In the middle of the woods, in a town with no name, there is a withered clearing that the living rarely visit. Its space is outlined and towered over by large, dark trees. All of them lean slightly away from the clearing, their leaves casting a blank shadow upon its ground. Grass does not grow and vines snake across its surface, entangled in the nothingness that resides there. People in this specific town call it the "Haunting Hole" for a reason; as most of them know the gruesome stories. Those who have not heard of these stories, however, trek into its darkness in the early hours of the morning. They are never seen again. But, once in a lifetime, the Sunset Circus visits again and restores the clearing to its original glory. Grass sprouts up from the mangled ground, the vines disappear. Strange lights float overhead, casting a low glow upon all that is near. Ambiance is their specialty. They carry with them their red and white striped tent, and everyone in every town always knows that they have arrived. They appear in early morning, just as the sun is rising. Once the sun finally dims and makes way for the moon in the sky, the strange lights burn brighter. It is said that the entire town can see them from wherever they look. The Sunset Circus never has anything less than a full house because of this. Never any earlier or any later than the sun setting do they begin their spectacular showing of mischief and magic.

Many who see the show are never the same people again once they leave the large circus tent. Others live on with their normal lives, but always have one question gnawing at the back of their head. They see things that no one is meant to see. They hear things that no mortal is ever meant to hear. They pretend for the rest of their short lives that what they saw that night was normal. Other folks who see the show go in search of the performers' tent after the it has finished. They do not return. But, all of this is considered perfectly natural.

After all, it is explained at the beginning of every show that anyone in the audience is likely to not return from the woods.

And that is how it goes, every single night.

The Sunset Circus has returned, and they will put on a performance that no one will ever forget, and that no one will ever remember.

Back in the center of town, a storm was brewing. Rain began to pour from the sky and echoed on the concrete road. A fog started to settle in, hazing over the tiny buildings scattered on either side of the road. Meanwhile, two friends rushed to get under cover. They stopped in front of a small candy shop, a small overhang above them. The girl turned to the other. Her thick, coarse hair had been matted down, and the large raindrops that settled on her face made her chocolate colored skin glisten. She was wearing a light colored t-shirt that sported quite a few rips, all of which she and her friend ignored. Her dark jeans were worn out, fading into a ghostly pale blue. She kicked her feet at the ground, began to say something, paused, then started again.

"Did you hear about the circus?"

"What circus?" the other asked.

"Seriously?! You haven't heard? Everyone's talking about it," she replied. 

"Care to explain, Asya?" her friend questioned, sighing. Zir grey eyes stared at her intently.

"How could you have seriously not heard about it? I mean, literally everybody in town got a text telling them about it. It said something along the lines of, 'Come see the Sunset Circus, one night only, starting at sundown, at the Haunting Hole'. Have you not checked your phone today or something, Kai? I thought you already knew, but I wanted to check and make sure, so, I guess I was right to," Asya explained. "So, I was wondering if you were free tonight? You know, to go see it with me?"

"I guess. I'm not doing anything tonight, so, yeah, sure, I'll go with you. But how do you know this is a legitimate thing? How do you know that a murderer isn't going to come and kill all of the people that are stupid enough to visit the Haunting Hole?" Kai said, shaking the rain off of zemself. 

Asya sighed and shoved zir shoulder lightly. "I doubt it. I mean, you don't really believe those stories, do you? I'm pretty sure they're all made up by us 12th graders to scare the incoming 7th graders."

"I don't believe in those stories, but the Haunting Hole definitely has something wrong with it. I always get a bad vibe whenever I'm on the end of town, especially in the neighborhoods right next to the woods."

"Why would you even go over to those places? They're creepy and run down."

"I live there, Asya."

"Right."

Kai gazed out into the street. A few cars sped by and caused an ark of water to cascade onto the sidewalk. Ze brushed some droplets off of zir pants. "Well, I guess we shouldn't stand here all day. Did you happen to bring an umbrella with you?"

"Nope. Guess we're walking in the rain, then," Asya replied, walking out from under the overhang with a bounce in her step. 

Kai paused. "Would you rather I just called one of my parents to come pick us up? Shouldn't be much of a hassle."

"It's fine. We can walk. I have to go over in your direction anyway. I'm going over to Marisol's house. We're studying for that big science test tomorrow," Asya responds, a slight smile plastered on her face.

"I don't want to be anywhere near you and your girlfriend when you're home alone," Kai jokes, sticking zir tongue out at Asya.

