Circus Summer (Circus of Curiosities Book 1)

by Kailin Gow

  “Well,” Dr. Dex says. “That’s all we have time for this evening, but we’ll see you again tomorrow. I hope none of you found it too hard, because there’s a lot more work to do before you’re ready for the performances. Go home, get some rest, and get ready for tomorrow.”

  It’s only when he says it that I realize how tired I am. I want nothing more right then than to fall straight into bed and sleep. I say my goodbyes to the others and head out of the big top, only to find Thomas waiting for me.

  “Thomas? What are you doing here?”

  He looks like he’s been waiting a little while, leaning against one of the circus signs with a bag in one hand. He looks good there in the half light, and he looks even better as his face lights up at the sight of me. When did he start looking at me like that?

  He smiles. “Not quite the welcome I was hoping for, but I guess you’ve had a long evening. I came to walk you home.”

  “You came all this way to walk me home?” I say. “That’s really sweet, but you didn’t have to do that. I know how busy you must be.”

  “Even busier,” Thomas says, “since Frank has let me take over your shifts at the restaurant until you’re done at the circus so you can hold onto the job.”

  “He has? That’s…”

  “Everyone wants you to do well,” Thomas explains, cutting me off. He holds up a bag. “That’s why Frank gave me this to give to you. It’s food from the restaurant. He says that if you’re going to be taking part in the circus, then you need to keep your strength up.”

  “Thomas, you don’t have to take my shift.” That’s so kind of him. I lean in to kiss his cheek as a way of saying thank you, thinking of what a wonderful friend Thomas always is to me. He moves just slightly as I do it though, and I end up kissing him full on the lips. I start in shock, but Thomas catches hold of my arms and pulls me in close to him, kissing me thoroughly, deeply, and nothing like a friend. His lips taste amazing against mine, moving delicately, but still firmly enough to let me know that he’s in control.

  I kiss him back automatically at first, and then because I want to. I’m so swept up in the moment that I can’t want anything else. Finally though, I pull back, looking at him. I look around, trying to see if anyone has seen us, and that’s when I spot Zachary. He walks out of the big top in that moment, and he’s looking straight at us. The smile on his face disappears as he sees us, replaced by an expression that’s completely different, and a lot harder to look at. He looks almost… jealous.

  Thomas looks around, obviously spotting Zachary as well. He wraps an arm around me, and now it doesn’t just feel like the way a friend would do it. It feels almost like he’s claiming me, or sending a message to Zachary. I’m not sure if I like it, even though the kiss just a few seconds ago was amazing.

  “Come on,” Thomas says, and that seems to break through the tension. “We should get you home. I’m dying to hear what you did today in training, and I bet Mason is too. Plus, I want to get you back while this food is still warm.”

  I go along with it. After all, Thomas has been my friend forever, and the kiss was surprising, but nice. I put my arm through his and we head out together, walking away from where Zachary stands. I don’t want that kind of tension in my life, not when I still have to win at the circus.

  Except that there’s one obvious problem with that, which is that when we get home I’m supposed to be telling Thomas about what went on today, and of all the things I did in the circus training, the moment that stays with me most is the one where I was hanging by my hands from Zachary’s, trusting myself to him completely. I might be walking with Thomas, I might even have kissed him, but it isn’t his face that I’m imagining while we’re walking home together.

  Chapter 9

  School is out for the weekend, but that just means more time training at the circus. I get up early so that I can tend to the vegetable garden out back of the house, and I swim down in the ocean the way I do most mornings. Then I head over there, wearing shorts and a tank top, because it will likely be a hard workout today.

  I get there to find a large table laid out in the open air, with Dr. Dex sitting at the head of it, on a folding chair. He’s buttering a piece of toast as he looks up.

  “Looks like you’re the first one here, Leela,” he says, gesturing to a chair next to him. “Come sit down. Eat. Tell me how you enjoyed your training yesterday.”

