Page 119 of Circus From Hell

“Where the hell have you two been?” Micha shouts.

Karma comes marching in with a shit-eating grin around a mouthful of flesh that I presume was once connected to the arm in her hand, and Spiral is beside her, just as gleeful.

I reach forward and grab Karma so I can put space between the pair.

“Sssoren!” she hisses, pushing me away, and Micha grabs Spiral. He throws him to the floor and presses his boot into his chest. “Micha!”

“Why isn’t he tied up?” Micha asks, pointing to the loose rope and muzzle left on the floor.

“We had to help Dolly,” Spiral grunts out, and Karma takes another bite of the arm, chewing loudly and leaking blood down her chin.

“Who is Dolly?” Arlo asks tentatively, moving to stand beside Karma. He offers the disconnected limb a tentative look but smiles at Karma anyway.

“The clown who looks like Ssspiral,” she says with a shrug.

“She was being attacked in the forest by some guys,” Spiral says.

“Is that who the arm belongs to?” I nod to the appendage.

“Yesss. There’s a pile of bodies in the forest.” Karma looks down at Spiral and snickers, and they share a private grin that makes my chest flare.

“At least you won’t be hungry for a few days,” Arlo offers.

“I prefer them fresh,” she sighs, taking another bite before lobbing the arm across the room. “You can let him go.”

Micha scoffs. “Why would I do that?”

“Spiral is my pet now.”

The clown rolls his eyes and grabs Micha’s calf to shift him, but he digs his boot deeper and leans down. “One threat of you or your freaky eyes, and I’ll throw you into that pile of bodies. Got it?”

“Got it,” Spiral mutters, and my eyebrows furrow. He’s being surprisingly compliant.

Micha glares, staring into Spiral’s black eyes, before lifting his boot away and retreating to Karma. He grabs the back of her neck and slams his mouth to hers, and she doesn’t waste a moment returning the favour, her hands roaming his chest as he explores her mouth.

It’s a dominance play; I can tell by the way Micha watches Spiral’s reaction from the corner of his eye as he kisses Karma. Spiral glares, chest heaving, but he doesn’t move from his spot outside our little group. Because regardless of whatever one-on-one he had with Karma, he’s still an outsider.

Micha pulls back panting, and I notice the blood on his lips. “Remind me to wait until you’ve not just had a meal next time,” he huffs.

“You’ll have to figure something out soon,” Spiral interrupts. “Kreo will be back eventually, and he won’t like Soren out of his cage or either of the brothers hanging around. Besides, the circus will move when he returns after the big finale.”

I hadn’t thought about that. I was in that trailer for months, I know we’ve been moving, but Arlo and Micha live here.

“I can’t lose you,” Arlo says softly, pulling back one of Karma’s pigtails. The pink ball jingles as it drops to her back, and Arlo kisses her ear.

“We can leave. All of—” Micha cuts himself off and side-eyes Spiral. “Some of us. We can get out of here and never look back at this place.”

“I didn’t sssay I wanted to leave.” Karma sighs, stepping back. “I still love Kreo.”

“But you don’t even like performing. Not in front of people,” I counter. Karma hates the bright lights, the audience. She thrives in the shadows and darkness, and that’s where we can keep her. “We could find somewhere where you don’t need to worry about hiding. Where no one will see you until you need to hunt. Don’t you want that?”

I see it in her eyes—she does—but she’s split between the built-in loyalty to her creator and her obsession with us.

She looks away to find Spiral. “Would you come with us?”

He steps forward, parts his lips, and then shakes his head. “Kreo hasn’t fixed me yet, dead girl.”

“Good. It’s sorted. Circle doesn’t come with us,” Micha grunts.