The Immortal Circus (Cirque des Immortels) Read Online Free PDF Page B

trailer, right outside the door to my bunk.
She’s got a shit-eating grin on her face and a book in her hands.
    “I hate you,”
I say. I put a hand on my door.
    “I warned
you,” she says. “It’s for your own good.”
    “What do you
mean?” I ask. “I just watched…” I pause, trying to find the right words. 
“Actually, I have no fucking clue what I just watched.”
    “Probably
exactly what you think you did.”
    “What was that?”
    She gives me
a small smile.
    “You know
those stories you heard growing up? All those fairy tales about shadows in the
woods and monsters under your bed?”
    I nod slowly.
    “Yeah, well,
that’s the Winter Court. They’re the creatures you’re taught to fear. Once
every couple of sites, Mab throws a party for her most beloved subjects.”
    “Now you’re
just being a bitch.”
    “What?”
    “You
seriously expect me to believe that Mab — Mab , who is currently wearing
a teddy as an evening gown — is the queen of the faeries? Like Shakespeare’s
Queen of the Faeries?”
    “She’s older
than Shakespeare,” she says as though it’s obvious. “She just liked him well
enough to let him write about her.”
    I sigh and
lean against the trailer, which makes the whole thing rock a little. Hopefully
it didn’t wake anyone up.
    “This place
is fucked up,” I say.
    “What was
your first clue? Signing your name in blood?”
    I close my
eyes. The memory is vivid, the sear of pain as my name inked itself on the
final line on a blurry page of contractual obligations. I hear the creak of
Mel’s chair as she stands and steps over to me. She puts her hand on my
shoulder.
    “I know how it
feels. Most of these performers, they’ve been here thirty or forty years. They
forget what it feels like to be the new girl. I’ve only been here for five.
Some days the first day feels like yesterday.”
    I force away
the images of the tent and try to focus instead on this moment, on the kindness
in her words. This is the first time we’ve really gotten the chance to talk, at
least without Kingston around. I want to hate her for giving me the ticket, but
it’s hard to be mad at someone who’s actually seriously seeing you when
no one else does. Would she still look at me that way if she knew what I
thought of her boyfriend? I try to shove my guilt and the question down to a
place neither of us can see it.
    I open my
eyes.
    “I’ve got
your back,” she says.
    “Thanks,” I
say. Would you still, if you knew how I feel about Kingston?
    “Of course.”
    She smiles
and steps back, walks over and picks up the book from where she dropped it on
the ground. Then she turns to me.
    “That’s why
I’m going to tell you to be careful.”
    “What do you
mean? You’re the one who gave me the ticket.”
    She shakes
her head.
    “You had the
black mask. At worst, you’d have seen a couple mortals get eaten in some
sexually frustrating way. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about
earlier.”
    “You think people
will suspect me?”
    “I think
you’re liable to make them suspect you. I know that look,” she says. “Today,
when we were practicing. It’s the I think I can be a heroine look. But
shit’s going down and people are getting hurt, and the last thing you should be
doing is getting involved. Got it?”
    “Yeah.”
    She sighs.“I
wish I was fey.”
    “Why?”
    “Because
then, you telling me you'll stay out of trouble would be binding. Like,
contractually so.”
    “I won’t get
involved. You’re right. Mab’s got it covered.”
    Melody just
laughs and walks over to the trailer facing mine.
    “My second
piece of advice is to work on your lying. Otherwise you won’t make it another
month.”
    She looks
over to where the VIP tent is. I follow her gaze. There are shadows moving in
the field, dark, lumbering shapes that I can tell without doubt are far from
human.
    “Mab told you
about the Night Terrors?” Mel asks.
    I nod.
    “Yeah, that’s
them now. I wouldn’t