High Flyer (The Magic Carnival Book 4)

by Trudi Jaye

  “But why was Blago so angry with you?”

  “Lucietta was Blago’s sister. She was family.”

  Zeph nodded. “So he blames you?”

  She sighed. “Yes. It was self-defense, and I thought they would realize that.” Missy felt tears starting to well in her eyes and rubbed them away with a rough hand. “But they haven’t been able to get over it. The Carnival has been my life all these years, but they don’t want me there anymore. I can’t stay, not when it’s like that.”

  “So what are you going to do now?”

  “Believe it or not, I’m pretty good at what I do. I’m going to find someone else who’s willing to pay for my skills.” Missy struggled to accept the idea that she was really doing this, really leaving the Carnival. Her only life, the one place she’d always felt safe and accepted.

  Not anymore, she reminded herself. The look Blago had given her the previous day had said it all. He blamed her for Lucietta’s death and would never see past that. He had enough influence with Jack to make it uncomfortable for her. More than that, he could make it unpleasant and ugly for her.

  Missy remembered Zeph had said he understood what it was like. “Do you have nightmares?” she asked.

  Zeph blinked and looked away. “Since right after the accident. Probably about five months now.”

  “Does… anything stop them?”

  “No. Well, nothing except you waking me just at the right time.” He gave a twisted grin. “I was about to ride down the ramp yet again when you called out.”

  Missy gave a twisted smile. “Glad I could be of service.”

  A phone rang on the far bedside table, making her jump.

  He glanced at her, then reached over and picked it up. “Hello?”

  Missy could hear a woman’s voice on the other end and was surprised when she saw a look of relief take over Zeph’s face. Her chest was hit with a sting of jealousy. Who was this woman who could make him look so happy?

  “I’m so glad you’re okay. Where are you, Mom?”

  Missy felt a flush go over her cheeks. Of course. His mother.

  But even if it hadn’t been his mother, she had no right to be jealous. They hadn’t even done anything more than a couple kisses and then sleeping beside each other like they were nuns. And despite the truce they seemed to have formed, they were both guilty of lying to each other; it wasn’t exactly a great place for a relationship to start.

  She was just using him for a ride to L.A., where she would help him find The Experiment. That was it. Whipping back the sheets, she stood, heading to the bathroom.

  As she brushed her teeth, she could hear Zeph talking to his mother, admonishing her for not letting him know where she was and teasing her about her lack of mobile phone. How long had it been since she’d been able to talk like that to someone? Since Mom left with Dad, she thought with a bittersweet twist in her heart.

  It made her think of when she was growing up, sitting out in front of their house with her dad as he attempted to whittle a shape out of driftwood he’d found on the shores of the lake. He’d sit there with his small knife, cutting chunks out of the wood, hoping to find the muse that would help some creature emerge. She’d loved sitting there with him, the crisp early morning air sending shivers down her spine, the warm steam of her coffee whispering up to her nose as she held both hands around the mug for warmth. They’d talked about everything and nothing, using the time to download and disseminate anything that was bothering them or making them unhappy.

  They’d stopped doing it so much in the last few years—Missy had blamed herself; she’d been so focused on making her act bigger and better that she’d been spending all her time at the practice ring. But it turned out her father hadn’t wanted to chat too closely with her either. He’d been sabotaging them all, working with Lucietta out of some misplaced sense of guilt over her expulsion all those years before.

  The anger and resentment bubbled to the surface again. Her hand clenched around her toothbrush and she glared into the mirror.

  “Hey, you’ll brush your teeth off if you keep that up.” Zeph came up behind her. “That was Mom. She apologized for not leaving me a message, and she wants me to come and stay with her.” He didn’t look as happy as that information should have made him.

  “Where is she?”

  “Where they thought. The Experiment. But she says it’s fine, that Tilly was wrong. She’s not being held against her will.”

  Missy narrowed her eyes as she watched his face. He seemed to be trying to convince himself more than anything. “I don’t see why Tilly would lie about it,” she said mildly.

  “To get attention? To explain why she wanted to stay at the Compound? To make everyone feel sorry for her?” He shrugged impatiently. “There are any number of reasons. I don’t know Tilly, but I do know my mom. She wouldn’t put up with it if she didn’t like it there.” He frowned at Missy in the mirror.

  Missy nodded. She didn’t know Tilly either, at least not since they were kids.

  “There’s something else… Mom says there might be jobs going at The Experiment. She said you should come with me and talk to the woman who runs the shows, this Veronica Snow.”

  Missy’s eyes widened. It was one thing to go against what Tilly had said—to decide she was the one who was wrong—and go with Zeph to pick up his mom. But to actually fly in the face of the Nine by getting a job in the very place that was supposed to be a hive of enemies? That was a whole other level.

  She clenched her hand around her toothbrush. They’d let her renounce her position at the Carnival. They didn’t value her skills anymore. Wouldn’t it be everything they deserved to find out she’d started working for The Experiment? A vision filled her head of packed audiences coming to see her, perhaps Jack and Rilla watching from the sidelines, then begging her to come back. Saying they couldn’t live without her in the show.

