THE SIXTH

 

My gasp filled the air as I landed on my feet. My wide eyes looked around the cozy space.

A tent. I was still at the circus.

I turned, hands balled into fists. The navy tent fabric rippled in the breeze coming through the open flap, silver star-shaped wind chimes clattering overhead.

There the man sat, fiddling with a mechanical gadget and not even paying me any attention. The table before him was covered in metal pieces, like oddly shaped bolts and gears.

“Excuse me?” I said, snapping my fingers in front of him.

The man shot me an annoyed look past his droopy eyelids. Then he went back to his fiddling.

I huffed. “I know you saw me,” I said to him. “In the Trite world. I know it was your eye; I recognize your tent.”

The man only shrugged. “What of it?” He looked up again and raised his brows.

“Uh…” I blinked. “Why? Aren’t you even going to tell my why you’ve been watching me?”

“You tell me.” The man finally put down his gadget. “I’m busy, as you can see. So. Out with it.”

I made a face. Good grief. “You were watching me in my world. Not helping, I should clarify, just watching. If you’re a Guard of Doors, you should at least have the decency to ask why I needed help in the first place.”

The man huffed and stroked his white beard. Then he picked up the gadget again and rattled it. “I haven’t been called upon to guard the integrity of the intersects in eight full seasons. Then a song rings in my ears right in the exact middle of the midday feast at my mum’s seasonal birth celebration. And now, I must be dreaming a thing or three, because it seems as though you’re blaming me for it.”

“So you are a Guard of Doors.” I stood straighter. “Did you open a door to my world?” I blurted, dropping into the chair across from his table. He picked up a tool and began twisting something on the side of the gadget.

“No. Not a full one. Just one the size of a button, really. Just big enough to see what the trouble was.” The man set the gadget down and reached for a needle and some thread. “Now tell me, girl, what in the name of tooting-tootlebees do you want?”

His fingers worked as he asked, and I clasped my hands together below the table.

“Well, I want to be able to come and go between the Trite world and Winter whenever I need to. I want a door.”

The man slowed his stitching. He set the needle down, and when he looked up, he blinked. “Impossible.”

My chest deflated. “I’m the last Carrier of Truth in Winter. I’m—”

“Yes, yes, I know what you are.” The man waved me off. “Still. Impossible. I was instructed never to get involved in personal interests. Otherwise, I could be bought off, and there are rules to uphold, you know.”

“So…you’re a follower of Elowin?” I asked. “Did he give you that rule?”

“It’s not my place, girl.” The man smacked his hand on the table. “I’m not to speak of such things, and you are not to know them.”

My jaw tightened and I strangled my fingers below the table.

“Well, if you change your mind…” The man chuckled when I didn’t finish the sentence.

“I know where to find you.” But it was clear he never intended to come looking for me again.

“What’s your name?” I asked anyway.

“Questions, questions.” The man shook his head. “I’m Obb. Now, out that way, if you please. Left, then right a time or three. You’ll find your way out if you keep moving and don’t stop to think.” He nodded toward the tent flap.

Realizing our chat was over, I reluctantly rose from my seat to follow his instructions. I glanced back at the white-bearded man before I left, but I couldn’t come up with any more arguments. He was back to studying his gadget, my plight already forgotten.

“If you change your mind,” I said again, interrupting his work, “please find me.”

I went left on the path like Obb said. I took a few right turns, but I doubted the vague instructions would lead me out. When I took my third right, which should have taken me back to where I started, I saw what the old man’s instructions were really leading me to.

Zane stood at the end of the path in his blue imperial coat, a hand holding tightly to his pecan hair. When he saw me, his greying eyes fired to life, and he broke into a jog.

“Ragnashuck, Trite!” he called on his way.

I thought he would be relieved to see me, but as he drew closer, I saw the scorching sparks in his eyes, and the tight twist of his mouth.

He looped his arm around my shoulders and ushered me through the twists of the circus to where the others were waiting in the sleigh. Mirkra squirmed, and Timblewon was tapping his foot against the sleigh floor. The sleigh began moving before Zane had even climbed all the way in.

Minutes into the choppy ride, Wanda and Kilen seemed to forget what had happened; they whistled in off-key harmony. Timblewon was fidgety, looking off at nothing, stealing a glance at Apple, then at Zane, then at me, then off at nothing again.

“I’m so sorry, Timblewon. I’m heartwrenched,” Apple finally said. “I truly thought they’d never recognize you with my costume.”

Timblewon surprised us with a laugh. Then he laughed again, louder, until he was hunched forward. The sound echoed over the hills, warming the cool night.

Mirkra laughed too, crossing his burly arms. Kilen burst into giggles, and Wanda chuckled. Apple relaxed, her dark lips pulling into a smile, and finally Zane—who’d been snobbish and tight-lipped the whole ride—cracked a smirk, his dimples showing.

I couldn’t help myself when I saw them all howling at the Winter stars. My laughter mixed in with the choir, and I slouched back against the bench, dragging the horrendous fruit-basket hat off my head.

“How are we going to sneak back into the factory?” Kilen asked when we slid down the last hill.

“Not to worry, friends. Everyone should be in bed at this hour.” Apple stole another look at Timblewon when he wasn’t looking, regret flickering across her brown eyes.

But Mirkra still smiled. “Did you spot the unmerry look on the infamous Sigrion Mellstellie’s face when Timblewon let the lions out?”

“I did more than that. I snatched the ashworm’s pocket watch too. Look!” Timblewon yanked a bronze chain from his jacket and a heavy pendant unrolled, dangling in the moonlight.

Mirkra threw his head back and roared, driving everyone back into a melody of snorts and giggles.

But my smile melted away as I observed the snowy night flakes wandering from the heavens, adding new layers to the drifts.

Kaley would have found Lucas by now. If Lucas had agreed to go with her, they’d be arriving at the Green Kingdom soon enough.