Chapter 12 #2
By now all three are flaming, and Caspian begins sending them back to Dylan.
He catches them and whips them around his body—up and down, through his legs, under and over.
All of a sudden, he starts catching them all in one hand.
While the crowd is waiting on the edge of their seats, eager to see what’s coming next, he holds one of the batons high for showmanship then puts the flame into his mouth and closes his lips around it, putting it out.
“How does he do that?”
“Doesn’t it burn his mouth?”
“Maybe he really is a dragon.”
One by one, he puts out the batons, smoke swirling around his head and billowing out of his mouth every time he opens it to put out another flame.
More artificial smoke drifts across the arena and up into the stands, joining the haze left over from the batons.
It’s very cleverly done. The artificial smoke also has a distinct smell to it, which must be what the grandpas were telling me about on the first day.
Makes people suspend their disbelief while fogging their senses ever so slightly.
He puts out all the flames then takes a flourishing bow.
The audience erupts into applause while Dylan puts the batons down and steps to the side, giving Caspian the centerstage spot.
He’s holding eight balls in his hands, all glowing brightly.
He hands five to Dylan then starts juggling the other three, and after a while, Dylan starts throwing extra balls into the mix.
By the end, Caspian is juggling all eight.
As this happens, Eric reappears on the stage in a flash of smoke.
“Audience of all ages, are these men not amazing?”
“It’s good but nothing I’ve never seen before.”
“The guy before was better. This dude’s only juggling balls.”
“What’s that, I hear?” he questions dramatically, holding a hand up to his ear. “Not so impressed? Well, what if we doubled the amount? Watch very closely as I wave my cane and say the magic word. Abracadabra!”
In a burst of light and sparkles, with some special effects smoke thrown in, two-legged Caspian disappears.
Eight-legged OctoCaspian reappears, juggling all eight balls with his six legs...
um... tentacles and his two human arms while two more tentacles hold him up.
There’s stunned silence throughout the dome, the audience so quiet you could probably hear a pin drop. More whispers.
“Holy shit.”
“No fucking way.”
“Wait, is that a costume?”
“How did they do that?”
“It’s got to be animatronics.”
“Oh, did you think I meant we were going to double the amount of balls? I obviously meant legs, though it’s more like quadruple.” Eric laughs, gesturing to Caspian, and then he and Dylan start throwing more balls until even I lose count.
The audience erupts into thunderous applause, and Eric gestures with his cane again, cueing another flash, sparkle, and some smoke. All the balls drop to the floor and bounce away before Caspian appears again in human form. The applause continues while Dylan and Caspian take a bow.
“Wow,” I whisper to William and John. “That was just… wow.” I lean back in my seat and release a heavy breath. The performance has been going for about thirty minutes, but it’s so fast paced I didn’t even notice the time. “Just wait,” William says smugly.
John interjects next, basically as expected. “That was only the warm-up. Pay close attention to the next act. As the future ringmaster, you’ll be heavily involved in it as you become the ‘lion tamer.’”
I turn to him, mouth open in shock. “I’m sorry, what did you say? Because I thought you said I would become the lion tamer, but that’s just not possible. I know nothing about lions. I thought you were just joking when you told me that the first day!”
“Oh hush.” That’s William this time. I must have gotten a bit loud in my confusion because I’ve attracted the eyes and much too interested ears of a few audience members sitting near us.
He whispers in my ear, “They’re not real big cats.
Well, they are, but they’re the shifters you met the other day.
If you have their respect, you have nothing to worry about. They will follow your lead.”
John grunts, and I turn to look at him. “Have you got something to add?”
“Yeah, after what you did to Natalia, that may be a bit tricky. She thinks that all the other male cats belong to her. Having another female come in, especially one above her in the pecking order, is going to be a big problem.” I bite my lip in worry, sneaking a glance at William.
“No, it won’t,” he says, sitting back and crossing his arms. “I’ve sorted it. They don’t play nice, then we get new cats. Maybe a new species, who knows, but I’m pretty sure between Maxsim and Echo, they will fix it. Now, shush and watch.”
While we were talking, the crew collected the balls and cleared the arena for the next act. Eric is now talking again, his voice booming out.
“What an act! Weren’t they amazing? Well, we warmed you up with that one, and now we are going to cool you down... way down. If you need to, feel free to reach under your seats. We have provided blankets for people to wrap around themselves as the temperature is about to drop.”
“Cold?”
“Why is it going to get cold?”
“They can’t make it that cold, can they?”
I can see people following Eric’s directions, their brows furrowed in disbelief.