Chapter Ten

Renn moves quickly back to where Gabi is but stops suddenly when he sees two female humans near her.

“Gabi, are you okay?” Holly asks as she helps Gabi up from the ground. Gabi is startled when Holly wraps her arms around her in an embrace.

“We were so worried about you after you told us to run. We thought for sure that the wolf had caught you.”

Gabi pulls back from Holly and looks at the humans standing in front of her. They all seem to have worried expressions on their faces and actually care about Gabi’s well-being. Back at the village, Gabi could easily count on one hand who cared about her well-being, and it didn’t add up to more than three.

“I was able to get away without a scratch. I wish I could say the same about Dan. I am so sorry that you got hurt from all that,” she says to them.

“What this? I’ll be fine in about a week or two,” he says, acting all macho as he tries to put pressure on the hurt foot.

“Please, you were crying like a baby as we helped you back to the truck,” Jamie chided.

“Jamie, will you stop picking on him.” Holly sighed.

Jamie nods as she walks over to Gabi.

“What are you doing out here? Are you by yourself or did you bring your friend this time?” she says with a teasing nudge at Gabi’s arm.

Renn!

Gabi looks around to see where Renn was and spots him off in the distance. She turns back to Jamie and says, “I’m with a friend, but he is a little shy.”

“Go get him so we can meet him. We promise we won’t bite,” Holly says with a giggle.

That’s what she should be telling them.

Gabi turns and starts to make her way to where she spotted Renn hiding.

“Renn, come with me, please? They are all really nice; you don’t have any reason to be leery of them.”

She walks over, grabs Renn by the arm, and pulls him over to meet her human friends.

Gabi starts to make introductions once they are closer, “Holly, Jamie, this is my friend, Renn. Renn, this is Holly and Jamie, and over there is Dan.”

Renn just nods as he stays protectively close to Gabi.

“So, this is the friend you were talking about,” Jamie says.

Holly playfully slaps Jamie on the arm.

“Hi there, it’s nice to meet you. So, are you guys here for the carnival?” Holly asks.

“Carnival?” Renn and Gabi say at the same time.

“Oh yeah, the town has one every year for the Fourth of July,” Dan responds.

“We didn’t know about a carnival. We are actually just passing through,” Renn tells them.

“You have to come. We will not take no for an answer,” Holly says as she links her arm with Gabi’s and tugs her towards the town.

As Gabi gets pulled, she grabs onto Renn, pulling him with her so that he doesn’t turn and run away. If she is going to have to endure this carnival, then so will he.

It isn’t long until the five of them are all standing in front of the giant entrance to the town’s carnival.

Gabi and Renn are overwhelmed with shock and amazement.

What is this place?

Gabi and Renn both give each other questionable looks and both of their lips start to curve into smiles as they follow their new friends into the mysterious place.

Gabi cannot get over all the lights and what look to be like games and things that you can sit in, and then move around. Everyone is laughing and smiling, showing how much they enjoy being at the carnival. While walking around, every person that they passed either greeted them with a ‘Hello’ and a smile or even a nod. Gabi loves how friendly everyone is treating her, and they don’t even know her. Her heart fills with joy by all this but then is deflated when she thinks about her clan. This is how it is supposed to feel when walking around the village. Being happy and caring about your community, not constantly bullying them and making them feel worthless.

Renn gives her a nudge with his shoulder as he sees her face in deep thought.

“What are you thinking about?” he asks her.

Gabi shakes her head. “Nothing, it’s nothing. This place is, is…” She can’t come up with a word for it.

Renn nods. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“Come on, you two. We want to show you the FUN HOUSE!” Holly calls out to them.

Fun House?

They both make their way to the Fun House and follow Jamie and Holly inside while Dan sits on a bench outside and waits for them.

The place is dark but has some type of lighting that is colorful as you walk through. It reminds Gabi of the winding forest that you have to be careful of. Getting lost is no fun.

