by Trudi Jaye
They were dangerous.
Tilly made her way to the front of the room, not looking at anyone. She stopped next to Rilla and Jack and sat in the seat Rilla gestured to beside her at the head of the table. She seemed to be trying to hide from Zeph. And no wonder—he looked like he was about to implode he was so angry. His blue eyes spit daggers at Rilla, and he looked like he was fighting the urge to punch someone. Missy was glad she was at the back of the room, because she had a feeling if she’d been up there, she might have been the target of his anger.
“Tilly, we believe the people who sent you might be behind this. Do you think that’s possible?”
Tilly glanced between Jack and Rilla and then nodded. “Sure.”
“I need you to think and tell us if you think there’s somewhere they might have taken our mother.”
Tilly sighed and shrugged. “I d-don’t know for sure. I mean, it’s a pretty big organization. They could have taken her anywhere.”
“We just need you to give us some ideas, and we can check them out,” Rilla said with what seemed like endless patience. Rilla placed her hand on Tilly’s arm. “Anything you can give us will help.”
Missy crossed her legs to keep from running up there and shaking Tilly.
Tilly swallowed. “The main circus in L.A. is called The Experiment. It stays in one place the whole year, and it’s where Veronica, the leader of the group, is based. There’s also Circus X. They travel around during the season and then perform the winter in The Experiment. There are a few other bases around and other shows that connect in with Veronica, but I would assume if it is them, they would have her in the village with The Experiment.”
Missy’s eyes widened. She’d been to The Experiment.
Rilla looked over at Missy. “Isn’t that the place…?”
Missy nodded. “I went there last time I was in L.A.” It was an amazing show—edgy, over-the-top, full-on action. Every act was something new, never seen before. No tired old performers doing the same old acts they’d been doing since they were little kids.
It was also the reason they’d fought yesterday. Missy felt an uneasy chill ride up her back. Was it too much of a coincidence?
“Tell us more about this woman who’s in charge,” said Jack, frowning.
Tilly swallowed as if she were trying to drink broken glass. She looked nervously around the room. “Her name is Veronica Snow. My… mother Daphne… she’s friends with Veronica. Good friends.”
“What else?”
“Veronica has been running the show for a long time. She doesn’t like to be the center of attention, so she’s got someone else as Ringmaster in the ring. But she’s the real Ringmaster, the one who controls everything.”
“How do we get in?” Rilla asked.
“Getting in is easy. What you should be asking is how you get out.” Tilly rubbed one hand over her forearm where goose bumps had appeared. “Veronica is powerful. She’s a persuasion talent. And you saw the block she put on me—there’s no way a normal person could get that off. She doesn’t think like everyone else, and it makes her dangerous.”
Missy glanced over at Zeph. He was watching Tilly with an intent expression, as if he were drinking in everything she said. He’d looked at Missy like that last night, but for an entirely different reason.
“What do you mean?” Rilla nodded at Tilly, but Missy could see the strain on her face.
“Once you’re in, they want you to stay. Especially if you have something they need. Veronica will do everything in her power to keep you by her side.” Tilly swallowed. “Look at me. I’ve been trying to leave my entire life.”
“But you’re out now.”
“But I’m not really, don’t you see? They still have my sister, Kitten. My mother is still there. I’ve left too many people behind to be safe out here.”
There was a shocked silence after Tilly’s outburst. Missy glanced around at the rest of the group uneasily. They didn’t like when someone admitted the Carnival wasn’t their number one priority.
Viktor leaned forward, his chair creaking in the silence. “You goin’ to harm us? You plannin’ to give away all our secrets to yer mother?” His voice was rough, but he wasn’t berating Tilly.
She shook her head violently. “Of course not.”
“Then you’re not part of it anymore. Anythin’ else is just gravy, and we’ll sort it out. I told you we’d get that sister of your’n out of there. And we will.”
