One Smart Witch (The Hollowbeck Paranormal Cozy Mysteries Book 2) by Amelia Ash & Kim M. Watt

Author:Amelia Ash & Kim M. Watt [Ash, Amelia & Watt, Kim M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sterling & Stone
Published: 2024-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

The carnival creeps on

I made it all the way to the bottom of the pole and collapsed into the sawdust with a whimper before someone started applauding. I looked up without moving from my prone position to find three ethereal figures watching me, the low light of the tent rendering them ghost-like, their hair drifting silver and their skin almost translucent. The trapeze artists. Ambien, Amtrak, and Ampersand, perhaps? My brain couldn’t come up with anything better.

“Well done,” one of them said. “That was highly entertaining. I was betting you were going to fall, to be honest.”

“It was very hard to bet against the falling,” the person on the left said, and the one on the right sighed and said, “I’d even figured out what points to allocate dependent on the style of the fall.”

“Thanks so much,” I managed. “I appreciate the confidence.”

They all leaned over me, their features in shadow, and I sat up rapidly. There was too much of an alien autopsy vibe going on to stay where I was.

“She did get the pigeons out,” one said.

“I did,” I said, and stood up, still feeling a little wobbly. Now I was upright, they were less alarming. Their height was as uniform as their long thin noses and wide-set eyes, and I was taller than all of them, which was a novel experience around anyone over the age of twelve.

“They made a mess, though,” one said, and drifted languidly to the pole.

“Less of a mess that if I’d left them in here,” I pointed out, and watched them scale the pole effortlessly, almost running up it. None of them answered, the second one wandering off to scale a different pole and the third looking at me with pale eyes, a small frown line crinkling their forehead. “Yes?” I said.

“You look familiar.”

“I saw you in the food tent — the canteen — last night. I’m Liz.”

They tipped their head. I was still struggling to remember their names — one name had been distinctly feminine, but I couldn’t have said which of them it belonged to. There was something oddly undefined about all three of them, making it hard to be sure of anything other than their paleness and homogeneity.

“It wasn’t then,” they said, but held a hand out. “Art.”

“Hi,” I said, and shook their hand. It was cool and strong, callouses hard under my grip.

“Amelia,” they said, pointing at the creature who had run up the pole I’d just about fallen off. I could see them dimly, standing casually on the little platform and stretching. “Alan. Or Al, rather.” They pointed to the other one. “Don’t worry if you get us mixed up, though. Everyone calls us all A, because it’s easier.”

“You don’t mind?”

They shrugged. “Saves us remembering anyone else’s names if they won’t remember ours.” They grinned, displaying small sharp teeth, and looked up at a sudden rush of movement. I looked up too, in time to see Al sweeping through the air, one arm clutching a trapeze carelessly.

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