~Circus Of Wonders~

The trick-or-treaters were walking on their journey, when seemingly out of nowhere, music started playing. It sounded like the kind of music one would hear in a circus. Curiously, they approached the sound, and they came upon a clearing. They pushed past the trees and they could now see a humongous circus. Their eyes were widened at the sights of huge tents and performers everywhere, practicing their talents.

"This is the most people I've ever seen in one place." Lizzie commented in awe.

"Do you think we can get a seat?" Alois asked.

"Well of course. We are this years trick-or-treaters after all." Lizzie said.

"Come on, let's move." Ciel said.

The group started advancing towards the tent and soon, came upon a ticket booth. A woman stood there with a smile on her face. "Tickets, please."

The group, even though they knew they didn't have tickets, looked inside their pockets, and just happened to find some. No one had any idea as to how they ended up their in the first place, but they decided to just go with it, and they handed their tickets in. "Alright then, you'd better hurry, because the show is about to begin."

They immediately hurried off with Lizzie pulling on Ciel's arm and Alois and Sieglinde running along with them. Soon, they entered a huge tent. The inside was huge as well, with people looking for somewhere to sit. "Come on, let's go find our seats." Lizzie exclaimed enthusiastically.

The group had eventually found seats in the middle, near the aisle. About another minute of patiently waiting, the lights dimmed and the show was finally beginning. Some spotlights flicked on and revealed a group of people standing in the middle, with one standing dead centered. "Welcome, one and all, to the Noah's Ark Circus!" The ringleader, the one who spoke had orange colored hair that seemed to be in a ponytail, going in multiple different directions. He seemed to have skeleton hands, buth the group was sitting kind of far away, so they couldn't tell for sure.

"Tonight, yer all in for a surprise. Now, let's welcome our main cast!" A spotlight shone on the others of the group, and the rest of the cast was revealed. They even recognized one of them.

The crowd clapped and cheered, so they decided to do the same. "Our first act will be from our acrobats, Peter and Wendy!" The ringleader announced cheerfully.

The group looked up, only to find that the two younger ones of the group had already gotten to their places. They decided not to question how that was possible. The duo consisted of two younger kids, it seemed, a boy and a girl. And with one fell swoop from each of them, the two had grabbed their poles and were off. The group could not peel their eyes away. The two performers were pulling off one of the best acrobatic performances that they had ever seen. They seemed to work incredibly well together. Wendy had let go of her pole, only for Peter to flawlessly catch her.

Once their act had ended, Peter and Wendy had bowed to the audience, and a new member of the circus crew appeared. This one was rather huge and he seemed to have some sort of markings on his head and going down his arm. "And now, give it up fer our fire breather, Jumbo!"

The man picked lit a stick on fire, and then he put the flaming part in his mouth. The group was only a bit surprised, but it was a circus after all. The flames didn't seem to hurt him and when he took the stick out of his mouth, the fire had already been extinguished. However, once he breathed, the group was amazed as he seemed to actually breath fire. Well, anything was possible, it seemed, in this forest.

Once his act was over, the next one stepped up. This one, the group was able to recognize almost immediately. "And now, we have our snake charmer, Snake!" The first person who had ever greeted them on their expedition, along with his snakes, stood in the center of the ring.

The way that he charmed the snakes with such fines was awe inspiring. Some time had already passed, and Snake's act had ended. "Now, give out a round of applause fer our knife thrower, Dagger!"

A blond boy, seemingly in his late teens, appeared and held a bunch of knives in his hands. The group had just now noticed as Peter was now strapped to a table. Dagger took his aim and started throwing. The group was genuinely hoping that Peter wouldn't get hurt during any of it. However, they all had confidence that Dagger would be able to throw his knives without spilling a single drop of blood. He was quick though. Dagger threw his knives at breakneck speeds, and not a single one of them hit the person on the target. Peter didn't seem to be fazed at all.

After this act was over, a new person took his place. This one was a woman carrying a whip. "Our animal tamer, Beast!"

The group watched with interest as she seemed to dance with a gigantic tiger that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. She was training the tiger to do all sorts of amazing things. Once the act was over, she stepped out of the ring, along with the tiger. "Up next, we have our fabulous Doll, the tightrope walker!"

