Circus in the Clouds (The Balloonist Chronicles Book 3) Read online

  Olivia took our plates to the kitchen before returning. “Want to hear what happened after I left the forest of the fae?”

  “Anything’s better than listening to these people who think they’re smarter than everyone else.” Dad turned down the television.

  I blinked and yawned. “Sorry, I was looking forward to hearing your story, but now I don’t know if I’ll stay awake long enough. I’m so tired and sore. Can we do story time after school tomorrow?”

  “I’ve got work until five, but we can do story time after dinner. You have a shower and go to bed.” Sadness crept into her eyes.

  “I can have a shower and see if it wakes me up a bit?” I offered.

  “It’s fine. You get a good night’s sleep. I need one myself. We’ll do this tomorrow.”

  “I’ll grab us some desert on my way home from town,” said Dad. “How does peppermint chocolate chip ice-cream sound?”

  It was both mine and Olivia’s favourite.

  “Sounds delicious.” I pushed myself up off the couch and ambled towards the shower.

  Curled up in bed, I was surprised to spot Olivia in the doorway.

  “Everything okay?” I asked.

  She made her way in and sat beside me on my bed. “I know you’re tired but I wanted to say you should talk to Suzan tomorrow.”

  “I’ll think about it,” I said.

  “Okay,” she replied.

  We fell into silence and her fingers fumbled in her lap.

  “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” I asked.

  She sighed. “I don’t know. I guess I’m feeling a bit lost.”

  “Lost how?” I sat up next to her.

  “I told Luke about the balloon getting picked up to get fixed and he’s gone quiet on me,” she said. “I think he’s upset with me because he’s worried when it’s mended I’ll leave. Then when you said you didn’t want to hear my story I wondered if you were upset too?”

  “I wasn’t lying when I said I was tired,” I said. “But, I can’t say I’m excited by the idea of you leaving. I love having you here, and things won’t be the same if you leave. But I understand why you might want to. If I had the chance to see my mum again, I’d probably go.” My mum had passed away when I was five and I barely had any memories of her, but often, I’d wondered what my life would be like if she were still alive.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t have told Luke,” she said. “The balloon might not be fixable and if it is fixed, maybe its magic has been lost forever? To be honest, I don’t know if I’d leave even if I had the choice. Who knows what I’d find or if I’d end up in yet another world? I’m tired, Lucy, tired of not knowing what to do or what’s next. I’ve met a lot of amazing people on my adventures but here with you and your dad, and Luke, it’s the first place that’s felt like home.”

  Tears slid over her cheeks and I wrapped her in a hug, her head against my shoulder. I’d always known Olivia as strong, but I guessed even strong people needed someone sometimes. She’d been through so much and with Dad and me, she could finally relax and feel safe.

  “I’m sure Luke is just processing everything. He cares about you so much it must be hard for him to think you might leave. Give him space and I’m sure he’ll come around,” I said.

  She wiped at her cheeks. “Look at you giving advice.”

  “I know, right? Imagine if I could do it for myself.”

  We both laughed.

  “I’m so thankful to have you and your dad in my life, Lucy. Of all of my travels this is the first time I’ve felt like I might belong somewhere.”

  My chest ached at her words. She was the sister I’d always wanted, and the thought of losing her crushed my soul.

  “Do you want to sleep in here with me?” I offered.

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Why not? Our own sleep over. I’ve always wanted to have a sister to do these things with and now I have one I might as well make the most of it.” I wanted to add, ‘in case you do decide to leave us.’

  She gave me a smile that made her emerald eyes glisten. “I think of you as a sister too.”

  I lifted the blanket and she climbed underneath, both of us snuggling into the pillows.

  “Night, little sister,” she said as I switched off the bedside lamp.

  “Night, big sister.”

  Lucy

  BILSTONE, AUSTRALIA

  My stomach twisted when the school bell sounded to mark the end of Maths and the start of our first break. I’d promised Olivia I’d talk to Suzan to work out how she’d feel about me having a crush on her big brother, but every time I thought about it my insides became queasy.

