Gifted, A Donovan Circus Novel (34 page)

“We’re not zoo animals and you
can’t poke and prod us into anything, Felix. We won’t agree to anything you
have to say. You’ll have to kill all of us.”

“Speak for yourself, you stupid
girl. There are gifted out there who support me, my motivations. They hate
humans and they really hate human sympathizers like you. They know I’m brave,
that I have enough sway to convince people of our beliefs.”

“
You’re
human! They know that, right?”

“
I’m not human anymore
!” he screamed at me. “I’m one of you and I
can be anything I choose. That gives me the greatest advantage of anyone. I
can’t be defeated. After everything I’ve given to your people, the years, the
blood, I think I’ve earned it. I should have the right to declare myself
gifted.”

“But you’re not and that’s why
you hate us? You’re killing us and using our blood for a science project as an
excuse to belong in our world? You’ve really lost your mind, haven’t you?”

“I’m not crazy.” His dark eyes
narrowed, light glinting off his glasses as he shifted his feet. “I worked with
your kind. I saved them and discovered ways to live comfortably in society. I
bled for them, studied for years on end with nothing to show for it. My job
fired me, told me to stay quiet. My wife left me. I will do whatever it takes
to progress our races, use the advantages over protestors. I’ll make millions
of dollars from the government to build my own unique lab and run tests.
Sheffield’s blood will be my greatest to date.”

“Sheffield is a leader here.
Think of everyone you’re hurting and how they depend on Sheffield. People love
him.”

“Not everyone. There are many
gifted who will respect me for taking Sheffield down. There are more gifted in
circus shows than any other type of life, you understand that? Sheffield has
collected up more than anyone and that makes him dangerous. Some think he’s had
too much control for too long.”

“That can’t be true. He’s been
around forever, knows so many people even outside the circus. He’s kind to
everyone…”

His eye roll made me trail off
and he spoke. “You’re so naïve, so new to your own community. Sheffield might
not be an official representative of your kind, but he is well known. There are
plenty who won’t mind Sheffield’s death, who don’t feel threatened by his
gift.”

My arms crossed over my chest.
“I’m not going to help you.”

“Then I’ll have to drag you,”
Felix snarled. He lifted his gun and poised to pull the trigger. His aim
lowered somewhere around my thighs.

“She’s not going anywhere,
Felix,” a hard voice said. I looked over Felix’s shoulder to see Sheffield walk
in. He came into the ring and settled a short few feet away.

“I won’t let you use your gift
on me,” Felix warned him. “Don’t go anywhere, Lucy.” He lunged and his gun
smacked me in the temple. It hurt like hell and I fell backwards to the ground.
Felix motioned with his gun but twisted his body to give his full attention to
Sheffield, whose jaw visibly clenched with an angry glare. I scrambled
backwards in the dirt. Mac twitched as I tried to stand.

“I fail to see where being a
Tracker would help me, but that’s fine,” Sheffield replied through gritted
teeth. He pulled a tire iron from behind him. “I have this.”

Before Felix could blink, Sheffield
charged him and swung hard towards Felix’s head. Felix ducked in time, but the
tire iron caught his wrist and the gun went flying into the bleachers. Felix
cursed and threw a surprisingly solid punch out that connected with Sheffield’s
face.

I looked up to see Mac charge
me.

Chapter
30

Mac ran at me like a bull. I got
up for a split second before he had me down again. He tackled me and we rolled
backwards before he landed himself on top of me. He leaned all his weight on me
as I kicked and punched in vain. An Unbreakable now, he only laughed at my weak
attempts.

“You don’t have to do this!”
Dirt caught in my throat and eyes, temporarily blinding me.

“It’s all I’ve thought of since
that night. After your friends came and beat the shit out of me, I absolutely
took up Felix’s offer for payback.” His breath stank of onions and stale
cigarette smoke and the pressure of his weight on my chest pushed every bit of
air out of my lungs.

He ripped the buttons off my
shirt and I put every bit of strength into my skin to burn him. He didn’t even
flinch as he ran a hand from neck to stomach. I tried not to vomit at his
rough, calloused skin.

“I can tell you’re trying to
burn me, but it doesn’t hurt a bit. This should be fun.” He undid his belt and
I screamed.

