Zodiacs Undercover

Chapter 7: Mission 3, "Circus"

"Yeah, yeah, Yeon." Yeon, age 16, responded to Wang's sarcasm with a shove. 

"I'm back!" Geika, age 20, pushed through the crowds and took a seat, winded. In her arms was a giant tub of popcorn, which she gave to Miu. She was a rather plain girl, with shoulder-length hair and a rather petite frame. Large, round glasses perched on her face, hiding her eyes, and she was dressed in a pink blazer and skirt. (as an educator) 

"Just in time," Wang said in relief. 

"Here you go, Akane," Geika said, handing a lollipop to Akane. 

Miu started happily gobbling away at the popcorn. 

Then, the lights dimmed, and the show began. 

First, they started off with some entertainment-clowns acting silly. Unfortunately, Miu had a very bad fear of clowns and burst into tears when she saw them. Genki quickly calmed her down. 

Next was the animals. They watched in amazement as the lion tamer put his hand in the lion's mouth, then made the animal leap through flaming circles and do tricks. 

Then was the trapeze acts. The colorfully dressed acrobats swung from the bar, hanging on by their feet. "Well, I'm glad that there's a net underneath them..." Wang said, sweating buckets at every near miss. 

After that, the ringleader himself walked up. "And now, the one you've all been waiting for..." 

A platform rose in the middle of the stage and confetti burst as the silouette of a girl dressed in a red-and-gold witch's costume appeared. "The master magician... manipulator of minds... THE FLAMING ARCHER!!!" (that was best I could come up with, apologies apologies)

Miu shrieked in delight. "That's her! That's her! That's the one I've been waiting for all night!" 

"What does she do?" Akane asked. 

"Magic!" Miu replied enthusiastically. "She's the best magician in the world!" 

And they were ready to believe it when The Flaming Archer winked at everyone, then vanished, leaving only her head floating in air. "Now you see this..." she pointed a magician's wand at the tall Statue of Liberty standing in the middle of the stage. "Now you don't!" At those words, she drew her wand down-and the statue vanished! 

"WHOOOOOOOOOA!" Yeon cried. "Amazing!" 

With a grin, she made the statue reappear. "I'm told that I'm rather like a dragon-" she breathed fire in a flaming arc across the air- "-but I never thought that I-" she took off her shoe and poured water into a glass and quickly downed it- "-would be here-" she sneezed out a bunch of cards- "-tonight! It's a ball!" And then she coughed out many small red balls. 

The audience lept to their feet, clapping wildly. For the next hour, The Flaming Archer amazed and flabbergasted the entire audience with seemingly impossible feats of magic. 

Finally, she bowed low and took off her hat. "Thank you! After our 15-minute break, we'll be holding our special 'Circus Contests' with a very special prize! See you later!" Then she winked again and vanished in a column of fire. 

Immediately the chatter of the audience resumed. "That. Was. Amazing!" Wang exclaimed. 

"Yes, it really was," Akane agreed. 

Miu beamed, a piece of popcorn stuck onto her face. "I'm glad we all chipped in for these tickets!"

"Totally," Yeon agreed.  

"I wonder what the contests will feature," Geika wondered. "Do you think we should participate?" 

"It depends on what the prize is," Wang said, standing up. "I'm gonna go and get a hot dog, be right back! Don't let anyone steal my seat."