Released, p.1
Released, page 1
part #3 of Vagabond Circus Series
One-Twenty-Six Press.
Released
Sarah Noffke
Copyright © 2016 by Sarah Noffke
All rights reserved
Copyeditor: Christine LePorte
Cover Design: Andrei Bat
All rights reserved. This was self-published by Sarah Noffke under One-Twenty-Six Press. No parts of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. If you are seeking permission send inquiry at
http: www.sarahnoffke.com
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Summary: To some, death isn’t the worst case scenario. Living in an inescapable world ransacked by unspeakable evil, that’s much worse.
Published in the United States by One-Twenty-Six Press
ASIN: B01BFX0O74
Praise for Works:
“There are so many layers, so many twists and turns, betrayals and reveals. Loves and losses. And they are orchestrated beautifully, coming when you least expected and yet in just the right place. Leaving you a little breathless and a lot anxious. There were quite a few moments throughout where I found myself thinking that was not what I was expecting at all. And loving that.”
-Mike, Amazon
“The writing in this story was some of the best I've read in a long time because the story was so well-crafted, all the little pieces fitting together perfectly.”
-The Tale Temptress
“There are no words. Like literally. NO WORDS.
This book killed me and then revived me and then killed me some more. But in the end I was born anew, better.”
-Catalina, Goodreads
“Love this series! Perfect ending to an incredible series! The author has done this series right.”
-Kelly at Nerd Girl
“What has really made these books stand out is how much emotion they evoke from me as a reader, and I love how it comes from a combination of both characters and plot together. Everything is so intricately woven that I have to commend Sarah Noffke on her skills as a writer.”
-Anna at Enchanted by YA
For Stephanie Colman.
Because of your support.
And because you scare me.
Table of Contents
Reading Guide
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
PART II
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Chapter Seventy
Chapter Seventy-One
Chapter Seventy-Two
Chapter Seventy-Three
Chapter Seventy-Four
Chapter Seventy-Five
Epilogue
Acknowledgements:
About the Author
Reading Guide
Reading Guide
Sarah crafted the Dream Traveler universe and has 5 series that take place there. Characters from different series bounce between the books. The reading guide below offers a suggested order for consumption to decrease spoilers and stay on the timeline. The last three series listed can be read in any order.
For more information please visit Sarah’s website at www.sarahnoffke.com or email her at thedreamtravelers@gmail.com
Join the mailing list here for freebies, updates and more! http://www.sarahnoffke.com/connect/
A Dream Traveler Series: The Lucidites Series
Awoken, #1:
Stunned, #2
Revived, #3
A Dream Travelers Series: The Reverians
Defects, #1:
Rebels, #2
Warriors, #3
A Dream Traveler Series: Ren
Ren: The Man Behind the Monster, #1:
Ren: God’s Little Monster, #2
Ren: The Monster Inside the Monster, #3
Ren: The Monster’s Adventure, #3.5
Ren: The Monster’s Death, #4
A Dream Traveler Series: Olento Research
Alpha Wolf, #1:
Lone Wolf, #2
Rabid Wolf, #3
Bad Wolf, #4
A Dream Travelers Series: Vagabond Circus
Suspended, #1:
Paralyzed, #2
Released, #3
Soul Stone Mage Series: An Urban Fantasy Witch Adventure
House of Enchanted, #1:
Dark Forest, #2
Mountain of Truth, #3
Land of Terran, #4
New Egypt, #5
Lancothy, #6
Ghost Squadron Series: A Military Space Opera Adventure
Formation, #1
Exploration, #2
Evolution, #3
Degeneration, #4
Impersonation, #5
Chapter One
The temperature in the miniature big top seemed to have dropped suddenly. Zuma’s teeth chattered against each other as she stared at Finley beside her. She hardly recognized him suddenly. Everything that made him him had shifted. His confidence had drained in a single second. The fierceness in his greenish-hazel eyes was somehow stolen by Knight’s presence. Now Finley stood in Titus’s office motionless beside her, his eyes on the dirt ground, his pulse beating wildly in his neck.
Titus still had his head cradled in his hands, defeat oozing off his slumped shoulders. He reminded Zuma of an ostrich right then. The fact that Knight, the man responsible for Dave Raydon’s death, now owned the majority share of Vagabond Circus was the worst-case scenario. The man was dangerous and cruel and Titus was burying his head and pretending that it wasn’t happening.
