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Her eyes were bright blue. Miku swore she'd work to find those eyes in a thousand lifetimes, if they'd only look at her with such love for a moment.

They lay in the grass together, facing each other. Miku reached out to stroke the woman's cheek. She laughed and held her hand against her soft skin. Miku wanted to stay here with her forever. But the sky darkened, and Meiko's voice echoed all around her.

"Wake up, little flower. Wake up and see what's become of our beautiful blossom."

The woman's face began to change. Red slowly streaked through her pink hair. Her lips were ripped from her face. Her haunting blue eyes fell back in her head, leaving only sockets. Her hand thudded limply against the dying grass, cold and covered in flowers. Miku opened her mouth to scream, but instead of making any noise, Meiko's voice came from her lips, repeating the same phrase again and again.

"Wake up, little flower. Wake up. Wake up."

Tears were dried against Miku's cheeks. At first she thought it was a remnant from her dream, but then she remembered that she had cried herself to sleep, her arms aching from her failed attempts to pull the newly formed blooms from her skin.

"There you are. Were your dreams as sweet as your scent, little flower?"

Miku looked up with bleary eyes. Standing above her were Meiko and Mayu. The ringmaster bore a smug smile.

"Leave me alone." Miku wanted it to come out harsh, but her voice was still rusty with tears and it cracked on the last syllable. Mayu laughed.

Meiko's smile, although small, somehow spoke louder than her henchman's laugh. "Now, little flower, don't be shy! You're on your way to becoming a lovely attraction."

Although she didn't want to, Miku looked down at her arms. More yellow flowers had bloomed, most of them in the tracks left by her fingernails with a few scattered around them. In other places, she could see the points of a few buds waiting to break through, the green of the leaves barely visible beneath her skin. Her stomach lurched

Her eyes were finally drawn away from the wounds when Rin spoke. "She better get used to people looking at her, right, Miss Meiko?" She clung to the bars of her cage, cackling. "It's gonna happen a lot from now on!"

Meiko favored the girl with a smile, and Rin accepted it as though it were the most prestigious award, glowing with pride. It seemed strangely genuine, in comparison with the sadistic grins she usually flashed in Miku's direction.

"Indeed it will, Rin." Meiko's smile turned cruel as she faced Miku. "Remember that, won't you, little flower?" She turned to the knife-thrower beside her with a grin. "Come, Mayu."

Mayu shot a contemptuous smile in the direction of the cages. Miku couldn't honestly tell if it was meant for her or Rin. "Of course, Miss Meiko!" The two of them swept out of the tent, uninhibited by bars.

"Miss Ringmaster …" Len nearly sighed the words. Until that point, Miku wouldn't have known that he was paying attention at all. His single fist clenched and unclenched. "Miss Ringmaster …"

"Yeah, she's wonderful, isn't she?" Rin sighed, eyes full of childish adoration.

Miku couldn't stop staring. "Isn't she the one who keeps you in that cage?" Her words even got Len to look up. He stared at Miku as if noticing her there for the first time.

"Cage," he muttered. Rin squinted at him before looking at Miku with open hostility.

"Well, yeah. And she's also the one who lets us go out. We're the ones who gave you the flier, aren't we? Gosh, you're dumb." She huffed, but it was clear the subject was sore.

She tried pushing it further. "But she's the one who made you like that, isn't she?" Miku gestured with both arms. "She ripped you guys in half!"

"No! She made us whole." Rin glared at Miku. "Len and I get to be together forever now. Do you know how long forever is? It's a long, long, long time. We'll be together …" Abruptly, her anger was replaced with a sadistic smile. "We'll be together until the sun vanishes, and every star falls from the sky. You'll never get to know what that's like."

The words sent a dull thud through Miku's chest, her eyes aching with unshed tears. "Why do people keep saying that? I don't even know what it means."

"Together," Len replied, his eyes focusing on the flowers blooming from Miku's arms until she wasn't sure if he was looking at them, or through them. "Together." Rin smiled and reached across their shared torso to lace her fingers through her brother's.

"That's right," she agreed cheerfully. "We're together. That's a gift from Miss Meiko, and we cherish it."

Miku scanned Len's face, trying to figure out what he was feeling. There was no happiness on his face, but no sadness, either. He didn't seem to have any sort of emotion at all. "Do you cherish it, Len?"

"They are connected by a black thread," a voice at the entrance of the tent said conversationally.