  “Don’t forget, assessments start next week,” called out Mr Turner as I gathered my things and left the classroom with the rest of my classmates.

  “You okay Lucy? You look a bit pale?” Rachel joined me, putting her things in her backpack. Her jet black hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and she was a good head shorter than me.

  “I think I just need to eat something,” I told her.

  “I’m starving.” She adjusted her black-rimmed glasses. “I’m craving something sweet but my mother insists on packing me a well-rounded, healthy lunchbox. Would it kill me to have a muffin or a cupcake once in a while?”

  “I have a banana muffin in my lunchbox. I’ll trade you for something.” We began walking towards our spot outside the library.

  “Seaweed?”

  “What?”

  “That’s one of the things in my lunchbox… seaweed.”

  “Sounds delicious.” I laughed.

  “Right? Oh, but when you’re finished with that there’s hummus.”

  “Hummus isn’t too bad.”

  “When was the last time you had it?” she asked.

  I shrugged.

  “Exactly, try eating it every freaking day.” She groaned.

  I turned from her as we walked through the doors of the library and came to an abrupt stop when I found myself standing only inches in front of Mike.

  “Hey Lucy,” he said. “I thought you were going to walk straight through me.”

  “She was in shock at out how delicious my lunch sounds,” said Rachel.

  He quirked an eyebrow. “I sense sarcasm. I actually wanted to talk to you, Lucy.”

  “Hey, what’s with the roadblock?” Suzan’s voice sounded from behind us, and we all turned to find her with Becca.

  At the sound of her voice, I took a step back away from Mike.

  “Party in the library?” asked Becca.

  “No, Mike’s too boring to party,” said Suzan.

  “Where’s Sam Winters?” teased Mike.

  Suzan shot him a glare. “I hate you.”

  “Love you too, sister,” he said.

  “I don’t even know who you are,” she called back as she walked away.

  The girls began to move away towards our sitting area, and I hovered between Mike and them.

  “Lucy? You coming?” called Suzan.

  “Talk later?” he asked.

  “Sounds good.” Thankful the decision had been made for me. I jogged to catch up with the girls.

  We made our way to our table in the library courtyard and pulled out our lunchboxes. I found my muffin and handed it to Rachel.

  “Think of it as a gift,” I told her.

  “You don’t want seaweed?” She held up the white and green packet.

  “No, I think I’ll be okay.”

  “It’s pretty funny we saw Mike,” said Suzan. “Who wants to know a secret?”

  We all leaned a little closer.

  “You know Charity from mine and Lucy’s touch team?” She paused for a moment for dramatic effect. “Well, she has a serious crush on Mike.”

  My heart stopped for a moment. Charity? She was stunning. Athletic. Long blonde hair. Blue eyes. I wanted to cry, but I did my best to maintain the same interested facial expression as Becca and Rachel.

  “Really?” I asked, trying to play it cool. “She told
you?”

  “Yeah, she wanted to see if I was okay with her dating my brother. I said I didn’t understand because he’s totally gross and annoying but it’d be fun for him to date someone I like hanging out with.”

  My heart gave up and dropped into my stomach.

  “Does Mike know?” asked Becca.

  “I don’t think so. Not yet anyway. So, you can’t tell him, okay?” She looked at me.

  I held both of my hands up. “Cross my heart. I won’t say a word.” I was thankful my voice stayed even. “Do you think he likes her back?”

  “Why wouldn’t he? Charity’s gorgeous. Don’t all guys like long blonde hair and blue eyes?” she replied.

  I swallowed hard and sat back, taking a bite of my sandwich. She was right. Why did I ever think he’d be interested in a basic country girl? A sister. That’s how he saw me.

  “I don’t know, Sam Winters has a thing for crazy red heads,” teased Becca.

  I was grateful for the subject change. My chest was tight and my eyes burned like I might cry at any moment. I concentrated on eating my ham and cheese sandwich.

