Chapter 74 – Clowning Around

The hall of mirrors was… not quite what I was expecting. It started off nice and easy, and was everything I dreamed of. Some mirrors made us look tall, short, fat, skinny, and everything in between. It was all done through masterful manipulation of the mirror. After that, though, the mirrors grew noticeably stranger.

Near the end of the hall, I stood in front of a mirror that reflected me with a blazing halo over my head like I was a Guardian. Sylvie stood just next to me with a totally different halo then the one she actually had. “Cool.”

”That’s one word for it.” I scratched at my cheek, and looked back across the other magic mirrors. It honestly seemed like a bit of a waste for an arcanist to spend time enchanting these. Not all of them were enchanted though. A few of them felt like anomalies. How had they—ah, right. Blackmarket front. Nevermind.

The halo over my head… it just looked wrong. Like something I should never have. I tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace in the reflection. Heh, right. Me, a Guardian? Though I guess these mirrors were more catered to normal people who still dreamed of Awakening one day. It wasn’t impossible to Awaken without the Mana Serum administered at 15, just extremely unlikely. One in a million, if not billion.

“Oh! Check that one out!” Sylvie grabbed my hand and tugged me in front of the Mirror of Change, according to its placard.

Two male Silver Wolves reflected back at us. One was a boy with a confident smile that looked like all the girls would crush over. His ears were perked up alertly, and there was a soft sparkle to his eyes that would make me want to spoil him rotten.

The other was a red-eyed wolf with a lithe form. He slouched slightly, and his eyes seemed to radiate darkness. His ears were cocked to the sides like he couldn’t care less about anything, which gave him a bit of a moody, bad boy atmosphere. My ears perked up alertly, and the male followed the exact motion.

”Woah, sis, you’d look totally handsome.” Sylvie clutched at her heart, and mock swooned. I caught her before she could fall far. “My hero~”

“You’re one to talk. You look like you’d get expelled from the academy within a week.” I poked her cheek, and pushed her back to her feet.

“And I’d enjoy every single moment of that week.” Sylvie just smirked up at me. In the mirror, the boy followed her expression. On the reflection, though, it made me want to beat him up. 

“Pyre, who raised you? They should be taken out back and beaten.” I pulled her away from the mirror before it could infect her mind more.

She dropped her voice into a gruff tone like a delinquent boy. “What’s the matter, handsome? Scared I’ll rub off on you?”

I dragged her behind me while she made faces at the boy in the mirror the entire way. ”More like I’m scared you’ll run off with yourself—“

Bang!

I slammed face first into a mirror, and bounced backward while holding my stinging nose. My ears instantly flattened. “Agh, fuck.”

”Language~” Sylvie practically sang. She checked on me with a serious expression—one that only lasted a moment before she burst into laughter. She clutched at her sides, and laughed loud enough for everyone else in the place to look over at us. Her fluffy tail swished like an airplane blade about to take off.

My tail curled low around my leg, and I felt heat rush up to my cheeks and ears. I rubbed my nose lightly. I was lucky I didn’t just start spewing blood everywhere. “It wasn’t that funny.”

“I-it was—hahahaHAHAHA!” Her laughter turned even more uproarious, and she bent over as if trying to contain it. Every time she looked up at me, though, it made her laugh even harder. Her ears were both cocked to the side, and pulled back in totally disarmed amusement.

”Why’d they even put a pane of glass here anyway?” I glared at the offending see-through mirror that’d so rudely interrupted me. 

Sylvie struggled to get a hold of herself. She took a few deep breaths, and wiped tears from her eyes. Her hair, usually perfectly straight and taken care of, was a frazzled mess that she tried to fix. “It, phew, it says right there. It’s the Mirror of Vampirism.”

”Well that doesn’t make sense.” I glared at the mirror. It obviously didn’t work or we’d show up as vampires—oh… oh, I got it now. I shook my head and moved around the mirror. Terrible placement, really.

“Oh! Check this one out!” Sylvie left my side, and moved to one more just next to the exit. “The Mirror of Enchantment.”

Enchantment? I eyed the reflective surface suspiciously, and moved over beside her. It just reflected the two of us standing there. It was just me and her without any of the weird or wacky changes that I’d expect. “Is it broken?”

“I don’t think so?” One of Sylvie’s ears cocked to the side, and she waved a hand at the mirror. “Why? What are you seeing?”

”Us?” I shrugged. What else was I supposed to see? Unfortunately, the placards didn’t have any information except the name and the donor. “You?”