After following Holly and Jamie through the halls, Gabi comes to a room filled with mirrors. Gabi shakes her head. She doesn’t understand why a room filled with mirrors is fun. She walks by the first one and stops dead in the center. This one makes her a lot shorter than she is. She giggles; that’s why these are fun. She continues to make her way through as she pauses at each mirror to see what it will reflect. When she comes to the next mirror, it shows a double reflection of her as if she has a twin. This reminds her of the dream that she had earlier. What was her dream trying to tell her?

“Huh, what would the world do if there were two of you?” Renn whispers in her ear.

She rolls her eyes and continues on through the fun house.

“Next, you two have to go on the Ferris Wheel together,” Jamie says with a giggle.

“Yes, you should totally do that. It’s fun for couples to go on,” Holly insists.

Gabi starts to shake her head and Renn says, “No, we are not a couple. We are just good friends.”

“Right, keep telling yourself that,” Jamie tells them as she walks over to a rather large wheel with a bunch of dangling carts attached to it.

Gabi looks at the ride with fear. They want her to go on that? It looks like a death trap. Gabi starts to shake her head and turn to go in any other direction, but before she can leave, Renn grabs her hand, bringing her close to him.

“I’ll make sure nothing happens to you,” he says as he stares intently into her eyes. A rush of calmness flows through her. How does he do that?

Gabi nods, and they continue their way to the wheel of death. The ride attendant opens the door to the cart. Gabi steps in first, and Renn follows after. The cart begins to sway back and forth in a rocking motion as the attendant closes and locks the bar in place. Gabi instinctively grabs onto the bar with both hands as the cart moves backwards, allowing Holly and Dan to get into the cart below them. Gabi looks up and sees Jamie leaning over and waving from the cart above her. She smiles and waves back. Slowly, the ride continues to move until they stop at the very top of the wheel.

“Wow, this view is absolutely beautiful,” Gabi says.

Renn looks over at Gabi and says, “Yeah, it sure is.”

Gabi looks at him and smiles. “What?”

He smiles and looks away. “Nothing.”

With both of their hands holding on to the bar, their pinkies are just barely touching, but both are able to feel the electric current that is running between them. They both turn to look at each other but are jerked forward as the ride starts up again, putting their hands back to their normal position on the bar.

“So, what did you think of the ride?” Jamie asks in a whisper as she pulls Gabi away from Renn so they can talk without him hearing.

If only she knew.

Gabi looks at her and smiles. “It was fun. I can’t believe how beautiful the view was at the top.”

“Is that all?”

“What else would there be?” Gabi asks her, confused by the question.

“Dan likes to kiss me at the top of the Ferris Wheel. It’s really romantic,” Holly says with a sigh.

Gabi begins to blush and turns to look at Renn. “It’s not like that.”

“Is there a reason as to why not? From what I can see, he definitely has feelings for you,” Jamie tells her.

Gabi brings her hands to her cheeks to cover the redness as Renn comes up to them.

“We should probably get going,” he says to the girls, but mostly to Gabi.

“Right, I’m sorry; we should be heading out.”

“Wait, before you go, let’s go do the photo booth!” Holly exclaims.

“Yeah, it will be the perfect way for all of us to remember tonight,” Jamie says with a smile.

Jamie and Holly pull Gabi into this little box with a curtain as they all squish in together to pose for a little box in front of them. Gabi is not ready for the flash of bright light that goes off and the girls tell her to make a different pose. By the third one, Gabi starts to get the hang of it and is laughing and having fun.

Jamie and Holly jump out of the booth, and before Gabi is able to step out, they push Renn into the booth, closing the curtain behind him. Gabi scoots over and quickly explains what is about to happen.

For the first pose, they both smile. The second pose is a funny face. For the third pose, Renn looks at Gabi while she smiles. The last photo, they look at each other.

It is moment that seems to last forever. If only…

The girls pull back the curtain and pull them out. As they wait for the photos, they hug Gabi goodbye, telling her that they hope they’ll see her again. The pictures come out, and each girl got a copy of the set. Gabi and Renn’s come out next. Gabi quickly swipes them from the photo booth before Renn is able to see them.

Renn tries to grab the photos out of Gabi’s hand when he freezes, and his eyes widen as he turns to look at Gabi.

“We’ve got company.”