Chapter 3

Three

The call comes so brutally and swiftly, it nearly chokes me in my sleep. I've felt the call of the cards before—we all have—but never this strongly. Gasping for breath, I wrench myself from my small cot and cough, trying to clear the feeling of hopelessness and strangulation from my throat. Nothing I do dispels it. My chest is so tight I can't even take a full breath. Usually, a tingling sensation behind my eyes and a pull to follow a path come to me, but this time, I see her.

I see the one who calls.

I blink, and the scene before me flashes into another. I see an unfinished ceiling in an attic and blood splattered everywhere. The pain I feel is so strong, I double over, even as I try to extend the connection. Finally, I see a woman on the floorboards, unmoving. She's so small and still. For a moment, a boring two-story house flashes across her image.

Who the fuck is she, and why am I seeing her so clearly?

I want to call out, but I don't make a peep to alert the others around me in case the connection breaks. I feel as if I am being torn in two, with the woman in my vision and my cot at the circus.

Cirque Obscurum is a unique creature, and she never stops searching for freaks and outcasts. The cirque feeds on the pain and trauma that comes with being different. When we join the cirque, we swear a blood oath to her, promising to defend her and keep her going. As a child, I'd only known the magic of it, but as an adult, I recognize the danger.

What must be fed must always be fed.

The cards are an extension of that hunger, tied to our souls with the blood oath, so this feeling will have gone out to every one of us here. No doubt the others are gagging on the agony at this very moment, feeling confused and horrified by the deep anguish being pushed to us. Can they see her too? Can they taste her blood as I do?

I'm the ringmaster, so my oath is heavier than most, which means there's a chance I'm the only one who feels just how strong this call is. Whoever the woman is, she needs us now. Moreover, she belongs here.

I force myself out of my tent, stumbling under the strength of the call as I seek the other tents. Spade, Heart, and Club will have felt it, each of them as important as I am to the cirque, but as to their level of feeling, that's debatable.

When I stumble into Spade's tent, I realize I misjudged just how strong this is. I find him kneeling on the floor with tears running down his face as the emotions overwhelm him. I pull him to his feet and thrust a blade into his hand.

"Go get the others," I command, gasping around the pressure in my chest that only seems to double as I move. She's running out of time. "It's time to go hunting."

Spade supports himself against the tent poles before he stumbles out of the tent to gather Heart and Club. I watch him go, and when he's gone, I let some of my anguish out. A tear falls, and I hastily wipe it away so they won't see.

This card is different. Cirque Obscurum wants her badly.

This isn't something we can ignore.

We answer the call of the damned.

"We're coming, baby," I murmur, stepping out of the tent to meet the others. "It's time to bring her home."