Tilly half smiled at Viktor, her eyes bright with tears. “Thank you,” she whispered to him, clutching her hands tight on the table in front of her. Missy could see Tilly shaking even from the back of the room, and it gave her chills. Surely it couldn’t be that bad? She frowned and folded her arms over her chest.
“We’ll need your help to draw up some plans of where they live, get some details of The Experiment,” said Jack, coming into the conversation for the first time.
“Sure. I can do that.” Tilly paused. “What do you actually plan to do?”
Rilla looked over at Zeph. “We’ve got to get in there, see if our mother is there, and get her out.”
“Then promise me one thing.”
“What?”
“When you go, you take me so I can get Kitten out of there.”
Silence overtook the room as they absorbed her request. It wasn’t anything they should have been surprised about. According to Garth, Rilla had promised to get Tilly’s sister out when she’d joined the Carnival. But it made what they were going to do much harder.
Rilla nodded slowly and let out a big breath before she answered. “You’re right to remind us, Tilly. And we did promise you we’d rescue your sister. So yes, we’ll make getting Kitten out of there part of the plan.”
Beside her, Zeph exploded. “You have to be kidding me! This is about Mom. We need to get her away from these people as fast as possible. We can’t be mucking around getting her sister out as well.”
Rilla turned to Zeph. “Just calm down, Zeph. We know what we’re doing. And getting Tilly’s sister out of there won’t affect our ability to find Mom.”
“I’m not going to calm down until I know where Mom is. You can stop pretending to feel concern, Rilla. I know you don’t care about her. But I am going to find her and get her back, with or without your help.”
Rilla stared at Zeph for a long moment. “I don’t know what kind of person you think I am, Zeph, but I care about our mother too. She’s the only parent I have left in this world. We’ll find her, and getting Kitten out won’t affect that.” Her voice was stern but calm, like she knew exactly what she was doing. Only thing was Missy knew she’d perfected that tone for the times when she had no idea what the hell she was doing.
Zeph leaned back against his chair. He looked like he was going to get up and storm out or maybe hit something. But at least he was still sitting there for the moment.
Rilla turned to Tilly. “I need you to go find Indigo for me. We’ll need her here. And find some paper and pens. I’ll need you to draw up some maps of their spaces so we know where we’re going.”
“No problem, Rilla.” She glanced over at Zeph and back at their Ringmaster. “Just… just remember to be careful. Don’t underestimate Veronica.”
CHAPTER TEN
Thoughts were racing inside Zeph’s head. He didn’t understand any of this. “Why the hell have they taken my mother? What’s the point?” he said as soon as Tilly shut the door on the room again.
Rilla took a deep breath, but it was Jack who answered. “They’re looking for leverage. You keep forgetting she’s Rilla’s mother as well as yours, Zeph, and Rilla is now the Ringmaster—”
“Joint Ringmaster,” interrupted Rilla.
“Joint Ringmaster of the Carnival.” Jack quirked one corner of his mouth at Rilla, then turned back to Zeph. “They’re hungry for the power that brings. And they’re good at using leverage. You heard Tilly. She’s worried about her sister. It made her a perfect target for a long time, until she came he
re and we were able to convince her we could help.”
Zeph clenched his hands to keep from punching Jack’s calm, smiling face. The dude was just too relaxed about this whole thing. Didn’t he understand what was happening? They needed to be moving on this, and fast. “Okay, so how do I get there?”
Jack held up one hand. “We can’t just go rushing in there. We need to figure out a plan, do a bit of recon on them. Take a few days to figure out why they took her and what they plan to do with her.”
His hand clenched into a fist. “I’m not waiting for you lot to make the perfect little plan,” sneered Zeph. They’d take all year trying to plan something—action was what they needed right now. “I have the information I need. If you’re not going with me now, then you’re not going with me at all.” He wasn’t sitting around thinking about it any longer. He stood up.
