Blackfin Sky (32 page)

The great spoked wheels cast long fingers of shadow, pointing further under the compartment where Severin had first told her she was a Pathfinder.

Sky lay on her back and felt along the underside of the caravan. Cool metal and patches of rust stung her fingers, but there didn’t seem to be any nook big enough to secrete the skull.

Surely he wouldn’t have lied about it…

Just as the doubt entered her mind, a flash of light showed her where the box had been tucked just behind the wheel arch. Everything was silent for a moment, and then terrified screams rang out over the unmistakable roar of fire.

Sky tugged the box free, then crawled out from under the caravan.

Oh God…

The flash of light had come from the Big Top, but all around the central structure, smaller tents and kiosks were now burning with a fury, trails of smoke rising up into the night.

The tent where Sky had left Severin with Gage and the toddler Jared was burning, too.

Cradling the small box with one arm, Sky sprinted back across the field to the tent, now hardly recognisable. The outer tarpaulin had all but disintegrated, and what remained was swaying dangerously in the wind, sending sparks out to fizzle against her dressing gown. Still, she stepped closer, shielding her eyes against the heat with her free hand. But a loud creaking stopped her.

‘Get out of here!’

She could hardly see Severin for a moment, but then caught sight of his upper body sticking out from underneath a burning crate.

‘Where’s Jared – uh,
Jimmy
?’

Severin coughed, choking on the smoke. ‘Gage got him out. But get you gone now,
chère
!’

Sky almost darted forward, but the whistling descent of one of the tent’s support struts stopped her. A moment later, the blazing metal beam impaled the ground where she’d been standing.

‘I can’t leave you like this!’

He didn’t answer for a long moment, and Sky started to panic that he’d lost consciousness.

‘You’re what’s keeping me here, sweetness. You have my anchor!’

Sky could hardly hear his words over the roar of the blaze, but the moment she heard the word
anchor
she understood. By running back over to the burning tent carrying Severin’s anchor, she had prevented him from escaping along one of the pathways, effectively trapping him inside.

‘I’m leaving now!’ she shouted, not sure whether he would hear her or if it even mattered.

Lightning threaded through her mind as the pathways opened up in a web around her, through her. And she saw her own anchor there, calling to her like a beacon.

Sky didn’t even wait for the pathways to settle before she felt her body become weightless, and she was travelling faster than light, faster than time.

28

Faster than light, yet somehow precisely the right speed to materialise in the front seat of Sean’s moving jeep.

Sean yelled, then swerved before righting the car and pulling over to the side of the road.

‘Sky, where have you been? Is that soot?’

Sky, still catching her breath, looked down at her black-smeared and slightly sizzled dressing gown. ‘Uh…’

‘And why can I smell cooked meat?’

‘I’m afraid that is probably me.’

Sky and Sean both whirled in their seats and found themselves face to face with a smirking – and slightly charred-looking – Severin.

‘You
followed
me?’

Sky’s eyes went wide. Severin was meant to have died in the fire, so shouldn’t have been able to travel to any point beyond that. His pathways should have ended, trapping him as surely as being near his anchor had kept him tied to that one spot in the burning tent.

Wait a minute…

Sky looked down at the box still clutched to her chest.

‘I didn’t have too many options,
chère
. You have my anchor right there,’ Severin confirmed with a shrug. Sky grinned, feeling a rush of unexpected joy at seeing him again.

‘Uh, Sky? Who the hell is that?’

Severin crossed his arms and said, ‘Augustus William Severin the Third. And I’m her daddy, is who I am. Who in heck are you, son?’

If they hadn’t been stationary, Sean would have crashed his jeep.

‘Severin, this is Sean. He’s my, uh…’

‘I’m her boyfriend.’

Severin studied Sean for a long moment before turning back to Sky. ‘You could do better,
chère
. But in all seriousness, shouldn’t we be saving your mama?’

When Sky looked at Sean, he was already restarting the engine, shaking his head slightly.

‘Just tell me where to go.’

The iron gates blocking the way into Blackfin Woods were no longer gates, per se, but more a mangled heap of metal flung to the side of the path.

‘Looks like Jared found my dad,’ Sky muttered, and caught Sean frowning at her. ‘What’s wrong? I mean, apart from the obvious.’

‘What exactly is Gage’s agenda? I mean, yes – I understand that his mind-control power is amplified by the amber skull, but so what? Why does he need it so badly?’

Sky had no answer. Severin, however, did.

‘I met Gage not long after he discovered the skull back in New Orleans. There was a travelling circus Downtown, and when the authorities tried to arrest Gage for stealing the skull from the museum, he used his power to manipulate the circus performers into helping him escape. And by helping him escape, I mean murdering a whole mess of folks. I think that’s where the idea came from – that he would gather all these people with particular talents around him, take over the circus, and use their gifts to line his pockets while protecting him at the same time.’

‘Is that why he started kidnapping kids, like my dad?’

Sky saw Severin nod in the reflection of the rear-view mirror.

