Thirteen

Thirteen - Prologue

The hot lights of the circus tent burnt as the Masked Magician revved up the crowd. His loud voice carried itself throughout the entirety of the tent and the audience hung on his every word, leaning forward on their seats in excitement. He introduced each act one by one with his compelling and powerful speech and they walked out into the sawdust ring as if they owned the place, each doing a little cartwheel or flip to settle the audience's hunger for the show.

      I struggled against the raw ropes, trying to get myself free, and winced slightly as they cut into my already bruised arms. I tried to keep my face masked with a blank expression while I listened closely to the words the magician was carefully selecting, yelling them at the top of his voice.

      "...And now, please give a warm Circ De Freak welcome to Thirteen, The Spectacular Shapeshiftress!" The crowd cheered the loudest for me but that was only because he was putting on that I was some sort of spectacular act that you'd regret for the rest of your life if you missed it.

      I wouldn't have gone that far.

      The introduction he gave me brought alive the butterflies that had been living in my stomach for the past couple of days and when I looked up I saw the guilty expression in B12's eyes.

      "I'm sorry," He sounded dejected. Why? He wasn't the one going through this; I was. Like always. "Please, just do as he tells you and you won't get hurt..."

      "He can't hurt me; I don't have anything to live for," I hissed, reverting my eyes back to the floor. "Not anymore"

      "Then do this for us" Saffron pleaded. The melancholy tone in her voice forced me to look up into her light pink eyes and see the genuine fear she wasn't good at concealing. She was worried for me and, to tell the truth, I was anxious too. I didn't know what was going to happen but things never turned out well for me. That made the butterflies pound the sides of my stomach even harder.

      But I still nodded, unable to take my eyes off her's, and B12 started dragging the cart into the overheated big top. I couldn't help but hold my breath when the crowd started jeering once they saw me and how the acts looked at me with menace in their expressions.

      And how the Masked Magician grinned evilly as B12 pulled me towards him.

You're probably wondering, "What the hell's happening?"

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing that morning.

I should start from the beginning, like all the normal stories do.

But this isn't a normal story. This is my story...