Gifted, A Donovan Circus Novel (5 page)

“I’m Finley, but everyone calls
me Fin.” He walked over and threw an arm over my shoulder; blonde and freckly,
he seemed the friendliest of the bunch. He had a small gap between his front
teeth and reminded me of a golden retriever. “Welcome to the group.”

“Thanks. What are your gifts?” I
said, addressing Finley and Bianca. Keegan and Nikolas appeared bored with the
conversation and walked to the center of the field to wrestle. Delia darted off
to run more circles around them. I heard Brooklyn mutter something about
children before she wandered off to the side to smoke a cigarette.

Bianca got the same mischievous
look on her face that Delia did before Running. “I’m a Transporter,” she said.

“You were the girl I saw
earlier! That’s a gift I know, but you literally popped in and out so fast I
didn’t know what happened,” I exclaimed.

Bianca blinked and when she
reappeared, she was standing at the other end of the field. Another second, and
she materialized back in front of me.

“It does come in handy,” she
said. “I have a small act with the animals, but I also help the magician when
he needs an assistant to “disappear” behind the curtains. Or helping out with
costumes and props when we’re short on time and need to get somewhere fast.”

“Can you carry other people with
you?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Carried my dog
once. I’m not as advanced as I’d like to be. I can really only Transport when I
know the area—like the circus grounds, but I have to do a walk through to
make sure it’s always similar. I can’t travel to any other countries or
anything. I can barely get through a mall; I need to know exact locations in
order to properly Transport.”

“I didn’t even know some could
do that much,” I replied.

“Hey,” Finley said, nudging me,
“see if you can guess my gift.”

He shuddered and changed.
Instead of tall, lanky Finley standing next to me, there was now my very own
twin. Every detail was perfect—the wavy, light red hair in a ponytail,
freckled skin, and hazel eyes stood before me. While “beautiful” would never be
an adjective used to describe me, I was cute, both a blessing and a curse in a
world with Delias and Biancas. I glared at the cowlick sticking up by my temple
until my copy winked at me and morphed back to Finley.

“You’re a Shapeshifter! That’s
why you hugged me,” I said.

“I gotta touch someone for a few
beats to do it right. I can only do other humans. Others shift into animals,”
Finley said.

“Before we left, I had a friend
who shifted into any animal when we needed her to jump in on animal acts. She
wrote and told me her family had moved on to another group a few years later,
though. Are there any Chameleons here?”

He shook his head. “Nah, I met
one when I was a kid, though. He always cheated at hide and seek.”

I laughed and glanced around.
Keegan and Nikolas stopped wrestling and Brooklyn yelled at us from the
sidelines. “You know the drill—get over here so there’s no stupid
accidents.”

“Their shows are fun. I am
interested to know what you think,” Delia said to me as we joined everyone on
the sidelines.

I turned my attention back to
the field’s center. The two Firestarters faced off and stood maybe ten feet
apart. Keegan warmed a fireball in his right hand and Nikolas flicked his
lighter on to catch a flame. For a heartbeat, nobody moved; dead silence filled
the air as we all held our breaths. It felt like more than just playful
competition. If I didn’t know better, I would guess that someone was about to
get seriously hurt.

Nikolas struck first. He wound
up his arm and a blazing hot fireball flew out of his grasp and towards Keegan.
This was why Firestarters were so dangerous to others; anyone not possessing
this gift, and with it the fireproof body, would be killed. Anything near
contact with fireballs could easily catch flame and whole structures destroyed.
In a human’s world, explosions and fires were typically accidents or arson; in
our world, it was a Firestarter’s emotions.

Too late, Keegan ducked; his
shoulder caught the brunt of the fireball and he was thrown backwards.

“Two points!” Bianca shouted.

Before I could glance at her,
Keegan was back on his feet, a maniacal grin on his now dirt-streaked face. He
pitched his own fireball to Nikolas, who leapt to the side to avoid singeing.
The fireball hit the dirt ground, dissipated into smoke. He and Nikolas had to
aim carefully to keep their fireballs from going too far and hitting someone.

Nikolas flicked his lighter and lit
another giant fireball into his palm. I barely saw his arm pull back before he
flung it at Keegan. Quick as a snake and far more dangerous, he wasted no time
in a good offense.

