Circus Freaks

Summary- Jason heard the saying 'let's run to the circus!' too many times. Instead of running towards it, he would rather run away.

Warning(s): AU; mentions of abuse and selling (you'll know what I mean when you read it.)

Dead silence entered the ring when Jason hit the STOP button on the CD player. He grabbed an icy bottle of water and poured the liquid over his head. Then, he jumped.

Jason always liked flying. Even though he didn't have wings, or he couldn't just levitate in the air, he still knew what it felt like to soar through the air without a burden. Or he used to, before Thalia-

Don't go there. Even thought he was only 6 then, Jason could still remember the roar of the audience and each crack of the bones when she fell without the net after doing her first quadruple flip-*

You can't do something as simple as shutting up, can you?

The bar slipped from his hands due to the lack of concentration. Jason cursed, and forced himself to relax as he fell in the net.

Yes, the net. Since the fateful performance, Jason simply refused to show without a net. The rest of the performers understood, but the Ringmaster...

Today, though, it would be the first time in years he would perform without a net. He just hoped that it wouldn't be him who lost his grip, or it wouldn't be his bones clashing against the earth as the 'Last Flying Grace'*-

"Hey, Sparky, help out setting up the other tents, will you?"

Jason climbed down the high platform and lightly punched Leo in the arm. "How many times do I have to tell you, Valdez- it's Jason, not Sparky."

"Hey Sparky!" Leo and Jason turned to Piper's voice. "We have two hours 'til the performance! Get the tents set up!"

The fire-breather grinned his signature lopsided grin. "So, Sparky, wasn't it?"

Jason face palmed. "Leo, don't call me Sparky."

"Hey, Sparky, we are in the US of A. It's a free country, I can do whateves."

"And does 'whateves' include making a plan to set the tent on fire?"

"Hey, that was only one performance!"

"And the Director? What did he think of that?"

Leo's grinned turned into a look of fear, and he rubbed the scar on his elbow. The only singe mark that harmed Leo. When Annabeth -the owl-er, since they had no falconer- helped Leo heal from the ringmaster's brutal form of punishment, they were all curious about the flame. Fire never seemed to touch Leo, and when it made contact, it never left any marks.

It wasn't the 'invincible-to-fire' thing that they were curious about. They were all 'freaks'. Percy was always the one who would calm down the animals, or perform the jump-from-the-high-platform-into-a-shallow-pool thing, and breath underwater, while his girlfriend Annabeth would train her owl Brutus (which didn't like Percy) or help the Director with financial things. Piper would help out with negotiations, since she could talk anyone into something, or help raise money for the circus by going to beauty pageants that she despised. Frank would outline Rachel, their fortune-teller, in a duel-act with spatterpaint arrows from 75 feet, and Leo would be the Big Top's clown and firebreather. The Di Angelo Trio -or duo, since Bianca... passed- made the most intimidating act, with Nico's shadow tricks and Hazel's mysterious gems.

Their circus was the biggest hit in America, and one of the top 5 in all the international tours. But even then, it wasn't home. Home was with their dead mothers who baked blue cookies and built advanced prototypes, and fathers who were the top business men or history professors that ignored their children.

Jason pat Leo's back sympathetically. "Sorry man. Low blow."

Leo sighed and ran a hand through his curly locks. "Thanks. And sorry about the," he gestured to the high platform. "I hope the ringmaster won't be too hard on that."

Jason nodded. The words 'good luck' were taboo to all the performers. Those were the last words that Thalia and Bianca heard.

The teenage boys were silent the rest of the time while setting up. Soon, the audience would come, and everyone would hope that no-one said 'good luck'; not even the audience.

"Welcome to the Kolosiem***!"

Jason felt like throwing up. The last time he went with Thalia out to the trapeze, they were the first act.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I present you..."

Jason would sprint as far as he could from the circus if the butterflies in his stomach wouldn't act up.

"... the Pied Piper!"

Jason raced over to the nearest bucket.

Piper smiled at him reassuringly. "It'll be okay, you'll do fine." She pat his shoulder. "You've practiced for years. You have the luck."

Luck. Jason glanced around the room. The rest of his friends didn't hear anything. He gave Piper a small, but fake, smile. "Thanks Pipes. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Then he left.

Electric blue eyes skimmed over the audience. The Big Top was packed, and every family seemed to have two times more children. They must have been confident that Jason wouldn't fall, or else the children wouldn't be there. Who would want a child scarred with the memory of a broken body?

Fate, that's who.

Jason took a deep breath, and he looked down. No net. Just like-

Jason, there's a crowd.

Then, at his cue, the trapeze artist flew. That was the only way of describing it. Jason Grace was soaring in the Big Top. The crowd was silent.

Jason looked at the next bar. He could do it. He could do the quadruple flip to honor Thalia.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Fi-

Five. The crowd was astounded. Five flips. Jason grinned, he wished Thalia could see that. Maybe the performance wouldn't be bad, but then-

Everything happened in a flash. His fingers could still remember the feel of his chalk-covered hands slipping.

Jason panicked. He was falling, falling like his sister and he'll feel what she did when her bo-

He closed his eyes, his muscles tense. He didn't want to touch the ground, he wanted to live, he wanted to fly, he-

Then everything stopped. Jason peaked out of one eye. He was standing in midair, just mere inches from the ground.

It was a miracle. Jason wanted to dance and whoop in joy, but first he wanted to try something.

Up.

The winds picked up, and Jason grasped the bar in his hands.

Then, with a triumphant smirk on his face, he went back to flying.

The audience cheered, but a rock of guilt sank in Jason's stomach. Why couldn't Thalia do what he did?

Once he went backstage, he was swarmed by hugs. No-one asked what was going on, but everyone was silent. Piper clung on to him like a baby koala on its mother's back.

