The Nightingale Circus (15 page)

Authors: Ioana Visan

Tags: #short stories, #dark, #sci fi, #cyberpunk, #magician, #circus, #ballerina, #singer, #prosthetics, #nightingale

BOOK: The Nightingale Circus

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“Leave us to do our job now,” Big Dino
ordered.

* * *

Three months had passed since the attack, but
to Aurore, they felt like years. She was a different person. She’d
cut her hair to below shoulder level and lightened it up even more
to match the golden glow of her prosthetics. Whenever possible, she
refused to wear gloves, though she’d grown fonder of pants rather
than dresses for convenience. But these changes were only on the
outside. On the inside, she’d become harder, like a rock.

Aurore touched the leaf-shaped pendant lying
at the base of her neck—a present from Aunt Olivia to wear for her
sweet sixteen party. The stone was colder than her hands. She held
them up in front of her, still not used to the new look. The golden
skin glowed faintly through the sheer fabric of the gloves. She was
making a concession for Aunt Olivia’s sake. The long, white dress
hid her legs, though golden toes peeped through the sandals when
she walked, and the gloves covered her arms, especially the parts
where the prosthetics came in contact with the flesh. A simple
touch would not reveal any difference. She wasn’t planning on
touching anyone, and dancing was out of the question.

But there would be music, and dancing, and
people partying inside the Hrad tonight. The guests had already
arrived and were waiting for her to come down the stairs leading to
the main hall of the castle. Then the gossip would start. They most
likely wondered where she had been all summer and who had fixed
her. Aurore couldn’t have answered if asked. Her memories regarding
her stay with the circus were hazy at best. Despite the lack of
focus, she remembered agreeing when Big Dino told her it was better
this way. He’d also said he left her a present to make up for the
loss of memories, one that she could unwrap in a few years if she
wanted to.

Aurore glanced nervously along the corridor.
He’d left it inside the Hrad, for safekeeping, along with the power
source. But now, it wasn’t the right time for discoveries. It was
too soon, and she had to face the wolves first.

She drew in a deep breath, and with a royal
walk, she stepped on the top landing. Someone announced her name.
The murmurs died down, and people stared. When Uncle Tem came to
the bottom of the stairs and held out his hand for her to come and
join him, Aurore walked serenely down the steps. Nothing could hurt
her now. But she’d never be whole again.

Not ready to part with The Nightingale
Circus yet?

Check out Broken People!

You don’t always get what you want, but if
you’re lucky, you might get what you need.

For one week only, an impenetrable castle is
open to the public, and Dale Armstrong has come to Bratislava to
rob it. When he finds his partner’s arms mangled, he desperately
searches for a way to fix him before time runs out.

Because the war in the Far East is sapping
all the allied nation’s resources, only The Nightingale Circus has
the spare parts, the power, and the expertise to fix prosthetics
and help the injured, but nothing is free.

Unfortunately, Dale doesn't know about The
Nightingale Circus’s side job, but a forced encounter with the most
dangerous woman in the city, the Golden Lady, sends him their way.
On this roller coaster of crazy twists and flips, schemes and
deceit, wishes and dreams, no one can foresee how the aerialist
will land.

Anything is possible in a world of
Broken
People
.

Acknowledgements

I was in the middle of writing Broken People,
but the winter holidays got in the way, and when they ended, it was
hard to get back to writing. The novel had taken an unexpected
turn, so I started to think about my characters, who they were and
what they wanted for real. I had the first three short stories
written in no time.

After that, I returned to the novel and
finished it, but I kept adding one short story per month just for
fun. I guess I had a hard time letting go of the characters, too.
And so I ended up with a short story collection aside from the
novel.

If you read The Nightingale Circus first,
know that all these characters return in Broken People and work
together on a big heist.

As usual, many thanks go to my critique
partners, Ardyth, Cam, Ek89027, Jkang, Larrue, Pranabow, Rellrod,
Sarahbeth, and Xc0000005, my proofreader, Wendy Chan, and my
illustrator, Cristina Birtea.

Thank you to my readers and reviewers,
too.

And let’s not forget Mom, Dad, little
brother, grandma, and the cat!

All right, see you in the next book!

About the
Author

Award-winning writer Ioana Visan has always
dreamed about reaching the stars, but since she can't, she writes
about it.

After fighting the apocalypse aftermath in
"Human Instincts", she played with shapeshifters in “Blue Moon Café
Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks”, she dealt with vampires in
“The Impaler Legacy” series, and then she designed prosthetics in
“Broken People” before tackling longer works like a fantasy trilogy
and a science fiction series.

Aside from publishing short stories in
various Romanian magazines and anthologies, she published a
Romanian short story collection “Efectul de nautil” and the
Romanian edition of “Human Instincts”.

She received the Encouragement Award from The
European Science Fiction Society at Eurocon 2013.

For more information, go to

http://
www.ioanavisan.tk

Connect with Ioana online

Blog:

http://weirdvision2001.blogspot.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorIoanaVisan

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/weirdvision

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