Bella

The carnival had transformed the vacant lot in back of the mall into a conglomeration of lights, sounds and smells. Straw had been scattered over the ground and its warm, earthy scent reminded me of a long-ago field trip to a farm just outside of town. People were laughing and shouting, and off-key carnival music was blaring from tinny speakers at multiple locations. The smell of popcorn and cotton candy hung in the night air.

I always loved the sensory overload of places like this. Edward took one of my hands in his, his grip warm. I had never held hands with anyone in public before. How could such a simple touch make my body feel like it was buzzing, like my skin was sparking all over like the lights flashing on the carnival machines?

I could imagine Charlie walking beside me, frowning. "Didn't I tell you to be good?"

"It's just holding hands," I protested.

Edward's hold was comforting and secure. Charlie looked away. "I suppose he seems like a gentleman," he said grudgingly.

We walked along a row of game booths, where chattering groups threw balls at small targets, tried to drop objects in arrays of glasses, or tossed hoops over stuffed animals. I loved watching others play the games. As I stopped for the third time at one of the booths to watch a brash teenager aiming an air rifle to try to win a huge stuffed animal for his girlfriend, Edward nudged me.

"Do you want one of those?"

I wasn't used to having money to play these games, and I assumed Edward didn't have much either. "I just like to watch."

"I have plenty of money tonight," he said. "I'd like to treat you to whatever you want." He gave me a winning smile.

"All right!" I said. "Just try once."

At the counter, the middle-aged, paunchy operator grinned. "Step right up and try your luck! Five dollars for three shots; knock down three targets and you get the choice of our top prizes." He pointed at the row of huge stuffed dogs along the back of the booth.

Edward handed over five dollars. The small disks you had to knock out of the way were battered and a couple of them were bent to the side. They were probably harder to knock down than they looked.

Edward sighted along the air rifle mounted on the counter and squeezed the trigger without taking much time to aim. The shot struck the center of one of the targets with a loud clang, knocking it backward violently.

The paunchy man raised his eyebrows briefly and bellowed, "Great shot. Congratulations. Can you do as well the second time?"

Edward ignored him as he fired off another shot and in short order a second target was down. The man congratulated him again, and Edward leaned into my ear and whispered, "Watch what he's doing with his left hand."

The man was pulling at something underneath the counter. Edward murmured in my ear again, "There's a little device under there that locks all the targets and keeps them from being knocked over." He pointed with his chin at the row of targets, and indeed, they were no longer quivering in the breeze.

"What—" I whispered, "those crooks!"

Edward's eyes narrowed and a feline grin appeared on his face. "Go over to the other side and ask him if that large blue dog is one of the prizes."

I followed his gaze. The stuffed toy in question was at the very end of the row. Puzzled, I obeyed. "Mister?" I asked, stretching over the counter. "Is that one of the prizes we can get?"

"Eh, little lady?" he asked. "You betcha. Any of them, you could bring home tonight." His eyes strayed to my neckline.

I heard a loud clang. Edward had taken the third shot, knocking down yet another target. The man's eyes narrowed. Edward was sporting a triumphant smile.

"Congratulations, young man. You're our first winner of the night," the man said with a tight smile. "What prize would you like?"

"The young lady will choose," Edward replied.

I hesitated, and then indicated the large blue dog I had been pointing at earlier.

The man untied it and handed it to me with more jolly words spoken from a taut mouth. Edward thanked the man in a gracious tone.

He was chuckling as we left the booth.

"What did you do there?" I asked, balancing the giant stuffed animal.

"I just evened the odds a bit."

"But how?"

"While you distracted him, I took out my knife and cut the cord that held the targets in place." He glanced at me, an amused, superior half-smile on his lips. "That made the game fair again." He stopped, his eye caught by something or someone on the other side of the field, and his face stilled and became serious. He lifted a hand in acknowledgment.

"My dear, there's someone I have to see for a moment. Do you mind waiting for me?" He scanned the nearby booths. A red banner flapped above a gray tent. The banner stretched in the wind, and I read the heavily curlicued letters: "Fortune Telling."

"How would you like to know your future?" he asked.

