Gifted, A Donovan Circus Novel

by Liz Long

  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 ca
n 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.

  “Are you gonna follow those rules or will you tell me what’s going on?” he pressed.

  “I can give you a basic rundown. I don’t know if I can tell you everything simply because I don’t think I have all the facts myself. But I’m only telling you, not anyone else, okay? So if you have to tell Nik anything, keep it simple. I don’t want anyone freaking out.”

  He nodded at me and as we headed back to my camper, I told him what I could. I tried to stick as close to Sheffield’s suggestion as possible. I talked about Felix, his obsession with Firestarters and my dad, how he killed gifted to obtain their power for his own experiments. I explained what happened to Mac and Felix’s plan to reveal us to humans so he could get his life back. I left out how Felix was intent to use or kill me. No need for that kind of worry, not when it couldn’t be helped. When I finished the overview, we’d reached my front steps.

  “Damn, Lucy. Are you okay? I mean, after what happened in the tent?”

  I swallowed the bile reserved for that memory. “I’ll be okay. It’s not a moment to be proud of, but it had to be done. I didn’t mean to kill him; I only wanted him away from me and he made me so angry.”

  “Bastard deserved it. Gabriel said your fire turned blue. Any idea about that?”

  “No clue, I’ve never heard of it before. Maybe he imagined it.”

  “What can I do to help?”

  “Nothing right now. I don’t even know if there’s anything I can really do. Sheffield will think of something and if he wants to tell me, he’ll let me know.” I didn’t want to worry Keegan and let him know I had such a heavy hand in all of this. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to him or anyone else because they tried to protect me.

  “If you think of anything, let me know. I’m serious.” He took my hand in his and placed his free hand on top. His hands were warm and steady and I didn’t pull away.

  “I know. I appreciate it. Sheffield swears there have been other crazy times and that he’ll get us through it like he always has, so I have to believe it’ll be okay.”

  “Yeah, I agree. I have one more question for you.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Why was Gabriel with you in the tent?”

  There it was, the question I’d been waiting on. It seemed like a hundred years ago that we’d been on the Ferris wheel and I had to think back for a second. I didn’t want to lie to Keegan, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings either.

  “You know how I’m training. He watched me in the Big Top working on my shapes. We were talking when Felix came in and lost his shit on us.”

  He paused, took in my altercated story and believed me. He hugged me and for a moment, I let myself be taken in by his warmth.

  “I’m so glad you’re all right.” I breathed deep his cologne, felt his heartbeat underneath my ear and relaxed. I was sorry when he pulled away.

  “I’ll let you get to bed,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow, though. Let’s go to the field and practice some, keep you ready in case we need to do anything. I won’t say anything to the others but if they ask I’ll make sure they know you’re okay.”

  I nodded and he leaned down to quickly kiss me. He gave me another brief hug before I stepped away and into my camper. Delia wasn’t back yet and I took advantage of a hot shower to wash the grime and memories off. The eggplant-colored bruise on my face practically had its own zip code, but there was nothing I could do about it now. I’d go see the Healer tomorrow. I crawled into bed, worried that I’d be awake for a long time with my thoughts swirling in my head, but I slipped into a dreamless sleep in no time.

  Chapter 32

  I tried to make the next day continue as any other. Delia shot me curious looks at breakfast, but I kept my mouth shut and she didn’t press for information. I saw the young Healer, pretty and blonde, in her mid-thirties. She simply put her pale hands over my wounds and closed her eyes; a soothing coolness left her fingertips and seeped into my wounds. A minute later, I was good as new. After I left her, Keegan, Nikolas and I met in the field for training. We threw fireballs and I practiced putting theirs out before they reached a certain point. If Keegan told Nikolas what I’d said, neither mentioned it.

  I focused on my flames. I tried to make more shapes; my ring grew better everyday, but it would be awhile before I advanced to anything else. By the time we called it quits, we were all sweaty and bright red. It seemed we all pushed each other harder and I took that as a good sign of our strengths.