The silence was unnerving, and the tent seemed abandoned, since the crowd was out during the intermission. Jason frowned. "What's wrong?"

Hazel blinked, her aurum eyes gleaming like an owl's. In a hoarse whisper, she said, "The Director wants to speak to you."

Being asked to be in the Director's presence wasn't good. No-one in their group that came from the office skipped like a jolly Santa back to their dorms. Each performer had scars, and each performer was hurt a bit more.

Piper pried herself off him, and the group started to clear a path to the ringmaster's office. Jason felt a hand on his shoulder.

"We're here if you need us, 'k?" Percy spoke in the same hushed voice. Jason simply nodded.

Then he opened the door.

Jason never saw the Director's face.

No-one ever has. Even the audience, who always saw him with a mask.

So Jason was shocked to come face-to-face with the ringmaster.

The man smiled; he was younger than Jason thought he would be. The Director had sandy blonde hair and a surfer's skin complexion. His blue-grayish** eyes seemed to hold a victorious smirk, even though it wasn't shown on his face. He would have been very handsome if the long scar on his face didn't exist.

The man chuckled. "Hello, Jason. Would you please sit down? Yes, I've changed my look; that mask was getting stuffy."

Jason hesitantly sat in one of the two chairs in front of the ringmaster's desk. The ringmaster leaned forward. "I want to know how you did that little trick back there."

Jason froze. "I- I don't know, sir."

"Did I not see you wearing a smile in the spotlight, or am I mistaken?"

Jason bit his lip. There was something very familiar about the man... "No... no, sir."

"I'm mistaken?" The ringmaster asked, acting casual. The flame in his eyes seemed to rise, but the temperature of the room seemed like a meat locker's. "Are you calling me a liar, Mr. Grace?"

"N-no sir."

"So am I correct?"

"Y-yes sir."

The man leaned forward one more, and Jason didn't miss a bronze gleam under the man's sleeve. "Then how did you do that?"

Jason didn't respond. His mind was working, and things were adding up. He remembers where he saw that face. It was -is- all over the headlines. Luke Castellan. Murderer. Terrorist.

Luke glanced at Jason and backed up. Jason let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and slumped in his seat.

Jason could have sworn Luke's eyes gleamed gold. "This is the last time I will repeat myself, Mr Grace. How. Did. You. Do. It?

After a second of silence, Jason saw the Director reach in his sleeve and pull out a dagger. Annabeth's missing dagger.

The group of 9 has been looking for the weapon for months. It was Annabeth's only thing that was not supplied from the circus.

The ringmaster twirled the dagger casually in his hand. "Well, since there was no answer, Mr. Grace, I suppose I will have to teach you a lesson."

Jason should have lied.

Pain. All Jason could feel was pain.

Four new dagger scars. Lashes across his back. A black eye. He was shivering from the icy bucket used to mop the elephant pen; he would probably have an infection or have hypothermia.

Jason was numb, and his shirt was torn to shreds. Luke threw him by the door, the knob hitting Jason's head. Jason just opened the door before he lost awareness. The last thing he remembered was being dragged to a trailer by his friends.

Annabeth placed a warm cloth on Jason's forehead, and wrapped a blanket around him. He snuggled in with Annabeth and sneezed.

Rachel pat his head and glanced at the door where Piper headed out to see the Director. "What does he have?"

Annabeth frowned. Why would the Director do this, the show went well tonight? "Hypothermia, and some infected wounds. I didn't get the chance to look yet; I'll wait till he wakes up. Frank, could you please get the hot cocoa?"

Frank nodded, and within seconds, placed a tray holding nine hot, steaming mugs. "We need to get out of here."

Nico frowned. "How? Some of us can drive, but none of us have a license. The keys are hanging in the Director's office. If we were to get out, we need a plan."

"But since when do our plans work?" Leo said. "The last time we had a plan, we were all beaten."

The four were quiet. Piper burst in the room with silent tears trailing down her face.

Percy instantly stood up. "What happened?"

Piper sniffed. "He... he didn't do anything to me..." Relieved sighs were heard around the small trailer. "But... he said I have a customer. He said I'm old enough to have my first."

Nico looked grim. "We're definitely getting out of here."

Leo looked like he was about to throw up. "What's the date?"

A hushed voice answered, "A month from now."

A month. Only four weeks.

Jason coughed and rubbed his black eye. "Did I-" he coughed again, his voice sore. Jason spoke in a whisper and Percy handed him a steaming mug. "Did I just hear what I think I did?"

Solemn nods.

"W-we have hope. A last resort."

Percy's eyebrows rose. "Didn't you consider that after every 'appointment' with the Director should have been a last resort?"

Jason ignored the retort. "Do you remember Hylla? And Reyna?"

Nods were seen around the room.

Jason took a slip of paper out of his shoe and unfolded the sheet.

Smudged, but eligible handwriting attracted the group of nine to the coffee table.

Jason smiled. "Hylla has a license. She could pick us up tomorrow."

Cheers were heard around the room.

They were getting out.

Reyna closed the truck's door. Jason smiled at her. "Thanks. A lot."

All he got from Reyna was a nod.

Jason flipped and landed like a cat in the truck. Leo fist-bumped him and Piper hugged him.

The crew was silent in the night, and all Jason heard was the crickets and the engine's purr.

Then the car drove, and Jason couldn't help but feel free.

^Yes, I know, Di Angelo Duo/Trio. They unofficially 'adopted' Hazel to be in their family.

*Tee hee... any fellow DC Nation fans here?

**Can someone please tell me Luke's eye color?

***I know how to spell the word Coliseum, thank you very much.

The ringmaster and the Director are the same, BTW.

Should I continue this? Or rewrite it as a separate story?

. . .

Thanks for reading!