Something Wicked This Way Comes

Charles is in the library that evening after having seen the carnival and Mirror Maze briefly for himself that afternoon. He gathers books he believes could be helpful. Some of these are about the occult, the devil, demons, and witches. As he waits for Will and Jim, he recalls two lines from Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “‘By the pricking of my thumbs / Something wicked this way comes’” (171).

Will and Jim arrive late at the library after hiding all day. They tell Charles everything they have experienced with the carnival and are shocked when he says he believes them. Charles shows them an old newspaper ad from 1888 for the Cooger and Dark carnival. They learn the same carnival has been coming into town since 1846, every few years and always in October. Charles recalls an old sermon about “Autumn People,” evil people who live perpetually in the autumn months and feast on human souls. Charles explains that most people are half autumn and half summer. He declares that his purpose in life is to help the boys.

Charles tells Will and Jim that they must learn all they can about the history of good, evil, and moral choices. He explains that love and connection are what help people be good. The boys enjoy listening to him talk. Charles speculates about how Dark and Mr. Cooger operate. Based on all the reading he has done over the years, he claims they feed on immorality, malice, and the sins of human souls.

Charles says Mr. Dark can sense sin and that he tempts people into selling their soul for whatever they desire. The carnival uses death as a threat but does not kill directly. It may offer people the chance to be younger or older physically, but it cannot change the essence of who they are. Its victims eventually go mad, like the “Dwarf,” the Dust Witch, and soon, Miss Foley. The three of them hear the library door open and close. Charles tells the boys to hide.

Mr. Dark enters the library and questions Charles about the boys’ whereabouts. Dark threatens to kill Charles if he protects them. He offers Charles a deal: The carousel will reverse Charles’s age if he gives the boys up. Charles refuses, and Mr. Dark magically makes Charles have a heart attack.

Mr. Dark searches the library for Will and Jim. He lies and claims that Will’s mother has ridden the carousel and is now as old as Mr. Cooger. When he hears Will softly crying, he spots both boys among the shelves.

Mr. Dark grabs the boys as Charles recovers enough to punch him once. Dark breaks Charles’s hand and shows the boys, through one of the windows, that both Will and Jim’s mother are fine; they are coincidentally walking by outside. Will screams for his mother. She stops, as if sensing him nearby, but eventually keeps walking. The witch appears and hypnotizes Will and Jim so they cannot speak, hear, or see. Mr. Dark instructs her to stop Charles’s “clock,” by which he means his heart, and marches the boys outside.

The “Dust Witch” attempts to magically slow down Charles’s heart. Nearing death, Charles realizes that nothing matters and that the witch trying to kill him by “tickling” the air is absurd. He laughs in her face, which stuns and frightens her. She runs away as he continues to laugh uncontrollably. Charles feels triumphant and plans to go rescue the boys.