Chapter 3
Chapter Three
The following evening, Svetlana arrived an hour before the show to prepare.
The props remained backstage where she’d left them, and she checked them over as the bar filled with patrons.
The examination was to ensure they’d not been tampered with, as some people thought it funny to puncture the ball just enough so that it exploded when her brother stood on it.
Or they loosened the wheel on the trike.
The few times it had happened, sending her brother tumbling ignobly, she’d been livid enough she almost encouraged Yuri to eat those responsible.
Speaking of whom, her brother lay backstage with his head on his paws, napping from boredom.
However, he’d been anything but the previous night after their late-night visitor, Idris, a burly man with tanned skin, who could transform like her brother.
The shock that went through her when he’d suddenly turned into a bear to rival Yuri’s had rocked her to the core.
They’d never met someone else who could change shape.
More astonishing? Idris’ claim he’d been made by his military.
Surely such a thing couldn’t be possible, but why lie?
Putting aside her skepticism, she’d analyzed their noticeable differences, not only in the type of bear Idris became, but also the fact that it took but a simple injury for him to shift.
Obviously not God-blessed like Yuri, who merely had to concentrate to morph.
She still remembered the first time it happened.
Yuri had been in the hospital for weeks after his accident—riding his bike too fast and hitting a bump that flipped him over his handlebars.
She’d panicked when she’d first visited him in the hospital, his coma requiring a breathing tube shoved down his throat.
Doctors predicted he’d never wake and callously kept pushing for her to sign off on his organs for donation.
Svetlana refused. As if she’d give up on the only family she had left.
The brother who’d protected her from her uncle’s drunken fists after their parents died.
Who’d worked and saved so that they could escape their wretched situation and live on their own.
Now he needed her to advocate, and she did, sitting by his bedside daily, watching the nurses and doctors intently to ensure they didn’t cause Yuri any harm.
While not a religious person, she’d prayed, prayed to any god that might listen.
The pressure from the doctors to pull the plug kept mounting when Yuri showed no signs of recovery. Frustrated, and in tears, she’d began thumping Yuri’s chest, yelling at him to wake up.
His eyes did end up opening, but only after he suddenly transformed into a bear.
She still remembered the disbelief, how she’d recoiled and stumbled away from the bed holding the massive furry beast—a beast who looked at her with Yuri’s blue eyes.
He’d thrown himself from the bed, yanking the tubes from his body and setting off alarms. Knowing staff would be coming at a run, she’d done the only thing she could think of. Grabbed a chair and smashed the window before huffing, “Get outside, quick. Go to our secret spot. I’ll meet you there.”
To her relief, Bear-Yuri understood and shoved his wide furry butt through the frame and disappeared from sight.
She’d rushed to peek and see how badly he’d fallen, only to see him using his claws to climb down the brick.
As she watched him hit the ground, a nurse ran in screaming, “Where’s the patient? ”
Thinking quickly, Svetlana pointed to the broken window. The nurse rushed over in time to see Yuri’s hind end disappearing between cars parked in the lot.
“Was that a bear?” the nurse had exclaimed.
“It was,” Svetlana confirmed. To everyone who questioned her in the hour that followed, she repeated the same strange and improbable tale, that a bear had broken the window and stolen her brother. It might not have been believed, if not for the nurse who’d seen Yuri running off.
A search was conducted that included animal control armed with guns.
They never did find the bear, or her brother.
Svetlana should have won an award for her hysterical act.
She’d cried and wailed, played victim and even accuser, screaming that the hospital’s lack of security had led to her brother’s demise.
Everyone apologized and quickly rushed her out of the hospital, lest her meltdown cause panic with other patients.
Svetlana had hurried to the tiny room she and Yuri shared, quickly packing a bag with clothing and all the money they had before heading to the bridge, more specifically, the little hideaway she and Yuri used to visit when their uncle went on a rampage.
There she found the bear. She’d not said a word, just thrown her arms around his furry frame and hugged.
In the midst of that embrace, Yuri changed back into himself and, to her astonishment, showed no sign of injury.