She looked away from the mirror, and instead just stared at my face. Her tail gave one slow swish, and she broke away from the mirror for the exit. “Oh, the same thing. You just had a cheerleader outfit on and were following me around yelling ‘Sylvie’s the best!’”

”… really?” That didn’t sound like a bad idea? My lips twitched.

”No, not really.” She grinned cutely at me. “It was just us though.”

”Ah, so it was broken.” I shrugged. It was fine. There were enough mirrors in there to be more than worth it. Doubly so since we didn’t have to pay and credits for admissions.

“Something like that.” Sylvie just shook her head. “What’d you think? Was it everything you thought it’d be?”

“Yeah. More magic than I thought, though.” Honestly, I hadn’t expected the enchanted mirrors at all. This circus definitely had some high-end attractions. Should I say as expected of a black market front?

“You can’t tell me it wasn’t cool to see us as pirates, though. Even your little stuffed animal was a parrot!” She dropped into an imitation parrot voice. “Squawk! Crownest Vigil, reporting for service!”

I covered up Vigil’s ears with my hand, and said in mock seriousness. ”Don’t give him any ideas.” 

“Operator, this unit can still hear you…”

“You’re so silly, sis.” She poked Vigil’s snout playfully, and snickered. This time I joined her in laughing as we headed to the next thing. 

We followed the crowd to a different section of the circus. Wet gravel constantly crunched under the foot traffic. The new aisle was lined in games of all shapes and sizes. Laughter rang through the game stalls, and excited shouts occasionally erupted.

A particularly loud voice shouted over the circus clamour, and my ears alertly perked up. Just before I could start tracking the source of the noise, Sylvie thwacked me with her tail. “Hey! Look at that!”

A crier on long stilts loomed above the rest of the crowd. His voice cut clear across the chatter and laughter. “One hour till the main show! One hour!”

“We’re going to see that, right?” Sylvie asked.

”Yeah. Bruce got us some good seats.” My shoulders lifted ever so slightly. Front row, apparently. I was kinda excited to see him in his new environment.

“Oh! Let’s go do that!” Sylvie grabbed my hand and pulled me toward a tent off to the side. The back wall was lined with oversized stuffed animals and various prizes. There was even an autographed photo of Guardian Beacon on the back wall.

Naturally, there was a long line too. Afterall, the game seemed pretty simple—the shell game. A man in an elaborate jacket swirled cups around rapidly, moving a small blue marble around the table just underneath them. I easily tracked which one it was thanks to my lupine ears. The ball was quiet, but not that quiet.

”Left!” A teenager playing the game excitedly called.

”Not quite.” The man lifted the left cup to reveal nothing. He then tapped the table, and the right cup popped up just long enough for the marble to roll out. “Good try though, kiddo.”

”Ah, man…” The teen’s shoulder slumped, and he stood up from the seat to join a group of his friends off to the side.

”Who’s next?!” The man called out. “If you win three times in a row, you can win the grand prize!”

Surprisingly, the people around didn’t seem to want to play as much as they wanted to watch. After a moment, Sylvie pushed through the group gathered around and shot her hand into the air. “Can I?”

”Ah, a VVIP!” The man clapped his hands excitedly, and waved to the chair opposite him. “Please, please, it would be an honor.”

”Don’t go easy on me.” Sylvie slid into the chair across from him, and rolled up her sleeves.

”I wouldn’t dream of it. Keep an eye on the ball.” He lifted all three cups, and dropped them down so the ball was in the middle. Then, slowly, he started to swish the cups back and forth. Sylvie’s ears arched forward, and she carefully listened for the sound of the ball rolling to keep track of it. He picked up more and more speed until abruptly coming to a halt.

”It’s the right one!” Someone from the crowd shouted.

”Middle,” Sylvie confidently declared. The moment the cup lifted and the ball was revealed, her tail broke out into cheerful swishes.

”Nice! Let’s kick it up a notch.” His eyes narrowed on my sister. The man started once more. This time, though, he tapped the cups loudly every time he moved them to cover up the sound of the ball rolling. I easily kept track of his motions.

He finally started to slow down, and pushed all three cups forward. The slightest sound of rolling came from the left cup, though my guess was on the right one still. “Well?”

”Um…” Sylvie stared at the cups. Her eyes darted in between the left and middle ones. “Right?”

The worker just smiled, and lifted the right cup. The blue marble sat right where I thought it did. “Final round! I’ve never been beaten! Are you ready?”

