Circus Arcana PART FOUR
PART FOUR
They left the Old Town behind them a couple of days after that. Jared didn’t come to watch the show, only because a couple of agents decided to patrol the carnival in the wake of what had happened among their ranks. The carnival was buzzing with the news of the rogue agent on the run, so Jared stayed in the trailer and out of sight. Jensen knew that the carnival protected their own, but that didn’t mean that the people that came there would. Once they were on their way, however, they breathed easier. Jared had been fascinated at how the carnival was packed away, the rides dismantled in mere hours and loaded into carriages. The rail lines passed right by the carnival ground and Jared watched from inside when the engine arrived and was connected up to its load. The container with Jensen’s precious bike was lifted onto an empty flatbed and the trailers would be driven alongside it, linked together with chains. During the transportation of the show, the Circus Arcana all sat inside Jensen’s trailer.
“Where did you get the bike?” Jared asked, as they left the Old Town behind and began the slow weave through countryside to get to their next location. Beside Jensen, Chris smirked, and from further back came the sound of Cassidy’s laughter.
“Oh, yes, Jensen,” she said, delighted about something. “Do tell the story of where the bike came from!” The others were looking amused as well, and Jensen just looked a little uncomfortable.
Jared looked between them, amused and puzzled at once. “Have I overstepped or something?”
Jensen cleared his throat, glared at his closest friend. Then he settled his gaze back on Jared, shook his head. “Not at all. My so-called friends think they can embarrass me by making me tell this story, but they can’t.”
“Oh, I think we already have,” Chris said, laughing.
“So would a more accurate question be, what did you do to get the bike?”
Chris whooped at that. “You know, I’m liking you more each day, kid! Keep an eye on this one Jensen, he’s a pretty bright spark. No pun intended,” he added, with a little wink.
Jensen rolled his eyes at Chris, smiling all the while. “The bike is from a friend.”
“A powerful friend,” Chris added.
“Yes, a powerful friend,” Jensen nodded.
“And Jen here refuses to tell us what happened, exactly,” Seb told Jared.
“That's because it's none of your business,” Jensen chuckled.
Jared shook his head. “I don't get it,” he admitted.
Chris leaned forward, winking at Jared. “Seems this very powerful friend also enjoys the company of the male persuasion.”
“Oh, he's gay?”
Chris's smile faded and he shook his head at Jared. “I...I don't know what that means,” he said.
Jensen laughed. “Don't listen to them,” he said, shaking his head. “They think they know everything anyway.”
Jared didn't ask any more questions. He just listened to the group talk and laugh. He thought about asking if he could have a ride on the strange-looking bike when they reached their destination, perhaps even on the way. Instead, he got caught up with what was going on. He watched Jensen and the others, liking that he might be able to be a part of this strange family. He felt better than he had in the four years he'd been away. He felt like he'd come home.
Jared got his wish, no matter how insignificant it seemed. He rode on the back of the bike, bundled up in layers of warm clothing, as Jensen drove them the last leg to their new location. They had managed to get a new Big Top tent at a stop along the way, scavenged from a circus that had quickly closed down during a night raid by the Service agents. Whatever they had done, the agents weren't listening to reason. They had their orders to take the place down. The Big Top had a tear along the back, right to the center pole, but Jensen knew that the team could fix it. It would look brilliant for their show.
During the bike ride, Jensen tried to keep his concentration on the busy streets, the stretches of country road that were populated only with the occasional horse and buggy. They tended to perform for the poorer raceclasses, so they got to see many people worse off than they were. It was a sobering sight sometimes. Still, even with all that in the foreground, Jensen was concentrated on the background, where Jared was. The man's arms were solid and strong around him, holding on as the bike cruised down the streets. Even with all the layers of warm clothing on, Jensen could still feel the man's body heat radiating off of him. It was addicting.
The new town - Jared couldn't remember the exact name. It had something to do with pecan trees, regardless of the fact that they were few and far between. Before they went to bed that night, they got the new Big Top up. On the journey there, four of the carnival girls had worked on sewing up the tear in the back. They'd gotten all but a six-foot section completed. That part wouldn't take much to secure by tomorrow evening.
