chapter 2

Wisty zipped and swerved between cars on her motorcycle as she made her way to the location of the carnival. she was happy that she kept it even though Whit insisted that getting a car would make her look more professional but, she never saw the roads leading to the bombed out distracts so crowded before. A low buzz of magic filled the air, and was actually surprised that the letter wasn't kidding when it said the she could find it with magic. In the distance she saw a strange structures nestled in the distance; a three wheeled almost triangular looking Ferris wheel, an abandoned building with long opaque fabrics billowing out of window like escaping clouds and a massive, and a large metal nest looking configuration with fabrics of varying shades and color weaved between.

She parked her bike in an empty lot where some other car that carried family and groups of teens just looking for a good time. She left her bike there knowing that, being the current leader anyone who'd trying steal are stuff had a serious death wish. Fallowing the crowd she jump startled a loud popping sound, she looked up to see a powdery pink cloud above her. The crowed clapped and cheered, as Wisty looked up to see the strangest flying contraption. It was pure white and triangular, shaped like an upside down hang glider six insectoid 'wings' flapped at the sides. The rider tossed something that she couldn't see as a white and mint green clouds blossomed crossed the sky.

Her eyes widened, there was some strangely familiar about the pilot. She floated above the crowd who gave her a mixed reaction. "Hey!" she caught the pilot's attention, looking over at her, face covered in complex looking breathing mask. "Your clothes." She pointed at the vaguely familiar suits that he wore. The pilot shook his head stirring the flying thingumajig away from her. "Come on I know can hear me!" She shout as the pilot flipped back around to her tossing a black painted sphere in to the air. A loud bang sent her falling back a blue powder erupted in front of her, reflectively she shot a flame into the colored puff.

"Oh-!" escaped lips as a chain of cracks rumbled through the cloud before releasing a starburst of heat and light. She felt the air rush around her as the world turned black.

When she opened her eye she to be in serious pain or at least face first on the ground. Instead she was staring at cheering crowd below her, as the sound of mechanical weirs above her she felt a strong arm around her. Looking up she the mask of the pilot he had managed to flip the contraption caching her this one arm while managing to hang on the machine. Being so close the pilot she finally realized what made the stranger familiar, his outfit strikingly similar to, no, it was a N.O. uniform. The white of the suit had been dyed a morbid back as the red had been over taken a sickly bruise purple. The shoulders and knees where replaced by a thick oily looking leather.

"Reneged" was branded into right shoulder.

"Let me go!" she shouted, even though everything on the modified uniform screamed 'I'm not with the bad guys.' A deep part of her told her to get away from the masked reneged or burn him alive, and with about a hundred pairs of eyes still staring up at her, the latter wasn't an option.

The strange savior freed her on command, Wisty watched as he effortlessly flipped contraption around zipped out of sight, as floated down joining the crowd.

"Wow!" a slim looking woman in a black with security printed on the chest "You lucky girl."

"Yeah." She said sarcastically.

"No really." The woman pointed and whistled at a dispersing veil of smoke above them. Wisty let of a whistle wondering what was put in those powder bombs in order to cause such a reaction. She turned to ask woman who if she knew the pilot. Only to see that she had went off to direct people away scene and back to grounds.

Wisty preceded with caution, already sure that her stunt would end up on some type news channel in one form or another. She could all ready look on her brother's face, when he thinks that's what she was trying to do on her day off. "Wispy!" a voice shout a few feet ahead of her it was squeaky and didn't sound exactly human, she turn to see a doll? A puppet? It was small going up only going up to her keen dressed in long orange and blue checkered clothes covering every inch of the tiny body leaving a loose slip for to amber eyes to peer out of. "Wyou, Wyou, krooow!" it held out an envelope impossibility between its arms. Wisty took the envelop making the thing chirp and crowd, she opened to see the same flip flopping hand writhing from the invite.

