Gifted, A Donovan Circus Novel (33 page)

“You sure you won’t change your
mind about wanting me there?”

“I need to practice and I can’t
just shoo you away. You wouldn’t listen to me…unless you had something better
to do.” I gave him a hesitant smile and he relaxed.

“I don’t. Let’s see you do your
thing.”

We made the short walk from the
Ferris wheel to the Big Top. As we walked inside, it was as I found it best:
quiet and with just enough light in the ring. Gabriel wordlessly split off from
me and took a seat in the bleachers. I felt confident he would light a
cigarette and remain quiet to give me space. I walked to the center of the
ring, but turned my body so Gabriel only saw my profile rather than head on. I
didn’t want to risk getting distracted by any of his movements or become
self-conscious.

I closed my eyes, took a few
deep breaths and shook my limbs out. I usually did some exercises to warm up,
but I felt impatient tonight. Heat already oozed out of my pores and I wanted
to get straight to it. I exhaled sharply and opened my eyes. As I took another
deep breath, I focused on the fire in my palms. I held my arms out in front of
me, palms upwards. The large flames in either hand grew larger and my hands
came closer together to form a fireball. It began as small as a baseball but
quickly grew to the size of a very large beach ball. That would be enough in
size or I’d get too big for my britches.

My eyes narrowed in
concentration as the fireball lifted off my hands and into midair. I opened my
arms a little and rather than the fireball growing larger, space appeared and a
ring began to form in the center. I could feel perspiration on my forehead and
the familiar tinge of a headache coming on, but I pushed on.

Lifting the ring about five feet
over my head, I made sure the ring became clearer. The fire thinned out and a
nice, clear ring now formed. Time to finish it out. I brought my hands
carefully into my chest, making sure the ring didn’t dissipate. It obeyed my
mental command and the flickering flames were its only movement.

I threw my arms out and the ring
burst like a firework. Dying flames fell like ashes around me to the dirt
ground and I turned to Gabriel with a satisfied smile. The last of the amber
embers rained to the ground.

“That would definitely amaze an
audience.” He stood up and walked toward me. “You looked like a little fire
angel surrounded by your fireworks.”

“Don’t tease. Just an audience?
You didn’t think it was good?” I wasn’t necessarily fishing for compliments,
but I’d be annoyed if he didn’t realize it was an impressive trick. Shapes and
movement required far more skill than most realized.

“I thought you didn’t want my
approval.”

“Not your approval, no, but I
want to make sure that even a gifted person would think it’s worth the ticket
price.”

“Luce, it’s definitely worth the
ticket price. That was really, really good. You’ll have your own act worked out
in no time.”

“I agree,” added a nasally,
hoarse voice from the dark corner entrance. Gabriel and I both turned towards
the sound and Felix stepped forward from the shadows. “That was spectacular,
Lucy. Very special; you’ve worked very hard.”

Chapter
28

“Who’s your friend, Lucy?”
Gabriel asked me casually, but he automatically took a step closer to me.

“Gabriel, this is Dr. Felix J.
Hardy. He’s the guy I told you about earlier.”

“No wonder my ears were
burning.” Felix took several steps in to close the large gap between us. My
right hand, closest to Gabriel, twitched and he angled his body so that he was
between Felix and me. When Felix finally stopped, he was only a few feet away.
He didn’t take his gaze off me.

“I didn’t expect to see you so
soon, Felix,” I said in an even tone.

“Forgive me. I’ve waited several
years to speak with you. After the other night, my impatience got the best of
me. I couldn’t wait any longer for your answer.”

“Lucy typically needs more than
a few hours to think things over,” Gabriel interjected. I shot him a dirty
look.

“You’ve had more than enough
time to consider my offer, dear,” Felix responded flatly. His dark eyes didn’t
so much as glance at Gabriel; they stayed focused on me, barely blinking behind
his glasses.

“I’m not really comfortable with
any of the information I’ve been given lately, from anyone.”

“I understand that. But Lucy,
you must take a side. We all do, eventually. Did you find out what happened to
your attacker from the bar?”

“Yes and no.”

“And what did you discover? Did
you find that Sheffield is not the heroic father figure you make him out to
be?”