Never, huh… sounded like a cheater. Just to be safe, I activated Seek and patted Sylvie’s shoulder. If he didn’t cheat, I wouldn’t help. If he did, though… My eyes narrowed on him as he started up once more.

”Yeah! I totally got this.” Sylvie leaned forward further.

He moved like lightning at a far, far faster pace than what he’d done before. In an instant, the cups blurred until it was hard to keep track of even the cups, let alone the ball. Throughout it all, I followed his motions. Right up until Seek suddenly lurched downward. The marble, at complete odds with the moving cups, rolled back toward the man. 

A bolt of white-hot rage went through me. Was he really trying to cheat my little sister out of winning? He had the balls to do it right in front of my eyes, too. Let’s see if he’d still cheat once I ripped them off—

“Reyna.” Sylvie grabbed my hand, and her voice dropped low and dangerous. She looked up at me, and totally gave up winning as she met my eyes. “I got it, sis.”

”Ah, do you?” The man confidently pushed all three cups forward once more. “Then which one is it?” 

”Middle.” Sylvie shrugged. Her tail flicked to the side in annoyance.

”Ah, sorry.” The man smiled and lifted the cup to reveal nothing. He lifted the left cup, and then finally showed the marble under the right one. Only, it wasn’t the original marble. I could feel that much. “Better luck next time.”

”Thanks anyway! It was fun.” Sylvie smiled, and shot to her feet. “C’mon, Reyna. We have a bit more time till the big show.”

”Yeah.” I bit my lip and followed after her. Not before shooting one last look toward the man, though. He flinched when his eyes met my own smoldering ones. Once we were far enough away, I pulled her to a stop. “Why’d you stop me? He was cheating, you know?”

”I figured.” She didn’t look surprised by it in the slightest. Instead, she just laughed at my serious expression. “That’s part of the fun, sis. Every game here is weighted against the player, or they wouldn’t make any credits.”

“Still, he was rigging the game.” How could she just be okay with someone taking advantage of her? If that was me… well, it wasn’t me.

”It’s just a carnival game, Reyna. That’s the whole gimmick.” She poked my cheek, and totally deflated me. “If it really makes you mad, you could go complain to the circus master.”

”I… still, I don’t know.” My eyes dropped to the ground. Maybe she was right? Was it me that was just looking at this whole thing wrong?

“Oh! Oh!” Sylve grabbed my hand and pulled me toward a large pavilion off to the side. “The Hall of Calamities!”

Lightning flashed overhead, and thunder rumbled heavily. Several people in the attraction’s long, long line looked up to the sky. “You, uh, you want to go check it out?”

“You bet!” She calmed down slightly, and scratched at her cheek with a laugh “It’s… it’s Calamity research. Yep, that sounds mature.”

I chuckled softly, and dragged her past the line to the VIP fast lane. “These bands are for more than just free admissions, sis.”

Thanks to Bruce getting us set up for today, we completely bypassed the long line. Having connections really was nice, wasn’t it? In no time, we were at the front where a group of about twenty people were gathered around the entrance.

“Welcome to the Hall of Calamities, where yesterday’s problems are today’s spectacles.” An attendant blocking the way forward unenthusiasticly flopped her hand back toward the massive red and white striped tent behind her. “Welcome VVIP. Please don’t touch anything. Children under thirteen are recommended to stay outside.”

”Thank you.” Sylvie and I tagged onto the back of a group just as a tour guide led everyone into the pavilion. My eyes adjusted to the dimness of the place, and my heartbeat instantly spiked. My ears perked up alertly at the scene before me.

All across the place, dozens of stuffed Calamities stood in various states. Most of them were positioned like they were stuck mid strike, and made my instincts scream. Even at a glance, I recognized dozens of beasts that I’d personally fought or seen over the years. Reaprat, Skulker, Lamentus, Rainchek, Hide Behind, Toyman, Widowmaker, Black Bulb, Radio Head, Chemticle… 

Of all them, CE-696–Chemticle—in particular made me deeply uncomfortable. The massive creature, covered in tentacles capable of secreting all sorts of chemicals and poisons, was something I still had nightmares about some nights. Quinn and I ran into one just after we graduated from the Academy—

”You, uh, okay, Reyna?” Sylvie patted my shoulder, and drew me out of my memories.

”Yep! Just… just peachy.” I forced a smile. Heh, what was I thinking this was going to be? Hall of Calamities could only be something like this.

Although I fought and saw Calamities pretty often, to most people they were stuff of stories and totally outside of everyday life. Of course they’d be interested in this kind of thing. 

