Page 132 of Circus From Hell

“Very well.” He turns to his desk, grabbing his goggles and slipping them over his head, and I know that means he’s moving on.

“But I wanted to talk to you about sssomething.”

“Hmm?” He’s too focused on what looks like snake skin across his desk and a needle with green thread. His hunched back is to me, and I know I’ve lost his interest.

I feel the weight of the collar around my neck. I feel the stretch of my stitched smile as I purse my lips. They’re reminders that I belong to Kreo right now, when what I didn’t realise I wanted was to belong to myself.

“I—”

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready for the finale? Lights on in an hour. Best performance tonight, Karma. As usual.”

My parted lips, ready to ask for permission to leave the circus, close at his sudden dismissal. Maybe the guys were right. Maybe Kreo doesn’t care for me as much as I thought he did. Maybe those diaries really are all he cares about.

They told me not to tell him. He didn’t even give me the chance.

Silently, I slip out of the room. I’m not sure he notices.

As soon as I pass through the exit flaps, a firm arm around my wrist drags me outside, and my chest is shoved against another’s.

“Are you okay, dead girl?”

“I’m fine,” I sigh, looking into those hollow eyes I’ve become so accustomed to. Spiral grabs my waist and grinds his hard double cocks against my stomach.

“I’m sad to be leaving,” he whispers in my ear. “But I can’t wait to fuck you whenever I want.”

“What about Dolly?” I say in a last-minute attempt to convince either myself or Spiral to stay. Am I scared? Of the unknown world? Maybe.

“Dolly will survive without me. She has Moxie.”

“What about your clowns?”

“Besides Dolly, they mean nothing to me. Not like you do.” He kisses me with enough force to prove that point. “You need to get into your finale outfit.” I grimace, and Spiral laughs. “I know you hate it, but we can’t have Kreo suspect anything.”

“You know I hate it?”

He tilts his head curiously. “Of course I do. I watched you for a long time, Karma. I studied your reactions when you weren’t looking. I’d sneak into your tent and watch you sleep before bed. And it was always you in the back of my mind.”

The thought sends a thrill of excitement through me. I would have hated to find out Spiral was in my tent before, but now he can wake me up with a double stuffing.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, dead girl. We’ve got a show.” He sneaks in a kiss before skipping off, shouting commands at the other clowns when he steps into the dressing area.

As I start walking to my tent to get changed, I hear a familiar chittering in the grass. Claws sink into my leg and climb up my body.

“Finally,” I whisper when Snake nuzzles into my neck. “I was starting to worry about you.”

He hisses in a friendly greeting, and I let him hitch a ride back to my tent. He jumps onto the vanity so I can get changed into a horrendously sparkly pink jumpsuit. I can see Moxie wearing something like this, but not me. Kreo knows I don’t like it, but he wants all the stops pulled when it comes to finales. They’re nothing special to the performers, happening before we leave a town every few weeks.

“I don’t suppose you’ll be sssticking around if I leave, will you?” Snake stares at me blankly like he doesn’t understand. I sigh and sit on my mattress, slumping my head into my hands. “We’re leaving. I think. I guess. Would you come with us, Sssnake?”

He jumps onto the floor and climbs up my knee. He nods his little head up and down, and I smile softly at him. My little companion. The only true friend I’ve had in here. I’m not ready to leave him yet, so that makes me happy.

“You meet the boysss at the trailer, okay? They’re leaving regardless.”

Snake isn’t oblivious to the internal war raging in my mind. He rubs his head against my knee comfortingly.

I hear the distant call of Kreo announcing that the show is starting from the big tent, and the voltage pumping through me fires that bit faster.

I’ll be on in an hour, then Spiral and I will have half an hour to sneak away with the boys before the grand finale. That’s when Kreo will notice if we’re missing.