Jack placed himself in front of Zeph and put one hand on his shoulder. “Zeph, I need you to sit back down. We need to do this properly or your mother is going to be in danger. You want to keep your mother alive, don’t you?” Behind Jack, Viktor and Davos stood up, their arms crossed over matching barrel-shaped chests.
Zeph shook his shoulder out from under Jack’s hand. He looked at the three men for a moment, assessing his options. He sat back down, his hand clenched over his bad leg.
He would leave later. Sneak out on his bike. Let them think they’d won this round.
“Thanks, Zeph,” said Rilla quietly.
Zeph glanced at Rilla. His sister. It didn’t feel right saying that. He hadn’t seen her since she’d deserted him when they were kids. She was just some person he’d met who looked a little bit like him.
He didn’t say anything, just turned away to look around the room at the rest of the Nine. They were a sorry-looking lot—a few old codgers, and Rilla and Jack trying to lead them. At least his dad had known what he was doing. His gaze fell on Missy. She was the exception, the one shining star in this room. The only person who seemed real to him. It was like the rest of them had been sketched in pencil, and she’d been painted in thick, lustrous oils. He shook his head, trying to concentrate on what the others were saying.
“If we’re to have any chance at this, we need to learn as much as we can about them. Frankie can do some online research, bring up what he can,” Rilla was saying.
“I’ll go ask a couple of my buddies from other groups, see what info we can round up on the grapevine about them,” said Davos, his gruff voice contrasting with his crisp words.
Nodding, Alfie agreed. “Me too.” The animals dude—he couldn’t be anything else with the hay sticking out of his hair, the patch of dirt on his jeans and the pungent aroma of poo wafting over—looked over at Rilla for agreement.
She nodded at the two men, effectively giving permission.
Viktor stared pensively off into the distance for a moment. “I’ll go talk to Tilly again, before we get her back in here. She’ll know more useful stuff. And she’ll talk more easily if it’s just to me.”
“All good ideas.” Rilla paused. “What we really need to decide is what we’re going to do when we find out more about them.”
Jack stepped forward and put one arm around Rilla’s shoulders. “I think we all know what has to be done. We need someone to infiltrate them.”
At the back of the room, Missy stood up. “I’ll do it,” she said, her face solemn.
Zeph’s instant reaction was negative. He didn’t want Missy to go anywhere near his mother, even to save her. He had to control the urge to yell no at the top of his voice. But he needn’t have worried.
“I’m sorry, Missy, but you’re just not the right person for this,” said Jack without inflection.
“Why not? I have the skills they might want,” said Missy.
“You’re still recovering.”
Zeph glanced around the room. He felt tension rising to the surface. He realized it had been surrounding them the entire time and wasn’t solely about his presence or the current situation. What was happening here?
“I’m fine. This has nothing to do with my supposed recovery.”
“Damn right, girl,” said the older man in the corner with the white handlebar moustache, his voice hard with scorn. Blago was it? “This is because you go around killing people when you should be saving them. Taking revenge for your father when what he did was all his own work. If he knows what’s good for him, Zeph won’t want you on this job. You’d end up killing his mother rather than saving her.”
Missy’s face went white. Zeph stood up, meaning to somehow defend Missy, but unsure how. The room erupted around him.
“That’s a terrible thing to say!” said the woman with massive curls.
“Blago, that’s uncalled for.” Rilla’s voice was horrified.
“The girl didn’t do it on purpose,” said Victor, frowning at the man who’d spoken.
“Enough.” Jack’s voice cut over the room. “Dad, you need to leave. And Viktor, if you could go with him, that would be a great help.”
Viktor nodded at Jack and stood up. “Come on, you old coot. We’re going to have a drink in my van and talk about your manners.”
Blago sat with his arms crossed for a moment longer, glaring at Jack. Then he unhooked his arms and leaned toward Viktor. “Best offer I’ve had all day,” he said, blatantly ignoring everyone else in the room.
Zeph barely noticed; he was too busy watching Missy.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Missy had expected a reaction.
