Miss Nobody Draft 24 Ch 3 FREAK SHOW

Chapter 3

FREAK SHOW

The door creaked open. Jess stepped out barefoot, holding a bottle of something glowing faintly green in the dark. "Homemade. Chef says it's a rosemary aperitif. I say it's witch piss." She handed me a cup, then twirled in her long slip of a dress. "You clean up well," she said, eyes gleaming. "Though... I liked the dirt under your nails," she whispered. "Like you crawled here from the underworld itself."

"Sorry about that." I sipped and gagged but was too embarrassed to spit so I swallowed the drink back and tried not to choke. It somehow tasted like black licorice.

"Don't ever apologize to me." She sipped and watched me over the rim. "Welcome to the freak show," she said quietly behind her cup.

The door opened again and Cherry emerged pushing a cart, flanked by Roman carrying a large portable speaker. The neon lights spinning around the edges seemed out of place amongst all the antique furniture. "This one better not suck," she said, jabbing him in the ribs.

"I made a playlist. Don't ruin the vibe."

"Your vibe is doom metal and sad boy soundcloud rappers."

"So, same as yours then?" He answered back swiftly.

They laid out blankets, pillows, and a few trays of finger foods.

(add in jane meeting Nen, and two other women that work at the lodge.)

Chef came back with a tray of glasses and a plate of sliced nectarines with honey and basil. "No scallops were left," he said flatly, "but I went to the very bottom of the cellar and dug out a bottle of the good wine."

"Blood of the gods?" Jess whispered dramatically.

"Close enough," he said.

We drank. Ate. laughed at stupid things. And I wanted to cry with how good it felt. Had I ever been a witness to this much life before?

But then he was there.

Jonny Zantana, black sleeves rolled up revealing more of his tattoos. And all the oxygen outside was sucked away.

My skin tightened.

Jess saw him too. She smiled brightly and sauntered her way to him, drunk on more than wine. "You finally decided to join one of our parties." She purred and slid her hand down his arm. "You left early this morning."

Had he been in her bed? I sipped at my nearly empty cup and watched the tree branch sway in the light breeze. Pretending my heart wasn't trying to escape from my chest and that I did not give a fuck who Jonny was fucking.

He shrugged. "I do have a life outside of this mountain." The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

"Is that so?" Jess laughed, a musical sound that penetrated my skin. "You haven't left the Lodge in almost three years and all of a sudden you have a life?" She teased. "We'll see about that." She pulled on his arm and had him sit at the table with Cherry's tarot cards. "Cherry." Jess called. "Tell us the man's fate." She laughed.

Cherry sat across from him and shuffled her cards.

Jonny drank from a glass beer bottle and his gaze found mine. He smiled and said, "Only if Jane goes first."

Jess and Cherry looked at me expectantly. Like I was the last thing in their way to knowing the secrets of the universe.

I couldn't say no. I needed friends, not more people who hated me. I threw my empty cup in the trash and sat between Jonny and Cherry at the small table. I was very careful not to let my leg brush up against his.

Cherry held the deck towards me. "Knock three times while asking your question." She directed.

I knocked but I couldn't think of a question fast enough.

She flipped over the first card.

The Hanged Man.

Jess leaned in and let out a low whistle.

My stomach flipped.

"Suspension," Cherry murmured. "A liminal state. You are not who you were and not yet who you are becoming." She flipped over the second card. "Six of Cups." She frowned. "Memory. Nostalgia. Something... or someone, you've known before."

"Or you're being haunted," Jonny said lowly.

I tried not to look at him. I kept my eyes glued to the card but I could feel him looking at me. "Or hunted," I said barely a whisper.

"How do you know?" Jess looked surprised. "I thought you didn't believe in this stuff?" She asked Jonny.

"My brother," was all he said.

"You have a brother?" Jess was surprised again.

He shrugged. "He's into... whatever this is."

"Is he cute?" Jess asked with a flirty smile.

He laughed.

"And the last one." Cherry flipped it over.

Judgement.

All of them stared at me.

Cherry exhaled. "Rebirth. Revelation. But only if you're willing to be seen. Fully. All of you."

The silence was heavy.

