“Get out!” I yelled again, this time less with less excitement and more fear.

“Don’t you think I would if I could?” He pushed at the glass again, but it was sealed shut, as if there never was any door.

“Are you sure the door was on this side?”

“I’m pretty positive,” he stated, though he still pushed on all the other sides to be sure. “I think it’s safe to assume at this point for future reference, that anything in this carnival, no matter how pleasant it may at first seem, is out to get us,”

“I just don’t get why,” I said sadly, “It’s my own grandparents, why are they doing this?”

“Can we reflect another time?” he asked as the water began to reach his upper thigh. “I don’t mean to complain, but this water is very cold,”

I reached for my locket, reminding me of its disappearance. I put my palm to my forehead as I tried to think. “Well, it’s just glass right? We could break it!”

“Do you have another oar?”

“No, but, maybe,” I looked around for anything that could be of use. I picked up the balls and started to chuck them at the tank.

“Amusing, but not working,” he stated as the water reached his abdomen.

“Is there anything in there?” I asked. Admittedly, it was a dumb question, but I was desperate and under stress.

He looked down as though humoring the thought, then back up at me. “Nope, nothing.”

I stepped closer to the tank, where the water had risen to his bare abdomen. “How thick is this glass?”

“Enough,”

“It’s always jokes with you,”

“I find that often lightens the mood,” he shrugged. The water was picking up speed, now reaching his upper chest. I found myself staring for what I told myself was scientific purposes. “That’s flattering and all, but there will likely be better less life threatening times for you to admire me,”

My cheeks burned, “As if that’s what I’m doing!”

The water reached his shoulders, “You’ve heard of breaking the ice, right? Do that but with glass!”

“You want me to start a casual conversation?”

He leaned up as the water reached his neck, “I can see where you could’ve got that from but that’s not what I meant,”

“Okay, you’re not going to like this,”

The water reached his chin as he yelled, “Mabelle, what are you doing? What are you going to do?”

“Brace yourself, okay?” I stepped back, then ran forward, pushing the tank forward with all my force. It fell down and I could see Arlen inside ready his body for the impact. It hit the ground with an explosion of glass and water and the sound of the box shattering rang in my ears. I quickly ran around to help Arlen up. “Are you okay?” I asked.

He was bleeding from small glass cuts in a few more areas now, though he seemed otherwise fine. “In the future, some warning would be nice.” I shrugged apologetically and to my surprise he wrapped me in a hug. I could feel some of his blood seep onto my blouse, but I returned the hug. “Thank you,” he said.

“Yeah, no problem,” I wasn’t sure how else to respond to his forwardness. “We’re a team now,”

He lifted the tiny bottle with a note neatly tied with a ribbon inside and handed it to me. “It’s your grandparents, you should read it first,’

I eagerly popped open the bottle and removed the inner scroll. I handed him the small red ribbon after untying it, and unrolled the folded paper. It was another letter.

“Dearest Hector,

If you have discovered this letter it means you are doing well in the mission we have so unfortunately compelled you to complete.In another life perhaps, things could be a different way. However, for now these letters are all we have to mask the normality of a family. We wish you the best of luck dear boy, or as we say in our unfavorable career, break a leg.

With love

Your mother and father,

Elaine and Berlin Swan”

After reading, I handed him the letter. He looked it over. I was the first to speak. “I don’t see anything at all. Is there a clue in this one?”

“There has to be, right?” he looked at it from different angles. “If there were any secret messages they would start to show on a page this old. It’s just what’s written,”

“Maybe it’s just a normal letter,” I sighed and shivered. The excitement had vanished, leaving me with only the coldness from my dripping clothes. “We should focus on getting dry clothes for now, and think about it more after,”

Arlen squeezed water from his dark hair into the small puddle on the dirt path. “Sounds good to me.”