She’d known Blago was upset with her. She’d known they’d never let her go on this assignment. But it had still been a shock to hear the words out of Blago’s mouth.
It also didn’t change the fact that she was the perfect person to go.
She sat at the back of the room, forcing herself to stay seated when all she really wanted to do was run away. This room with its stifling tension crippled her. These people, who used to be her friends and supporters, looked at her with judging eyes, making her skin crawl. She clenched her hands in fists and focused on Zeph. He was the only one who didn’t know what had happened. He was the only one who might not judge her.
Although, at the moment, he hated her as well, if for a totally different reason. But it was a reason she could deal with. She had, after all, earned it. It was a cleaner anger, something she could maybe fix, not this dirty, swirling, unreasonable anger she couldn’t fight, could never win against because of its very nature.
Her breath hitched and Missy forced herself to take long, slow breaths, like she was preparing for a show. Staying here in this room, with Jack’s eyes on her like he blamed her for Luci’s death the same way his father did—well, it was harder than flying out over nothing on the trapeze, harder than trusting her partners to catch her. At least then she had a net.
“Who else could go?” Rilla asked the room quietly.
Missy lifted her eyes quickly to Rilla’s face. She was watching Jack, a soft expression on her face.
Jack let out a frustrated breath. “We’ll have to think about it. Maybe one of Alfie’s kids?” He glanced over at Alfie, who shook his head.
“Not one of them would survive it. It’s gotta be someone tough,” said Alfie. “What about one of Viktor’s boys? Henry could do it.”
There was a general murmuring around the room. Missy let out the breath she’d been holding. It had really come to this. She was no longer considered tough. No longer able to do anything.
“Henry’s not here at the moment. We sent him on that contract at Callaghan Technologies, remember?” said Rilla.
Missy stood up slowly. “Do you even want me in this room anymore? Am I even Showmaster in your eyes?” She blurted out the words before she could think them through, but she saw the answer straightaway. The sadness in their eyes, the acceptance of what she said. After all she’d done, after everything, they didn’t trust her. They didn’t want her as Showmaster.
Missy swayed where she stood. And then she clenched her fists, her na
ils pressing into the calloused skin of her palms, and tightened her lips into a solid line. “Fine. I step down as Showmaster. You no longer have to worry about me tainting the Nine with my blood or ruining everything by saving my own damn life by killing a psychopath. You can all go to hell.” She stared around at each of them, watching the shock dawn on every face.
Rilla was first to recover. “Missy, it’s not like that. You’re just stressed. It’s been a difficult winter for all of us. Blago will get over it, and so will you.”
Missy stared at her, trying to bore through Rilla’s head to see if she really thought that or if she was just saying it. She glanced at Jack. He was stiff, his body tense. His face held doubt and a touch of anger.
Missy shook her head. “You’re not Ringmaster on your own anymore, Rilla. And your joint Ringmaster doesn’t believe that. He thinks I killed his aunt on purpose, and he’s not going to forget it.” Missy again looked at each person around the room. “I renounce my position as Showmaster.”
She said the words softly and didn’t expect the huge reaction. Everyone in the room gasped, putting their hands to their heads, as if someone had just whistled loud and unpleasantly high-pitched in their ears. Everyone except Zeph, who just watched in confusion.
Missy felt her own private connection to the Carnival jolt and shudder. There was an untwining, like something tight and secure unwrapped itself from her. The bond reluctantly moved back, away from her heart’s center, to sit at a distance. It had been accepted. The Ringmasters had accepted her renouncement, and the position was no longer hers.
The silence in the room was deafening. Shocked faces around the table showed everyone had felt the bond’s separation, just as she had.
Missy couldn’t help the sob that escaped her, but she was determined she wouldn’t let these bastards see anything more of how much this cost her. She pushed back her chair, its scrape across the floor loud in the hush. Holding her head high, she walked to the door without looking at any of them, carefully closing it behind her.