“They mentioned the bank,” Raphael said.
“And said something about a centaur,” Victoria added. Then she was suddenly smiling and waving. Alex looked back to the four carnies to see they were all staring at him and the Guild. They had been noticed. Hopefully, the four carnies would not suspect they had been overheard.
“Let me introduce you,” Victoria said, trotting toward the four carnies.
Alex and the rest of the Guild followed. As they approached the four carnies, the Giant stood up to his full height of fifteen feet. He, the dwarf, and the two entrancingly attractive women all smiled as Victoria approached.
“Victoria, good to see you again,” the giant rumbled, his face breaking into a wide, gap-toothed smile.
“Where have you been hiding?” the dwarf said, smiling through his bushy bearded.
“It’s good to see you, as well,” Victoria said. “I’ve been busy helping Daddy, so I haven’t had time to catch up with everyone.”
“I am glad to see he has let you have some fun today,” one of the bewitching twins said, her voice as cheerfully charming as the look on her face.
“Your father is very brilliant, but he works you too hard,” the other twin added with a delicate frown. Alex noticed he was not the only one affected by the considerable charms of the twins. Rafael, Ben, and Clark had all acquired a slack-jawed look in the presence of the women.
“A little hard work never hurt anyone,” Victoria said. “Allow me to introduce my friends.”
“No need for that.” The dwarf laughed.
“Yes,” the first twin said in a honey-toned voice. “Everyone has heard of Alex Ravenstar.”
“And his Guild of Young Sorcerers,” the second twin said.
“Then allow me to introduce you,” Victoria said, a pleasant smile on her face. Alex was impressed with Victoria’s composure, given what she had heard seconds before and what that seemed to imply about the four carnies. It made him admire her even more. Something he hadn’t really considered possible.
“This is George,” Victoria said, gesturing toward the towering giant. “Or Graceful Giant George, as his act calls him. His brother, Horace, runs the Ferris Wheel.”
“I do a juggling and acrobatic act,” George said.
“With Oanadin,” Victoria said, nodding toward the dwarf.
“We juggle things,” Oanadin said. “He doesn’t juggle me. Except for the grand finale when I get launched into the air from a seesaw.”
“Nope,” Ben said, glancing up at Clark. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Hmm, I didn’t say anything,” Clark said with a chuckle.
“And these are the Siren Sisters,” Victoria said. “Elektra and Medea. Or Medea and Elektra. I’m never quite certain which of you is which.”
“You had it right the first time,” Elektra said.
“We have a sideshow act,” Medea said mysteriously as she smiled at Alex and the Guild.
As sirens, the twins had an unnatural magical power to sway the attention and intentions of men, and to a lesser degree, women. Alex wasn’t sure what their sideshow act might entail, but he felt certain Victoria would not approve of him finding out.
“It was nice to meet you all, but we should get going,” Alex said, keeping his eyes deliberately away from the twin sirens. “There’s still a bunch of stuff we want to see before the Founders Festival begins.”
“It was a pleasure meeting you,” Elektra said.
“Yes,” Medea said. “Maybe we will run into you again sometime.”
Alex and the Guild waved goodbye to the four carnies as they walked back to the main part of the carnival.
“You were very impressive,” Alex said to Victoria when they were far away from the four carnies.
“Cool,” Ben said. “As a cucumber.”
“Unlike you,” Daphne said. “I think there’s some drool on your shirt from staring.”
“Sirens,” Ben said. “How are you not supposed to stare at sirens?”
Clark laughed and Daphne turned to him. “You’re no better. Your mouth was so wide-open, I’m surprised a gorping bird didn’t nest in it.”
“Ah, I wasn’t staring,” Clark said. “Besides, they weren’t any prettier than…than…well, any prettier than usual.” Alex had a good idea who Clark thought was prettier than the Siren Sisters. Unfortunately, for Clark, the prettier person remained unaware of his opinion. Or, maybe, that was fortunate for Clark.
“Who cares how attractive they are when we know who they are working with?” Rafael said.
“Good point,” Ben said with a sigh.
“You’re sure you heard them mention the bank and a centaur?” Alex asked, looking between Rafael and Victoria.
“Positive” they both said at the said time.
