Gifted, A Donovan Circus Novel (20 page)

“I know. I could feel the heat
near me! Incredible!”

“Yeah, but did you see that
girl? She was on fire!”

“How’d she do that? Is that
supposed to happen?”

“I don’t know, but it was
awesome. That’s some trick.”

“Maybe the fire wasn’t real at
all then. You could see her face and hair and she was fine. Maybe they fooled
us.”

“No idea, but I’m sure
impressed. Well worth the ticket, I’d come back to see her again. That was
amazing.”

I carried part of the hose with
Jarvis, who threw angry looks at me the entire time. As we all stumbled outside
the Big Top and tossed everything to the side to make way for the animal acts,
I heard the clowns mutter to one another. Keegan and Jade rushed over to join
us.

Sheffield walked outside to
where we stood by the performers’ entrance. He turned to Bobby, who held Eli
up.

“You okay, son?” Sheffield asked
Eli.

Eli nodded weakly. “I don’t
understand what happened. Everything was fine. I ran in the house to get the
rest of the costume on, but I couldn’t find my vest that’s supposed to be in
the top floor where I jump out. I guess I lost track of time trying to find it;
next thing I knew, fire surrounded me and I couldn’t get out.”

Sheffield nodded. “I’m at fault
for not approving a different act. I should’ve cut that to save us time and had
you do another skit. And Bobby, congratulations, you’re the new screaming woman
in the house if we ever do that again. We should’ve done that in the first
place.”

Sheffield then turned to the
five Firestarters. “Any of you got an explanation as to what happened out there
with that damn fire? ’Cause I’m pretty sure that was a little excessive.”

Antonio shrugged. “I was on the
other side of the house doing what I was supposed to.”

“You didn’t, Antonio,” Sheffield
snarled. “You were doing everything based on timing, rather than actually
watching Eli to make sure he got out before you set him on fire. Leave timing
to the acrobats and high wires. Next time, try being a part of the act rather
than an observer. Eli could’ve been killed due to your daydreaming.”

He turned to Bobby. “Thank you
being where you should’ve been. You saved Eli’s life. You did good.”

Then Sheffield faced me. “And
you. I don’t even know where to start. I’m both pleased and extremely annoyed.
On the one hand you saved the audience, whereas on the other, you ran out in
the ring and revealed something quite strange to what I’m sure was an entirely
human crowd. I’m torn.”

I could feel the heat rush to my
face. “I’m sorry, Sheffield. I should’ve let someone else run in to help, but I
couldn’t stand by and watch. I didn’t want Eli to end up like…” I trailed off
as we all thought of Marty.

“Sounds like something Lenny
would’ve done. He’d be proud of you, kid. Clown or no, you probably saved some
of the audience’s eyebrows tonight. Not to mention a few lawsuits,” Sheffield
responded.

“I find it suspicious that she
handed me the hose
and
turned it on
and nothing came out,” Jarvis spat out. He traded me a dirty look for my
shocked one.

“Hey, fuck you, Jarvis, she
saved all your asses,” Keegan snarled.

“That ain’t right, man, she
didn’t do nothin’,” Bobby began, but Sheffield put up a hand to silence him.

“That’s a heavy accusation,
Jarvis,” Sheffield said. “Do you have any proof?”

I squeaked in protest. Proof? I
didn’t need proof for something I didn’t do!

Jarvis looked down and shifted
his feet. “Well, nah, but I mean, she had every opportunity. She had the hose
and turned it on. She’s a Firestarter who had her moment in the sun saving
everyone. She’s a newbie for cryin’ out loud. People are saying she might’ve
killed Marty!”

“I will not tolerate you
insulting other members of this troupe, Jarvis,” Sheffield said in a sharp
tone.

Jarvis kept his eyes on his feet
and mumbled, “I got it, Sheffield, but she’s got a lot of marks against her.
People talk.”

“And do you understand the
consequences of pushing this rumor forward?” Sheffield asked.

Jarvis, now in humiliated
silence, shook his head.

“It means that you’re out,
Jarvis, if I hear any more nonsense about one of our own hurting others,”
Sheffield said coldly. “The same respect goes for everyone here. I understand
that Lucy is new and that it takes time to build trust. But no one will be able
to trust anyone else in this group if we’re all accusing one another of
terrible actions. Like it or not, she’s one of us. I will vouch for her, as
will several other people here, I’m sure.”

