The Faire (Harrow Faire #5) - Kathryn Ann Kingsley Page 0,76

night, Cora.”

18

The days passed.

For the most part, it was like nothing was happening. That their whole world wasn’t about to change…or end. Some of the Family gave her strange looks. But when it became clear she wasn’t about to burn the place to the ground and cackle sadistically over their corpses—like Simon was asking her to do—they calmed down a little.

Tomorrow was the “big day.” She had resisted the urge to ask everyone how they would vote. It wasn’t polite. She’d know soon enough.

And still no one had seen Amanda. Cora had no idea what could have happened to the Aerialist. Turk and Jack had pretty much gone into hiding. That was fine by her.

Despite everything that had happened and was about to happen, the “show must go on.” And go on, it did. Patrons gathered, tickets were sold, and terrible food was eaten.

And she performed.

It was so bizarre to her that she was going to get on that stage and do a routine with the fate of all their lives hanging over her head. She wasn’t sure she could go through with it. But once she stood there in the center of that spiral and heard the crowd gasp as she twisted herself into strange shapes, she was happy she had.

It gave her peace. It gave her some kind of grounding. Hearing their applause and sounds of wonder brightened her heart.

This is my home. This is who I am.

This is what I was meant to become.

It was after one of her performances that she decided she wanted to climb the Ferris wheel. Not ride it. Climb it. She wanted a view, and the top floor of the tower required the Key to unlock it. Besides, going into the tower wasn’t really something she wanted to do anytime soon.

After changing out of her costume, she pulled her hair up in a ponytail, shrugged on her coat, and headed out.

Simon had two shows back-to-back that afternoon, so he was busy. She didn’t mind being alone. Alone as one could be, when one was walking around with a creature inside one’s head as old as time itself. She tried not to dwell on that.

On the way there, she stopped at a food stall and grabbed a large container of limeade. She laughed. For me? You shouldn’t have.

“You’re welcome. I don’t know what the fuss is about.”

It is better than lemonade. Sorry. She sipped the drink through the straw as she headed toward the Ferris wheel. She walked around the back, on the far side from the line of people waiting to ride it, and past a few of the pseudo-employees who ran the park. They were all…ghosts. Just bits of people, glued together by the Faire. They weren’t real.

And they all now knew to get out of her way or open doors for her. It was strange to think that they were just a little bit like her army. The idea made her snicker.

“What’s funny?”

She didn’t mind talking to the voice out loud, since there was no one around to hear her. “Fear me and my army of doooom.” She snickered. “Fear the spooky circus of death and my brainless replacements for minimum wage employees!”

“Well, that’s just rude.” Lazarus appeared beside her. “I’d pay them at least a penny above minimum wage.”

Cora laughed again as she looked up at the ladder that led to the main mechanism at the center of the Ferris wheel. “How generous.”

“What? A penny is generous. Isn’t it?”

“Inflation’s a bitch, sweetheart.” She held out her limeade. “Hold this.”

“I suppose if I had to actually pay anyone, I might care.” He took it, shrugged, and, popping the plastic lid off the top, took a sip of it himself. “Not bad.”

Cora turned to the ladder and started to climb. She used to be afraid of falling. But not anymore. Now she knew what it was like to fall and that the landing was always worse. It also helped that she knew that if she slipped and splattered all over the ground, she’d get up an hour or two later.

It made the whole thing a lot less nerve-wracking as she made her way to the top. There was a small landing there, meant for whoever was working on maintaining the large bearing in the center. The two motors were closer to the bottom, attached to the drive rim of the wheel. That meant there were no loud noises except the quiet hum of the spinning bearing. She sat down on the