  As usual, the show continued without any problems. No fights or screaming, no angry looks in my direction. At least I could call that a successful night. We cleaned up after the crowds left and Gabriel caught me alone on the way back to my camper.

  “Hey,” he greeted me. He pulled out two cigarettes; I accepted one and lit both of them with my palm. I took a deep breath and he remained quiet as I let the nicotine buzz quietly through my system. Without another inquiry, I told him everything Sheffield and I had discussed the night before. I knew it was unfair to Keegan to share more details with Gabriel, but even Sheffield seemed to know Gabriel knew most of the situation.

  “I think that’s everything,” I finished. I’d practically smoked the cigarette down to the filter. I chucked it into a nearby trashcan.

  “So you really don’t have a plan?”

  “Sheffield seems to think we do, but I’m not so sure. Distracting Felix long enough for Sheffield to shake hands with him doesn’t sound like a viable option. Felix is smart; surely he’d expect it He won’t let Sheffield near him. What are our other options, though?”

  He shrugged. “I’m not sure. Felix is bound to have more than one gift and you’re right, who knows which ones he’ll pick. All I know for sure is, guy and his cronies are assholes. I felt like I’d been run over by a truck this morning.”

  “I guess I shouldn’t have killed him, but Mac deserved what he got.”

  “Oh, absolutely he did. I’m thinking about reviving him from the dead just to watch you fry him again. That sadistic son of a bitch got every bit of what he deserved. I can’t wait to see Sheffield sic you on Dr. Assface.”

  “You said my flame turned blue. I thought I saw that too, but at the time I wondered if I was crazy.”

  “I’ve never seen anything like it. You must have been pretty pissed off.”

  “Keegan said he’s never heard of it either. With no Firestarters knowing about that, maybe we just thought we saw it. It was a trick of light or something.”

  “Maybe.” He sounded doubtful. “You talked to Keegan about last night?”
<
br />   “Bits and pieces. Sheffield told me to keep most of it to myself, which means you need to shut your face about it, too. I do agree that I don’t want anyone panicking or trying to take Felix on. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt. He can come after me, but I won’t let him kill anyone here.”

  “He’s not getting anywhere near you,” Gabriel said in a threatening tone.

  “Easy, killer. I won’t give him the chance. At least, I don’t think I will. Sheffield promised me it wouldn’t happen. I trust him, although I don’t want anything happening to him, either. What the hell would everyone here do if he got killed?”

  “I expect someone would step up. Sheffield’s probably got a system in place in case that happens; I’ve told you the rumors. Surely he’s thought ahead in that regard so no one has to leave.”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know what the hell we’re gonna do, but I want it to be over. I’ve got enough to worry about without a mad scientist on the loose.” I rolled my eyes.

  “Yeah, I get that. Hey, don’t want to cut out on you, but Uncle Rick mentioned wanting to see me earlier. Probably a letter from my mom or something.” He grimaced and I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’ll catch up with you later?”

  “Sure. I can find my way back from here. You know where to find me.”

  He gave me a faint smile, lifted his hand as though to touch me, but paused. I didn’t move and he instead dropped his arm, turned and walked away. I shook my head, not daring to watch him leave because I didn’t understand any of my feelings on it. I walked the path to my camper and noticed orange lights coming way behind the living area. I wandered towards the fireworks; I had a guess as to what was happening. Sure enough, I came up to the field where I’d met my friends that first day. They were illuminated in moonlight.

  No sparring tonight; Nikolas and Keegan shot flames into the night sky and attempted to see who could throw a fireball the highest. The girls—Delia, Brooklyn, and Bianca—laughed and egged the boys on. I could tell Nikolas tried to make them dance, as I had done, but to no avail. Keegan juggled three small fireballs—a fun trick I learned as a child, but I could see the strain on his face from where I stood.