Skycircus

by Peter Bunzl

  Angelique shook her head. “You said you’d given us your whole story, Lily. But you lied – you’d left a part out. You’re just another person who’s betrayed and deceived us.”

  Lily’s heart beat loudly against her ribs. She realized with horror that Angelique was right. Now she’d have to earn the winged girl’s trust, and Luca and Deedee’s, all over again. In the meantime, the escape was still supposed to happen tonight, but without their help, Lily didn’t know if she would be able to manage it alone.

  The rest of the morning passed with the hybrids stewing in silent anger. Lily had wound Malkin and explained to him quietly what was going on, but he’d said little. He was tired from his previous night’s excursion, and anyway, he counselled Lily, it was best to give the other children some time and space to calm down.

  The fox had wanted to go out again on reconnaissance, but the hybrids had angrily insisted it was too dangerous. The Lunk was coming to fetch them for rehearsals later, and if he found Malkin missing, or if there was another snap inspection and the fox wasn’t there, then there would be hell to pay.

  The Lunk did indeed arrive that afternoon to fetch Lily and the others from the cell. Malkin tried to go with them, but the mechanical man shoved him back violently and slammed the door on his scritching claws. And so Lily found herself alone in the company of three people who were not talking to her as the Lunk unlocked the gate outside Room Thirteen and escorted them along the labyrinthine passageways of the gondola.

  When they descended the stairs and stepped through the exit hatch, Lily made sure to note what type of lock it was, knowing she would probably need to pick it later. She hoped Robert had managed to find her lock picks.

  It was cold outside in the field. Lily wound her scarf tightly around her. The other hybrids had changed from their grey prison clothes into show outfits from their trunk in the corner of the room, but she was still wearing her ragged and rumpled red dress. As the Lunk led them towards the Big Top, Lily tried to join Angelique at the back of the line, but the winged girl turned away and put her stick between them, so that Lily could come no closer.

  The only time she smiled was at a flock of sparrows, twittering around a puddle. Angelique pulled handfuls of breadcrumbs from her pocket and held them out to the birds, whistling softly to imitate their calls. Some of the sparrows flitted over to her and sat in her palm, pecking at the stale bread that Lily realized she must’ve saved from the breakfast tray.

  They skirted round the edge of the Big Top, passing a stitched scar. It was the hole Robert had cut in the tent the other evening, already sewn up.

  The Lunk peeled back the flap of the artists’ entrance and ushered everyone through.

  Inside the tent, sunlight filtered through the striped canvas, throwing blocks of red and white across two make-up tables, a rail of costumes, stacks of props and the big red curtains that separated “backstage” from the performance arena out front.

  Lily followed the hybrids as they crossed the cluttered area and pushed aside the velvet curtains. The seats were already set up around the ring, and, as she glimpsed the VIP area in the centre of the front row, a horrible feeling came over Lily.

  Little more than a day ago she’d sat there watching the show with Robert, Tolly and Malkin. And tomorrow night she was destined to be a part of it, to be put in some terrible machine of Madame and Droz’s devising. Unless she could escape…and she would need not only Robert’s help for that – who she still hadn’t seen today – but also the hybrids’, and they weren’t speaking to her.

  She felt sick. How could this be happening? And she missed Papa. Why had he not come to rescue her? She wished she’d listened to Mrs Rust and never left the house.

  “You’re all here, good.” Slimwood stepped from behind one of the stands, out into the centre of the arena. “We’ll start with five minutes’ warm-up,” he said to the hybrids. “Then you practise your routines. I want to see PERFECTION today! Tomorrow’s show is Lily’s debut.” He gave her a gold-toothed leer. “And I want the rest of you to be at your VERY BEST to help make this new extravaganza our CROWNING GLORY!”

  The hybrids spread out around the sawdust ring and began their warm-up exercises; Angelique opening out her wings and checking each feather, Deedee stretching her legs until the wires in them whirred and Luca clacking his claws and shrugging his shoulders to try and ease his arms into movement. The Lunk stomped squeakily around the ring, observing them.

