Death of Pan: Part Two (special preview)

Mr. Gold frowns. “I saw something red, like him.” He looks pointedly to Mr. Goodfellow. “I was following someone who was wearing red, hoping they could lead me out. But I lost them and, by that time, I found myself wedged in a corner.”

I then turn to the clown and the mime. “You two must work here.” I move my finger between them. “Is one of you deaf or hard of hearing?”

The clown steps forward. “We do,” he bows his head to me. “And yes, my brother is partially deaf. I’m Bethune, and he is Baird. I’ve been trying to transcribe for him everything.”

“I see,” I murmur. “And what were you two doing in here if you work out in the carnival?” I point behind me then to the door.

Bethune looks me over then frowns slightly. “There’s usually someone on hand at the house of mirrors who helps people when they get stuck or lost. Since we just came back to the carnival that’s kind of fallen to us to take care of.”

I smirk to myself. “And there was a lot of people getting trapped tonight, wasn’t there?” 

“That’s because the controls for the mirrors were having problems.” He points up and  glances to the ceiling which I see is also mirrors, but there are passages between them where the poles holding the mirrors run through. “I brought Baird with me tonight because we were having such problems. We were trying to get everyone out, but we became trapped in the mirrors as well.”

“And who does that?” I look to Mr. Faire. “Who operates the house of mirrors?”

He shakes his head. “No one,” his brow furrows. “It’s all on a timer. It’s a program set to run a certain course every half hour.”

“Then where are the controls?” I point my finger all around the entrance. “Is it somewhere in here?”

Mr. Faire walks over to the wall behind the door. There, he slides open a panel to reveal a small computer.

I stand beside him, not really sure what I am looking at. “Any way to tell if it has been messed with?”

“I can check to see who has logged into this computer,” Mr. Faire replies.

“Then do that. Check to see who has used it and if they tampered with any of the...stuff.” I grimace as I look away from the computer and back at the crowd of suspects. I then point to Haytham. “And what about you?”

“Me?” He lays his hand on his chest. “You know me.”

“But were you here?” I point to the ground. “When the murder occurred, were you here or what?”

“Mr. Faire called me to inspect the body,” Haytham answers. “Doctor and all. I confirmed he was dead.”

“But he’s a god,” I say with a grin appearing. “How could you be so sure he was dead?”

Haytham’s eyes widen as he looks down at me. “He had no pulse. He wasn’t breathing nor has he moved at all.”

“But he’s a god,” I answer. “He has no use for such things.”

There’s a loud gasp from Sossy who quickly covers her mouth with her hand and cowers down against her sister’s chest. Opehlia wraps her up in her arms then casts a glare in my direction.

“Just like the fantastic movie, ‘The Princess Bride’ you have misjudged the capacity at how dead our god in there really is.” I point back through the mirrors. “He is not completely dead, oh no. No.” I wag my finger in Haytham’s face. “You see, my dear doctor, he is only mostly dead.”

“That is not a thing!” Dr. Goodfellow snaps behind me.

“Oh good, you’re chiming in. So tell me, good doctor,” I pop my gum. “Do you treat gods and demons and deities regularly to know how they die?”

“Dead is dead!” He shakes his hands out before himself. “There is no such thing as ‘mostly dead’ or ‘barely dead’ or ‘hardly dead’. You either are or you are not.”

“Well then,” I sigh. “Our victim in there is still alive.”

The shocked awe that goes through the room crashes like a wave. It flows from person to person, taking breath and stealing the unnerved calm and replacing it with hissing foam and sloshing chaos. Wide eyes and gaped jaws point towards me as I blow a bubble with the cinnamon gum. 

“How can you be so sure?” Haytham hisses at me. “I checked him over!”

“Uhm-” Mr. Faire’s slight alarm at the computer cuts to my attention first.

“Something wrong?” I ask him.

Mr. Faire looks to me anxiously and then to the screen. “I don’t mean to lessen the drama we have at the moment, but uhm-” He shakes his head. “This can’t be right.”

I walk away from Haytham to rejoin his side. “Who signed in, Mr. Faire?”

“It was me.” His hand flutters around his throat. “It says I was the one who signed in. But I never use this system. I only sign in to check on security measures.”

I remember the time stamps on Mr. Gold’s phone, the login time with Mr. Faire’s name is just half an hour prior. That means that just when all these people came in, the mirror maze would have been reset to allow for a new course to begin. Which means, whoever logged in under Mr. Faire’s name had set it up for the maze to lock everyone inside.

“Yes!” I pump my fist into the air.

“What does any of that matter right now? Is he dead or isn’t he?” Ophelia screams. 

I blow another bubble. “I told you, didn’t I?”

“Oh excuse me, let me go ask.” I walk back into the mirrors. “All of you stay out here please.”

I go back into the center of the round room. Pan is still laying there, and just as I suspected, he is wearing a red hoodie. I kneel down beside him just as his reflection comes back into the mirror. His fists bang on the glass, shaking the room as I examine his body. 

“It’s about time you came back,” Pan snarls.

“Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen-” I mumble to myself.