Laura and Rosie ran out into the middle of the circus ring, Laura carrying an American flag. The audience cheered wildly. The BSC cheered loudest of all! Kristy even put her fingers in her mouth and let out a piercing whistle. "Go Rosie and Laura!"

Laura hopped onto a piano, which Rosie began to play. (Rosie Wilder is so dibbly talented!)

"Oh, say can you see…" Laura sang in a clear, sweet voice.

"By the dawn's early light…" Rosie joined in in her own canary-like voice.

We watched with pride. Just think, I thought. Rosie and Laura might become famous after this performance – and I, Mallory Pike, can say I knew them when!

Mallory Pike, that's me. I should probably tell you my name so that you're able to follow my story. (My creative writing teacher, Mr. Dougherty, says it's important for the reader to develop a rapport with a story's protagonist. I would like to be a writer someday.)

Claire, my littlest sister, turned to me with a big Cheshire cat grin. "Rosie silly billy goo goo is a star!" she cried. I ruffled Claire's hair.

I have the biggest family in the BSC, and I was glad to have my two youngest sisters Margo and Claire with me at Markie's Circus. (My other siblings are Adam, Byron, and Jordan, who are ten-year-old triplets, Vanessa, who is nine and speaks in rhyme, and Nicky, who is eight and misunderstood. They couldn't come to the circus.)

"They are too too beautiful up there!" added Margo.

"They are," I agreed, watching the girls sing in their red white and blue sequined leotards. Just then, Rosie and Laura finished their song and ran to the bleachers to watch the show. They sat down right in front of the BSC.

"How were we?" Rosie asked shyly.

"You were great! Fresh! Dibble!" we answered enthusiastically.

"Can I have your autographs?" asked Claudia, who has a special bond with the Wilder girls. Rosie ducked her head and signed a circus program for Claud. Guess what? Three more people asked the girls for their autographs!

Then the show started. It was so dibbly distant! We saw lions, tigers, bears, and trained elephants. Dawn wasn't happy about the animals, but she calmed down when she saw the trapeze artists. "I think Hayley Mills played a trapeze artist in a movie once," Dawn said (Hayley Mills is this kid actor from the sixties that Dawn loves).

We saw clowns, magicians, and acrobats. We saw alligators, bearded ladies, and purple fuzzies, too. Then the kids said they were hungry, so we all (well, everyone except Dori and Dawn) pigged out on peanuts, popcorn, and cotton candy.

I wanted to stay inside that convention center forever! But at 10:00, the show was over and we had to go.

I wandered after my friends, thinking of stories I could write about the animals. I imagined a hip jungle tiger… Estella? No (I glanced at Jessi) Mobobwee. Mobobwee was a wild tiger with an adventurous streak. She liked the jungle, but she dreamed of exploring the world. So she stowed away on a ship, winded up in America, and joined up with the circus…

Abby interrupted my train of thought by suggesting, "Let's go wait in back. That's where we got dropped off."

"Okay," agreed my friends. So we walked outside to wait for our parents. We stood, talking amongst ourselves, for about ten minutes. I told Jessi about my story idea and she nodded enthusiastically.

When there was a lull in the conversation, Claire spoke up. "I'm tired," she said. So I picked her up. Jessi picked up Margo, and Kristy picked up Karen.

"Let's tell stories," I suggested. I was all ready to tell my friends the story of Mobobwee the tiger but then Dawn beat me to the punch. Rats, I thought.

"Okay," said Dawn. "Mine's a ghost story that I heard about Markie's Circus."

I should have known. Dawn loves ghost stories.

Dawn began her story. "It was in 1910, when Markie's Circus was first established. Marcus Sampson, the owner, wanted to put together the greatest circus of all time.

He had plenty of acts. There were lions, tigers, bears, elephants. But greatest of all was the great trapeze artist, Shelly Nichols."

"Shelly was very famous," Dawn continued. "She performed for three years. Everybody loved her and came from miles to see her. Until that fatal Sunday night in 1913."

