Freakshow

by Jaden Wilkes

Our love and our bodies keeping us warm.

  Chapter Twenty Four

  The next day I woke and had breakfast with Rose in our trailer. It had been tough, we hadn’t talked much about Cara lately, but it was a constant presence in our minds.

  I felt like we were just regaining some normalcy though.

  Half way through our oatmeal, there was a hard knock on the door. I looked at her, it was seven in the morning, neither one of us would be expecting company.

  I opened it and found Lara bending down to peek inside.

  “I would ask you in but...” my voice trailed off, I didn’t think the Cirque’s giantess would fit inside our tiny trailer.

  “It’s okay,” she said, “I’m here on business. Do you remember that new hire from Vancouver? You worked with her in tickets?”

  “Erica?” I asked, “Sure. What’s up?”

  “She’s missing and I was hoping you’d seen her.”

  “Not at all. I can’t recall the last time our paths crossed, to be honest.” It was strange, as soon as I started performing, I no longer seemed to run into the support staff. Maybe there was something old fashioned about the hierarchy of a circus that I hadn’t picked up on.

  “Shit,” Lara said, “Nobody has seen her for a couple days. She’s gone missing.”

  “Could she have gone back to Vancouver?” Rose asked over my shoulder.

  “All her stuff’s in her trailer,” Lara said, “it looks like we have another one.”

  My heart sank and my chest tightened. “When exactly did she go missing?”

  “She was last seen yesterday at breakfast,” Lara said, “After that it’s like she fell of the face of the earth.”

  “Oh fuck,” Rose moaned, “I can’t take this, Liv. I can’t have girls going missing. I can’t handle all these bad vibes.”

  “It’s okay, Rose,” I said, stepping up and putting my arm around her shoulder, “They’ll find her. I’m sure of it this time.”

  I glanced down at Lara and read her thoughts. They were the same as mine.

  The only way Erica was coming back was if she were already dead.

  I braced myself to accept the fact, and let myself comfort Rose.

  Lara left to talk to security, and I was left with a weeping Rose on my shoulder.

  By nine thirty, I had to extricate myself from her arms and get ready for rehearsal for After Dark.

  She was a sniffling mess curled up in her bed when I left the trailer, I promised I’d check on her the moment I could.

  Cairo was waiting outside the After Dark tent for me, a strained look on his face.

  “Did you hear about the girl?” he blurted the moment I approached.

  “I did,” I said, “Erica. She’s from Vancouver too.”

  “She is,” he replied, “We’ve looked everywhere. She’s vanished.”

  “I don’t know how these girls keep disappearing, it’s not like this is a big city.”

  His frowned, “You don’t suspect me this time, do you?”

  “No, not at all.” I stepped into his arms and we embraced, not passionately but more to remind one another that we were vital, we were alive, and our absence would be noted.

  And I didn’t suspect him. I suspected somebody was going to try and set him up again, and I wondered if Orion would do that to his own son.

  “I emailed Mila, by the way,” he said into my hair.

  “What did you say?” I asked, trying my best to disguise the immediate fluttering of my heart. Good or bad, Cairo talking to Mila sent me into a tizzy.

  “I told her not to come,” he said, his face buried deep into my neck. His arms were tight around me, so tight I could barely breathe as he spoke. “I told her I loved another, and I was no longer bound to her. The betrothal has been broken.”

  I breathed in, slowly and steadily. “What was her reaction?”

  “She’d been waiting for my message. She felt the break. She knew something had happened.”

  “So she’s okay with it?”

  “Apparently so. She asked about you, wanted to know how it had happened.”

  I pulled back and looked up at him. “What did you tell her?”

  “Not much,” he replied, “What could I tell? I don’t know much about you or us or any of this. I just know that I want to be free to be with you.”

  “Were you bonded to her?” I asked.

  “In the pack, yes. We were destined to be pack leaders, the alpha pair who would rule over the Cirque’s misfits and mismatched shifters,” he said with a crooked smile, “I suppose that might fall on our shoulders now though, yours and mine.”

  “Leader?” I said with a sardonic tone. “I don’t think they’d want me. I’m not one of you.”

  “You’re not one of us, but you’re like us. Once everybody finds out that you were the source of our newfound freedom, they will worship you, my love.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” I said, “Just when I found a place I could be normal, I don’t want to be singled out again.”

  “You’d still be one of them,” he said, “but it would be us and them. Us together, leading the way and keeping the family together.”

  “It’s a pleasant thought, I suppose,” I said, “I couldn’t do it without you, that’s for sure. But until we find out what’s happening to these poor girls, there’s no way I want any part of this twisted little show. Not until we find out who’s behind it. Until then, everybody is a suspect and I can’t be a leader to them.”

  “Right,” he said, “We need to solve that puzzle first, I agree.”

  We walked hand in hand into the tent, it felt too natural to worry about Orion’s reaction.

  It was true, the longer Cairo spent around me, the easier it felt to stand up to his father. I wondered how it was possible for the hundredth time that day, but the thought was gone from my head as soon as I saw the mask of pure rage on Orion’s face.

  “Did you tell Mila the wedding is off?” he roared as soon as we reached the edge of the stage.

