WHO: Mona, Maddy, Issac WHAT: Making her way to the circus and finding her sister WHEN: October 16th WHERE: The Illusionist WARNINGS: nothing as yet, likely very little STATUS: incomplete
The first time Mona heard it she mistook it for a real voice and, turning from what she was doing, she looked up in confusion. But, no, she was alone just as she'd thought she was, sitting on the backstep of her parent's house in Vegas. She paused and listened, but heard only the sounds of cars on the nearby street, birds in the trees, and the drone of a lawnmover a few houses over. So she let it go. It was a sound on the wind, the breeze in the leaves, and nothing more.
The second time she heard it was just hours later, as she closed her windows and got ready for bed. This time she almost thought she could make out words in it, but not quite.
Mona knew, however, that it wasn't the wind. She opened the window again, slowly, and listened. When there was nothing out of the ordinary she asked, "what are you trying to tell me?"
Mona had no powers to hear the voices of others, but there were a few in her family that could send their own. None recently, and no one she'd talked to for years but... perhaps
The voice - the hum, the feeling down low in her guts - was silent. Eventually Mona closed the window and went to bed.
The next day the mall was busy and overcrowded and Mona felt the crush of it all. She would have rather been anywhere else, but there were-
A sound cut through everything.
"The circus has moved," said a voice, quiet but heard over the din, Mona turned suddenly toward it, but among all the people she couldn't tell who had spoken. She couldn't tell the gender or age, but it had been a voice. People walked by her, but Mona remained still.
The circus. Maddy's circus? But why would it be that circus? Why would someone mention the very thing she had been looking for fruitlessly
From behind her came different voice while she was still trying to find the first: "It's waiting."
Mona spun, drawing a few looks from others.
The next words came in too many different voices for Mona to separate, a wave crashing over her as they all whispered.
"Belle Isle... Detroit... Go..."
And then silence. A man was taking Mona's arm, trying to help her up from where she'd fallen onto the ground, overwhelmed by the message from... who? From what?
Belle Isle, Detroit. She had her destination.
-
Mona had thought a lot about the circus since Maddy had gone, and she'd imagined so many times what it would be like inside.
Her imagination hadn't even been close. She never could have imagined this place. With each new tent, new sight, new costumed stranger, Mona felt herself being drawn away to somewhere else. She had to struggle each time to force herself to stick to her goal: Maddy. She had to find Maddy and then... well, Mona had never gotten past that part. She'd sold her tea stall weeks ago to give her enough money to pick up and leave at the first hint of the circus, but she'd hadn't known how she would find it. She was starting to feel like it found her instead.
Knowing Maddy's skills, Mona had some guesses what attractions she would be at. She asked anyone she could - Have you seen her? Beautiful redhead? Is there a mind control tent? A hypnotist?
Indeed there was a hypnotist at the circus and Mona pushed her way through the crowds as politely as she could until, suddenly, Maddy lit up the world from her place on a stage. Mona's breath caught with excitement and all the ways she'd missed her big sister and she excuse me, pardon me'd her way to the front of the crowd so that Maddy would look out and see her face.