Gifted, A Donovan Circus Novel (41 page)

“Are you…did he suspect?”

“He made sure to tell me what
happened but I, of course, am a master manipulator,” he said with a small grin.

“Yeah, so it seems,” I replied.
The grin died off his face and he became serious again.

“It was fine. He wants me on his
side; I told him I’d be here after the show and I’d do what I could. He wants
me to mess with your emotions, keep you from attacking him.”

“And are you going to make him
think that even for a second?”

He took a step on the stair,
brushed his lips against my ear. I kept my body entirely still and once again
tried to ignore how badly I wanted to touch him. Pressing his body lightly
against mine, he whispered, “Not a chance. Give him fire and brimstone.”

Gabriel stepped back down, gave
me a boyish grin. “See you tonight.” He lit a cigarette as he loped off.

I dropped back into my bed,
wished nothing more than to pull the covers over my head for the next month. I
had barely slept at all, fearing news Felix had killed Gabriel. I’d wondered
all night if I should’ve said something.

I told Delia the news. She made
coffee and I quickly showered and dressed. She went to tell Sheffield and
everyone about the night’s events while I prepared for the day, or rather,
while I got ready for a battle.

The day felt tense, but maybe
that was all in my head. Most people went about their day as though nothing
changed; for most of them, nothing had because Sheffield didn’t want to tell
them. Those who did know walked around in deep thought, whispered to others and
shot me curious looks. I didn’t bother explaining myself to anyone. I avoided
everyone like the plague, especially Keegan and Gabriel. The last thing I
needed was for them to tell me their feelings before I went off to sacrifice
myself.

I tried to go about like it was
a normal day. I suited up, carried props for those who asked, shoveled food in
my mouth absentmindedly, and tried to figure out my plan of action. To my
dismay, I couldn’t think of a single thing that would give me an advantage over
Felix. He knew my weaknesses and other than his ridiculous tic, I had no idea
how to make him stumble.

The show came and went; I smiled
at the audience, handed out balloons to children, and opened the tent flaps for
performers, but hardly remembered it when it was over. I’d hit autopilot,
gotten stuck in my head with no one but Felix for company. I even tried to
light a few fireballs in my anger, but none of them looked remotely blue or
more threatening than usual.

Cleanup went fast and at
eleven-thirty, we were done. Sheffield marched into the Big Top, looked at me
and crooked his finger over. His orders were short and succinct.

“Get everyone and let’s go. Head
over to the field and I’ll meet you there.”

We all walked over together in
silence. As we crossed through the tall grass into the dirt plot, Gabriel
wandered up beside us. Our eyes met and I looked away, focusing on putting one
foot in front of another. Sheffield came up behind us and stepped up to the
front line with me.

For a long moment, we stood
together, waited for the next step in our plan for battle. I didn’t want to
wait any longer. We didn’t need to worry further if we’d make it past tonight.

The inky blackness of the sky
gave the field a darker feel than usual. No stars shone tonight, contributing
to the foreboding feeling that blanketed the group. It seemed like our bonfire
here was a lifetime ago.

“Delia, you’re definitely the
fastest. Can you see how far away he is?” I asked. She nodded and took off.

“You okay?” a voice whispered in
my ear. I jumped, looked up to see Gabriel tower over me.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“That’s not what I asked. I’m
sure you’re ready, but are you all right? Are you going to be okay with what’s
about to happen? There’s gonna be blood shed.”

My breath caught in my throat;
he was right, of course, but I hadn’t really considered it to be real until
that moment. Marty’s body flashed through my mind. I gritted my teeth and shook
my head a fraction of an inch.

“No, I guess not, but what
choice do we have? It’s kill or be killed.”

Gabriel gave me a soft smile. “I
know. I’ll do what it takes to protect you.”

“I don’t want anyone else dying
for me,” I said sharply. “There are no substitutions unless Felix kills me
first, got it? This is the only family I’ve got; I don’t want to be alone
anymore.”

Gabriel brushed his hand against
mine; my pulse quickened. He opened his mouth to say something but a murmur
through the group made him pause. He took a few steps backwards to the group.

Delia rushed to us in a blur.
“He is here,” she said, “and he has only a few people with him.”

“They’re probably powerful. They
won’t care who they hurt or what gets blown up,” I said to everyone.

