Spectacular!

Chapter Two

"How do you know my name?" The words slip out in a breathless rush as the stranger tightens his grip on my hand, guiding me across the creaking drawbridge. His touch is light but sure, as though he's pulling me toward something inevitable.

"Your ticket," he nods toward the basket nestled in the crook of my arm, the words warm and full of amusement. "It has your name on it."

"But that's impossible," I mutter, freeing my hand from his to retrieve the ticket. When I flip it open, my breath catches. Beneath the silver stars and swirling letters, there it is—Kenna Faye Oberman, written in delicate, elegant script, as though it's always belonged there. "But... how?"

The stranger laughs, the sound feeling like sunlight breaking through clouds, effortless and bright. "Would you believe me if I told you it was magic?"

The thought sends a shiver down my spine, and my feet falter as I come to a stop on the wooden bridge. "Magic?"

He turns to face me, his expression open and sincere. "I believe a ticket knows who needs it most," he says, softer now, as though sharing a secret. "And when it finds that person, it knows their name, their story, and why they need the circus. One ticket can change a life."

I stare at him, bewildered, my mind spinning with the impossibility of it all. "Who are you?" I ask, though deep down, I already know.

He tuts softly, tilting his head to one side. "You still haven't figured it out?"

"You're the elephant performer," I say hesitantly, my brow furrowing.

"Not just any elephant performer," he replies, his smile turning into something proud and playful. "I am the Ringmaster."

"The Ringmaster?" escapes my lips, barely a whisper, disbelief and awe curling together in my chest. "Cyrus Hardgrove?"

"The very one," he says with a wink, bowing before me with a flourish. His presence feels larger than life, as if the world bends around him, drawn to his orbit.

My heart races in my chest, the name echoing through my thoughts like a bell ringing out across the night. Cyrus Hardgrove's Traveling Menagerie for the Magically Minded and Magnificently Curious. I swallow, the reality of it sinking in. I'm standing before the very man whose name has been whispered with reverence for as long as I can remember.

"The very one," he repeats, his gaze steady on mine. "Now, are you ready to see those elephants?"

There's a pull inside me, dulcet yet insistent, like a nagging thought at the edge of my mind. I glance around, the woods swaying with the breeze, the evening sky stretching above us. "I feel like I've forgotten something," I murmur.

"What could you have forgotten?" Cyrus asks, his voice playful but with an undercurrent of curiosity.

"I..." The thought slips away before I can catch it. "I don't know."

He chuckles softly, then gestures toward the distant tent with a sweep of his arm. "Shall we?"

I blink, and suddenly the red-and-white striped tent looms before us, impossibly close. My breathing hitches as I glance around in confusion. "How did we get here so quickly?"

"The circus waits for no one," Cyrus says, his eyes glinting with mischief. "Now, come on, Kenna. There's so much to see."

The same invisible thread seems to pull me forward again, the weight of the world slipping from my shoulders as I step closer to the most beautiful chaos I've ever seen. The massive red-and-white tent shifts with the wind, its stakes rattling in the ground as performers and workers scramble to secure it. Voices carry through the madness, mingling with the clanging of metal stakes driven into the earth, the sound like a heartbeat pulsing through the ground beneath my feet.