  Lily didn’t know what she ought to be doing, so she stood and watched the others, while also keeping her eye out for Robert in case he was nearby. A handful of roustabouts were wandering around the tent and Lily looked for him amongst them. But he wasn’t there.

  Staring at the empty stands, she suddenly imagined what it might be like when they were full and all eyes were on her. She wondered what Slimwood and Madame had planned with their machine. What were they going to make her do? And how could she avoid it and get out of here, now Angelique, Deedee and Luca were no longer on her side?

  Eventually, she looked up to see Madame had arrived. She and Slimwood were huddled in the middle of the ring, whispering to each other and throwing occasional glances her way.

  Lily shuffled closer to them to try and hear what they were saying.

  “Zut alors!” Madame muttered angrily. “Those clowns are so late with my machine. I wanted to try it out this morning.”

  Slimwood stroked her arm. “You’ll just have to leave it for now, my dear.”

  “Never mind.” Madame sighed and pushed his hand away. She strode over to Lily and grabbed her by the arm. “Enough of your eavesdropping,” she said. “It’s time we practised your curtsy, and found something for you to wear for your routine tomorrow night.”

  Madame dragged Lily across the ring; Lily’s palms itched and her stomach flipped while she wondered what horrors they had in store for her. Time was running out, and Robert still hadn’t arrived with her lock picks.

  A twinge of terror tore through Robert as he, Silva and Dimitri stepped through the flap into the backstage area of the Big Top. Beneath the pile of freshly-washed things they were bringing to hang up on the costume rail for the performers, Robert was smuggling in his own bag of clothes. His plan was to hide them among the outfits, where they might not be noticed, then he would collect them later during their escape attempt.

  The make-up tables, costume rail and a rack of props were set up in the centre of the tent. While Dimitri and Silva hung up the clean washing, Robert pulled his clothes from the bag, found a free hanger, and hung them on it. He placed his da’s coat over the suit and was just stuffing his cap in its coat pocket so that everything was in place to collect later during their escape, when he heard a noise coming from the arena.

  Robert stuffed the laundry bag into a large polka-dot clown suit and sneaked over to peer through the velvet curtains.

  In the ring, the hybrids were rehearsing. Slimwood was sitting in the front row of seats, barking orders.

  “Look at that lot,” Dimitri said. “They have it so bad. Worse than us. I know I’m not supposed to, but I do feel sorry for them.”

  Robert was relieved to hear it. Surely, he thought, if Dimitri and the others did have empathy for the plight of the hybrids, then there was some chance, however slim, that he could persuade them to work together and help each other get out.

  His heart leaped to his throat as he caught sight of Lily. She was with Madame, and they were walking from the edge of the ring to its centre. Robert couldn’t help but think of that cold winter’s day when they’d first met. Lily had been trapped by Madame back then too, in Brackenbridge Manor, and she had climbed out of her window to come and speak with him.

  He’d missed her so much in the day they’d been apart, and now the anxiety that had scrunched up inside him in a tight ball since they’d parted began to loosen ever so slightly. Because here she was, right as rain, and looking much the same as she always did. And while he was in his new threadbare uniform,
with mud around the edges, she was still wearing her bright birthday dress.

  Madame seemed to be explaining how to bow and curtsy to the crowds. Robert wondered again what the woman had planned for Lily and what she’d done with Malkin, for he was nowhere to be seen. He felt for the wallet of lock picks in his pocket. How was he to get them to Lily if Madame was training her one-on-one like this?

  Robert was deciding whether to try and sneak a little closer to hear what Madame was saying, when Silva put a hand out to signal he should keep still.

  Across the ring, Luca had fallen to the floor.

  Slimwood strode over to him. “Get up!” he shouted, hitting Luca around the hips with his whip.

  Luca shook his head and clacked his claws. Then, with a clenched jaw, he rose and continued with his rehearsal.

  “See?” Silva sucked her teeth. “They’ll beat you, but not on the arms or legs. They take care to do it where it won’t be seen in the show.”

