Dead tired, I threw the broom under Marmar’s trailer and crashed on the deck chair. My eyelids felt heavy. The dusk was flooding in fast. The rides in the distance and the laughter in the air mocked my depleted body. I still needed to stay awake until midnight to sneak into the cellar to retrieve the potions.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Marmar scolded. My eyes arched; I couldn’t care to deal with her disparaging attitude any longer. “Oh, if you think we’re done,” she shook her head. “We’re far from it.” A devilishly smile crept up her face. She was enjoying my pain. “The show  will start soon, and we must help out backstage. Then after the show is done, we’ll have to help with the clean-up. The customers like to crumble up their popcorn bags and throw them on the ground.” She laughed.
‘Why are you laughing? You need to clean it too.’ I wanted to say. But all that came out was a long sigh. So I rose from the deck chair, knelt down, and reached under the trailer for the broom I’d just thrown away.
“Oh, you don’t need that. They have brooms there.” She pulled me to my feet.
Sulking, I followed her to the big show tent.

***

There was a long line of excited fans outside the tent. It was indeed the park’s most popular attraction, drawing in thousands every night.
Backstage everyone was busy. They ran around like headless chickens, putting in the last-minute touches. There were no dressing rooms, but costume racks and mirrors were being wheeled around, and the make-up artist and the costume specialist ran from one person to the next. Everything was done in the open.
When I showed up, the performers were already dressed. Marmar needed to help the animal handlers, so she left me with the instruction, “Just clean up whatever you can.” Which I took as a suggestion to laze around.
So that’s what I did. I swept a bit of dirt to a corner and watched everyone else work. I also kept an eye out for the twins.
“Is it always like this?” I mumbled to myself, not expecting an answer.
“Yeah, pretty much.” A sad clown appeared beside me. I knew her voice. She had on white make-up and a red afro, but the nose and Polkadot jumper were something that I recognised. And the mockingbird on her shoulder was a dead give-away.
“Lina?”
“Yep.”
“You look good,” I teased.
Her frown grew deeper. But before she could shoot back a quip, we spotted the Jabber snarling its teeth at one of the clowns. “I’ll be  right back,” she said and ran toward the problem. Jabbers are red furry hoofed bipedal monsters the size of sheep. And they’re adorable when they’re not angry. Lina wagged her finger at it and gave it a stern  scolding, after which it became docile and sad. I think she wanted to slack off in a dark corner like me, but she couldn’t. She was the only Tamer in the staff, and after the Jabber, there was a whole lot more she needed to scold.

Ten minutes before the tent was opened to the audience, the twins arrived with miss Blementine, a short flat chested woman. She was the conductor and planner of the acrobatic part of the show. All three wore tight jumpsuits that looked sexy on their athletic bodies.
The twins were absolute eye candy. My hands clenched around the broomstick. I yearned to touch their fluffy brown hair to see if it was  as soft as it appeared. Their emerald eyes had a playful glint that I knew would translate well into the bedroom. I rubbed my thighs together, feeling hot and wet. Those long legs, broad shoulders, cute butts… I ached to have them. Half-dazed, I pushed the broomstick between my legs. I softly pressed the wooden handle against my crotch. It wasn’t enough. It was frustrating. Nonetheless, I forced it against my cleft in small rhythmic movements.
“What are you doing?”
I jumped. It was another voice I recognised. And she wasn’t naked this time. Dressed in a red tail coat, top hat, and black pants, she looked sharp. “Ah…” I stared at Silva’s expressionless face. “Nothing…” I took the broom out of my crotch. “Cleaning…”
“What kind of cleaning is that?” She shook her head. “And take out the garbage.” She pointed at the garbage can in the corner, which was brimming with waste.
“Oh, sure!” I nodded. “Yes.” I threw the broom aside and tied up the garbage bag.
“Good.” She nodded and walked off to yell at Lina.
I exhaled and wondered in a hushed tone, “Where do I dump this?”
“Go get the Sky Eater!” She screamed at Lina. “You guys are going on right after me!” Lina ran out of the tent.

***

Since I didn’t know of any nearby dumpsters, I ended up going back to Marmar’s trailer.

On my way back, I ran into the Sky Eater, slithering to the big tent. I jumped back in fright and lifted the nearby rocks into the air with [telekinesis], ready to fight.
“Wo, calm down.” Lina laughed. It was only then that I noticed her, sitting on top of its head with her legs crossed. “She won’t hurt you.”
“Oh…” I put the rocks down. I took a closer look at her and noticed she was missing a mockingbird…
It felt surreal to have it slither beside me on our way back to the tent. “It looks like the people are being let in,” I commented as we neared the back entrance.
“Yeah, the show should’ve already started.”
“It did!?”
“Maybe…” Lina smiled, but the smile faded so quickly that it was like it was never there at all.