As I struggled, I only caught a
glimpse of Sheffield—Felix had somehow gotten the crowbar and now had the
upper hand. I couldn’t see Gabriel, but if he wasn’t already on top of Mac, he
wasn’t conscious yet.

“I can’t wait to feel you.” I
came back to my awful position as Mac tried to sugar me up for his gruesome
deed. He put his hand on my breast and grinned.

Something inside me snapped; I
put every volt I could muster into my palms and jutted them into his chest. To
my surprise, the pressure of the fireball vaulted Mac off me, into the air; he
tumbled into the dirt ground a few feet away, bits of his clothing on fire. I
stood up as he pulled himself into a standing position.

My blood boiled as he ran at me
again. I pulled a fireball from my hands, had but a brief second to register it
had a blue base, but threw it anyways. It flew at Mac, hitting him squarely in
the chest. He burst into flames, screaming as he collapsed into the ground and
burned to death.

I gasped for air and tried in
vain to tie my shirt back together in embarrassment. I looked over at Gabriel,
who appeared to have revived moments earlier to catch my kill. Our eyes met and
I nodded at him in relief.

Sheffield and Felix had stopped
their fight to witness what just happened. Sheffield’s face registered worry
but Felix looked strangely satisfied. They both went back to their own battle.
Felix tried to throw a right hook, but Sheffield dropped and connected his foot
with Felix’s knee. Felix went down with a howl and Sheffield kicked Felix in
the stomach for good measure.

While Felix struggled to get up,
Sheffield ran to my side. “I’m sorry to ask this of you. I need your gift. You
don’t have the energy. I’ll finish him.”

Finally out of my daze, I
nodded. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t think I had the guts to set
Felix on fire but I didn’t want anyone else to get killed. He wasted no time.

Sheffield grasped my shoulder.
Firm and confident, he tightened his grip until I no longer moved. An odd
feeling came over me, like a great amount of energy leaving my body. I looked
down at his hand, which trembled. I could almost see the air shiver. His entire
body briefly shuddered before he released his hold. He stepped away and lifted
up his hand to show me fire in his palm.

“Thank you. I’ll give it back
soon. Now run.” He turned to face Felix.

I tried to produce a flame and
couldn’t; I reminded myself of all my rage and felt angry, but couldn’t create
fire. I scrambled to the bleachers where I thought the gun landed, but away
from the lights and without a flame in my hand, it was too dark to see. For all
I knew, it could be in the next set of bleachers. I didn’t know how to help.

“What’s it like to have gift
that isn’t yours?” Felix shouted.

“You tell me. I hear you’ve
gotten pretty good at it,” Sheffield replied. He took a few steps toward Felix.
Flames licked his palms.

“I bet it’s good to be that
powerful again. Have you been a Firestarter since Lenny died?”

“You aren’t going to hurt her or
take over some imaginary gifted kingdom. You’re psychotic!”

I watched their exchange,
huddled behind a chair. I experienced emotion like I normally did. Anger, fear,
determination; they were all there, but my gift was gone. Part of me somehow
felt empty, like I would never feel whole unless my gift, a piece of me,
returned. Was this what happened when Gabriel took people’s emotions?

Gabriel, who had watched the
last few minutes from the ground, finally jumped up and ran to me. He kept his
body low and his head down. He crouched down next to me. His hands touched both
of my cheeks as he searched my face, his blue eyes blazing into my own.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

“No, I mean, I guess he hit me
but he didn’t shoot me or anything,” I stammered, my attention split between
his question and the occurring fight.

“I meant that Mac guy.” He
stripped to his white T-shirt and put his own button-up shirt around me.

“Thanks. I’m too busy trying to
keep us alive to freak out right now. Get back to me later on that one.”

He put a hand on my head and
brought me to his shoulder. “Okay. How do we help Sheffield?”

“We don’t. He’s got my fire and
he’ll use it to kill Felix.”

We turned our heads to watch
Sheffield and Felix. They were both bloody and covered in dirt. Felix tried to
fake a punch to Sheffield, but Sheffield correctly anticipated it. Instead,
Sheffield ducked and managed a very successful jab to Felix’s head. He
staggered backwards, shook his head, but it was too late. This was it;
Sheffield was about to finish Felix. I felt the knot clenched in my stomach and
my hands involuntarily formed into fists.

