“Excellent, excellent!” The ringmaster’s voice echoed from the center of the tent. “Come forward, lovely visitors! Please, don’t be shy! Come forward and see what we have for you.”
Still carrying me by the arms, the two clowns lumbered toward the front, while the third trailed behind holding Kenzie by the wrist. I tried craning my head back to look at her, hoping she wasn’t freaking out, but my gorilla-like captors gave me a shake that made the world go blurry for a second. By the time my vision cleared, we were at the edge of the circle, and the ringmaster was beaming down at me.
“Hello, little ones!” he said, raising his arms as if to welcome us all. “So happy to have you at the show! And it’s your lucky day. We have front-row seats just for you.”
He pointed with a skull topped cane, and the clowns turned to a row of seats at the edge of the ring. Unlike like the wooden bleachers surrounding the tent, they looked like theater seats. Though the leather was cracked and rotting, and I saw a few suspicious dark smears that I hoped weren’t what had become of the last visitors to this crazy hellhole.
The clowns plopped me onto a seat and, before I could react, tied my wrists to the armrests with strips of red-and-yellow cloth. They did the same to Kenzie a couple seats down. When they left, I flexed my arms, trying to loosen the bonds holding me to the chair. But the knots had been tightened by gorilla clowns with melon-sized hands. I wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while.
The ringmaster did a strange little dance, grinning like a demonic Cheshire cat. “Ladies and gentlemen!” he called, as if speaking to a room of hundreds instead of two very reluctant teens. “Welcome to the show! Welcome, one and all, to the circus! Let me tell you of the wonders you will see tonight!”
“Kenzie,” I muttered, as the ringmaster rambled on, “do you know where they put my swords?”
“I saw the clown drop them on that barrel over there,” Kenzie replied, nodding to a bright blue barrel with a yellow star painted on it. My swords gleamed atop it, and I narrowed my eyes. “Do you have a plan?” Kenzie asked, sounding hopeful. “They took my backpack, too. I really don’t want to stick around for the show. I’d feel a lot better if you told me you had a plan.”
“Working on it,” I muttered. “If I can get to my swords, I think I have a chance. Still struggling with phase one, though.”
“What’s phase one?”
“Not being tied to a chair.”
The ringmaster suddenly stopped his speech, giving me and Kenzie a very exaggerated pout. “Oh, dear, I think we have someone who isn’t entertained,” he stated. “We can’t have that, now, can we? We want everyone to have fun tonight!” He flung out his arms, speaking to his imaginary audience. “What can we do to make the show more entertaining? Ah, I have it! For this first act, I think we need...a volunteer.”
Oh, no. Panic shot through me as the ringmaster turned his head back and forth, as if scanning the audience. “Anyone?” he called, raising a hand. “Come now, it’ll be fun! One brave volunteer is all we need. No reason to be shy.” His eyes traveled down, toward the row where Kenzie and I were sitting. “Nobody? There must be some brave soul willing to step forward.”
“Me,” I rasped, as his gaze finally reached us. “I volunteer. Take me.”
“Ethan, no,” Kenzie whispered, looking at me sharply. I ignored her, holding the gaze of the ringmaster. He blinked at me, then deliberately turned his head to smile at Kenzie.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, as my heart tightened in horror. “I believe we have our volunteer. Let’s all give the young lady a hand!”
“No!” I yanked on the ropes, struggling to free myself, as the clowns closed on Kenzie. “Leave her alone!” I yelled to the ringmaster. “I’ll volunteer. Take me instead!” All of them ignored me, as the clowns cut Kenzie’s restraints, grabbed her by the arms and pulled her into the ring. I yanked harder on the ropes. “Hey!” I called, refusing to give up. “Look at me! I’m talking to you, dammit. I know you can hear me!”
The ringmaster snapped his fingers, and a bright red cloth was suddenly forced into my mouth from behind. “Ladies and gentlemen, please restrain your enthusiasm,” he said calmly, as the clown tied the gag around my neck. “I realize this could be frightening for younger children, but if that is the case, please respect your neighbors and take them outside. We do not want anyone ruining the show now, do we?”
Sickened, I watched them drag Kenzie to a large wooden disk sitting upright in the sand like a giant bull’s-eye, push her back against the surface and fasten her wrists to the leather straps near the top. Grunting, they stepped away, leaving her bound to the center of an enormous target. My heart seized up with the realization.
I moaned and doubled my efforts with the ropes, as a bony creature stepped into the ring, facing Kenzie. It wore a black-and-red vest that showed off its sunken rib cage, and copper throwing knives were strapped everywhere to its skeletal body. Its head was a mummified bird’s skull, empty eye sockets blank and dark as it regarded the girl several yards away.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I need your complete silence for this act,” the ringmaster said in a dramatic voice. “Absolute concentration is necessary for Bull’s Eye Pete not to impale our lovely volunteer through the heart, or worse. We don’t want her to end up like his last assistant, do we?” He laughed, and it made my skin crawl. “Remember, Pete, you’re supposed to hit the bull’s-eye, not the girl’s eye. Make sure you remember the difference.”