The boy wove through the crowds of the carnival shoving his way to the sideshow tents Darkened pathways swarmed with fire-eaters sword-swallowers and contortionists but the boy would not be tempted from his mission to see the legendary and most feared of them all the Amazing Mussini Whispers pulsed around the tent like the lightning bugs filling the dark summer sky with tiny bursts of light The line quickly thinned the boy’s body tingled as an Asian girl her neck covered in tattoos escorted him to Mussini He stumbled toward the great magician His throat tightened as he made his request eyes heavy with awe I’ve come to hear the secret The magician waved him closer Mussini grinned from under his black top hat He offered the boy a deal for the secret he wanted to hear was the most expensive of them all The boy tried to steady his hand as he signed the contract Thick ink oozed from the tip of the pen like tar or blood The aged paper cool to the touch held the sour stench of death The boy squinted at the contract the words swirling fast a contract on his soul to be collected in fifty years time to enjoy his secret time before Mussini would
A dark web of words spooled from Mussini’s lips The boy stared into the black pools of his eyes caught in the ebb and flow of his voice And when the story was over the secret told only then did the boy realize what he had done The mistake fresh in his mind the boy pleaded for mercy But the magician roared with laughter his contract ironclad No room for second chances The raucous crowd around Mussini drifted toward the boy Fearing for his life he burst out of the tent The night rang in his ears the air stung his lungs A sudden burning on his flesh brought him to his knees a tattoo appeared on his wrist the mark of the magician himself Mussini It was then through the pain and fear the boy decided he would study the strange ways of the magician learning everything he could about the world science stars and magic anything to combat the wicked curse laid upon him return and collect his price The only thing the boy was sure of clutching his wrist was that when Mussini came back in fifty years the soul he took would not be his
Suspension was just another word for vacation Jack Carr dug his hands into his pockets and strode right out of the principal’s office past the receptionist’s desk and out the front door He could use a little time off from the sordid hallways of McDovall Academy crowded with misfits and delinquents Reform school was having a bad influence on him A rusted Buick idled in front of the school and a cloud of cigarette smoke drifted out when he opened the door and climbed in Mildred Crosby his social worker had been courting retirement since she met Jack He wasn’t sure why she didn’t kick back and start collecting her Social Security checks but Mildred just wouldn’t quit Once she told him it was to keep him from raining terror on poor unsuspecting foster families but Jack had a feeling she had a soft spot for him despite his bad behavior
