It didn’t help that they peered at the captives with wonder in their eyes.
It didn’t matter that they didn’t try to hurt a single one.
The otherworlders were humiliated. Defenseless. Helpless.
The tent was warm, encouraging the sale of ice cream in the corner, despite the frost outside. Strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate melted as the humans studied and petted the otherworlders one by one, discussing their “magnificence.”
Jecis had escorted Vika here a few minutes ago, and they now stood at the edge of the tent. She wanted to run from him. She wanted to attack him. How dare he allow this?
“There isn’t a key to the cuffs, you know,” he said. “Years ago, I destroyed the only one that was ever made.”
The words penetrated the dark shroud around her mind and nearly sent her to her knees. He wasn’t lying. He couldn’t be. There was too much glee in his eyes.
No key, she lamented, her insides hollowing out. There was no key. All this time, her search had been for nothing. Forget the money she wanted to save. If she’d found the key, she would have freed everyone ahead of schedule. If she’d known it couldn’t be found, she would have still freed everyone ahead of schedule. Yet staying to aid the otherworlders had been for nothing.
They were doomed. They had always been doomed.
“Your beast will wear the cuffs to his grave,” Jecis said with an evil grin.
He meant to remind her of Solo’s fate. He rallied her determination instead.
He was a nasty, hateful man and he would never change. He would only ever cause more hurt. And Matas, too. He had been demoted to hired hand while off duty for his actions against her, but one day, he would snap. He and her father would fight for rights to the circus. Once, she had thought her father would always win against him. Now, after Matas had “healed” his arm? She wasn’t so sure. But she did know only one of them would walk away—and she didn’t want to be around to find out who it was.
She was leaving tonight, Vika decided. After the performance, when everyone was too drunk or too tired to notice her actions. There would be no more waiting. She would gather up as many of her jewels as she could carry, free Solo and all of the others, and she would run. Run and never look back, just as Solo had said.
Finally.
If Jecis found her, well, she would rather die than come back. And there were ways to ensure that happened.
• • •
“Welcome to the amazing, spectacular Cirque de Monstres!” Jecis’s voice echoed through the darkened tent. Vika stood on the sidelines. She couldn’t hear him, couldn’t read his lips, but she knew the routine by heart and recognized the distinct vibrations.
Red, blue, and green spotlights suddenly switched on and swept over the crowd filling the bleachers that surrounded the center ring. As expected, twitters of excitement erupted, brushing against her skin. The lights switched off, once again leaving the tent in total darkness.
Then, multicolored sparks sprayed in the air above, fireworks that weren’t really fireworks cascading over the humans. Judging by the buoyant expressions, she knew everyone was squealing with delight.
When the sparks died, the spotlights were once again turned on—but this time they were focused on the happenings in the ring. Smoke billowed from strategically placed boulders, and as cymbals clanged to set the beat, out leapt one of Jecis’s more beautiful female performers, followed by another and another.
Each woman wore a sequined bra top and tiny underwear bottoms. After they climbed on top of each other to form a pyramid, they raised and spread their arms, awaiting cheers.
At least the majority of Vika’s skin was covered. She wore an evening gown the same ruby red as her lipstick. It conformed to her curves, dipped low in the back, and flared at the bottom. Her hair was down, brushed to a golden shine and falling to her waist in perfect waves.
A clown was the next to jump from the smoke, surprising the viewers, but rather than helping the ladies with the pyramid, he dove on top and tried to kiss the star. She resisted. The pyramid teetered. He maneuvered to the lower level and tried to kiss another. She too resisted, and down the pyramid fell. Laughter abounded as the females stood, and, lifting up their hands, seemed to tug the clown into the air with an invisible rope. He dangled there, suspended and struggling, and the crowd ate it up.
Two other clowns bounded from the smoke, and they desperately tried to help their friend, but they were soon caught up in the same bubble of air, and the females began to juggle them without ever touching them.
Ten more minutes, and it would be Vika’s turn. Even the notion caused her heart to pound erratically. Where was X? She wanted to talk to him, wanted to ask him for advice. He would tell her the truth, nothing held back, and this time she would listen, whether she knew how to proceed or not.
Audra was stationed beside her, to ensure she didn’t miss her act. Vika was to be part of Matas’s magic act. Just another punishment, she knew.
“Why did you sell your soul for this?” Vika asked her. She wanted a distraction, but she also wanted the answer.
Up went the girl’s chin, though she didn’t bother glancing in Vika’s direction. “What else was I going to do? Where else was I going to go?”
“Anywhere.”
“I believe you discovered the joy of trying that,” Audra replied with a roll of her eyes. “Our kind isn’t accepted out there.”
Our kind. “I’m not anything like you.”
A greater vibration stroked over her, and she knew the crowd was cheering madly. The clowns were vanishing one by one, and when there were no more, the females looked at each other, looked behind the boulders, as though they had no idea what had happened.
“Don’t kid yourself,” Audra said. “You’re exactly like me.”
“How so?”
“We’re tainted. And without this circus, we’re nothing.”
No. She wouldn’t believe that.
“I loved you once, you know,” Audra said.
“And I loved you.” Part of her still did, despite everything. She remembered the little girl she’d played with, laughed with.
“You destroyed me when you rejected me.”
“No. I saved you.”
“No! Destroyed! My family was so proud that I was friends with Jecis’s daughter, and when you cut me from your life, they cut me from theirs. At twelve, I had to find a man to take me in. He was awful, always using me, and the sad thing is, I’d still be with him if Jecis hadn’t decided he wanted me.”