“Sheffield and Marty were
protecting me. Maybe they went a little overboard, but they made sure Mac
wouldn’t ever come after me again.”

“And are you sure he won’t?”

The way he looked at me, the
expression on his face, made my skin crawl. Did he know something? I threw a
worried glance to Gabriel, who looked as befuddled as I felt.

“They did it to gain your trust,
to ensure you wouldn’t go against them. You need to open your eyes, girl,”
Felix continued.

 
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Felix, but I’m not interested
in taking anyone down. I want to be as normal as possible, be part of the
circus. If there is a war, it’s not mine to fight.”

“Sheffield will use you. Others
will hunt you for what you are, for who you associate with; I can save you from
that if you fight with me.”

“I don’t see why anyone would do
that to me. I’m barely a dot on anyone’s radar.”

“You have no idea how wrong you
are. Already there are those who respect, fear, and hate you. They’ll want your
gift, your talents.”

“Just because I can make
fireballs and knock some people over with a heat wave?”

“You are so much like Lenny. You
underestimate yourself to the point of insult. You will never have a moment’s
rest. If it’s not me or Sheffield, others will approach or attack you. They’ll
try to bribe and threaten you to work for them. You have no idea.”

“I don’t want any part of it.
Sorry, Felix, but I’m not working for anyone except Donovan Circus as a
performer. Now if, you’ll excuse us, it’s late and we’ve got a show tomorrow.”

Felix’s right hand came up and
tapped the side of his glasses in what I now guessed to be his weird tic. I
just barely brushed Gabriel’s arm and he paused for a moment to keep an eye on
Felix. I was past the seats almost near the entrance when I threw a look back
to see Gabriel follow suit. Our backs turned, I was
thisclose
to the exit.

A click sounded behind us. We
both froze.

“Lucy, turn around slowly. If I
see so much as a spark flicker from your hands, I’ll shoot your boyfriend
here.”

Chapter
29

I took a cautious step forward
then pivoted to face them. Felix, much quicker than he seemed, now held a gun
to the back of Gabriel’s head. He looked dead serious about pulling the
trigger.

“First of all, not my
boyfriend,” I started.

“Are you kidding me right now?”
Gabriel scoffed. He threw me a dirty look before looking around. Felix was a
handful of inches shorter, but had no problem pushing the gun into Gabriel’s
hair to make him look straight ahead. Gabriel’s eyes met mine and the look was
clear: this probably wouldn’t end well.

“Don’t care. Just shut up and
let’s all take a step back into the center ring. Got it?” Felix said. His anger
sounded odd in his nasally voice.

We shuffled back towards the
wide-open space. Gabriel moved backwards slowly and deliberately, kept his
hands raised to show he wouldn’t make a sudden move. I took cautious steps
towards them both until we were finally all in the center ring again.

“Lucy, I have proof that humans
won’t tolerate your kind without me. You see, I can control both sides of the
equation. Humans will listen to me, see my side; it’s all in how I say it.”

“What are you even talking
about?”

“Given the opportunity, most
humans think being gifted would be quite amazing.” Felix shouted out to the
darkness. “Don’t you think so, Mac?”

A figure stepped inside the
tent; my insides heaved when I saw Mac, my attacker from the bar, slither in.
He walked up next to Felix, stood five feet away from me. I held my breath
until he finally stopped. Mac looked the same, yellow teeth and leathery skin,
even the angry sneer on his face. I wouldn’t play the fool, though; Felix had
dosed him with a gift, but which one?

“And what is your opinion on
gifted, Mac?” Felix asked in a conversational tone, as though he didn’t hold a
gun to two innocent people.

“It’s pretty fantastic, but
don’t give them any rights to stampede over us,” Mac rumbled. “Humans should
have the right to be gifted too; give everyone an equal playing field.”

He bared his teeth at me and I
forced myself to glare back into his eyes. Dinner threatened to rise in my
throat and I swallowed hard, hoping the thin sheen of cold sweat on my face
couldn’t be seen. I would not give him the satisfaction of my fear.

“You know we can’t help who we
are, Felix. We’re born this way; there’s nothing we can do about it,” I
answered.