There was a decent feast, in their terms, for breakfast. Chris and Gabe went to town and came back with a crate of day old breads, a couple pots of milk, a slab of salt pork, and two dozen eggs. Chris had traded in the old Big Top to a sail maker on the waterfront, and gotten the eggs. They were spotted, which told Jensen they weren't chicken eggs, but they cooked up quite well and were very tasty.
Jared helped out where he could. He pounded stakes into the ground, he helped set up the midway. He carried crates of snakes for one woman - he thought she said her name was Helena, but he couldn't be sure. She spoke with a strange accent. He helped brush the four white horses the show had acquired over the years, and he even volunteered to go to town and scrounge up something for Cook for dinner. Knowing that the agents were probably still looking for him though, Jensen did not agree to that. Instead, Seb and Cassidy went, deciding that fresh faces might get something new.
That night, the show seemed to really shine. Maybe they were all feeling more positive with the new Big Top. Maybe they liked Jared's company. Whatever the case, he sat out in the audience on the bleachers, watching each act and laughing like one of the kids. The seats weren't all taken up, but they did pretty well that night. The crowd even cheered loud enough to get noticed, and the last act - the acrobats - did an encore.
Jared still didn't have an exact place to call his own yet. Instead, he stayed close to Jensen. The man's trailer was small, crowded with what few things he owned. But it was home. It was warm, and it was comfortable. After a show, Jensen changed into warm clothes that he could relax in. He had lent a set of these clothes to Jared, making them look like mismatched twins in a way. They would have to find some clothes for him. The shirt was taut across Jared's well-worked chest, tight at his arms. And Jensen's imagination didn't need any help. He found himself staring at the man more than he should already. He hoped that his thoughts hadn't betrayed him. By the way Jared acted, not nervous or self-conscious at all, Jensen guessed that nothing had been set free.
“Are you sure you'll be comfortable here?” Jensen asked. Maybe, if he gave Jared the opportunity, the man would leave of his own accord. Then Jensen's mind wouldn't have to run away with these crazy thoughts he was having lately.
“Yeah,” Jared said. He crawled down to the floor, covering himself with a blanket he'd removed from the foot of Jensen's bed.
“Yeah, but on the floor?”
“I'll be alright,” Jared nodded. “Trust me. The Service did worse.”
Jensen frowned. “I'm sure one of the other guys would let you bunk with them,” he offered, still standing and watching Jared settle into his makeshift bed.
Sighing, Jared looked up at him. “Honestly? The other guys are great, don't get me wrong, but I feel more on edge with them. With you, it's different.”
Jensen moved to sit on his bed, looking down at Jared as the man sprawled out on his back, his hands clasped behind his head. “How?”
He shrugged. “I don't know,” he answered honestly. “I just feel more at ease with you. Maybe we have more in common, I don't know.”
That made Jensen smile. For a few moments, he watched Jared stare up at the ceiling, seeming happy with his current situation. “What was your family like?”
The question seemed to throw Jared off a little. His happy demeanor faded and his gaze flickered to Jensen's. He looked away, back to the ceiling. “They abandoned me when I was fourteen,” he said.
That seemed incomprehensible for Jensen. “Wait, they just left you?”
“Yep,” he agreed.
“Well...” He paused, trying to think of a reason to abandon your child on the streets. “Why?”
Jared shrugged. “I was more trouble than I was worth, I guess.”
Jensen smiled softly, shaking his head. “I doubt that very much,” he told him.
“Didn't matter to me,” he continued. “They weren't around much anyway. I was pretty independent by then. The only difference it really made was with my neighbor - I liked her. Her name was Maria. I called her Ria, though. My parents didn't like her, not at all. They said she was a trouble maker, because she called Social Services on them.”
“You had a branch of the Service in your world?”
Jared chuckled, peering up at him. “Not quite like them,” he said. “Kind of sadistic like them, though, yeah. They were a service that, even if your kids had shitty surroundings and care, they still tried to keep you together.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“Tell me about it,” he chuckled. “The place where I lived - it was pretty rotten. Drug dealers, prostitutes, alcoholics, gun runners. It wasn't unusual for a fight to happen, or even a murder. My parents were fighting with Ria one night. I never saw her again.”