She gasped in unsurprised shock. "How could you ever think such a thing? And anyway, come on. I'm getting soaked out here."

And so the two of them began to walk down the road, towards the end of town. A few people walking on the other side of the road gave Kai some strange looks, but ze didn't pay much attention to them. They continued down the street until they had reached the other side of town, and they parted ways. Kai turned one way, and Asya went the other way, presumably to continue on to Marisol's house. Kai turned back to look at her occasionally, but she just kept walking, and walking, and walking. Ze skipped along the side of the road, hopping up the steps to zir house. Ze yanked the rusting door open and made zir way inside the run-down house. Ze never really mentioned it to anyone, but zir house had chipping paint, broken windows, and lots of other things zir family could not afford to fix. It never bothered Kai.

"Mom! I'm home!" ze yelled into the spacious house, making zir way down the front hallway and into the kitchen. Ze grabbed an apple and sat down at the kitchen table, biting into its pure scarlet tones. It was only then when ze realized the apple was in fact, rotten, and spat it out into the trash can across from the fridge. Ze threw the apple in as well. 

"You're home already?" Kai's mother called from upstairs. Kai heard a rumble of noise as zir mother rushed down the stairs and made her way into the kitchen as well. "I thought you were staying after school today, honey."

"No, mom," Kai responded, zir eyes gazing out of the glass door that led outside, directly facing the woods. Ze bit down on zir bottom lip slightly. "I walked with Asya home, but she had to go study with Marisol, so I walked the rest of the way alone."

Zir mother inhaled deeply, her pupils shrinking to a small size. "Kai. We have discussed this. How many times do I have to remind you that Asya and Marisol died a year ago in a car crash?" She then muttered quietly to herself, "I need to get you some professional help once we can afford it."

"I'm telling you, I'm really seeing them! I don't know how, but I just am!" Kai screeched, zir voice shrill from anticipation.

"No, you're not! Asya's dead, Kai! Dead. You need to get over this," zir mother responded, her shoulders tensing downwards and fingers curling involuntarily. "This is not normal! There is something wrong with you, Kai, and we're going to get it fixed. Eventually."

"There is nothing wrong with me! If anything, there's something wrong with you! Who would want to get their own child 'fixed'?!" ze screamed, zir hands slamming onto the kitchen table. "I refuse to 'get it fixed', because there's absolutely nothing wrong with it!"

"You're seeing ghosts, Kai! There is absolutely something wrong with it," zir mother said angrily. Her voice raised slightly, but she calmed down, and mumbled to herself, "Damn your combination of genes." 

Ze sighed and began to walk upstairs. "I'll be upstairs burning down the house if you need anything," Kai grumbled as ze made zir way up the rickety staircase to zir room.

​"Whatever it takes to keep the house warm, sweetie. Whatever it takes," zir mother responded, opening the door to the fridge. "I've really got to go grocery shopping soon. Let's see, so what shifts am I working this week...?"

Kai muffled a laugh and made a beeline for zir room. Once in it, ze locked the door and sat on zir bed. For having such a run down house, ze had a generally nice room. A twin  bed, bookshelves lining the walls, a desk, among other things. Of course, the bookshelves were more than half empty and the desk was 20 years old, but Kai shrugged it off. It was nicer than some of the places they had been in previous towns.

Suddenly, ze heard a light noise coming from outside zir window. Ze turned zir head just in time to see a small pebble clinking against the glass pane. Another one followed. Kai stood up and went over to the window, peering out into the backyard. Below, ze saw Asya, standing there, another rock in hand. "Kai!" she called. "Come down here! The circus is going to start in around an hour, and we need to get over there quick! I heard the seats were filling up quickly!" 

"I don't know if I can. I still have some homework to do."

"Who cares? This is a one time thing, it won't mess up your GPA. Come on, please?" 

Kai sighed dismally. "Fine. I'll go. But if my parents start asking questions..."

"Don't worry about that! You shouldn't care what they think. You're old enough to do things for yourself," Asya replied. She chucked the other pebble at zir window. 

"I'll be down in a minute," Kai responded. Ze quickly grabbed a jacket and threw it on, and grabbed some $20s as well. Ze ran down the stairs and out into the middle of the front hallway, where ze slipped on some hiking boots. Zir mother came into the hall and stared at zir.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm not going to a party, mom. I'm going over to Lyra's; you know Lyra, right? She lives over on the other side of the neighborhood. She needed some help with her English homework, so I'm going over to help her,' Kai explained, hastily tying up zir boots.

