Carnival Souls

Together

Owen stood outside Lira's door, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He didn't understand why Genzel couldn't have told Lira himself.

"You two will be traveling together so you better sort out whatever is going on between you," the old man had said when Owen protested.

He hadn't seen Lira since their argument several days ago, electing to spend nearly all of his time in Genzel's shop and taking his meals back to his room at odd hours. His anger had long since faded, but he had no desire to confront the awkwardness between them.

Taking a deep breath, he rapped on the door, sending a quick prayer she wouldn't be home. But after several seconds, the handle turned and a sliver of her face-one green eye, part of a nose, and half of a turned down mouth-appeared in the doorway.

"What do you want?" she asked with all of her original hostility.

It was a shame, Owen reflected, that they had been pushed back to where they had started. He had thought she was finally beginning to warm up to him at dinner the other night, before things had turned sour.

He offered her an easy smile, hoping to distill the tension. "I have a message form Genzel. Can I come in?"

"Why can't you just tell me out here?"

Owen glanced down the hall and dropped his voice. "He said it was for your ears only."

For a second, Lira just glared at him. Then she closed the door, slid back the chain, and threw it wide. He followed her retreating form into a room of similar size and furnishing to his own, closing a door he saw had not one but two locks. Glancing around, he realized that where his room was mostly bare, with the odd bit of wood carving here and there, Lira's looked much more lived in: a testament to how long she had been here.

Several books were stacked haphazardly on her desk along with pages of sheet music. A quilt hung off her unmade bed as if she had just gotten out of it. Several paper lanterns casting different colors of flickering light floated near the ceiling. The smell of lavender seemed to fall gently from them as they bobbed against the walls. A white flower in a small pot sat on the windowsill, it's head bowed under the weight of its own petals.

Owen found himself wondering if she had tried to recreate her own room in the human world or had merely made due with what was available in this one. It was unlikely that boy band posters or other paraphernalia that usually decorated teenage girls' rooms would be easily obtained in the spirit world.

The thought made him wonder what kind of room Emma Thompson had. She didn't seem the type for boybands and frilly décor. Then again, neither did Lira.

"So what's this big secret message?" asked Lira, sitting on her bed and breaking his reverie.

Owen explained how Genzel wanted her to come with them to play her music for the water spirits and watched as her eyes went wide with both excitement and fear.

"But why now? I've never gone before."

"He's already cleared it with Bebinn. But there's more." He told her about what Jacks had said: how Genzel would help them if he could.

Lira put her knuckles to her lips, brow furrowed in concentration. "But that must mean-" her eyes brightened and she turned to Owen with such an expression of hope he felt his heart skip a beat. "He's giving us a chance to find Zabaria!"

Owen nodded, trying to keep his face composed. "I think he is."

Her shoulders slumped as a new thought crossed her mind. She looked out the window. "But how will we find her? I've never left the carnival and Atlas won't tell me where it is. We can't just wander the spirit world aimlessly."

Owen paused to think for a minute on the pretext of looking over Lira's sheet music, which was just a jumble of nonsensical symbols to him. He didn't know Atlas very well, at all really, but the two girls were obviously close.

Being prisoners together for years has that effect, he thought. Which made it seem even more odd that Atlas wouldn't want to help her friend. Remembering Lira's defense of Atlas at dinner, he spoke up cautiously.

"You don't think Atlas would help if you asked?"

To his surprise a mixture of defiance and distress gave Lira a pained, troubled expression, as though two different sides of her were at war. She opened her mouth, took a deep breath, looked away and let out a long sigh. When she spoke again, it was to the window in a voice that caught on every fourth word as she tried to articulate her internal dilemma.

"Atlas has been here for years, has been here for me for years. I would never have survived this place this long if it wasn't for her. She keeps me sane. But...she's accepted that this is all there is. She wants me to be happy, at least as happy as I can be here, and I think she believes the only way that can happen is if I accept it too.

"Sometimes, I think I have. It's both nice...and terrifying. To think this is all there is and be okay with it. But then you showed up. You gave me...hope? I'm not sure if that's right." Lira turned to Owen and fixed him in her solemn green gaze. He shifted his weight under the scrutiny. For some reason, he felt like she was looking through him, like he was suddenly naked and exposed.

"You made me realize that accepting my fate here is not okay."

Owen nodded, unsure of what else to say. Heat rose in his face. Despite Lira saying otherwise, he felt as though her hope was suddenly pinned on him and something inside him was desperately afraid of letting her down.

She saved him from responding when she added, "I'd like to leave Atlas out of it, at least for now. I don't want her to get into trouble after everything she's done for me."

"Of course," said Owen. If he was being honest, he was glad not to involve anyone else yet. Not when they weren't even sure what they themselves were getting into. But her mention of trouble reminded him of a more immediate threat.

"There's, uh, something else," he said. He scuffed his bare feet along the worn wooden floor.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Bebinn threatened to bring my brother here if I caused any more trouble. I-I don't know if I can risk that."

Lira grimaced, knowing full well it was she who would actually be the one dragging his brother into this hell. "Well that's...not good," she said. She rose to her feet and paced around the room, tapping her fingers to her lips as she thought. Finally, she pivoted to Owen, her expression determined. "If it comes to that we can just take him home with us. With any luck, Bebinn will never know we went to see Zabaria until it's too late."

Owen shook his head. He had thought the same thing. "But what if our luck runs out? I can't bring my brother to a place like this." The very thought of it made him ill.

Lira was across the room and barely a hand's breadth from Owen in the space of heartbeat, her green eyes full of fervor as she looked up at him. "I can't do this on my own, Owen. I need your help."

Against all rational thought, against all the potential pitfalls he could see looming on the horizon, Owen nodded again. He knew that they couldn't not try when this might be there only chance. "We'll go," he said. "Together."

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Apologies for missing the Friday update! But hey, now there will be two updates this week haha.

So this chapter actually turned out very different from how I originally planned it. Not entirely sure I like the way it turned out, so feedback is always appreciated! Also, it's time for another pace-check. How do you guys, as readers, feel about how fast/slow the story is moving at this point? I'd love to hear your thoughts! :)