by Leanne Leeds
“What is going on with Mark?” Uncle Phil barked at me as he rushed up to Samson and me.
“Let’s go to my yurt,” I told him as I walked. “Fortuna and Serena will meet us there with her sister. I can catch you up.”
“Talk,” Uncle Phil said, crossing his arms and not moving.
Not here, I thought to him sharply. Everyone is nervous, and you and I having this conversation in the middle of the midway will not help that. Please follow me back to my place so we can talk about what’s going on.
People walking by had already looked at us with concern. Since few people had psychic ability here besides Samson, my uncle, and I, I never got to see other telepathic folks converse with each other through their thoughts. Fortuna and Mark could do it, but they were practiced at keeping their face from animating with each word they felt.
My uncle and I looked at each other as if we were about to throw down, waggling our eyebrows for punctuation on sentences no one could overhear.
Fine, Uncle Phil thought as he trudged back toward my yurt. But as soon as we’re in private, you and I will have a talk.
Oh, goody, Samson thought. I can’t tell you both how exciting it is to have two ringmasters to juggle.
As soon as we were within my brightly colored yurt, Uncle Phil sat down like he owned the joint and crossed his arms. “Well? Are you going to tell me now?”
“I will. First, I think I need to get something off my chest.”
“Now you need to get something off your chest?” Uncle Phil stared at me with a look of doubtful curiosity. A satirical smile danced across his lips as he tugged on his mustache. “You think this is the right moment for a niece-uncle heart to heart? With Mark gone, your parents in danger, whiffs of a traitorous spy, and the Witches’ Council at the gate waiting to pounce? Absolutely, Charlotte. Let’s chat about your feelings.”
“You know, my Dad always said you were stubborn and wouldn’t listen,” I told him, barely containing my anger. “I’m getting what he meant. And I didn’t say it was about my feelings. You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
Except it was about my feelings, and now he made me feel stupid for bringing it up.
“I’m listening.”
“You’re tapping your foot impatiently and glaring at me with a look that tells me you have exactly zero intention of listening to what I have to say.”
We stared at one another in silence while Samson stood at my feet, washing himself.
“Charlotte, I have followed you here so you can tell me whatever it is you need to tell me. I suggest you get to it because I am losing patience.”
“Why did you take the whole thing back over?” I whimpered, cringing at my voice’s pathetic timber. “You came back to some version of life, and now you’re just stepping right over me. Everyone treats you like the ringmaster because you act like it. And now, in the middle of a crisis, you don’t even trust me to handle it. I could tell just by the look on your face when you asked about Mark.”
“I already know what happened to Mark,” my uncle told me as he leaned forward. His voice had softened, and his eyes looked at me kindly even though his body was still tense. “I already know, roughly, what happened to Mark, about Serena’s feline breakdown in front of many of our families. I know about Alexa’s condo in Impy, and Anya’s apprehensions. You may know more details than I, but I know plenty of it. Do you know how?”
I shook my head.
“Because I talk to everyone at the Magical Midway, Charlotte, and they talk to me.”
“I talk to people.”
“I talk to all, dear girl. You talk to your companions, and you wave to those that you pass, but you have yet to truly talk to everyone. Without communicating with everyone, without integrating yourself into their lives, without forming relationships, you won’t always know what’s happening and what needs to be done.”
I wanted to argue with Uncle Phil and his observations, but I knew he was right. I’d always been an introvert. I didn’t know if it stemmed from the fact that I could read everyone’s true feelings, or if I just needed more solitude than everyone else. Whatever it was, I could be friendly enough, but I wasn’t outgoing. I needed a reason to talk to people, and if I didn’t have one, I didn’t do it. I wasn’t good at just reaching out for the sake of it.
“I’m not you, Uncle Phil. I just don’t do that well.”
“And so then you’ll need more time. You’re new to the family even though you have been one of us all along. You’ll get there, Charlotte. I promise you will. Until then, though, please understand I care too much about this place to leave these people feeling uncared for.”
Ouch. That hurt.
