“Can you at least move that damn torch away from my eyes.” I growl.
He softly chuckles, deep and unnerving.
“Yeah, you’re her. You sound just fucking like her.”
Before I can even understand what he meant by that, he turns to the light away and I hear something heavy land on the floor.
Through my blurred eyes, I watch as he crouches in front of the cage and uses cutters to break through the lock. The cage door creaks open, and he leans inside, snipping through the ones locked around my ankles and wrists.
“Get dressed and I’ll take you to her,” he says while backing away and standing upright. “There’s some clothes in that bag. Go have a fucking shower or whatever. No one else is here. I’ll be waiting outside on my bike.”
Confused, I finally look up to catch a glimpse of the stranger in front of me and I feel my chest tighten. One glowing black and white spiral eye stares back at me, the other covered by a black eyepatch. His face is painted with skull-like features and swirls.
“Who are you? And who do I sound like? Take me to who?” I murmur, feeling reluctant to trust him after everything.
He tilts his head to the side, his eye studying me.
“Get the fuck dressed, Arabella.”
After saying my name, he turns to leave the room, and I crawl out of the cage, using the bars as support.
“Wait,” I demand, and he stops with his back to me, so I continue. “You didn’t answer me.”
He turns his head, side-eying me over his shoulder.
“I’m Hellion, but many call me Hell. I’m taking you to your sister. That fucker Kyro is dead.”
I feel my heart stop as soon as he mentions her. She’s alive? But I have no time to ask any more questions. He walks out, leaving the door ajar, offering me freedom.
Chapter Two
On the back of the face painted strangers motorbike, the roar of the engine vibrates through me as I grip his shoulders, my fingers digging into his leather jacket just slightly. The towering trees on either side of the road swallows us in darkness, but as my eyes scan the deserted woods, a flicker of colour catches my attention.
Bright, flashing lights pulse through the gaps in the trees like a heartbeat. Reds, blues, and white flashing against the night. He swerves left down a narrow road and I lean forward, peeking over his shoulder just as something big comes into view—a carnival.
A monstrous, frightening sign arches over the entrance, its peeling paint barely holding together the lit-up letters. The bulbs around it flicker in irregular bursts, buzzing like dying fireflies.
Welcome to Oddity Carnival & Cirque
The bike rolls straight through the gates, no ticket booth, no one stopping us. The moment we cross beneath the sign, a wave of sound crashes over me. But it’s a bizarre, twisted steam organ melody playing, just slightly out of tune. Laughter rings out, but it’s disjointed, frantic, like someone is chuckling through clenched teeth or a mouth stretched far too wide.
When he comes to a stop, cutting the engine, he kicks out the stand and I hop off the bike. Still feeling like I’m caged and disorientated, I pull my sleeves further down my arms while I observe him lightening a cigarette.
I don’t even know why I’m not running from him. I’ve just stupidly got onto his bike after months of abuse and torture, and I don’t even feel like I want to run. When he said he’d be taking me to my sister, nothing was stopping me. I need to know if she’s really here. With him. At this creepy ass carnival.
“Are you her boyfriend?” I ask boldly, and he pauses as soon as the question leaves my lips.
I sense he’s something important to her or the other way around. Why else would he break into Kyro’s mansion, free me and offer to take me to her. Why would he give me a way out?
He pulls his hood over his head, releasing smoke from his nostrils and side-eyes me.
“Boyfriend?” he asks slowly, almost as if he’s toying with the word on his tongue, like it’s something that tastes unfamiliar or disgusting. “I’m no boy and I’m definitely not her friend.”
He tilts his head up, now looking at me. “She’s my little dolly. Much more to me than a ‘girlfriend’.”
I just stare at him, confused by he’s riddled words, and he raises a brow.
“Does that answer your question?”
