by Kat Cotton
Duke groaned.
“He knows his name and other basic knowledge. Enough to catch a flight,” Earnest said. “I’m sure he can manage to pick chicken or beef as his in-flight meal.”
“We don’t want other people involved,” Lilly said. “This is working for us.”
Duke sat in the front row of empty tables. From a distance, you’d have never known there was anything wrong with him. I didn’t think his brain was nearly as addled as Lilly made out but, on the other hand, he definitely was in no state to fly home on his own either.
I sat down at the table with him.
“How’s things?” I asked.
Not that they’d be any different to how they were ten minutes ago. I just found it hard to talk to Duke in this state. He stared into the mid-distance and didn’t reply often. I had no idea if he processed anything I said or if he cared. After sitting in silence for a few minutes, my body twitched. I hated feeling like I wanted to get away but this silence echoed through my body. Lilly could talk to him as though there was nothing wrong, just keeping up a breezy patter, why couldn’t I?
Well actually, I knew that Lilly probably loved a captive audience and she didn’t require much to keep talking. That had to help.
Rather than say nothing, I went through the venue specs with Duke.
“The sound desk is different to the specs we got sent,” I told him. “It’s been updated. That’s a nice bonus.”
I told him about the lighting rig and the seating capacity and everything else I knew about the place. It wasn’t riveting conversation, mainly just reeling off dry numbers from the documents we’d been given, but Duke’s eyes seemed more alive. I could’ve been imagining that but his gaze did seem to fall on each area I talked about.
Then I started on the stage specs, more numbers.
“You have a lower clearance here,” he said.
I jumped, to expecting him to reply.
He’d worked that out? There had to be much more going on than we’d thought. He not only remembered details of my act but could relate that to the staging here.
“Yep, we have the hoop lower for that part of the act,” I said.
He nodded. “Safer but not as spectacular.”
I didn’t want to mention that it didn’t matter with the small numbers we played to here. Lilly complained about that enough.
Since Duke seemed more lucid, I asked him about his disappearance.
“Do you remember anything?”
He shook his head.
“Was going to warehouse to see Nuno,” he said, meaning the rehearsal space back home. “Then black. Then I was here.”
“Whoever did this knows our schedule,” I said. “Or they’d have dumped you in Melbourne.”
Duke nodded.
“Maybe you’ll remember eventually,” I said. “Unless they’ve done some kind of memory spell on you.”
Shit, I hadn’t thought of that until I mentioned it. Duke’s memory loss could be caused by a spell. And there was one person in this troupe who had potions in their possession.
The rest of the troupe were still backstage and since Duke had started talking, I needed him to confirm something for me.
“Can I trust Earnest?” I asked.
“Don’t trust him,” he said.
I wasn’t sure if that was a statement or a question and, with Lilly walking toward us, I didn’t ask any more. I could save that for later.
When Lilly reached us, she cupped Duke’s face in her hand. “Poor thing,” she said. “You’re screwed, aren’t you?”
I couldn’t believe she’d said that. Duke might be bad now but he’d improved a helluva lot already. Duke smiled at her. Was that a private joke between them? It seemed so.
“At least you have nurse Jayne looking after you,” she added.
No one but Lilly could’ve made that sound so dirty. I’d tried not to get too close to Duke since last night. I could tell myself that he’d only clung to me because he wanted someone, anyone. It’d meant nothing at all. But now I couldn’t avoid Duke because he seemed like he’d be my own ally against Earnest and Nuno. Even then I wasn’t sure how much he’d help.
When the doors opened, I had to go backstage. I watched through the curtains. The crowd wasn’t much bigger than it had been the night before.
“Shit,” Lilly said. “I need a new dress and I’ll never able to afford it unless we get more people through the door. I’m going out to work the streets tomorrow.”
I spun around. Surely things weren’t that desperate.
“I don’t mean like that, silly,” she said, slapping my arm. “I mean, handing out fliers for the show, drumming up some interest. It’s okay for you. You’re on salary but not the rest of it. Door takings only and we’ve barely covered the gas money to get here.”
I hadn’t thought about that. My salary wasn’t exactly stingy. There had to be money coming from somewhere.
“I’m not sure you need new dresses anyway,” I said. “We barely had room for the ones you packed.”
“I always need dresses.”
The teaser at the start of the show went well but when I went out for my first solo, things weren’t so good.
Several times I yelled inside as my hand slammed against the metal. My palms were raw. Then, just near the finale, as I came up from a toe hang, my grip failed. The pain in my hand had become so great, I couldn’t close my hand completely.
Luckily, I grabbed the edge with my other hand and, after a clumsy dangle, managed to right myself but the whole thing looked awkward and amateurish. At the end of the act, when I was lowered to the ground, I modified my usual mermaid into a simple seated pose.
That worked for now but I still had the second act.
I couldn’t change the act now but I couldn’t perform like this, either. I could simplify some of the moves but I couldn’t do the entire act without using my hands.
Nuno helped me from the stage then grabbed my hands, staring questioningly at my bandaged palms. I pulled them away. I’d go back on in pain rather than let him cure me. I couldn’t let him touch me. Not until I unearthed the truth about what he’d done.