  “I did,” Cairo replied, not taking the bait. His voice was calm and steady.

  “Why would you do such a thing? Do you want to ruin me? Do you want to see the Cirque run into the ground and screeching to a halt because you can’t keep your hands off this...this...this fucking witch?” He paced as he ranted, his face growing redder and redder with each step until I thought he might pop an artery with the tension that was building.

  “Can’t you feel it, father?” Cairo asked, standing tall. “Can you honestly look me in the eyes and deny what’s between Olivia and myself? Fuck, our bond is so tight I can almost see it right now, like a rope of lightning binding our bodies, hearts and souls to one another so tightly that no one dare tear it asunder. Not even you.”

  Orion jumped off the edge of the stage and stood in front of his son, staring him right in the eye as if trying to force Cairo into something. He blinked and Cairo’s gaze remained steady. Orion’s face went slack, the colour began to drain until he was his usual pale visage.

  “What kind of sorcery is this?” he demanded.

  He turned to look at me, his head moving like a snake’s, slowly and deliberately. “What are you? What have you done to him?”

  “I thought you could tell me,” I replied, “And all I’ve done is set him free. I’ve set them all free, it seems.”

  “I’ve always been free, I don’t need the second rate powers of a sideshow card reader,” he spat at me. For a moment, the air almost buzzed around him, it crackled with electric sensations, and he went limp.

  He dropped to his hands and feet and looked as though he were about to shift his form. Even though I knew Orion to be a shifter, it startled me and I stepped back.

  “Father, not here,” Cairo said in a dangerous, low voice. “Not like this.”

  Orion strained and made a noise like an elongated grunt, as if in pain. His face looked up and it was twisted, his nose had extended and his eyes recessed, he was a wolf like his son, but o
nly half formed.

  He dropped back down and lay flat on the floor, writhing and struggling to shift, but nothing seemed to happen after that.

  He looked up again and was back a man, no sign of the wolf inside him remained on his flesh.

  Cairo bent to help his father to his feet. Orion looked older, as if he’d aged ten years before my eyes. Traces of grey appeared at his temples and lines etched his face that I could have sworn weren’t there five minutes ago.

  “Are you all right?” I asked, trying to muster up some empathy for him. He was losing his grip on everything that he had once commanded, it mustn’t be easy for him.

  He glared at me, his lip curled into a sneer, and said, “I don’t know what you’re doing to me. To us. But I don’t buy this innocent act any longer, Olivia. I will find out what makes you tick if it kills me, but I will know your secrets.”

  It was strange, just then I felt a shift of power, as if mine was growing by consuming his. Perhaps that would explain his sudden aging, or his apparent fear of me.

  It might also explain how I managed to be slowly taking over his position as leader.

  It wasn’t one that I necessarily wanted, but it did do my heart good to know that he no longer held me in his thrall.

  I understood to some extent how Cairo felt, being released from his father’s demands. I no longer felt shaky and terrified in front of Orion, in fact I almost felt sorry for him.

  He was slowly being overtaken by something he didn’t understand.

  The only bad thing about it was that Cairo and I couldn’t understand it either.

  “I suppose this means you won’t need me for After Dark?” I asked with one eyebrow raised.

  “Oh you are very wrong,” he replied, “I want to keep an eye on you more than ever.”

  I looked at Cairo to get his opinion. His lips were set in a grim line and he said, “I don’t know if this is a good idea, Liv.”

  “I know it’s bothered you since the beginning, but I still think I need to do it,” I told him, “You know why.”

  With Erica missing now, finding out what was going on in the darker parts of the Cirque was more important than ever.

  It was a strange compulsion, as if something was pulling me deeper into the mystery, closer to the truth of the murdered and missing girls. I felt as though not only did I want to solve this, but I felt compelled to protect my people, those who were left.

  Even if it meant putting myself in danger.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  “Every time you feel a tug on your skin, make sure you give it your all. I want the audience to get what they paid for, I want them to believe that I am torturing you,” Orion said, a sadistic tone in his voice.

  “I think I can manage that,” I replied with trepidation. Now that I was lying face down on the wooden table, stripped naked and shivering in the cold air, I was reconsidering my hasty decision to join After Dark.

  Cairo was beside me though, at least for this time. When I performed tomorrow night, he would be in the audience but far from the stage. Orion didn’t want him distracting me from my theatrical dramatics.

  I felt Orion’s hands on my back, his skin was hot and dry, he felt like he was running a fever.

  “You’re hot,” I said, flinching from his touch.

  “We run hot,” Cairo said, “Haven’t you ever noticed that with me?”

  “No, I haven’t,” I replied, suddenly overwhelmed by the presence of magic in Orion’s body. I’d seen him try to shift, and I’d known he was obviously a wolf like his son, but it hadn’t impacted me until I was trussed up at his mercy.

  He was a shifter, a creature that could change into a savage beast.

  It made him infinitely more dangerous.

  “We are hot creatures,” Orion said, running his hands up my back. Against my will, I relaxed and eased into his massage. “You run a little warm yourself,” he continued, “I wonder why that is. What you are.”