Realization dawned on Jensen. “You mean...You think they killed her?”
As if a light had been turned on above his head, Jared turned and looked at him. He blinked, the wheels in his head almost visibly turning. He sat up, rested his arms on his knees and thought for a few more seconds. After all this time, all of these years, such a thing had never really, truly occurred to him. He had assumed that Ria had just left after the fight. That she'd had enough of trying to protect him with no results. Still pondering, he looked up at Jensen again, lips parted as he breathed a bit heavier. Finally, he blinked hard a few times and really focused on Jensen. “I'm glad I'm here,” he said.
Gazing down at him, Jensen nodded. He tried to smile reassuringly, but wasn't sure if he managed or not. “I'm glad you're here, too.”
Jared leaned back against his pillow, huddling down underneath the blanket. The room darkened as Jensen turned down the oil lamp. Thoughts of Ria were still in his head, but he managed to drift off. Before he fell asleep completely, his eyes opened again. “Hey,” he spoke into the night.
“What?”
“I want to be in the show,” he said. “Tomorrow night.”
Jensen thought for a moment. He should tell Jared no, that they weren't ready for that yet. He should, but he didn't. “Okay,” he agreed. “Tomorrow night.”
Jensen had warned him not to make too big a show. “Keep it quiet and simple,” he'd said. “We don't need too much attention brought to you, remember.”
Jared, of course, had nodded his head. It made him smile, how Jensen worried about him. Fawned over him. He wondered if maybe there was something more there. More than just friendship. But Jensen had never come right out and said such a thing. On the streets back home, Jared had done a few things for money that he found weren't entirely disagreeable. He sometimes wondered if he told Jensen, what the man would think. Would he be disgusted? Act differently towards him? Jared often wondered, too, why it meant so much to him.
With the lights off in the Big Top, it was darker than he thought it would be. As he took his place in the center ring, he could hear people whispering, trying to figure out what was going on. Jensen had been nervous introducing him. He hadn't given Jared's name. He'd only said that he was a master of pyrotechnics. Jared had supposed that was true.
With a snap of his fingers, Jared lit center circle with a quiet, amber glow. From where the audience sat, they couldn't tell if it was true magic, or that perhaps Jared had a lighter in his hands. He could barely make out a few of the faces in the crowd, but he could see that eyes were trained on him. It was kind of liberating, doing the show like this. Jared felt that maybe, for the first time in a long time, he could be himself.
The Magician wasn't the only one to have a few tricks up his sleeve tonight. In full costume of a military-style jacket, undershirt, trousers and riding boots, Jared moved the flame from hand to hand as he shed his jacket. He did the same thing again, unbuttoning the shirt underneath the jacket, shedding it, too. The audience gasped at his tattooed torso, but he did not let his concentration waver. He kept his eyes on the fire, soon tossing it into the air and catching it again. He threw the fireball into the air again and again, each time a little higher than the others. On the last catch, he let the fire fall into his mouth. It went down his throat, to the gasps of the audience, and momentarily lit the edges of his tattoo. The onlookers clapped, talking quietly amongst themselves. He lit another flame with the snap of his fingers and started twirling it. Eventually, the ring of flames was big enough for him to step through. He threw the flaming hoop into the air, the sound of the flames as intimidating as the sight of them. The audience cried out when he caught it again, so sure that he was going to get burned.
In the firelight, Jared caught a glimpse of Jensen, off to the side and watching him. He knew he hadn't been there in center ring long, but he remembered Jensen's words. “Keep it quiet and simple.” Jared decided that wrapping up the act soon would benefit not only him, but the circus as well. The people would come to Jensen, asking him to let Jared perform again so that they could pay for more tickets to see him. At which point Jensen would, no doubt, play it up a little to get the most money he could from the crowds. Who could blame him? It was their livelihood.