“I don’t want anyone to feel like I don’t care about them. Honestly, I didn’t realize that’s what I was doing.” I walked across the room and collapsed in my favorite chair. “I feel like as soon as I get the hang of something, another thing just blows up that I’m doing wrong.”
“Look here now,” Uncle Phil said. “You have some fine talents. You bring a different perspective to this place, and you understand the human world better than any of us. Well, except the actual humans, perhaps. You have made friends—Anya, Avalon… you befriended them on your own.”
“That was really a side-effect of the whole Dergal affair.” Anya’s sister was in a terrible relationship with the centaur that accidentally murdered my uncle. She was an incredible help as we tried to figure out what was going on, and by the end of the situation, she and I were friends.
“It was, wasn’t it…” Uncle Phil twirled his mustache and looked up at the ceiling. “Perhaps that’s how we get you to get out and about. You could serve as the Justice of the Peace.”
“You want me to marry people?”
“I think you could be the Magical Midway lawgiver. It’s not a position we’ve had for many years, but we’re much larger than we used to be with so many other circuses gone. There is a precedent for it. You would head up the lares team, head any inquiries, and enforce justice when it was called for.”
“You want me to be Judge, Jury, and Executioner?”
“Detective, Police Chief, Lawyer, Judge, Jury, and Executioner. Yes.” Uncle Phil smirked.
“That’s preposterous.”
“Our laws are old laws, Charlotte. Like I said, there is a precedent for it. And we’re relatively small even though we are larger than before. We don’t need six different people to do those jobs. Just one gifted person who’s intent on hearing all sides, getting to know the issues, and determining what needs to be done.”
This will mark you as a leader, and not your uncle’s supply closet, Samson pointed out. You’ve been critical of the Romans and how they run security since you got here, too.
“That’s because there’s been a homicide, an execution, and a kidnapping since I got here.”
Don’t forget about the attack from the Witches’ Council.
Uncle Phil cleared his throat and shot Samson a look. “Speaking of the Witches’ Council, this would put some conventional rules between them and us, at least a bit. This is a formal legal position, Charlotte. It would allow us some defenses, some respect. Presuming, of course, we get out of this latest scuffle.”
“Okaaay,” I drawled. “Let’s try it. Is there a book or something on how I do this? What the job entails and all that?”
Uncle Phil shook his head no. Of course not.
“Fabulous.”
“Here,” Uncle Phil reached into his pocket and handed me a ring. “Put this on, and its a done deal.” I reached forward and studied the small gold ring. It was plain, didn't glow, and didn't vibrate, so I shrugged and placed it on my finger. Bracing, I waited for lightning to strike or wind to whip around me to stamp my newfound elevation, but nothing. Not so much as a paranormal murmur or a tiny wind gust.
“Well, that was anticlimactic.”
“Not everything has to be vivid and dramatic, Charlotte,” Uncle Phil said. “Now, go forth, and law give!
”
“Um. Right.”
All hail the lawgiver, Samson replied.
Oh, shut up, cat.
I heard that.
The Atwater sisters rushed into my yurt like a storm only three naiad sisters could produce. Skin headed Anya, shy Alessandra, and furious Alexa plopped down on my sofa. Anya and Alessandra’s arms crossed while Alexa crossed her legs, bounced her high heel and stared at me with empty eyes. Lucius Larry stayed in the doorway watching while my uncle explained to him I had made myself the official Lawgiver of Magical Midway.
“Boss?” Lucius asked Uncle Phil, perplexed. Uncle Phil shook his head no and pointed to me. “Boss?” Lucius asked in shock, pointing at me. My uncle nodded.
“You know, Lucius, I’ve been your boss for three months now, so this really shouldn’t come as such a shock.” I crossed my arms, too. If everyone else would be snippy and defensive, I may as well join in.
“Sir,” Lucius slammed his fist across his chest with a clank and bowed his severe Roman head, sinking his chin to his chest.
“Please don’t do that,” I stammered. He replayed the entire thing over again.
