The Lioness and The King {Phillip Carlyle and Anne Wheeler}

Ch.1: Unique Persons and Curiosities

Leona's POV

While my brother, Leo, and I were on a walk around the city looking for food to steal two girls ran by with flyers in their hands and dropped one. I picked it up and showed it to my brother we looked at each other and knew what we wanted to do. The girls weren't far and I called them "Hey girls," they turned around and were at first stunned by my eyes and hair and then ran up to me and said "Miss would you like to come with us to the Barnum museum, your eyes and hair are just beautiful." I then smiled and said "I was just about to ask because my brother and I have another skill other than my hair and eyes." Their eyes widened and said "What is that?" I put my finger in front of my lips and said "Shhhh it's a secret but if you come closer I'll tell you." They immediately came closer and I whispered "My brother and I have pet lions and leopards." They gleamed with glee and said "Follow us you must meet our father." 

When we got to the building their was a short line but it built up after some time in front of us were two people, brother and sister, my brother could not staring at the girl. I whispered to him "Some one likes a girlllll." He jabbed me with his elbow and said "Shut up." Behind us was a man with many tattos. When the sibling duo was done it was our turn We sat down and the man said "Hi I'm P.T. Barnum, and you are..." I smiled and said "Leona Martinez." My brother then said "Leo Martinez." P.T. then continued  "I can already see your eyes and hair will be a beautiful addition to my show, but what about your brother?" I then smile and said "Thank you, but I do have another skill that my be useful as well as my brother. We have pet lions and leopards that we have trained to do tricks." He smiled and said "That's great, they are going to love you." I smiled and warned him "They may not want us on stage." He then said "I thrive on controversy." We smiled and went home to our abandoned warehouse.

When I got inside I called "Luna!!!! Cleo!!!!" They came runing out and jumped on top of me cuddling me. I laughed and said "Hi to you too." They licked my face. I then got up and gave them some food and water. They scoffed it down really fast. My brother then called "Serg!!!!! Kovu!!!!!" They jumped down and rubbed against him. He then gave them food and water. 

I clapped "Ok guys ready to train we are now show people." Luna and Cleo were running and jumping all over the place when I told them too. And for my final trick I set up some boxes for them to jump over I then went to the higher level of the warehouse. I whistled and they jumped the boxes, while they were jumping I jumped on top of them and rode them down. I rewarded them with meat and cuddles and they sat down next to me. Leo then called his leopards to start training. After their hunting tricks, Leo had one final trick. He called them and whistled for them to run up the wall and backflip back while he did the same. We switched our final tricks every time so our animals knew the same tricks. He then rewarded them with meat and pets. I smiled at him and said "I think we are ready. What about you guys?" My lions roared while his leopards did the same. I then went upstairs with my lions and laid down and slept with them waiting for the morning to get ready for our show.

Early in the morning before dawn we put the pets in a carriage we had and immediately sped to the museum before anyone could see them. By the time we got their it was dawn and we saw P.T. just opening up. I immediately smiled and said "Hey Mr. Barnum where do we park to load the animals." He turned around in suprise and said "Please call me P.T. and you may park around back." We then loaded the lions and leopards inside. P.T. met us inside and said "Wow they are beautiful. May I touch them?" I smiled and said "You may but not anywhere near the face because they are touchy their." He went around and pet Luna's back and then went to Serg and pet him as well. "They are extraordinary. How long did it take you to train them?" I then said "We found them as cubs abandoned so not that  long since we imprinted on them early." The people he signed then started showing up for practice. They were amazed to see our pets. Some coming to pet our domesticated exotic animals. The sibling duo then came to us and the brother said "I assume you two are siblings as well." We smiled and nodded. He put his hand out along with his sister and said "W.D. Wheeler." and his sister then said "Anne Wheeler. It's a pleasure." I smiled and said "Leona Martinez. Pleasure." while my brother finished saying "Leo Martinez." I then said "And this is Luna and Cleopatra or Cleo for short." while my brother finished with "This is Serg and Kovu." Anne smiled along with her brother and asked "May we pet them?" I then said "Yes but only the back, they are touchy every where else." P.T. then called "All right everyone I would like to practice for the show." Barnum organized our acts together along with music and dancing. 

Before practice was over Barnum came up to my brother and I asking if we were willing to combine on an act. We agreed. Barnum then lead us outside with my lions and my brothers leopards. He then said "I saw your last trick with your lions is that interchangeable with the leopards?" I then said "Yes the tricks the lions know the leopards know and the tricks the leopards know the lions know." He the told us the idea of having my brother and I with W.D and Anne on the trapeze and all four of us landing on the lions and the leopards. We agreed to it and said "We can do that but Anne and W.D. would have to get acquainted with Luna, Cleo, Serg, and Kovu." P.T. then said "Ok great!!!! We can start now." P.T. then told us about another act with the heaviest man where I would go on one end of the seesaw and he would jump on the other and I would flip and land on Luna. I agreed and then he asked if the lions and the leopards could sit on one side of the seesaw and the heaviest man on the other. We agreed and began training them with the heaviest man. Luna, Cleo, Serg, and Kovu immediately loved Anne and W.D. We agreed the W.D. would land on Luna and Anne on Kovu because Lions would be able to carry W.D.'s weight better than the leopards and vice versa with Anne and Kovu.

We were now ready for our first show.