Cirque Obscurum by K.A. Knight & Kendra Moreno

Author:K.A. Knight & Kendra Moreno [Knight, K.A. & Moreno, Kendra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

Hilda insists we meet every night. I enjoy our sessions, and the closer I get to reading the cards as well as she does, the longer she insists we practice. That’s why I find myself in her tent past midnight, my eyes starting to glaze over as I stare at the stack of cards before me.

“Once more,” Hilda encourages, “and then we can finish for the night.”

I nod dutifully and sigh, my gaze on the stack. I focus on what I want the cards to show me. I reach for the static in the air and the feeling buzzing beneath my skin. I close my eyes and dig deeper, fading into the darkness in my soul, then I place my hand on top of the stack.

“Show me,” I whisper. I pull my hand away and open my eyes, watching as the stack vibrates with energy. For a moment, it does nothing, and then three cards slide from the middle of the stack and spring into the air.

I blink, especially when one of them is the joker card, the same one I once clutched in my bleeding hand.

“How did that get in there?” I say, and then I focus on the other cards. Awareness slams into me the same moment it does Hilda. I stumble back from my stool and look at her with wide eyes. “Hilda⁠—”

“I see,” she rasps. “Go! Warn the others!”

Just as I throw the tent flaps open, the first screams fill the air. My head jerks in their direction, and I stumble toward the sound, my fingers clenching tightly. Flames begin to climb a tent at the farthest edges of the cirque before leaping to the next. More screams split the night, but this time from pain instead of fear.

Horror fills me as I rush deeper into the cirque.

“Wake up!” I scream as loudly as I possibly can, my voice cracking in terror. “Wake up! Fire! There’s a fire!”

I take off running in the direction of the flames, but the other sounds reach me a second later. Whoops and hollers of excitement.

“Die, freaks!” someone shouts before laughter follows.

White-hot fury slams into me so brutally, I nearly stumble beneath it.

“We’re under attack!” I yell, switching my warning. “We’re under attack!”

Diamond rushes through the tents in front of me so suddenly, I startle. His mask is on his face, and he holds a machete in his hand. He sees me and tosses me my mask and a large wrench used for rigging.

“How many?” he asks.

“I don’t know,” I answer as I slide my mask on and lift the wrench. “But the fire’s spreading fast.”

We rush after the screams and shouts of excitement. The night lights up with the inferno as the flames dance along the tents, spreading like a disease. We pass by one with people screaming inside, desperately trying to get out and finding themselves trapped. Others throw water on the blaze, trying to stop the flames from spreading, but it’s hungry. It consumes and destroys everything in its path, and my fury grows.

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