"Uh huh," zir mother said sarcastically. She sighed. "It's fine that you're going to a party. Just come back for school in the morning, and don't do anything stupid!"

"Mom! I told you, I'm not going to a party!"

"Yeah yeah. Just go already."

Kai groaned and ran out of the door and into the backyard, the door slamming behind zemself. Asya sported a grin on her face. "You ready to go?"

"Yep," Kai responded. They began walking in the direction of the woods, eventually reaching its first few sets of trees. Asya almost trips over a tree root, but catches herself.

"So," Kai began. "Do you remember what, uh, happened, last year, Asya?"

"What do you mean?"

"In the car crash. With you and Marisol?" ze questioned.

"I don't remember much. All I know, is after that, people started to ignore me. Like they couldn't see me or something," Asya giggled, her voice higher than usual.

"So you don't remember anything at all?" Kai queried. Zir expressionless face began to turn into a frown.

"I do remember a few things. I know that I was driving, and Marisol was riding shotgun. We were moving into another lane on the highway when a semi tried to move in our lane and hit us. From there, everything is... fuzzy, I guess."

"Well, I can't say that's particularly a bad thing," Kai said while sighing. 

"Why? Is it wrong that I can't remember what happened?" Asya said suspiciously.

"Not at all. I just wanted to know if you, uh, remembered what happened while you were at the hospital, is all," Kai responded quickly. Ze hoped it wasn't too quickly.

Asya giggled. "I heard that I almost died. Crazy, right?" 

Kai sighed and stared at the ground. "Yeah. Crazy."

They continued trudging along in the woods, a faint glow piercing through the shrouded woods. As they neared the clearing, the light became brighter and brighter until both of them could see perfectly through the normally dark space. They could make out singular blades of grass and moss growing on tree roots. Once they finally happened upon the clearing, the space was transformed. A red and white circus tent was set up in the middle of the field, taking up most of the space. There were a few smaller tents scattered around, all of which Kai assumed were for the performers. The grounds were filled with all different sorts of people; some tall, some small, but they all had one thing in common: their clothing. All of it was mangled and rough in some places, although some were dressed rather nicely. Kai muttered something to zemself about the amount of people. Asya looked over at zir nervous face.

"Don't worry, it'll be fun! I'm sure you'll have a great time as long as you're with me," she said, smiling.

Kai started shivering slightly. "It's really cold out here. Do you feel that?"

"No. Now that you mention it, I haven't really felt cold since I was in that car crash," Asya wondered out loud. "Huh. I'm sure it's nothing."

Suddenly, the glowing lights above their heads began to dim. Asya's eyes widened in surprise. "It's time!" she screeched, and pulled Kai towards the tent. "Oh, and by the way, I heard there's a lot of non-binary people in this circus! It's perfect for you," she said loudly, continuing to push past people in her way to get to the opening of the tent. She continued pulling Kai until they reached the tent. It was very spacious on the inside, much more so than you would expect from looking at it from the outside. The walls were lined with rows of stands, surrounding every single part of the curve except for one; a small ark that ze assumed the performers would come out of. Asya rushed into the stands, pushing her way into the very front row, and pulling Kai with her. She sat down immediately once she found two open seats, and motioned for Kai to sit next to her, which ze did. A few minutes pass, and eventually the lights on the ceiling began to dim. Lights then began to twirl around in the air, shining in every which way. Loud drums beated in the background. Suddenly, the lights settled quickly on one particular seat in the audience, where no one was sitting. A flash of smoke later, a boy was sitting in the chair, one leg on top of the other. He reached up and pulled his top hat down firmly onto his head, standing up. Even from where Kai and Asya were sitting, they could still make out the detail on his finely tailored red jacket. It was double breasted and lined with a black fabric. He smirked and lept into the center of the tent, him being only in the first row in the first place. He raises his arms out in front of him and gestures to the audience, turning slightly so the people on the sides can see him.

"Welcome to the Sunset Circus!" he seemingly yells, but his mouth never moves. Kai stares at him for a brief second, taking in his blond hair and blue eyes. Ze then had a disgusted look on zir face. Ze had never really liked men all that much.

"My name is Rook, and tonight, you will be seeing some of the best performances of your life! But, I must warn you. Once you see our performance, you will be changed. You will see the world around you differently, and I sincerely hope none of you go mad tonight. That would be a shame. But, on with the show! We have some marvelous acts lined up for you all tonight. You will not be able to take your eyes of of our first performers. May I introduce, the men of the evening," he paused for dramatic effect, drums rolling in the background. "Siren, our very own entrancer, Siren, and our talented acrobat, Namid!" He then motioned to the small archway in the side of the tent, and in another puff of smoke, he was gone. The crowd started to cheer, clapping, anticipating the first act. Then there was silence. 

