Page 195 of Galaxy Circus Act One

“Never mind. Can one of you show me?” I ask, looking at the others, and almost like they are in sync, they all bend their knees and launch themselves into the air. Just like that, the five of them are flying around the dome. I watch carefully, and I can see that they shift their bodies to direct themselves. Streamliningmakes them go faster, and making their bodies bigger slows them down. They twirl, tumble, somersault, and glide, looking majestic.

“Are you ready?” Saxon draws my attention back down and holds a hand out for me.

“Yeah, okay. But promise not to let me fall?” I ask, putting a protective hand over my tiny baby bump.

“Of course, my sweet blood rose. I will never let anything happen to you,” he tells me, pressing a sweet kiss to my lips.

“Come on, Lila. Get your ass up here,” Hale calls, and I take a deep breath, bend my knees, and jump.

I lift maybe an inch off the ground and drop back down. I feel my face fall in disappointment.

“No, don’t be sad. It’s okay, sometimes it takes a couple of tries,” Saxon quickly assures me.

“Yeah, and sometimes it takes pushing you off a cliff.” Hale snickers, and Velorina slaps him on the back of the head.

“Shut up. You’ll scare her, you idiot.”

The five of them are upright and hovering on the spot, waiting for Saxon and me to join them. Hale and Velorina are on one side, and Dante, Kavita, and Xenos are on the other.

“Try again,” Saxon encourages, and so once more, I take a deep breath and bend my knees before pushing off as hard as I can.

This time I do manage to leave the ground, but it’s slow and awkward, kind of like doing bunny hops in a car, and my arms and legs are flailing. I scream, but Saxon is right next to me, hovering gracefully in the air.

“Good, Lila. Now you need to look in the direction you want to go and kind of kick off,” Saxon tells me.

“Kick off what?” I yell, still flailing wildly. I can hear the others above me quietly laughing, so I look up at them and give them my middle finger. My body shoots upwards in the directionI was looking. Hale was the one who was in my line of sight, and I hurtle toward him, unable to slow myself. His grin drops and his mouth opens as he realizes I’m not going to pull up in time. He braces for impact when hands grab my legs and yank me to a halt.

He sighs with relief, and I’m so close, I feel his breath ruffle my hair. I look down and find Saxon and Xenos have a hold of my ankles.

“Whoa, that was close,” I exclaim, my body hovering in place now that my movements are being controlled by someone else.

“Wow, Lila, I’ve seen Vilaxian children with more coordination than you.” Velorina’s eyes are wide with shock, and I can’t really be upset with her—I am a disaster.

“How about two of us help her move around until she gets the hang of it? I remember my mother and father doing that with me and my siblings when we were learning to fly.” Dante smiles at me encouragingly.

“Holy crap, that was the worst flying I have ever seen.” A voice from below has us all looking toward the ground. There, my magenta-haired friend stands with a hand shielding her eyes as she looks up at us. Suddenly, she starts to rise into the air. My mouth drops open in shock. I’d forgotten Magenta could fly. It’s one of her Skarrian abilities. Soon enough, she’s eye level with me, smirking with her arms crossed. “Dude, you are going to need some serious lessons, but there’s no time for that now. Xavier sent me to find you. You need to be outfitted for Iceen.” Her gaze drifts away from me, and she waves a couple of fingers at Velorina. “Hi.

Velorina smiles and propels herself closer. “Hello, pretty girl.” She picks up Magenta’s hand and presses a kiss to the back of it. Hale moves to their side.

“We missed you at the club last night,” he tells her, and I watch in surprise as my Skarrian friend blushes prettily.

Now hold up. Mags is a whore, but these two just made her coy. What the fuck am I missing?

“Hale, why don’t you introduce us to your pretty friend?” Xenos releases my leg and moves to join the group, with Dante and Kavita going to.

“Great, now I’m chopped liver,” I grumble to myself, and Saxon pulls me through the air until we’re facing each other.

“The most delicious liver I’ve ever tasted.” He nudges my nose with his, and I giggle but then push him out of the way. I want to see how this all plays out.

Hale’s face sours, but he waves a hand. “Magenta, meet Saxon’s brother, Xenos, and his clan members, Kavita and Dante.”

“Hi, I saw you in the act the other night. Thanks for coming and helping out.” Magenta is polite and shakes the three newcomers’ hands. “Anyway, I’m going to steal Lila away. We’ll be close to Iceen soon, and she needs to be briefed on protocol. I might see you at the club tonight,” she tells Hale and Velorina.

“We’ll get Nixie to join us, it will be fun,” Hale replies, and the two girls blush again. Fucking hell, I need to grill my friend about what’s going on.

Magenta turns to me. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Ah…” I look at my husband, who just chuckles. He wraps his arms around me, and we start to lower.