With a big show, Jared twisted and turned, making the fire ring smaller and smaller, until it was a ball again, fitting in the palm of his hand. He made the flames grow brighter for a moment, and then ended the act with clapping his hands together. There was so much force there, that the fire sparked wildly, looking like a small explosion to the audience, and then all went silent and dark.
“That was amazing,” Chris said. They were all crowded along the midway, talking amidst the dingy amber glow that came from the lights strung above them. Colors flashed from rides and games beside them, all of which were being put to bed for the night.
“Thanks,” Jared said. He and Chris were helping the carnies close down for the evening, shutting up booths, turning off lights and picking up trash. Just like everyone else. Jared liked the feeling of being a part of their tightly knit group.
“How'd you learn to do that?”
Jared shrugged. “Tricks of the trade, I guess,” he lied.
“Bullshit,” Chris chuckled. “You know that me, of all people, would understand a phenomenon when I see it.”
Jared just looked away, smiling gently.
“Is it something to do with the tattoos?”
Chris wasn't going to let it go, so Jared gave in. “I think so,” he nodded.
“Still don't know where they came from?”
“Oh, I know where they came from,” Jared agreed. “I just don't understand them. Why I was chosen. And I'm not looking forward to fighting for them.”
“Someone wants to take them away?” Chris asked, chucking a torn stuffed animal into the trash.
“Something like that,” Jared returned. He saw Jensen by the front gate - which was just a rope tied across the midway. People could easily storm the place, but they never did. “I'll catch up in a little while,” he told Chris, then made a beeline for Jensen.
Jensen tied the rope and then turned to find Jared nearing him.
“Hey,” he greeted.
“Hey yourself,” Jensen smiled. “You were amazing. We've already had requests to stay an extra four nights. People want to see you.”
“That's great, right?” Jared grinned at him.
“I don't know,” Jensen said, suddenly frowning. “What if the Service finds out?”
Smiling brighter, Jared shook his head. “I don't know,” he replied. “From my experience, the Service isn't very well liked. I think it's only a matter of time before they find out exactly how much they're hated. I think people might be better than you think.”
Jensen took a deep breath. “Let's hope so.”
PART FIVE
They left the Old Town behind them a couple of days after that. Jared didn’t come to watch the show, only because a couple of agents decided to patrol the carnival in the wake of what had happened among their ranks. The carnival was buzzing with the news of the rogue agent on the run, so Jared stayed in the trailer and out of sight. Jensen knew that the carnival protected their own, but that didn’t mean that the people that came there would. Once they were on their way, however, they breathed easier. Jared had been fascinated at how the carnival was packed away, the rides dismantled in mere hours and loaded into carriages. The rail lines passed right by the carnival ground and Jared watched from inside when the engine arrived and was connected up to its load. The container with Jensen’s precious bike was lifted onto an empty flatbed and the trailers would be driven alongside it, linked together with chains. During the transportation of the show, the Circus Arcana all sat inside Jensen’s trailer.
“Where did you get the bike?” Jared asked, as they left the Old Town behind and began the slow weave through countryside to get to their next location. Beside Jensen, Chris smirked, and from further back came the sound of Cassidy’s laughter.
“Oh, yes, Jensen,” she said, delighted about something. “Do tell the story of where the bike came from!” The others were looking amused as well, and Jensen just looked a little uncomfortable.
Jared looked between them, amused and puzzled at once. “Have I overstepped or something?”
Jensen cleared his throat, glared at his closest friend. Then he settled his gaze back on Jared, shook his head. “Not at all. My so-called friends think they can embarrass me by making me tell this story, but they can’t.”
“Oh, I think we already have,” Chris said, laughing.
“So would a more accurate question be, what did you do to get the bike?”
Chris whooped at that. “You know, I’m liking you more each day, kid! Keep an eye on this one Jensen, he’s a pretty bright spark. No pun intended,” he added, with a little wink.
Jensen rolled his eyes at Chris, smiling all the while. “The bike is from a friend.”
“A powerful friend,” Chris added.
“Yes, a powerful friend,” Jensen nodded.
“And Jen here refuses to tell us what happened, exactly,” Seb told Jared.
