Page 31 of Circus From Hell

“Yes. How did you know?”

“They’re ssslow.” He’s not scared of me. “I can hear them.”

“That is impressive. But who are you?”

“Karma,” I say quietly. “Do you have a name?”

“Karma? Interesting. Of course I have a name. But nobody has asked me that since I got here.”

The smell of fish catches my attention. It’s in the corner of the cage.

“You eat fish.”

The creature snarls. “No, I do not. Those men keep giving it to me, but I’ve told them I don’t touch fish.”

Those men? He must mean Kreo and Spiral. “What do you eat?”

“Anything but fish.”

Snake jumps through the cage bars and grabs the fish in his teeth, dragging it to me. I reach in and grab it, throwing it across the trailer. Snake jumps back onto my arm.

“Thank you, Karma. And Snake.” Snake hisses softly as a reply that means ‘you’re welcome’, and the creature’s blue lips pull into a small smile. “What are you doing sneaking in here, anyway?”

“Curious.” I’m getting better at controlling my tongue.

“About me? Everyone seems to be.”

“What is your name?”

“Soren.”

“Sssoren,” I repeat, bringing my face closer to the bars. “Why are you in here?”

“That doctor with the white hair brought me here. He’s using me for some weird tests. Not that I want to be here.” Kreo kidnapped Soren? I don’t find that hard to believe. “Would you help me out of here, Karma?”

I look at the trailer door. Spiral will be up soon, and I would be going against Kreo completely.

“It’s okay,” he sighs sadly. “I understand you can’t. I just… don’t want to die, Karma.”

I don’t have a heart. Or a soul. So why does my tummy feel funny? Sadness? But I’ve never felt sadness before.

I do not like it. Not one bit.

The feeling freaks me out, and I slowly back away from the cage. Soren’s furrowed eyebrows and downturned lips get darker as I get further away, until his large frame is completely shadowed. Snake clings to my head, and I leave the trailer, shutting the door behind me.

Spiral is walking in our direction, so I hide behind the closest tent. I don’t want to deal with his mood right now. I’ll reveal what I know soon.

He’s muttering something incoherent under his breath and stops in front of the padlock on the floor, eyes wide. He’s realised he’s fucked up. I have to force back a laugh.

“Fucking shit buckets,” he mumbles, dropping down and picking up the lock.

As soon as he’s inside, I hurry back to my tent, narrowly missing Moxie and Dolly, who are walking beside the show tent. I don’t want to deal with the both of them, either. Dolly is silent but watches everything with searing eyes, and Moxie likes to cause problems. They never speak to me directly; none of the other performers do. They think I’ll eat them. If they weren’t off-limits because of Kreo, then I probably would.

Snake hops onto the mattress and perches himself on the edge, waiting expectantly. Normally, this would be it for me until showtime, sitting in this tent and occupying myself. But Snake doesn’t seem interested in doing that anymore, and I feel the same.

Spiral can’t touch me now. None of them can. Which means I’m free to find a certain curly-haired blonde and his muscle.

It’s probably time we talked.