Chapter 49 Esmeralda
Esmeralda
“Ignacio!” she yelled.
They’d lost each other the second they exited the Fun House as people rushed to flee from the flames and bubbling tonics.
Esmeralda tried to stand on her tiptoes and search for the boy she loved, but there was no use. He’d disappeared.
“Ignacio!” her voice cracked. She knew she should run like everyone else. The fire would catch hold of those jars soon. But she wouldn’t go anywhere without him. “Pigeon!”
Hands gripped her around the meat of her bicep and yanked her through the beastly throng. She bumped into torsos and elbows and—perhaps not so strangely—a few tentacles belonging to an octopus. With a grunt, she felt herself being flung behind an upturned cart of churros.
Arms draped over her shoulders and forced her against the cool grass just as the first vessel within the combustibles tent detonated. She smelled smoke and dirt and—strangely—bubble bath.
Another jar exploded. Another. Until all she could hear was pop, pop, pop like popcorn in the kettle. Glass and pure heat soared overhead. Whoever held her to the ground grunted in pain.
When the blasts finally slowed, the arms shielding her let off. She raised her face, expecting her savior to be Ignacio but instead it was a frazzled Gabriel.
His shirt had holes burned into it. Soot covered half his face. And a bit of his dark curls appeared to be smoking on top his head.
“I may have gone overboard on the fireworks,” he said, breathless.
“You think? You were supposed to cause a distraction while we snuck into the Fun House, not turn the entire carnival into an inferno.”
Gabriel half grinned. “That’s the greatest distraction I’ve ever seen, if I do say so.”
“Where’s Camila?”
“Safe inside the healer’s boxcar with Pilar.”
“Has she improved?”
He gulped, and her stomach soured.
“She’s aged by another couple years,” he said.
Esmeralda inwardly slumped. “Breaking the mirrors didn’t work.”
Wood groaned and snapped from the direction of the Fun House. Gabriel and Esmeralda peered around the cart. The final pole holding one side of the tent up crumpled in on itself in a tangle of beams, canvas, and sparkling magic.
They gawked at each other.
The music that played on a constant loop slowed and warped. The glimmering lanterns flickered, and the gondolas hovering over their heads slowed to a stop.
“The mirrors are certainly connected,” Gabriel whispered.
“The enchantments started to weaken after you two went inside. But look.” He gestured toward the tip of the carousel, which could be seen from where they lay hidden.
It continued spinning in circles. Beyond it, the lights of the Big Top still glowed a buttery yellow. “What are we missing here?”
“We’re missing the rest of the mirrors. They’re everywhere. We must destroy them all.” She grabbed Gabriel by the wrist. “Let’s find Ignacio and get to the Big Top. That’s where most of the mirrors are.”
Gabriel didn’t budge. “About Ignacio…”
“What is it?”
“I saw him, just before I spotted you. He…he was walking away.”
Away?
Her gut dipped.
“He wasn’t alone.” Gabriel suddenly appeared as if he might be sick. “He was with Comandante Olivera.”
She jumped to her feet. “We’ve got to help him. Surely, he’s being threatened.”
“He was walking of his own accord.”
She shook her head. “He would never. He wouldn’t…”
Her mind began its familiar angry taunts: You were never worthy of him. Of course he’d choose his father over you. He could never truly love you, a thief whose own family left her behind.
Anger burned through those thoughts.
They were lies. Lies her own brain told her to try to protect her from potential pain. But the real pain came when she listened to them.
“Come on,” she said. “We have to help him.”
“As you wish.” Gabriel clambered to his feet, his hair still smoking.
“Never mention the word wish ever again,” she said. “I’ve heard enough about wishes for a lifetime. We help Ignacio, then smash every mirror in this place.”
“Not so fast,” a familiar voice said.
Both she and Gabriel spun around. Facing them was the tailor, pointing two pistols at their heads.