by Liz Long
“I had nothing to do with it. Are they sure he didn’t simply leave town?”
“I don’t know. Felix definitely inferred you had a hand in his disappearance.”
He shook his head, lit a cigarette and checked the space once more to prevent nosy bystanders. “We left him broken but alive. He goes missing and Marty dies the next night. I’d bet anything Felix is involved, trying to frame me as he’s framed you.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “That Mac guy may have been an asshole, but that means yet another person is dead because of me. I’m getting tired of being the common denominator in murders here, Sheffield.”
“We don’t know for sure.”
“Don’t lie to me. Felix doesn’t have a great record of leaving people alive once he’s through with them. Why would he take that guy?”
“No idea. Perhaps to question him about that night, your power, get more specifics. I have no doubt Felix took him, but it’s his first assault on a human.”
“Felix also told me you’re a bully who needs to be taken down a few pegs. He thinks I can help him.”
“Do you believe him?” His gray eyes met mine and I jutted my chin out, glaring back at him. I resisted the urge to crack my knuckles.
“I don’t know what to believe. No one is being entirely honest with me, that much I’ve figured out. But I’m on your side, regardless of the rumors I’m fed.” I lowered my voice to an angry whisper. “So you should know that he wants to make a multi-gifted being to take you out. Seeing as how you’re a Collector and all.”
Sheffield’s face darkened; he gave another furtive look around the tent and grabbed my arm, pushed me farther into the dark corner where there was no chance of being overheard.
“You must not tell others that,” he demanded.
“Why? Because everyone would be terrified that you’d take their gift away? Or because you’re afraid everyone would leave?”
“A Collector is very dangerous to others. We do not have good reputations. Most fear it because they don’t want to be vulnerable to someone who can take away their power in an instant. Some want it for their own to so they may bully other gifted. That makes others vulnerable too, because they might go after them to get to me. I won’t have our people live in fear. Felix would not be the first enemy who’s tried to take my gift for his own ambitions.”
“So what, my dad protected you?” I crossed my arms against my chest.
“In a sense, yes, he helped defend our group. There haven’t always been peaceful times between our kind.”
My hands went up in defeat. “You know what, I don’t care about the past right now. You’ll explain my father more to me at a later time. Right now, we need to worry about Felix and his plans to take you down. I don’t want to help him.”
“Come to my office after the show. Talk to no one about this until then.”
“All right. I have to ask—should I be worried?”
Sheffield looked at me for a long moment before responding. He ground his cigarette butt into the dirt with his heel and finally looked back at me. His answer filled me with dread.
“Yes. We both should.”
Chapter 25
As he requested, I showed up at his camper after the show later that night. I hadn’t even knocked before Sheffield threw open the door. He ominously walked back to his desk without a second glance. I walked in, closing the door behind me and took a seat.
Sheffield sat at his desk, his top hat sitting by his left hand. He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out the large decanter and two small glasses. He poured amber liquid into both and placed one in front of me. Then he took a sip from his own drink.
“I don’t really drink,” I said somewhat apologetically.
“Hang on to it. You might decide to calm your nerves somewhere along the conversation.”
Sheffield kept a completely straight face; his mustache never even twitched. I had no idea what to expect. Oh, what the hell, Lucy—let’s get this over with and start it off.
“What do you think happened to Knox?” I asked. I half-hoped there wouldn’t be a reply.
“My suspicions tell me he is dead. I truly hope I am wrong.”
“After I tell you what Felix told me, will you tell me the truth? Tell me everything about my father?”
“It’s not that simple. You need more time to adjust, to better understand who we are—“
“Who is “we,” Sheffield? You, Knox, and Marty…and my dad?”
He sighed. “I mean we as an entire gifted community. You’ve been away so long from this world. It’s much more dangerous than you remember.”
“No shit,” I replied. “But that’s over—I’m adjusting and can handle myself. There aren’t other options…I don’t have anywhere else to go. You don’t have to kick me out.”
Sheffield sat straight up to face me. “You’ve got it wrong, kid. I called you in here to convince you to stay despite the circumstances.”
“What? I don’t want to leave. I want a regular gifted existence here instead of this big game of Clue.” I was happy he didn’t want to kick me out on the streets, but now I was off track from my already prepared argument. I’d thought he’d tell me to run, to get away to save everyone.
“That’s a relief to hear,” he said, his face still unreadable.
“Yeah, I really—wait, what circumstances?”
“You’re here for protection, in every sense of the word,” Sheffield answered. He sat back in his chair and lit a cigarette.
“I don’t understand.”
“What did Felix tell you last night?”
I told him everything I could remember of the conversation. His face remained expressionless the entire time I talked. After I finished, Sheffield finished his drink and poured himself another, much larger helping. That couldn’t be good.
“Sheffield, just tell me. Tell me about Felix Hardy.”
“Did your father ever tell you about him?”
I shook my head. A drop of whiskey on his mustache caught the light as he spoke.