  I take the seat he gestures to. “I’m a little sore,” I admit. “I don’t think I’ve used a lot of the muscles I used yesterday, but I liked the excitement of it. I liked being challenged like that.”

  “That’s good,” Dr. Dex says. “There are so many things it takes to succeed here, but attitude is a big one. If you manage to enjoy the challenges we set you, there’s less of a chance that you’ll fold under them.”

  He waves a hand at the table covered in food. “Help yourself. While you’re with us, you’ll eat with us. We can’t have our competitors going hungry, so every morning before school, you and the others will get this. There will be another meal in the evenings, and on weekends we will provide lunch too.”

  I can’t help looking a little surprised by that. These days, there aren’t that many people who have enough food to simply give it away on this scale. Food is expensive. “That’s very generous.”

  Dr. Dex laughs. “It’s not generous, Leela. In fact, it’s very selfish. Starving performers are performers who don’t put on a good show for my audiences. You need to eat right to train and perform at the highest levels. By feeding you like this, I’m ensuring that you can entertain my customers.”

  He says that it’s selfish, but somehow I don’t believe him. There’s too much food here for that, and there’s too much enjoyment in Dr. Dex’s eyes when I finally start taking things to eat, piling them onto a plate. It’s far more than I would normally get.

  Dr. Dex and I are still alone, so I try to think of something to say. The only thing I can think of to talk about is the Circus of Curiosities, though.

  “You must have seen so many things, travelling around the United like this,” I say.

  “Yes,” Dr. Dex agrees, “I have. Some of those things have been wonderful; things I never thought I would see. Others have been… not so good.”

  “At least you’ve seen more than just Sea Cliff,” I say, sighing. That’s one of the reasons I wouldn’t let Thomas take my place. I love my family and everything else here, but at the same time, I know that there’s so much more to the world.

  “Trust me, Leela, there’s nothing wrong with living in a small town.”

  “Are you about to tell me that there are times when you wish you did?” I counter.

  Dr. Dex laughs. “Well… no.”

  I shake my head. “You know, I don’t think my mother wanted me to join the circus.”

  “She doesn’t want you to be part of the greatest show in the United?” Dr. Dex asks, standing.

  I join him. “She thinks it’s dangerous. Everybody thinks it’s dangerous. I’ve heard rumors that sometimes… people don’t come back from here.”

  “And yet they keep coming to watch,” he says, with a smile that’s slightly sad. “I think that says something about people, don’t you? Well, since you asked, and since I believe in giving everyone the chance to back out before each round, I’ll give you an answer.”

  He pauses as though trying to work out what to say. Somehow, I get the feeling that Dr. Dex is rarely truly stuck for words though, and he quickly keeps going.

  “The Circus of Curiosities is designed to push the limits of humanity. We do things that defy imagination, and have people perform feats that are right at the edge of what they can do. We push people to the edge, and provide entertainment by doing that, but pushing people to the very edge means that sometimes they can’t cope with it. Yes, Leela, people have died.”

  “You don’t sound very sorry about that,” I say.

  Dr. Dex shakes his head. “It’s necessary.”

  “Why
is it necessary?”

  He smiles. “Because otherwise we wouldn’t be putting on much of a show, would we.” His expression becomes a little more serious. “We don’t make anyone do this, Leela. You signed up of your own free will. So did everyone else who has ever taken part in our performances. And as I said, I give them the chance to walk away. Before we move on to the next performance, I always give them the chance to walk away.”

  That sounds like it’s important to him, almost like an article of faith.

  “And what about if they get to the next town and don’t want to perform then?” I ask.

  “Ah,” Dr. Dex says. “Then we have a problem. We have a saying here in the Circus of Curiosities. The show must go on. If you agree to do something, then you do it, with no excuses. That’s the way things work, and if you aren’t prepared… well, yes, you could die.”