I faced the open field, feet
firmly planted and hands ready for fireballs. Sheffield stood next to me while
everyone else lined up behind us. All in all, there were only ten or twelve of
us. Sheffield had assured me he had backup as a second line of defense. I hoped
we wouldn’t need them. I looked at the team: Keegan, Nikolas, Gabriel,
Brooklyn, Delia, and Bianca stood amongst them. My heart swelled for a brief
moment as they all looked at me, ready to follow me as I led them to a fight.
Movement from the side caught my eye and I saw Finley and Renata the
Earthshaker walk to us.

“I’m not sure you’ll be safe,
Fin,” Keegan cautioned him as he got closer.

“Like hell if I’m gonna stand
around and wait to hear about it. I won’t run from a fight, gifted or human,”
he said. Murmurs of approval floated through the group and he took his place in
line.

I turned to the field again and
waited. Not two minutes passed before Felix and his crew walked up to face us.
Delia wasn’t kidding about only a few people; I counted eight aside from Felix.
I didn’t know if Felix was stupid, arrogant, or smart enough to pick extremely
dangerous gifts.

“Sheffield, Lucy,” he greeted
us. “I’m afraid one of your own isn’t who you think he is. Gabriel, why don’t
you tell them what you’ve been doing for me?”

Gabriel stepped forward to stand
beside me. Felix smiled, looked thrilled at the coming confession. Instead,
Gabriel put his hand on my shoulder and shrugged. “Sorry, Felix. I’m afraid
you’ve been played. I’m a Donovan team member these days. Kinda always have
been, to tell you the truth.”

Felix’s smile dropped off his
face. “I hope you’re only saying that to get her to sleep with you.”

My body tensed up and I didn’t
know if it was from the offensive statement or worry it might be true. Gabriel
laughed instead.

“No, no. You’re a loser.”

Felix looked like he’d eaten a
lemon, his battered nose wrinkling up into his glasses. His finger tap, tap,
tapped his right temple, a split second that revealed his anger. How much more
of Gabriel’s mouth would he stand?

Gabriel continued, “Thanks for
all the helpful information I took back to Sheffield, though. I can’t wait to
see you go down. You’re not gonna kill any more of us.”

“Fool,” Felix said, glowering.
“You won’t make it off this field alive. You’re throwing it away on a lost
cause, on a girl that barely knows who she is. You could’ve helped me.”

“I’m no good guy, but as it
turns out, I’m not such a bad one, either. You can keep your crazy, but thanks
for the offer,” Gabriel replied. He threw a cocky grin out and squeezed my
shoulder.

“I suppose I should’ve seen it
coming,” Felix surmised. “After all, it’s been easy to see your feelings for
her the last few weeks. It’s a shame you’ll watch her die for your mistake.”

Gabriel’s face grew serious as
he took a step forward in front of me. “Like hell.”

“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll get
your turn.”

Felix threw a hand out and I
gasped as Gabriel fell on the ground. No fireballs, no water orbs, nothing
appeared from his arm but Gabriel clutched at his throat, choked and sputtered.
His face turned red in seconds. Felix had given himself Telekinesis and would
strangle Gabriel to death if someone didn’t step in. I stood in horror,
watching Gabriel turn from red to blue, his body begging for air. His eyes met
mine and flames burst from my palms.

I chucked a fireball at Felix,
who caught it easily, dissipated it with a flick of his wrist. He laughed and
released his hold on Gabriel, who gasped for air as he stood up. My side of
fighters shifted uneasily. Felix could deflect their gifts or punches with only
a thought, in addition to being a Firestarter. No one had ever dealt with a
being like him before. How would we take him out?

Felix stepped up, his confidence
clearly back in place. “I see you’ve made this easy for me, Lucy. Since you
seem to be on the defensive, I’m guessing you aren’t going to hand yourself
over?”

“Guessed right. And I won’t let
you hurt anyone else.”

“You won’t stop me. I already
have so many gifts to use.” He took a few steps towards the middle.

“I’ll die trying.” I stepped
forward to meet him.

“Just like the rest of your
little circus crew,” he taunted. His followers tittered. “Lenny couldn’t stop
me and even if he were alive, I don’t think he could.”