Jack, who sat in his wheelchair beside Zuma, hadn’t shifted his reaction since setting his eyes on Knight. Zuma could see, using her combat sense, that Jack was in pure shock. His mouth had fallen open, his pulse had slowed. And besides these observations, Zuma’s telepathy told her that the thoughts streaming through his head were mostly unintelligible. Broke me. Bad man. Not happening. Nowhere to go.
Knight’s dark eyes looked all too pleased as they rested on Finley. He seemed to almost regard the boy with fondness, as if he’d missed him in the long three months since Finley’d escaped Knight’s compound. The man who stood before her wasn’t intimidating just because of all she knew of his cruelty or the fact that he, like Finley, could lock her out of his head. Knight’s very height made him appear like a monster to her. He was impossibly tall, maybe close to seven feet. His skin was the color of copy paper, and just as translucent. This made it easy to see the tiny expressions going on within him that told Zuma he was the only calm person inside the miniature big top.
“Now Finley,” Knight began, saying his name with a certain degree of power and conviction, like he owned the word, “this is what’s going to hap—”
“You’re the one who murdered Dave,” Zuma said, cutting him off and stepping forward, her eyes like sharp blades aiming to cut Knight.
NO! she heard Finley say in her mind. He briefly had opened a telepathic link, but as soon as she spun to look at him she knew it was closed. And Finley’s eyes were still locked on the ground, a hollow expression in them. Nothing about him communicated the urgent message he’d just sent to her.
Knight revolved his gaze on Zuma with a nonchalant expression. “I do believe my poor brother died from a heart attack. That’s what the coroner’s report stated,” he said, a smile in his voice, which reminded her of a bear’s growl.
“We all know it was you,” she said, vibrating with a hostility she’d never known before. “You and your kid—”
And then something else new happened to Zuma, cutting off her words. It wasn’t a telepathic message from Finley. It wasn’t a telepathic message from Titus or Jack, who hadn’t changed from their prior states. It felt as though a hammer had crashed onto the top of her head. Then blinding pain shot down her brain, all the way to the base of her skull, and radiated out until her entire head felt close to exploding. She clapped both her hands to her ears as the scream she couldn’t stop shot out of her mouth. Tears raced down her eyes and she fell to the ground. She’d buckled over from the pain. Lost the ability to hold herself up as the all-encompassing stabbing in her head stole her attention.
Over her she felt someone move but her senses weren’t operating right. The pain was too great for her to do anything but convulse from the tremors now raking through her body, which was simultaneously shivering and sweating.
“Oh, poor girl seems to have grown suddenly ill,” Knight said. “Titus, you should really take better care of your performers. They are your bread and butter, you know? Well, actually now they are mine, since I own Vagabond Circus.”
Zuma’s teeth were locked down right against each other when the pain finally melted into something manageable. She felt a hand under her arm. It sought to pull her up from the ground where she lay. Shaking, she rose as Titus’s arm slid around her shoulder to steady the girl. “It’s all right,” he said in her ear, a new gentle tone to his usually serious voice. “I’ll help you.”
She blinked the stars from her eyes to discover Finley was just staring at the ground, his hands lifeless by his side. At first she’d thought he was the one helping her, but he looked helpless now.
“I’m taking you and Jack to see Fanny,” Titus said, his back to Knight, his eyes on Zuma. “Can you walk so that I can push Jack?”
She slid her gaze to Jack, whose eyes on his pale face were bemused, like he was stuck in a nightmare. Zuma nodded. “Yes, let’s go,” she said, not daring to look directly at the man holding his arms across his chest with a satisfied expression written on his face. Knight, she knew, was responsible for the headache still making her feel close to exploding with pain. This was what he could do. This was how he maintained control. This had been why Finley had dared, for just a split second, to take down his shield to warn her. She knew it wouldn’t be safe for him to keep down the wall as it was the only thing that protected him from Knight. Zuma saw Knight in her peripheral, still not daring to look straight at the new owner of Vagabond Circus. Something in Zuma told her that she should never again look at him directly, if she wanted her head to remain pain free.
