Calliope music played: a Strauss waltz, stirring and occasionally discordant. The wall as they entered was hung with antique carousel horses, hundreds of them, some in need of a lick of paint, others in need of a good dusting; above them hung dozens of winged angels constructed rather obviously from female store-window mannequins; some of them bared their sexless breasts; some had lost their wigs and stared baldly and blindly down from the darkness.
And then there was the carousel.
A sign proclaimed it was the largest in the world, said how much it weighed, how many thousand lightbulbs were to be found in the chandeliers that hung from it in Gothic profusion, and forbade anyone from climbing on it or from riding on the animals.
And such animals! Shadow stared, impressed in spite of himself, at the hundreds of full-sized creatures who circled on the platform of the carousel. Real creatures, imaginary creatures, and transformations of the two: each creature was different. He saw mermaid and merman, centaur and unicorn, elephants (one huge, one tiny), bulldog, frog and phoenix, zebra, tiger, manticore and basilisk, swans pulling a carriage, a white ox, a fox, twin walruses, even a sea serpent, all of them brightly colored and more than real: each rode the platform as the waltz came to an end and a new waltz began. The carousel did not even slow down.
“What’s it for?” asked Shadow. “I mean, okay, world’s biggest, hundreds of animals, thousands of lightbulbs, and it goes around all the time, and no one ever rides it.”
“It’s not there to be ridden, not by people,” said Wednesday. “It’s there to be admired. It’s there to be.”
A place of power and possibility, of gods diabolical and celestial: glowing amber and heady cinnamon, the green of growing things and the white of thunderclaps, sweet myrrh and sacred styrax, forest moss and blood-soaked battlefields, papyrus and clay, rose petals, wildflowers, abbatoirs, and honey.
felidaeluna –
Seriously I will die if I don’t get this again. How goth is that????
felidaeluna –
I love this scent as much as I love my husband. In fact, some of our best moments are tied to this scent. I’m almost out. I need it. Like I need air. Please please please make me some more, can I have some more? I’ll eat my pudding! I will buy three if that what it takes. But I have to have it. Please don’t let me run out.
Daniel –
I can’t get over how good this one is!
I recieved it as an imp alongside with my order and it is by far my favorite scent, It’s absolutely amazing! I know for sure that I will be getting this one in my next order.
woodenmango –
Love this so much! Got this as an imp.
Out of the vial: very sweet like cherry syrup or bubblegum. There’s something sort of incense-like hiding in the background though, likely dragons blood.
When it dries it loses some of its cherry smell and just remains sweet and resinous. After about 5 hours it is mostly gone but if I stick my nose right to the spot that I put it on i get a different sort of cherry smell. It actually reminds me of a scented strawberry shortcake doll I had as a kid. Very interesting. I might not get a whole bottle but I will definitely enjoy my Imp 🙂