  “If I knew, I would tell you,” I said and felt a forceful tug on my skin. I heard the overhead ropes move and something dragged against the hook he’d just threaded through my flesh.

  “How’s that?” Orion asked with the gentle sound of a father tending a child. He was so bipolar at times I didn’t know if he was coming or going.

  “It’s fine,” I said.

  He grunted an acknowledgment and continued. I felt several more rough tugs through my skin, followed by movement in the overhead ropes.

  “Hold tight,” Orion said, moving towards the head of the table.

  Cairo stood nearby and gave me a look of support, I took a deep breath and waited.

  There was a sound, like chain running through a loop. I felt nothing at first, but soon the hooks in my skin were pulled tight and I started to rise.

  I forgot to act like I was in pain, I was so enthralled with the lightness, the sensation of flying.

  “How high are you taking me?” I asked in a breathy voice that seemed to belong to another.

  “Just a few feet,” he said, “It’s a quick act after the levitation occurs. The main part of the show is centered around the hooks going into your flesh. Our crowds are particular about certain aspects of our performances.”

  “They like blood,” Cairo said, “from what I’ve heard. I’ve never attended one before.”

  “You were always too squeamish to handle them,” Orion said, “If it were up to you, the Cirque would flounder and fold. We’d all be collecting welfare and living in a shitty trailer park on the edge of the desert.”

  “We’re Canadian,” I said, “Welfare isn’t the worst thing that could happen.” I smiled at Cairo in an attempt to make light of Orion’s rant.

  “Something happens to our people when they’re left idle,” Orion told me, lifting me a little higher, “They languish, they get into trouble, and they die early of horrible means. They need to work, they need the community.”

  “I’m sure she means nothing by her remark,” Cairo said.

  “I’m going to release you now,” Orion said, “Please make more noise on the night of the performance. We need to really get the audience riled up. We owe it to them.”

  With that, he released me and I dropped back down to the table. I felt him pulling the hooks free with surgical precision. At last, he dropped them all on the table near my head and left the stage.

  “Take care of that,” he called back to Cairo over his shoulder.

  He was such a strange and disturbed man, and once again I had no idea if I had offended him or if he was just odd all on his own.

  I sat up and picked up one of the hooks. I hadn’t looked at them beforehand, and now I was glad that I hadn’t.

  Cairo ran something cold down my back, a cloth coated with something, some kind of antibiotic cream I assumed.

  I let him clean me up and looked at the hook again, almost shuddering. It looked almost like a fish hook, but it was about eight inches long, curved and gleaming. I could see a smear of my blood on the end and wondered how much I had bled as Orion had me suspended.

  As if reading my thoughts, Cairo said, “Wow, you’re a bleeder. I would have thought with your condition, you’d be able to control that or something.”

  “Let me get down,” I said. “If I can reach the earth, I can draw from it.”

  He helped me stand and I took a quick look at the towel in his hand. It was soaked through with blood, the sight of it making me feel a little light headed.

  Cairo took my hand and helped me off the stage onto the dirt floor. I preferred the cool damp grass when seeking earth energies, but dirt would do in a pinch.

  I closed my eyes and extended myself down through my feet, envisioning myself spreading out among the lines of energy present in the earth’s depths.

  I found one particularly bright one and inhaled, drawing it up into my body.

  It sought the injury immediately and my back grew warm as it began to heal the damaged cells.

  I had no way to describe it
, and no way to explain why or how it happened, but it was the only way I’d been able to live my life as normally as possible over my lifetime.

  I realized I was luckier than most with my condition, and I worried that there might be long term implications over my casual use of the earth’s magic, but I couldn’t help myself. Drawing power from the soil was as natural to me as breathing, and although I’d never been schooled in terms of technique or ability, I somehow knew where to find what I needed.

  “Fucking amazing,” Cairo breathed. I smiled and stood a little straighter, letting the healing energy course through me, finding any other little things here and there that I might have missed given my inability to receive pain as a warning.

  I finally let it go, I exhaled the energy back into the earth and opened my eyes.

  Cairo was staring at me with pretty much the same look I had when he’d turned into a wolf. Equal parts fear and admiration.

  “What are you, love?” he asked, taking my hand. “You’re hot, hotter than me even.”

  “I don’t know what I am,” I replied, “And other than making for a decent side show, I don’t think my powers are worth anything. They’ll never make me rich or famous, that’s for sure.”

  “Is that what you want?” he asked.

  “Maybe not famous, but rich might be nice.”

  “Unfortunately you’re in the wrong business,” he grinned and spun me around. He ran his hands down my back and whistled. “There’s barely any blood left, and they’re starting to heal. Incredible.”

  “Aren’t you able to do something similar?” I asked, reaching for my shirt. I shrugged it on and turned to him. “How do you find the magic to shift?”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” he said, frowning.

  “Well, when I need to heal, I can sense where the energy flows through the earth, reach down and bring it up into my body. Where does yours come from?”

  “All around,” he replied, “We take ours from the air, the atmosphere. It’s like tendrils of moonlight that exist in the air that we breathe. I’ve never heard of the earth having something like that though, I wonder what it is.”