Circus Summer (Circus of Curiosities Book 1) by Kailin Gow

in someone’s death. Even if it isn’t yours, then it will be someone else’s.”
                I can’t help flinching slightly at that, and I nod. “I understand, Dad.”
                “Do you?” Dad asks. “You understand that you’ll be performing to the death?”
                “It’s barbaric,” Mom adds.
                “I know that it’s dangerous,” I say. “I know that people can be killed.”
                Mom looks away. “I remember going to see it when I was young. It was… horrible. I know you’re old enough to make your own choices, and I know you think that your dreams are telling you to go there, but you have to be careful, Zachary.”
                 “I’m going to be careful, Mom,” I promise her, taking her hand. “I have to do this though.”
                Even Dad nods. “I can see that we aren’t going to convince you to give this up.” He sighs. “You might as well enjoy your day off from training.”
                I nod. Honestly though, I’m not paying much attention by then. I’m looking out through the windows, staring down at the shop floor where Leela and Mason are still making their way around. Mason tosses a cantaloupe to his sister, and Leela catches it expertly.
                Mom looks out with me and smiles. “So, Leela Sinclair?”
                “What?” I say. I shake my head. “No.”
                “No? We wouldn’t mind, Zachary. She and her brother are good kids. It’s a shame, their father going missing like that, their brother going off to war. It’s a pity about their mother, too. That poor girl has to take so much onto her shoulders.”
                I want to protest more, but there’s no point. Mom will see through it. The fact is that I am interested in Leela. There’s something about her that’s different to any other girl I know, and that’s without the note that Dr. Dex slipped me the night I first arrived at the circus…
                “Go, have fun with them,” Mom insists. I look at Dad and he nods. I head downstairs, moving to catch an orange just as Mason throws it.
                “Hi,” I say. I’m saying it to both of them, but I’ll admit, my eyes are on Leela.
                “Hi,” she says, looking surprised that I’ve come over to talk to her.
                I turn to Mason then. “How about we go get some ice cream? My treat.”
                “Can we?” Mason asks his sister.
                Leela looks slightly uncomfortable. “You don’t need to, Zachary. I can pay…”
                I hold up a hand. “I know, but I want to. Come on.”
                This is one of Mom and Dad’s better ideas. Since they’re selling ice cream, they’ve rigged up a corner of the store as an old fashioned ice cream parlor, complete with stools at a low counter and Jeff, a middle aged server who does a good job with ice cream, sodas, French fries and burgers. Leela orders a burger and fries. Mason orders ice cream. I just have a shake, though I quickly snag some of Leela’s fries.
                We don’t talk about the circus. That’s kind of a surprise, but I find that there are actually plenty of other things to talk about. What’s happening in school, how Leela’s work is going, how I’m doing on the football team, that kind of thing. She tells me about the garden she tends around her house, too, and Mason chimes in, telling me how he helps. Leela obviously loves her little brother.
                “Are you going to any graduation parties this year?” I ask. That’s one tradition that has survived through the years, maybe because of all the things that can happen to people around Sea Cliff once they have graduated.
                Leela shakes her head. “I haven’t been invited to