A girl wearing a white dress with a white perm wig, covering her eye, was seen on the tightrope above them. The group did hope that she wouldn't fall, but they all highly doubted it. At first, Doll started out show, but she was feigning it, as within the next second, she was summersaulting across the rope at speeds that no one thought was even possible.

The act soon ended, and the ringmaster stood at the center once again. "Now, fer our last act of the night, we'll need some volunteers."

The spotlight seemed to move by itself, shining it's light on different members of the crowd. It wasn't till the light shone on the group of trick-or-treaters, however, that it stopped. "And it seem we have our volunteers. Please make yer way down into the ring."

The group complied and make their way to the center of the show. Once they had got there, they could see four carousel horses, which they hadn't noticed before. "Now if you'll each pick out a horse, we can begin."

Each one of them picked out the horse that they felt would best match their likes. They were also wondering what might happen. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, our final act of the night!"

The horses started floating up in the air, so the ones riding them held onto the poles that came out of their backs. The horses were levitating so high, that they went all the way up to the roof of the tent. Once they had stopped, the horses started moving like they would on a carousel. So far, it was pretty fun. All it was doing was spinning around. However, they started to notice as different colored giant bubbles rose to the ceiling.

Once they looked closer, they could see that the cast of the circus's first string were floating around inside their own individual bubbles. "Alright now, what are the magic words?" The ringleader asked.

The group smiled, and even Ciel did a little. "Trick-or-Treat!"

In the next few seconds, candy was flying through the air, so the group of friends all held their bags out and caught the candy inside of them. This particular experience really was something that would stick with them for as long as they could remember.

After they had left the circus, the trick-or-treaters were moving on to the next area. Sieglinde really had some time to think. Her thoughts instantly went back to the circus. It seemed familiar to her somehow, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She tried really hard to think of why the circus was so familiar to her. "That's it!" She said aloud as the realization hit her.

The rest of them turned to her. "What is it?" Lizzie asked.

"Don't you guys remember? A little while after I had become friends with all of you, we went to a circus. Don't you remember what happened to it?"

The group had to think back. "I seem to recall that the circus was secretly kidnapping children, and it was burned down to a crisp." Alois recited from memory.

"Do you think it could be the same as the case with Madame Red?" Lizzie asked.

Sieglinde sighed. "Honestly, I have no idea. This forest is strange. Either it's just a coincidence, or there really is something more."

Lizzie turned and looked at the sky. The moon was quickly climbing. "We'd better hurry and move on." She said.

Ciel nodded. "Yes, of course."

So they all complied and kept going. It seemed highly unlikely that they would figure out the full truth of this forest, but it was interesting to think about it. They had no idea what exactly was going to happen tonight, and they had just hoped that their candy hadn't worn off. The had also hoped that Claude wasn't watching them. Since he was able to disguise his presence, that made him more dangerous than any disagreeable spirits they might run into. Just thinking about Claude caused chills to run down their spines.

They tried moving quickly, so that they could get away. Chances were that if Claude wasn't watching them right now, he would be waiting for them at the next stop. Not knowing where he was, was scary. Still, they did have fun that night. The circus was incredible, and a memory that they would keep with them forever. The rest of the night had been fun as well. Rescuing a princess from a tower, meeting actual genies, and befriending a werewolf. Tonight contained many memories. They all were just hoping that they could continue to have memories like that.

Soon midnight would approach and the Feast of Souls would begin. A feast of tortured souls for the forest demon to gain more power. As if he didn't have enough already. With anymore power, he could probably take over the world or something. Things were already in motion, however, and they had no plan of escape before midnight. Everything was in the hands of the forest spirits, and it seemed to be up to them to decided whether or not the group of trick-or-treaters had their souls stolen.

They were all trustworthy though, but it seemed that their truly was nothing that they could do about it. They had all mentally decided that if they were going to have their souls stolen, then they would at least have as much fun as possible before then. A sense of dread was placed inside of each of them, however. They couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.

Darkness engulfed them and they had only the moon ton guide them to safety. It was the perfect scenario for a lost group of kind, about to be eaten by some sort of monster, like in story books. They were all paranoid, and they knew this, of course. A situation like this might soon cause anyone to lose their heads, but they were keeping it together quite well.

They were incredibly brave and smart, as most trick-or-treaters normally wouldn't be able to stand something like this. They had already been through so much together, and together, they would continue to grow, and hopefully, this escapade would be a useful experience.