‘Guillaume was eleven when Gage spotted him in Belle Dame du Pont, a little French village where the circus stopped for a spell. Guillaume was this lanky kid who was so clumsy he couldn’t have hidden his strength even if he’d wanted to.’ Severin laughed. ‘He wasn’t the first, but he was certainly Gage’s favourite for a while. But Guillaume had too much spine for Gage’s liking. He’d gotten dangerous, and by the time his folks showed up at the Big Top, I reckon Gage was really starting to worry.’

‘So Gage killed Dad’s family to try to keep him in line?’

The shock on Severin’s face was unmistakable.

‘He did what?’

‘He killed them. My mum showed me what happened – Gage went to the house and used his mind trick thing to make my grandfather go postal. He killed his whole family.’

All the colour had drained from Severin’s face.

‘
Chère
, I had no idea … Poor Guillaume. I didn’t know Gage had gotten so twisted.’

Sean raised an eyebrow but kept his eyes on the path in front of them. ‘Because the kidnapping and mind-controlling weren’t enough of a clue?’

Severin laughed. ‘I’ve changed my mind, daughter. He’ll do.’

The jeep trundled on into the woods, following the narrow path which had once been a track leading to the church and the circus beyond.

‘Oh, my God, what is he doing?’ Sky leaned forward in her seat, horrified and transfixed by the sight of her father, a dark silhouette among the ruins up ahead, brandishing what appeared to be a spear aimed at Gage’s face.

Her mother sat with her back against a metal tent pole and her hands folded in her lap. Gage was either still controlling her, or whatever he had done had left Lily in some kind of trance.

Above the sound of the jeep’s engine, Sky heard her father shout something, then launch the metal post he had been holding towards Gage. Except it struck the ground nowhere near where Gage stood.

‘Gage is skewing what Guillaume sees,’ Severin explained, leaning forward to watch. ‘He’d never have missed otherwise.’

Sky remembered seeing the hulking figure of her father the first time she had travelled back to the circus. He had been throwing hatchets at a spinning target at the time.

‘We should call Aunt Holly.’ Sean slid his phone from his coat pocket and handed it to Sky.

Seeing Severin’s questioning look, Sky explained. ‘Sean’s aunt is a police officer.’ The look changed to one of horror.

‘Skylar, you do understand that if the police come and find your papa attempting to murder an old mute fellow in the woods, it’s not likely to look good for Guillaume?’

‘But Gage murdered his parents! And the Swivellers, too. And kidnapped all those people for his circus.’

Severin looked at her levelly. ‘Prove it. As ringmaster, I was the one the police thought was behind it all. And Gage always made sure the circus moved on before the police could catch up with me.’

Sean and Sky exchanged a look before he took back his phone and slid it into his pocket with a sigh.

‘So what do we do when we reach them?’ They would reach the clearing in a matter of seconds. ‘If Gage can mess with our minds, how can we get him to let your mother go?’

‘He said he’d let her go once I hand over the skull,’ Sky said quietly, but Gage would have no reason to keep his word once he had it. He could simply brainwash them
all
if he wanted to.

‘It will mean I’m tied to him again,’ Severin said.

Sky’s stomach dropped. Of course he would be chained to Gage if she gave up Severin’s anchor. He’d spent years under the mime’s thrall, and now he was about to be put in exactly the same position – only now he was sixteen years in the future.

Could Sky really exchange Severin for her mother?

The jeep skidded to a halt just short of the first twisted tent pole. Gui had wrenched another from the ground, and swung it like a bat to try to hit Gage instead of throwing it at him.

‘He still can’t see where Gage is,’ Severin muttered next to her. Sean stood at her side and chewed his lip, like he wished he had a strawberry lace to worry instead.

‘One of us needs to distract Gage so the others can get Mum out of there.’

‘I’ll do it,’ Sean offered. Severin rolled his eyes.

‘No, it’s better if I do it, son. I’m valuable to Gage, so he’s less likely to do something … unpleasant. If this doesn’t go well, give him the skull. I’ll think of some way to get it back later.’

Shaking his head like he couldn’t quite believe what he was doing, Severin crept around to the far side of the ruined tent before entering the rough circle of the remaining tent poles.

Moving as stealthily as they could, Sky and Sean made their way to Lily. Sky heard her mother humming softly to herself.

‘Hang fire there, would you, Gui? I’d rather not have you hit a home run with my head.’

Severin strode into the centre of the circle, his arms held wide – the consummate showman. But Gui had already spun to see who had spoken, and with his momentum the metal pole came swinging around.

‘Dad! No!’

All three stopped and turned to look at Sky as she ran toward them. Gage’s face twisted into an ugly grin.

He held out his hands to her, one beckoning her forward, the other waiting for the skull. The trees at the edge of her vision seemed to lean in, and the world became distorted; the next moment, she was standing in front of Gage, placing the box in his outstretched hand.

His smile was triumphant.

Sky tried to move, to turn to look at her father and Severin behind her, but it was as though the command didn’t reach her limbs. All she could see was what was right in front of her: Gage’s vile grin, his deft fingers sliding open the top of the box, the crooked pole where her mother had been sitting moments earlier.

Lily was gone.