In a lot of ways, I don’t think my uncle’s idea of my being the lawgiver was an honor. How on earth was I going to manage a security force of five when four members never said more than one word at a time? “Lucius, can you go get your brother Bob? Let’s have him deal with this in here, okay?”
Bob may talk like a guy on a perpetual vision quest, but at least I could carry on a conversation with him. Lucius clanked his chest again and bowed. Then he pivoted and marched out the door.
“Alexa. It’s nice to meet you. My name is Charlotte Astley, you may have heard of me?” I said as I approached Alexa and held out my hand. “It’s such an honor to meet Anya and Alessandra’s sister. I’ve heard so much about you.”
The naiad sisters all had mysterious beauty, even the rough-and-tumble Anya. Their features were perfectly symmetrical and intensely exotic. Each sister had a particular type of beauty. Anya was a lovely wild thing with rough edges, Alessandra was delicate and gentle like a flower. Alexa was…
Alexa was innocence twisted. Her beauty was sharp, like a knife, but exaggerated and covered with layers of glitter and makeup. Too much paint, too much hairspray, and heels far too high to be parading around a circus. Alexa exuded impatience, continuing to shake her leg, adding the monotonous tap of her razor like fingernails against my side table.
Her impolite response to my open hand, I suppose.
“Have I offended you?” I dropped my hands but remain standing in front of her, smiling.
“Everything about you offends me,” Alexa told me. “I don’t see what my invitation to my sisters has to do with you.”
“A member of the circus disappeared today,” I told Alexa as I sat down in the chair beside her. “Since you just came from Impy, I thought you might know something that could help us find him. Just last night the Witches’ Council came here and threatened us if we didn’t hand over Mark, the man whose missing, and another member of the circus.”
“So?”
“So, it just seems like a lot of coincidences for one night, you know? You returning, their threats, Mark disappearing,” I asked her as I reached out and placed my hand on her knee.
Since I sat down, I had been trying to read Alexa’s emotions or thoughts. I was getting nothing off the naiad. It was as if she was wrapped in a protective shield. Any attempt I made bounced off her.
“This is the circus,” Alexa told me as she waved her arms around. “Nothing at this place is a coincidence.”
She is shielded, Samson told me. That’s why you cannot read her. She is encased in a shield to prevent anyone from reading her or influencing her.
Is that something naiads can do? Shield from me?
Not naturally, no. If I had to make an educated guess and, let’s face it, I am the most educated on these fairgrounds, I would say someone placed protection around her before she came back here.
“Perhaps you’re right, and there are no coincidences. Is there something you want to tell me?”
“Me, Lawgiver?” Alexa laughed as Anya whacked her. “I have nothing to tell you at all. I’m not even significant enough to be relaxing in your private quarters. I don’t know why you yanked my sisters and me into this—”
“I asked her to talk some sense into you!” Anya shouted.
“I have more sense than you two,” Alexa spat as she whirled on her sisters. “You run a boat ride for snotty, ungrateful humans! We are naiads! We bring humans to their death as a sanction for their sins! We don’t help people play kissy face on the love boat ride!”
“Alessandra and I like our lives,” Anya said as she stood up. “We do as our parents did and their parents before them! Mother would drown you in a lake if she knew that you had a condo in Impy. And what did you give them for that condo?”
“Yes, water spirit, what did you trade them for your luxury?” Serena asked, followed by her identical sister Selena, Fortuna, and Fiona. Samson’s fur spiked out as he made his way behind me. “If you traded my mate for your riches, if I find out you had anything to do with his loss, I will peel the—”
“Folks, I understand that everybody is upset, and everyone is concerned, but we don’t attack each other, all right?”
“All right, all right, lawgiver boss type lady!” Bob shouted across the room as he shoved his way in through the yurt opening. “We got ourselves a lawgiver now, folks, and that means stuff just got real! Yo-yo, baby! It’s lawgiver time!”
Bob ran in place to a beat that only he could hear. The assembled group was silent as the jovial Roman danced and hooted. Bob gave a few more shouts as he jumped up and down and clapped his hands. “Lawgiver time, baby!”
