The team—and Aymes—returned to the funhouse. Well, they attempted to. After fighting their way through the crowds of people running and freaking out about the violent turn the hole in the sky had taken, they were stopped by the golden elephants and lions and bears patrolling the building.
Jasper sighed. Why couldn’t Ringmaster’s creations be more…stab-able?
“They’re huge. And made from Ringmaster’s energy,” Thea said. “We don’t stand a chance.”
Aymes stepped forward. His fists clenched. “I do.”
The ground trembled. “We’ll have to split,” Jasper said. “I’m going to climb the Ferris wheel and see if I can disable the machine. Aymes, fight your way into the funhouse and bring Ringmaster out.”
“We’re coming with you, I’m assuming?” Holly asked. “Because it sounds like—”
Jasper shook her head. “Ringmaster is a priority. You all need to work together to catch him.” She turned around. A hand grabbed her arm. She expected to see Holly, or maybe Dax, but it was Grace she found when she glanced back.
“What if you die?” Grace asked.
Jasper laughed, as if the sound could mask her uncertainty. “I don’t die.”
“You—this team is all I have, now.”
“Maybe you should get a hobby.” Jasper couldn’t bring herself to yank her arm free. “Seriously, Angel, I’m going to be fine.”
Grace’s gaze flickered to Aymes, who was already starting toward one of the lions. “Ringmaster’s going to be pissed at Aymes. What if he kills him?”
“He won’t. Trust me.” Jasper frowned. “Do you think I don’t care what happens to Aymes?”
Grace didn’t answer. She did release Jasper’s arm, though. “Maybe I should come with you. I can fly.”
“None of you are going near the warp. That’s an order.”
Leaving the team behind—and hoping they stayed that way—Jasper sprinted toward the Ferris wheel. Its passengers had abandoned it, but it was still moving. In fact, it was spinning abnormally fast.
Although visitors scrambled to leave the park, the racers were still going strong. Maybe they assumed the moonquake was just another obstacle Ringmaster wanted them to overcome. Most of them had probably never heard of spacetime warps.
Jasper reached the base of the Ferris wheel. Without slowing, she jumped, pushed off the structure’s base, and grabbed onto the bottom rung of the maintenance ladder. The entire Ferris wheel shook violently as another blast hit the machine.
The warp was expanding.
Jasper forced herself to climb as fast as possible, only pausing when the trembling became too much. Finally, she reached the top of the ladder. She looked the machine over and searched for any cracks, any weaknesses she could use to take it apart.
Nothing. She pulled out the blaster she’d nabbed from one of the henchpeople and slammed it against the thing. Then again. And again. Even aiming for the weaker-looking parts around the machine’s dish didn’t appear to do any good.
The energy coming in from the warp fluctuated. The wheel shuddered again. Jasper lost her balance and nearly fell, only barely managing to keep her grip on the hub.
She glanced down. Maybe if she couldn’t break the machine, she could break the structure holding it.
Jasper scrambled back down the ladder. Where had she left the motorcycle? By the cage? That wasn’t far. She sprinted across the main path running through the carnival. Passing racers swerved and honked and yelled at her.
When she reached the motorcycle, Jasper momentarily considered the helmet lying on the ground nearby, but it was too broken to do much good. And what she was about to do was far too dangerous for the thing to make a difference if it did end badly. She started her engine and headed for the racers, pulling up the course map as she did.
She cut in near the front of the race, next to South Siren. South Siren glared at her. “Where have you been? You can’t just show up in the middle of the race!”
“Who’s going to stop me?” Jasper grinned. Others had taken notice of her and were shooting her dirty looks as well. She couldn’t wait to tell Holly that making everyone hate her was actually going to be useful.
“Ringmaster won’t allow it,” South Siren said. “You may as well leave now.”
“But the fun’s just getting started.” Jasper drew the blaster, acting as if she might fire. “Besides, Ringmaster and his Apprentice seem to be otherwise occupied.”
“I don’t have time for this.” South Siren’s hekten lifted itself off her shoulder.
Jasper dodged the blast. “Come on, surely you’ve got more firepower than that thing.”
“You trying to get me to kill you?” South Siren asked. “I’ll hit you with everything I’ve got.”
“Do it.”
South Siren lifted a hand and snapped. A powerful shockwave rolled from her fingers. Jasper swerved out of its path and headed toward the Ferris wheel, setting her gaze on the biggest racer nearby: Grim Machine.
While South Siren reached for something on the other side of her motorcycle, her hekten fired again. Jasper veered right. The blast hit Grim Machine. A massive gun lifted off Grim Machine’s hood to fire back at South Siren.
Jasper waved her hand. “My bad!”
The gun swiveled toward her.
More and more racers took notice as she zig-zagged through the crowd, laughing and yelling. “Would someone shut that dumbass up?” one of the villains yelled.
South Siren procured a grenade. Jasper cut across an empty stretch of grass and neared the rapidly spinning wheel. The world slowed. She glanced back, and her gaze drifted from the grenade leaving South Siren’s hand, past the various guns and blasters aimed her way, to Cutthroat, who watched her carefully from the edge of the pack.
Jasper’s hand inched through the air to point at the warp. Her head tipped toward the Ferris wheel.
Understanding crossed Cutthroat’s face. The cannon on the front of his cart joined the other weapons pointed in Jasper’s direction.
The only way for her to avoid getting blown to pieces was to go through the wheel. Time reduced to a crawl as she approached the spinning seats. The humming in her skull drowned everything else out, louder than it had ever been.
Jasper released the gas. Her mind spat calculations at her. A fence that once guided the line to the ride, partially collapsed from the moonquakes, worked as a ramp. She took to the air.
She passed between two Ferris wheel compartments. The one above inched closer and closer. Jasper leaned forward, lowering her head to avoid getting hit. Her front tire emerged on the other side. Almost, almost…
She was nearly free when the seats coming down grazed the back of the motorcycle, sending her spiraling toward the ground. Time abruptly returned to its usual pace, and Jasper’s stomach jumped into her throat. She let go of the motorcycle and slammed hard into the dirt, rolling as best she could to redirect the force of the landing.
The Ferris wheel shook, not from the warp this time, but from taking blow after blow from the angry villains. Something exploded on the other side, and the structure groaned. Creaked. A cannon ball came flying through, smashing up metal bars in its path.
The carnival ride began its fall.
Jasper forced herself up and back onto the motorcycle. The wheel’s collapsing shadow moved over her. She gunned it.
Behind her, the Ferris wheel crashed to the ground.