DESTINED TO DEATH
JACK CROW
"The circus is heading back to Louisiana..." I hiss to Fredo as we walk between the tents, me watching some trucks in the yards. "Why?"
"I don’t get it either." Fredo raises his hand and waves to the curious circus folks sitting in their tents, watching us and having breakfast. "What I heard is we’re going back for a private show because some powerful man in Louisiana wants us to perform at his Christmas party..."
"We never did that kind of gig, a private show\\..." I grunt, not understanding why Spook agreed to something like that. "Do you know who this guy is?"
"No. Spook doesn’t give details, we only found out we’d be going back to Louisiana a few weeks ago." Fredo pulls on my pants so I follow him behind the wagons. "Now, you need to focus on not drawing attention, got it? Especially from Belmonte, since he’s Spook’s eyes and ears..."
I stop walking, face Fredo seriously, and take a deep breath.
"Let me guess, he got promoted here?" I ask.
"Manager," Fredo growls softly. "He’s a damn executioner, and smart too, so he won’t buy Molina’s story so easily. He knew everyone in this circus, you’ll have to be really convincing."
I nod, understanding his words. Spook keeps his dog cornering and scaring everyone to keep them in line.
"Do you know what you’re going to do?" Fredo asks quietly.
"I have a vague idea, but first, I need to find out more about what Spook is doing with my circus," I reply, looking toward the cages. "How did he get these animals and rides?" I ask, staring at an elephant and its calf trapped in a cage barely big enough for both.
"He bought them from a failing zoo." Fredo looks sadly at the elephants. "Like us, they’re poor souls trapped in Spook’s hands. The animals help draw attention to the circus, so he built his little zoo..."
I walk slowly, checking the other cages, spotting a bear on the left with sad eyes and whip marks on its paws.
"Who trains these animals?" I roar, clutching the cage bars while staring at the poor injured creature.
"I’ll give you a candy if you figure it out." I turn, paying attention to Fredo. "Here’s a hint: he’s a damn drunk..."
"Dior!" I growl, tasting bile in my mouth as I say his name.
"Bingo!" Fredo nods. "He’s been taking care of the animals Spook brought here."
A loud roar makes me narrow my eyes and raise my face, getting serious. My heart races because the last lion we had in the circus died of old age weeks before I was thrown off the train. It was a beautiful lion that belonged to my father.
"We have a lion?" I follow the animal’s roar, walking between cages.
"Depends on how you look at it." Fredo laughs behind me.
I look left, near the train track, seeing two cages. My attention is caught by the lioness lying down, wagging her tail. I admire her, seeing the beautiful, magnificent creature she is. But then my gaze shifts to the next cage, which is empty. A boy wearing overalls and a cap is inside, back to us, distracted, sweeping the floor.
A shadow moves slowly and stealthily from behind a pile of hay, huge and fierce, with a shimmering golden mane and big fangs showing from its mouth.
"There’s someone inside the cage with the lion..." I hiss worriedly, pointing at it, starting to walk toward it.
"Hey, wait..." Fredo grabs me, squeezing my fingers. "You’ll want to see this."
He laughs, nodding toward the cage and pulling us to the corner of one of the wagons so we won’t be seen.
"Why’s that idiot got his back to the lion? You never turn your damn back on a lion..." I fall silent as the animal sneaks even closer. "Fredo, we have to get the kid out of there..."
"No, stay where you are," he whispers, laughing. "Just watch..."
"What?" I look at him incredulously.
"The lion eat his breakfast..."
I look ahead, silent, focusing on the feline as it leaps, slapping its paws on the ground and letting out a loud roar. The boy drops the broom, turns quickly, raises his arms, and mimics guns with his fingers, aiming at the lion. The two stare at each other like in a duel.
The lion lowers its head and leans forward, baring its big fangs. Then it rolls on the ground, collapsing as the boy’s left arm acts like he’s shooting it. The boy falls to his knees, moving his shoulders and covering his face, while the clever lion gets up fast and marches toward him.
The animal’s mouth opens and it roars loudly a few inches from the boy’s face before licking him, then raises its big paw and hits his shoulder.
"Look at that lazy lion!" Fredo laughs. "Looks like a housecat in her hands..."
I look from the cage to Fredo, confused at what he said. "Her?" I stare at him curiously. "There’s a girl in there..."
Fredo nods, crossing his arms over his chest and laughing loudly at me.
"You’re not the first to mistake her for a boy." He turns his face forward, smiling, which confuses me. "Remember the pickpocket ten years ago in Louisiana? The two lost souls you saved..."
My eyes widen, and I turn my face forward immediately, seeing her arms around the lion’s neck, which licks her face.