Sheffield took a step back. I
could see him take a deep breath and the flames erupted in his palms. He very quickly
brought his hands together and formed a fireball; he was comfortable with the
Firestarter gift. Before I could shake my head at that new worry, Sheffield
chucked the fireball at Felix, who accepted it almost with open arms. His body
burst into flames…and remained standing with no problems.

One thought crossed my mind:
What the fuck?

Felix laughed, even took the
time to straighten his glasses back onto his face. Even Sheffield looked
stunned by this new quandary. Gabriel cursed. At the expression on Felix’s
face, I lost my temper and jumped up from my spot in the dark tent. Gabriel
tried to pull me back down and I shoved him away in anger, so he stood up next
to me.

“You cheat!” I screamed at him.
“You stupid bastard! Humans will attack us for our gifts or self-defense. You
can’t do this!”

“Sure I can. You didn’t really
think I would come near you without a shield? I suppose I was lucky you didn’t
try sooner and spoil the surprise. Humans should have the right to gifts and
even the playing field, like my dearly departed friend Mac said. We can be
gifted just like you and I’ll get my life back proving it. You have no idea
what your kind has done to me, to humans. Sheffield told you those stories,
right?”

My rage increased so much I saw
shades of red. If I could catch fire right then, I would’ve exploded into
scorching flames.

“Enough, Felix.” I didn’t know
if I’d ever heard Sheffield sound so serious.

“Dear Sheffield is as guilty as
the rest of us,” Felix laughed. He hadn’t bothered to lose the flames, so his
engulfed body gave him a very maniacal look. “I’ll tell you everything myself,
once we’re back at my lab for your blood.”

“You’re already a Firestarter,
you definitely don’t need me.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.
Skills you may lack, but you have immense power; I will have it one way or
another.”

“You’re fucking crazy!”

“Easy, Lucy.” He waggled his
index finger, still lit in flames. “Don’t forget you’re human right now. You
can’t survive one of my flames. Come to think of it, Sheffield’s made this
quite easy for me.”

I shut my mouth, knew he was
quite correct about his threat. I glared at him, wishing daggers could leave my
eyes. Gabriel steadied me with a stern grip to prevent me from charging in
anger.

“You and I could do this all
day, but what now?” Sheffield asked, trying to catch his breath.

“You always liked to show me how
you took care of your opponents. Now we can see the victim overcome his bully.
But how do you plan on beating me without a star player by your side? No Lenny
to throw fireballs, no Marty to take sticks and stones. Even Knox took some
hits for you. If you want to beat me, you have to take a very powerful gift
from someone,” Felix crowed.

Sheffield glared at him,
slightly panting. His fists were bloody, his blonde hair and mustache askew.
His shirt was ripped and a red stain blossomed on the shoulder. Dirt covered
his face; blood smeared across his forehead and his left eye was already
turning purple. He shot a glance at the back of the tent where I still stood,
terrified and angry. Without my gift, I had never felt so vulnerable. I hated
it.

“Ah, yes. If I know
you—and I do—you believe the lovely Lucy has the most powerful gift
of them all,” Felix said in a nasally, singsong voice. “Another reason I’d like
to keep her around. Terrific collateral.”

When he continued, his voice was
much lower and threatening. “I will have her gift; I’ll be invincible and you
know why. And before I take you down, I’m going to make you suffer. The work I
did for you…the years, the effort, it will not be wasted. I’ve lost
everything—
everything!
—and I will succeed now.”

Then a miracle happened and
saved all of our asses. My friends burst through the artists’ entrance. They
stared for a long moment, interpreted the situation and prepared for a fight. I
took a look at Felix, who already stood a few feet back.

“Lucy, I’ll see you soon,” he
promised. He swept his arm across his body and a wall of fire hit the ground,
creating a barricade for everyone but Sheffield. Felix slipped into the shadows
while everyone’s attention fell back to us. I gave Sheffield a long look.
Are you not going after him?
I cocked an
eyebrow and tried to ask with my eyes. He just stood there, so I kept my mouth
shut. He must not want people to panic.