Carnival Souls

Zabaria's Garden (Part 2)

Lira, unsure what to do, bowed awkwardly. The motion felt unnatural. Owen followed suit beside her.

Zabaria laughed, a sweet sound that sent the colorful birds, now roosting in the trees, twittering.

"You may rise. Though this is my Garden, I am not a queen here."

Lira looked up again and saw that more spirits had slipped into the glade. There were several white foxes with two or three tails each peering out from the surrounding ferns; a golden eagle had alighted on one of the black fountains; and from the water rose nymph-like creatures with blue scales, webbed fingers, and bright red hair braided with seaweed. She realized with a jolt that the second forest spirit was there as well, the one that had lost her companion to Bebinn's Fury. The spirit looked on the two teenagers with dead, grief-filled eyes. The vines covering her body were lackluster, almost brown. Was she dying?

Lira turned to Owen, whose eyes held a thousand questions, but he seemed to be waiting for Lira to speak.

"You come from Bebinn's Carnival, yes?" asked Zabaria. "Fauna told me she met you there," she continued, gesturing to the forest spirit on her left.

"Yes," said Lira, her voice shaking. She cleared her throat and pulled her shoulders back, spine straight, like how she had been taught in music lessons. "We were taken from the human world by Bebinn and brought here."

There was an uneasy murmuring from the assembled spirits and Lira took a side-step closer to Owen. Zabaria's hand lifted and the whispers melted away. She did not smile, but her eyes were kind enough. "And what is it that you do for Bebinn?"

"Well, I—I play the violin," Lira replied. She unconsciously touched the instrument, tucked away in the pack that still sat on her shoulders. Somehow, she didn't think Zabaria would appreciate that she was a child-snatcher herself, but the forest spirit was not fooled.

"And why does she have you play the violin?" she asked. Lira felt like she was a child again, answering to a teacher or her mother about some transgression she had committed, the truth pulled out of her one simple question at a time. Even though this time, it wasn't her fault.

"To..." Lira paused and swallowed again. Her mouth had gone very dry. "To bring other kids to the carnival."

Outraged gasps, barks, and screeches erupted from the clearing and Lira flinched away from the onslaught. It was only when Zabaria raised her hand again that the clamor subsided. Her beautifully carved face was still expressionless, but her gaze had cooled noticeably. There was a rigidness to her posture, and a stillness of her vines, that Lira didn't like.

"And do you know why she has you do this? The purpose for all these children?"

Lira shook her head vigorously. She wanted to make sure Zabaria knew she had no hand in this. Not one she could control. "All of us do something different for Bebinn. But none of us know why."

"All of you?" asked Zabaria sharply.

Words tumbled from Lira's mouth. "There are six of us that serve Bebinn. The other children come and go. I don't know what happens to them." A familiar nauseous feeling coiled in Lira's stomach as she thought of all those kids whose fates she didn't know.

Zabaria looked visibly agitated now; her dress began to seethe like an ocean in a storm, tiny white caps appearing in the folds. She looked at Fauna. "It seems Bebinn's reach has extended farther than we thought." Returning her attention to Owen and Lira, she continued. "We have been trying to uncover Bebinns's intentions for a long time. But we are no closer to learning them than we are to discovering her motives. Whatever they are, one thing is clear. They are unnatural, and they have repercussions for us all."