  He puts it that bluntly, looking at me all the while like he’s watching to see what my reaction will be. Maybe he is. Maybe all of this is just to see how the girl from Sea Cliff will react when he says that people die. Or maybe it’s something else. There’s a kind of glint in his eyes when he says it, something close to warmth.

  “You’ll be properly prepared, won’t you, Leela?” he asks.

  I nod. I want to say no. I want to run away. But I nod. “I will be. I have to succeed. My family’s counting on me for this.”

  Dr. Dex half closes his eyes as though he’s thinking about something else. When he speaks again, his voice is soft and filled with genuine concern. “How’s your mother doing?”

  “She seems a little better since I said I was part of the circus. Like she’s fighting whatever is wrong with her.”

  “Did she say anything about the circus? Anything about me?”

  I’m not expecting that. “She said that she knew about the circus, and she hinted that she knew you, but she didn’t say more than that. She fell asleep before she could. I… I got the impression that you’ve spent time around Sea Cliff.”

  “I’m from Sea Cliff,” Dr. Dex corrects. “Did your mother say anything else?”

  I shake my head. “You’re from Sea Cliff? You left to join the circus?”

  He smiles. “Something like that. Poor Kinley, I’ve always thought of her fondly. It’s such a pity that it should happen like this.”

  It’s kind of a shock, hearing my mother’s name. To me, she’s just Mom. To everyone else, she’s Mrs. Sinclair. Yet this near stranger is calling her by her first name. I want to ask Dr. Dex about that, and maybe he wants to tell me. At least, he looks like he might. Only there isn’t a chance, because then people start showing up for the day’s training. Zachary is one of the first to arrive, and Banford is there soon after. Pretty soon, we’re all crowded around the table.

  “Help yourselves,” Dr. Dex insists, and most of us don’t need a second invitation. Even with ten of us, this much food is a feast. Normally, we all have to be so careful in Sea Cliff to make sure that what we have will last. I pile more food onto my plate.

  “You sure have an appetite,” Zachary says, sitting down next to me. His own plate is full too.

  “I have to keep my energy up,” I reply.

  Banford and Ellis sit down next to Zachary. They joke with him about some moment at the last football practice they were at, and Zachary laughs. It seems that they’re all old buddies. Everyone else is quieter. We might live in or around Sea Cliff, but that doesn’t mean we know one another well yet. That, or we know that we’ll be competing against one another and we don’t want to get too friendly.

  After breakfast, Dr. Dex stands us up, looking at us. “Zachary, Leela, Banford, Sandy, Ellis, you’ll all be working with our trainers today. The rest of you please come with me.”

  They follow, looking a little confused. They aren’t the only ones. Sandy comes up to me.

  “What do you think is going on?” she asks.

  “I don’t know,” I say.

  “Why would they take one group of us away to do something else? Shouldn’t we all be doing the same things so that it’s fair? Do they think that the five of us need more work, or something?”

  “I don’t know, Sandy,” I repeat. “They haven’t told me any more than you. If I have to guess… well, maybe they’ve decided that we all have something in common in our teams. Maybe it’s something Dr. Dex saw when we were training yesterday.” I shrug. “Or maybe it doesn’t mean anything.”

  Sandy looks worried. “Oh, I’m not too sure about this.”

  “Then pull out,” Banford suggests. Trust him to come to that conclusion.

  “It’s too early to tell anything,” I say. I look over at Zachary then, wanting to know what he thinks of all this, but he’s on the other side of the ring. Our eyes meet for a brief moment, and he looks like he wanted to walk over to me.

  Dr. Dex chooses that moment to come back. He’s accompanied by the trainers from last night, Senorita Montalban walking confidently at his side.

  “You five are the Red Team,” he announces. “You’ll be working together until I decide otherwise. For today, that means that you’ll be continuing to work with the trainers. Since there are now more trainers than there are of you, that should mean that you’ll get the kind of one to one training that you’ll need to achieve everything you can.”

  “So who are we working with?” Sandy asks.

