The Game at Carousel: Book Four Stubs July 17th (Arc II Chapters 1- 85)

Even as we stood there in shock at what had just happened, Carousel started to come back to life all around us. Silas Dyrkon's Sound Stage was disappearing.

I could hear that the Centennial Celebration, the modern one, was starting up in the distance. Every time I closed my eyes, it was like I was closer and closer to leaving the story world behind.

The cries and screams in the distance turned to laughs as NPCs rode the rides and played the carnival games.

The Ferris wheel was starting back up again. I could hear it, but I couldn’t see it. The Die Cast had knocked it down in the storyline.

I was turning as I heard things brightening up around me until suddenly, in a blink that I didn’t remember blinking, we weren’t in the “original” Centennial anymore.

We were in the present. It must have been Carousel Proper. Everything was alive in a way I had never seen before.

I saw people walking around in modern clothes with smartphones, and I heard music that might have played back on Earth or some version of it.

We stood there and didn’t speak as we took it in.

Well, most of us didn’t speak.

“You guys realize,” Isaac said, “That the Centennial and the founding were not one hundred years apart in that story, and none of us questioned it.”

We had questioned it, but with the help of some mental manipulation, we had dismissed it. Still, I couldn’t help but laugh.

I wasn’t the only one.

Somehow, the stress and overwhelming dread were easing. A weight was lifted off of us, leaving us hopped up on happy chemicals. I had read the same thing happened to people who went through near-death experiences.

We just stood there and laughed in the midst of the celebration. People stared at us. Was that something that would have happened in Silas’ Throughline? Did people react properly? I couldn’t remember.

“You’re not going to let that go, are you?” Antoine asked.

“Nope,” Isaac said, as if he had actually known what was going on from the beginning.

It felt like we were in a different place, and I hoped we actually were.

We still had one thing left to do.

“Congratulations,” Silas the Mechanical Showman said, “You won a ticket.”

“And you guys are just going to push that button after what just happened,” Isaac said. “When that’s the very thing that got us—”

Antoine held up an arm

“Don’t push your luck,” he said with a smile. “If I have to press the button, so do you.”

Antoine pressed the button. He retrieved his tickets and money.

“But we don’t know what happens if you don’t press the button,” Isaac said. “Maybe Carousel loses power over us, and we get to go home.”

“I bet that’s it. I bet nobody's ever tried that.” I said as I pressed the button. Jackpot. Tickets, money, and… something else.

I unfolded it.

“Writ of Habitation,” I said aloud.

We had read about Writs of Habitation in the Atlas. They kept you safe from Omens. They were an essential part of building a base of operations in Carousel. Camp Dyer had been one.

The rest of us hit the button except for Isaac, who still wasn’t ready.

Kimberly got a writ. So did Bobby and Ramona for some reason.

I had to unfold it to read it.