Flames shot up to my elbows and
he grinned. “Hit a nerve there, did I? And he died of natural causes; I wish I
could get my hands on him now. I’m confident I could take him. Wait ‘til I tell
you about Marty and Knox.”

Sheffield darted in before any
of us could stop him. I’d barely realized what he’d done before he made it past
me to the center of the field.

“No, Sheffield!” I yelled.

He ignored me. Felix practically
greeted him with open arms, allowed Sheffield’s hands to grab him. A surge of
energy coursed through Felix’s arms into Sheffield and his whole body shook.
Felix raised his free arm and his hand drew flames. His grin couldn’t be bigger.
Disappointment flooded through me and I tried to keep my shoulders back.

“Congratulations, Sheffield,”
Felix said. “You might be a Telepath, a Shapeshifter, or a Telekinetic, but
you’re certainly no Firestarter.” He raised an eyebrow while Sheffield stood
there, frozen in silence. “Or you could be none or all of the above and have no
idea how to deal with it?”

“No!” I screamed as Sheffield
stumbled and fell backwards. He hit the ground and his body convulsed. It
looked like he was having a seizure. I’d worried his body couldn’t handle the
power; Felix had tricked him into taking all those gifts and now he might die
for it. I needed to prevent my small army from panic mode, but the violent
outbreak of whispers and snarls at Felix’s group told me otherwise.

“That worked out much better
than I’d planned!” Felix said gleefully. He gave a nasty laugh and raised his
arm to slam a fireball onto Sheffield to kill him.

Chapter
39

Quicker than I thought possible,
I pulled my arm back and hurled my own fireball at Felix. It hit him in the
shoulder, knocked him off balance as he looked to find the source. Those who
surrounded me quickly stepped back as Felix locked eyes with me.

“You’ve made an awful mistake,
threatening this group, hurting Sheffield,” I told him. Mumbled agreements
echoed behind me.

“It had to be done,” he said.
“Before the end of the night, Donovan Circus will cease to exist and all its
members will belong to me.”

Bianca popped into existence
beside Felix, startled him out of his rant. Before he could so much as blink,
she slapped her hand onto Sheffield’s arm and Transported both of them away
from the crowd. I looked at Brooklyn, whose mouth dropped open.

“She’s never taken someone with
her before,” she whispered to me. “That’s fucking awesome.”

Felix threw a hand out in my
direction, tried to choke me, but nothing happened. He looked at his hands and
growled in frustration. It seemed Sheffield had taken all but the Firestarter
gift. He turned back to me and created a large fireball, chucked it at my side
of people, who screamed in terror. I threw my arms out and stopped it in time,
but it was so large, I had to bring my hands together to disintegrate it. When
I looked back towards Felix, he no longer stood there. He’d hightailed it to a
new location. Each side scattered into the battle and I lost any slight hope to
find Felix fast as the fight distracted me.

A tiny, nasty-looking woman
stepped up near Brooklyn and me. Brooklyn crouched into a stance and I copied
her; she gave me a small nod of approval. We stepped near the woman, my hands
holding fire and as I went to throw a fireball, Brooklyn jerked.

“Oh shit, she’s a--,” she said,
but was cut off as the girl took a deep breath, her cheeks puffy like a
chipmunk’s, and blew out air towards us. It swept us off the ground, threw us
back thirty feet and we landed in a pile. My body protested as it hit the
ground and I gritted my teeth.

“Airspinner,” Brooklyn finished
in a choked voice. “We’ll be lucky to get close to her. She’ll blow your
fireballs out in the crowd or at the tents; stay away from her. I’ll sneak in
and get her. Go take care of Felix.”

I nodded, tripped over myself to
get up quick. The Airspinner had turned her attention away from us to another
on our side; Brooklyn snuck up behind her, threw a heavy punch to the woman’s
temple and she crumpled to the ground. Another of Felix’s men took her place
and took a swing at Brooklyn. She proceeded to participate in a bloody
fistfight.

The fight continued around me: A
Waterbearer flung orbs of water at Nikolas’s fireballs; neither got anywhere as
they both appeared of equal skill. Keegan fought a larger guy, who laughed at
the punches. He threw a right hook to Keegan’s head that literally spun him
around. I started to run to him but Finley sprinted past me and tackled the big
guy; they both went down and Fin and Keegan stayed on him, hitting him
mercilessly.