"Markie's Circus was being held right here in this very building. It was time for the trapeze act. Shelly was hanging on to the trapeze by one leg – when it happened…"

"Did she die?" I asked, wide-eyed. I could feel my heart pounding underneath my cardigan.

Dawn sighed. "Yes. Shelly Nichols fell and died. But she's … still here with Markie's Circus, which is now owned by Marcus Joseph Sampson the Third."

"Still here?" Karen shrieked.

"Yes," said Dawn. "Performers everywhere say they hear Shelly's friendly voice wishing them luck before the show. The oldest worker, who was just six when Shelly died and is now working as a cook, once had a very scary encounter with her in the kitchen."

Mary Anne, Margo and Claire screamed. I did, too. I couldn't help it. What a creepy story!

Fortunately, Shannon jumped in before we could all get too creeped out. "My turn," she said. "My turn."

She began her story. "This is a true story. It happened to me when I was four. I was at my mother's company picnic. I was eating some potato salad when my mom's boss announced, 'All little kids ages 3 to 6, come on down to a pie-eating contest!' Well, of course I wanted to sign up. So did Tiffany, but she was only two and a half, so she couldn't."

"Anyway, I was walking by myself, looking for the pie-eating contest, when this man came up to me. He says, 'Oh, I bet you're looking for your mommy.' And I say, 'No, I'm looking for the pie-eating contest.' And he says 'Pie-eating contest, eh? Let me take you there.' So he grabbed my arm and took me to this maroon van. 'Get in', he said. I climbed into the front seat, and he drove me to this shack. He had found out how rich I was, and kidnapped me!"

"So I stayed there for about two days," Shannon went on. "I was so scared. He wrote all these ransom notes. Finally, Mother and Father paid the ransom and came and got me. I was so scared."

"Freaky," said Karen. The rest of us just listened. I didn't even know what to say. None of us knows Shannon very well and I definitely didn't know she ever went through something like that!

All of a sudden, this man appeared. I realized we'd been standing waiting for our parents for about half an hour. I didn't know about my friends, but after Shannon's story, seeing that man made my heart speed up like a horse's hooves. (I just love horses.) I glanced at Jessi and saw her gulp visibly.

But the man just said, "Hello. I'm one of the security guards. I noticed you've been standing here for a long time. Are you lost?"

I noticed his uniform and relaxed.

"Well, kind of," said Stacey. "We're waiting for our parents."

"What are the names of the people in your party so I can ask searching parents?" the guard asked. He pulled out a pad and pencil.

"Call it the Brewer-Thomas party," Kristy jumped in. "I'm Kristy Thomas. These are my friends. We're members of a club called the Baby-Sitters Club." Kristy reached into her jeans pocket for a flier. "We meet Mon-"

"Thank you," the guard interrupted, ignoring the flier. "I'll look around for your parents. You're best staying right here."

The guard left. Kristy looked at us and shrugged.

Just then, another man appeared.

"Hi," said Karen. "Are you a guard, too?"

The man grunted. "Yeah," he said.

But there was something odd about this man. I squinted at him from behind my bifocals. His brown hair stood up in messy spikes. He was scowling, beads of sweat dripped from his forehead, and his clothes were messy.

Wait a minute. He wasn't wearing a guard uniform!

Karen noticed this, too. "You are not a guard," she said. "You are not wearing a uniform!"

The man glared at Karen – and the next thing we knew, he pulled out a gun! He aimed it right at Karen's heart… and pulled the trigger!

But instead of hitting Karen, the bullet ricocheted around her and struck Dorianne Wallingford! Dori gasped, and fell to the ground.

The man looked around at all of us. Mary Anne was sobbing, Dawn and Stacey were screaming. Me, I'm not sure how I was reacting. I just felt faint.

Then the man … spoke.

"One word," he said. "And it will be the same to each of you."

He ran off.