Gifted, A Donovan Circus Novel (35 page)

I glanced around, at Gabriel,
blood and dirt on him, hands still gripped on both of my arms; Sheffield looked
a complete mess; I felt the bruise around my temple where Felix popped me and
pulled Gabriel’s shirt around my exposed skin. I looked up and read the look on
the group’s faces: it was far past time for panic. They wanted answers…and
action.

Keegan’s green eyes met mine and
I could read too much in them. He was confused and hurt as to why I was again
with Gabriel. Questions surely burned at the forefront of his brain and I would
have to answer all of them if I wanted us to continue. The fiery wall burned
out and only shadows were left.

Chapter
31

“I think I stand for everyone
when I ask…what the fuck?” Brooklyn said.

“Who was that?” Delilah asked.

“It’s fine, everyone, nothing to
worry,” Sheffield tried.

“We’re not idiots. You all look
like hell,” Nikolas said. “Who’s the Firestarter?”

Keegan stopped the whispers with
one question. “What’s he want with Lucy?”

Everyone, Sheffield and Gabriel
included, turned to me. I opened and closed my mouth a couple times, tried to
figure out what the hell to say, but Brooklyn interrupted me.

“Holy shit! That crispy critter
on the ground is the guy from the bar, the man who attacked us. Lucy, you
killed him?”

“It was an accident.” At least
that was a somewhat honest answer. I didn’t feel too bad about it, seeing as
I’d barely escaped his wrath.

“He deserved it,” Gabriel butted
in. “He almost raped her right here in the tent.”

“You couldn’t stop him?” Flames
erupted in Keegan’s palms as he glowered at Gabriel.

“He was an Unbreakable. He
knocked me out; when I came to, Lucy had electrocuted him off her and fried him
to ashes.” Gabriel gave me an odd look. “Speaking of which, did you see your
fireball? It looked blue, is that normal for you guys?”

“Lucy, come with me,” Sheffield
demanded. “Gabriel, go clean up. Find something to occupy your time.”

Gabriel hesitated but I shot him
a look and he nodded. He turned on his heel and disappeared through the tent
while my friends gaped at us.

“Folk, it’s okay. I’ll handle
this, it’s nothing to worry about. Continue on about your business,” Sheffield
said.

“Lucy—,” Keegan tried to
start but Sheffield interrupted.

“She’s fine. Everything is fine.
Go back to your campers, play cards or something. If you could please not talk
about this to anyone to prevent panic, it would be much appreciated.” That last
part sounded more of a command than a request.

“You don’t
really
expect us to--,” Nikolas began and Sheffield gave him a hard
look. Nik fell silent and Sheffield’s flat tone gave nothing away.

“Actually, I do. Now go.”

Before anyone could say another
word, Sheffield took my arm and practically dragged me back to his office. I
struggled to keep up with his hurried strides. He limped a little while I tried
not to stumble; neither of us spoke.

Once inside, I sat at the now
familiar beat up chair as he took a seat behind his desk. He poured himself a
glass of whiskey and offered some to me. I shook my head; alcohol would not
help me form a plan.

“I think he has more than two
gifts,” I said, diving in first. “I definitely think he’s arrogant enough to do
three or four. This way he’s prepared in every scenario.”

“You’re right. I think we should
assume he’s going to stay a Firestarter in case you use fire against him.”

“He told me he was a Tracker,
but that seems more like a way to tell me he took Knox. I don’t think he cared
about being a Tracker. He might drop it for something more aggressive.”

“I think, no matter which way we
look at it, I’ve got to take the hit. I will take every gift he has in his
body. Then you’ll throw a fireball.” He leaned back in his chair, sipping his
whiskey and placing a gentle hand on his bruised face.

“A fireball?” I asked in alarm.
“There are a lot of bad things to this plan. First of all, why am I throwing a
fireball? He’s a defenseless human after you touch him. It’s not what I would
call justifiable.”

“He’s killed us! Don’t you see?
He’ll continue to do his work, keep up his research and experiments. He’s lost
his mind and will never stop. No gifted being is safe unless he’s permanently
off the grid.”

