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“What The Carnival truly wants now,” I continue, advancing on him, “is justice."

I reach for Tobias and Kenan, and somehow, despite still being pinned, they manage to extend their hands toward mine. The moment our fingertips connect, heat surges through me — not the burn of pain but the warmth of belonging. A shockwave of power explodes outward, shattering Joshua’s hold on them.

The sound is deafening — like being caught in a snowstorm. The invisible bonds holding Tobias and Kenan dissolve into sparks that dance around us like fireflies.

They rise to their feet, standing beside me with our hands linked. Blood still drips from their bodies, leaving crimson trails down their skin, but their eyes burn with the same power now coursing through me.

“No,” Joshua whispers, backing away. His form flickers like a bad projection. “This isn’t possible."

“Oh, but it is,” I reply, feeling The Carnival itself responding to us, reshaping around our will rather than his. The ground beneath our feet solidifies while the floor beneath Joshua begins to shift and sink. “And now, Ringmaster, I think it’s time for the final act.”

The Big Top trembles violently as the three of us step forward in unison. The Carnival’s magic swirls around us like a tempest — no longer the dark, hungry force that fed on innocence, but something wilder, more honest. It waits to be unleashed, to right centuries of wrongs.

Joshua raises his hands, a desperate incantation on his lips, but his words turn to smoke in the air. His power is fading, and he knows it.

“You can’t undo what’s been done,” he hisses, desperation making his voice crack. “If I give it enough souls … one day it’ll return her to me."

For a moment, I can see it from The Carnival’s memory — the woman he loved, the performer whose death broke him. I feel a flicker of pity, but it’s washed away by the memory of all the innocent souls he’s trapped, all the lives he’s destroyed in his grief.

“This was never about bringing her back,” I say, The Carnival’s truth flowing through me. “This was about not letting her go."

The faces in the walls move closer, pressing against the fabric of reality, waiting for release. My sister’s eyes find mine again with a smile on her ghostly face, and I nod slightly. Soon.

“And now?” Joshua asks, his voice barely audible over the roaring magic.

I step forward, Tobias and Kenan moving with me as one. “Now we rewrite the rules.”

Chapter 39

The canvas walls of the tent ripple and snap like living skin, reality bending and shaking around us — it flows through us, like molten lava shimmering between Tobias, Kenan and me. I can taste it on my tongue, metallic and sweet.

“Till the end,” Tobias whispers, his blue eyes glowing with an otherworldly light. His fingers find mine, squeezing once.

In that touch, a blinding moment of clarity strikes me. I understand The Carnival’s true nature—not just a curse, but a mirror reflecting human choice. The Ringmaster didn’t create this magic; he merely twisted what was already there, perverted its purpose.

“You were all right,” I say, straightening my spine as power courses through me to The Ringmaster. “The Carnival always gets its due. But you’ve been feeding it the wrong souls.”

With a surge of power that cracks the chamber’s ancient wooden floor beneath us, I turn the ritual back on The Ringmaster himself. The symbols carved into the ground begin to glow with sickly green light, but instead of flowing toward me as I’m sure was intended, the light reverses direction, spiraling toward him in hungry tendrils.

“What — what are you doing?” he stammers, taking a step back, his confidence fracturing before my eyes.

I advance on him, feeling taller, stronger. “Changing the rules."

The tent ignites around us, flames licking up the canvas walls with unnatural speed, crackling and hissing like hungry beasts. The others around us scream in terror, a cacophony of panic as they surge toward the exits, trampling each other in their desperation. I barely register them. My focus narrows to The Ringmaster as I reach for the mask on his face, my fingers tingling with anticipation.

“No!” he shrieks, the sound inhuman with fear. But it’s too late.

As I tear away his mask, centuries of trapped souls rush forward—wisps of light, faces contorted in anger and relief, their voices a deafening chorus that fills my head. Among them, I catch a glimpse of familiar features that stops my heart — Evelyn materializes briefly beside me, her hand guiding mine as I hold the mask. Her fingers are nothing more than a brisk touch of air as they wrap around mine.

“Emmy,” she whispers, her voice like wind through autumn leaves, her presence cool against my skin. “Set them free. Set us all free.” She smiles once more before she releases me, pushing me slightly back into the reality around me, and the mask falls to the floor.

The fire roars higher, consuming the Big Top with impossible speed. Heat presses against my skin like a physical weight, but I feel no pain, protected by the power flowing through me, cocooned in its embrace. But then I notice that the entire structure is being taken over. The souls might have wanted this – but shit, I’m still alive. I can still die. The entire rim of the tent is on fire – there is no escape.

“We need to get you out!” Kenan shouts over the roar of the flames. He’s already moving, pulling down one of the crimson silk ropes that was used in the final act with their bikes. He kisses my forehead as he yells, “Climb!”

I look up at the burning apex of the tent, where a small opening has appeared as the canvas burns away, revealing a patch of night sky. It’s my only escape route, but the flames are closing in fast, hungry and merciless.

Tobias pushes me toward the ribbon, his hands firm on my back. A quick kiss to my temple as he says, “Go! Fly quick, Little Bird."