by Peter Bunzl
Robert placed one foot on the wire.
“Don’t think,” Deedee whispered. “Thoughts are bad. Feel your way. Sense the wire beneath your feet, put one foot in front of the other, and walk the line step by step.”
Robert’s mind whirred, but he did as he was told, moving forward, feeling the open space of the ring yawning beneath him.
“And don’t look down!” Deedee called to him.
But as soon as she said that, it was as if his eyes couldn’t resist. It was like when someone tells you not to think of pink elephants, and then that’s all you can think of.
Unable to stop himself, he glanced at the ground far below…and realized he was walking above the open top of the cage.
Then Robert lost his grip on the balance bar and it bounced off the wire and toppled sideways into the cage. He reached for it desperately as it fell, lost his footing, tipped to the side and tumbled…
…grasping at the wire…
…snatching at it with his fingers.
And, miraculously, managed to get a grip…
Which is how Robert found himself swinging back and forth, gazing between his dangling feet.
Sweat slicked his palms. Hairs stood up on his back, and his arms stretched out in a sharp knife of pain, trying to wrench themselves from their sockets.
Below him in the cage, the lions and tiger leaped on to their boxes, huffing and roaring excitedly, while the bear scuffed the sawdust with his claws and snarled, rearing up on his hind legs.
Beyond the animals, Robert glimpsed dots of faces and splodges of colourful costumes – Lily in her sparkling outfit stood out amongst everyone else in their rehearsal clothes, entreating the circus players who were running about looking for something to catch him with. Madame and Slimwood looked on with detached amusement at the chaos their actions had caused.
“Hold on!” Deedee screamed.
“Leave him be,” Madame shouted up at her. “Or else.”
“It’ll be a second strike on your record,” Slimwood warned Deedee with a sneer.
Deedee ignored their commands and ran towards Robert, her metal feet clasping the bouncing wire with their whirring toes on each step. When she got close to him, she tried to sit down on the rope and haul him back up onto it. “Give me your hand,” she said.
Robert shook his head. He didn’t want to let go. The fingers on both his hands were loosening, about to slip. Each arm felt weary and weak. He didn’t know which to let go with first. He took his left hand off the rope and reached out to her.
It was the wrong choice.
The other wasn’t strong enough alone to hold him.
The dead weight of his body pulled him down…
And he fell…
Robert tumbled through the dark, his heart a mush of blurry beats. A stream of red-and-white stripes, bars and roaring beasts flew past. At least he’d missed the cage, falling just short of it. He closed his eyes, anticipating the bone-shattering oblivion of the crash.
But it didn’t come.
Instead he was pummelled sideways, giving gravity the slip, turning and soaring, twisting and fluttering.
Feathers brushed his cheek, puffing past in a chatter of clockwork.
He opened his eyes.
Angelique had him by the waist. Her skin was slicked with sweat, her face a grimace of teeth.
She flapped her wings wildly, trying to keep them aloft, and swung about in slow motion, gliding gently downwards to deposit him in the ring with a soft thump. She keeled onto the floor beside him. Her feathers dragged ragged shapes in the sawdust as she snatched mouthfuls of air.
The circus folk rushed over, gathering round.
Robert climbed shakily to his feet and helped Angelique up. The winged girl leaned against his shoulder.
The room spun.
His legs felt weak enough to bowl him over. Everyone around him looked like novelty figures on a merry- go-round. Robert wondered when he might get off. Fragments of conversation drifted to him.
“Did you see that – the freak-girl saved the boy!”
“Rescued him.”
“Angelique it was.”
“One of our hybrids…”
“Who’d have thought?”
“Quiet, all of you!” Madame shouted.
“SILENCE!” Slimwood glared angrily about and raised his whip.
Lily stumbled through the crowd; her body was shaking. Her legs tangled beneath her, but she managed to make it over to Robert.
