Counting Stars

Chapter 88

Clari blushed darkly, turning her beet red face away to bite back a smile. If this morning would be Mephistopheles' everyday reaction to her, she looked forward to it. . . 

Nailing the last flyer corner down, Anishaa glanced behind Clari.

" Let's go to that lamp post. I'll stick it on with the tape Mephistopheles gave us. You go look around for other areas we can put posters up."

Clari nodded, wandering a few feet away from her friend in search of good advertisement spots. It seemed to her almost every spot was taken already by other advertisements or flyers. She didn't feel it would be right to pull down these people's advertising. Because of this, she put herself on a mission to find already bare spots.

It was much harder than she thought.

There were no spots big enough on walls, or really, no spots at all! Not even on lamp posts! By this point, she had walked a blocks away from Anishaa. Luckily, she had trekked in a straight line down the streets. She wouldn't get lost from the others, she had made sure of it!

While turning her attention left and right around town, she discovered that the more she walked forward, the more something big in size began to appear up ahead in front of her.

Innocent curiosity cutting in, she found it would be no harm to take a quick glimpse at what was hovering up ahead. Looking over her shoulder once, she quickly jogged further down the sidewalk to the large hovering silhouette. .  .or silhouettes.

Upon the reveal of the great site, Clari let gravity sink her figure low. She stopped slow in her tracks, mouth hung open wide as she stared up in wonder.

The large shadow was a Ferris Wheel. Around it, there were other shapes and figures that turned out to be tents. . .Carnival tents, to be exact.

Another carnival was in town! And judging by the people walking by and forming lines near it, this circus was packed and busy!

" Woah. . ." Clari breathed.  She took a step closer, her eyes following the trail of bright blinding lights that were strung up in the opponents circus grounds. The colors of red, yellow, blue, and pink lit up the sky and streets. She found herself in awe, wondering what could be inside a carnival this big.

A figure stepped next to her, standing on her left side.

" Marlowe And Bronze Circus." Mephistopheles spoke. He eyed the large tents and circus wheels in a slow manner. " I've heard they have good shows. Nice tricks. I've also heard they tried to swipe Houdini's act. Nothing they have is original work."

" You've been?" Clari asked, looking at him. He snorted, the sound clashing against his beautiful features. That made her smile.

" God no." He responded, folding his hands behind his back. " Least, not yet." They stood in silence, staring ahead of them. " The Moonlight Carnival is getting a tad predictable. I need to get some fresh ideas for new acts. . ."

Clari blinked.

" You- you're gonna steal acts?" She asked, turning to him in shock.  He looked back at her, grinning.

" I'm not gonna steal! I'm gonna get inspired! Clari, you always think so low of me. I'm hurt." He turned on his heels to walk away. Clari rushed after him, juggling the flyers in her hands.

" Isn't it wrong?"

" Course not!" He laughed. " What they do is fake, so I've heard. I'm just going to make their seemingly labeled impossible acts, possible. We are a show of death defying acts, afterall!"

Clari shifted uncomfortably at his statement. She didn't like the sound of that. Mephistopheles noticed her uneasiness, nudging her teasingly.

" Don't look so worried! You've spent two weeks with us at this point. Relax a bit my love, what you've seen by now is basically what we do! It only gets dangerous when we start new acts. Training is taken very seriously, I'll tell you that."

Clari nodded, looking back at the circus. Beside her, the ringmaster looked back too. He reached his left arm out to wrap around her waist, walking her away.

" We'll come back, don't stare too much."

" Come back?" Clari asked, frowning. " What do you mean?"

" Our talk, Starlett." He simply replied. " We'll discuss our trip to Marlowe And Bronze once we finish putting up your flyers."

(If you happen to see mistakes in writing, or don't understand something written, please comment where so that I can fix it!)