Miss Foley fears the mirror is in her house. She does not even consider the nephew to be hers, she felt ever since he came to her that he did not belong. She had figured out that the nephew had thrown the jewelry onto the lawn to get rid of the boys that would accompany her to the carnival. The nephew had pushed the carnival on her with the carousel admit one ticket still on the mantle. She calls Mr. Halloway and asks to meet him in the Police Station.
The medics could have sworn that Mr. Cooger was dead when they first got there. Jim and Will gave the Police false names and had them drop them off at different houses. The boys head for home, thinking of how they can explain this to the Police or anyone. But for everything that has happened relating to the carnival, there was a logical excuse, except for the illogical, which had happened, and no one would believe it. The boys get into another argument over each other?s actions at the merry-go-round. They saw Miss Foley and Will?s dad in the Police Station talking to the Police. Miss Foley was talking about how she was robbed, and if the boys were innocent, where are they. Will popped up and said, ?Right here.?
Mr. Halloway walked the boys home. They agreed to go back to Miss Foley?s tomorrow to look for some more of the stolen property, and the boys agree not to sneak out for the next month. The boys had confessed to robbing Miss Foley?s place. That way by confessing, the Police would go easy on them and besides no one would believe their story anyway. Will?s dad did not believe the boys were guilty and said he would believe their story. Will agreed to tell him in a couple of days.
Will asks his father if he is a good person. His father said, ?Yes,? and asked if that would help him when times get worse. ?It will help,? Will said. They get into a discussion of thought and beliefs, and philosophical ideas. His father asks him since when he thought being good meant being happy ? Will said, ?Since always.? ?Since I learn to know otherwise,? he said. They talk of growing up and growing old. They talk about the man with the biggest smile an act the happiest is carrying the biggest load of sin. ?And men do love sin,? he tells Will.
Don?t look at the things you missed out on or the things that went bad, you?ll go crazy, just think of the good times, happiness and so on, because thinking of bad things won?t bring you good ones, he later added. They talk of the good and the bad times, fears, and death; it makes everything else scared. But death itself only scares. If there were no death, all the other things would get tainted. They tell each other not to go near the carnival. Will welcomes his dad to climb up to his window for fun, as his father did when he was a kid in the good old days.
Will slept for exactly one hour, he remembered something; he looks out his window at Jim?s roof. He yelped, ?The lightening rod is gone.? Will was afraid. No, fear was a new electric power suit Jim must try to size. Will fears the carnival will send someone to find Jim, they would represent the storm. Jim was up in his house; the boys felt something and simultaneously popped their heads out their windows. At the same time to their amazement a hot air balloon was floating over. They looked at each other and agreed it was the witch. She would float over grasping the souls and life from the people beneath their roofs. She left a silver slime ribbon mark across Jim?s roof, so the carnies could find him. The boys get the garden hose and wash it off. Jim?s mom thinks it?s raining and shuts some windows but she does not see the boys.
The boys go back inside and Will brakes out his Boy Scout archery set, prepared to shoot down the balloon if it comes back. Knowing the witch could feel excitement, he felt proud of himself that he had washed her mark away, laughing, and doing a sort of victory dance.
The balloon turned and came back, he lured the witch after him as he ran to a deserted house with all his weapons. He climbed to the roof of the old house, thinking to himself, ?This is my house,? and he took aim. But a massive cold dark shadow overtook him, knocking him back clutching to the chimney. The wind blew the balloon back as she came back for another pass at him. He taunts her with his fear, pain, and scheme. He knows the witch could not resist, he took aim, ?Closer!? he demanded. The balloon came back and hit the roof, Will stretched to fire, and the bow broke. Will being attacked by the witch threw the arrowhead and punctured the balloon. The balloon deflated and spun, zipping around in the sky taking the witch away from all of them. Will fell off the roof and into a tree badly injuring him. ?Nothing much else happened, all the rest of that night.?
It was now Sunday and it rained and at the carnival grounds the carousel suddenly spasmed to life. At nine-fifteen, Jim shuffled out into the Sunday weather, in raincoat and all. They head for miss Foley?s house; they both had the same dream last night of a parade with a forty-foot coffin with the balloon inside, and everyone in black. They hear a little girl crying, Will goes over to Jim?s disappointment. The boys walk up to her, they don?t know her but she says their names. The boys get scared and frightened and leave the girl. The boys talk, they go back and Will confronts her. He says she is lost, he told her he will get help and that he knows whom she is, but he has to check first. She said, ?Who?ll believe?? The boys went to Miss Foley?s house like instructed. They look for her but can?t find her. They hear the marry-go-round music and put two and two together, that the little girl is Miss Foley. They have to help her. They think about the dream, the carnival is going to parade through town, but it?s not a parade, it?s a search for the boys and Miss Foley. They could not find the little girl anywhere.
Will called his dad to tell him that they won?t be home. They have to go hide from them, he did not specify any more.