  “We were texting until late last night,” Suzan gushed.

  I did my best to nod in the right places through the rest of lunch, my mind somewhere else. I’d been so stupid to think I stood a chance with Mike. He was out of my league. What was my league, anyway? I’d never had a guy interested in me before, and maybe I never would? Maybe that was why Dad was with Catherine. Would I be like that? Date the first guy who looked my way so I wasn’t alone even if he was a total tool?

  On the bus ride home, I avoided making eye contact with Mike, only giving him a simple goodbye as he and Suzan climbed off. Tracey Bloom, my nemesis, tried to upset me with some comment about my hair, but I wasn’t in the mood to care. By the time Gus, the bus driver, pulled up at the bottom of my dirt driveway, I said a quick thank you and slung my bag over my shoulder as I climbed out.

  Skye tore down the driveway towards me, and my shoulders relaxed at the sight of her. She pulled up to a dusty stop at my feet and I squatted down to pat her and give her a hug. Who needed a boyfriend when you had a dog? Maybe Dad needed a new dog so he didn’t need Catherine? I laughed at my suggestion, easing the tension in my chest.

  “Come on Skye.” I patted my leg and she followed me up the driveway towards home.

  The house was empty when I arrived, Olivia was at her cleaning job and Dad’s ute was gone, so I assumed he was still in town or helping on someone else’s farm. After grabbing a quick snack and a drink, I enjoyed the quiet and worked on some of my homework.

  “Luce? You home?” Dad called out, followed by the clatter of keys and the thunk of grocery bags on the kitchen bench.

  “Coming.” I made my way out to help him bring in the groceries.

  “How was your day?” He gave me a quick hug before leading me out to the ute, Skye at our feet.

  “Like any other day,” I lied. “How was yours?”

  “Catherine and I had Thai for lunch. She’s looking forward to spending time with you Saturday.”

  “Thai sounds nice.”

  “But not time with Catherine?”

  I grabbed two bags of groceries from the back of the ute. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

  “Luce…”

  “What? Don’t make it weird. We’ll be fine. Who knows? We might have an amazing day and be best friends by the end of it.” And fish would grow legs and walk on land.

  I took off with the groceries into the house to avoid any more conversation about Catherine and Dad must have understood, because we unloaded and unpacked the rest of the bags in silence.

  “Want me to cook dinner?” I offered, feeling guilty.

  Things had become strange between us. We’d always been so close, but the more he pushed me to get along with Catherine, the further apart we grew. I missed our relationship, missed hanging out and working on the farm together. He never asked me to help him tinker with the equipment or mend fencing anymore, all because Catherine had convinced him it wasn’t appropriate for a young lady to do those things.

  “I’ve got it covered, you go read your book or something,” he said.

  I was thankful when Olivia arrived home from work just as dinner was being served. She told us about her day while we sat and ate.

  “How was your day, Lucy?” I knew exactly what she was asking.

  “I’ll tell you about it later,” I replied.

  “What? You can’t talk about it in front of your old man?” asked Dad.

  “It’s girl stuff,” I said.

  “Right, well, you girls can do the dishes while you talk about your girl stuff. I’m going to jump in the shower.”

  Olivia and I gathered the plates and cutlery as he left.

  “Is everything okay with you two?” asked Olivia.

  “I don’t know. He keeps pushing the Catherine thing as though it’s my fault we don’t get along. I’m trying. I’ve tried a million times. I don’t know what he wants from me?”

  She sighed. “It’s a crappy situation. Give him time, he’ll work out for himself that she’s not right for him.”

  “I hope so.”

  She filled the sink with soapy water and began washing as I grabbed a tea towel and waited to dry the plates. “So, what happened with Suzan?”

  “Don’t ask.”

  “It didn’t go well?”

  “I didn’t say anything to her.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “Because she had a secret of her own to tell us before I got a chance.”

  “Which was?”

