Dark Perceptions (Mystic's Carnival Collective) Read Online Free Page B

the cloak off his shoulders and over his arm. Now he was a skeleton boy in mere jeans and a much-loved hoodie. Strange.
    I glanced at him, then to Matt and the serpent woman. I didn’t remember them being so far away. Seemed almost impossible. Had he kept moving without me? I spoke to the pursuer at my side. “It isn’t the cloak. It’s you. This place. It’s everything. I just want to get out and go back home.”
    “I understand.”  
    Everything suddenly became immensely calm. The sounds of the rides softened, the screams subsided, and the sound of my beating heart filled my ears, soothing me, slowing my breath. The image of a fedora floated across my thoughts. The fortuneteller’s finger slid down the side of my face, or had it been there already? I couldn’t remember. I flinched. Realized my eyes were closed. When had I allowed that to happen? Was I losing time?  
    “I’ll do my best,” he said in a soft whisper. “Understand?”
    Um, no. I really didn’t.  
    Slow, deliberate steps backed me away. Locked legs kept me from moving quick, kept me from matching my desire. Though the fortuneteller made no attempt to stop me. Instead, he whipped around and darted for Matt. I had to warn him. Blood boiled, straining up through my body, exploding in a livid screech. Only Matt and reptile woman turned and stared in my direction. The crowd around bounced off me and kept moving, ignoring me like my action was an everyday occurrence. Maybe it was. People screaming and yelling at a carnival, probably happened all the time.  
    My legs pumped faster, closing the distance between us. Even as I saw Matt’s eyes widen, his lips part, I knew. Knew I wasn’t going to make it.  
    Skeleton man was already there.
    My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach, my arms went limp, like lead weights, and my entire body dragged the next two steps. I heard the fortuneteller’s words upon my approach; they echoed through my head like a sick, twisted joke.  
    “You look like a man in need of a fortune.”
    Matt turned to the black and white painted man, a clouded look in his eyes. Tarot cards flashed from the man’s hands quick as lightning. Colors zipping by so fast no pictures were decipherable. Not until one flipped from the deck into Matt’s face, then slipped down the front of him.  
    The guy leaned forward and swiped at the card. “Sorry. Seems to be stuck. I’ll get it back from you later.”
    Matt stared at the foreign object stuck to the front of his shirt. Every attempt to pull or pluck the thing free resulted in a horrible fail.
    Finally at his side, I grabbed at the would-be-fortune, but it wouldn’t budge. It was as if it had been Super Glued. “What are you doing?” I demanded of the stranger.  
    “Just taking care of business.” He winked and spun toward the snake vixen, turning his back on us. In a show of fanfare, he flared his cloak out and wrapped it around the strategically scaled woman. “Do behave, Viola. You see what you’re doing to the poor boy?” He motioned to Matt with a tilt of his head.
    “Oh Sebastian, you can be such a kill-joy. I was only having a spot of fun.” She stroked her pet and playfully bit at the air between them. The snake poked its head out from beneath the cloak.  
    “I’m all too familiar with the type of fun you and Nahash like to have.”
    Matt grabbed me, drowning the conversation between the strangers into the chatter of the crowd. “What just happened?” he asked, pulling me off to the side, away from the moving traffic along the midway. We nestled against the corner of an obnoxious game. I stood frozen, watching as children tossed small beanbags of various colors at a row of hideous, fake clowns. The idea ― shove a “pie” in a clown’s mouth.  
    More goddamn clowns.  
    I shivered uncontrollably and tried to melt into Matt’s chest. My body thawed with his embrace. The idea that I might have lost him gripped me, froze me, and I realized it didn’t