He gripped my wrists though, so tight that I couldn’t stop him.
Then he unwound the bandage. Looking at my palms, he tsked and shook his head. Then he glanced up, questioning me.
I had no answers I could give him so I just shrugged. No way would I tell him about the warehouse.
I struggled to get away but Nuno was much stronger than he looked.
The power flashed through him into my hands before I could even register what he did. I hadn’t asked for this. I hadn’t accepted it, yet he healed me anyway. At that moment, I realized that healing isn’t always a good power.
When Nuno released my hands, I thanked him, more from impulse than any other reason. My hands didn’t have a mark on them but that didn’t reassure me.
Chapter 17
THE NEXT MORNING, I said I’d grab coffee for everyone from a local cafe but really, I wanted to get out of the house to phone Buzz. I couldn’t risk anyone overhearing me.
I needed to tell him about my powers not working. I put in my order then went outside to make the call.
“Maybe you were inadvertently blocking them,” he said.
“With a hell beast wanting to gore me to death, I don’t think so,” I said.
“Yeah, that’s a pretty strong motivation.”
“It wasn’t like before when I blocked them. Back then, I had nothing, but this time I felt them but they were so weak,” I said. “Just a drizzle.”
The barista tapped on the window to let me know my coffees were ready. Damn, that was fast. I held up a finger, just another minute.
“I got that potion tested,” he said. “There’s definitely something magical in it but we haven’t identified just what yet.”
“It could be something to cause memory loss,” I told him. “Check for that.”
“Will do. I’ll also check if it�
�s something that could block your powers.”
I hadn’t thought of that.
I hung up and went back to the town house.
Duke wanted to rehearse with me today. I almost said no but that was a good sign, surely.
“It’ll be a long time before he can perform again,” Earnest said. “I’m not sure if it makes any sense for the two of you to rehearse together.”
“We’re refining my act,” I said. “It’s not like Duke will be rehearsing his own act.”
I wanted to add that Earnest had no say in the matter but I didn’t want to provoke him. The guy was a killer after all. Maybe that’s why Lilly had been warning about arguing with him. Did Lilly know? There was no one I could trust in this world.
“Duke can’t do the rigging,” Earnest said. “He’s nowhere near strong enough.”
Shit, I hadn’t thought of that, and I didn’t want Nuno joining us.
“I’m good,” Duke said. “My arms are fine.”
I went to my room to get ready. I hadn’t planned on rehearsing today but I didn’t want to pass up on the chance to get away from the rest of the troupe.
My phone beeped. A message from Larry.
“We tested the DNA,” he said. He meant Lilly’s DNA. They’d been checking further into the connection between her and that grave. “It’s a match. The grave was empty but we got samples. How can she be the dead woman?”
I didn’t reply. I had suspected that much but I couldn’t explain to Larry. I didn’t even understand myself.
If that grave belonged to Lilly then what about Duke? What about Nuno? Were they all immortal? That freaked me out a little.
It was rapidly becoming clear all of them had something weird going on and that weirdness revolved around something called the Society.
My phone beeped again. “Leave the murder investigation to the local police.”
Nuno let me borrow the van to go to venue to rehearse. We had a one-hour window when the room was free.
“I want to perform,” Duke said on the way.
My heart sunk. He was in no state to perform, not yet. And, if he did perform, he’d be throwing knives at me. I might trust Duke more than the others but at the moment, I didn’t trust him with knives.
“Earnest wants me out,” he said.
“That’s obvious,” I replied. “But why?”
It had to be more than professional jealousy. Earnest’s act wasn’t even that great. It worked in a small place like this but it’d never work in a large venue. The dogs were too small.
“Earnest only thinks of himself, not the troupe.”
It’d taken a struggle for Duke to get those words out. It seemed like since he returned, his words didn’t flow easily. He wasn’t wrong with what he said though.
“Where did he come from?” I asked.
Duke shrugged. But he looked out the window, not wanting me to see his eyes. He lied. He knew all about Earnest.
“Is it safe to be around him?” I asked. That question had bugged me, about Earnest and Nuno both but I couldn’t flat out ask Duke about Nuno. Implying Earnest was dangerous was one thing, Nuno a whole other.
“For you, it’s safe.”
Duke didn’t say any more about that. We got to the venue. Duke had acquired a cane to help him walk. And that was no regular cane. It looked more like a prop than something he actually needed to use.
“Nuno said you should be better by today.”
“I hope so,” he answered. “Still, the cane is a nice touch, don’t you think? I may keep it.”
I smiled. Just as I imagined.
I walked into the stage and set up. Someone had left glitter all over the floor so I swept it up before I started. Really, the acts should clean up after themselves. Glitter posed a safety risk.
Duke positioned himself by the winch, lowering the rigging for me.
“Are you sure you’re fine with that,” I asked.
“Totally.”
“Because if it’s going to be difficult at all, tell me. I’d rather not rehearse than worry about you not—”
“I’m fine,” he said. “I wouldn’t do this if it was going to put you at risk.”
