“Oh that I could, you delightful girl.” He leaned on his walking stick and looked down over his sunglasses. “Cecile’s right, so sure was I that you were dying, I cut a different deal. I think you’d call it ‘an insurance policy.’ I’d thought you and Cecile would be strong enough together, but alas I needed more magic. On the bright side, it got you out of your deal, so it looks like we both got what we wanted.”

Cecile shot him a look to be quiet.

Lara had bent over like she was choking. “No. Oh please no.” Lara thought this was what it felt like to be gutted. She felt betrayed by Althacazur, tricked. But what had she expected?

“Ben,” said Audrey, looking up at him. “I need you to promise that you’ll be there for her.”

He nodded.

Audrey crouched down next to Lara, who was now on her knees near the edge of the field. She leaned to the side now, like she was unable to hold her body upright. “You and Jason can take care of everything together, Lara. All I ever wanted for you was a normal life. This was the cost, but I’m at peace with this decision.”

“But I’m not,” said Lara. “It’s all his fault.” She glared at Althacazur with fury.

“No,” said Audrey. “He gave me a choice. I knew the rules.”

Cecile stepped forward. “I’m so sorry, but Esmé and I shouldn’t have been born, Lara. It was luck that we are even here. Every day of happiness that we have was more than we were designed for.” Cecile put out her hand for Lara and pulled her up. The woman studied her face. “You know how much we’ve all suffered. The sadness, the magic, the circus—well, those things are our destiny. I’m sorry that is the legacy I have given you.” Cecile brushed Lara’s hair away from her face.

Lara turned to Audrey. “I’ll go instead. It was me who was dying. You didn’t want anything to do with this magic.”

“Lara,” said Audrey, more firmly now. “I cannot imagine a better fate for myself than living out my eternity riding horses in a circus—and waiting for you to join me someday.”

Lara held on to her mother, both women sobbing. Finally, Cecile separated them softly. Ben lifted a shaking Lara and began walking with her up the hill. She fought him the entire way. As if they knew, Oddjob and Moneypenny both began to moan from the barn—a low, mournful sound that continued until the morning.

Before she disappeared into the night, Cecile turned back. “We will see you again, my dear. We are your destiny.”

Audrey walked arm in arm with Cecile, never looking back, as if to do so would break her forever.

EPILOGUE

Kerrigan Falls, Virginia

October 10, 2006