Keegan, Nikolas, Jade, and Bobby
all nodded vigorously, glaring at the top of Jarvis’ head. The other clowns all
looked uncomfortable, but a few directed a nod at me in agreement. My body
shook with anger at the accusations.

“Let’s chalk this up to an
error. I’ll have Miss Nance order a new hose,” Sheffield said abruptly. He lit
a cigarette and glared at the Big Top.

“It was my fault,” a clown spoke
up. “It was my idea for Eli to be up there since he’s so fast. I don’t know why
I didn’t think to put Bobby up there in the first place—”

“It’s over now,” Sheffield
responded. “Let’s get ready for the next act, folks. Go do your thing.”

Everyone broke out of their
stupor and started moving, but Sheffield turned to me. “Lucy, see me after the
show in my trailer.”

My heart dropped, but I nodded
and he walked back into the tent. Keegan was the only one remaining when I
turned from the canvas entryway.

“It’s going to be okay, Lucy,”
he said when he saw my face.

“How do you think it’s going to
be okay? Honestly? I’m enemy number one thanks to this stupid gift,” I choked
out.

Keegan took the three steps
towards me and put his arms around me.

“Our gifts are not stupid,” he
said in a soft voice. “I know it’s difficult right now, but that doesn’t mean
you won’t get through it. You’ve got a lot of support to back you up.”

“I don’t want you or Nikolas
supporting me just because Firestarters stick together,” I said. My face was
smushed against his chest and my plea came out muffled.

“That’s not fair to you or to
us, Luce.” He took a step back and put his hands on my shoulders so I had to
look up at him.

“We don’t support you because we
have the same gift. We support you because we believe you didn’t do this. I
don’t think you’re capable.”

“You’re right, I’m not. I don’t
understand. I can’t believe it was anyone in the troupe, but why would a townie
go to all this trouble? Surely they could let what happened go. It wasn’t a
pretty fight, but I think they understood the consequences.”

“The more I think about it, the
less likely I think it’s one of those townies,” he admitted. “Marty’s murder
would be difficult enough for a normal person, but now tonight…there’s no
physical way a stranger got back behind the ring to tamper with the hose. There
are too many of us back there and someone would notice an outsider. I won’t
accept that for a logical answer.”

“You think it’s someone inside
the troupe? Are you crazy? Did you not hear what Sheffield said?” I asked.

“I heard him loud and clear. I’m
not going to accuse anyone and I don’t have any ideas about the guilty party.
But I’ve thought about it since I heard you were on the most wanted list after
Marty’s death,” he said. “What if someone’s trying to set you up?”

“Set me up?” I practically
yelped. “I’ve only been here like three weeks! Why would someone want to set me
up?”

“It might not be personal. What
if it’s someone who wanted to do this anyways and made you a prime suspect
because you arrived at the right time?” he asked.

“You really think someone could
be capable of killing for the fun of it?”

“Not necessarily, no. There
might be a reason that we can’t even imagine until we have proof. All we know
right now is what’s happened in the last few days.”

“You really think someone is
using me as a target? What happens if I get kicked out?”

He shrugged. “You won’t get
kicked out. Look at what happened. Sheffield vouched for you in such a way that
no one will dare say anything against you now, no matter what happens.”

“But that means that whoever it
is can keep killing and making it look like I did it. If I stay, they’ll keep
hurting people. If I leave, then they could stop and I’d still be blamed and we’d
never know—”

“If you leave, then they’ll
probably find another scapegoat,” Keegan interrupted. “They could put it on me
or Nikolas if they wanted to stay with the Firestarter route. If they’re intent
on weeding people out, then it won’t matter if you stay or go. They’ll find
someone else to pin it on. Don’t leave.”

Keegan had a point. Even if I
left, it didn’t guarantee it would stop. They could hurt people another way or
blame another Firestarter. That thought in particular horrified me.
Firestarters already had so much blame put upon them. I didn’t want the
accusations to simply transfer to one of them.