“Thank you,” she whispered to Angelique. A torrent of relief rushed through her veins. She hugged the winged girl so hard in gratitude she could feel every feather in her twitching wings.
“It was for him, not you,” Angelique said simply.
Lily didn’t care, she was just relieved Robert was alive.
“Are you all right?” she asked him.
“I’m fine,” he replied. “A bit shaken.” He’d survived a scrape with death. Woken from a nightmare of falling into a dream of flight. The room had stopped spinning and the earth beneath his feet felt solid and durable. He wondered if he should get down on the ground and kiss it.
“I haven’t caught anyone before,” Angelique was saying. “I’m not a catcher.” She wiped the sweat from her face with the back of her hand. “You almost dragged me down!” She was laughing in relief as she spoke.
Luca joined them at the front of the crowd, Silva and Dimitri too. They began clapping Angelique. And then, gradually, the other performers joined in – a friendly round of applause, their faces filled with warm smiles.
“They’ve never applauded me before,” Angelique whispered. “Only their own.”
Maybe, Robert thought, there was still hope. He could bring the two groups together; humans and hybrids working in partnership to put a stop to this vile circus, and to get out of it altogether.
But then Slimwood barrelled through the crowd. “Enough!” he screamed, hitting everyone with his whip to break them apart. “Rehearsal’s over. Get back to your cells. If one of you breaks the rules, YOU ALL BREAK THE RULES. There will be no dinner, and NO PRIVILEGES – everyone’s PUNISHED because of these two.”
The mood darkened and Robert felt the elation drain away. People had begun to stare at him accusingly.
Madame grabbed Angelique by the arm, and Slimwood grappled with Robert. “I warned you not to cause trouble,” he hissed. “I can’t have you trying to turn my crew against me. Three strikes. This isn’t the end. Tomorrow we’ll decide on a new punishment for you both.”
Despair rose up in Robert once more. He turned and looked for Lily. She was with the other hybrids, being corralled away by the Lunk, probably back to Room Thirteen.
The roustabouts had arrived too and were hustling the rest of the crowd of performers out towards the gondola. Slimwood let Robert go and signalled to Auggie and Joey.
“Take him back to his cell.”
As he was being pulled away, Robert glanced over his shoulder at Angelique. She was struggling to free herself from Madame, but the woman kept a firm grip on her arm, leaning forward to whisper something into Angelique’s ear. Angelique’s eyes glistened with tears and Robert wondered if she would be all right.
The hybrids huddled together as the Lunk manoeuvred them up the stairs inside the hulking prison ship and along the corridor, back towards Room Thirteen. Lily could hear the other acts, who were being corralled by the roustabouts, gossiping behind them. She knew they thought she and Robert were the reason everything had turned out this way, the reason they were being slammed up early – them and Angelique. After that spectacular stunt to save Robert, Madame had kept Angelique behind in the Big Top. Lily hoped she wasn’t being punished.
The Lunk unlocked the padlock on the iron gate and opened Room Thirteen, thrusting them inside.
Malkin jumped up at Lily licking her face as the door slammed on them. “Lily, thank clank you’re all right! Where’s Angelique?”
“In the tent.” Deedee paced the cabin, her
mechanical legs clicking and clacking. Luca sat down on the end of his bed.
Minutes later, Angelique arrived back, her face streaked with tears, her hair a mess, her folded wings sticking out at odd angles and her plumage tattered. “They threatened to pluck my feathers out one by one if I ever pulled a stunt like that again,” she said. “And they said to warn you all that from now on we had better toe the line.” She slumped into the chair and laid her head on the table.
“What happened in there?” Malkin jumped up at Lily’s legs.
“Slimwood was mad at Robert, so he made him walk the tightrope,” Lily explained.
“Good gracious!” Malkin said. “Is Robert…?”
“He’s fine,” said Lily. She glanced at Angelique. “Angelique saved him.”
