[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter Five

“This is a circus,” I said dumbly as Nick parked haphazardly in a grassy field. Tons of people were headed in the direction of the big top. Nick looked over at me and grinned.

“Yup.”

I looked over at him; he peered out the windshield happily.

“You like the circus?”

He shrugged. “I’ve never been to one.”

“What made you think of taking me to the circus?”

He laughed. “It just seemed like a very “me” thing to do.”

I smiled nervously. He frowned.

“Uh-oh. What’s wrong?”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing.”

“A frown isn’t nothing. It’s an upside down smile.”

I sighed. “Okay, well…it’s just…I hate clowns.”

Nick looked surprised. “You hate clowns? As in you dislike them?”

“Kind of. It’s more like I’m terrified of clowns.”

“But why? Tons of them squeeze into one little car and they ride around on unicycles. Ronald McDonald’s a clown. Are you saying you have a hatred of Ronald McDonald? Isn’t that anti-American? When did you start hating on clowns?”

I fidgeted in my seat. “It’s silly.”

“You have me curious now. Spill the beans.”

I sighed. “Okay. When I was little I snuck out of bed and hid behind the couch while my mom and dad watched Stephen King’s It. I have had an unreasonable fear of clowns ever since. I still see the clown nose coming out of the bathroom sink and spraying the little girl in blood.”

Nick smiled. “If I promise you that no one’s nose explodes will you give it a chance?”

I sighed. It was ridiculous. I was twenty six years old. I shouldn’t let a movie that had scared me when I was five years old still freak me out. Circuses were fun…right?

“It’s fine,” I said lightly. “This will be fun. They have funnel cakes, right? I love funnel cakes.”

Funnel cakes were my weakness.

“I will happily get you a funnel cake,” Nick promised. We got out and merged with a crowd headed towards the tent.

I hadn’t been away from Brooke for more than an hour in the whole six weeks since she was born. I felt a little pang of motherly remorse as I saw all the little kids laughing and running here and there. Nick seemed to channel my thoughts.

“We’ll have to take Brookey when she gets older,” Nick said. I nodded.

As luck would have it, we found a funnel cake stand. I watched as the batter was poured through a watering can into the hot oil.

“Powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar?” the lady asked.

“Cinnamon sugar,” I said.

The lady scooped the fried dough on the plate and liberally sprinkled the cinnamon sugar. I took the plate and inhaled deeply.

As we walked towards our seats I held the plate out.

“Want a bite?”

Nick smiled and broke off a piece. “This is so going to ruin my 2,000 calories a day limit.”

I rolled my eyes. “And Lucky Charms doesn’t?”

“Touché.”

We sat down about halfway up on the bleachers. Nick broke off another piece of the funnel cake and fed it to me. I smiled.

“Practicing for the wedding cake,” he explained.

“Good job,” I said. “I figured you’d be a cake smasher, myself.”

“Well…”

He didn’t have a chance to continue. Loud thumping music and cheers drowned out any chance of conversation as the ringmaster took center stage. For the next hour we were entertained by trapeze acts, jugglers, and sword swallowing. Finally, the ringmaster announced an intermission. We walked down the bleachers to stretch our legs.

“No clowns,” I said happily.

“Yet,” Nick said. "They save the best 'til last."

I wrinkled my nose.

We walked around to watch some of the sideshows. I felt like an idiot, but I couldn’t help look back and forth. I was on perpetual clown alert.

“Shall we?” Nick asked. I blinked, fearing that I had missed something he had said.

“Shall we what?”

He smirked. “Still worried about the clowns?”

I blushed. “Slightly.”

He pointed towards a small tent draped in exotic curtains. “I asked if you wanted to go get our fortune read.”

I laughed. “Sure.”

“At the first mention of clowns, we’re gone. I promise,” he teased.

“Ha, ha.”

We ducked into the tent. The smell of incense hung heavy in the air. The room was dark aside from some outdoor patio lights swaying slightly.

“Come in,” a heady voice croaked.

A woman who didn’t look a day over two hundred sat hunkered down in her seat. She gazed at us with watery brown eyes.

“Who wishes a reading?” she said.

Nick looked at me; I saw a twinkle in his eyes.

“I’ll bite,” he said. I sat down next to him. The woman’s gnarled hands fiddled with a deck of cards.

“What do you wish to know?” she asked mysteriously. Nick looked thoughtful.

“I don’t know. Surprise me. Let me know about my family’s future,” Nick said. He gestured between him and me.

Within seconds she laid cards out on the table. She flipped them over one by one and studied them intently. After several long seconds of silence she nodded.

“Very interesting,” she murmured to herself.

“What’s interesting?” Nick asked. We both looked at the cards. All we saw were pictures. A thin shriveled finger tapped the card at the top left.

“Ace of Wands, when reversed,” she rasped. “Crisis as yet unseen. An explosive situation is soon to start, threatening to consume all who get to close. Primal force.”

