Though I hate how they kept me in the dark, I understand why. I hate keeping secrets from Vero, and half the time he can tell when I’m not telling him something and can get it out of me.
“She doesn’t know about her ex being free, or at least I don’t think she does.” Clay crosses his arms. “I want more information before we tell her. But her behavior makes sense now—he was arrested a few years back.”
Violence radiates through my core. I need to know what he did to her, because whether he is following her or not, he will get what he deserves. I might just let Vero have his go at death by paper cut on this guy.
“We need to find him,” I grit out.
Neither of them argues with me, and Vero appears with his Hannibal mask, Kayla beside him. She isn’t dressed up, clad in a pair of jeans and a shirt with her leather jacket. Vero says something to her as they get closer, and she throws her head back and laughs. My chest flutters at seeing them both so happy.
Clay pulls his bandanna all the way up and cracks his neck. “You two ready to run?”
Vero takes Kayla’s hand, and she smiles. “Bite me, dickhead,” Kayla throws back at Clay.
“Oh, I plan to when I catch you.”
She uses her free hand to flip him off just as Vero drags her away.
“You can bite me, too, Brawley,” Vero yells, followed by a cackle.
“Let’s round them up and come back around to near the carousel. We’ve been given that area tonight,” Clay directs.
Both Ares and I nod, and we wait another minute before we take off after them. Screams are already filling the air as people run through the open spaces.
The carousel is in the carnival area, and I head straight there, letting Ares and Clay draw them in. I stroll through the side gate of sideshow alley, watching for my targets. The stalls line both sides of the path, but everything is dark and locked up for the night. I stop where the path forks and the carnival grounds open up, waiting to see if I can hear anything. Then as I slowly head in, I see a flash run past toward the house of mirrors.
I creep around the back, waiting in the gap between the building and the fence. The sound of footsteps gets closer, then stops.
“He didn’t follow us,” Vero whispers loudly.
“That means he went the other way.”
I smirk; I knew they saw me. They wanted me to follow them.
“Should we go back?” Kayla asks.
“Fuck no, that’s what he wants.”
She laughs, and their footsteps start again.
I give them a thirty-second head start, and slink along the fence line, not letting them see me. But I see them. They have snuck through the gate and are moving around the outside of the carousel platform, using the horses as cover.
Clay comes up behind me, and I whisper, “Carousel.” He nods and goes back the way he came, while I silently shift through the gates.
Vero and Kayla are on the far side, and I duck as I step up onto the platform.
The lights flash on and the music blasts loudly as the carousel shudders to a start.
I work my way around the wooden deck, but when I get close to them, Vero launches at me from behind a horse.
“Got you,” he yells over the noise, and I laugh.
“I was supposed to be getting you.”
Vero cackles. “I was the distraction,” he says.
In the chaos, Kayla has jumped down and tries to run, but Clay steps in front of her. Now neither of them moves. Ares finally joins the party, casually strolling through the gate. Unfortunately for her, she has nowhere left to go.
She looks back over her shoulder at Vero. “You traitor!”