“That's because it's none of your business,” Jensen chuckled.
Jared shook his head. “I don't get it,” he admitted.
Chris leaned forward, winking at Jared. “Seems this very powerful friend also enjoys the company of the male persuasion.”
“Oh, he's gay?”
Chris's smile faded and he shook his head at Jared. “I...I don't know what that means,” he said.
Jensen laughed. “Don't listen to them,” he said, shaking his head. “They think they know everything anyway.”
Jared didn't ask any more questions. He just listened to the group talk and laugh. He thought about asking if he could have a ride on the strange-looking bike when they reached their destination, perhaps even on the way. Instead, he got caught up with what was going on. He watched Jensen and the others, liking that he might be able to be a part of this strange family. He felt better than he had in the four years he'd been away. He felt like he'd come home.
Jared got his wish, no matter how insignificant it seemed. He rode on the back of the bike, bundled up in layers of warm clothing, as Jensen drove them the last leg to their new location. They had managed to get a new Big Top tent at a stop along the way, scavenged from a circus that had quickly closed down during a night raid by the Service agents. Whatever they had done, the agents weren't listening to reason. They had their orders to take the place down. The Big Top had a tear along the back, right to the center pole, but Jensen knew that the team could fix it. It would look brilliant for their show.
During the bike ride, Jensen tried to keep his concentration on the busy streets, the stretches of country road that were populated only with the occasional horse and buggy. They tended to perform for the poorer raceclasses, so they got to see many people worse off than they were. It was a sobering sight sometimes. Still, even with all that in the foreground, Jensen was concentrated on the background, where Jared was. The man's arms were solid and strong around him, holding on as the bike cruised down the streets. Even with all the layers of warm clothing on, Jensen could still feel the man's body heat radiating off of him. It was addicting.
The new town - Jared couldn't remember the exact name. It had something to do with pecan trees, regardless of the fact that they were few and far between. Before they went to bed that night, they got the new Big Top up. On the journey there, four of the carnival girls had worked on sewing up the tear in the back. They'd gotten all but a six-foot section completed. That part wouldn't take much to secure by tomorrow evening.
There was a decent feast, in their terms, for breakfast. Chris and Gabe went to town and came back with a crate of day old breads, a couple pots of milk, a slab of salt pork, and two dozen eggs. Chris had traded in the old Big Top to a sail maker on the waterfront, and gotten the eggs. They were spotted, which told Jensen they weren't chicken eggs, but they cooked up quite well and were very tasty.
Jared helped out where he could. He pounded stakes into the ground, he helped set up the midway. He carried crates of snakes for one woman - he thought she said her name was Helena, but he couldn't be sure. She spoke with a strange accent. He helped brush the four white horses the show had acquired over the years, and he even volunteered to go to town and scrounge up something for Cook for dinner. Knowing that the agents were probably still looking for him though, Jensen did not agree to that. Instead, Seb and Cassidy went, deciding that fresh faces might get something new.
That night, the show seemed to really shine. Maybe they were all feeling more positive with the new Big Top. Maybe they liked Jared's company. Whatever the case, he sat out in the audience on the bleachers, watching each act and laughing like one of the kids. The seats weren't all taken up, but they did pretty well that night. The crowd even cheered loud enough to get noticed, and the last act - the acrobats - did an encore.
Jared still didn't have an exact place to call his own yet. Instead, he stayed close to Jensen. The man's trailer was small, crowded with what few things he owned. But it was home. It was warm, and it was comfortable. After a show, Jensen changed into warm clothes that he could relax in. He had lent a set of these clothes to Jared, making them look like mismatched twins in a way. They would have to find some clothes for him. The shirt was taut across Jared's well-worked chest, tight at his arms. And Jensen's imagination didn't need any help. He found himself staring at the man more than he should already. He hoped that his thoughts hadn't betrayed him. By the way Jared acted, not nervous or self-conscious at all, Jensen guessed that nothing had been set free.
“Are you sure you'll be comfortable here?” Jensen asked. Maybe, if he gave Jared the opportunity, the man would leave of his own accord. Then Jensen's mind wouldn't have to run away with these crazy thoughts he was having lately.
