Chapter One
I
Hello, and you've found the book on the not-so typical family-friendly circus. We have lions, snakes, and the occasional fight till someone cannot stand. Now to begin, if you are here for a pleasant story of a girl's life of living in a friendly circus, you've come to the wrong place my dear reader. This book has fights, back-stabbings, apologies (not too many of those), uncovered secrets, and too many promises and lies for a simple circus coupe... But if you like complications, lies buried deep, misnamed characters, and uncovering odd plots, you've come to the right place.... Oh, and welcome to the circus.
Hi, my name is Marianna, but i'm not sure you will ever hear me called by that. Here at the circus, I'm famously known as Marionette, or the Doll of the circus. Behind the scenes, i'm called Marly... It's very nice to meet you. ( we are all 17 years old except for the little highnesses who are both 9 years old.) Next in our circus, is our famously misnamed illusionist, known as Joker. His real name is Ryan, and after him is the twins, famously known as The Little Highnesses, called Prince and Princess, and they are our eight year old trapeze artists. After that we have the brother and sister, famously known as Doc and Beast. Doc's name is Henry and he (as you have probably guessed) is our doctor. Beast is our lion tamer, also known as Lorianna. After that, we have Miss Charm, Blade, and our ruthless Ringleader. Miss Charm is our snake charmer, but we just call her by her name Callie. After that, is Blade, our knife thrower. His name is Nick, and we were sent here at the same time. And last, but certainly not least, our horrible Ringleader. His name is Mr. Dust and he is awful (somewhere above the age of 30). If we perform incorrectly or we do anything to upset him he hits us with his cane. He obtained all of us when he bought us from our parents that were looking for a way to get one less mouth to feed and some extra cash. All of us were sold off in auctions like the items we are treated like.
II
I wake up to see Callie whispering to a snake that found its way into our tent, her back turned to me. Callie and i share a tent that we sleep in. the little highnesses share a tent, Joker and Henry share a tent, and Nick, Beast, and Mr. Dust has their own.
"Callie?" I ask, yawning as i stretch. Callie turns to me and beams.
"Morning Doll. How you feeling? Doc came in here a few times to check on ya during the night 'cuz of how hard Mr. Dust hit you yesterday." Callie says and I yawn again as sunlight seeps through our curtains and I smile as Callie yawns in response to mine. Afterwards she grins and sits on her bed. Our beds are made of tables that have a blanket on top, one long pillow that stretches across the short end of the table and two blankets for warmth.
"Yeah, Mr. Dust punished me for giving a little girl a flower yesterday." I murmur and Callie's jaw drops.
"For something that small?" she asks and i nod.
"He says that he does not want me talking with the crowders." I say and she just shakes her head. Her egyptian looking gold choker reflects the sun directly into my eyes.
"That's so stupid though! So what if you want to talk to the crowd? Wow... Did Joker see?" Callie asks me and i nod.
"Yeah, he saw. He got hit once too for trying to stop Mr. Dust's 'lesson'." I say and Callie drags in a deep breath through clenched teeth.
"Ouch. I hope he's okay." She murmurs and i nod, my earrings swinging around because i forgot to take them out last night. I lazily drag my fingers through my hair.
"I hope so too... I hate it when he steps in for me. He always ends up getting hit too." I say and Callie makes a noise. I raise my gaze from her necklace to her face and see she's smiling.
"Awe, you're worried about him!" She says and i nod.
"Well yeah, he got hurt because of me," and the playfulness in Callie's voice drops out.
"Don't say that. This is Mr. Dust's fault, not yours." She says and i nod and sigh.
"I know, i'm sorry. But um, we should probably get moving before Henry comes to check on me again. I don't want him to see me in my rumpled up clothes. I forgot to change before bed." I say smiling and Callie laughs and refers to her own clothing with her hands.
"I do believe i made the same mistake." She says teasing and I nod.
"Just promise me you won't tell Mr. Dust i complained about him." I tell Callie and she nods her head, her long ponytail waving behind her.
"I swear."
YOU ARE READING
The Half Lies of the Circus
Romance#3 in Ringmaster on March 27, 2019 Prolouge The conversion is quick, the history of experiments bleeding out in front of everyone. I watch as it begins to flow through him, and he shakes, his hand that's holding his gun, unsteady, and I clumsily tr...