“Jinx,” Daphne said and slugged Rafael in the arm.
“One of us is supposed to say it,” Rafael said, rubbing his arm.
“Yeah,” Daphne said with a grin, “but Victoria is too nice to punch you, so somebody had to do it for her.”
“I don’t understand,” Alex said, ignoring Daphne and Rafael. “I only heard three voices in the tent.”
“You never were very good at math,” Nina said. “If we found four of you-know-what’s friends, then that can only mean there are more than three of them, which means there may be more than four; in fact, it means there may be a whole bunch of them lurking around, and for all we know, half the carnival is in cahoots with you-know-what.”
They were all quiet for a moment as they walked and the implications of Nina’s mathematics sank in.
“I can’t believe half the carnival would be involved,” Victoria finally said. “But at least we know four people we can keep an eye on.”
“None of them sounded familiar,” Alex said. “So I doubt one of them is the leader, but maybe one of them will lead us to the leader behind all this.”
“Do you think we should go back and try to follow them?” Victoria asked.
“Maybe later,” Alex said. “Maybe tonight. We stand out too much in the daylight. For now, let’s see what else we can find. We might get lucky again.”
“Only you would think finding out the number of evil carnies had doubled was lucky,” Rafael said.
“It’ll be twice as much fun,” Alex said as the others groaned.
They continued searching through the late morning and, as it drew closer to the time of the Founders Festival, the size of their group began to grow. The first to join them was Eleada. Ben insisted they stop by her archery range and say hello. Just to be polite. Morning was apparently a slow time for archery challenges, and Elaeda put down her bow and announced she would walk with them to the Founders Festival in the center of town.
It seemed most of the carnies planned on attending the festival. With all of the townspeople heading there, the carnival would be empty, anyway. Alex wondered aloud why the Festival wasn’t being held at the carnival grounds, only to be informed by Daphne that the local shop owners, like her parents, the town bakers, had insisted on it. Normally, the Founders Festival was a lucrative weekend for the shops in downtown Runewood. With the arrival of the carnival, the shops would see less business than normal, so the local business council had insisted the actual festivities take place in the town center as usual.
Not surprisingly, Rafael somehow managed to steer the group past Kendra’s sideshow attraction. A few minutes later, she walked beside Rafael as the group headed for the main entrance. A few minutes after that, the group came across Leanna and Nathan moving boxes beside a tent. By the time the ticket booth at the entrance was in sight, the size of Alex’s protective entourage had nearly doubled.
Rafael walked beside Kendra, laughing as the color of their skins changed from red to blue to green to gray, in some sort of competition Kendra seemed to be winning. Ben walked beside Eleada, his neck permanently bent back so he could talk to her. Clark’s neck looked a reverse image of Ben’s as he stared down to talk with Daphne as they walked side by side.
Nathan had somehow managed to end up walking with Victoria, a feat of maneuvering that both impressed and annoyed Alex. Nina, deviously loyal sister that she was, succeeded in inserting herself between the two centaurs and peppered Nathan with a series of endlessly inane questions that seemed to amuse Victoria as much as they disconcerted Nathan. Alex didn’t know how much chocolate his sister’s goodwill would cost him, but he was certain it would be worth every bar.
That was how Alex found himself walking beside Leanna.
“Have you been enjoying the carnival so far?” Leanna asked, glancing over at Alex.
“You mean besides having thousands of pounds of a carnival ride collapse on my head and being trapped in moving magical boxes?” Alex asked with a small laugh.
“Right. Beside that.”
“I’ve been having a blast.”
“That’s good. You don’t seem like you’re enjoying yourself. You look like you’d rather be doing something else.”
This was true, Alex realized. Firstly, he’d rather be walking with Victoria. Not that Leanna wasn’t nice. And pretty. And she had saved his life. But then, so had Victoria. And Victoria was…well, she was Victoria. She encompassed so much in Alex’s mind and heart that it was sometimes difficult to see past her at all. And then there was the other thing that he would rather be doing — looking for the Shadow Wraith’s followers. He knew who four of them might be. And, they might lead him to the others. Or, hopefully, to the artifact prohibiting astral travel within the carnival.
Wait. Was that true?
