“Of course. Now, do you want to try your hand at a ring toss, or maybe darts at a balloon?”
She wrinkled her nose and checked her pocket, pulling out a few bills. “I think that the hoop toss is about my speed.”
“Hoop toss it is.”
She smiled politely at the young man at the booth and said, “I would like to try, please.”
He was bored, and he handed her three rings in exchange for two dollars. She glanced up at the wall of toys and then down at the pegs.
She looked at the ring, noted its imperfections, held it lightly, and threw it at the bottles in the centre of the booth. It sailed over the red-banded bottles and snagged on the black.
“Winner!”
She frowned. “What about my other two tosses?”
He raised his hands and stepped back. She focused again and struck the second and then the third black rings. Lights and sirens went off. The teen was screaming, “Winner!”
Imara blinked rapidly and looked at the barker. “What can I pick?”
He reached up and was going to give her the lion, but she held up her hand. “The black panther, please.”
The youngster grabbed the medium-sized toy with fluffy fur and huge green eyes.
“Thank you.” She smiled brightly and turned to Argus. Her date was bent over, laughing.
She linked her arm with his and dragged him over to the darts. “I have something for Mr. E, now something for you.”
It was another round of precision and checking the weighted darts, but she walked away with a lovely fluffy griffin for Argus, and he was still strangling himself with amusement.
“Those are fun. Now can we try a ride?”
He looked at his griffin and grinned. “Yes, of course. What do you want to do?”
She cocked her head up at the swings and wrinkled her nose. “I can already fly, so why not one of those ones that goes around backward?”
And so, they walked amongst the other folks out for a fun afternoon and drifted down toward the ride that let out a siren and then swirled backward on a loop.
She looked around and then she got excited. “Can we go on that one instead?”
Argus looked down at her with his golden eyes resigned. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Yes, I am.”
And with her heroic and charming companion resigned, they got in line for the spinning teacups.
All Imara remembered of the ride was laughter flashed with a feeling of being rather ill.
She leaned against Argus and made a face. “That was a mistake.”
“Yes, but it is one that you needed to make for yourself. Are you up for the haunted house?”
She looked at him with her eyes narrowed. “Does it mean we have to pass the food stall?”
“No. It is in the other direction.”
“Excellent. Nothing like some fun and festive ghosts.”
They got to the line, and she leaned against Argus. He wrapped his arms around her and ran his hands up and down her spine like they were a normal couple.
When they were fourth from the front of the line, he lifted her chin on his knuckles. “Feeling better?”
“Yeah. Who knew that those little cups would make me and Mr. E so queasy?”
Her kitten was clinging to the side of the panther she had won, between it and her body. He was still looking a little woozy.
“They are famous for it, but you need to rack up these experiences for yourself.”
She smiled. “Yeah, thanks for that. At least this one just goes around and tries to scare us.”
“Yes, but a lot of couples use it as an excuse to make out.”
“Is that a suggestion?” Her cheeks got pink, she could feel it.
He smiled slyly. “Merely a commentary.”
Imara could feel the pull of a spectre, but it was hard to pin it down. There was shielding in the way.
“I am going to feel so protected with you next to me, surrounded by all that metal.”
He kept an arm around her and gave her shoulder a squeeze to let her know he was catching on.
The line moved forward, and the couple ahead of them got into the car. Imara watched the attendant lock them in with a snug-fitting bar, and she leaned her head against Argus. If he was snug, she should be able to get out if she needed to.
Their car came around, and she kept the stuffed animal and Mr. E between her and the bar.
Argus also slid his arm in between them and flexed as the bar came down. The result was that as the car started moving, Imara had room to spare.
She cuddled up to Argus and smiled into the darkness, “Now, let’s see what we can see.”
The shadows flexed and twisted around them, and Imara looked around curiously. She had never been in a haunted house before. She looked forward to being frightened.
Chapter Two
Imara ignored the flopping synthetic mummies, the flashes of crimson light, and puffs of smoke-filled air. There was something in the ride that was adding to the creepy ambience, and she had only touched something similar once before.
Her senses went on the alert, looking for the accumulation stone.
When spectres began to lunge out at her, she knew she was close. Argus was flinching, but he didn’t break character.
As a spectre of an old woman lunged at her, she screamed and burrowed close to Argus, curling her legs up and onto the seat. She pressed her familiar and the panther onto Argus’s lap, and when they were under the mount for the stone, she lunged upward and captured it. The spectres ceased immediately, and she resumed her seat next to Argus.
“What was that?”
She whimpered. “Sorry I am so jumpy. The ghosts scared me.”
Mr. E climbed into her lap, and she pulled the panther in to cover him as they went from dim light and loud noises to red sunset and thronging crowds.
The mechanism unlatched the restraint, and Argus left the car, taking her hand as he kept his griffin under his other arm.
He kept his arm around her as they walked down the steps. The attendant looked at her with a frown. “Is she okay?”
“It’s her first carnival, and we started with the teacups. She’s enjoying the novelty.”
The attendant laughed; they headed back to the midway at a slow and steady pace.
Argus asked casually, “What did you catch?”
“A stone that shouldn’t exist.”
“Really? That is fascinating.”
“Are they following us?”
“Oh, yes. We are going to make the exit before they catch up though, or we would if you fainted.”
She smiled and stumbled. He picked her up and carried her through the exit, with folks murmuring in their wake.
Out in the lot, he kept walking toward his vehicle, but the multiple feet scraping on gravel proved that they had, indeed, been followed.
“Put the lady down and hand over the stone.”
Argus turned with her in his arms, and he looked at the humans who were demanding the stone. “I am sorry. I don’t know what you are referring to.”
“Your lady friend grabbed a stone in the haunted house. We need it back. It is a vital component of our operation.”
Imara looked them over and didn’t see a Death Keeper in the bunch. She murmured to Argus, “They can’t carry it.”
“Why not?”