I shook my head. “It’s not kill
or be killed here.”

“Trust me kid, sometimes it is.”
The look on his face made my insides cold.

“What happens when you touch him
and he’s got more than one gift? How do you get just the Firestarter power out
so that he’ll be affected by my fire?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. I’ve never had
this situation. I’m going to focus on that part and if it isn’t working, I’ll
take everything. I won’t know what it is until I get it and he may plan for
that. I need you there because he’ll try to kill me immediately. You’ll stop him.”

“What happens if it does work
and you take all of his gifts? Can your body even handle all of that? Felix
said it wasn’t working on gifted. I know it’s like, your actual gift and all,
but it might be too much. Your heart could explode or something awful.”

“My heart will be fine. It’s a
risk we have to take right now. It’s our quickest shot at ridding this camp of
Felix.”

“He could inject you and make
you human. Then you wouldn’t be able to help anyone.”

“I’ll worry about that part. You
be ready to take care of him after I take him down.”

I felt like I was the adult. He
was throwing caution to the wind, only intent to take Felix down once and for
all. Even though I was trying to be logical, he was hell-bent on revenge.

“If he kills you, who will take
care of everyone here? Who will run the circus?”

“There have always been…built in
precautions. Miss Nance will find a suitable replacement. There are others who
can step in and run things until an official switch is made.”

“I think it’s a bad idea.”

“It’s nothing I haven’t been up
against before.”

“You know that’s not true, not
in this way. Besides, before you had Dad and Marty to help you. Now you’ve only
got me and I’m no guarantee of a victory.”

“You will be a huge asset. You
can distract Felix long enough for me to get to him and then take care of him.
It’s the best plan we have right now.”

I shook my head. “At what point
are you going to admit you need help? You and I, we might not be able to do
this alone. Delia and the others, they want to help us; why won’t you let them?
Why can’t I tell them anything?”

“I will not let Felix hurt
anyone else. He’s already murdered Marty and Knox. I cannot risk him killing
more of us.” Sheffield’s eyes darkened.

“I understand your fear, but you
know if he kills us or takes our gifts, they’re next anyways.”

“Then we must win.”

I sighed at his set jaw and
crossed arms. Sheffield wasn’t going to compromise on this one. We looked at
one another in silence for a few moments until I got tired of it.

“Does he have a lab nearby?” I
asked him.

He gave a small shrug. “More
like he probably has a livable space nearby. We move all over the country so
maybe he moves his things like we do, if he has a main one at all. He hasn’t
gotten this close to us in a long time. I’m sure wherever he is right now is
sort of a makeshift lab; he must have something because he’s managed to take
Marty and Knox, along with their blood, and god knows who else.”

“Do you have any idea where it
might be?”

“If my sources are correct, in
the bottom of an old community college right outside of the city, maybe twenty
miles away from here. It hasn’t been used for a few years. We’re in too rural
an area for him to have a viable space with electricity and stuff here.”

“Wait…what sources?”

“I’ve had an eye on Felix for a
long time, Lucy.”

I met his gaze, waited for him
to elaborate, but he stayed silent. I knew he wouldn’t provide me more details
on that notion. He might consider me a decent Firestarter but that didn’t make
me his equal…yet.

“Okay, then. Is there a chance
Felix may have one of his own in our show?” I asked.

“While it’s possible, it’s more
like he either shape shifts into others as a customer or sends his own people
in. Felix knows too much about the goings-on here to not have someone reporting
back to him. I couldn’t begin to guess who.”

“You were legitimately surprised
when he showed his Firestarter gift though, right?”

“Unfortunately, yes. I didn’t
see that coming. I imagine he keeps quite a few secrets to his chest.”

“Sounds like someone I know.” I
lowered my head and gave him a glare beneath my eyelashes. He rolled his eyes a
little but finished his whiskey and leaned back in his chair.

“Lucy, you mustn’t go talking
about this to everyone else. I know they’re your friends and they want to help,
but it would only cause panic. Word travels fast here and if one person knows,
ten minutes later the whole place is in chaos.”