A miracle, but it came with a cost. They had to leave Moscow, lest Yuri’s reappearance bring about questions they couldn’t answer.
They’d been on the move since, with Yuri learning how to switch in and out of his bear at will, using his gift to earn money for them to survive.
However, the renumeration for their act wasn’t always consistent.
Maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to push Idris away.
She’d not been entirely joking about the fact that two bears sparring would have been lucrative.
At the same time, though, Idris’ weakness, the fact pain caused him to shift, would have risked exposing them.
Not something they could afford, seeing as how scientists and doctors would likely love to get their hands on Yuri.
Their nomadic lifestyle meant they didn’t have a place to call home, and the fact they never stayed more than a few weeks or months in any given spot made any kind of relationship impossible.
The longest Svetlana had managed was a few months with Yannik, but she ended up leaving town with her brother when she found out by accident that Yannik worked for the KGB.
The liar had claimed to be a simple government clerk.
She should have known better, given how secretive he became whenever his phone rang.
She doubted Idris worked for the KGB. For one, he wasn’t Russian, but she did have doubts about his claim that he’d been created by his military.
Still, that didn’t stop her from wondering if she’d see him again.
Perhaps, despite his disapproval, he’d return for tonight’s show.
Blame that possibility for why she put more care and attention than usual into her appearance.
She wasn’t blind to his attractiveness and rugged appeal.
It had been a while since she’d been with someone intimately.
Would he be easy to seduce? If she did run into him again, perhaps she’d see if he was open to a tryst. A woman had needs, after all.
“It’s time,” a jovial Boris announced as he joined her backstage. “Hope your bear is in fine form, because the place is packed. We had to turn people away.”
Excellent news. Last night’s receipts and payout had been decent, considering the bar had been half full.
“Ready to start the show?” Boris asked.
“Ready when you are.”
After a flamboyant introduction, Svetlana and Yuri emerged to raucous applause.
The show proved even more lively than the night before, with some returning patrons immediately holding up full glasses and bottles of vodka.
At first, things went well. Yuri performed his roster of tricks without mishap.
There was a moment when he balanced on the ball where she feared the alcohol might have gotten to him, but he managed to keep himself upright and finish that bit.
The problem arose when she tried to say goodnight.
“Time for Yuri to go to bed. Thank you for coming. If you’d like—”
“We want more!” A man, his face flushed with inebriety, slammed his fists on the table by the stage.
“I’m afraid Yuri needs to sleep off all that vodka. But if you come back tomorrow—"
“Now!” The belligerent drunk stood and pumped his fist. He ended up being joined by several others, all shouting and demanding.
Svetlana glanced at Yuri, a silent message passing between them. No pictures tonight. Time to leave.
She headed for the wings, Yuri on her heels.
“I said more tricks!” The agitator hopped onto the stage and headed for her with a glower and clenched fists.
Her brother predictably stood between Svetlana and the threat, uttering a low growl.
“He’s not worth it, Yuri,” she said softly.
A fight between a man and a bear, even if justified, would always result in the human winning in the court of public opinion, and with police.
The one and only time it happened, they’d gotten lucky, with Yuri managing to make it outside and change shapes in time.
The crowd, looking to skin a bear, streamed out moments after, ignoring the naked victim of theft lying on the ground.
Unfortunately, Svetlana got hauled in for questioning and was charged with assault, the police reasoning she’d used her bear as a weapon.
She might have rotted in a cell if Yuri hadn’t managed to help her escape by charming the woman left on duty overnight.
They quickly fled St. Petersburg and laid low for months, keeping the bear out of sight, working menial jobs that led to hunger and frustration. Eventually, they started their act again, with Yuri promising he would behave.
Sober Yuri had no problem with that. Drunken bear, though…
The sotted man grinned and put up his fists. “I think the bear wants to fight.”
And the crowd wanted it too. People began shouting and laying bets. This wouldn’t end well.
To her surprise, someone stepped between the agitated bear and the man looking to die.
Idris.