Fractured

Chapter 34

I had just worked through most of my contortion and hand balancing routine when I called for the house lights to be raised. There were a select few people who knew what was about to happen, and Phil looked nervous already. The moment I called for the lights to be turned on, he realised I was the one that was going to need audience participation.

"Thank you all for coming to join us for our inaugural Academy Talent Show. It is sure to be a night full of all kinds of laughs and entertainment. First, though, I have been working on a new trick for a few weeks now, and my volunteers for training it were kind of scary, so I made sure to perfect it quickly. They won't be my volunteers for tonight though. No, tonight I need Phil Roberts, and Mrs Rose as my volunteers," I said with a smile.

Phil and Rose approached the stage, looking unsure, but the enthusiastic cheers coming from the audience gave little room for argument. They made their way up the small staircase and onto the stage. I smiled slightly as their look of trepidation grew, before putting the microphone I had been using back on the stand and walking over to them.

"Don't worry guys, after this I will consider us even for throwing me into a situation with ulterior motives. By the way, we should probably talk about what's going on there soon. Now, you guys wont get to see what's going on, but there is a camera over there that will be projecting your faces onto the screen at the back so that the audience can get a real idea of what's going on. If it makes you feel any better, North and Silas were my volunteers while I was working on this,' I told them.

"I don't know if that makes it better, or worse, given you claim this makes us even," Phil responded.

"Here, I need you to stand on this mark, Phil, and you on this one, please, Rose. Excellent. Now, here, I need you each to hold one end of this rope with your teeth. Please don't try to argue, you'll ruin the show," I smirked.

Once I was satisfied they were holding the rope between them, I turned, winked at the audience, and made my way back to my hand balancing canes. I picked up the bow from beside my set up, and gripped it firmly between the toes on my right foot. I then rested my hands on the canes, lifted my weight and flipped my legs up and over my head, keeping my eyes on Phil and Rose and making sure they didn't move anywhere. I bent my left leg forward and captured a bow between the toes on my left foot, before bringing it up and placing it on the bow, ready to fire.

I smiled to myself as the audience audibly gasped, realising where the trick was heading. Phil and Rose were starting to look more and more uncomfortable with every passing moment they were standing there, yet they still stood. They knew the importance of the show and they had requested that I open it with a bang.

I lined up the bow, using the same technique I had been practicing with North and Silas, and drew back the bowstring. It felt like everyone in the room was holding their breath, waiting to see if I could pull off what I was about to attempt. I released the bowstring and watched as the arrow sailed through the air. The gasps that rang out through the room as the arrow hit its mark, followed by another round of applause, had me wanting to laugh.

Phil and Rose both stumbled backward as the rope they had been holding was split by the arrow. "Please, don't ever do that again!" Phil exclaimed.

"Don't worry," I replied, releasing my grip on the bow and lowering myself back to the floor. "I have Victor set up film equipment to capture the moment. I won't need to do it again, if you don't give me reason to."

Once I was safely back on the ground, I gave Phil and Rose a hug, and a small teddy bear dressed as Katniss as thank you's for being good sports about being my volunteers, and helped them back to their seats. Once they were seated, the real MC of the night took over as I worked to pack away the props I had used to pull off my stunt. I could still hear cheers coming from the table the Toma team were sat at, but didn't want to acknowledge them and was taking my time to get cleaned up and back to my seat. Unfortunately, there were assigned tables for around half of the guests, those that had a hand in the organisation and set up of the show. The rest of the guests occupied the standing room between the tables and the bar.