Jess cleared her throat. "Intense. Hope you brought your trauma journal."

I laughed quickly and wanted to stand. Wanted to run away but something kept me anchored to that spot, millimeters away from Jonny. His hand rested on his thigh, mere inches from mine. His pinky finger drummed up and down, like it was reaching for me.

"Mr. Zantana's turn," Jess said.

Cherry reshuffled.

"If you give me the death card I'll throw this deck in the fire." He grinned but we knew he meant every word.

Cherry held the deck to him unamused.

He knocked on it three times. His hand grazed my thigh as he brought it back under the table and I nearly lept out of my skin.

She flipped over the first card.

The Tower.

Jess laughed nervously. "Damn, Cherry, you are pulling out all the doomsday cards tonight."

Jonny shrugged. "I like towers. They usually have decent views."

Cherry flipped the second card.

The Moon.

"Secrets," Cherry said. "Deception. Dreams. Something is stalking you in the dark."

Jonny sat a little straighter in the chair, his thigh pushed up against mine. He didn't move it.

I tried to calm myself as I thought about him in my dream. Him kissing me against the gravestone. His hands roaming across my skin like worship.

Jess rolled her eyes. "Tell us something we don't know."

Last card.

The Lovers.

Jess broke the silence. "Now we're getting to the juicy part."

"Choice." Cherry's voice was steady. "But not the romantic kind. This is a fork in the road. One path will destroy you. The other might save you. But you don't get both."

Jonny's jaw clenched before he asked, "do you believe in Magic, Jane?"

The answer stuck in my throat. No one had ever asked me that before. When I was researching sleepwalking I came across articles about Magic. But no one really knew what it was, or how to use it. The few who did never lasted long, or they never talked about it. Real Magic was kept very hush hush and underground. Most didn't believe it existed or pretended not to. Too many feared it and the rest... wanted to use it for their own gain. Even if it meant their ruin.

Jess interrupted before I could answer, "Pull a clarifying card, Cherry. There's more to the story."

Cherry hesitated but pulled one more card and flipped it over.

Death.

Jonny laughed. A hearty laugh that echoed over the patio.

"Transformation," Cherry whispered. "Total, irreversible change. Something in you must die for the rest to survive."

"No pressure." Jess said with a bright smile.

He turned to me with an amused smile. "What do you think, Jane? Should we trust the cards?"

"What would your brother say?" I said a little too prophetically.

It caught him off guard. His jaw clenched before he plastered his grin back on his handsome face. "My brother would've charmed all of you so the cards never came out in the first place." He drank the rest of his beer and stood, grinning as he tossed it in the trash. "And he'd make you think it was all your idea."

I didn't watch him to see where he ended up. But I felt it. Like the tide slipping back before a wave swallows everything. My chest hollowed. My skin still tingled from where he pressed against my thigh.

Jess sat in his empty chair, the heat came off her in waves. "Well that was depressing." She leaned back. "I told you he was acting weird." She directed at Cherry. "He won't even flirt back with me." She pouted.

Cherry didn't say anything but continued to look at me.

I stood and walked to the edge of the trees, out of the lights, to disappear into the dark before anyone could ask me anything else. Because I didn't know.

Roman stood next to me, sipping a beer and staring into the dark like he was waiting for someone just out of reach.

"Ben should be here," he said suddenly.

"Ben?"

He looked at me, eyes glossy but not unfocused. "Mr. Zantana's nephew. He worked here over the summer. We'd sneak into the wine cellar and drink until the stars doubled. He has the kind of laugh that could crack ribs. And a dick that wouldn't end."

"What happened to him?" I was afraid to ask.

"Jonny sent him away. Said it wasn't 'appropriate'." His voice dropped, bitter. "But I loved him. Still do. Not that it matters."

There was a shift in the air.

He looked at me again. "You ever feel like the mountain's watching you?"

"I feel like everything is watching me." I shivered.

He smiled, and it wasn't sad. "Then maybe you belong here more than any of us."

The music changed, something softer, older, full of longing. Jess lit sparklers and danced barefoot through the gravel, sparks flying in her wake. Cherry lit one too but swirled it around slowly in front of her like she was trying to induce a trance.

