mjaynethewriter
Some threads are spun by fate. Others, by spiders.
17 year old Nell didn't mean to vanish-she only meant to run. From the bleach-stained walls of her foster home, from the fists that struck without warning, from the silence that followed. She had no plan. Just a stolen lighter, a ragged coat, and the ache of wanting out.
But fate doesn't wait for plans.
A moonlit road leads her to the fading tents of Goss's Traveling Marvels, a decaying circus of broken wonders and whispered secrets. There, she meets a cast of strange performers - a bearded lady with a sad smile, a drunken fire breather, a quiet silk spinner, and a fortune teller who warns her not to stay. But it's the ringmaster, Mister Goss, who draws her in the most. Charismatic and controlling, he offers her food, shelter, and a chance to belong - if she's willing to perform.
Nell becomes the circus's new tightrope walker. But her rope isn't rope at all - it's spun by the spiders that live in the shadows of the tent, and they seem to follow her everywhere.
As Nell uncovers the secrets beneath the circus, she realizes she wasn't just brought here. She was chosen. And if she doesn't find a way out soon, the circus will take more than her talent - it will take her soul.