Alex asked himself. Was astral travel impossible inside the carnival? Maybe the barrier only kept an astral traveler from crossing into the carnival. Maybe if his body was in the carnival grounds while he was in astral form, the barrier might not work. Maybe he could hide in the carnival after it closed and spy in astral form. He’d have to know first. He’d have to test it. He’d have to try astral travel from inside the carnival.
The prudent thing to do, he realized, was to wait until after the Founders Festival and return to the carnival and attempt to astral travel while his friends watched over him in some safe and well-hidden place.
Prudent. Him. Alex Ravenstar. He almost laughed aloud at the thought.
“Are you okay?” Leanna said from beside him. “You’re kind of quiet.”
“I’m not sure,” Alex said, a possible plan percolating up within his mind. They were almost to the main entrance. In a few seconds, they would be outside the carnival proper. If he wanted to test the barrier, he would have to do right then.
“I’m not feeling so well,” he said to Leanna as he came to a stop. “Catch me.”
Alex let his knees buckle and fell to the ground. Leanna reached out to catch him. As he felt her arms lowering him to the ground, he breathed out slowly, relaxing his body and mind and focusing his will on shifting into his astral form. It was not easy. He was used to making the transition while in a quiet place like his bedroom or the White Glade near Batami’s hut. Around him were sounds of hurried movement and the concerned voices of his friends. He blocked them all out and grasped at the state of mind right at the edge of his consciousness.
A moment later, Alex hovered in astral form above his friends as they clustered around his apparently unconscious physical body. Alex took a moment to note with an inner swell of emotion how quickly Victoria moved to kneel by his side.
Then he was willing himself to the main entrance of the carnival. Clearly, the magic that prevented him from entering the carnival in astral form did not prevent him from astral travel within the grounds. Or was that true? Appearing at the main entrance, he felt no barrier at all. Willing himself across the threshold of the entrance, he watched people walking toward the town center, some glancing back to see what the disturbance behind them was. Looking to where a boy had fallen to the ground.
Alex willed himself forward toward the town center, flying over the trees and streets. His movement came to a jarring halt so abruptly, he was almost forced back into his physical body. He felt like an insect smashed into a plate glass window. Then the sensation evaporated. Curious, he moved forward. Again, he encountered the barrier, but closer to the town center. The barrier was no longer around the carnival. Was it possible it was moving toward the town? That would mean the artifact creating it was…
Alex sputtered and blinked and coughed. There was water on his face and up his nose. He looked up to see Victoria staring down at him, her face contorted with worry. Behind her, Alex could see Nina and the rest of the Guild, their faces similarly distraught with concern.
“Are you okay?” Victoria asked.
“You just collapsed,” Leanna said from beside him.
“It’s lucky she caught you in time,” Victoria said.
“Thanks,” Alex said, turning to Leanna.
“You had me worried there for a minute,” Leanna said, gently patting his chest. “You’re dehydrated. You need to drink more water in this kind of heat.”
“Here,” Victoria said, offering Alex her canteen. “Have a sip of water.”
“Thanks,” Alex said, taking a sip from the canteen Victoria had been carrying on a strap across her shoulder. Centaurs drank a lot of water and Victoria always had a canteen handy. “I think Leanna’s right. I got dehydrated.”
“This heat is dangerous,” Kendra said, bending down to examine Alex. “I’ve seen camels collapse in heat like this when we were in Egypt.”
“Water,” Ben said, said taking a sip from his own canteen. “His brain is probably like a dry sponge.”
“A very small, dry sponge,” Rafael said, snagging the canteen from Ben and taking a gulp.
“Not enough water in his body,” Eleada said, frowning down at Alex. “Eat something salty as soon as you can. It’ll help you retain the water.”
“What does Mom always say about drinking enough water?” Nina asked as she poked him in the arm.
“Something about drinking enough water?” Alex said, trying to act like he had woken from a faint and not as though he had made a significant discovery about the Shadow Wraith’s followers and their abilities.
“Stupid,” Nina said. “They should have named you Stupid.”
“Do you think you can walk, Bonehead?” Daphne said.
“I’ll be fine,” Alex said, taking another swig from the canteen and climbing to his feet.
“Ah, maybe we should let you rest for a bit,” Clark said.