“Yeah,” Jared said. He crawled down to the floor, covering himself with a blanket he'd removed from the foot of Jensen's bed.
“Yeah, but on the floor?”
“I'll be alright,” Jared nodded. “Trust me. The Service did worse.”
Jensen frowned. “I'm sure one of the other guys would let you bunk with them,” he offered, still standing and watching Jared settle into his makeshift bed.
Sighing, Jared looked up at him. “Honestly? The other guys are great, don't get me wrong, but I feel more on edge with them. With you, it's different.”
Jensen moved to sit on his bed, looking down at Jared as the man sprawled out on his back, his hands clasped behind his head. “How?”
He shrugged. “I don't know,” he answered honestly. “I just feel more at ease with you. Maybe we have more in common, I don't know.”
That made Jensen smile. For a few moments, he watched Jared stare up at the ceiling, seeming happy with his current situation. “What was your family like?”
The question seemed to throw Jared off a little. His happy demeanor faded and his gaze flickered to Jensen's. He looked away, back to the ceiling. “They abandoned me when I was fourteen,” he said.
That seemed incomprehensible for Jensen. “Wait, they just left you?”
“Yep,” he agreed.
“Well...” He paused, trying to think of a reason to abandon your child on the streets. “Why?”
Jared shrugged. “I was more trouble than I was worth, I guess.”
Jensen smiled softly, shaking his head. “I doubt that very much,” he told him.
“Didn't matter to me,” he continued. “They weren't around much anyway. I was pretty independent by then. The only difference it really made was with my neighbor - I liked her. Her name was Maria. I called her Ria, though. My parents didn't like her, not at all. They said she was a trouble maker, because she called Social Services on them.”
“You had a branch of the Service in your world?”
Jared chuckled, peering up at him. “Not quite like them,” he said. “Kind of sadistic like them, though, yeah. They were a service that, even if your kids had shitty surroundings and care, they still tried to keep you together.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“Tell me about it,” he chuckled. “The place where I lived - it was pretty rotten. Drug dealers, prostitutes, alcoholics, gun runners. It wasn't unusual for a fight to happen, or even a murder. My parents were fighting with Ria one night. I never saw her again.”
Realization dawned on Jensen. “You mean...You think they killed her?”
As if a light had been turned on above his head, Jared turned and looked at him. He blinked, the wheels in his head almost visibly turning. He sat up, rested his arms on his knees and thought for a few more seconds. After all this time, all of these years, such a thing had never really, truly occurred to him. He had assumed that Ria had just left after the fight. That she'd had enough of trying to protect him with no results. Still pondering, he looked up at Jensen again, lips parted as he breathed a bit heavier. Finally, he blinked hard a few times and really focused on Jensen. “I'm glad I'm here,” he said.
Gazing down at him, Jensen nodded. He tried to smile reassuringly, but wasn't sure if he managed or not. “I'm glad you're here, too.”
Jared leaned back against his pillow, huddling down underneath the blanket. The room darkened as Jensen turned down the oil lamp. Thoughts of Ria were still in his head, but he managed to drift off. Before he fell asleep completely, his eyes opened again. “Hey,” he spoke into the night.
“What?”
“I want to be in the show,” he said. “Tomorrow night.”
Jensen thought for a moment. He should tell Jared no, that they weren't ready for that yet. He should, but he didn't. “Okay,” he agreed. “Tomorrow night.”
Jensen had warned him not to make too big a show. “Keep it quiet and simple,” he'd said. “We don't need too much attention brought to you, remember.”
Jared, of course, had nodded his head. It made him smile, how Jensen worried about him. Fawned over him. He wondered if maybe there was something more there. More than just friendship. But Jensen had never come right out and said such a thing. On the streets back home, Jared had done a few things for money that he found weren't entirely disagreeable. He sometimes wondered if he told Jensen, what the man would think. Would he be disgusted? Act differently towards him? Jared often wondered, too, why it meant so much to him.