(scene with nen)

Jonny watched me, lifted a beer bottle to his lips. Some of the other employees surrounded him. Eventually Jess was one of them. She laughed and followed Jonny's gaze to mine.

She walked over to me, a gleam in her eye. She grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the gravel.

I winced at the cuts and bruises already on my feet.

"Dance with me." She pulled me against her body.

I looked at the gravel.

"I can teach you." She grinned wickedly. "Stay on the balls of your feet. Don't stomp or put your heel down first. Stay light, like you're walking on hot coals or flirting with the demons of your past."

She pulled me closer and I tried to balance on the balls of my feet.

"Tiny steps, roll from one foot to the other slowly. It's a sensual negotiation not a march." She said lowly as she swayed us back and forth.

I couldn't tell if her instructions were working or if I was just too drunk to feel anything.

She spun us around in a circle, her hands sliding from my waist to my back, pressing me into her. We moved as one, fluid and laced in seduction. "Let that thick skin kiss the ground. Your heel should flirt with the gravel but it never commits." She stopped suddenly, breathlessly and whispered close to my mouth, "you'll learn to love it over time. The first stings." Her lips came dangerously close to mine before she spun away again. "Don't try to float like a fairy. You're not above the earth, you're of it." Jess shuffled closer to me, biting her perfect, unsmudged, red lip between her perfect white teeth. "You like women, Jane?"

I knew she was talking about in a more than friendly way. I shrugged. She was very attractive.

She kissed the corner of my mouth, lingered long enough to draw blood from Jonny's attention.

And it worked.

Jonny was watching. Jaw tense, bottle forgotten in his hand.

Jess spun away from me, triumphant.

I stood there, shocked, drunk. Dizzy. But not from the kiss, though that wasn't unpleasant, but from the way I could feel him. His eyes on me. Burning holes through me like a magnifying glass.

"Making friends already?" He appeared in front of me, two cups full of glowing liquid. He handed me one.

I took it and forced a shrug. "She was teaching me to dance." I sipped, forgetting what the drink tasted like.

His gaze dropped to my bare feet. Scraped, bruised and sore from this morning. "You've been doing more than dancing." He said sharply.

I tucked one foot behind the other. "It's fine." He didn't need to know about my sleepwalking. Did he?

"Doesn't look fine." His voice was low and tight.

I bristled. "It's just gravel. Gravel does that."

He studied me like he knew I had just lied to his face. "Did you go for a walk?" He bit his bottom lip between his teeth. Like he had to keep from yelling at me. "Was it this morning?" He didn't give me time to answer. "You shouldn't be out walking alone. There's bears and other-"

"That's what Chef said."

"Chef?" He nodded. His eyes shifted blame from me to Chef. "He knew about this?"

I felt like I was being interrogated again by the police after my accident. I crossed my arms over my chest and stepped back from him.

"You shouldn't let people kiss you like that." He said more gently as he stepped toward me reaching out like he was going to touch me but pulled away before he did.

I touched the corner of my mouth. "It wasn't a real kiss."

"You should go to bed." He shoved his fist into the pocket of his pants and his other hand tightened around his cup.

"Why?"

"Because if you don't move I'll forget all the reasons why I'm not supposed to kiss you." His voice was low, urgent.

"Who said I wanted you to kiss me?" I asked too defensively. Sharper than I had intended. A bluff in a game I didn't know I was invited to play.

"Because you're still looking at me like you're waiting for the real kiss." He leaned in slightly, just enough that I could smell him. Cedar, and cinnamon, something alive underneath. The hops on his breath. The heat from his skin. The tension between us like gas waiting for a match.

I didn't move. Didn't breathe.

He wasn't wrong.

And that was the most dangerous part of it all.

Cherry came toward us with fresh glasses of alcohol.

Chef yelled. "It's going on the new menu. Everyone drink up."

Cherry took our empty cups.

Jonny grabbed two new glasses and handed me one.

Cherry lingered. "I had a dream about you, Jane." She smiled. "You were on fire but wouldn't burn." She turned and drifted away.

"I can walk you back to your room." Jonny offered.

And I nodded instead of politely declining like I should have fucking done.