Thirteen

Thirteen - Chapter Seventeen

We stood near the entrance of the tent, looking into the darkness.

    "Are you sure you want to do this?" Derek muttered, staring at the black of the tent.

    I swallowed and shook my head. "No, but if I don't the Ringmaster will keep killing innocent people and will never leave the town alone. I can't let that happen"

    "Well, just be careful," Merlin told me nervously. "There's no knowing what could be waiting in there"

    "And don't worry. We'll help if you need it," Candace grabbed my hand. "You're not alone"

    "I know" I nodded and tried another go at swallowing the lump in my throat. I sucked in a deep breath and walked through the wide mouth of the tent. Inside the only light was the bright pool in the middle, circling the outline of the sawdust ring.

    Where the Ringmaster stood.

    "You decided to come back" He stated, loading his revolver slowly. I walked forward to the side of the clearly drawn chalk line on the floor and stopped right on the edge of light. Taking a deep breath, I shifted my hair and eyes back to their original colour and smiled at him.

    "Did you miss me?" I grinned.

    "Why did you have to run?" He shook his head, clicking his gun into place and staring down at it. "Now I'm going to have to kill you so you don't tell anyone"

    I laughed through my nose. "You can try"

    He smiled and pointed his gun at me. "I will succeed" He fired one shot and the world slowed down around me.

    The light bounced off the silver bullet as it twirled towards me and I stared as it shimmered through the light and embed itself into my arm. I was prepared for it to hurt and grabbed my arm, my knees wobbling slightly.

    But I felt nothing. No pain, no blood.

    I looked down and saw my skin was metallic. Staring at it in disbelief, I plucked out the silver bullet. As soon as the bullet was gone, the metal patched itself up and shifted back into skin.

    "Whoa..." I breathed. I flicked the bullet to the floor and looked at him. "Do you want to try again?"

    The Ringmaster looked at me with disbelief and started firing round after round, each sinking itself into my arms or legs and each time I pulled them out. I walked forward as he shot me and when I was close enough I punched him in the face.

    He fell to the floor and I picked up his gun, aiming it at me, and shook my hand, my knuckles hurting slightly.

    "Goodbye," I smiled, shutting my eyes and pulling the trigger. When I opened them he was gone. "Where are you?" I searched the tent, twirling round on the spot.

    "We're everywhere..." Voices whispered around me. I pointed the gun when the voices got too close.

    "Stop moving!" I demanded, spinning around to follow the voices. A blur zoomed past me and knocked me to my feet. I dropped the gun and it vanished before it could touch the floor. "Why are you hiding, Ringmaster? Fight like a man!"

    "If you insist" He suddenly stepped out of the darkness and I jumped to my feet, dodging his punch. His fist landed in the ground and kicked up dust. I stumbled on my feet and he fired a couple of rounds at me, and I luckily dodged each one. Soon he ran out of bullets and tossed his gun to the side. Grabbing his whip, he cracked it in the air. I tumbled out of the way of his whip as he tried to get me with it. Over and over he tried to nick me with his leather bull whip and each time I either jumped or dived out of the way.