Oh, lovely. A circus theme.
“Fairytales are overdone. The court jester wants his turn.”
“Last time you told me I’m the Immortal. I’ve adjusted. I’ll do whatever I need to do. What else can you hit me with? I’d like to wake up or go back to normal dreams. You’re a little hard to handle sometimes.” If I t
ried to reason with it, would it work?
The voice laughed. Shrill. “Would you like a comb for your beard?”
No reasoning would be had. “So what are you here to enlighten me with?”
“You lie really well.” The voice had been maniacal before, but it was calm, eerily calm now.
I felt shivers go down my back. “What are you talking about?”
“Ask your lover.”
Roane’s words lashed back at me before I could stop them. Lying. All you do is lie.
I flinched and murmured, “No. You’re wrong.”
“I haven’t said anything,” the voice gloated.
“I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to say what he said. I don’t lie. I’m not a liar.”
“Tigers spawn earthlings on their back. Sometimes they ride on the backs of elephants, but only the ones with roller skates.”
“Make sense, for once!” I shrieked into the darkness. It was an abyss.
“Silly Bearded Lady. They don’t ride on the one legged elephant. That’d be dangerous.”
“I’m not lying to anyone.”
“And stupid. Who’d want to ride on the back of a one legged elephant? You’d fall right off.” The voice ignored me and continued, amused, “And then rolling hula hoops that are on fire would burn you. Why are they always on fire? I’ve never figured that out.”
“Enough!” I’d forced it before and I was willing to bet that I could do it again.
A black wind shrieked in protest and swept around me. I blinked, startled, and tried to stand still as a tornado picked up from underneath my feet. It rushed upwards, enveloped me, and as it started to settle—I found myself staring back at… what a shocker—myself. Except that it wasn’t me. My brown curls looked sleek and framed my shoulders. My eyes weren’t innocent. They were knowing, wise, and a little crazy. And still, I looked sultry. I was dressed how I had dressed for Adam’s date, in my lace shirt and snug jeans, but there was a different aura that surrounded the Immortal me. Confidence.
She grinned and winked. “Bet this isn’t what you wanted, huh?”
“How’d you know?” I returned, sardonically. “It’s not as if you’re a part of me or something.”
“You’re sarcastic.”
“Just because you’re inside of me doesn’t mean that you understand me.”
The Immortal me smiled sweetly. “I know a lot more about you than you know about yourself. I know all about Craig. I know about Kates. I know how you’re heaping a whole pile of denial poop on a burning house because you did the deed with a vampire. And not any vampire, Bearded Lady. You did it with thee vampire. There are ramifications that you can’t handle right now.”
It wouldn’t stop. “Please, please. All this nonsense—I can’t handle it. I might go insane.”
“Every circus must pitch a tent and entertain.”
“Let me guess, I’m your audience?”
“You’re the tent, Beardy, but you’ll do. The tigers might not think so. They might want to shave off your beard or burn the tent. I haven’t decided which.”
“I’d really like to wake up. I need to tell Roane something and I can’t when I’m asleep.”