“It might be too late for that,”
I argued. “Someone is bound to mention what they saw or heard tonight. You
don’t think that’ll spread like wildfire?”

“I’ve asked them not to talk and
I know they won’t. They trust me to take care of them, just as I have always
done in the past. I would very much prefer you not to say anything to them,
even though I know they will pester you for information.”

“So what am I supposed to do?
Lie to them?”

“Just tell them I’ve asked you
not to say anything. They trust me and I will do everything in my power to
protect them and everyone else. Tell them you aren’t privy to my plans and I
only wanted to make sure you were all right.”

I sighed. It sure sounded like a
lie to me, but maybe Sheffield had a point. Would it be right to involve
everyone else when it was a problem specifically involving me? I didn’t want
anyone to fight my battles and the last thing I wanted was someone getting hurt
because I asked them to help fight Felix. I had another thought.

“Do we not have a fortune teller
or something? Someone who can see the future?”

Sheffield managed a small smile.
“Yes, do we have a young woman on staff here who can get snippets of future
outcomes. However, she is the Robin I spoke of your first night here. She and
her husband had a baby and are currently out of town. Seems as though we’re on
our own for this one.”

“You’d figure she’d come back
after seeing this about to happen,” I muttered.

“Her gift doesn’t work that way.
She must be in the vicinity, around the people she needs to see. She has no
idea what’s happening as she is many miles away.”

I sighed and sat back in my
chair. I was tired of talking in circles and it didn’t appear as though any
complete plan would be formed tonight. My head pounded and I had become
thoroughly aware of my tattered clothing. I wanted nothing more than to crawl
into bed and sleep for three days. Sheffield appeared to notice my sudden
deflation.

“Why don’t we talk more about
this tomorrow? See if we can come up with something we’re both happy about?”

I nodded. The more I considered
the problems, the more defeated I felt. I must have had it all over my face.
Before I could stand up though, I remembered an important thing.

“I believe you have something of
mine. While you put it to fine use and it might do nothing against Felix now,
I’d still like it back, please.”

He managed a smile. “Yes, that
is certainly a priority.”

He stood up and walked around
his desk to stand next to me. I stood up and he put a hand on my shoulder. His
grip tightened momentarily as his arm shook; a second later, a warmth draped
over me and I could swear I felt my spirit lighten. He dropped his arm back to
his side.

“There you are. Thank you for
allowing me to do that. I hope I won’t have to ask it of you ever again.”

“No offense, but me too. That
wasn’t really very fun, feeling so vulnerable.” I lifted my palm up and
produced a tiny flame. I could hardly contain my sigh of relief.

“So you know, while I do believe
our gifts involve practice and skill, I also know it also deals with how much
power one has. You have more power than any Firestarter I’ve met before, far more
than even Lenny.”

“You can do tricks better than I
could then?”

“No, I can harness and control a
fireball, but I never used fire for any less than necessity. I didn’t learn any
tricks.”

“So what does it mean to be so
powerful then?”

“We need to be careful of how
many people discover that fact.”

We both went quiet while I
absorbed that frightening prospect. Exhaustion hit me again. I really wanted to
get clean and go to bed. Glad as I was to feel whole again, I still only wanted
sleep.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,
Sheffield. Thank you again for your help tonight. I wouldn’t be here on the
grounds if you hadn’t come in.”

“I said it already,
kid—I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, not while I can do anything
about it.”

I walked to Sheffield’s door and
glanced back at him; he had a worried look on his face. I cleared my throat,
wanting to reassure him.

“Sheffield, I think we can beat
him. But we need to do something; if no one else can help, then you and I need
to plan fast. I can’t have anyone else die because of me.”

He simply nodded and I walked
out to see that Keegan had waited for me outside the office. I shut the door
behind me and stepped down next to him. I braced myself for the barrage of
questions.

“Sheffield probably told you not
to tell us anything, right?”

I just nodded and motioned to
walk to the campers. We fell in step.