Ignacio tore out of his father’s grasp and bolted into the darkness.
“Please!” he heard Esmeralda cry.
Ignacio’s already fast pace quickened at the pure terror in her voice.
The moment he entered the tent he found her.
Ángel was holding Esmeralda down. That blasted hand mirror in his clutches.
Ignacio tucked his head in and ran. But it wasn’t he who made it to the ringmaster first.
His father had somehow found the strength to run at full speed. He roared as he rammed into Ángel, and the brothers went flying back.
Esmeralda scrambled to her feet and staggered forward. Her eyes lifted, and she found Ignacio. A sob escaped her lips, and he thought his heart might shatter like the stone underfoot. He never wanted to hear her cry like that ever again.
She crashed into him. Her arms wrapped around his neck as if he were her only hope in the world.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Ignacio said while the two brothers fought for dominance.
“Wait.” Esmeralda grunted as she bent down and plucked up the ringmaster’s mirror. “You must end it,” she said. “This is your family, after all.”
“No,” he replied. “You are.”
But he shattered the piece nevertheless.
The center beam cracked. Slowly, it began to buckle.
“Go!” Father bellowed. “Now!”
Ignacio scooped up Dovie and ran.
The tent fell as soon as they exited the hallway of broken mirrors.
Gabriel hit the fuse box and the tunnel exploded in a cloud of sparkling fragments.
Screams of horror rang through the cotton candy–colored sky as a plume of shimmering smoke blotted out the earlymorning sun. Slowly, everything in the carnival began to age. It was as if invisible hands had taken hold of the magic and were peeling back the façade.
The costume Dovie wore shifted from pearly white to a dingy shade of cream. The billboards that posted the carnival rules began to crack and splinter. Glitter that had fallen to the grass dissolved into the early morning breeze.
He gently placed Esmeralda down and they faced the wreckage together. His father was in there. And Ignacio wasn’t certain whether he should be devastated or relieved. Was it terrible to feel both at once? His father had done vile things, but he had loved Ignacio in his own sort of way. Still, that didn’t mean he deserved Ignacio’s love in return.
Fingers slid into his hand and squeezed. Ignacio’s heart did the same.
He gazed down at the girl he’d loved for most of his life. And for once, she had nothing snappy to say, which made him chuckle.
“Are you laughing at me?” she asked, her nose scrunching.
Gods, I love when it does that.
“No. Well. Maybe.”
She scoffed but pressed in closer to him. And he didn’t dare complain.
After a long moment Esmeralda whispered, “Happy birthday, Pigeon.”
Ignacio’s eyes widened. He’d completely forgotten the date. Understandably.
Her arms wrapped around his torso. “I know what I shall give you for a gift.”