They kept at it, jumped and
dodged each other’s focused scorches. Bianca screamed points as they got pelted
with flames. They had obviously done this many times before; they were
comfortable with a duel and still controlled their own fireballs. With enough
concentration, the owner of the fireball can make it do whatever they want,
including fizzle out. They were so fast, however, neither had much chance to do
anything besides hurl them at each other. They made sure that no matter the
size of the fire, it would fizzle out before reaching anything outside the
circle of dirt they competed on, even if that meant they took the brunt of one
to protect it from getting too far.

They rolled on the ground, spun
and threw in midair, all the while keeping it contained. As I watched, it was
easy to see Nikolas was the aggressive one, whereas Keegan had to be on the
defensive. Rarely could he get a fireball off without first blocking one from
Nikolas.

Nikolas caught a fireball in the
shoulder, which knocked him off balance. Then Keegan threw the rest of his
energy out. Keegan threw out his hands to throw a fireball which Nikolas tried
to avoid, but Keegan didn’t release it; this left a giant line of flames
between the two men. It pushed Nikolas backwards, but he managed to shake it
off only after he launched himself out of the way.

Keegan managed to throw a zinger
that hit Nikolas square in the chest. Nikolas was thrown back several feet, but
managed to keep his balance at the last second. Bianca yelled “Twenty points!”
and it looked as though Keegan would win the fight. Just then, Nikolas gave a kind
of primal yell and created an orange fireball the size of a couch above his
head. I hadn’t even blinked before he released his grip and it went flying at
Keegan. It hit Keegan’s chest and I expected him to be tossed back, but
instead, the fireball Nikolas created was so large and hot that Keegan caught
fire. Flames encased his whole body. I heard Keegan curse. Nikolas had won;
while Keegan knocked him off guard, Nikolas was clearly the better talent.

“Nikolas wins!” Bianca screamed.
“Game over!”

Keegan shook off the fire like
it was water droplets. He and Nikolas met in the middle, shook hands and walked
over towards the group, laughing.

I didn’t understand. Fire games
were dangerous. My father never allowed me to behave in such a way and I knew
he would highly disapprove of these games. Even before his “no fire” rules, he
taught me to control my gift, to never use it to hurt or threaten others. We
were to keep our emotions on lockdown to prevent accidental fires. It seemed
reckless to goof around this way.

“Don’t be such a stick in the
mud, new girl,” Brooklyn said to me from the other end of group. “We’re just
having some fun.”

“I’m not being a stick in the
mud. And my name is Lucy,” I said. I heard the annoyance in my voice and took a
deep breath. I couldn’t let her get to me.

Nikolas and Keegan reached the
group and everyone congratulated Nikolas and rehashed the play by plays.

Finley elbowed me. “What’s up?
You look a little stunned.”

“I didn’t think it was safe for
us to play like that,” I said.

“We’ve done it tons before.
Neither of us would ever seriously hurt each other,” Keegan said.

“We’re not nearly powerful
enough for that, anyways,” Nikolas added.

“I knew Firestarters were
capable of defending themselves. I’ve never seen anything like that in action,”
I replied.

“Oh, you’re like a passive,
hippie Firestarter chick,” Finley said.

He nudged me and I elbowed him
hard in the ribs. “I’m really not. And even if I was, that doesn’t make me a
hippie. I guess I grew up a different way.”

Brooklyn snorted and jumped into
the conversation. “You mean the goody two shoes way.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” I
answered. “My father always tried to make me think of reasonable options and
ways to calm myself before resorting to violence. I wasn’t allowed to let my
emotions take charge. I know my gift is too dangerous to let loose around
others, especially humans.”

“I honestly can’t believe you’d
even have it in you,” Brooklyn said.

I saw Delia nudge her and it
only made me madder. I didn’t need protection and I didn’t understand why
Brooklyn was acting so snotty to me. I expected unfriendliness, but this was
ridiculous. Even those wretched queen bee bitches in high school had given me a
couple weeks to fool myself into thinking I was invisible. My arms at my sides,
I cracked my knuckles against my thighs.

Keegan gave me a sympathetic
glance and continued conversation with Nikolas to jump over the growing
tension. Finley leaned down and nudged me again.

“You know, if you don’t defend
yourself, she’s gonna walk all over you. I really don’t think you want that,
nor would I wish it upon anyone,” he whispered.