“Dr. Felix Hardy was first and foremost a scientist devoted to parts of the gifted community. He interviewed and examined those willing to undergo tests. Secondly, he knew enough as much as any doctor. He used his research with our blood to save us from things like human sicknesses, even learn how to handle wounds from our own brothers.”
Sheffield held out his left arm and rolled up his sleeve. At the elbow, I could see a large scar that despite being fully healed still looked nasty.
“This was from a minotaur. Damn thing nearly took my arm off; it severed a lot of nerves and damaged tissue. Dr. Hardy managed to find a way to not just piece it back together, but make it good as new. If I’d been a human with everyday doctors and drugs, the arm would’ve been completely removed.”
“Aren’t there Healers in here? Gifted beings who can put us back together without any problems?” I asked.
“There are less gifted beings in the world than you think. Healers are few and far between. I have a young woman now who is a Healer, very adept with wounds, but she is still fairly new, only a couple of years with us now. At the time, I had to rely on Felix’s support.”
Sheffield rolled his sleeve back down and continued his story.
“Hardy compounded all kinds of antibiotics for us that weren’t everyday aspirin at the pharmacy. He was brilliant and personally helped many of us; he is one of the reasons we have specialty doctors in certain hospitals that are…aware of our kind. His groundbreaking research is one of the many reasons we can walk among humans without their knowing and without too many problems.”
“How did he even know about us?”
“Gifted are everywhere, even in the day to day human existence. Those who look normal, but might want to stay connected to our world involve themselves in medicine, politics, all sorts of things. In this case, there was a large, well-funded company with a lab; they believed Felix could help us and still keep our secrets. He did.”
He took a sip of whiskey and inhaled more of his cigarette. I waited, poised on the edge of my seat.
“Hardy got deeper into the science of our DNA versus humans. He thought at one point he had a cure for those who no longer desired to be gifted.”
“So he really invented a cure? ‘Cause Brooklyn told me what he did to her mom!”
“No,” Sheffield replied. “He thought he made a cure. What happened to Brooklyn’s mother was awful, though at the time it was genuinely thought to be an accident. Now I think he was going to take and use her gift. But to the best of our knowledge, we can’t change who we are—gifted, whether they like it or not, are special for life.”
I could understand why a gifted individual would want to be human, but I disagreed with an actual cure. I didn’t exactly have an easy power, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I was proud of it. It took a lot of hard work for anyone to control his or her gift. Maybe I was biased, but I considered those who didn’t put work into it to be lazy. If a Firestarter could do it, others certainly could.
“The next and last test backfired,” Sheffield continued. “Hardy used his own blood for the test. I don’t know the details, but he accidentally gave himself the DNA of a Levitator and locked himself in his laboratory. After seven hours, he came out completely human again. I guess it wasn’t very much. Evidently, he spent that entire time running tests on himself.”
Another sip of whiskey but Sheffield didn’t immediately return to his story. He looked a little lost in thought. My impatience got to me.
“What happened to Dr. Hardy?”
“He came to me, requested that he have more blood samples for testing. The way he said it…when he took our blood before, it was to help us, to create medicines and vaccines. He said he could reveal us to the world, give humans our gifts to make us all equal. I couldn’t agree to it, not after he talked about the money he could make from the government. They would test us or turn us into weapons. I turned him down. He wanted to ruin us.”
“I guess he didn’t take well to that suggestion.”
“He grew obsessed. He experienced a gift and wanted to have it again, but this time with different powers. Instead of going back to science to help us, he became fixated on becoming one of us. He wouldn’t leave his lab for weeks at a time, wouldn’t let anyone else come near him. When his employers learned of his new goals, they had to let him go. He was dangerous and talked about revealing everything he knew about us to the world. They offered him a generous severance package, along with the very sound advice not to talk. I heard he didn’t take it well when his wife left him soon after that. Supposedly he built his own laboratory; he kidnapped gifted off the street for experiments, rather than take volunteers. Felix Hardy is no longer the kind, considerate doctor I knew. He is now a maniacal, driven individual who will do whatever it takes to be one of us, to make others like us.”
“Our people—his employers or whoever—didn’t stop him after they told him to keep his mouth shut?”
“That’s the problem. He did keep his mouth shut, worked so quietly no one noticed anyone missing. No one has suspected a thing. He’s clever and won’t simply go away.”
“But you knew something was wrong with him.”
“After he came to speak with me, I kept an ear to the ground on his habits. Once I heard some of us were disappearing, I eventually connected the two.”
“How many of us has he taken?” I feared the answer.
“I can’t say for sure. Thirty, forty gifted? An obscene number given there aren’t that many of us.”
“So he tested on everyone, took their gifts? Why?”
“He eventually figured out how to inject and retain enough of our blood with his to create a bonding effect.”
“He’s gifted?”
“Only for portions of time. They last a few weeks, I think, or until he moves on to another gift. I’m unfamiliar with his practices, so I can’t say for sure. He’s had maybe five or six years to get this far. He’s come as close as anyone to becoming a Collector. If it’s possible, it won’t be long before he’ll be permanently gifted. I have no doubt. It goes against everything we believe in—you’re born this way, destined to a unique existence. His research is rejected among most of us.”
