Dark Rides (4 page)

He was waking up the whole carnival with the racket.

“Let’s go,” Michael said, and we ran for the car. I didn’t ask any questions until he’d put it in reverse and raised a cloud of dust around us as he drove for the farm road access, made the turn, and headed for Morganville. Not for safety, but at least for familiar territory. I didn’t breathe easier until I saw the white glow of the Glass House, our home, in the headlights, murky through the vampire-thick tinting.

I don’t think either of us wanted to know exactly what Jeremy had in mind, but I Google-flagged articles with the name of the carnival. There was an eerie silence for a few weeks after we got back, and then the mentions started appearing, slowly.

The haunted dark ride. Missing people. Investigations finding nothing.

He was out there, moving with the carnival, haunting it like a hungry ghost.

It was pretty selfish, but frankly, I hoped he’d stay out there.

I didn’t want him in Morganville.

Ever.

And that was the last time I’d ever take a chance on one of those rides, however cheesy, however safe.

“Hey,” Michael said from behind me. I shut the lid on the laptop, and Jeremy’s latest missing person, and leaned back as he put his hands on my shoulder and bent to kiss my neck – not in a vampy way, just in a sexy way. “You’ve been on there for hours. Ignoring me?”

“Never,” I said, and stood up to face him. “Real life’s so much better than internet life.”

He agreed with a kiss, a long one, sweet and cool, hot in ways that had nothing at all to do with body temperature, although his mouth took on heat from mine the longer they touched. I loved that, seeing the effect I had on him. I could change him, at least briefly; sometimes, when I woke up in bed with him, my body heat had transferred to him so effectively that he felt alive again. He loved that, too. It made him feel connected, alive, and … human.

“Bed,” he said, in a whisper that vibrated against my skin. “You and me. Now, Mrs. Glass.”

“Right now,” I agreed.

And I left all the dark rides behind for something much wilder and better.

If you’re smart … you will, too.