Inside, the tent was dimly lit and the air chokingly warm and heavy with incense. Edward steered me to where a gray-haired woman sat behind a small table. He laid a twenty dollar bill on the table.

The old woman picked up the money. "That'll be ten dollars, young man."

"Keep the change. Just give her a good fortune." To me, he said, "I'll be back in less than fifteen minutes." He scooped up the large stuffed dog. "And I'll take this back to the car so you don't have to carry it around." Then he was gone, the tent flap stirring behind him on a quick flurry of cool air.

The woman at the table murmured, "Please go right in, miss." She gestured at a dark red curtain at the rear of the tent. "Madame will see you now."

I pushed the fabric aside. This part of the tent was even gloomier and more heavily fragranced than the waiting area. A woman sat at the far end of the room behind a table draped in black cloth. Unevenly cut black hair framed her face and a white bandanna wrapped around her head. A crystal ball rested on a small stand on the table, a single straight-backed chair before it.

"Come in, come in, don't just stand there."

The woman was younger than I expected, dark, shrewd eyes narrowed. She took a pipe out of her mouth and placed it on a stand at her left. "So you've come for your fortune, eh?" She grinned briefly, exposing stained teeth. "What would you like to know? No, don't tell me. You want to know about love, all the young girls do." She leaned forward, and I saw that her right arm was cut off just below the shoulder, the stump wrapped with dark bandages. With her left hand she rapidly flicked a number of cards painted with elaborate drawings back and forth and laid them out on the table.

Then she stopped and her eyes widened. She barked, "Give me your hand!"

"What?" I rubbed sweating palms on my thighs.

"Your hand, girl, so I can read your palm," the woman snapped.

She bent over my hand, muttering to herself. "Well. I don't see this too often." She stroked one line on my palm with a dark, calloused finger and cackled. "You are one of the fortunate few who will meet your soul mate in this lifetime. In fact—" She drew my hand closer to her beaky nose. "You have already met him." She leered. "Did you come in with your boyfriend? I see you and your soul mate married, with not one or two but four children in your future."

My mouth fell open. Somehow I couldn't imagine Edward as a father. The woman scrutinized my palm again. "But wait—I see dark times ahead for you and your young man. Over the next year, very dark times—and again, about another decade in the future. A dark shadow crosses your path, and it will be the same one both times." She frowned at my palm, sounding reluctant. "Your life will be in danger."

Her eyes had dilated in the murky light. Her face seemed marked by fear, her earlier bravado gone. "I don't give this warning very often, but I must ask you to be extremely cautious. The shadow stands very close to you now."

I marveled at the quality of the woman's act. She was really terrifying. "What should I do?"

"Your boyfriend," the woman whispered, "must stay away from the shadow, the temptation of the mask. The shadow has two faces, and both are deadly." Her eyes bored into me. "He holds his hand out to you now, but it will all be up to you; you are the one who must be strong…"

I pushed back my chair, breaking out into a cold sweat at the utter belief in her words.

There was a noise in the outer room and I heard voices. Cool air brushed me as the curtain was drawn back. The woman's eyes lifted to meet the visitor. She blanched even more than before, her eyes dilating in terror. "No," she whispered. "It has him…"

Edward walked into the room, smiling. "Did you have an interesting visit, Bella?" he asked. "Did you predict a wonderful future for the two of us, madam?"

The woman's mouth seemed stuck for a moment. "Yes, yes," she croaked. "An excellent future. Good evening." She turned her back to us.

Edward held out his hand. "Come. Let's go." He seemed very pleased with something.

"Did you see your friend?" I asked as we passed through the tent flap.

"Yes. And how was your fortune?"

I shivered. "It was a bit… strange," I admitted. "Kind of scary, actually. At first it sounded normal, all this stuff about soul mates, but then she got a little weird, telling me my life was in danger."

Edward snorted. "The usual twaddle. Beware the dark stranger, isn't that usually it?"

"Not quite," I said. "She told me—and you— to beware a shadow."

Edward laughed. "Sounds ridiculous. I guess clichés are what you'd expect from charlatans. Well, I hope it was entertaining at least."

"Oh, it was, I guess." I shuddered again. "She just sounded—so convincing."