The Big Top was alot more exciting inside then outside. the yellow and red stripes lining the walls ran down the sides, lights strung across the ceiling making the giant room glow along with the flaming torches mounted to poles every few feet.
The whole team sat along the top row in the stands, Garcia sqeauling as the lights dimmed and the Ring Leader walked to the center ring.
A spotlight snapped on, illuminating him as he held his arms out toward the audience.
"Ladies and Gentelman! Boys and Girls! Welcome to the Circus of Dreams. Where your darkest ones are realized and your sweetest ones brought to life! Here we've travelled and collected acts and miracles from all over the world. Please join me in welcoming the first of the many in this vivid collection of wonder, the youngest member of our troop today, Ms. Spider!"
The man in charge of the spotlight threw the light and the audience gasped and then screamed when they saw a woman hanging from the ceiling by her hands and feet! She smiled and let go, plunging to the ground below!
The audience screamed, some fainted, and the Ring Leader laughed.
The woman threw her hand up and grabbed at thin air.
Then thin air sparkled in the light!
Ms. Spider held onto a next to invisible string, dangling from the floor below by atleast twenty feet. She reached out and grabbed more strings from thin air, wrapping each around her finger. Then she wrapped more around the other hand's fingers and then swung herself up into the air, twisting the strings together so you could see them. she somersaulted in the air a few more times, twisting string after string and then she sat down on a small knot she'd made, linking the two ropes of string together. She smiled prettily, showing glittering white teeth, before climbing one rope and leaping off into more string. She completed maybe eight knots before lunging from on to the other, pulling them all together into a middle knot. Then she flipped and twisted her body through them, dragging more string threw.
She'd completed a spiderweb above the entire floor. The top of the tent was now obstructed from view because of the giant, glittering, silver web.
The audience screamed in appluase, shouting for an enchore! She hooked her feet across the middle knot and hung upside down where she proceeded to bow to her audience. Then she waved and climbed to the top of the web.
She did not reappear.
"Wonderful Spider!" The Ring Leader shouted, "Now if I'll divert the audiences attention to the Highwire, our very own little Mr. and Mrs. Drahtseil will dazzle you with their own gifts."
A man and woman stood on opposite ends of the rope tied to the two platforms fifty or so feet up, and when the Spotlights turned on them and a waltz began to play from unseen speakers. They marched out onto it, meeting in the middle. They reached their left hands out to the others faces, then joined both hands and tilted to far to the right!
They plunged, but no one screamed, since they swung all the way around the rope. The man had hooked his feet over as he'd gone down and now sat on the rope as the woman hung from his hands below.
The audience clapped politely, and the woman swung side to side, carrying more and more momentum until she was swinging over the rope. Letting go of her husband at the last moment and flying above the rope and landing on her feet. She curtsied to the audience before helping her husband up and then the two joined together, like they were about to dance. They held hands and stood on their on their left feet, throwing the rights into the air and began spinning around, the man leading. He spun faster and faster, forcing the woman out into the open air, clutching his hands as she went round and round. Then he began to bend his arms, bringing her closer in before pecking her on the lips and throwing her above him as the music ended, it was her flying up in the still, silent air. The man stood calmly, not bothering to look up, only moving to hold his hands out into the open air, catching her at the last second of her decent. she sat in his arms, waving down below, blowing kisses before he carried her to the platform and the spotlight dimmed while the regular lights went up.
Garcia was ecstatic next to Reid. There was popcorn in his hair from the times she'd screamed in surprise and popcorn had flown up in a puff, landing everywhere around her. Reid spent the few seconds he had picking the kernals and buttery popcorn out of his hair before a trumpet sounded and a tiny police car speeded around the center ring.
"Ooh!" Garcia awed, "These must be the clowns!"
And it was. when the car crashed into a wall a tall thin clown got out and helped pull the short fat one dressed in a sundress out from the other side. Then they both helped the fattest, shortest one dressed in a sailor suit out. Then the two fat ones chased the thin one around, throwing whatever they could find in the car trunk while the car steamed and smoked, making honking noises from the engine. The audience laughed, harder and harder with each gag. The clowns went all out for their act. they sprayed eachother, they hit eacother, and when the man clown tried to make up with his "wife" by kissing her, she threw a cream pie in his face. The force threw him backward and he bowled over the third clown.
Reid and Garcia leaned into eachother laughing, knocking heads and laughing some more at their own pain. The Hotchners bent over laughing, and the rest of the team held their sides as they pointed and laughed along with the rest of the audience.
The clowns ended their act with all three tripping into the car, through the doors. The doors slammed shut and the car drove out through the lip of the tent and the Ring master walked back into the ring, clapping.
"Thank you ladies and gentelmen, and now we wish to present you all with a special treat: our very own witch!" on the word 'witch' the lights dimmed and the spotlight illuminated an old and crumpled woman all in the same moment. She waved breifly, taking a fatal step over the edge and flying down through the air. She landed hard on the ground, but she didn't fall, didn't crumple to the floor.
Instead she walked calmly over to the Ringmaster, taking his hands and removing the black cane. She pointed it at the ceiling of the tent where the web still hugged the tent. The tent quivered feircly, and then exploded, releasing thousands of crows and bats and ravens! They all flew to the ring, not one straying to the crowds who screamed.
The woman touched the end of the cane to the ground, and leaned forward on it. Spinning around and looking each bird in the eye. Then the spotlight dimmed, revealing the weird glowing patterns and symbols painted onto the walls of the tent.
The sihlouette of the woman shook and contorted as she moved, putting something on.
It was a cloak, and it glowed the same eerie green as the patterns on the walls.
The spotlight snapped back on, and in one old and wrinkled arm sat a vulture. She threw her arm out, throwing it out into the air.
"Let Mortem pick the one." She croaked.
Everyone looked around quizically at eachother. No one quite understood until the large vulture landed on a young man's shoulder. He squeaked and leaned in closer to his blonde friend, who clutched his thin arm as he grew stiff. The claws dug into his shoulder, through the magenta sweater vest and white dress shirt.
"Come forward Spencer Reid." the old woman smiled, holding out her hand to him.
Reid slowly got up, wincing everytime the vulture repositioned himself.
"Be brave my Junior G-man." Garcia smiled, masking her unease.