  Missy smiled. It might be petty, but it was a nice thought. “Okay. Sounds good. Let’s get going.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Missy pulled the bike to a stop in front of the large signs for The Experiment that shouted from the roadside. She looked up at the midnight-blue permanent tent and couldn’t see a thing out of place. She’d only been here at night before, but by the light of day, there were no patches to hide the holes, no dirt or mud or rubbish. Bunting flags decorated where the sides met the roof of the tent, a stark white against the dark blue. Green grass surrounded the tent and white concrete paths meandered to the closed food stalls selling treats nearby.

  It all looked amazing.

  “Did she say where to go?” she asked Zeph.

  “Apparently, there’s an accommodation village around the back somewhere. Drive down the right-hand lane until you get to the gate. The guy on duty will be expecting us.”

  Despite herself, Missy was impressed. She was even more impressed when she saw the tall wooden gates hiding whatever was behind them and the neatly uniformed guard who checked his list carefully before marking off their names.

  “Once the gates have opened, drive down Snow Boulevard and then turn left at the second street,” said the guard, his voice a soft neutral pitch. “That will be High Wire Way. Your mother is number twelve.” He pressed a button to open the large gate, looking away to dismiss them.

  “Wow,” Missy said as the massive doors rolled opened to revel a beautifully appointed complex, with green lawns, perfect gardens, and rows of one-story, brand-new brick homes, all of them perfectly maintained and manicured. It was an oasis. Missy revved the engine and drove them slowly through the gates, stopping just inside the complex.

  “We’re in Stepford,” Missy joked.

  “Looks pretty nice to me,” Zeph replied somewhat stiffly.

  “It all looks the same,” said Missy.

  “Just because it doesn’t look all haphazard and wonky like the Compound doesn’t mean it’s bad.” His words were heated, but she had the impression he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it either.


  Missy glanced at Zeph to see if the undercurrent of creepy she was picking up was really lost on him. He was looking around now with a blank expression on his face, taking in everything from his spot in the sidecar.

  She didn’t think he was clueless.

  But then again, Missy acknowledged, maybe it was her own prejudices that were making her react this way to the gated community in front of them. She had an instinctive dislike of anything that was too perfect, too similar. But now that she was no longer part of the Carnival, she needed to adjust her ideas on what things should look like.

  She squared her shoulders and drove the bike forward. Snow Boulevard was a wide street, with mowed shoulders on either side. There were big warehouse-style buildings on the right and houses on the left.

  Every driveway was on the same side of the houses, and each house was the same beige color. There were a couple different styles, but that didn’t mean different materials or colors, just that the rooms seemed to have been placed in different places.

  They turned onto High Wire Way and found number twelve. Missy pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine. Again, it was identical to all the other houses.

  What was this place? Someone more organized, better funded, and more efficient than anyone at the Jolly Knight Carnival was behind all this. She looked around again at all the other houses and shook her head. If she did decide to work at The Experiment, she wasn’t going to live here.

  ***

  Zeph dragged his long legs out of the tiny space of the sidecar. His leg was throbbing, but that burning pain he’d experienced when he’d been the one on the motorbike was gone. He was actually grateful he’d picked up Missy—he didn’t think he would have made it this fast, or this far, without her.

  The phone call from his mother should have relieved his fears, but he was having serious doubts about this place. Despite his defensive words to Missy, he agreed with her. There was something creepy here. Too samey-samey. The haphazard setting of the Compound popped into his head again and he frowned. It wasn’t like that place was any better.

  There were developments around in most cities that looked like this. They’d built a bunch of nice houses that looked similar and then sold them off to people who were grateful for the opportunity to buy a beautiful new home. And it was a nicer place than the one his mother had been living in for the last twenty years. He was being ungrateful, and it wasn’t fair.

  If only it didn’t give off such a strange vibe.

  He sighed. He wasn’t going to make any judgements until he’d seen his mother and knew her side of things. If she was happy here, who was he to take her away just because he didn’t like the design of the neighborhood?

  Zeph walked to the front door, Missy beside him. She was looking around in the same way he had, as if she were desperately trying to find something she liked about the place.

  As he raised his hand to knock, the door was flung open and his mother stood in the entranceway. Small and beautiful, with a happy smile on her face just for him. He felt a rush of emotion—he’d really missed her all these months. He grabbed her in a massive hug, crushing her to him, trying to let her know in that contact how good it was to see her again.

  He pulled back and looked down at her. She looked so pleased to see him that Zeph forgot about everything else. His mother was happy. That’s all he wanted for her. He leaned in to hug her again, and she grabbed him tightly, holding him in her bird-like arms.

  “Oh, my darling, I’ve missed you. It’s so good to see you. Come in, come in. Bring your lady friend as well.”

  His mother ushered them both into a living area.

  “Mom, this is Missy.”

  His mom shook Missy’s hand. “And I’m Helene. It’s a delight to meet one of Zeph’s lady friends.”

  Missy glanced at Zeph. “Does he bring lots of them home?”

  “Oh dear, no. He never brings them home. He tells me about them occasionally, but I don’t get to meet them.”