"Dear Wisteria,

Frist and foremost, thank you and welcome for coming here. But I must apologize, for saying that we had nothing to ask of you."

'Oh boy.' She braced herself whatever insanity would greet her as a request.

"You see Kridi, the little guy who handed you this letter. He's what you'd say a fan of you, and it would really make his day if you let him guide you around.

I understand if you don't want fallow him around just say "no thank you" and he'll leave you be. But, if you're willing to make the little guy happy just his name.

Apologies,

N.F"

She blinked, and read the letter and read it again. No, 'this is a trap and we're totally going to take over now.' Just a simple request and two little letter initial. She looked at the thing called Kridi hopping up and down making excited chirps, she didn't really want to fallow the little curiosity around. But, the fact that something that she was guessing wasn't actually human besides her cats that seemed to have such admiration for her, and it was so strongly endearing.

"Okay Kridi." She smiled at the little curiosity, it actually felt good for her to agree to something after saying no for so long.

"Wispy!" throw its arms up into the air squealing in response

"It's Wisty." She corrected and Kridi tiled its little head.

"Wwiisssty?" it cooed repeating her.

"Yeah so you going show me around?" she looking at colorful expanse of the carnival, songs wisped in the air some tunes she recognized.

"Krooow!" Kridi crowed running in a small circle.

"So what are we going to do?" she asked somewhat annoyed and amused by the little curiosity mannerisms. Kridi let out another crow hoping off in a random direction.

"Dere, Dere!" Kridi bounced excitedly pointing with one arm.

Wisty looked at that what it was pointing at, a four tiered spinning octopus ridded painted pink and mint echo tip a three metal grated spheres. She watched Kridi skip the back exit of the ride crowing to the ride attended. Wisty was surprised and smiled when the attended open the back gate for them she didn't know that fallowing around Kirdi would get her a free ride pass. She quickly climbed in to one of the capsule and strapped herself the set inside as the attendant helped the other who actually waited to ride.

She felt the ride start, and gave a startled scream then ride shot up spun at a surprising but not unnatural speed. She was spun lifted and dropped, she felt disoriented as she watched world go vertical to horizontal, to upside down.

"Wwistty..." Kridi squeaked as the ride slowed and hopped over to Wisty

"I'm" she stumbled out of the grated capsules "Okay, yeah, I'm okay." She laughed, the ride though not the simple children's ride she had fun maybe even a thrill.

"Nix?" The little curiosity chirped

"Next?" Wisty clarified "Well, as fun as that was." She looked at the carnival ride "Let's take a quick break."

"Hmmmm." Kridi tilted confused, Wisty wondered how much did the little thing understood.

"What do you for fun?" she asked as it skipped away.

"Krooow!" it crowd and twirled off, Wisty fallowed.

The curiosity lead her to a foggy plastic tent, Wisty looked the sign that advertised rare and exotic plants from around the world for display. She looked back to see Kirdi wiggling through a slip a fold in the plastic. She gave a shrug crawling behind it felling a thick slate colored grass creeped under hands, beads of water slowly dripping on her shoulders.

"Wispy, Wispy" Kridi called up to her, looking up at the thing she has been following around holding a tiny white flower "wyou." It held it out to her.

"Oh thanks." She picked herself up on to her knees and took the flower. "Wow." She sighed looking around at bushes with translucent curling leafs and thin gray trees with wiry branches that sprouts violet fuzz. She felt let the she staring into another world of dull colors but full of life unlike Shadowland, Wisty teared up remembering the past year and how the world changed then changed again and again.

"What the…." Her head shot up hear Kridi making a mix of a gurgle and a purr tiptoeing around a bush.

"Broo brooo." It seemed to call to something "Broow." The bush shook much to Wisty's shock. A small girl about eight years old crawled out of the brush. Kridi hopped off to Wisteria and childe fallowed. The girl's skin was a thin green with rough gray slouches, a large tee-shirt draped over her body. She start a Wisty with pink eyes that drifted to the flower in her hand. The girl made a choked noise her tightly, Wisty was surprised by the strange girls action and saw a small rose shaped marking on her arm tough she could tell it was magic but I was harmless from what she could tell.