“I didn’t even do anything to
deserve this!” I angrily whispered back. “All I did was walk over and say hello
and she acts like I’ve somehow offended her.”

Finley shook his head. “Doesn’t
matter. It’s already started, so you’ve got to either stand up for yourself or
take it. Those are your options. She’s testing you. Prove her wrong and you can
change her mind, get her respect.”

I stood there and fumed. Why
were those my options? Maybe Brooklyn was insecure or feeling defensive to
someone new. Maybe she felt threatened.

Insecure, I thought pointedly.

“I’m insecure?” Brooklyn
scoffed. “You won’t even show your gift because you’re scared it’s not good
enough for us.”

Brooklyn turned away from Bianca
and Nikolas to face me. She smirked at me and my pulse quickened. She needed to
be careful.

“You’ve got it backwards,” she
said.

“You don’t even know me. If
you’re this bitchy on the first meeting, then obviously it’s not me who has the
problem.”

“Maybe I have a hard time
understanding anyone who would run away to the circus and then be too scared to
prove their gift. It probably means you’re really terrible at it.”

“I didn’t run away to the
circus. I used to be here, long before you ever were.”

“Yeah and then you left. You’ve
been gone a long time and things have changed, princess.”

That familiar vein in my neck
was starting to vibrate, a sign that I was about to have a problem. I took a
few steps back because I could feel the heat pulse through my body. My chest
heaved as I sucked in a few deep breaths to control the anger. The last thing I
wanted was to start a fight or set one of my fellow troupe members on fire my
first day here. I needed to leave.

“Delia, I think I’ll catch up
with you later,” I said, not taking my eyes off Brooklyn.

“What’s wrong, kiddo? Scared to
play the game?” she said. She took a step towards me.

“If I have to be honest, you’re
really getting on my nerves,” I replied. “But I’m stepping away so I don’t
accidentally hurt someone. You know, my being a goody two shoes and all.”

“You’re a real martyr. Don’t
want you setting your new friends on fire, I suppose,” Brooklyn replied. She
took another step towards me and I shifted back a few feet. My face felt like I
was coated in a terrible sunburn.

“You don’t count. So I guess I
won’t mind too much if I accidentally melt those facial piercings off,” I
countered. Laughter and whispers murmured from the group.

“You don’t have the guts or
talent,” Brooklyn said.

“B, leave her alone,” Bianca
chided. “She looks plenty ready to burn you.”

“I want to know why Sheffield
let her join our troupe. She obviously possesses something, but how do we know
she didn’t get in on her daddy’s merits?”

I stopped in my tracks. “That’s
enough, Brooklyn. Say whatever you want about me, but don’t say a word about my
father. And if you don’t get out of my head, I’m going to make sure you’re bald
in about ten seconds,” I hissed. Everyone else froze and Brooklyn smiled.

“C’mon, two-shoes. Dance with
me,” she replied.

Flames licked at my wrists,
ready to be thrown out, but I knew logically I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t let
her get to me. I wouldn’t be her punching bag.

“But I could really use a new
punching bag,” she said slyly.

“Get out of my head!” I snapped.
I refrained from throwing fireballs, but the internal burning was so intense
that I caught fire. It was the only way I knew to control myself when it got
this far. Rather than send any fire out, I kept it inside and the flames
engulfed me. Much like Keegan minutes earlier, I looked rather like the Human
Torch.

I could feel my hair stand on
end and judging by the surprised look on everyone’s faces, I hoped Brooklyn got
the hint that I wouldn’t stand for her ridicule.

Instead, Brooklyn laughed. “Are
we supposed to be impressed? At least act like you’ve been with the circus
before! Didn’t your daddy teach you anything?”

By this point, I was so angry I
couldn’t even say anything. I had to make her stop. I threw my arms out towards
Brooklyn. She moved to duck, but instead of fireballs, I let out giant waves of
heat. They rippled out and crashed into everyone; there was no avoiding it,
like getting hit by a giant wave in the ocean. I knew it would knock everyone
several feet backwards, but when I heard surprised cries, I came back to
reality, stopped sending the waves out. I didn’t want to scare or hurt anyone.
Even I was startled at what I’d done. I had only meant to knock Brooklyn over,
but she’d really pissed me off. I’d never let myself be consumed with that much
anger before.