It couldn’t be.
The woman held out her palm. “You’re the bee’s knees,” she rasped.
Esmeralda balked. That was what she and Camila said to each other whenever they parted.
“Camila?” Esmeralda whispered.
“Don’t just leave my hand out here to dry.”
Esmeralda licked her thumb and sizzled it into Camila’s palm. “You’re the cat’s meow. But…”
Camila gave a half smirk. “Not too shabby for a vieja, huh?”
Ignacio placed a gentle hand on Esmeralda’s shoulder before stepping closer to Camila. “You’ve aged even more since I left you,” he said.
Gabriel strode beside him. “Probably five years within the last half hour.”
Ignacio rubbed the back of his neck. “We must find a way to stop her aging before it’s…” The wordstoo latehung in the air like tiny grenades.
“Can someone explain why Camila looks like she’s in her eighties?” Esmeralda whisper-yelled.
“It was Tezcán,” Ignacio said.
“And that evil ringmaster too,” Camila added. “He sent me into the Fun House.”
“Same. He directed me to go there after he heard me andEsmeralda speculating about where you might be.” Gabriel frowned. “Little did I know our ringmaster was trying to feed me to some creepy devil.”
“But why?” Esmeralda wondered out loud.
“Tezcán mentioned Camila’s youth was the payment for the enchantments,” Ignacio said. “The god offered to tell me the truth about my mother. All I had to do was offer Gabriel to him. Give him Gabriel’s cleverness in exchange for the knowledge I needed. He can grant us our deepest desires, but he requires a soul of equal measure to fulfill those wishes.”
A thought slammed into Esmeralda. “The card I was given today for the final challenge mentioned that Ángel is looking for his perfect match. He needs a showstopper like him.”
“An equal exchange,” Ignacio whispered. “The rule-breakers and disqualified performers are enough to exchange for the magic that powers the carnival, butheneeds an equal exchange too. He needs someone like him. Have you seen how much the ringmaster has aged as well? He needs a star. A young, beautiful, charismatic showstopper to sacrifice for his wish. Someone like you.”
“I’ll thank you for calling me those things later.” She knelt beside the bed and took Camila’s hand. Her skin was paper-thin and cold as ice. “But what do we do right now? How do we change Camila back?”
“I don’t know. Destroy the mirrors?” Ignacio suggested.
Gabriel nodded. “That might sever the link between the god and this world.”
“But willshecome back?” Esmeralda looked to her friend. “No offense to the older you. You look wonderful. It’s just…”
Camila laughed. “You don’t have to explain. I understand and wholeheartedly agree.”
“Tezcán said he wasn’t finished feasting on her. Maybe he didn’t have time to steal all her youth. Maybe we can reverse what he started. But we won’t know if breaking the mirrors will work until we try,” Ignacio said.
Esmeralda stood. “Then let’s go try.”
“What about the ratas?” Gabriel asked. “They’re running about the carnival like it’s been robbed.”
Esmeralda winced. “That’s my fault. I may have thrown General Keara over the catwalk.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me,” Gabriel deadpanned. “Either way, we have to get into that Fun House and destroy the mirrors. But it’s got to be teeming with guards. We’ll need a distraction.”
“A distraction,” Esmeralda said to herself.
She’d heard of intrusive thoughts before. Random things one thinks about doing even though one knows it is wrong or would cause harm. Esmeralda had had one such thought since the day she entered the carnival.
