“Come, Vigorish.” The T-rex lumbers to his feet and rushes toward Fiona, shaking the arena with each step. There’s another rush of people screaming and getting to their feet, but Viggy slides to a stop in front of Fiona and sits again. “Good boy,” she coos, and he wiggles with delight.
“Alright, so you can probably guess that there’s no way I can throw a T-rex size ball, so I’m going to use this machine, and is going to get it and retrieve it for me. Are you ready?” she calls to the crowd, and the response she gets isn’t very enthusiastic. She mimes a frown. “Oh no, Viggy, that wasn’t very good, was it? Come on, show him you want to see what he can do. Are you ready?” She cups a hand to her ear and the crowd’s response is much more enthusiastic this time. “Alright, let’s count down from five. I want to hear you all! Five, four…”
“She’s a good showman,” I mutter mostly to myself, but the brothers hear it.
“Yes she is,” John replies as the crowd gets to one and she presses the button on the machine, launching the ball to the other side of the arena where it hits the barrier and drops to the floor. Viggy rushes after it, his footsteps once more shaking the ground. “It’s the only reason we’ve kept them both in the show, but only barely. Their personalities are horrible. But they are your grandmother’s sister’s children, and we wouldn’t dishonor our wife by rejecting them.”
“Nasty attitudes aren’t enough to be kicked out, unfortunately. Up until now, they have done no harm and caused no real issues yet.” Eric sounds disappointed.
The act continues as Fiona shows the crowd that she has Viggy trained as well as a performing poodle.
Finally, she wraps it up. “Now who do you think would be faster in a race? Good old here—” She pats his shoulder, and he flinches slightly. It’s the first time I’ve seen it during this performance, but it’s there. I lean forward and feel the brothers lean with me. “Or a velociraptor?”
“They are going off script,” John mutters, and Eric shakes his head.
“Maybe I spoke too soon. What the fuck has gotten into our performers? First Nikos, which worked out okay, thankfully” —I give my grandpa a scathing look to show how much I disagree with his statement— “and now this. This could go badly. That animal is a menace. I want to send it back to our zoo in Skarr and bring one of the other dinosaurs instead.”
The crowd shouts back with its answer, and Fiona claps her hands together. “Alright, I propose a race!”
The big back doors open again, and in comes Phillip riding Htaed. The raptor pulls and tugs on his restraints, and Fiona’s smile wobbles with worry until Phillip gets him to line up next to Viggy. She then climbs up Viggy’s back so she’s sitting in the little saddle strapped to him.
“Once around the arena. On three.” She starts the countdown, and the crowd joins in, but Htaed breaks away before they get to go and takes off, leaving Viggy in his dust. The raptor races around the barrier, his eyes on the audience all the way around. Suddenly he stops and throws an almighty buck, launching Phillip over his head. Phillip hits the ground hard and doesn’t get up. Htaed starts to dash toward him, but William is there, standing over Phillip’s unconscious body while brandishing a pole that sparks at the end. Htaed veers away and continues his mad dash around the barrier without his rider.
“Get Xavier down here now. That raptor is out of control,” John barks into his earpiece.
“That’s like a taser,” Eric explains as John shouts into his earpiece again, “but it’s not enough to drop him. Xavier will hopefully be able to grab his mind and direct him back out the doors.”
Poor Viggy is starting to pant like a dog, so Fiona pulls him to a stop. Htaed just continues to run in circles, swinging his head back and forth between William, Phillip, Fiona, and Viggy. All of a sudden, he charges Viggy, deciding he’s an easier target. Viggy sees him coming and bellows an almighty roar, which has Htaed veering off again. This time he charges the electric barrier, throwing his body at it. The raptor hits it and it sparks, pushing him back, but he just shakes his head and tries again. Once more the barrier sparks, but the lights in the arena dim ever so slightly. Again Htaed shakes off the electric charge and lunges at the barrier in the exact same spot, which is just down from where we are sitting.
“Holy shit,” Eric gasps. “He’s shorting out the electric barrier. It’s not going to last much longer if he keeps that up.”
Suddenly, in a flash of light and smoke, Xavier appears in the middle of the arena with a purple cowled robe over him. He holds up a hand, and Htaed slides to a stop in front of him. Within seconds, Xavier must grab control of his mind, because he turns and calmly walks out of the arena.
The crowd cheers wildly, not vaguely aware of the danger they were in. Xavier disappears again, and Fiona waves goodbye to the crowd as she and Viggy leave the arena to a thunderous applause. William helps a dazed-looking Phillip to his feet. He is whispering, and from the look of fury on William’s face, I don’t think he’s speaking words of praise. A stagehand runs out from the side and puts Phillip’s arm over his shoulder before helping him out of the arena. William brushes off his outfit and composes himself before he addresses the audience once more.
“Wow, was that something or what?” he asks.
“Phew, that could have been a disaster.” John sags next to me, and it’s my turn to pat his knee.
“Thank goodness for almighty powerful warlocks, right?” I tease him, and he shudders in relief.
“Shall I tell him you said that?” Eric asks, and my head swings to him.
“Don’t you fucking dare.”
Lila
Eric and John settle down once more now that the dinosaur danger has passed. I can’t believe that I’m even thinking those words. My life has become bizarre and unbelievable. William takes to the center of the ring again, still wearing the stupid hunter hat and outfit and holding his gun.
“Phew, that was a little close. I almost thought I was going to need my gun,” he tells the crowd in a joking manner, but I could hear the truth in his voice.
“I think you would have needed a bigger gun, buddy,”someone yells at him, and William tips his hat in his direction.
“You may be right, my friend. But after that heart-stopping act, are you ready to see another?”
The crowd cheers, and the same heckler yells, “Am I going to almost shit my pants at this one?”
William chuckles. “No, this time all you have to do is keep your fingers crossed that the act doesn’t have slippery hands. I give you the Volans.”
