location: carnival of time
when: during the blackout
If there’s one place that he’s rendered nearly useless, it’s a fucking carnival.
Lights, sounds, people. Everything coming from every direction every second. It was exhausting. Then, in an effort to have some alone time to enjoy themselves, he was shooed away. What that really meant was that he trailed them at a distance - ever present but out of sight. Until his mark simply disappeared out of view. One second Atticus’ blonde head was bouncing along and then nothing.Â
Gabriel shoved through the crowd, moving aside carnival goers with their arms stuffed with squishmallows and popcorn as he moved to where he last saw Atticus. As his eyes swiveled the crowd, he had a gnawing sense that this was one of Atticus’s crafty ways of getting out of his hair. If it wasn’t his job to keep him literally alive, maybe it would have been a welcome change. His mind was pouring over the exits, the different paths through the carnival rides. He remembered the map he forced the ticket booth attendant to draw of the carnival so he would know every exit contingency. It was not unlike Gabriel to be so one-minded on his task at hand. One might even say he was fixating to ignore other thoughts.
Around him, the lights began to dull. Rides groaned to a stop and the world went dark. Gabriel was not quite able to panic, but if he had been, his stomach would have hardened to steel as he watched the people around him. Their faces were in various stages of concern and delight, as if this was another trick played by the carnival. But, when his pocket buzzed too and showed the same ominous text the rest of the carnival goers received, he knew it was no harmless trick.
He needed to find them. Now. Atticus would be the first on his list simply because he knew he was alone and nearby. A dot glowed on Gabriel’s phone and indicated a section of the carnival to his left. Whether or not Atticus knew about the tracker, Gabriel was able to pinpoint where his phone (and hopefully where he) was. He pushed his way through the crowd once more, his eyes continuing to scan for threats, but hoping to find nothing.