“Only most of us? Who would support a human faking his way into our community, terrorizing our own?”
“Some of us are cruel and violent and only want power, regardless of the rules. Sometimes it’s easier to support someone who takes shortcuts to the crown.”
“I’ve only heard a brief whisper, bonfire horror stories of Felix since I’ve been here. How is this a big secret? Or is it so awful no one talks about it?”
“I don’t go around and advertise it to everyone. Most folks here are so centric to the show that they don’t hear things about the human world, like a scientist gone mad. He leaves few victims; most he kills during experiments.”
“So he takes our blood, but it doesn’t make us human. He can’t cure us. If he only has our blood, what can he do with it? Can he hurt us? Do you know someone Felix has tested on?”
“Yes, one years ago before the incident. He volunteered for it, but afterwards he complained of feeling dizzy, nauseous, and extremely weak. He couldn’t produce his gift. If it weakens us, even momentarily, we’re in danger. Besides, there are always other complications.”
“Complications?”
“Felix isn’t the only bad guy out there. We don’t want anyone else taking a page out of his book.”
“That’s less than comforting. Just so you know.”
He shrugged and took a gulp of whiskey. A thought struck me.
“What happens after he achieves his goal and becomes permanently gifted?” I asked.
Sheffield looked thoughtful as he took in his smoke. “He wants to go public with our kind, which of course is out of the question. But who’s to say if he becomes one of us, he doesn’t make a billion dollars off of our gifts? People would find ways to use us as lab rats. Military officials who know us have long been after us for defense purposes. The government could attack or use our gifts as an excuse and without proper control, a lot could go wrong. He wants to ruin us; he thinks we ruined his life and wants revenge. Going public would certainly do that.”
“What would stop people from attacking any of us in what they thought was self-defense?” I said.
He nodded. “They probably would. Or they could all become gifted themselves and destroy one another. People would despise Hardy’s plan and group us all together, think us monsters and savages. They might try to kill us. There are reasons we stay hidden from humans.”
“Sheffield, what happens if he becomes gifted and wants more? If he’s obsessed, being one of us won’t be enough. He’ll want to dominate everyone, abuse his power over the rest of us,” I said. He couldn’t honestly stop at only being gifted. If he were as bad as he sounded, he’d want to rule over whatever world he thought we occupied.
“I’ve also considered that theory. I imagine that will take much more time after the initial permanence of a gift. I suppose he’s always envied our world, our secrets. He will attack us for his own strategies. I only wish I knew what gift he will choose. I don’t know his final agenda.”
“Would he go for a physical gift that can easily damage an area, like an Earthshaker or Telekinetic? Or a something more along the lines of a Telepath or Shapeshifter?” I asked.
“He has expressed interest in several, but only one in particular.”
“I’m sorry?”
“He wants you, to be a Firestarter. He wants you for his own experiments, to make your gift his own,” Sheffield replied. His mustache didn’t even flinch.
Chapter 26
I grabbed my whiskey glass and took a large sip. It burned my throat; I gritted my teeth and kept a straight face. I didn’t want to look like a pansy girl in front of my boss.
“I guess I should’ve seen that coming. How do you know for sure?” I cho
ked out.
“Felix knew Lenny and the kind of gift he had. Felix was fascinated by our world and made no qualms about it. He was especially interested in the Firestarter gift. Something about the idea of throwing a fireball at your enemies thrilled him. He wanted your father’s gift very badly. And after he met you…”
“He mentioned seeing me before. I sure don’t remember him.”
“You were very young, but he couldn’t believe your talent. You learned so fast, had such power even at five and six years old. He knew you were special. He was interested in you.”
“Well, of course he was,” I muttered. “So what, without my dad around, I’m his backup plan?”
“Lucy, why did your parents leave the circus?”
“Well, Felix said it was to get me away from you. My parents said it was so I could have whatever constitutes normal teenage years. I kinda thought my mom just got tired of living on the road. And yet, somehow, I now feel I’m wrong about both of those things.”
“Lenny knew Felix as I once did, as a doctor willing to help those who were different. Felix knew your dad was one of the most powerful Firestarters in the world and always said so when we were together. He asked a lot of questions about your abilities, how they might grow to be even better than your dad’s. Lenny confessed something about it bothered him.”
“So…wait. Are you saying my dad got us out of the circus because he was afraid Felix would kidnap me or something?”
“After we heard he was essentially stealing gifts and killing us off, your dad thought it would be best to get you out. I wanted to keep your family in the Donovan Circus where I thought you’d be surrounded by protection. But Lenny and your mom both thought you were safer away from the show where there would be less chance of Felix finding you in a random city. I think, once Felix snapped and went out on his own, your power went to the back of his mind. But I think he’s begun to consider you again.”
I sat there for a moment, processed the information. If Sheffield was right, then the last thirteen or so years were a lie. My parents hadn’t pulled me out for a normal life. They left their family, their way of life because they thought I was in danger. I didn’t know what to think.