This is a shift day [see above]. There will be another upload this afternoon: Mystery Takeover, chapter 2.

"You'll Find Wonder"

11. You Have Your Secrets, I've Got Mine

Following Violet toward Magnus and Dorothy's tent, she just felt like her stomach was twisted tighter and tighter with every step. She hadn't even met the woman yet, for all she knew she'd have nothing to worry about, it would just be routine and then she could get on with whatever she'd have to do to find her way home, but then what if she messed it up? She could get thrown out, end up unable to re-enter, and then how would she help him? Before they could get up there to enter, she'd gone and caught up Violet by the arm, stopped her.

"H-how much do I have to tell her? I mean about… about me, and where I came from?" she asked, showing the concern of someone who didn't like to talk about herself.

"Everything will be okay, I promise," Violet shook her head. "Ready?" Quinn looked to the tent, looked to Violet, then finally nodded. "Okay, come on," she started, then paused, lifting her finger and then pointing it at her. "Don't ask about her arm."

"A… Right, got it," she nodded. They went up to the tent, and Violet led her in. This wasn't the most luxurious of places, but compared to everything else she'd seen here, this was as good as it got. There didn't seem to be anyone there.

"Hello? Dorothy? Magnus?" She appeared from a parted side, and Quinn observed her. She looked normal, as far as she could tell. Her clothes looked to be old but still in remarkable condition, like a lot of care had been put into them. She could only see the tip of her shoes from under her skirts. Of her hair, there was a lot of it, she could tell, because the braid tacked to her head just coiled so far that she still had the end of it dangling like raven feathers over her shoulder. And the arm, the infamous arm… She didn't know what she'd expected. All she saw was that it was wrapped from inside the sleeve of her dress down to her hand, while the other was bare. Maybe she had scars, it couldn't be said. But Violet said not to ask, so she wouldn't ask.

"Violet, yes?" she asked, then noticing the blonde, "Who do we have here?"

"This is Lucy," Violet introduced. "She needs a place to stay, and she'd be willing to work for it, I was wondering if maybe you might be able to take her on, like you took me and Nicholas on."

"Has life mistreated you, dear?" Dorothy asked in a silky pitying voice.

"Y-yes, ma'am," Quinn bowed her head.

"Please, call me Dorothy," she came up, offering her good hand to the blonde. Quinn took it, and right in that moment was the first time she doubted the woman. There was something in her grip. She would recall her father going long and hard about what a person's handshake said about a person. It was one of those good things he had managed to teach her, before completely breaking her heart. Either way, when she'd shaken Dorothy's hand, something about it had felt off. She couldn't put her finger on it just yet, but it cranked up her alertness even higher than it already was. She looked her in the eye, found her doing the same.

She was convinced now, Magnus' wife could peg her as a liar in that moment, just as much as Quinn could say the same of her. But the thing that made her even more concerned was… she did nothing about it. If someone caught you in a lie, or even just doubted your honesty, you might expect them to call you on it, end the charade. But Dorothy didn't, and it could have been that she was just compassionate, or that she didn't fret over details, but Quinn didn't think that was it. No, it was much deeper than that, and Quinn made a mental note to try and stay out of her hair.

"Well," Dorothy gave a smile with a pointed toward her, "I'm sure we can find a place for you, dear. Has Violet told you much of what we do here?"

"It's… a circus," she stated.

"Yes, it is," Dorothy confirmed. "And we have some very special people performing for us. We shelter them, look after them, and we wouldn't want other people to try and harm them or take them away. So if you should find yourself meeting people who ask too many questions, or might look like they would do these things, then you just let someone know and we'll handle it. You might find our performers strange at first, but you needn't be frightened, you're perfectly safe. Violet will show you where you can and can't go, there are places we keep private to keep you safe like that, alright?"

"Yes," Quinn nodded, thinking to herself this was too easy and her previous assessment was right: something was wrong, and she had something to do with it.

"Now run along, get settled in, and then… Can you cook?"

X

Violet had led Lucy to her tent, the one she and her brother slept in, showed her where she could sleep that night, and then she had taken her to go help with the lunch they would soon serve. For her part, Violet had tasks still to handle, as she'd been pulled aside to help this new girl. She still wasn't sure where to stand with her, if she was honest, but some people might say she had trust issues. It wasn't like she hadn't earned those, with everything that had happened to her family in recent years, but maybe they were right and she needed to tone it down a bit.

"Violet!" She turned when she saw Peter waving her over, walked over.

"Yes?"

"Just to warn you, we have a new intake." Her skin prickled.

"A new… performer," she used the word they all did, most of them anyway. It wasn't like they couldn't figure some things out after a while, and yet not one of them would use the word that came to their minds.

"Yeah, and he's already gone and gotten himself in trouble, went sneaking in Roar's tent. Toni was angling to wipe him out but calmed her down. He's still going to need some looking after, can you bring some supplies to get him cleaned up again?"

"S-sure, alright," she nodded and ran off to get the supplies. Once upon a time her opinion of these performers of theirs had been different. Now they had started to change, for a number of reasons, and as she rushed back to bring what she had gathered, she wasn't sure whether to be distrusting, knowing he'd been sneaking about, but then if he was new they couldn't really hold it against him, could they.

"Stop right there," the guard at the front of the performers' tent stopped her.

"Peter asked me to bring these," she showed the box. The guard took it from her.

"I'll give it to them, they can handle him." She hesitated, but there was nothing else for her to do. She started to walk away, but then she could hear them behind her, so she'd looked and she'd seen him, being carried by Peter and Bennett. It took her a moment to recognize him, but when she did, she froze.

It was him, the man who'd been there with Lucy the night before. He had been sneaking around then, she knew it, and now he was sneaking around, too. She hadn't warned anyone, only she and Nicholas knew he'd been there before… She'd been there before, too… Lucy… Was she working with him? What were they trying to do here, they… Nicholas… He would be in the kitchens area at this time – with her. She had to get him away from the blonde.

TO BE CONTINUED (SUNDAY)