“Are you done?” I asked him.
“Wait.” He clapped twice more, crossed his legs, and spun around twice. “Now, I think I’m done. Sorry, boss, but this is an exciting day! A lawgiver position hasn’t been occupied for 150 years! This is like living history, man!”
“You’re the lawgiver now?” Fiona stared at me.
“Uncle Phil and I talked about it and thought it would be a great way for me to talk to more people at the Magical Midway. You know, really get out more.”
“Well, it will do that,” Fiona responded and raised her eyebrow.
“What?”
“Did your uncle tell you about the once a week courts you have to hold?” Uncle Phil jumped up and waved his hands in a cutting motion toward Fiona while shaking his head no.
“The what?”
“How about the reports to the Witches’ Council? Interfacing with human law enforcement?” she asked as Uncle Phil continued to hop up and down like a lunatic. I shook my head no. Uncle Phil glared at Fiona. Fiona smiled at him and held up her hands.
“You have a big mouth, Fiona. I didn’t want to overwhelm her. She’ll do just fine. Right now we need to concentrate on getting Mark back. Once the current crisis has passed, I’ll go over everything she needs to do,” Uncle Phil told my friend.
My friend was covering up her mouth so I wouldn’t see she was laughing at me.
“Okay, lawgiver, whaddya got, then?” Alexa laughed. Anya frowned.
I exhaled.
6
Opening my eyes two days after the Witches’ Council threat and one day after Mark disappeared, the sunlight spilling through my canvas windows seemed more like a spotlight than a greeting. I hadn’t figured out how to defeat the witches, or who was responsible for Mark’s apparent kidnapping.
I glanced over toward my pull out couch and spotted Fortuna sleeping peacefully with her arm draped around a baseball bat. Despite all of the paranormal solutions at our disposal, Fortuna went back to the essentials.
Only five days left, Samson said as he licked my forehead, spewing out and hacking my long hair.
Why do you do that?
Do what?
Lick my hair? You know it’s long, you know you
will hack on it. You keep doing it, though.
I do, don’t I? Samson agreed as he pulled his head back and pulled his face from side to side to dislodge the strands stuck in his teeth. I suppose I’m grooming you. Though it would take me hours to make you presentable.
Thanks. I sat up and glanced at the clock. Ten a.m.? I slept way, way too long. I rarely slept beyond eight in the morning anymore. The sounds of the circus started early, and it was impossible to shut off the noise without using some kind of magical shield. I was too worried that I would miss something important to go that far.
“Morning,” Fortuna mumbled.
“How’d you sleep?”
“If you could ringmaster this into a real bed for the next few days, I would appreciate it.” The seer stretched and grumbled as her muscles creaked. “If I am going to be executed for running away to the circus, I would prefer to die after having a pleasant night’s sleep.”
“Don’t even joke about that,” I told her and threw a pillow in her general direction. “That’s not funny.”
“I wasn’t trying to be funny,” Fortuna said as she sat up. Her eyes were puffy as if she had been crying, and her morning voice was coarse and rough. “I’m well aware of the situation I am in, Charlotte. I am doing the best I can to accept it.”
“Well, don’t. We’re going to find a way around this. I will not let anything happen to you, Fortuna.”
“I admire your certainty.” Fortuna’s head bowed, and she placed her hands over her head, mumbling something into her knees.
“What? I didn’t hear that.”
“I am used to this, Charlotte,” she said as she raised her tear stained face. “I didn’t have my talent the way I have it now, but I always… knew things. My family was always frightened of me. I didn’t look like them or talk like them. I was adopted at birth, did you know?”
I shook my head no.
“I was. I was a short, dark-haired, nerdy, curvy girl with thick curls adopted into a family of tall, athletic and outgoing blonds. You never had to work to detect me in family pictures,” she laughed. “I always stood out. They tried to love me, but I was always peculiar. They never understood me. And when I got flashes of future vision, little tiny tendrils of my talent poking through… well, then they were afraid of me.”