I pulled Vigil back out of my pocket, and held him in my arms. My nose dropped down onto his head, and I tried to not flinch when the shadows reached and swayed in the dim mood lighting of the pavilion.

”Here we have the infamous Widowmaker!” The tour guide stopped just underneath a massive spider. Its head was dropped low in a horror-inducing hiss. It was so big that the tent was actually supported on it. The eight legs of the spider acted as the support pillars for the entire place. “Five years ago, Guardian Beacon and the other members of Harbor killed this beast after it jumped the wall and went on a brutal killing spree!”

Widowmaker… unfortunately, it wasn’t a Proto-Calamity. There was more than just one out there in the world. Thankfully, they were scared of bright lights so most of them stayed away from the cities and in caverns or forests.

”I-is this the real one?!” A terrified kid squeaked, and hid behind his parent’s legs. He stared up at the spider’s eight malevolent eyes.

“Ah, no. These are all just replicas made by Master Victor Ventus and donated here.” The tour guide laughed lightly and waved her hand. “Under UCS law, it's a federal crime to keep Calamities, their parts, or byproducts without strict security and permissions.”

Right… displays. My tail dropped, and the tip of it ran in lazy circles around my ankle. I was just over reacting a bit. I looked between all of the calamities, and let out a breath. Heh, when’d I turn into such a bitch— 

“Hey, beauty.” Sylvie grabbed my chin and forced me to look into her soft amber eyes. The dim lighting gave them a ghastly green glow. She was doing the delinquent boy voice again. “Wanna get out of here with me?”

”What are you doing?” I squinted at her, though my tail gave an involuntary twitch as her own one brushed past it.

”Really? Nothing?” Sylvie frowned and let go of me. “I really thought I’d get a laugh… let’s leave.”

”Didn’t you want to see this?” I lowered my eyes, and felt bitterness churn in my stomach. Was I ruining the one thing she actually wanted to see?

”You hate this, don’t you?” She shrugged, and guided me away from the tour group back out toward the entrance. “I’ve already gone through the tour before. Just thought it’d be fun.”

“We can stay—“

”Nope!” She cheerfully called, and pulled me out of the Hall of Calamities. “So! Anything else you want to do?”

”I… don’t change the subject.” I pulled her to a stop not far from the attraction. “You don’t have to worry about me. If you want to go back in, we can. I’m fine. Really.”

”And I don’t want to anymore?” She crossed her arms and arched one of her eyebrows challengingly at me. “‘Sides, you’re doing it again. Didn’t we just talk about this? I let it go with the kid and cotton candy, but you really can’t keep doing this.”

“I… I’m sorry.” I lowered my head, and couldn’t meet her eyes. “I just don’t want to ruin your experience because I’m a cowardly little mutt.”

”Mutt?” Sylvie echoed blankly. After a moment, her expression hardened and her tail stilled like a wolf about to pounce. “Don’t ever call yourself that again, Reyna.”

”S-sorry.” You had to hear me say that. I winced, and idly toyed with Vigil like he could take me away from here. How careless and comfortable was I getting that I let something like that slip?

“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to yourself.” Sylvie closed her eyes and took a breath. “And you aren’t cowardly. How many of the monsters in there have you personally put down, Reyna? It’s okay to not want to face them like that.”

“Okay…” We can agree to disagree, sis. I’d likely have to face them in the future, anyway. Calamities weren’t one offs. What would I do then when the time came? Flinch and whine?

She eyed me suspiciously for a moment like she could read my thoughts. I half-expected her to press harder—“Have you ever had funnel cake?”

”No?” I was totally taken off-guard by her question for a beat. 

“C’mon. I saw a stall over there.” She grabbed my hand, and tightly interlaced her fingers with mine like she wouldn’t take no for an answer. “After we get some, is there anything else you want to do?”

How could she so easily just let it go… Sylvie really was so admirable. I held back a sigh, and tried to follow her example and put it behind me. Heh, right, I couldn’t get in my own way again. Not this time. I closed my eyes and submerged myself in all the excitement that’d been building all week for this moment. 

My tail twitched. It was a start, at least. Eventually, I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind. “F-Ferris wheel?”

Sylvie just smiled softly, and her grip eased ever so slightly. “Yeah, yeah that sounds like fun. First! Funnel cake! It’s to die for.”

The two of us once more slipped into the crowds of people moving through the circus. What started as a twitch in my tail once more broke into light swishes as I caught the delicious scent of fresh funnel cake.