“Yes, officer, a terrible fire,” Lester repeated to the policeman.
Boo was sitting behind them on a suitcase full of clothes and the sparse belongings he’d collected since he’d left Bedlam just a few years ago. Cheeks smudged with black soot, his eyes full of melancholy, he was the perfect image of a victim to an unexpected catastrophe.
In reality, the dirt on his face was gathered from when Triste dragged him out of Hell. He came to just in time to witness the last shedding of her ‘second skin’—what made a pitiable mess as it turned to ashes. The hollow depravity in his eyes came from the visions he witnessed within Odium’s domain. He met somebody else, too. Somebody familiar. A demon. He said his name was Ieake, and that they were bound together.
Boo held his fool’s cap between his hands. He never realised how much he missed the feeling of the wind brushing through his hair until that morning. He never realised how heavy the hat was. He never realised that, all this time, what had been watching over him was not the spirit of his sister, but something far more sinister that had smuggled its way into his heart.
“And you said there were no victims to report?” Boo heard the officer ask as he jotted down notes.
“Victims? Heavens, no. We’re a carnival for goodness’ sake. We’re all just trying to gather our bearings after such a terrible …”
“… you see, other witness accounts conflict with what …”
“… surely you can understand, officer. The imagination does terrible things. We are just as shocked to hear of this.”
“… screams of the sort we seldom hear reported, ma’am. Firemen said it was like Hell on …”
“… what do you think, officer? That there were armies of ghosts haunting our grounds? That’s nonsense.”
“… similar recounts filed by Gehennic Chapels. Are you familiar with their organisation?”
A black cat brushed up against Boo’s leg as his attention swam in and out of the conversation. For now, he focused on petting the quiet creature beneath him. It made a great task of using his leg as a personal brush.
It was Nova’s familiar.
Going over its fur, he noticed something that hadn’t been there before. A white spot on its forehead. Boo’s vision went out of focus. He hadn’t seen Nova since he’d escaped the gate.