Jim and Will hid under the sidewalk grill of the cigar store as the parade went past. The boys stayed there because it?s the most obvious place the carnies would not look, directly under them. The parade stopped right in the middle where they were and a small boy noticed them under the grate. The freaks were going threw the crowd handing out pamphlets and flyers, surly looking for the boys and Miss Foley.
Mr. Halloway is in a coffee shop when one of the freaks enters. The little boy is trying to get his mother to look down at the grate. As the freaks are milling about, the dwarf is right above them and sees the boy looking down, the dwarf looks down at the grate as the mother halls the little boy off. Jim and Will press themselves against the concrete not to bee seen. The dwarf was definitely the lightning rod salesman. The dwarf skipped off with some running children. Mr. Dark confronted Mr. Halloway who sad he was looking for two boys. Mr. Halloway said, ?Who is not.? He walked to the cigar the shop to get a smoke. The boys see him but don?t call him. Mr. Dark confronts Mr. Halloway and asks the boys names and presents a picture. Dark catches Mr. Halloway in a lie, Halloway catches Dark in a lie, and they depart each other. The witch is milling about while Will?s dad distracts the witch?s concentration by talking loudly and smoking a cigar. The carnies leave and Will?s dad realizes the boys were under the grate; he talks to them but does not look.
The dwarf went over to the illustrated man, ?Mr. Dark.? Then Mr. Dark moves swiftly over to the great looking down at it. Mr. Tetley the cigar shop owner came over to him and asked how much money he lost down the drain.
Its seven o?clock, Charles Halloway is in the library reading away. Mental illness is setting in on him, the pages, the dust of the old, are speaking to him. He recalls that this has been the longest day of his life, recalling all the events he has taken part in. he is looking up Occult Iconography into the history of circuses, carnivals, shadow shows, puppet menagerie, to minstrel stiff-walking sorcerers and their Fantoccini. At nine he read Demons possessed, torment of the damned to the spell of mirrors, to witches Sabbath, and pacts with daemons. He questions all he has seen and read and refers to Shakespeare, ?By the pricking of my thumbs something wicked this way comes.?
At the library at 7:45 will and Jim lay sprawled in the grass behind some bushes. The boys want to go inside the library, because Will?s dad is in there. They question weather the carnies have changed him. Before they knew it they were frantically bounding toward the library door. Dad opened the door and they hurried threw the corridors of the library. They boys had hid in all sorts of places, garages, and churches? Will?s dad asks them to tell him everything from the beginning. The boys tell him everything from the lighting rod salesman to miss Foley and her Mr. Cooger nephew. Will?s dad pointed to some old newspapers from October 1888-1846-1860-1910, all with J.C. Cooger and G.M. Dark presenting their carnival. He said they come once every 20-30-40 years so that people forget them. Will?s dad believes everything the boys tell him.
Will feels that fighting the carnival is hopeless. His father said, ?NO.? There was fear within Mr. Dark; Charles saw that when they had talked. They must use fear to their advantage and not let evil win over them. They believe in their research the carnival feeds on them, moves in on them when they are ripe. Mr. Halloway says they?ll prevail because they have common cause on their side. He makes comparisons to life to explain all this to the boys, he says you can?t get something for nothing, but you can get something for something. The boys asked where all this started. Will?s dad sad probably with one man walking across Europe jingling his ankle bells stuffing himself with other peoples pain and unhappiness. Hopping on the marry-go-round and living forever. Will?s dad know this, he feels it right down to his bone, he can taste the evil, blowing the dust off old books, and watching white moth wings float to the table below.
They believe the creatures at the carnival live off the souls of others, a live and raving soul, and one that can sleep at night. The souls that are eager and young, they feed off their soul fires and eternal damnation. Jim questions is the carnival death, Mr. Halloway said, ?No, it only uses it.? They turn people younger and cut them off from there former lives, because no one listens to them, and the carnival gives you what you want, a change of life and scenery, for one thing, guilt. They carnival gets at people using greed and the lust for things. They start to work on a plan, and then someone opens the library door.
It?s Mr. Dark he has come looking for the two boys, he has been to their houses and no one was there so he came to the library to look for Mr. Halloway and the boys. Mr. Halloway and Mr. Dark exchange voiced opinions on one another and Dark threatens Halloway. As the boys slip away into the dark. Mr. Dark mocks the bible, He tries to temp Halloway to a deal, but he declines. Dark walks away out of the room; he calls for the boys, walking through the library hunting for them.
The boys had burred themselves deep in the library, while dark had brought some of his friends searching for the boys. His friends the tattoos and illustrations covering him, giving off shapes and making him appear inhuman in form. Moving through isles of books he goes searching for the boys. Dark gets closer as he taunts and entices the boys, hearing their thoughts, he knocks over books and tells Will that he put his mother on the carousel and aged her one hundred years, and verbally attacking him to make him sob, therefore revealing where he is. Dark continues to knock over books off the shelves. He begins to climb atop the bookshelves, at the top he found Will and Jim sprawled out amongst the books on the shelves.
