The Wayward Star by Jenn Stark

Author:Jenn Stark [Stark, Jenn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781943768585
Publisher: Elewyn Publishing

16

“Sweet Winged Victory on a cracker,” Nikki crowed. “Those wings seriously work?”

Simon laughed. “Not exactly. The Magician is cheating. Those aren’t really what’s keeping him aloft.”

“They sure seem like they are,” Brody said, also squinting up.

I could only stare. While the other gymnasts twirled and whirled with the help of their trapezes and ropes, the Magician’s leads were all for show. He soared through the sky with a speed and dexterity that made my head spin, delighting the watchers below who either didn’t know or didn’t care that he was performing these acrobatic feats without the benefit of a high wire. He wasn’t alone either. A silver-garbed woman who also sported wings leapt and twirled beside him, letting him catch her and fling her to the next rope, though he remained untethered. A third figure danced with them in the air, this one clad in black, rendering her figure little more than a stain against the sky.

“Who the hell are they?” Brody asked, saving me the trouble.

“Two of the family representatives,” Simon said. He turned to me. “They’re gonna want you up there, Sara, and you should probably lose the cape. I can give you my wings?”

“I’m, ah…good. Thanks.”

Sure enough, as I watched the others twirl through the air, I felt my own extra appendages stir in my back. I didn’t generally like to think of the fact that I’d grown wings recently, incarnations of searing-hot energy that scored my back like the flames of a thousand burning suns anytime I tried to use them, but…I did have them, after all. It would be silly to strap on Simon’s contraption.

“Off you go, then,” Simon said. “You’re going to get a leg up, looks like.”

“I…” I lifted my gaze as I felt an undeniable tug on the top of my right shoulder, almost as if the Magician was reaching down to lift me bodily from fifty feet away. While imagining the two arcs of fire unfolding from my back, I gave an experimental hop, cheeks burning with embarrassment and the heat from my own appendages as they burned through my clothing and spread wide. I wasn’t sure how the rest of my dress remained intact, but at least for the moment, it did. Was I seriously trying this?

I seriously was—and succeeding. Instead of my usual highly impressive three-inch vertical leap, I soared straight up on my first hop, shooting well beyond the top of the tent and into the night. I’d leapt easily a hundred feet at the first go, and my wings stretched wide behind me, miraculously holding me aloft.

Fortunately, I wasn’t alone. As my wings spread wide, incandescent against the midnight velvet sky, the Magician rose to my level. While my wings were a fiery red, his were silvery bright, and he circled me almost lazily, while my feet churned in the air. I never was good at treading water.

“Was this your idea?” I asked, trying to keep the gasp out of my voice. I also wasn’t so great with heights.

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