The carnival had ended hours ago, and Reese couldn’t speak for everyone, but her feet ached. The wonders of the carnival had long since gone home, and even the magic in the air had faded to almost nothing.

  All that remained was the haunted feel of the abandoned venue.

  They had been walking long enough for the others to opt for the benches near the carousel instead of continuing their search.

  Instead of horses, this carousel was full of horses, dragons, and hippocampi. Creatures most could only hope to see one day.

  Reese believed they were all out there somewhere. Hiding away and living in secret until it was safe for them to live amongst humans.

  Luca wandered around on the carousel, and the others simply watched.

  It felt like they’d wandered over every inch of the carnival. The only other option they had was to let the remaining accused come to them. If they didn’t want to be found, they never would be.

  That point was proven when a man walked around the carousel with Luca on one of his laps.

  “This is Cillian. He’s in the same boat as us.” Luca winked at Reese.

  He thought he’d done something clever with the boat reference, and despite herself, Reese couldn’t keep a small smile from her face.

  “It’s not safe to be out alone right now, I figured with so many of you together, it might be a bit safer.” Cillian shrugged.

  His eyes were downcast and his fingers twisted between each other. He was far more nervous than the rest of them had been.

  Almost like he had something to hide.

  But Luca wouldn’t have knowingly brought the killed into their group, would he?

  Luca seemed completely unconcerned as he went on introducing Cillian to the others. He smiled as he talked, which was rare, but he seemed at ease.

  Something had convinced Luca that Cillian wasn’t the killer.

  Reese just couldn’t seem to figure out what that was.

  It didn’t take long for Luca to abandon Cillian with Raya and Wrenly.

  Luca made his was back over to Reese with a grin. “Two more to go.”

  “If they don’t want to be found, we won’t find them. It’s probably best we let them come to us the way he did.” Reese was still watching Cillian, looking for the tell that had tipped Luca off.

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  “I wasn’t planning on looking for them, at this point I assume they’re very private people,” Luca said.

  “Probably very scared as well.” Reese nodded.

  “I’d imagine so, weren’t we all at first?” Luca gestured to the others. “Look at them now though.”

  Derrick, Theresa, and Myla were slowly warming up to the others.

  A few words and smiles were exchanged.

  It looked like Derrick was beginning to realize the threats he had perceived earlier weren’t the things he needed to be worried about.

  Of course, there was always the lingering fear that they’d missed something and someone would turn on them. Even Reese felt that. She knew they wouldn’t really be safe until they could leave.

  But if she was right about Lyonell being the murderer, and about this whole thing being a game for him, they might not be able to leave.

  Lyonell was a smart man.

  He had to be to run something like the carnival in the first place. He had to be even smarter to trap ten people after it under the pretense that one of them was a murderer.

  If his intention was to make a game of their lives, it would be very hard to escape.

  That was a possibility they all needed to prepare for. They would all need to work together to outsmart him.

  Which meant she needed to tell the others what was really going on.

  “I think we should tell them,” Reese said.

  “Tell them what?” Luca asked. He looked so relaxed. Reese didn’t know how he managed it.

  “That Lyonell is behind all of this.” Reese leaned back against the bench she was sitting o.

  Luca shook his head. “I think we should wait. At least until we’ve met the other two. There’s more to this than just Lyonell’s twisted sense of humor.

  “You think there really is a killer amongst us?” Reese asked.

  “Oh, I know there is,” Luca said. “That may not be Lyonell’s true reasoning for keeping us here, but there is a killer. Someone killed Myriam, and it wasn’t Lyonell.”

  “How do you know?” Reese looked over at him.

  He was focused dead ahead. He was certain of what he was saying.

  “Just trust me. Everything will be revealed when the time is right. For now, we’re still missing a few players,” he said.

  Logic told Reese she shouldn’t trust a man she’d just met.

  But something far more convincing told her it was alright.

  He was right, these two other people were wildcards.

  They didn’t know who they were or anything about them.

  They couldn’t make any final calls until all of the players were on the field.

  So, Reese didn’t breathe a word to the others.

  She could still be wrong.

  One of these two could end up being the killer.

  Reese’s primary goal was to stay alive.

  If Luca was right, and there was a killer to worry about on top of Lyonell, she would need to play her cards right.

  Once she wasn’t in danger of being murdered, she could worry about Lyonell.

  It didn’t seem like he wanted to take too active a role in his little game. At least for now, he wasn’t their biggest threat. They would have to deal with him eventually, but they would deal with the killer first.

  Maybe if they were clever enough, they could even get the killer to help them escape Lyonell. After all, if the only way to escape Lyonell was to kill him, they would have experience on their side.

  But that was a bridge that would have to be crossed when they came to it.