She slammed the mallet into the mirror.
And waltzed away.
Chapter 48
Ignacio
Ignacio stood on his tiptoes and cracked a hanging mirror in two.
The Fun House trembled violently. The bulbs overhead swayed, casting ominous blood-colored shadows on the black walls.
An eruption of explosions boomed in the air outside the tent, followed by whizzing sounds and crackling pops.
“Gabriel must have set off every firework in the carnival,” Dovie said as she met him back at the fork in the maze.
Something crashed into the roof of the Fun House. The canvas glowed orange before catching ablaze.
Ignacio took her hand. “We better run before the whole thing topples on our heads.”
“Wait!” She wiggled out of his grasp and marched toward the final mirror. It was a small oblong piece that hung low to the floor and could have been easily missed. Esmeralda snagged one of the obsidian stones on the floor and chucked it into the glass. It webbed with a satisfying crack.
The ground shook. The bulbs overhead began to pop one by one. The largest of the poles holding the tent up snapped clean in half.
They bolted toward the exit. Even from inside the labyrinth walls, Ignacio could see the frenzied chaos outside. People were running one way, screaming as an angry herd of elephants rumbled after them. Horses whinnied and galloped by. A carnival hand ran in the opposite direction holding buckets of sloshing water.
The cold air slapped against Ignacio’s sweat-slicked skin the second he and Esmeralda stepped out of the tent.
“Holy shit,” Esmeralda panted.
The booth adjacent to the Fun House had completely crumbled in on itself and was fully engulfed in flames.
People were trying to extinguish the blaze with water, but the flames only grew.
“Look!” Esmeralda pointed to the small tent beside it.
Ignacio’s eyes landed on the tent’s sign:
Combustible Bubbles. For When Beans Just Won’t Do.
There were tonics of numerous shades and colors displayed on shelves inside. Each had sketches of various sizes of explosions depicted on the labels.
The fire crawled closer to the jars.
“It’s going to blow!” someone yelled.
Everyone began to scramble away. Bodies were trampled and pushed and kicked.
Someone rammed so hard into Ignacio’s shoulder that his hold on Esmeralda’s hand faltered. And she slipped away.
30th of May, 1920. D+P: Age 17
Dovie. Why did I see you climbing so high up the avocado tree this morning on my way to school?
Because I was searching for avocados. Obviously.
You should be careful.
Would you catch me if I fell?