  It seemed that the hybrids’ rehearsal time was over. Strange, because Lily hadn’t actually rehearsed her act, and the machine the clowns had mentioned last night was nowhere to be seen. But before he could think more about this, the rest of the circus families began arriving in the Big Top, escorted in by the roustabouts. As Robert watched each performer find a free space in the arena and begin warming up, Madame and Lily left the ring.

  “We have to join everyone else for rehearsals,” Silva whispered. “If we’re missing there’ll be trouble. But if you want to talk to Lily, you should hide in here and give her the lock picks as she goes past.”

  Robert nodded. As Silva and Dimitri disappeared off into the arena, he concealed himself behind a costume rail and ducked down, crouching against the floor. His pulse echoed in his ears and he wrapped his arms around his knees to stop his hands from shaking. This might be his one chance to get the picks to Lily.

  Madame brought Lily backstage through the velvet curtains. Lily looked tense, her fists clenched at her sides and her shoulders stiff. Her face was pale, her eyes red and tired as if she’d been crying.

  Madame took her over to the rack of costumes and began searching through them. Robert balled himself up tighter beneath the rail as she flicked through the clothes above him. Her black lace boots paced to and fro. Lily, still clad in her party shoes, stood stock still.

  “Bien, we shall find something to fit you,” Madame was saying as she perused the rail of spangly outfits.

  She pulled out a green dress and held it up.

  “Non, too big.”

  A frilly blue tutu.

  “Too small.”

  A black sequinned leotard.

  “Too spangly.”

  Madame swished through costumes on the rail, getting closer to him. Robert’s pulse was so loud in his ears he was surprised she couldn’t hear it. Her perfume was making the back of his throat itch and he sensed a sneeze coming. He pursed his lips together, trying to stifle it. Madame was only a few feet from him now. Lily trailed a step behind. This might be his only chance. He was determined to get the picks to her. He pulled the pouch from his pocket, then thought for a moment before taking out his pencil stub and a chocolate wrapper, which he wrote on:

  He turned the wrapper over and scrawled on the other side:

  He folded the message and stuffed it behind the lock picks. Then he closed the wallet and threw it gently across the floor so it landed at Lily’s feet.

  Lily saw the wallet and was about to bend down and pick it up when Madame pulled something off the rail.

  “How about this?” Madame said. She had chosen a sparkly white dress. “We will sew a heart on the front.” She held it up against Lily. “Yes, perfect. You must try it on.”

  “Now?” Lily kicked the wallet behind her back foot.

  “Oui, maintenant. And don’t talk back. Go behind the screen over there.” She held out the dress. Lily went to take it, but dropped it.

  “Oops. Butterfingers.”

  “You really are the most clumsy jeune fille.”

  “Sorry. I’ll get it.”

  Robert gulped. Surely Madame would see the wallet when Lily picked the dress up?

  Lily crouched down and gave him the briefest of smiles through the rack of clothes. A grin like a warm ray of sunshine.

  Robert grinned back, relieved that she’d seen him.

  When she stood back up, clasping the dress, the wallet was gone. She had it and would get his message.

  All he needed to do now was wait for them to leave and then sneak out front, like he’d been with the others all along.

  Lily stepped between him and Madame, holding the dress up so he wouldn’t be spotted.

  He shuffled further behind the hanging rows of clothes in his hiding place to make sure he was out of view. But, as he did so, the itch in his nose grew and the sneeze he’d been stifling came suddenly rushing out.

  AAATCHOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo!

  Madame gave a blood-curdling scream, which was joined by the piercing blast of a whistle from the ring and before Robert even had time to take another breath, the Lunk had burst through the backstage curtains and collared him from behind the rail of clothes.

  The Lunk dragged Robert to the centre of the ring, and threw him down in the dust.

  Slimwood gave Robert’s legs a swipe with his whip that smarted sharp as a stinging nettle. “What have you done, boy?” He prowled round Robert, crouched on the floor.

  There was a laugh as Madame entered the arena, clasping Lily who had now changed into the spangly costume. “He was hiding in the dressing room. I’m sure he’s been stealing,” the ringmistress snapped.