A shadow rushing past my left, coming from behind a trash bin, makes me spin around. I stretch my leg, causing the figure to trip and fall face-first to the ground with a scream of pain.
"Got you, you little shit!" I roar furiously, grabbing him by the jacket and forcing him to stand. "Give me back the damn wallet, punk!"
I push the hood of his jacket back as I spin him around, making him look at me. But I blink, confused for a second, when the large frightened black eyes of a girl lock on me. She looks at me in terror, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Her forehead is scraped, and her nose is bruised from the fall.
"Selly..." I murmur, recalling that day in the alley.
"Yeah, that’s her." Fredo smiles, not hiding the pride in his voice.
"She stayed here..." I hiss, confused. Honestly, I hadn’t thought about her or the other boy we brought to the circus that day, since that was the day I died. "I thought Spook had kicked them out."
"Oh, he tried!" Fredo says quietly. "But her mother wouldn’t let it happen. I think it was the last thing she did before giving in to depression. She said you’d be mad when they were found and the kids weren’t in the circus..."
I press my lips together, inhale deeply, and watch the girl inside the cage, sitting on the floor, stroking the lion’s head as it sprawls beside her.
"She and that stray Arthur practically grew up together, inseparable," Fredo tells me. "Poor Amelia hunted her almost every day and night, and when she found her, she was inside the cage, caring for the cub. And as you can see, Arthur is still a cub—but only with her. Not even that idiot Dior dares to come near him to take care of him. Selly and Charles are the ones responsible for the lions’ care."
"The kid," I say, smiling, remembering the rebellious boy, but who had intense loyalty shining in his eyes for the girl.
"That’s him, the firecracker." Fredo laughs. "Still foul-mouthed, but he’s a top-notch acrobat and has a huge heart, as well as being a great thief. Only now, instead of wallets, he steals at cards. Never play poker with him or the chimpanzee, because that monkey is sneakier than Charles..."
"Christ!" I laugh, shrugging and sighing, glad they didn’t go back to the streets. I watch her more carefully and see her head down, the cap hiding her face. "She’s grown..."
"A lot. Like a flower blooming in spring," Fredo says affectionately, not hiding the love he feels for the girl. "She’s the sweetest, kindest creature this place has seen since your mother, and she’s still the same. I’ve never heard a single word come from those lips."
I look at Fredo, paying attention to what he’s telling me, my mind recalling her and the boy inside the abandoned building.
"What are your names?" I ask, studying them, noticing how they devour the bread, confirming I was right—they hadn’t eaten anything fresh or decent for a long time.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Answer my question," I say gruffly to the young redhead, who quickly lowers his face, swallowing his bread.
"My name is Charles..." he murmurs, shrinking even closer to the floor near the young girl.
"And yours? What’s your name?" I ask her, seeing her keep her head down, not looking at me, just pushing the bread deeper into her mouth. "Your name, child, what’s your name..."
"She won’t answer you." The boy is quick, stretching his arm toward her. "Selly doesn’t talk. Well, not to people like you..."
I blink, confused, not understanding, looking from the boy to Fredo, who watches them silently.
"What kind of people?" I take my fingers out of my coat pockets, studying the girl who looks like a scared little bear cub, pushing bread into her mouth with quick fingers, eating it ravenously.
"Men..." the boy replies, mouth full, chewing fast and gulping down soda. "Shitty men who just hurt us. Selly doesn’t talk to men..."
I look at Fredo, who has a serious expression as he studies her, then looks up at me, understanding, just like I do, what the boy is saying.
"She doesn’t talk?" I see him shrug.
"Besides Charles, the only person who’s ever heard Selly’s voice is Baba." He raises his face, looking at her. "She’s a pure soul who, even without saying a single word, warms my heart when she smiles at me. And at the same time, she scares me..."
"Scares you?" I don’t understand what scares him. "What do you mean?"
"As I said, Selly has grown and blossomed like a beautiful flower," he growls, tightening his mouth. "And as you probably noticed last night inside the tent, Spook noticed it better than anyone. His eyes are like a bird of prey’s watching Selly..."
I open my mouth slightly, processing every word Fredo tells me, my eyes returning to the cage. I see the young girl stand and take off her hat, bowing to the lion in reverence, her long autumn-colored hair cascading like a bronze waterfall over her shoulders.
"The aerial dancer," I murmur, still incredulous as I remember the angel who hypnotized me with her dance. "Selly is the dancer..."
"The most beautiful of all," Fredo says quickly, proudly. "Everyone goes silent for her act because it’s the most beautiful thing
to watch her dance. You have to see her with the moon bow. It’s breathtaking... Stay here, I’ll call her to introduce her properly..."