  “Charity has a crush on Mike, and Suzan is so happy that he’s going to be with someone she gets along with.” I groaned, my shoulders sagging.

  “Oh, Luce. Does he even like Charity? I can’t say I’ve ever seen them near each other at touch football.”

  “I don’t know. But what guy wouldn’t want to date a beautiful blonde?” I said. “Plus, Charity is much more outgoing and flirtier than I am.”

  “Mike doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who likes over the top girls. He might surprise you.”

  “Doubt it.”

  “Is Charity going to tell him?” she asked.

  “Apparently.”

  “Well, you need to tell him how you feel first.”

  “No way. Are you insane?”

  “I’m so confident he likes you Luce.”

  “Yeah, until he knows a girl like Charity likes him then he’ll drop me in an instant and I’ll look like a loser and Suzan will hate me.”

  “I know it’s hard to tell people how you feel but trust me, if you don’t you’ll regret it.”

  “I’m not telling him. I don’t even know how I feel about him, not really. He’s the first guy who’s ever given me any form of attention, so maybe that’s all it is? And like I said, I’m not going to put myself in the position to be dropped on my butt the moment a hot blonde looks his way. It’s not worth losing the friendship I have with him or Suzan. So, can we drop it?”

  “Okay, I’ll let it go… for now. How about when we’re finished these dishes we have the ice-cream your dad got us and I’ll tell you what happened when I left the forest of the fae? Might get your mind off everything?”

  “I would love that.”

  Olivia

  NEVER-ENDING SKY

  Hands clutched to the side of the wicker basket, the world around me stopped racing and I blinked as blue skies came into focus filled with fluffy white clouds. Looking over the basket’s edge, the cloud hid any hint of ocean or earth below. The only indication of land I could see were the snowy peaks of mountains poking through the white. Letting out a breath, I crouched beside my backpack, taking stock of its contents. Tora and Nova had squeezed in as much dried fruit, meat, and bread as they could, along with two water skins and a spare set of clothing. A smile spread across my face as I pulled out the bundle of elixirs Tora had mixed for me, and then I found the crystal Mother Earth had gifted me wrapped
in fabric. Unwrapping it I let the coolness of the diamond like rock fill my palm. ‘It is precious and will bring you light when things seem darkest,’ she’d said.

  The memories grew heavy in my chest and I pulled my emerald cape, a gift from Raven, closer around me. I would never see them again, Nova, Tora, Raven or Mother Earth, the friends I’d made in the forest of the fae. At least I knew they were safe.

  Stuffing everything back into the bag, I rose again to peer ahead. Cloud and blue skies as far as I could see. Never had I been this high in the hot air balloon before. The thrum of its magic vibrated through me as I pressed my hands to its side. Tora had told me once we were connected somehow, and I hadn’t believed her until its magic had called to me, urging me to climb in and continue on my journey. I couldn’t help but hope I would soon land on the edge of the cliffs near my childhood home in Yarington, and I let myself imagine what Edith would say when I returned home. I wondered if my friends Narelle and Audrey would believe me when I told them of my adventure. But still the clouds drifted by, and the atmosphere dampened my clothing. There was a heaviness in my chest I attributed to the high altitude because I didn’t want to admit to myself there was a chance I was in yet another world and no closer to being home.

  Hours passed as the sky was painted with pinks and oranges before darkening into a deep bluish purple. Stars dotted the sky above me as I settled down onto the floor of the balloon’s basket using my backpack as a rough pillow and the cape as a warm blanket. The air cooled and I hugged myself tight, more alone than I’d been my entire life, and drifted off to sleep.

  When I awoke the following day, I ate some fruit for breakfast and peered out to find the scenery around me hadn’t changed. Clouds, clouds, and more clouds. Should I try to guide the balloon down somehow? It’d always landed itself before. Hours passed, or so I imagined, as my stomach grumbled and I took out some bread. I must’ve fallen asleep for a time because when I woke the balloon cast shadows across the clouds and the sky was turning pink and orange yet again.