Circus Summer (Circus of Curiosities Book 1)

Circus Summer (Circus of Curiosities Book 1)

Published by THE EDGE

THE EDGE is an imprint of Sparklesoup Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Kailin Gow

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First Edition.

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To the White Knight, my Great Uncle, whose heroism and legend lives on today. He was a super spy who spoke five languages, a pianist, and a martial artist during WW2 for the Allies.  Apparently, he was handsome, charming, and sophisticated, too, able to charm his way into the highest circle of enemy society. Hearing tales about him since childhood, inspired me to write about heroes. 

To all the brave men and women who serve to make life better for the rest of us.

Prologue

D
r. Dex Hightower stood on the sand in the middle of the circus ring, milking the applause from the audience as it rose to a crescendo behind the hard plastic barriers. The tiny town of Bent Roads had plenty of people, it seemed, who wanted to see what his Circus of Curiosities had to offer. In a world with so little else, full of war and the struggle just to survive, could he blame them? Dex’s mouth quirked in a smile. He could see them staring down at him in anticipation, but he kept them waiting.

            He knew what they would see. A man in his late thirties, tall and powerful enough to command their attention as he stood there, his dark hair spilling down the back of his long leather coat. The silver buckles and studs on it shone in the big top lights with every movement he made, catching and dazzling, as bright as the green of his eyes. His shirt was a deep red, the color of blood, while he wore pants of tight fitting black, with high boots that were as much about practicality as showmanship. Dex spread his arms as the applause built.

            “Hello, Bent Roads!” His voice carried easily throughout the tent. “These past five days, you’ve seen wonders!”

They’d seen the genetic monsters spewed from the broken labs.

“You’ve seen strife!”

            They’d seen their own children fighting and occasionally dying.

            “You’ve seen the full gamut of things our broken world has to offer!”

            Which wasn’t much. Dex paused again. That was the key to being a ringmaster.
Not
giving people what they wanted. At least not until they begged for it.

            “So are you ready for what we have for you tonight?”

            That got a roar that was almost deafening, and Dex whirled for a moment with his arms outstretched, drinking it all in. Despite everything, even down to the hate he felt for them for letting him do what he did,
this
moment was always good.

            “If you’re ready, then I’d like to present to you a performer you all know very well! Already, she has fought alongside other performers from your lovely town! She has fought against them too, and she has won!” Dex very carefully didn’t mention what had happened to the losers. The audience had seen it. It didn’t need reminding. The people there were too busy cheering to need reminding. “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you… Prima Thornsby!”

            Spotlights focused on the far side of the circus arena, on an ornate entrance that looked like it was the kind of marble and gold doorway a Roman emperor might have stepped through. The fact that it was really a mixture of painted plastic and iron didn’t matter. It was what people
thought
that mattered.

            The girl who stepped out through that entrance was sixteen, her red hair tied back into a ponytail, the glittering leotard she wore clinging to her to show off a gymnastic figure. The costumers and makeup artists had obviously been hard at work, because as well as the leotard, she wore silver gloves and boots, and her face had streaks of all the colors of the rainbow painted on. Just one more hint of show among the rest of it. She walked out with confident strides. She had every right to them. She’d done well so far.

            “As you know,” Dex continued. “Prima here has come through almost all our challenges for her. Now we have just one more before she can move up to our national level of performance. Would you like to see what it is?”

            The crowd roared its approval. Dex turned to Prima, who nodded her readiness. Brave girl. At a signal from Dex, assistants came forward dressed in a harlequin patchwork, pieced together from scraps. They held a selection of weapons and protective items. The girl chose a long, clear plastic sword sharpened to a razor edge, along with a round shield of toughened glass. When she’d done that, the assistants retreated while more wheeled in a large crate. Dex moved to the side of the arena, behind the barriers protecting the audience.

            “Ladies and gentlemen of the audience! Prima! I give you… the hydra!”

            The side of the crate fell open, and a shape slunk from within. It was reptilian, far larger than the girl before it, walking on six scaled legs, with nine necks rising sinuously from its bulky body like snakes. The heads at the ends of those necks were snakelike as well, and as Dex watched, one opened its mouth to reveal vicious fangs.

