The Failed Audition (Circus Is Family #1)

by Krista Ritchie

I point at him accusingly, tear-streaked and still overwhelmed. He taught you the entire routine, Thora. He wanted you to be his partner. “You tricked me.”

“What’s the second thing?” I ask. “Every day you’re on stage, prove them wrong.” I nod again, tears rolling. Prove them wrong. “That you deserved to be here from the start. That they made a mistake, that you and only you, Thora James, my little mouse…my demon—were meant for this role.”

I can’t even imagine what it must be like—to not love someone when they love you. To love someone when they don’t love you. To have to hurt each other, with no way to end it…

“Act normal,” I say to Nikolai.

Nikolai stares down at me. “As opposed to all the times I act abnormal.” Right. No, wait, not right. “You pierced my…”

The gasp from the audience is the last thing I hear, blocking out the rest. I clutch his hair, and he grips my back, our inhales in sync. Our exhales timed. My heart explodes. In a billion pieces at the way he stares at me. At how he holds my face, caringly, like the love of his life just ran into his arms. He whispers something in Russian that I know means: I love you.

I trust this man. With my life. My heart. My soul.

I realize that I don’t mind what people thought. I felt alive. Happy. For one of the first times, I know I belong in this world. It can be mine too.

“The circus,” I realize. His family. “But I’ve found the truest form of love,” he tells me. “It’s two loves that can live in harmony.” He looks down at me. I stare up at him. My heart on an ascent. “The circus and you,” he whispers, “amour amour.” Two loves. Two passions. At perfect balance. I finally feel it too.

“Where did you come from?” he asks again, shaking his head more. In a daze. I have a better response this time. “Cincinnati, Ohio.”

I’m average. I’ve been average most of my life, but there are moments where I feel extraordinary. Invincible. Able to conquer any fear and step outside any box. There is no illusion, no fantasy. I can climb a forty-foot pole. I can fly eighty-feet in the air. I can be taller than tall. It’s a dream that I’m living. Every day. With him.

I’m on most of the promotional material for Amour. All because of a quote from Daisy Calloway. One person, one famous person changed another portion of my life with just a sentence: The aerial silk act stole the show for me, dangerous and beautiful.