“Certainly there is; I’m
producing a cure for those who don’t want their gifts. I’m also able to inject
humans with power. Everyone wins.”

“There is no cure. We are
permanently gifted. What don’t you get about that?”

“You have magic powers, for
fuck’s sake,” Mac interrupted. “What don’t
you
get? Of course anything’s possible, a cure could be made to get rid of you
freaks.”

“Doesn’t sound like you
convinced him of much of anything there, doc,” Gabriel said. “He’s about as
pissed off and prejudiced as he was when we beat his ass the first time.”

“You got lucky, you little
prick,” Mac said. “It won’t happen again. You can’t beat me this time, not when
Dr. Hardy made me invincible.”

Gabriel’s eyes met mine; Mac now
had Marty’s Unbreakable power. How would we get him out of the way to only deal
with Felix?

I turned my attention back to
Felix. “You don’t think Sheffield will figure it out when he sees our bodies in
here?”

“He won’t find your body in this
ring. The boy’s body, yes. And I hope he does come after me. I welcome it.”

“Don’t do this, Felix.”

“Too late. You’re going with me
to my lab.”

“Like hell—” Gabriel
snarled, but was cut off by Mac’s sudden vicious attack.

Without warning, Mac swung his
fist and slammed it into Gabriel’s skull with a sickening thud. Gabriel dropped
like a bag of bricks. Mac smiled, didn’t even need to catch his breath. Felix
studied his unconscious body for a moment then shrugged, turned his attention
to me. He pointed the gun at me.

“The Empath stays. His gift is
useless. We’re leaving now. I want your blood for my best gift.”

“What makes you think I won’t
set you on fire on this very spot?”

“It won’t hurt Mac here. You
might be fast to throw a fireball, but do you think you’re faster than a
bullet?” He waved his weapon at me a little. “Besides, you don’t want to kill
anyone, do you? Don’t be like Lenny.”

My temper surged. “You need my
blood.”

“Doesn’t mean you have to be
alive. But I want you around, in case I need to do more research, so I think a
leg wound will distract you enough.” He pointed the gun down, presumably at my
kneecaps.

Was I faster than a bullet?
Doubtful, considering my anxiety. Too many thoughts raced through my brain.
However, there was no way I would willingly leave the camp. He’d have to shoot
me. I had to keep him talking.

“How’d you know he was an
Empath? Are you still a Tracker?”

“For a little while longer.”

“What is the other gift you’ll
use?”

“Maybe I haven’t decided yet.”

“I don’t believe that at all. I
thought you’d been planning this for years.”

“Like I’d tell you and ruin all
the fun.”

“Why don’t you kill me already?
You don’t need me after you take my blood.”

“I agree with
Sheffield—you’re special. You’re the ace up
my
sleeve now.”

“What do you even get out of
this?” I shouted at him. Mac impatiently shifted his weight, gave me a look
that made me dread any possibility of being within his reach. Felix focused his
gaze completely on me, Mac forgotten.

“I’ll use your gift to kill
Sheffield. With him gone, I’m one of the most gifted you’ll find. I’ll take
your world public.”

“None of us will agree to that.”

“You’re so very wrong. There are
many of you who believe the tables should be turned.”

“And then what? You become king
of the crazies? Who’s to say people won’t turn against you or leave us be?”

“You’re not stupid, Lucy. They
would never let this information go unnoticed. It’s a huge breakthrough. You’ll
be integrated into everyday life and the military will pay millions for me to
make their new soldiers. I’ll get my life back; I’ll finally get the credit
I’ve studied thirty-five years to earn! My wife will realize my intentions and
come back home. Your kind will regard me as an icon. I get the credit and
respect I deserve.”

“Felix, let’s be
reasonable—you’re putting a lot of faith in people not killing us in
fear. It’s asking for a war between gifted and humans. We don’t want any
trouble. We’re just a bunch of freaks who wander the planet and hope not to
destroy it too much.”

“Yours in particular are
special. They’re incredible investments, the most talented of your world.
Sheffield did well in gathering the strongest of their kinds. I will study
them, create new species of gifted that will trump any of today’s gifts.”