Miku turned to look. Although her face was now clean of any make-up, she recognized the white-haired girl as Tei, the clown with the long sleeves. She appeared to be addressing Miku, but she never looked away from the twin's cage.

"They are connected by black thread," she repeated, "But that's not the only way to connect two souls." She approached the twins' cage dreamily, wrapping her hands around the bars. "Red thread can also suffice."

Rin scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Right, right. I'll believe it when I can see that red thread, clown girl." Tei acted like she didn't hear the girl at all. Instead, she kept her eyes firmly on Len's face.

The boy didn't say a word, but he did favor Tei with a steady gaze. Considering how often Miku saw his eyes go distant, she figured that this meant more than any words that he could say.

But the clown's words reminded her, suddenly, of the fortune teller. Hadn't she said something about a red thread, as well?

Tei eventually left the tent, after minutes of locking eyes with Len in silence. Around her, Miku could hear the sounds of the circus being set up, as the shadows in the tent grew longer.

She knew that Meiko would probably come to take her voice at sunset again. That's who she was prepared for as the tent flap opened. But instead, Haku and Neru entered the tent, crawling through the entrance on their spindly elbows.

"We must reserve our energies," Neru said conversationally.

"The guests will be arriving soon," Haku agreed.

Miku nodded at them, sitting on the floor of her cage. Haku tipped her hat in response. The friendly gesture felt strange, considering the setting.

"You guys don't hate me, do you?" Miku looked at the two tall ladies, as if really seeing them for the first time. It wasn't the first time she thought that they weren't unkind, but in the wake of Rin's taunting and Tei's reminder, it suddenly meant a lot more.

"We told you," Neru said, "You have nothing to fear from us."

Miku sighed, keeping carefully in the middle of her cage. "That's rare, in this place."

Rin had been in a sour mood ever since Tei came in, but now she giggled. "Aww, Len, I don't think she likes us very much."

"Sad fate," offered Len.

"Mm, I guess we aren't very pretty to look at, are we?"

Miku took no notice of this exchange. She was looking directly at Haku and Neru. Again, she thought of Tei's words about the red thread.

"What about the fortune teller? Mew, that was her name, wasn't it?"

Mew had seemed so agitated during the reading. If the discussion about her soulmate getting closer was a warning … What did it mean? She thought of the blue eyes of the woman in her dream … The eyes that were the exact same shade of blue as the former diva's.

"Ah, yes," Haku said. "Her mind is untethered, you see."

Miku tried not to waste time being annoyed at her vague words. "No, I don't see. But I want to."

"Our truth has been stretched, remember." Neru raised a single hand. Miku stared at that hand, noticing that it was skinny as well as long, just like the rest of their bodies. As if they had literally, physically been sretched out. Magically pulled and pulled, somehow living as their bodies were contorted.

What would living through that do to someone's mind?

"Yes, I remember." They had said it before, but she was only now beginning to see what they meant. "And what about Mew? What's happened to her truth?"

"Her truth," said Haku, "Is never incorrect in fact. Just, sometimes, in the timing of its delivery."

Miku tried to make sense of that. "She talks about things that are true … Just … Things that haven't happened yet? She can see into the future?"

"Or the past," agreed Neru. "Her mind wanders, in that way. Either way, it is always true to her in the moment."

"She told me that I'd meet my soulmate," Miku said. "She said that my … my red string was growing shorter. That I'd have to follow it to my fate."

"That could be at any time, little flower," Haku said. "Future or past – your path ends when your string does, every time."

Miku couldn't make much sense of that, so she asked a final question. "Does she – is she like the others? The clowns, and Rin, and Mayu, and God knows who else? Does she want me dead?"

Haku and Neru looked at each other for a moment. "To see you dead is not something she would desire," Neru finally said.

"But, perhaps, it is something she expects," Haku responded.

Miku shuddered. Considering the woman's talents, it was all too easy to imagine what Haku was insinuating. "I can't say that's the answer I wanted. But thank you for not lying." She supposed she had no way of knowing that the tall women were trustworthy … But in the end, they were the only lead she had.

Sooo ... Publishing twice a week is a thing, now! I'm not sure it will happen every week; it'll depend on my course load ... But Sundays are always a for sure thing! And, honestly, I'm so excited to see this story progress that it will probably be twice a week, most of the time.

Thank you all so much for the reviews last chapter! I look forward to seeing your thoughts on this one.

- Jillian Maria