was not welcome, he would never go.
He had never seen the interior of the tower. Most who set foot inside the structure were being tortured in punishment for some manner of crime. He never had the desire to peek inside for that reason alone. Seeing it meant trouble.
Therefore, he had even less of a desire to step inside when he found the doors of it blasted open and strewn about on the grass and dirt like shrapnel. The wood door was nothing but splinters, scattered about like an explosion had gone off. A second set of doors—solid metal—were warped and bent, one of the matched pair sitting face-down in the dirt, blackened and charred. As if fire had been what had sent it there.
But the tower itself was untouched. He could see the wood landing inside. Unmarred. There was no fire to blame. He couldn’t smell any soot or charring. He sniffed the air. The smell of the new predator was rich in the air.
He growled low in his chest. It was an inhuman noise.
Aaron was gaping at the door. “Oh…oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. Oh, this is not good. I should get Ringmaster.” He turned to leave. Rudy snagged him by the back of the coat.
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“He’ll know soon enough. We should let her play her hand the way she wants.”
“Her? You mean Cora?”
“Mmm.” Rudy began to head toward the cafeteria. It was time for breakfast. Usually, he skipped meals with the others. They tended to object to his love for raw meat. But this time, he knew this morning was going to be an exciting one.
“What do you know, Zookeeper?” Aaron fell in step beside him. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing you won’t know within the hour.”
“What does this all mean?”
Rudy sneered. “War. It means war.”
Simon woke up with his head laying in someone’s lap. He hummed in appreciation. They were stroking his hair, and it was quite lovely. It was far better than the blinding pain of being suspended by his ankles.
Usually, he preferred to be—what was the foolish phrase that Aaron always accused Jack of coveting? Big spoon? He preferred to be the controlling one, regardless. It was just part of his nature. But from time to time, it was quite nice to be the one being pampered.
His legs ached. His spine ached. But the pain was slowly fading. Well, the pain in his body was fading. He had one hell of a headache.
Had he finally lost his mind?
He blinked his eyes open slowly. His vision swam for a long moment. Was this a dream? There was no sunny field. There were no clouds overhead. The space was lit with early morning sun slanting through windows, casting stark shadows