            He heard the audience’s collective gasp. He saw Prima flinch, half glancing at him to check whether it was real. It was. So very real. It and many more creatures like it. The creature seemed to sense the girl’s hesitation, because two of its heads struck out, snake fast.

            Prima reacted quickly, Dex had to admit that. She got her shield up to block one of the heads, venom dripping down it to the tent’s sandy floor. Her sword lashed out, slicing through the neck of the second, sending the head flying. She stepped back, as though expecting the hydra to fall to the floor dead. Dex shook his head at that. One head wouldn’t do it. Another minute or two, and it wouldn’t even be injured. One of the gifts this one had was regeneration on a scale barely comprehensible.

            Still, she’d gotten one head. Maybe the others would follow. Dex had high hopes for Prima. She had obvious talent. The only question was whether it was the level of talent they needed…

            Prima spun as the hydra struck again, slamming one of its heads aside, then darting away as the creature lunged after her. She moved like an acrobat; so fast, so graceful. She dodged another strike, bringing around her sword in a simple arc to lop off another of the Hydra’s heads. The creature momentarily reared back in pain, and Dex dared to believe…

            Three more of its heads flashed forward at once. Prima blocked one with her shield, and managed to get her sword in the way of another, but the third grazed her side with its fangs. She cried out, obviously holding onto her sword with an effort, and lowering her shield just enough. More heads snapped past her defenses, biting her again and again. She shrieked in sudden pain. Dex wished he could do something for her, but it was too late now. With the way the circus worked, it had been too late the moment she decided to sign up.

            Prima fell back, scrambling away from the hydra on her back. The creature let her do it, as though knowing what came next. Out on the sand, the girl started to shake, and the shaking became convulsions, the massive amounts of venom in her body pumping through it with every heartbeat. Dex watched her there, not because he enjoyed it-not because he enjoyed
any
of it-but because he knew he should. In just a couple of minutes, she was still, her silver costume looking far less vibrant while she sprawled lifeless on the sand.

            The crowd started to boo.

            Dex made a small signal, and his assistants did their job. A few moved in with tranquilizers to bring the Hydra under control and get it back into the crate. Two of the others, the ones who had brought the weapons, lifted Prima’s body and took it away.

            The crowd was still railing against what had happened, some pressing against the plastic walls as they yelled their displeasure. It was always like this. Dex moved out into the center of the circus ring, standing absolutely still as he waited for silence. He got it. His presence wasn’t the kind of thing people could ignore, even if their hometown girl had failed.

            He’d failed too, of course. He’d been so certain about Prima. He’d had such high hopes for her. It seemed now those hopes had been unfounded, the way they so often were. Another young performer dead in the dust. Another wasted talent. Dex shrugged, forcing himself not to think about it. In this world, people died every day, and even the hydra was better than some of the things the war did to people.

            “Ladies and Gentlemen,” he said at last. “It seems that our entertainment for this evening is at an end.”

            That got another round of boos. Strange that they’d boo because more of their young people weren’t being killed, but Dex knew as well as anyone what people could be like. By tomorrow, they would probably deny that they had done it. They would probably blame him for the whole thing, until the next time the circus came to town.

            “Don’t worry, don’t worry!” Dex announced. “The show will go on!” He paused for just a second to let them think about whether they wanted that. “Just not in Bent Roads. Your town has provided some very skillful and brave young performers, but we have exhausted their talents now, and none of them remain, so it is time for us to move on. I hope you will join us when we are next in town.”

            He walked away through the circus, heading out through the door Prima had come through, pausing just long enough to take a theatrical bow. Behind the scenes, things were a lot less spectacular. There were wires and the remnants of machines, circus hands working hard to get ready for the finish of the show and to deal with its aftermath. The ones dealing with Prima Thornton’s body were gone, and the hydra’s crate was out of sight.

            Another town. Another failure. That had happened so many times. Some days, it made it hard to remember why they kept going. Dex turned to one of his assistants, a woman in a costume of feathers and leather scraps.

            “Another failure, Tia.”