I nodded then got into position for my act. As I ran through the first routine, Duke shouted suggestions, pointing with his cane. Lilly had been right. Without Duke, I’d just been going through the motions. He told me when I needed to make my poses stronger and when I needed to hold positions for longer. He saw the routine from the audience’s perspective which was something that didn’t come naturally to me.
I took a break before going into the second routine.
“So, where did you learn this stuff?” he asked.
He’d asked me a few times but this time I studied his face. Now that he had the connection to the circus, I wondered if he knew more than he was letting on. Even with gaps in his memory, he might’ve found out something he shouldn’t.
“You could be one of the best if you worked at it,” he said.
Wow, that was high praise indeed from Duke. At best before, he’d told me I didn’t completely suck.
“Are you okay? Did you do something to your head?” I asked. “Are you sure you’re the same person? You’ve been body snatched by someone nice, right?”
He just laughed.
“Go through the second routine now,” he said. “Then we can talk.”
I went back to the stage and ran through the second routine.
“Sloppy,” Duke said.
He made me redo some parts of it several times. Finally, he was happy.
I packed up my equipment and put on my jacket then joined Duke.
“I think the hour’s up,” I said. “But I don’t want to go back to the town house.”
He nodded.
“You’re scared of Earnest,” he said.
“He worries me,” I told him. I didn’t want to blurt out my suspicions that Earnest was a murderer but even without knowing that, I’d never been comfortable around him.
“Let’s get coffee,” Duke said.
Duke directed me to a cafe. We got coffees then he wanted to go for a walk.
“Is that okay?” I asked, nodding to the cane.
“Exercise is good.”
When we started walking, I realized this was same place Lilly had gone the other day. When Duke took me into the cemetery, I wondered what this was about. Would I actually be told something?
Duke stopped by Lilly’s grave.
“You know what this is?” he asked. “Lilly said you followed her the other day.”
Damn it. I thought I’d been so careful but she’d known all along.
“She can sense things other people can’t,” Duke said. “You’ll never follow her without her knowing.”
I looked at the grave.
“It’s Lilly’s grave,” I said. “But obviously she’s not buried there.”
“She was. Once.”
“Holy fuck. Lilly’s a zombie!”
Duke laughed. “Don’t ever say that to her. No one will be able to save you if you rile her up like that. She’s not a zombie. She’s exactly as she was. We all are. Nuno and I have graves somewhere too but we don’t get all sentimental about them. Putting flowers on an empty grave is something only Lilly would do.”
He picked up the flowers, already browned and wilting, and put them in a trash can.
“You have powers,” I said. “You can persuade people to do things.”
“Very limited power. It only works when I touch people. Lilly can only use her glam when she looks at someone. And Nuno is something else completely.”
“You’ve a zombie too?”
“We aren’t zombies. We haven’t been reanimated. It’s a long and very complicated story — and one I don’t think would benefit you by knowing. Just understand that we aren’t regular people.”
“You can’t be killed. You’ll live forever.”
“We can’t be killed because we’re already dead. We won’t live forever. Ther
e are conditions around our existence on this plane and our time has limitations. We can’t get close to humans.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by that so I knelt down to clear weeds from the grave next to Lilly’s.
“What are the limitations?”
“That’s one of the things I can’t tell you. When you auditioned for us, I knew you weren’t like regular people too. I wondered if you were one of us. But that would’ve been impossible. We’d have been told. The rules that bind us are very strict. Then, when that demon came for you, I knew you were something else entirely. You’ve got abilities I’ve never seen before.”
“But I’m not a zombie. I’m living a regular human life. No death here. No reanimation.”
“I’m not a zombie,” Duke said, gritting his teeth.
I took a sip of my coffee but the damn cup was empty already.
“What about Earnest?”
“Same thing,” Duke said. “Not a zombie.”
Duke moved closer to me. I didn’t want him getting too close. After all, he’d just said he couldn’t get close to humans, but I didn’t move away either.
“What are Earnest’s powers? I don’t want him fucking with my head. Don’t tell me. He has the power of inane chuckling.”
“It’s not him, it’s his dogs.”
“No way.”
“But he controls the dogs.”
Damn. I’d had no idea. Those dogs looked so normal.
“He dabbles in witchcraft too,” I said.
I thought Duke must’ve known that but, from his shocked expression, he didn’t.
“How do you know this?” he asked.
“I went through his bathroom cabinet,” I said. “There are potions. Do you think he was the one—”
“The one who took me? No. I don’t think so at all. That’s not his way. The thing is, we have a job to do here and once it’s done, we go to the next plane. For us, Lilly, Nuno and me, we don’t care so much. We accept that we’ll leave here one day but it’s not urgent. For Earnest, getting to that next plane is all-encompassing. I don’t know why or what he thinks is there, just that he’ll do anything in his power to get there. Stay out of his way, Jayne. He’s not an evil man but he’s a highly driven one.”
I took Duke’s empty coffee cup and walked to the trash can, mulling that over in my mind. He’d killed a child. That made him evil.