“Lizzie, can you find a seam?”I felt around my section of the tent, looking for a way in.“Temps?”
“Yeah, I got one.Hold on, there are ties.”
The sounds of cars got quieter and quieter, and the nervous energy radiating through our little group ticked up.We were running out of time.I didn’t want to get spotted out here.We’d have so much better chance if we could at least get inside and take on one group of people at a time.
“What are you doing out here?”
I shot my attention up and back, my mouth dropping open as a wave of panic struck.“Dean Owens?”
Oh, we are so fucked.
“Professor Harkert.”She stomped closer, coming from the drop-off behind the fairgrounds that led down to the coast.“And students?Ms.Montgomery, Ms.Chamberlain, have you all lost your minds?You absolutely should not be here.This is an active investigation under the purview of the school board.I demand that you return to campus at once.”
I couldn’t hear cars anymore, and now something stirred inside the tent, the unshakable feeling of people with power just a few feet away.
“Lizzie, hurry.”Turning to the dean, I held up my hands, trying to keep my voice down.“Dean Owens, I assure you that we’re hear to help the school and this town.The carnival is up to some horrible things, and we—”
“I could have your job for this, Caleb.This is highly unacceptable.You cannot be taking students out into the field for some test when the danger is real.”
The blasted woman wouldn’t keep her voice down, and she stood there like this proud Head Mistress.She was going to fucking get us caught.
Do you wish for me to shunt her to this campus?I could remove her tongue as well.
Fuck, no.You can’t—Ugh, shit.
Leaning up, I yanked Owens down toward me, trying to get her out of sight behind a crate.“It’s not some test.We know the carnival is killing people.We know they’re involved with a dark entity trying to get into our plane, okay?Would you quiet the fuck down?We can’t get caught.”
“How on earth have you learned all this?”At least the woman was keeping her voice to a whisper this time.“The school has only just been able to decipher the clues from the body that suggest an entity possessing the Ring Leader, and we’ve been on this for days now.”
She wasn’t an idiot, and I appreciated that she was trying to do the right thing.The dean had come here to stop her students from dying.She had no way of knowing the enormity of what was going on.Hell, we’d sort of lucked into it.
Thanks to Cerberus.
“Caleb, we need to move.I got the ties open.Come on.”Lizzie gestured with her head, and Temps looked between me and the dean as she poked out from behind the box that provided her with cover.
“Look, it’s a demiurge, or that’s the closest word mortals have for it.Cerberus has been helping us to figure this shit out.I’ve got him in my head.He knows this shit better than we do, and—”
“In your head?Cerberus?”Dean Owens’ eyes flared wide, the pupil shrinking as she gaped at me.The realization struck her, and I wanted to take it back, to fucking lie to her because we didn’t have time for this shit.“Have you performed a soul weaving?Caleb, that is a fireable offense.That magic is forbidden.You have broken a cardinal rule.A violation that I cannot just sit on regardless of the reason why.”
“Dammit, Rebeccas, this is bigger than all that.Can’t you see?They’re going to raise this thing tonight.We need to stop it.You can yell at me later.”
She stood up, shaking her head as she backed up toward the crumbling edge of soil.Her heel sank into the soft earth, and she yelped, struggling to get it free as she stood there in her gray, wool suit, the wide-leg trousers and jacket so incredibly out of place for the situation.
“Hey, I heard something around back.Go check it out.”
The low voice came from around the side of the tent.We had seconds to get out of sight or we’d be caught and all of this would be for nothing.I turned to Lizzie and Temps, putting a finger to my lips and pointing inside the tent.
“Go,” I whispered.“I’ll try to get her in.”
They nodded reluctantly but slipped inside the tent as quiet as a mouse.When I turned back to Rebecca, frantic energy rising up the back of my throat to choke me, I thrust out my hand, doing what I could from hiding to loosen the dirt and set her free.
“Please, Rebeccas.Just get inside with us.We can talk about this when he world isn’t fucking about to end.”
“You performed a soul weaving,” her voice carried too much on the wind.“No.No, I will not—”
Footsteps, loud enough to hear beating the earth, and they were right around the corner.Dammit.
With little other choice, I backed up into the tent, peering out at her from the shadows and gesturing for her to follow.She just shook her head, defiant, and then her eyes went to the side.
