Gifted, A Donovan Circus Novel Read Online Free PDF

and probably will not even let you near
the animals at first for safety reasons.”
    I nodded and ducked beneath a
man who carried large parrots on both extended arms. He didn’t even notice as I
twisted my body to avoid ruffling any feathers. My mouth dropped as the parrot
gave me a dirty look.
    “You will be fine with it after
time. At first, you will probably see things as extremely chaotic, but we do
have a good rhythm of where to be at certain times and what needs to get done.
You can pick it up fast,” Delia said.
    I hadn’t realized where we were
headed until we were in an empty section of field next to the lot. I heard
laughter and turned to see five or six people headed to the same area. Delia
had brought me to meet other Firestarters.

 

Chapter 3

 
    “Stop looking like you are on
the way to the executioner, silly. I will help with the introductions,” Delia
said.
    She winked at me and took off in
a blur. She ran circles around the group that now stood in the field. Tall
grass surrounded an extremely large dirt plot with weeds and cigarette butts. I
took my time walking over and listened to them laugh as Delia, a dark haze,
created a small dust storm around them.
    “She keeps this up and I’m gonna
clothesline her. My hair looks good today,” a girl commented.
    “Sorry, Bianca,” Delia shouted.
I heard her skid to a stop before I saw her, thanks to all the now-settling
dust. There were five people, three guys and two girls, and they all gave me
curious looks. Each of them looked around my age.
    “Everyone, this is Lucy. I
wanted her to come and meet you before the meeting,” Delia said.
    I wondered why this group came
out here to practice when they could do it as easily in the tents. The thought
had only briefly crossed my mind before one of the girls looked my way. She had
blue streaks in her long black hair, very muscular arms covered in tattoos, and
a couple of facial piercings.
    “We come here to let loose, new
girl,” she answered. When I quirked an eyebrow, she sighed and rolled her eyes.
“There’s not always enough room in the tents to really use our gifts. This
isn’t really rehearsal; it’s more like…blowing off steam. And I can hone in on
thoughts, so be careful what you think around here.”
    Great. On top of being the new
girl, now I would be the moron. This was already not going well. Delia cut in.
    “Lucy is a bit overwhelmed right
now, but give her more than a day and you will see why she belongs here.
Right?” she asked, giving me a sharp glance.
    “Oh. Um, right. I’ll work on
that,” I said.
    “You’re obviously not human or
you’d look a lot more terrified to be here,” one of the guys said. He gave me a
warm smile. “What’s your gift?”
    “I’m a Firestarter.”
    “Hey, me too. Never met a lady
Firestarter,” he replied. He walked over to me and offered his hand. “I’m
Keegan.”
    Keegan had short dark hair and
bright green eyes that I could see even from a few feet away. He left the “r”
out of his words with a strong New England accent; a few inches taller than me
and broad-shouldered, he was really cute. I immediately wondered if my hair was
doing that weird Jan Brady cowlick thing. Resisting the urge to flatten my long
bangs against the side of my head, I shook his hand.
    “Nice to meet you. How many Firestarters
are there, anyways?”
    “Counting you now, five of us,”
he replied.
    A short, stocky guy with several
tattoos and an abnormally red, short Mohawk stepped up beside Keegan. “I’m
Nikolas, also a Firestarter. Creator or carrier?”
    “I’m a creator,” I said, shaking
his hand.
    “I’m a carrier,” he said. He
stood very tall and took a lighter out of his pocket. That meant he could
control fire, even be immersed in it, but not produce it without a flame
present. It did not mean he was any less dangerous. “Nice to have another
redhead in the group.”
    “I think mine’s a little more
natural than yours,” I said with a