Dark pulls the boys off the shelves in a falling kicking heap, Will?s dad appears and hits Dark, and then Dark crushes Mr. Halloway?s hand and knocks him to the floor. Knocking more books off the shelves, Dark drops the boys and grabs them by the hair. Then they see the boy?s mothers are not old, just the same as they had left them. The boys call to them but the do not hear them, even Dark is surprised that they do not see them all standing in a window. Dark decides to get the boy?s mothers. They get outside where the rest of the carnies are. The witch casts a spell preventing the boys from speaking, she does the same to their ears and eyes. The boys are walked down the stairs by the carnies with Dark in fallow.
Charles Halloway lying in a heap of pain, right as he had heard the carnies leave, he had heard a woman?s voice call for him, ?Old man, old man.? Charles thought 54 years is not old. Charles starts to crawl and climb as the voice calls, ?I hear your breathing, old man I feel your hurt.? Charles hollers, ?Oh, get on with it.? The witch starts to slow his heart down, slower and slower. Charles is like, oh, ok, why not, come on, slower. He looked up and saw the witch over him. He laughed and giggled. The witch jumped back, but continuing to slow his heart. Charles bolted out laughing, countering the witch by doing the unexpected. He was yelling and laughing at her. The witch was so shaken and distracted her spell began to counter on her. Charles laughed at everything the witch did and took it as all a joke to strengthen the effects. The witch ran away from Charles. He stopped to think what he had just done to beat the witch.
The boys are now being escorted into the street, the boys can see but can?t see, they can speak and hear, but yet they can?t speak and hear, as they go pass Mr. Tetley?s. Dark talks about making Jim a partner if they can?t save Cooger. They all walk passed a police man Mr. Kolb. Machines, they are now at the mercy of Dark.
Will?s dad follows them, staying back as they maneuver through the crowds. They all sit in front of the mirror mazes. While Dark continues to conduct the shows and the witch limps in the back entrance. Dark suggests the bullet trick where the witch is supposed to catch the bullet. She is not too happy about this and lets Dark have a peace of her mind while Dark is taking volunteers. Since there were no volunteers Dark was about to call the last act off, when Charles Halloway stepped forth.
The crowd parted toward the stage. They shouted in Charles?s favor as he gets up on stage. The witch was terrified, Dark was apprehensive, he made it a point to Charles about his left hand, he said it was fine and the crowed cheered him on. Dark threw the gun at him, he ducked and he caught it, to everyone?s surprise. The crowed roared. Charles called for a boy to help hold the gun; he called for Will, his son. Dark spun around as if he had been shot. The crowed assisted in Charles?s call for his son, Will appeared and climbed up on stage. The witch was freaking, Dark had no idea what was going on and Will?s dad asked for the bullet. He carved a crescent moon into the bullet, it was the usual wax bullet that would dissolve in a puff of smoke, but he thought to the witch and he made sure she heard him, I did not put a crescent on the bullet, I put my own smile, and its coming for you. He Fired.
Every one inhaled, and exhaled. The crowd was screaming and milling about, ?she?s fainted,? ?-no she slipped,? ?-she?s?shot!? She was dead, but there was no wound. ?Shock do you think.? Charles thought it was the other bullet, that she had inhaled it. Dark is trying to say its all an act, shows over, calling for the lights. The boys snapped from their trance. Will and his father went to the maze to get Jim. Charles sees himself much older than he was standing there afraid.
Wills pockets were full of stuff and he brought forth 4 kitchen matches in the dark of the maze. Will?s dad is entranced by the maze and uses up all the matches. When Will yelled at him, Charles snapped out of it. He let out the most god awful cry of freedom, if the witch were alive, she would have known that sound and died again.
Jim at the back of the maze stopped, Mr. Dark stopped, the dwarf froze, the skeleton turned, all had herd not the sound that Charles had made, but the sounds that followed. All the mirrors shattered. Charles Halloway in a sub-daemon church shook the images out of the mirrors. The last light went out in the carnival and the hope of finding Jim went with it. The carousel started up ant they decide to head in that direction while the moon rises, giving them some light.
Will and his dad ran and ran toward the carrousel thinking about which way the music is playing. They see sparks and look for Jim. The freaks dare not stop them, for they fear for their lives. The calliope was going forwards and backwards, they don?t know what Dark is up to. Will and his dad watch as they bring Mr. Electro to the carousel, as they continue searching for Jim. All they find is an empty electric chair. There is a fine dust blowing in the wind, which is believed to be the remains of Mr. Cooger. The freaks flee into the shadows, and then Will and his dad see Jim. Will goes after Jim, as he sleepwalks onto the carousel and it starts up. Will tries to grab him, Dark is nowhere in sight, Will attempts several times to get Jim down, his dad heads for the control box as Will is pulled onto the machine. Will pulls both of them off the carousel in a falling heap; Jim hits the ground motionless as Will?s dad turns off the machine.