Slowly, a low singing voice started to rise from the archway. It crept its way around the audience and everyone was silent. Another boy emerged, Siren. He was wearing a loose grey tunic and wore darkly colored glasses. His dark hair curled around his shoulders, and the dim lights reflected brilliantly off of his bronze skin. His singing gradually got louder, and a long fabric dropped from the ceiling, along with it, another person. The second boy, Namid, began his acrobatic routine, flipping himself up and around the fabric, never falling. He pulled himself up the thin fabric easily, all while staying perfectly in harmony with what Siren was singing. His melodious voice never once stopped, and the everybody in the audience could not take their attention of of the two of them. Kai swore that ze didn't even see anyone blink. 

After around 10 minutes, Siren and Namid concluded their performance and took a bow. The entire audience erupted into claps and cheers. Namid then grabbed a hold of Sirens' hand, slowly leading him back towards the archway he came in from. Siren held his other hand out in front of himself, and Kai could see him mouthing something along the lines of, "I'm sure you were great today." 

Suddenly, in yet another flash of smoke, Rook appears again, this time in the middle of the ring. "So how were they? Give them another round of applause!" he encourages, clapping along with everybody else in the audience. Kai stared closely at his face again, and still did not see his mouth move while he was speaking. Ze went to poke Asya, but she was too entranced to notice Kai's advancement.

"We've got more lovely performances coming to you soon, but right now, we've got an extra special treat for you tonight. You may have heard of this lovely person a few times before; they are our front and center, our crowning jewel. Ladies, gentleman, and everything in between and outside the gender binary; please put your hands together for Lex, our talented shape-shifter!" Rook announced, and disappeared in another puff of smoke.

Everyone's eyes shifted towards the small archway. Soon after, a short figure saunters through the door. They are very female presenting, wearing a tight bodysuit and wearing their long hair in a ponytail, but Kai never liked to make assumptions. The crowd clapped loudly until they raised a hand to silence everyone.

"Good evening, everyone! My name is Lex, and as you may know, I am a shape-shifter. Some of you here tonight will not believe what I am capable of; you will leave thinking that it was all an illusion or that it was all some sort of CGI, but I assure you; everything you see tonight is 100% real, and I urge you to keep that in mind as I continue with my performance," they said loudly, their voice echoing in the now silent tent. "Well then, let us begin," they mused, scanning the audience with their golden eyes, that appeared to become brighter by the second. They then quickly turn their head back towards the small archway, where another person has stepped out, a hijab wrapped around their hair. "Nooriya, hit it!" Lex yelled, raising an arm to point at them. Nooryia raises her arms and all of the lights do dark.

Suddenly, a singular spotlight appeared, casting a bright light onto Lex. They had one arm raised in the air, and they had slumped slightly to one side. A base line began playing in the background, and Lex began their performance. Shoving one arm towards the ground, they pulled the other towards and across their face. As soon as their hand revealed their entire face, it had turned into that of a tigers', all sense of human being gone. They quickly turned the rest of their body into that of the large cat's as well. The audience held their breath while they roared. Kai looked over at Asya and saw her on the edge of her seat, grasping onto it with a wild grin on her face. Kai then turned zir attention back towards Lex, who had by this point then turned themself into a wolf. They pranced around the inner ring with confidence and joy.

Lex then shifted back into a human, this time looking more masculine. Their jawline had filled out, but they were still wearing the same bodysuit and still had their hair back in a ponytail. "Thank you, thank you," they said, their voice deep and warm. "For my next trick, I need the help of a volunteer. Would anyone in the audience care to be my assistant?"

Asya's hand shot straight up, and the two of them locked gazes. "Well, looks like we have a volunteer!" Lex roared happily. They motioned for Asya to come down into the inner ring, which Asya did with ease, leaping over the people in the row in front of her into the ring. Lex grabbed her hand and pulled it up. "May I introduce...?" they looked at her expectantly.

"Asya," she said confidently.

"Well then, may I present Asya, my assistant for my next trick!" Lex announced, motioning to her with the hand they were not holding onto her with. They then leaned over and whispered something in Asya's ear. Kai could see her snickering even from zir seat. Lex then faced towards the archway and yelled, "Nooriya! Before I forget, go grab Charybdis for me! I'm going to need a little help."