“No matter what happens, you
should stay with a partner at all times. Don’t let anyone think that you or
Nikolas or the others could be blamed. I don’t want Firestarters getting roped
any further into this,” I said. I pulled away to look up at his face to make
sure he knew I was serious.

“Lucy, I’m not scared of anyone
blaming me. I’ve been here forever; they know me. No one will accuse me.”

“You might be surprised,” I
muttered. “I can’t stand the thought of someone here doing it.”

“I certainly don’t like the idea
of it. But it’s the most logical theory I’ve got—it feels too close to
us, ya know? I won’t share it with anyone else but I wanted you to be careful.”

“I don’t know what to do. I
don’t know how to protect my name or prove that I didn’t do it, or won’t do it
in the future.”

“Maybe you try that partner
thing you mentioned. Maybe I could be your partner,” he suggested.

“That’s nice of you and all, but
you have an actual act plus a million things to do around the grounds. We can’t
be together at all times.”

He took a step in towards me and
his voice got quiet. “Maybe I can make it work. I don’t want anything happening
to you, Lucy.”

“Well, I don’t want anything
happening to you either.”

“I think you’re great.”

“Oh. Well…thanks. I think you’re
great, too.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” He
broke his quiet manner and rolled his eyes. “I
like
you. I think you’re funny and smart and you have no idea how
cute you are. You’re incredibly talented and make me push myself. I never
really thought about wanting more from my gift until you showed up. I’ll never
be your equal in skill, but I want to try.”

“Those are incredibly nice
things to say, but you hardly know me.”

“I guess I want to change that.”

“I hope you realize it’s only an
act. I’m not really that cool.” I gave him a weak smile.

“I never said you were cool,” he
teased. The corners of his mouth turned up.

“Yeah, but you think I’m cute,
so that makes up for it.”

“I guess I did admit that, huh?
Well, I wasn’t lying.” He smiled and leaned in so that we were only a few
inches apart.

“I sure hope you’re about to
kiss me,” I whispered.

“And if I didn’t?”

“Well, I’d be very disappointed.
I’d probably hold it against you for a while.”

“I guess I better then. At least
with me you don’t have to worry about catching me on fire.”

I had but a second to laugh
before Keegan leaned in and kissed me. His lips were soft and warm, his hands
gentle on my hip and face. It was tender and sweet, with a little bit of
promise behind it—exactly what I needed.

And then Jonah’s Law hit again.
There was a cough near us, and as Keegan jerked his head away, I looked over to
find Gabriel with a grin on his face. Naturally.

“Sorry to intrude,” he said,
“but I told Jim I’d help him get the tiger cages back to the animal area since
we’re running behind.”

Keegan ran a hand through his
dark hair and stepped away from me. “It’s cool, man, I know we’ve got work to
do.” He looked at me apologetically. “I need to check on Bobby and find
Nikolas. We’re going to get beers afterwards. Can I catch up with you
tomorrow?”

“Sure. I’ll need to see
Sheffield after the show anyways.”

Keegan nodded and kissed me on
the cheek, where a warm tingle stayed. He grinned at me before turning to
disappear between tents.

“Well, that was adorable,”
Gabriel drawled.

“Shut it,” I snapped. “You know
as well as I do you don’t need to be in there for another five minutes.”

“Someone’s testy.”

I scowled at him. “Tonight’s
been extremely bad and you’re not helping. You just ruined the one good thing
to happen to me today. Maybe even since I arrived.”

“What, Keegan giving you his
American hero speech? It wasn’t that impressive.”

“You were there the whole time?
I really appreciate you taking an interest in me, but your stalking ends now.”

“I don’t stalk; I really did
happen to walk up when he was trying to be your knight in shining armor. I
didn’t want to ruin your little moment.” He walked closer to me, his face
bathed in yellow and red lights that oozed from the tent entrance.

“I won’t let you ruin anything.
You have no control over what happens to me.”

“Yes, well, now at least I know
how not to kiss a girl. That was sweet and all, but bo-ring.” He faked a yawn.

“So help me, Gabriel, I will set
you on fire. I do not feel like being messed with right now. I’m sure you and
everyone else are well aware of tonight’s happenings, what with the accidental
lightshow and all.”

“You need to chill with the
uptight. I’m teasing you, Lucy, calm down.”