  “Empty your pockets,” Slimwood shouted.

  Robert tried to turn away, but Slimwood yanked him to his feet and rifled through his pockets. The penknife and pencil stub tumbled out into his palms.

  “CONTRABAND!” Slimwood shouted. “That’s your third black mark, boy. Now you will be punished.”

  Madame smirked at Lily, still holding her arm in a vice-like grip. “I’m afraid your friend couldn’t obey the rules, and we need to make it absolutely clear what happens to perturbateurs and troublemakers who don’t toe the line.”

  She nodded to Slimwood, who shouted loudly: “BRING OUT THE BEAST WAGON!”

  A shiver rippled through the crowd of circus folk and they whispered to one another. They knew exactly what that meant.

  Lily glanced queasily at Robert. The colour had drained from his face.

  In a bevy of loud screeches and growls, the Lunk wheeled the animal cage into the centre of the ring. The big cats and the bear inside were going crazy, throwing themselves against the bars as he brought it to a stop beneath the high wire. Slowly, he turned a ratchet on the side to open the top of the cage.

  “NOW FOR THE PUNISHMENT!” Slimwood intoned.

  Robert heard a hiss from his left and turned to see that Silva had sidled close to him. “If they put you in with the animals,” she whispered, “throw your arms up in the air and blow raspberries at them as loud as you can. It’s the only thing that scares them.”

  Robert nodded in a horrified daze.

  “You will walk the wire,” Madame smiled, “over the cage. And if you make it to the other side, then you’ll have learned your lesson.”

  “But I can’t!” Robert glanced at the wire. It cut through the dark heights of the Big Top as sharp and taut as the fear inside him. “I’m afraid of heights. What if I fall?” The wild beasts paced about beneath it. “I’ll end up in there!”

  “Quelle tristesse! How sad! But then you will no longer be our problem. I hear the lions have been quite ravenous of late.”

  “Please,” Lily cried, “don’t make him go up there alone.”

  But Madame ignored her plea.

  Lily pulled away from her and rushed through the crowd to Angelique. “You mustn’t let him fall,” she whispered tearfully to the winged girl. “I beg you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth about my mama and Droz, but Robert has nothing
to do with any of that, he’s good and kind, and I know you are too. Don’t let them harm him. Please.”

  Angelique’s eyes flickered with fright and indecision. She didn’t know what to do.

  There was a screeching and a crunching sound from inside the cage. Robert quaked in his boots. He tried to remember Da’s advice, what he’d said every time Robert had been afraid: No one conquers fear easily. It takes practice to reach true heights; a brave heart to win great battles.

  He repeated those words carefully to himself as he climbed higher and higher into the roof of the tent, where a hanging platform led out onto the high wire strung out over the baying animals below.

  Deedee was already on the platform, having just finished rehearsing her act.

  Robert glanced dizzily down at the ground. Far below, the circus folk had gathered in bunches at the edges of the ring, watching in shock and horror.

  Robert shuffled towards the edge of the platform and stared out along the wire, then down into the open cage of animals. If he fell, he’d land in there with them. He clutched at his chest for the Moonlocket, hoping it would bring him luck – but of course it wasn’t there.

  “I can’t do this,” he whispered to Deedee, who was standing beside him.

  “It’s all right.” Deedee handed him the balance bar. “I’ll help you. Take off your boots, so you can feel the wire beneath you.”

  Robert did as he was told, pulling off his boots and his socks. Somehow the cold of the metal platform under his feet and Deedee’s soft and soothing voice helped to calm him.

  “Keep your head up and your gaze steady,” Deedee said. “When you take your back foot off the wire, swing it out and lean a little in the opposite direction – that way you’ll keep your balance. And no matter what, always move forward, never back.”

  “But how do I know where to place my feet if I can’t see them?” Robert asked.

  “Put the heel of your front foot against the toes of your back,” Deedee explained, hurriedly. “You can’t go wrong that way.” She balled a fist and placed it over his belly, then his heart. “Find your courage here and here. It’s the only way you’re going to make it.”