She followed behind him, staggering a bit and looking back at the carousel, taking in the ride. The carousel was aqua with a seascape scene painted on the top marquee, surrounded by ornate gold livery and round lights. She remembered her old carousel that sat rotting behind the barn and all her attempts at getting it to move with magic. This was the carousel that Althacazur had tried to teach her to pull through to her world; she’d caught enough glimpses of it when she’d come close to conjuring it up.

“It goes back in time. Trippy isn’t it? Most people can’t stay on here for long. If they do, they go back to before they were born and then they kind of…” He snapped his fingers. “… go poof.”

“They go poof?” Lara nearly shouted.

He shrugged. “I guess it should come with some kind of warning… like one of those YOU MUST BE THIS TALL TO RIDE signs.” He gestured to his navel with a flat hand.

“Or that it kills you?”

“Well, I think that’s a bit harsh, Ms. Barnes. It just makes you evaporate, which is quite different from killing you, I assure you. But we could stand here and quibble all day.” He kept walking. “Come on.” They passed the fortune-teller room. “Now, here I can give you a really accurate fortune. I can even change it up if someone asks. That cheating husband that I see in your palm? He’ll be as faithful as a nun on Sunday… but it’ll cost you.”

“Let me guess.” Lara straightened her skirt. “Poof?”

“Nah, just your soul. You’d be surprised who takes me up on it.” He stopped for a moment, then spun around like a real estate agent walking her through a showing. “This,” he said, “is the Room of Truth. No one ever wants to go in there.”

“Why not?”

“The room is filled with mirrors that strip out all illusion, so all you see before you is the truth. As you can imagine, no one wants to see things as they really are. People have gone mad in that room.” He shook his head gravely. “Oh, we say we want to know the truth. But do we really?” Like a stage magician, he produced a stick of aqua, pink, and white cotton candy that appeared out of nowhere. He held out the stick. “Cotton candy?”

“No, thanks,” said Lara, her stomach still settling from the ride.