Nooriya nodded quickly and rushed into the archway. Lex then turned to the audience and announced, "Now, just as a fair warning, I feel the need to remind all of you that this is completely safe and Asya here will not be harmed in the process." Kai could feel Lex's eyes burning into the back of zir skull. "We have practiced, in fact, all of our tricks, tens of thousands of times and I can assure you absolutely nothing will happen here that we do not want to happen." 

Nooriya suddenly returned with a girl who Kai presumed was Charybdis. She waved at Lex and they waved back. 

"Looks like we're ready to begin, then!" Lex said, raising their arms towards the audience. "Hold onto your seats, everybody.

"This is something you're not going to forget."

Lex took a deep breath and whispered something in Asya's ear again. Asya quickly nodded and jumped on their back, her arms around their neck and her legs around their waist. Lex looks over at Charybdis and gave her a thumbs up symbol, to which Charybdis responded with another. She then began waving her arms in a fluid motion, eyes clamped shut. Slowly, a cumulative of water began to form in the air, churning and twisting around as Charybdis's arms flowed. She then held her hands out steady, the water settling into one large group. She then nodded at Lex and breathed in visibly. 

Lex nodded back, and quickly leaped into the air. Charybdis moves her hands quickly and the water quickly encases both Lex and Asya. Lex immediately shifted their form into that of a shark, and Asya took a deep inhale, surprised to see an air bubble had surrounded her head. Kai glanced at Charybdis briefly, and saw that she was moving fluidly, forcing the water to move along with her movements. Geez, Kai thought. How do all of these people do these things?

Lex began swimming around the tent, Asya still on their back. Asya threw her hands up but immediately put them back down, clinging onto Lex's shark form. Lex then rushed over the heads of the audience members, some screaming and cowering in fear. Kai laughed slightly to zemself. Ze was just happy that Asya was having fun again.

Lex plunged towards the ground, and immediately as they touched it, turned back into a human again, Aysa collapsing on top of them. Charybdis quickly pulled the water away and dispersed it back into the air. Asya stood up and pumped her fist into the air. "That was so awesome!" she squealed, pulling Lex up into a hug. They both laughed and embraced each other. The audience erupted into noise. Kai could make out Lex mouthing something, but could not hear what they were saying. Lex then glanced over at zem and then back at Asya, and smiled. Asya's shoulders scrunched up and she began to laugh. She then hugged Lex one more time and began making her way back to Kai. Once there, she plopped down in the seat next to zem and exhaled loudly. "That was so freaking cool. You don't even know."

"I can imagine," Kai smirked. 

"Oh, I'm sure. And next thing you know you'll be controlling the weather, too!" 

Both Asya and Kai fell into laughter. The murmur of the audience quickly died down once Lex raised their hands to silence them. "I hope you enjoyed that previous trick," they said, looking over at Asya. "I know of at least one person who did." They then looked back at the audience. "Anyway, there is another thing I would like to say before I finish my final trick. Do not be alarmed. I am completely safe doing this, and I just wanted to let you all know that--"

A large veil of smoke suddenly covered the tent and Lex goes silent. A singular light shined through the smoke and Rook appeared again. "Sorry, folks! Looks like we're going to have to cancel Lex's final trick. We feel like it would not be in their best interest, or yours to see such a thing. But before we move on to the next act, I'd like to say-"

"Lex! What did I say about the copying?!" 

All eyes turned to the small archway while the fog disappeared. Standing in it, was yet another Rook. The audience gasped collectively. The Rook who was announcing started laughing so hard they doubled over, and Lex turned back into their normal self, this time looking very gender neutral. 

"Oh my god, I can't believe you didn't expect that, Rook!" Lex chortled, doubling over from laughter. They slowly stood up and wiped what was the beginning of tears from the corners of their eyes. "Oh man, that was great. I never get tired of doing that."

"Lex..." Rook sneered.

"Woah, take it down a notch, straight boy," Lex joked, then they cleared their throat. "Okay, so that looks like that's the end of my performance, everybody! I'd just like to say a special thanks to Nooriya and Charybdis for helping me out!" they announce, motioning towards the two of them, standing in the middle of the archway.

"I hope you all enjoy the rest of the performances! Speaking of which; up next, one of the very special people I was just thanking; Nooriya, performing an act that will leave you blindly searching for more!" Lex snickered to themself and made their way towards the arch, high-fiving Nooriya on their way out. 