When we reentered the tent, I remarked, “Everyone’s so quiet.” No one was running around like headless chickens anymore. Everyone waited in their spots for their turns. Miss Blementine and the twins were doing stretches near the dancers. And I ended up following Lina to her clown  posse. They were squeezing themselves into a tiny carriage. We were close to the stage and could hear the audience filling up the seats.
While we waited for the show to begin, Lina asked in a low voice, “So how long did the bitch say you had to work for her?”
“Huh?”
“You stole food, didn’t you? She must’ve told you, you needed to work till you paid it off or something?”
“Yeah. But she didn’t exactly say how long.”
“Hahaha…” Her laugh was self-deprecating. “Of course, she didn’t.”
“What about you? Marmar said something about a bet. That you lost a bet.”
“I didn’t lose anything!” She ground her teeth. “She cheated me.”
“Oh…”
“If you think she’s ever going to release you, you have another thing coming.” She warned.
I shrugged. “Alright.”
“You don’t seem very concerned.” She narrowed her eyes.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“Hmm… You’re fine with being someone else’s slave?” She was disgusted.
“No.” I looked around, paranoid. Having this conversation with so many people around made me nervous. I knew it was kind of an open secret within the staff that many of them wanted to escape, especially the ones with the tattoo on their butts - which was most of them. Nonetheless, it made me nervous.
“I won’t stay here forever. I’ll escape.” She spoke confidently. The snake she was sitting on hissed. She patted its head with a smile and added, “Yeah, sorry. I meant, we’ll escape.”
“And I bet Silva already knows you want to escape.”
“Well, she knows a lot of us want to escape.” A clown with a blue nose showed up beside me.
“This is June.” Lina introduced her to me. “June, Sheryl. Sheryl, June.”
“Hello.” I shook her hand.
“Though there are some who are loyal to her… for some reason.” Like me, she looked around, but her gaze was more focused, unlike mine, which was suspicious of everyone. “Then there are the oldies,” she continued. “Well, technically, even they want to escape, but they’ve given up. They’re the ones who wouldn’t know what to do even if they did escape. Finally, we have her original crew members…” A frown grew on her face, “Every single one of them is undyingly loyal to her.” Our eyes turned to three hooded figures that entered the tent. “Speak of the devils.”
Laureen Madge Leigh, a level 32 Curse Magician. Anka Lamar, a level 40  Flower type Spear Wielder. And Hedda Ryba, a level 41 Berserker type Club Wielder. The original crew consisted of only twelve people, thirteen including Silva, but they were all C-rank and above.
“If we can take her out, we’ll all be free,” Lina said in a hushed tone. She was peering at the curse magician in the middle. The other two  acted as her guard.
“Idiot!” Her friend, June, shouted before looking around nervously. “Silva’ll kill you.”
“Let her,” she grunted.
“Talking ill of the originals is forbidden,” June warned me, but I already knew that.
I asked Lina, “Are you planning to start a rebellion?”
“What?” She was shocked, but then she thought about it and replied, “They won’t do it. They’re cowards.”
“Who are they?” June pried with an accusatory tone, emphasising the word ‘they’. “It won’t work,” she shook her head. “I’m sure even the oldies will fight against you if you tried. Plus, even if they didn’t, how are you going to make up for the 20-plus difference in levels?”
Lina’s eyes suddenly looked a bit shifty, and gazing down, she patted the Sky Eater’s head.
“You’re insane!” June responded. And pointing her finger at the snake she sassed, “Did you forget what happened to you the last time?” The Sky Eater hissed, and she asked, “What did it say?”
“A secret.” She held her tongue.
Thanks to [translator], I knew what it said. ‘I only need a few more cores. Then I can beat her.’
“Don’t do anything stupid, Lina.”
“I won’t. Don’t worry about it.”
“Why do I worry more when you say ‘don’t worry’.”
“How should I know.” She rolled her eyes.
“Don’t get sucked into her plans.” She warned me.
“Ah…”
“June, do you want to remain a clown for the rest of your life?” Lina couldn’t understand the people around her. Her ambitions wouldn’t allow  it.
“It’s not like that.” She shook her head. “You got to think of more than just what you want, Lina.” She emphasised the ‘want’. “You have to-”
“Hey! Stop talking.” One of the clowns poked her head out the carriage.
“Oh, can you hear us? I thought we were being quiet.” She whispered.
“It’s fine.” She smiled. “No one else heard… probably.” All of us looked around, feeling paranoid. “Forget that. Get in. It’s almost time.”
I heard laughter coming from the seats. The ringmaster was already on stage, doing the introductions. I walked over to the curtains and poked my head out while June and Lina squeezed into the clown carriage.

Silva was doing a comedy routine. She wore prop glasses with fake eyebrows and a nose. Suddenly she pretended like the prop broke and asked the audience, “Can I borrow one from you guys?” She walked around and scanned the people in the seats. “I need it for the next routine,” she moaned, and the audience laughed. Since I knew she was a terrible human being, I couldn’t find anything she did funny. “Ah, let me borrow yours,” she reached over and grabbed a woman’s glasses. “The nose isn’t coming off. Oh, these are normal glasses.” She acted surprised. Uncomplicated insult comedy. The audience went over the hill with laughter. Then she said, “Oh, well, maybe I’ll bring out the clowns.” She searched her pockets for a whistle. “But where did I put my clown whistle? How will I summon the clowns without a clown whistle!?” She made funny faces, looked in her sleeves, and pulled out her pockets. “Where did I put it!?” She started looking around the dark stage. The technician on the ceiling moved the light around the stage, which Silva  chased… The people laughed for that too. She ended up running into the lion and went, “Is it in here,” and opened its mouth to look inside. The audience was awed. “Nope, not in here.” She closed its mouth, and the people laughed. She had them in her palms. Finally, after doing a bunch of stupid stuff, she reached in her boobs and said, “Oh, I found it! It  was in here all along.” And the audience roared with laughter. I didn’t get it.
So, with the opening over, the ringmaster blew the clown whistle.