Challa (21 page)

He was certain of one thing, though. Hall knew about Challa being a real alien. Whether or not anyone else associated with the carnival knew the truth, Compton couldn’t guess, but it wasn’t relevant, in his opinion. The important thing was that he would have to deal with Hall if he was to convince Challa to come back with him.

Confrontation wasn’t a stranger to Compton. Not after two tours of duty in war-torn Uzbekistan. If Hall wanted a fight, Compton had no problem with that. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that, but Compton was prepared, just in case.

The world seemed brighter and fresher as he pulled onto the road. With any luck, he would see Challa again before the week was out. If he was blessed, she would be returning home with him.

Smiling, Compton turned left at the next county road and began to head north.

Chapter 26

Flyer

The woman stood on the sidewalk, facing the front of the little diner and coffee shop. For several minutes she stared at the flyer now taped to the inside window. Someone had come into the shop and asked Mitzi if they could leave the advertisement in the window. Other than that, that was all she knew about it.

Lawson Hall’s World Famous Carnival and Sideshow.

There were a handful of photos superimposed on each other, each one revealing an act from the traveling road show. But it was the picture near the bottom and its caption that gripped her.

See Challa, the Alien Girl! A real alien from outer space!

If she didn’t know any better, Hannah would swear it was a picture of Tiron.

Flipping open her cell, she punched the speed dial number to the lumber mill. The receptionist answered.

“Tumbril Harbor Mill. How can I help you?”

“Trudy? Hi! It’s Hannah.”

“Hannah! Hi, hon! How’s it going?”

“Fine, thank you. I’m calling to see if you can get a message to Jeb for me. It’s not an emergency.”

“Sure. I’ll put a note in his box so he’ll see it when he comes in. He usually checks for messages around lunch.”

It was a little after eleven, and already the diner was beginning to fill up with the local lunch crowd. Before too long she would be too busy to take a call.

“That’s great,” she told the receptionist. “Tell him I called, would you? Tell him Roni’s sister might be coming to town.”

“Sure thing, Hannah,” Mitzi promised. “Is that all?”

“Yeah. I’m at the restaurant. If he wants to, he can call me after the lunch rush.”

“Not a problem, sweetie. You have a good day now. Don’t work too hard.”

Hannah thanked her and hung up. The men at the mill weren’t allowed to have their cell phones on their person when they were working. Phones were too much of a distraction, and one unexpected ring could cause a serious accident when they were around the saws. Jeb had told her the guys had small lockers to keep their personal belongings in. To be on the safe side, she phoned his cell and left a voice message.

She knew if she really wanted to, she could send an emotional call to him. But she didn’t want to give him the impression this was an emergency. Hannah knew he could already sense her excitement.

Her third call was answered by the person she was hoping to reach.

“Northeastern University Science Center. This is Dr. Drumman.”

“Hey, Sarah! It’s Hannah!”

She could hear the woman’s smile over their connection. “Hannah! Hey, what a surprise! What’s up, sister-in-law? You normally don’t call me in the middle of the day.”

“I think I’ve discovered another Ruinos.”

Sarah’s voice immediately dropped. “Where?” the woman almost whispered. “In Tumbril Harbor?”

“Yeah,” Hannah nodded, even though she knew Sarah wouldn’t be able to see her. “Well, almost. There’s a carnival and sideshow heading this way. Someone put a flyer advertising it in the diner’s window. It says ‘Lawson Hall’s World Famous Carnival and Sideshow’, and one of the acts it’s promoting is called ‘Challa, the Alien Girl’. It says ‘see a real alien from outer space’.”

“What makes you think Challa is a Ruinos?”

“I vaguely remember Jeb talking about a Challa being onboard the spaceship when they escaped from the Arra. I left a message at the mill and on his phone for him to call. I’m waiting to hear back from him.”

“Want me to ask Simon at lunch if he remembers a Challa?”

“Would you? But I haven’t told you the best part. They have a picture of this Challa on the poster. Sarah? It looks like a photo of Tiron.”

Sarah heard the woman gasp in shock. “Oh, geez! Okay. Let me talk to Simon and see what he wants to do. I’m guessing we may be heading your way this afternoon. Have you spoken to Thom or Roni yet?”

“Not yet.” Hannah smiled and waved at two customers who greeted her as they entered the coffee shop. “Sheriff Klotsky and Thom usually come by around one thirty for lunch. I’ll catch him then. If I don’t see him, I’ll leave word at the station.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Sarah acknowledged. “I’ll ring you back shortly.”

“Okay. Talk to you later, then. ’Bye.”

Closing her phone, Hannah tucked it into her apron pocket and went back inside the diner. The troops had been notified, and before nightfall they would have a plan readied before the carnival arrived in town.

Another female Ruinos.
Hannah smiled to herself. With luck they would be able to reach her before the Arra did.
As long as she hasn’t found her life mate yet. Please, let’s hope she hasn’t found her blood mate.

Because if she had, it may already be too late to save her.

Chapter 27

Weaker

The carnival reached Carter Straits by midafternoon the next day. There was an arena on the outskirts of town with a large enough parking lot. Lawson had them wait there while he went back into town to get whatever permits they’d need. It was late when he returned. There wouldn’t be enough time to erect the rides, but the sideshow could put on a performance. Lawson ordered the main tent erected first.

Challa remained in the Lebrands’ van and watched the frenetic activity. The potato salad still churned inside her stomach, sending rancid acid percolating at the base of her throat.

She probably had a fever. Then again, maybe Ruinos didn’t get fevers. Humans did. Their faces turned pink, and sweat rolled down their skin, and they radiated heat like a living stove. But whenever they got a fever, that was proof positive that the person was sick.