Ne calmly walked into the center of the ring, visibly breathing slowly. "Hello, everybody. My name is Nooriya, and I have an extraordinary performance planned. Before I begin, I would like to ask anybody who is triggered by bright flashing lights to please leave now; I'm afraid you will not be safe in this environment." Ne calmly waited for anyone to move. "No one? Perfect. I will begin, then."

Nooriya sucked in a rabid breath, held it, and exhaled a glowing powder of such. Ne took nir hand and guided the light back into nir mouth, and then breathed them out again, this time the light covering most of the audience members directly in front of nem. Pushing nir arms out and back together, the lights within the tent slowly blew out, one by one. As the last light disappeared, ne opened nir eyes widely as they flashed gold, and then the tent went black. 

A singular floating beam of illuminance rested softly in the air. It was soon followed by another, and another. They all cast a soft glow on Nooriya, and nir silver hijab reflected their shine easily. Ne smirked and swirled nir hand around within their rich golden colors, spreading them out in into a singular, flat line. Ne swiped nir hand through it, sectioning it off into quarters. Nooriya then proceeded to blow away three out of the four, leaving one small area of brightness left. With this ne encased nir hand with light, using it as a sort of bandage, wrapping nir hands around and around with the streams of burnished brilliance. Raising nir arms up above nir head, Nooriya created to streaks of light in the solitary air. Ne used nir encased hands to spread out the lines, connecting them and creating a flower-like look. Ne then exhaled in the middle of the streaks where there was nothing, and cast upon it flecks of light. Nooriya then created another streak at the bottom, this time going downwards, to complete nir flower.

Someone in the audience began to clap slowly, but stopped once they realized it was a tad rude. Nooriya continued nir act as planned, shoving nir hands through the flower and spreading the particles of light throughout the small tent. Ne pushed nir arms up and the light swirled together, then disappeared. 

Another light appeared, then went out. A few more accumulated within the air, staying a few seconds longer than the previous. Eventually the whole tent was filled with floating lantern-esque lights, all of them shining brightly and illuminating the space around them. One by one the lights flickered out, until only one was left. It landed in Nooriya's hands and ne pushed it towards the ceiling, where it exploded in a cascade of flickering brightness. The particles landed on the ground and began to sprout up, emanating seeds and becoming the form of small flowers. Ne picked one up and wrapped it around nir hand. The flower began to spread all over nir body, encasing nir in root-like streams of light. They flowed up nir body and down towards nir feet, as well. The vines trapped Nooriya's feet, and once ne began to walk, more flowers would sprout from the ground.

As ne walked away, they would wither and retreat into the ground, casting a low glow on the dirt beneath nir body. Nooriya bent down and cupped nir hand under one of the flowers, causing it to grow rapidly and spread to the top of the tent, where it traveled down the sides and into the stands. Someone reached up to touch one of them, but recoiled as soon as they realized that the vines were actually physically burning. Kai stared at Nooriya and wondered how ne didn't get burned from touching all of the lights. 

Ne then motioned for all of the light to come back to the center of the tent, which they did. The lights exploded into thousands of tiny specs of brightness, most of them landing on Nooriya's head, shoulders, and the rest of nir clothing as well. Ne breathed out and all of the lights extinguished, leaving the tent in total darkness. Spotlights began to shine from the ceiling again, and Nooriya was revealed to have nir arms up, lighting them up again. The crowd erupted into applause, the small space echoing their claps even more than they usually would be.

Ne bowed nir head and then took a deep breath. "Thank you for your applause. I appreciate it greatly and am encouraged to continue on with my work to make the show even better. Up next we have-" 

Ne was interrupted by a flash of smoke, which Kai knew led to the ringmaster, Rook. He appeared in front of nem and lowered his arms slowly. "I am very sorry, but it looks like we have run out of time! The sun is about to rise and I hope you have all had the time of your life tonight. I am extremely sorry that you were not able to see the rest of our acts, but we are unable to continue because the sun will  come up very soon. I'm sure you all want to go home and contemplate what you have seen tonight, and I truly hope that you do! Good night, everybody. Stay safe on your eternal journey into the unknown!"

And with another flash of smoke, both of them disappeared into thin air and the tent exploded into chatter. Kai and Asya made their way out of the tent, pushing through the crowd of people. 

"Wow, that was incredible!" Asya screeched. She grabbed a hold of Kai tightly. "You liked it, right?"

"Well, I guess it wasn't a complete waste of time. I admit, it was pretty cool," Kai replied, shrugging.