With the lights off in the Big Top, it was darker than he thought it would be. As he took his place in the center ring, he could hear people whispering, trying to figure out what was going on. Jensen had been nervous introducing him. He hadn't given Jared's name. He'd only said that he was a master of pyrotechnics. Jared had supposed that was true.
With a snap of his fingers, Jared lit center circle with a quiet, amber glow. From where the audience sat, they couldn't tell if it was true magic, or that perhaps Jared had a lighter in his hands. He could barely make out a few of the faces in the crowd, but he could see that eyes were trained on him. It was kind of liberating, doing the show like this. Jared felt that maybe, for the first time in a long time, he could be himself.
The Magician wasn't the only one to have a few tricks up his sleeve tonight. In full costume of a military-style jacket, undershirt, trousers and riding boots, Jared moved the flame from hand to hand as he shed his jacket. He did the same thing again, unbuttoning the shirt underneath the jacket, shedding it, too. The audience gasped at his tattooed torso, but he did not let his concentration waver. He kept his eyes on the fire, soon tossing it into the air and catching it again. He threw the fireball into the air again and again, each time a little higher than the others. On the last catch, he let the fire fall into his mouth. It went down his throat, to the gasps of the audience, and momentarily lit the edges of his tattoo. The onlookers clapped, talking quietly amongst themselves. He lit another flame with the snap of his fingers and started twirling it. Eventually, the ring of flames was big enough for him to step through. He threw the flaming hoop into the air, the sound of the flames as intimidating as the sight of them. The audience cried out when he caught it again, so sure that he was going to get burned.
In the firelight, Jared caught a glimpse of Jensen, off to the side and watching him. He knew he hadn't been there in center ring long, but he remembered Jensen's words. “Keep it quiet and simple.” Jared decided that wrapping up the act soon would benefit not only him, but the circus as well. The people would come to Jensen, asking him to let Jared perform again so that they could pay for more tickets to see him. At which point Jensen would, no doubt, play it up a little to get the most money he could from the crowds. Who could blame him? It was their livelihood.
With a big show, Jared twisted and turned, making the fire ring smaller and smaller, until it was a ball again, fitting in the palm of his hand. He made the flames grow brighter for a moment, and then ended the act with clapping his hands together. There was so much force there, that the fire sparked wildly, looking like a small explosion to the audience, and then all went silent and dark.
“That was amazing,” Chris said. They were all crowded along the midway, talking amidst the dingy amber glow that came from the lights strung above them. Colors flashed from rides and games beside them, all of which were being put to bed for the night.
“Thanks,” Jared said. He and Chris were helping the carnies close down for the evening, shutting up booths, turning off lights and picking up trash. Just like everyone else. Jared liked the feeling of being a part of their tightly knit group.
“How'd you learn to do that?”
Jared shrugged. “Tricks of the trade, I guess,” he lied.
“Bullshit,” Chris chuckled. “You know that me, of all people, would understand a phenomenon when I see it.”
Jared just looked away, smiling gently.
“Is it something to do with the tattoos?”
Chris wasn't going to let it go, so Jared gave in. “I think so,” he nodded.
“Still don't know where they came from?”
“Oh, I know where they came from,” Jared agreed. “I just don't understand them. Why I was chosen. And I'm not looking forward to fighting for them.”
“Someone wants to take them away?” Chris asked, chucking a torn stuffed animal into the trash.
“Something like that,” Jared returned. He saw Jensen by the front gate - which was just a rope tied across the midway. People could easily storm the place, but they never did. “I'll catch up in a little while,” he told Chris, then made a beeline for Jensen.
Jensen tied the rope and then turned to find Jared nearing him.
“Hey,” he greeted.
“Hey yourself,” Jensen smiled. “You were amazing. We've already had requests to stay an extra four nights. People want to see you.”
“That's great, right?” Jared grinned at him.
“I don't know,” Jensen said, suddenly frowning. “What if the Service finds out?”
Smiling brighter, Jared shook his head. “I don't know,” he replied. “From my experience, the Service isn't very well liked. I think it's only a matter of time before they find out exactly how much they're hated. I think people might be better than you think.”
Jensen took a deep breath. “Let's hope so.”
PART FIVE