Her finger went to the card at the top right. “Four of Pentacles, when reversed. You use your power for good. You find security someplace other than in material things.”

She went on and on like this until she finally tapped the last card. “The Star. Bodies and mines converging towards the light at the end of a dark time.”

She leaned back in her chair and studied us intently. Nick’s eyes went to each card and then to her.

“I’m sorry,” he said politely. “But I have no idea what this means.”

“You have one of the most interesting readings I have seen in some time,” she said. Her voice made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“You have a pure heart. It has been said that your two souls have intersected time after time through the centuries.”

I smiled. That all sounded good.

“However, there are dark shadows ready to take that happiness away. Two dark shadows. She went back to the first card. Crisis yet unseen. Primal force.”

Nick frowned. “Didn’t you say I use my power for good or something? Can’t I just Batman the primal force out of Gotham City?”

The old woman didn’t crack a smile. “Good does not always triumph over evil.” Her eyes flickered to me and then down to my hand.

“You are planning a wedding?”

I blinked in surprise. Miss Cleo had nothing on her. I nodded. She tapped another card farther down.

“Beware the month of August.”

I sputtered. “What?!”

“You must overcome the crisis first.” She smiled; instantly I wished she hadn’t. She was missing a great number of teeth; half of the ones that remained were rotten, the others capped in gold. “Unless…”

“Unless?” I said breathlessly.

“Unless you think you can outwit fate.”

She cackled; from somewhere else in the tent I swear I heard the sound of a chicken squawking.

Nick looked at me and laughed. He seemed amused by the whole thing. He put a generous offering on the table and stood.

“Well, thank you for your time.”

Her fingers wrapped around the bills.

“Good luck to you both,” she said in barely a whisper.

I was ready to run out of the tent; Nick had other plans. He took my arm and calmly took his time looking at souvenirs. He bought a voodoo doll and handed it to me.

“What’s this for?” I asked, taking the little burlap cloth man in my hand. Nick grinned as we walked out of the tent back into fresh air.

“Think of it as Hunter. I’ll gladly stick a few pins in him myself. Consider it an averted crisis.”

He walked ahead of me, I grabbed his arm.

“Nick, you heard what she said.” I did my best imitation of the gypsy’s voice. “Beware the month of August.”

Nick threw his head back and laughed. “Oh c’mon. It’s all for fun.”

He began to walk again; I tugged at his arm.

“Nick, how would she know we were getting married in August?”

He started to shrug it off, but he must have noted the panicked look on my face because he sighed.

“C’mon Liv. What could go wrong?”

“I don’t know!” I said. My hands began to fly around as I talked; it was my telltale sign of nervousness. “But I know I can’t outwit fate. I’ve seen Final Destination. The boogie man does not like when you try to outsmart him.”

Nick started at me like I was crazy.

“I think you’re still just sleep deprived.” He began to head up the bleachers. I stomped my foot into the packed dirt.

“I’m not sleep deprived!” I said. I began to march after him. “This is serious!”

He sat back down with a thump. I flopped beside him.

“Well what do you want to do?” he said. I could tell he was just trying to humor me. “It’s not like we can call the wedding planner and say ‘Oh, hey…a gypsy told us August isn’t a good month so let’s move it up to July. Okay?’”

My eyes widened. I knew he was being sarcastic, but…

“Nick, that’s a perfect idea.”

He laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“She said beware August. She didn’t say anything about July!”

I took his hand.

“You’re a master outwitter.”

He shook his head.

“There’s no way, Liv,” he said.

“Why not?”

“You can’t just pick up all of our wedding plans and move them up a month.”

“Why not?”

He looked exasperated. “Because…because…” I saw him fumbling for a reason. He smiled.

“Because, Leighanne’s due July 9. You want your maid of honor there, don’t you?”

“If we get married July 2 we should be fine.” Deep down I knew that was a bunch of bologna, but I was in a nice little bubble of denial.

“That’s your birthday,” Nick said. On instinct I touched the heart necklace he had given me on my birthday the year before.

“So? You won’t ever forget our anniversary,” I argued. He shook his head, but didn’t say anything for a few moments.

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

I shook my head. He sighed.

“You can call,” he said. “But don’t be disappointed when the wedding planner tells you you’re nuts.”

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him softly. At that moment the ringmaster came out and the circus continued. Even though I squirmed uneasily, I even managed to sit through the clowns.

After a few crazy moments of sheer panic, I felt better. In truth, I probably should have been more concerned about the two dark shadows the gypsy had mentioned. A primal force leading to crisis should have taken precedence over the wedding. For a normal person, it would. I was far from normal.

Brooklyn and Nick made up my whole world and I was getting tired of being the only one that couldn’t stake claim to the Carter name. The only thing my mind was focused on was being a good mother and becoming Mrs. Nickolas Carter.

Voodoo or no voodoo, Nick and I would exchange vows one way or another.