  Dr. Dex smiles. “Don’t worry, my dear. You’re going to get the chance to train with everyone. For now, let’s start you off with T. Bone, because I don’t think you got the chance to work with him last night. Zachary, you can go with Michael Nelson. Leela…”

  I start at hearing my name.

  “Leela, you can go with the Senorita here, and hopefully you’ll learn a lot from her.”

  I walk over to Senorita Montalban, not even hearing who he assigns Banford and Ellis to. I’m too busy thinking. Sandy’s right. It’s odd that we’ve been split up like this so early. The others should still be working with us on circus skills, so why are they going off somewhere with Dr. Dex? What has he seen in them that is different? What has he seen in us? Does it mean that they’re doing better than us, or that we’re doing better than them? There are too many questions going around in my head, and it doesn’t look like there are going to be any answers, just more training.

  “Come on,” Senorita Montalban says with a smile, her accent warming up the sound of her words. “You are Leela, yes? Good. You can call me Carlita. Now, we have a lot to do.”

  Chapter 10

  I don’t have the time to think more about what’s going on, because Senorita Montalban…Carlita as she insists I call her, has me working hard trying to learn the skills of an animal trainer. She calls what she does “whispering”, talking and moving as she works with a kind of giant cat with greyish-green fur, larger than either of us, with two long front teeth that curves into sharp pointy tips like sabers, never actually striking it with that whip of hers, just using it for effect. It’s like the big cat understands her, and she understands it. It looks almost impossible, almost magical, like a talent she was simply born with. She assures me that isn’t the case though.

  “I learned this,” she says, when the cat is safely back in its cage and I’m standing in front of a box containing a horse, “and so will you.”

  She puts it that simply. Apparently, I don’t get a choice in whether I succeed or not. That’s enough to make me smile. I guess Carlita has better communication skills with animals than with people.

  “We will start with a horse,” she says with a smile of her own. “That way, when you get it wrong, we don’t die, yes?”

  She’s definitely better with animals than people, though I seem to recall her getting on well enough with Zachary. Is that a tiny stab of jealousy? I do my best to ignore it as we start working with the horse. I quickly learn that the essence of what Carlita does is a simple idea, but one that’s hard to put into practice. It’s about understanding the natural behavior of even very unnatural animals, and the
n exploiting that behavior so that they act in the ways she wants.

  With the horse, for example, her training methods mostly seem to be about getting it to accept me the way it would accept a dominant member of its herd. I have to approach it carefully, mimicking the right behaviors, being careful not to act in the wrong ways. There’s a lot to take in, and several times I spook the horse by mistake, which makes Carlita tut. She isn’t a very patient teacher, it seems, but she does keep going with me, until eventually I have the horse responding to me exactly as she tells me it should, moving around the ring to my commands.

  “Good,” she says. “You are starting to understand, but there are many more animals to learn.”

  She starts to tell me about some of the mutated creatures she has found on her travels. I’ve already seen the sloth, but she tells me about the re-born mammoths and the winged snakes, the fire lizards and the land squids.

  “And you hunt these things down for the circus?” I ask at one point, barely able to believe it.

  “Of course,” Carlita says. “It’s easy, and it’s fun too.”

  “But when you’re hunting them, the creatures are still wild. Aren’t they incredibly dangerous?”

  She smiles. “That’s why it’s fun. Do you think I would have joined Dex’s circus if I wanted a life that is safe and boring? Would you have come here if you wanted that?”

  She looks at me, and I know she understands exactly what it feels like to want to be somewhere bigger. Somewhere more exciting.

  “Go on,” she says then. “One of the others will want to do some work with you by now, and I must spread my training around.”

  I go off, looking to see if any of the other trainers are free by then. I see that the others from my team are all working hard. Sandy is walking on the tightrope now, while Banford and Ellis are working on acrobatics under the tutelage of T. Bone Rhodes. Meanwhile Zachary is working with the fire eaters.