Chapter 1

Everyone loves a sad clown, right? As long as they have cats with them.

Eight months later,

The Circus raced away from the cold winds blowing across the north, bringing heavy snow, which was causing all kinds of trouble, but the Circus had made it to Little Rock, Arkansas, where the winter winds didn't dare blow for a while. They had been set up for two weeks, with Azrael planning for a third one. It was a rare case where the Circus stayed in one place for a while, and all the hands and acts were thrilled not to be one the road again.

It almost felt like they could settle in for a bit. They wouldn't dare put down roots in this place; their lives and jobs were to keep moving, looking for new towns to bring joy to the lonely people. It was a life they all loved. It was also a very difficult life, but Lucille wouldn't change anything as she ran between some people heading to get some popcorn. She was being followed by her cats, Stanly at the front, and four other cats running by her like ducks following their mother.

She was dressed as she had been every night for the last week as a clown with a sad face, newsboy cap, tweeted jacket, and large shoes, which took her some time to learn how to walk in and longer to run in, but it wasn't the clown outfit which brought most people to stare. It was the fact all her cats were dressed in tiny clown outfits as well, and they were a part of her show. She made everyone laugh as they headed for the big top. It turned out she was a great clown. She loved making people smile at her silly jokes, mostly the kids.

The cats raced behind her, making a few people point in awe of them. One of them whispered about how she could make the cats follow her and wear those clothes, but she had this ability to make cats do as she told them. Along with another ability she didn't use at all in the show. There was no need for such a power.

She ducked under one of the ropes to get behind the big top, finding Charon sitting on a chest with a jug of moonshine and a pipe. The pipe had thick smoke swirling out of it, and he was tapping the jug a little to catch the burning rush of moonshine. He glanced with his hard and ugly eyebrows over at Lucille as she came to a stop in front of them.

"What're you doin' clown?" he asked, puffing on his pipe, sitting the jug down, and stretching out his legs longer than most poles.

"What do you mean?" Lucille asked, crossing her arms. She started to tap her foot as she narrowed her eyes at him, and if she wasn't dressed like a clown, then it wouldn't have been funny, but damn, it almost made Charon roar with laughter.

"There ain't no body back here," he said, "who has coin to toss into your hat. You should be out there with the folks, yea?"

"What?" she quickly protests. "You said I could watch tonight. It's Friday, and you said I could watch it this Friday."

"Hm, did I?" Charon asked chewing on his pipe. "Are you sure?"

"Oh, lay off the girl," Azrael said, stepping out the back and dressed in his ringmaster's uniform. The black, red, and gold clothes matched his cane along with his top hat, and he looked the part to the letter. No one would have doubted who the master of this Circus was when Azrael walked out wearing the right clothes.

"You're spoilin' her," Charon said, taking a hit from the jug. "You give in too much to her."

"She's fine," Azrael said, winking at Lucille.

"Someone should spoil me," she said.

"Trust me," Thomas 'The Minotaur' J Henry said, coming up behind them, "you're spoiled, we all know it."

"Because you are given in to her," Charon said.

"That's because you're a hard a*s," Thomas said, "who drinks too much." He grabbed Lucille's arm, pulling her into the tent with him.

"You do drink an awful a lot," she said sweetly, walking past Charon.

"That's because I'm a hard a*s," he said, giving her a goofy smile and a hard wink. He could be rough around the edges and like giving her a hard time along with everyone else, but at the end of the day, Charon loved Lucille like the daughter he never had with Luna.

She hadn't found out anything about Luna. No one other than Azrael knew what happened to Luna, and he wasn't willing to tell Lucille. She had asked a lot, but Azrael had a line he wouldn't cross, which told Lucille whatever happened between Luna and Charon was bad.

But right now, she wasn't thinking about Luna as Thomas got her into the perfect spot to watch the show. Azrael came rushing out into the middle of the ring, giving his speech, wowing the crowd, and sitting up the next act.

The Diva of Hues, Kal 'Vilas' Inkk.

And no matter how many times Lucille had seen Vilas sing, it was the most amazing thing she had seen.

Everything went dark except a flash from a match illuminating a man's cruel face with ugly brown eyes. He put the flame to a cigarette, puffing out smoke, which was against the rules of the big top. She was about to say something when the violin and cello started to bring everyone to a hush.

Lucille turned to the center of the ring, knowing Vilas was standing there as her perfect voice started to fill the space in the tent, and then, almost as the first note rose to the right pitch, lights started to swirl around her. The lights were pure white following the notes of the song as they spun around her, and as she changed her notes, the lights started to change colors like a rainbow. The light coming from her singing started to spin out around the tent between the people, making them all sit in awe while the ugly man stared at Vilas.