Chapter Two
A chill slid over the backs of Finley’s hands and inched over his arms, raising every hair as it took its path to his bunched up shoulders. He hadn’t followed Titus, Jack, and Zuma out of the office tent. He knew better. You didn’t leave Knight’s presence until he dismissed you unless you wanted to be punished at the next meeting.
A morbid laugh almost spilled from Finley’s mouth as his current reality sunk in. How had he thought he could beat Knight? Finley stupidly had believed at the compound that he could teleport into Knight’s quarters and negotiate for Zuma’s happiness, for the curse to be lifted. Not only had he been unrealistic, but he’d been unwise not to see all this coming. He cursed himself for not seeing that Knight would come after Vagabond Circus. Of course that’s what he’d been after. That had been the other motivation behind Knight’s revenge. And now Knight had won. He’d killed Dave, taken his circus and with it any chance Finley ever had of freedom or happiness.
Finley sensed the two figures approach behind him and he knew immediately that even if he wanted to teleport, he couldn’t. If he wanted to move at super speed, he couldn’t. Power-Stopper was behind him, in close enough proximity that she was robbing him of his dream travel skills. What Finley didn’t know was that Power-Stopper had graduated and now was named Gwendolyn. What Finley did know was that if he did try to run, Sebastian, the other person behind him, had every chance of catching him. Touching him. Killing him with a single hand clasped to his arm. As he had been his entire life, Finley was trapped. Again, he laughed to himself, this one also reeking of no humor. How did he think he could escape? Knight would never have let him get away for good. Now the only advantage Finley had was that Knight couldn’t get into his head to create mind-numbing headaches. But Knight didn’t know that, which was also in Finley’s advantage.
“Tell me, Finley,” Knight said, his gravelly voice bringing that familiar dread to the acrobat’s mind. “You escaped from my compound. But I don’t understand why. I brought you into this world. I fed you. Taught you. Gave you everything you ever HAD!” Knight boomed on the last word. Finley knew from his peripheral that the older man’s face had suddenly blossomed into a fire engine red but he didn’t dare look at him directly. He knew better. “And you left me,” Knight said now in an urgent whisper. Oddly he sounded almost hurt.
“How long?” Finley said, his voice even quieter than Knight’s.
“Excuse me?” Knight said.
“How long do you plan to make me serve you, Master?” Finley asked, his chin nearly touching his chest.
Knight’s loud laugh was soon joined by smaller ones behind Finley. “We are a family. Family is forever. What we do is a family business. And you have your name. You have a rank. Why would you want to leave that?”
“That’s why I escaped. You were never going to let me go, Master,” Finley dared to say, all the while his eyes on the ground.
“Where did you want to go when you left me?” Knight asked, but Finley knew he wasn’t supposed to answer. “You went to Vagabond Circus. I was about to take you there, as you can see now since I’m the majority owner. When are you going to see that I’m always a step ahead of you? I’ve always known what you wanted. And I’m now in the position to give my kids whatever they desire for serving me. Sebastian and Gwendolyn, tell me what you two want.”
“Power,” Gwendolyn said without hesitation.
“Power and freedom,” Sebastian said.
“And guess who now has the privilege to run freely and do whatever they want at Vagabond Circus,” Knight said to the kids at Finley’s back.
“We do, Master,” they said in unison.
The idea that Sebastian could run around and do whatever he wanted terrified Finley. He didn’t know the boy well, but knew he was obsessed with creating pain.
“And Finley. You wanted to be a star in this circus and if you would have just been patient you would have known I was about to give that to you. But your haste and show of disrespect has earned you my forever contempt. Sebastian tells me that you seem to care for these people at Vagabond Circus. The ones who now work for me.” The threat was as heavy as lead in Knight’s tone.
“Master, punish me,” Finley said, his voice a raspy plea.
“I’ve always respected you, Finley,” Knight said, ignoring his request. “You were my first named kid. The one who was relentless, always doing what I asked. You were so strong you never went any further than round one of the punishments. I’ve always found this strange because usually the pain I create inside my kids’ heads makes them pee their pants before any physical threats start, but you weren’t ever weakened. Strange really.” And the insinuation flanked the last two words, bringing instant panic to Finley’s mind.
“Master, I can explain,” Finley said, his voice an urgent whisper now.
“Can you? CAN YOU?” Knight said too loud. “Sebastian?”