Angelique gave her a glowering look, and Lily wondered if she was still angry about Mama’s papers. “I was always worried I wouldn’t be strong enough to carry someone,” she said. “And then I did. Though the effort and what happened afterwards were…” She trailed off, and stretched her wings out wide until they filled the width of the cabin. Lily could see some of the feathers were damaged, and she didn’t know if it was from Angelique’s rogue flight, or what Slimwood and Verdigris had done to her as punishment.
“I just don’t know if it was worth it.”
“Remember the faces of the other performers, Angelique,” Luca said. “And their applause. They were willing you on; on your side. Perhaps they’re not as bad as we thought? Perhaps you made them see us at last?”
“I hope so,” Angelique said. “Even when we help one of them, Slimwood still encourages them to hate us.”
“I don’t think that’s the case anymore,” Luca said.
“Luca’s right.” Deedee sat down next to him on his bunk. Lily noticed she looked rather shell-shocked too. She’d been the one who’d tried to grab Robert, and had been inches from him when he fell. She must’ve seen the startled look on his face. “Maybe we can work to change things.”
“Why was Robert punished?” Malkin asked.
“He was hiding,” Lily said, “so he could give me this.” She pulled the wallet out from her sock. Inside it were eight lock picks and a folded piece of paper, which contained a message that Lily read aloud.
“Meet me at midnight. I’m with the Buttons in Room…”
Lily turned the paper over.
“Nine. He’s in Room Nine.” She looked up at the three hybrids. “Are you going to come with me?” she asked. “We could use your help.”
“Especially Angelique’s to fly us over the fence…” Malkin added.
Angelique shook her head. “We can’t risk it. What if we get caught?” She folded her wings around her. “They went easy on the punishment this afternoon, but they can do far worse. Haven’t you seen the wall of mementos? Besides,” she whispered fearfully, “what is there for us hybrids outside? No one wants freaks like us in the real world. That’s how we ended up here in the first place.”
Deedee and Luca said nothing, but Lily knew they agreed with Angelique. What was wrong with them? How could they bear to remain here? Did they not trust her? Were they still upset that she’d lied to them about Mama and the notebook? She needed to persuade them to come with her. Perhaps it would help if she read them something Mama had written, something that proved she wasn’t so bad…?
Lily pulled out the last few ripped pages of Mama’s red notebook, but there were no more diary entries, merely a few small sketches of people with wings.
“Who are they?” Luca asked, peering over her shoulder.
“Daedalus and Icarus,” Lily explained.
“Were they part of the Flyology experiments your mama mentioned in her notes?” Deedee wanted to know.
“No,” Lily replied. “They’re from a story from long ago. Mama used to tell it to me at bedtime.”
Angelique’s nose had wrinkled at this discussion of Lily’s mama. Nevertheless, she seemed interested.
“Is it a children’s story?” she asked.
“Sort of.” Lily decided to tell it to them. After all, they had hours to kill and bonds to rebuild if she was to persuade them to come with her at midnight.
“Daedalus was an inventor,” she began. “He created a maze for the King of Crete – King Minos – called the Labyrinth. At the centre of the Labyrinth was a horrible half-man-half-beast called the Minotaur, and every nine years, seven young men and women would be sent into the Labyrinth as a sacrifice to him. The King’s daughter Ariadne fell in love with Theseus, one of the heroes sent into the Labyrinth, and Daedalus helped them both to kill the Minotaur and escape. The King was so angry when he discovered this he locked Daedalus and his son Icarus in a high tower in the middle of the Labyrinth for ever. He told them they would die in their prison and never escape.”
The others were enthralled. Deedee and Luca leaned forward in their seats, listening.
“But Daedalus was a great inventor,” Lily continued. “And his son was clever too. They both knew that if they put their minds to it and worked together, they could find some way to get out.”
“What did they do?” Deedee asked.
“They designed wings for themselves to be made from feathers, wax and twine.”
“That doesn’t sound like the greatest design to me,” Malkin said.
