The tailor nodded. “He’s a very busy, very important man.”
Ignacio cursed. This wouldn’t do. He needed answers now. During his last correspondence with the Defiant, they’d told him the debtors’ prisons had been emptied out and the prisonerscarted to the front lines to take over for the fallen officers. They weren’t soldiers. They had no place in battle.
“Better scram before you miss the show.” The tailor shoved something into Ignacio’s chest.
A mask made to look like a weasel.
“Is there deeper meaning to you giving me this animal in particular?”
He looked up then, but the tailor was already walking away, getting ready to wrangle some other sucker inside his buttercup-colored tent.
Chapter 5
Esmeralda
Esmeralda tugged the hood of her cloak tight over her face as she walked toward the black-and-white-striped tent that stood erect at the center of the carnival. She still wore her dove mask and didn’t want anyone to stop her and ask for a free fortune telling. Or worse, have no one recognize her at all as she greedily watched the other performers in the Big Top.
But watch she would. Because if she was going to become the next main act, she needed to understand what captivated the audience the most.
Would it be the way Pilar and Camila worked in tandem as they lifted a ton’s worth of marble pillars over their heads? Perhaps it was how Anella the Contortionist bent her body at the oddest of angles? Or how Paco appeared so calm and collected while he strutted over scorching coals? Hopefully, a death-defying act wasn’t a requirement for the Running because Esmeralda couldn’t do any of those things.
She had her own sort of magic to offer, of course. She wasbrilliant with her cards and could woo a crowd with her dazzling smile, but how could she make that translate to the center ring? How could she add the entrancing spark of danger that lifted audiences into a standing ovation? Having people scream her name would be thrilling indeed.
The Big Top grew closer. She winced. The entrance felt like a gaping mouth filled with sharp teeth. Except instead of teeth, it was a passageway filled with thousands of dark mirrors that forced you to look at your own reflection. Which she hated. All the strange mirrors, the way her face and body contorted as she walked through, made her cheeks flush from dread. So much so that sometimes she even felt feverish after exiting on the other side. Bogged down as if she’d been drained of all her energy. Esmeralda shivered at the thought. But besides going to Clown Alley and entering via the performers’ accessway, the mirrored tunnel was the only path into the massive tent.
Cheerful horns began to blare. The first act was about to start. She quickened her pace.
“Oof!”
The sound burst from her lips as she ran beak-first into something hard and unyielding. Her eyes watered, and she lost her footing from the sudden force.
Hands wrapped around her biceps, steadying her.
“Apologies,” a deep but youthful voice said. “Are you okay?”
“Hardly,” she huffed.
The tall young man wore a stiff coat with a hood over his head. He sported one of the weasel masks from the tailor’s shop—which signified they had someone untrustworthy intheir midst. He could be an officer. A tax collector. A scorned lover. Someone who the tailor deemed deceitful. One of the ratas would find him soon enough and kick him on his rear out of the gates.
She lowered her head even though she had on her mask.
If it was an officer, she was done for.No, she reminded herself.You are part of the carnival. You are untouchable by the comandante’s cronies.But still, best not to push her luck. “If you’ll excuse me…” She tried to back out of the weasel’s hold, but his fingers tightened ever so slightly around her arms.
She went rigid but recovered her charm quickly. “You can unhand me now, doll. You have saved me from tumbling onto the ground.” She freed herself and offered a tiny bow. “My hero.”
Quickly, she swept around him.
He stepped forward. “Wait…”
An explosion rattled inside the Big Top, followed by the screams of the audience. The young man ducked to the ground. His hands went over the hood covering his head as if trying to shield himself from some invisible bomb that was sure to drop. He must’ve been a soldier. One who’d seen the terrors of Comandante Olivera’s bloody war. She wasn’t sure if she should snicker at him for being one of the comandante’s puppets or feel sorry for him. Either way, he was safe now. Wars weren’t being waged within this circus tent. Ilda the Rocket Woman was just being blown through the air by a cannon.
Esmeralda used the distraction to slip away from him. She burrowed herself into the crowd that had yet to enter the Big Top. She glanced over her shoulder as the customers surgedforward, anxious to get to their seats. The weasel slowly rose. He didn’t even flinch when a juggler on a unicycle nearly crashed into him. His gaze was scouring over every reveler.
She gulped and pushed deeper through the throng to shield herself.
If he figures out who you are, he will arrest you.
“No,” she whispered to herself. Officers held no power within Carnival Fantástico because of the king’s not-so-secret deal with the rail masters.