"What's you name." She asked the girl, and she only made another choking noise and Wisty felt thick dewy beads landed on the back of her shirt. The girl sludgy jerked away and dived back into the growth Kridi rushed her before Wisty could register what happened. She raced after the two around the small garden before stopping.

"Shh, shh." A male security worker held the child gently "it's okay." He stroked her hair and Wisty noticed a matching rose shaped marking on his hand. "Wisteria I believe?" the man noticed

"Yeah." She answer going defensive

"Listen you're a special guest her I'm not going kick you out or tell my boss." He looked away from her

"Why?" Wisty questioned his choice

"Wispy!" Kirdi chirped and the man gave it a star that say 'now I know how this happened.'

"Rock Rose isn't an attraction she was just hiding till she could cope with her problems." He held the little green girl who whimpered "Now this garden is closed, enjoy your stay." Wisty nodded and went out of the plastic tent. Kirdi watched her walked and walked before sitting down screaming in to the palms of her hands, she felt angry and sadly confused. She wanted to take it out on someone, blame someone but there was no one left to blame.

"Wispy..." Kirdi cooed hopping up beside her. "Dere, dere." It patted her a pat with its selves and Wisty smiled inwardly on how the little curiosity try to make her happy.

"I'll be fine, it's just..." she breathed and shuttered at the circumstance that a child so young would hide in a garden of traveling carnival because she couldn't understand what she had become. Wisty wondered if where a way she could find out was.

"She's has happiness." Kirdi said with almost shocking clarity

"Really?" Wisty looked at the curiosity.

"Hap-E-ness." It crowed hopping off the bench pointing and walking around.

Wisty watched Kirdi trying to direct her off the bench and somewhere else by jumping and spinning about. She thought about it besides a few emotional slip up she was having fun and felt obligated to al east spend another hour letting the curiosity show her around.

"Boot, Booooot." Kridi cried pointing to a tunnel water ride. She looked at the sign that advertised that the rider won't have the same experience twice, with the tunnel showing over a thousand different stories and folk lore from around the known world.

Wisty became curious and got the small blue and yellow boat alongside Kirdi and the boat swayed being pulled into the tunnel. Bright painted starting to illumination the sides of the tunnel and the narrator began to speak.

"Once upon a time, there live a humble huntsman, his wife and daughter. The huntsman is a hard worker and would leave his family for weeks at a time. The mother did her best to raise her daughter and the daughter helped her and showed her as much love and kindness as possible. Though the mother had an illness a sickness whenever her husband was gone the more the woman was loved the wicked she became.

One day in a fit of the mother's madness lead her daughter deep into the forest.

'Mother what we are doing here.' The daughter asked out of worry and love for her mother

'Wretched child you are not my daughter.' The woman hissed 'now stay here and do not move 'till I return.' And the girl obeyed for she loved her mother, but when day turned to dusk she cried losing faith.

'Lovely girl so sweet and far the do you cry?' a gentle voice called out from the forest. She turn to voice to see a man with the eyes the color of million jewels and clothes to fine and elaborate for even the richest king.

'I'm scared and alone, sir.' She sniffled speaking the truth. The man smiled and kneeled before the girl.

'Oh sweet child I envy you for I've lived my life and solitude yet do not know loneliness. I've seen the horrors of the world but I don't know fear.' He put a hand on his heart and took the girls hands with the other 'Please come with me child and teach the things that give mortal man sorrow and I promise you will never feel pain again.' The girl agreed and man kept his promise, yet unbeknownst to her that night the mysterious man took the form of a double jawed serpent and killed parents"

(AN: sorry for it being late, expect the next chapter in late April or mid-May.)