  Zeph felt a flush creep up his face. This was exactly why he never brought his girlfriends home to his mother. At least he didn’t have to worry about trying to impress Missy—she might even be able to laugh with him about it later, rather than being horrified by the experience.

  His mom ushered them into the living area and encouraged them to sit in the large cream leather chairs. The room was a study in elegance and restrained style. No loud colors, no clashing patterns. It felt a little strange because his mother had always been into knick-knacks, and there was nothing like that here. Zeph sat at the edge of his seat, feeling like he couldn’t relax in case he got something dirty.

  “So, Mom, how are you? Is everything okay here?” he asked anxiously.

  She smiled happily and nodded at him. “Everything is perfect here. It’s such a lovely place to live, and I don’t have to worry about anything. The bills are all taken care of, the lawns are mowed, the garden tended.”

  “But you like gardening.” Zeph frowned at his mother, thinking of the hours she’d always spent in the garden at home.

  “Oh, not really, darling. It was always just something I did to pass the time.”

  “So what do you do now?”

  She fluttered one hand to the side. “I help out with more useful tasks. There’s always something that needs to be done at The Experiment.” She stood, brushing imaginary dirt from the front of her dress. “Can I get you both something to drink?”

  “A coffee would be great, Mom, thanks.”

  “Yes, please, that would be lovely,” said Missy.

  When she was gone, Missy looked over at him significantly. “So? Does all this seem normal?”

  Zeph hesitated. He wasn’t entirely certain. “I’m still deciding,” he said. “I want to meet this Veronica woman.”

  Missy nodded. “Me too. I might ask for a job.”

  “I thought you said it was creepy?”

  She shrugged. “It’s creepy here in the village. But I can live somewhere else. The Experiment is still a world-class show.”

  “I’ll see if Mom will take us,” he said.

  His mother reentered the living room, carrying a tray with cups and a plate of cookies, smiling like she hadn’t a care in the world.

  The only problem was his mother had never really been someone who smiled all the time. She was more of a cynic, a conspiracy theorist, someone who saw the problems long before she saw the solution. Maybe that just meant she’d been unhappy his whole life—but he didn’t think so. She loved getting her teeth into a good conspiracy. She just wasn’t the lighthearted, smiley type.

  He took a couple sips of his coffee and ate one of the chocolate cookies before intercepting a look from Missy. “Mom, can you introduce us to Veronica? Missy wants to see if there really is a job going.”

  His mother glanced between them. “Of course, dear. Veronica did say she wanted to meet you right away.” She looked at their full cups of coffee. “But don’t you want to finish your drinks?”

  “Oh, yes, sorry, Mom.” Zeph took a large sip of his coffee and saw Missy do the same out of the corner of his eye. The silence lengthened as they finished their drinks. It was actually restorative after their long bike ride.

  When Missy stood to help clear away the plates, his mother waved her arm. “Sit back down, my dear. I’ll sort these out.” She picked them up and disappeared again to the kitchen.

  The clock on the wall seemed to tick really loudly, and Zeph cleared his throat. Missy jumped at the sound and glanced over at him. Her expression said she had the same doubts he did about this place. But he wasn’t ready to give up yet.

  “I’m sure Veronica will give you a job,” he said.

  Missy nodded. “It would be great. This is exactly the kind of show I’d love to be a part of. Cutting edge, doing things no one has thought of before.”

  Zeph nodded. He could understand that. “It’s good to be doing something innovative and exciting.”

  “Exactly.” She stood and paced
around the room as if she were nervous. “My dream has always been to be the best. That’s what Rilla didn’t get. It isn’t just about maintaining the status quo; it’s about reaching higher. Rilla and Jack were holding me back at the Carnival. Here, the sky’s the limit.” She waved her arms wide, and Zeph smiled. He understood her ambition; he’d felt like that once too. He glanced down at his leg. Not so much at the moment.

  “Okay, let’s go,” said his mother, coming back out from the kitchen. “I’ll introduce you to Veronica so you can see for yourselves how wonderful she is.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Missy reminded herself this was her big opportunity to do things she’d never be allowed to do in the Jolly Carnival. She followed Helene along the road, thinking of what she could achieve here. She’d always admired the acts in The Experiment.

  As for Zeph’s mother, she was a revelation. The memories she’d had from when they were kids were distorted. Helene was very attractive, small, and delicate, with high cheekbones and beautiful clear skin. She had the same brilliant blue eyes both Zeph and Rilla possessed and a quiet grace that couldn’t be copied. It was no wonder Abba fell for her—when she was younger, she would have been absolutely devastating. She also clearly loved her son, despite the vagueness that hung about her.

  They were walking along High Wire Way, back down to the main boulevard. The grass was cut to regulation height, the paint perfectly applied, and the gardens immaculately tended. Even the sunshine seemed to be uniform and measured.

  She shook her head. She knew she had a Carny bias. That she was thinking about this the wrong way. There were probably thousands of people out in the world who’d kill to live somewhere like this. It was literally perfect.

  But she didn’t see anyone outside doing any of the maintenance you might expect to keep it looking so pristine. In fact, aside from Zeph’s mother and the guard, she hadn’t seen another soul. It was like the whole place was holding its breath, waiting and watching what they were doing.