Page 87 of You Can Make Me
Stay calm for Cooper.
Twenty-Two
Cooper
Dane blew out a breath and let his fingers hover over the planchette. “What do we need to know? What do we need to end this?”
“Where they took Denny,” Kal said.
Walter reported in that they’d lost the signal on the panic button, but that it hadn’t traveled far. An officer was going to see what he could find at the spot where the signal dropped.
“We have to stop Evans once and for all,” Dane said.
The two men looked to me, and I blanched. “I…yes, of course.”
“Okay. Focus on the questions. Whatever happens, we stay together.”
I nodded, but as our fingers lowered toward the planchette, several thoughts shot across my mind like a comet.
Why is this happening? Where did it all begin? Why does Evans want the carnival so badly?
I hadn’t thought to ask the men how it would be different than my dreams. There wasn’t time.
I felt the plastic under my fingers and a sensation as though I’d stepped off a roller coaster onto steady ground.
A gravel parking lot.
Mom holding my hand.
The sun so bright I have to cover my eyes.
I’m bouncing on my toes and pulling on her fingers. “Please, Mom? Please, I wanna go.”
“Frank,” she calls to Dad as I tug her from the car.
“I’m coming, I’m coming.”
Dad puts the sun visor in the windshield of his prized Cadillac, combs his hair in the rearview, and then climbs out.
I take both their hands, but I don’t swing anymore. Instead, I do a twisty step that kicks up dust.
“This place is…interesting.” Mom covers her eyes and looks around. “Kinda run-down, don’t you think?”
“It’ll be great, Mom. I bet they have trapeze artists and games. Can I play games, Dad?”
Mom leads me to the gate, and I realize there’s not that many people out for a Saturday afternoon in April. I wonder why.
Dad gets the tickets for us and steps behind me, giving me a little nudge.
“All right, son. Hand the man your ticket.”
I take the ticket from Dad, and when I turn back, there’s a man standing at the gate. He has dark hair, rich tan skin, and he’s wearing a white shirt and a top hat, and a cape! He smiles at me, and his eyes…they’re majestic. So many colors.
He takes off his hat and bows to me, and it takes my breath away. He holds out his hat. “Tickets, please.”
But then an ominous cloud passes over, and his eyes go dark.
I reach out to drop mine into the hat, but he pulls it back.
