The Ladies of the Secret Circus by Constance Sayers (the little red hen ebook TXT) 📕

ride, but everything in this fucked-up place was backward. Maybe Todd being dead meant he was really alive? This place was like that, turning in on itself.

For a dead woman, Cecile had a mighty grip. She held Lara up as she sank in the gondola chair.

“I’m sorry.” Lara closed her eyes and swore that if Althacazur started babbling again, she’d say something that would send her to the White Forest, but she didn’t care. “You said that Todd is dead?”

“He is.” Cecile touched her hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“You’re sure.” Lara focused on Cecile’s eyes, locked in on them. Perhaps it was the poison, but she found she was numb all over. Her lips were dry and felt like they were swelling. She’d begun rocking.

“Sadly, yes.”

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Lara leaned over the gondola and threw up in the River Styx.

She was very much inside herself now, as if she were experiencing the fuzzy effects of a painkiller, while somewhere in the distance she heard Althacazur continue his monologue. “Esmé knows it’s coming to an end. She knows that Lara is the most powerful creature to come down from the line. I’ve made you the strongest magical creature that I can for the sole purpose of stopping my daughter. That, Lara, is why she wants to kill you.”

The car began to lift. Lara was still woozy and didn’t understand this part of the conversation. Hell, the entire thing was confusing.

“Hold on until we get to the top. Don’t die on us. It would be so anticlimactic.” Althacazur cackled.

Dying. She thought she was probably close to that now, given the effect of the toxin. This would be an acceptable end to her story, she decided. As they reached the arcade lobby again, Althacazur lifted the bar and got out of the car, holding out his gloved hand for Lara, who was aided by Cecile. Tisdale scampered to turn off the machine.

Lara was still stumbling even under Cecile’s grip when Tisdale came and presented her with a lollipop.

“Oh, I can’t.” Lara made a face. The idea of eating anything right now was impossible.

“It’s the antidote,” said Althacazur, taking the lollipop and handing it to her. “I warn you, though, it tastes like…”

Lara put it in her mouth and began to cough. “Shit! This tastes so foul.”

“Indeed. It’s actually made of petrified donkey shit from Hades, but it will save your life.”

Lara lurched, fell over, and threw up again. After she’d collected herself, Tisdale motioned for her to keep sucking it.

It did have the effect of making her clearheaded again, but she needed to leave this circus and get back to Audrey and Jason… Ben. It would take time to process what she now knew about Todd, but they would help her.

Following them back into the center ring, Lara saw it was now filled with the performers, standing at attention. Althacazur walked over to Cecile and pulled her chin up. “I agree, the grave mistake that I made was separating you two in the first place. You were perfect as you were. I failed to see that. When this is all over, you two will be reunited. I promise you.” Althacazur stroked her face. “I refused to intervene between you girls once, but I’m going to do so now. It needs to be by your hand, though, Cecile. I warned you once, this battle is between the two of you. I’ve helped you enough by bringing Lara here and making sure her magic is strong. She’s the perfect weapon.”

He walked around the arena, sweeping his hand like Vanna White. “So here you go. I built you a circus, Lara Barnes! Remember, when I came to visit you as a child, I told you that this circus was your destiny.” He put his arms out. “The care of these creatures falls to you now, my dear. You see, the circus requires a human patron. You are human enough, though powerful cambion blood—mine—flows through you. This magnificent legacy needs one who cares for it and keeps its connection to the outside world, perhaps one who can convince the tickets to come back out.” He shrugged. “I’d hoped that Sylvie would follow her mother and become the patron, but that was not to be. Then my hopes rested on dear Margot, then Audrey. But now with you, Lara, at the helm, I will finally be free of this place to go and be the daemon artist that I am intended to be.”

They were all staring at her—the performers, Althacazur, Margot, Cecile, Doro, and Tisdale. Lara looked around, confused, not realizing they were waiting for a reply. She stumbled a little, still woozy. “But I don’t want a circus.” What Lara needed was to think… and to mourn. This was absurd. All of it. As she spoke, though, the creatures all seemed to sink in front of her. The elephant, the winged lion, and Tisdale put their heads down. The music that was playing stopped abruptly.

Althacazur adjusted himself and Cecile started to speak, but he cut her off.

He walked toward her, Lara shrinking in his presence. Suddenly this felt like touring a time-share facility, and she now had to endure the sales pitch.

“You know what will happen to them.” Althacazur’s voice was calm. He pointed to the performers; gone was the jaunty ringleader. “I’ll just send them all back to Hell. They’ve served their purpose, babysitting Cecile and Esmé.” Lara saw his eyes weren’t amber at all—that had been an illusion. They were black, and she saw him in his true form—with a purple robe and the head of a ram—before he switched back to the handsome man with brown ringlets and eyes the color of dead grass. She’d recalled the online encyclopedia entry on him: Given his charm, he is often mistaken as a lighter demon, which is a grave mistake, for he is the most vain and unforgiving of all Hell’s generals.

Lara exhaled sharply and looked around the ring. The performers stared back