Ignoring Laurent’s lab, I thought about the things I’d said to the doll. He must have heard me speaking to her, expressing my concerns about the weird occurrences in his circus. I felt my face growing hotter. What did Laurent think about my suspicions? Did he know what happened with Rex?
“I recall telling you not to come here alone,” Laurent said. “I thought I made that very clear.”
“Then are you going to let me go?”
He looked at me with shock in his expression. “Let you go? Goodness no!”
I breathed in my relief and decided to change the subject. “So, the lights, the moving doll, the woman vanishing from the portrait; those were all your doing?” I asked. “Are the animals in The Menagerie fake, too? Is anything real in this place?”
Laurent’s expression softened as he deflected my question. “My feelings for you are, Bindi Bairam. I can’t even express how much I truly care for you, my dear.”
I was surprised to hear him say as much, but with reminders of Rex and the passion we’d recently shared, I didn’t want to face the subject of Laurent’s feelings for me, because… well, I wasn’t sure what my feelings were towards him. Or towards Rex, for that matter.
Instead, the only thing I could rely on was the fact that I had more questions than I was comfortable with. Running my hands through my hair, I paced the room. “Don’t change the subject! Why do you and Rex keep doing that? As soon as I start asking questions, both of you try to distract me with other subjects. I don’t understand it. I can’t tell if the things you say are real or if you’re just saying these things to throw me off and confuse me.” I took a deep breath and continued to glare at him. “One thing I do know is I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.” Truth was, I didn’t really hate it, I just didn’t understand it.
Laurent winced at my comment. “Bindi, I… that wasn’t what I intended at all. Back on the train, when we had our moment in the caboose, I genuinely thought you felt the same way I do.”
I did feel the same way. At least, in that moment I had. It was the same with Rex, though—a deep, depressive longing I couldn’t bear to endure by myself. Each one of them filled some part of me I couldn’t express, much less, identify.
“It just…” I glanced at the broken-faced doll, and a ring of familiarity persisted in the back of my head. “I want to believe you. But I know something’s not right. I can’t say which parts, but… I know you’re hiding something. You, Rex, this entire circus…” The fortune teller’s words echoed through my mind, and her cryptic warning suddenly became clear.
Don’t trust anyone.
As I spoke my next words, I looked directly into his eyes, tears filling my own. “I don’t know if I can trust you.”
It physically hurt me to say the words out loud, but I knew it was imperative for me to do so. Laurent looked as pained as I felt; I could see it. He looked down at his feet, a weak smile plastered on his face. “You’re far too clever for your own good, Bindi Bairam, far too clever.”
Without another word, he turned and vanished into thin air, leaving me to wonder if I’d simply imagined him.