Oh, and if they threw up, that was proof positive, too.

Challa knew she was going to throw up, but the fever part was iffy.

The side door slid open. Allen stuck his head inside. “There you are! Lawson said to get your costume on. The sideshow is going on tonight.”

“Tell Lawson I don’t feel so good,” she replied. Her mouth felt like it was slowly melting off her face. The potato salad roiled with oily mayonnaise. Carefully, Challa got out of her seat and made it over to the doorway as lunch crawled up her throat. Somehow she made it outside, stumbled over to the small drainage ditch nearby, fell onto her hands and knees, and finally gave in to her body’s demands.

For the first time in her life, Challa vomited.

The air was foul. Her body was rebelling, and there was nothing she could do except wait it out and pray it would all be over soon.

She never heard the sound of boots tramping over the gravel roadway, heading in her direction, until they were nearly upon her.

“What’s going on, Challa? Allen says you’re throwing up.”

She kept her face down, unable to lift her head to look up at him.

“I don’…feel good.”

Lawson knelt beside her and placed the palm of his hand on her forehead. “You’re sweaty. What did you throw up?”

“’Tato salad.”

“Damn food poisoning’s what you got. That place had no business putting mayonnaise in their potato salad. I’m betting you got food poisoning. Shit! Come on, Challa.” He took her by the arm and helped her to her feet. The vomiting had left her weaker than before. She had no energy left to stand on her own, much less walk.

“I’m sick, Lawson.”

“I can see that. Allen, carry her over to my bus, would you?”

The big carnival manager hoisted her into his arms and took her across the parking lot to Lawson’s converted bus. Inside, he laid her on the small, padded seat lining one wall. Lawson was right behind him, as well as Cora Lebrand.

“I gotta see to tonight’s lineup. Shit. We can’t use Challa when she’s feeling like this. Can you watch her until I get back, Cora?”

“Sure thing, Lawson. Not a problem.”

Challa was vaguely aware of Cora covering her with a quilt of some sort and sticking a thermometer in her mouth. When it beeped, Cora pulled it out and checked the readout, frowning. “That can’t be right. Let’s try this again.” The thermometer went back into Challa’s mouth for another countdown. The second time, Cora sighed over the numbers, mumbled something about it being broken, and got up from where she sat on the bench next to Challa.

“I’m afraid to give you aspirin. It might upset your stomach even more. Do you feel achy?”

“Yeah.” In fact, no matter how she moved, Challa felt like one gigantic bruise.

“Well, now that you’ve gotten that crap out of your system, you should start feeling better soon. Why don’t you go ahead and take a nap? I’m going outside to help set up. I’ll be back in a bit to check on you.”

The last thing Challa heard was the door opening and closing. At some point she fell asleep. When she awoke, she felt worse than ever. The bus was dark, but with her Ruinos senses she could tell she was alone. In the distance she could make out the rinky-tink music Lawson pumped through the P.A. system. And voices. She could make out voices, but not what they were saying.

She had no idea how long she had been out, but at least it was nighttime now. Her mouth felt bloated, and she was thirsty. She tried to roll onto her side, but it hurt too damn much. Slowly, Challa shifted into her true self, hoping she might have a little more energy by being Ruinos. The effort proved futile.

Closing her eyes didn’t help any, either. Compton’s face was always there, smiling at her, leaning closer to kiss her or whisper something loving against her skin. His brown eyes were warm, caring, sending her signals that tingled all the way down to her toes. And the air around him shimmered with the warm vanilla scent of his hunger for her.

At the thought of him, her heart imploded a little bit more, becoming squashed and flat like an empty can. She coughed, and the pain made her moan.

Compton, what are you doing now? Have you discovered we’ve left? Do you even care that I’m gone? Or that I won’t be coming back?

Do you even care enough to try to find out where I am?

She couldn’t dwell on the questions because she already knew the answers. And they were enough to make her cry herself back to sleep.

Chapter 28

Notice

The phone rang in the middle of supper. DeGrassi picked it up from where it was sitting next to his plate and checked the caller I.D. “It’s the office,” he told the others as he flipped open the receiver. “DeGrassi.”

The next instant, he raised a hand and snapped his fingers twice. The others stopped eating and listened in.

“Where now? Yeah, yeah, I know where it is. Okay, thanks a bunch, George. No, no. We got it covered. Thanks for the offer, though. See you tomorrow. G’night.” Grinning, he closed the cell. “The sheriff over at Barkette County wired in that a traveling carnival just applied for a three-day permit over at Carter Straits. The sheriff there is going over to check them out.”

“Is it the Lawson Hall carnival?” Tiron questioned.

“Yeah,” he told his wife.

Hannah glanced over at her husband. “How far is Carter Straits from here?”

“A little more than an hour’s drive.” Jebaral checked his watch. “Should we take two vehicles?”

DeGrassi nodded. “It would be the smart thing to do, in case we run into any trouble. When did Simon say they’d be here?”

“Any time now,” Hannah replied. “Look. Why don’t I stay at the house and wait for them? You go on ahead and get Challa.”

“It may be close to midnight before we get back,” Jebaral noted.

Hannah smiled and leaned over the table for his kiss. “If you tell me not to wait up, I swear I’m gonna smack you one.”

He laughed. “Fair enough. Smack me on the lips instead, and I’ll see you later tonight.” Hannah accepted her husband’s quick kiss as the others rose from the table.

“We’re taking my truck and Roni’s SUV,” DeGrassi announced as they exited the house, pausing on the front porch.

“You guys seem pretty sure Challa’s going to want to come back here with you,” Hannah said, following them outside where Jebaral handed her the keys to his truck. She leaned against the porch railing to watch them getting into the vehicles.