Chapter 48: Prison City [Part 2]
Leaping across the rooftops, cutting through the mist like lightning through rain, Scaramuccia's eyes glowed faintly in their purple light. Wrapping both his body and Bonnie's in the dark mist, the two of them vanished from the coyotes' sight — the creatures running and leaping through the alleyways in their bid to catch them.
Bonnie had no idea how to react. The instant after Scaramuccia appeared, they were swallowed by gray shadows spreading across their surroundings, coating the houses and everything visible in straight, dark lines blending into reality. It was as though they had stepped into a separate dimension that mirrored everything around them.
That reminded her of something.
'It's like that exorcist.'
But while Bader had drawn a field of flowers into the world through his book wrapped in mystery and letters that lifted off the page, Scaramuccia sank into the darkness of an alternate dimension every time he disappeared from his pursuers' eyes — or at least, that was how it appeared at first glance. At the same time, whispers could be heard in the background, completely unlike anything Bonnie had heard from the people watching through their windows.
This time there was a girl's voice speaking with quiet sadness, a man's voice screaming in desperation, and the broken voice of someone else sobbing alongside the soft whisper of flames. More voices murmured — but they were so unintelligible that focusing on what they were saying was nearly impossible. In short, a spiral of sounds overwhelming her mind.
And there in the middle of it all was the black mist, moving around the jester who, with his makeup smeared and ruined, stared into nothing in silence, holding that hardened expression on his face. Bonnie lowered her head — she wanted to ask about all of this, but the growling and barking of the coyotes below them continued their relentless siege without pause, so she decided this wasn't the moment to speak. The faint sound of Scaramuccia's feet landing softly on the rooftops was already more than enough noise.
'He's like a ninja, but different. Before, I had to follow the coyote's trail instead of his just to get close. All of this is overwhelming… So now he saved me? Wasn't he running from me too? Wasn't he afraid of me back in that circus wagon?'
The questions kept raining down — but unfortunately, answers don't grow like worms in the dirt when you look up at the sky. That sheer helplessness of not knowing what was happening was what Bonnie was already exhausted of feeling, because even as the words took shape in her mind, she was still lost in this world.
Now this jester's actions were a mystery — but this time she had that mystery right here in her arms. She wasn't going to let him go. For the moment, she decided to stay quiet until she was certain the coyotes were no longer following them. The problem was she could still hear those bastards patrolling close by.
This was going to take longer than she'd hoped.
As Scaramuccia fled — leaping between rooftops, taking impossible turns at each corner, cutting through the alleyways with remarkable agility — he came to a stop when he entered through the window of one of the darker buildings. The mist dissolved, returning them to reality. He came to an abrupt stop, stumbled, and crashed into the wall with Bonnie in tow. Then, wincing, he set the girl down and quickly shut the window.
Outside, the coyotes ran in aimless circles. They sniffed the air and fixed their gaze on the two-story house Scaramuccia had entered. They stayed there. Waiting.
Scaramuccia sighed and dropped to his knees. He breathed hard, the sweat washing away the last traces of makeup still clinging to his face. He clenched his fists tightly and squeezed his eyes shut in desperation. He trembled like a frightened child — but suddenly, he opened his eyes and looked at Bonnie. With his brow furrowed, he whispered:
"You… you're an idiot!"
Bonnie didn't quite process the insult. In truth, she was still taking in what she had seen inside the mist — but she took a moment to think before attempting to respond. Scaramuccia cut her off by getting back to his feet.
"What the hell are you doing following me?! I already gave you that damned note you wanted back at the circus! Why won't you just leave me alone?! Do you want the same thing from me that blasted sheriff does?!"
Bonnie stood up too, limping slightly from the wound on her calf. She looked at Scaramuccia — at the man trembling in fear in that circus wagon. Then she reached for everything she had locked inside her heart, just as the real Bonnie had said… This was the moment to use all of it, and she answered with a steady voice:
"They died… They killed them."
The memory that made her sick, the tragedy she would never be able to forget. She could see the furious expression on Scaramuccia's face give way to genuine disbelief, which then settled into a distant, vacant stare at the floor.
He already knew. Scaramuccia knew that had happened. But…
"I know. What does that have to do with me?" he said, not even meeting Bonnie's eyes.