Lily ignored him. “It was so they could fly away from the tower and Crete and King Minos,” she explained, glancing at Angelique. Her eyes were so big and childlike that Lily guessed no one had ever taken the time to tell her a story before.
“What happened next?” she asked.
“They built the wings,” Lily said. “And put their plan into practice.”
Luca leaped up. “And then they were free!” he cheered.
And it was only then that Lily realized she’d chosen a bad story to tell. “Not quite,” she said. “When Daedalus created the wings to fly himself and Icarus out of prison, he warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun. But Icarus was an impetuous boy, and never did what he was told. He loved flying. He dived and swooped and flapped up to the sun, and its heat melted the wax on his wings and his feathers blew away and he plummeted into the sea.”
“Bit of a downbeat ending,” Malkin said.
Lily knew he was right. She’d completed the story, but it didn’t feel very satisfying. The light had faded in the room and she could barely see the faces of the hybrids, but Luca and Deedee were teetering on the edges of their seats.
“Did he drown?” Deedee asked.
“I…I’m not sure,” Lily lied. Though she knew that the stories said he had.
“See.” Angelique said, her face set in angry resignation. “I told you. Bad things always happen to hybrids out in the world.”
In the half-light Lily could see the cogs and leather joints beneath the feathers of her plumage. Wires wove across her back and when she raised her arms the mechanical wings responded to her movement as if they were part of her. The mechanism was integrated into who she was, just like the Cogheart in Lily. They were like sisters. Lily wished she could give her some hope. But she couldn’t lie about it. It had to be the truth.
“I’m sorry that Dr Droz changed you,” Lily said at last to all of them. “And I’m sorry if any of my mama’s or papa’s ideas had anything to do with that. They always meant for their work on hybrids to help people, not hurt them. And it did – I wouldn’t be alive without it. Surely that’s enough to prove their good intentions?” She paused, and looked each of them in the eye. “But most of all,” she said, “I’m sorry that Slimwood and Madame locked you away. You should know, despair isn’t the answer. Despite the risks, we can still fight, we can still escape. That’s what we need to do. And we’ll take Robert with us.”
“I think you’re right,” Angelique said finally. “We’ll go with you.”
The other two nodded.
“Thank heavens for that,” Malkin said, “because I don’t think I could listen to another of Lily’s stories.”
<
br /> There was still a long wait until it would be quiet enough to make their escape attempt. Lily’s stomach rumbled from a lack of dinner. She changed back into her red dress, coat and scarf and left the circus outfit Madame had chosen for her bundled in the corner. She intended to leave this place with everything she’d brought with her, and that included Mama’s notebook and the other things Madame had taken, even if she had to break into the ringmistress’s office. She was sick with nerves at the thought of the risk they were taking, and glad that she, Robert and Malkin wouldn’t be taking it alone.
They counted down the time to midnight by listening for the Lunk as he made his hourly inspection rounds of the cell corridor. Even after twelve, when he came less regularly, it would be difficult to avoid him, but this was their only chance and they would have to give it a try. While they waited for the allotted hour, Lily and the hybrids drew a chalk map of the layout of the gondola and the circus site on the tabletop and Lily went over her plan.
Once they’d reopened the hatch, they would post Malkin through the gap and he would slip between the bars of the gate outside, run to the end of the corridor and keep an eye out for the Lunk while they opened the cell door itself – that would be down to Lily and her lock picks.
Then they had to unlock the padlock on the barred gate across the hall, and then Robert’s cell, to get him out. Then they needed to pick the lock on the comms room to send an S.O.S. message, and Madame’s office door to retrieve the rest of Mama’s notebook. And, finally, they would have to unlock the hatch door out of the sky-ship itself.
If they got that far, they would have to sneak across the site and Angelique would fly them over the fence one by one. The final part of the plan was to disappear into the Bois de Boulogne and make their way to Paris, in the hope that they could find someone there who would believe their story and help them out or get them back to England.