She felt her heart burning with a sharp, deep pain — her mind fused with emotions she could no longer hold back.
"What does it have to do with you?! You knew what was happening and you did nothing! You let them die! You ran, and you let them suffer until they were gone! And… and the worst part of all… is that I had to see the end result of everything you let happen…" her voice dying out, her eyes troubled, fixed on something distant inside her memories.
Scaramuccia closed his eyes as though he didn't want to look at the face of someone in pain, and took a deep breath. When he turned his gaze back toward the white mist hanging on the other side of the window, he moved toward it. He was about to open it and leave — but Bonnie saw him going to run again, so she limped over quickly and grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Hey! You're not running! Not this time! You have to listen to what I'm telling you!"
The jester sighed and looked at Bonnie over his shoulder. His eyes were just as hollow as hers — but there was an even fainter flame in the depths fighting not to go out. And even so, the Coward said:
"What does some kid like you have to say to me? Nothing you say, nothing that happens to other people, matters to me in the slightest. Keep talking to yourself. Keep crying here. I'm leaving."
"If you didn't care, you wouldn't have bothered to save me. So don't run — just listen. All I want is the truth about what happened that night at the circus. That's all I want, and it's the only reason I risked following you. After this, you'll never see me again, and I'll never see you. I promise."
Scaramuccia looked at the floor for a few seconds. He opened his mouth, ready to answer — but stopped cold and tightened his fist. Then, frustrated, he slammed it against the window frame. The wall shook for a second and Bonnie stepped back.
In a quiet, faraway voice, the jester confessed:
"All I know is that the circus owner had ties to the Cult. They were taking advantage of the constant flow of young people coming and going from the circus — that's how they chose their girls for the ritual sacrifices."
"Ritual…" The stone altar. The blood. That nagging itch at her neck. "But why kidnap innocent girls? Why not people who are genuinely wicked?"
"You answered your own question. Innocent girls — the blasphemy of stealing life in the most horrific ways possible from someone who has done nothing wrong, feeding the Devil's greed, creating sinners who will follow him forever… Only God knows what awaits us on the day of our judgment."
'That last part… it was in the poem,' Bonnie thought — but she shook her head, because that wasn't what mattered right now. 'Killing innocent beings to complete rituals, blasphemy, the Devil's greed. The bartender from that little town said something similar.'
"I've told you everything I know. Now I'm leaving. If you stay here, the sheriff won't come after you."
"No — wait. There's still so much you're not saying. You know about the Ballads, about losing control and turning into a monster, about the Devil's Cult. You know more than what you're telling me right now. You said it in the wagon! You said it's the same everywhere you go! Is the same thing happening in your home country?! Is that why you ran?!"
Scaramuccia didn't answer. He placed a hand on the window frame and went still for a moment before opening it. Then he looked at Bonnie one last time.
"That's not why I left," he said — this time his face carrying that same resolute expression from before. "Don't follow me or that man will kill you. I won't save you a second time."
One step. His body in the mist. Scaramuccia vanished in a blink. The coyotes barked in the distance, giving chase through the white mist and the weak shafts of moonlight fighting through the thickness.
Bonnie stood there watching. She tightened her fists in frustration, blood welling up from her palms.
"Don't tell me what to do," she growled, and, injured, walked up to the window.
She pressed her hands against the frame and pushed herself out. Her body hit the ground hard, her bones crying out from the impact. Bonnie groaned in pain — but it didn't stop her from trying to push herself up. With her palms flat on the ground and her forehead bleeding, she raised her eyes — and they went wide with surprise.
"Cat…?"
Scarlet, those feline eyes. And behind the cat, three shadows approached. The first to reach her was Evelyn, who looked at her with a trace of disappointment in her eyes — but with a smile that was ironically out of place given the situation.
"Can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?" said Thieving Cat.
"It looks like you're one step away from losing control again," Victoria added, crossing her arms. "You really didn't take a single thing I said to heart."
"Hi, Bonnie," Lady finished, crouching down in front of her and offering a hand to help her up.
Bonnie couldn't believe it. She pressed her forehead to the ground and squeezed her eyes shut. Her mouth trembled, and so did her breathing. From somewhere inside that heavy, suffocating exhale, she whispered:
"I'm sorry," and with that apology, a pair of tears broke loose and fell down her face. "I'm sorry…"