Having finished in the bathroom, Lucie grabbed her towel and headed out into the open air. She was relieved to see that the bathroom was quiet, and not full of unwanted extras! It was such a beautiful day that she couldn't help almost skipping along back to her caravan. She grabbed a quick sandwich and went straight to the stables.

After a while, Lucie noticed that she was having trouble focussing on usually simple tasks. She couldn't stop wondering about where that boy had come from. It was so odd to see a stranger wandering around their close-knit circus and she couldn't contain her curiosity.

She wandered around the camp for a few minutes looking for someone to ask. She caught sight of Dick and called out to him. He came running over.

"Hey," she smiled. "I don't mean to be nosy or anything, but earlier when you were in the bathroom...That boy, who is he?"

"Fine then. Alex, you can take your own baths from now on.... Just make sure that you DO take baths!" Glaring warningly at him, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself so that her clothes wouldn't drip on the ground.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go change into something dry.... With us going out tonight to tomorrow's show in Treetower, it would really NOT be good if I suddenly came down with a cold!"

Grinning around, she broke into a jog in the direction of her wagon.

****

Later that afternoon, Ri and the others in her group were gathered around, about to go over the finer details of their routine for the last time.

"Okay, so after Dahlia and Sara go off, it's me, Saturday, and Lulu...."

Dahlia and Sara obligingly ran off to the sidelines as the three remaining performers arranged themselves in a triangular formation. Lulu raised her arms over her head-

-just as a spectacular explosion went off, shaking all five of them from their feet.

"OW! What was that?!" Dahlia yelled on a slightly hysterical note as she scrambled up from the ground.

"Idiot!" Lulu grabbed Ri's arm as she leaped up. "Don't just run off and investigate! We don't even know what happened!"

"But- it came from over near the trailers! What if people got hurt? What if there was a target! We've got to go and find out what's wrong!"

"What? No! No way I'm going over there!" Dahlia backed away towards the forest they were practicing near. "I say that we all run away and find out what happened later. Like, way later."

Sara glanced over towards the trailers, where a plume of smoke was now slowly rising. Her forehead was furrowed in thought and anxiety. "Ri, maybe Dahlia's right.... There might be another explosion, or- HEY! COME BACK!"

Ri ignored her and continued to run.

Just as she had asked Dick who the mysterious boy was, Lucie felt a strange shiver run down her spine.

Immediately after this a huge sound filled her ears and she was thrown forwards, colliding with a fence at great speed. She fell to the ground, and saw smoke rising all around her and rippling heat floating over her. Everything around her went black.

*It must be a dream...*

After Lydia's comment realization snapped on Dick and he saw where he was. His face turned a light shade of red.

"Umm, sorry about that Lydia, I was... I was just checking up on Alex."

After a few minutes and a couple of awkward situations later, Dick was out the door and heading back to his trailer when he saw his parents locking it up.

"Hey, where are you guys going?"

"Well, we’re so glad Humperdink finally got you out of our show that we were going out to celebrate.”

“He’s lying honey, since your father’s birthday lands on next week’s performance I thought I’d take him out now. But we are going to miss you performing with us.”

"Aww, c'mon Mom, it's not like we aren't ever going to perform again, it's just that Sabri and I have been really busy on this new act. Dad, don't cause too much trouble in town, or the boss might not let you preform tomorrow." Dick joked.

"Heh. Like that'll happen. Wouldn't be much of a show without the trapeze. You may be good, but we're the show stopper." They started to walk away when John turned around. "Oh, and Dick, I hid a present for Humperdink in the kitchen cupboard, third from the right. I saw him roll back in a few minutes ago, looks like he had company too. Why don't you take the present to him while we're gone, and tell him I said 'gotcha!'" And with that they get on John's Harley, burned some rubber, and rode off in a cloud of somoke.

"Showoff!"

Dick went into his trailer and looked where his dad told him, and picked the unwrapped present up and laughed. "Why that sneaky little..."

Sniff, sniff. Hmm, smells like Mom left the gas on. Weird, that's not like her. Dick went over to the stove and turned it off. He picked up Humperdink's 'present' and was walking over to the boss' trailer when a "Hey Dick, over here!" interrupted him. He ran over to Lucie, kind of disappointed that he didn't get the present back to Humperdink before someone caught him with it.

"Sorry about being in there, I really should pay more attention before I just run in like that. The kid is

BOOM!

Dick and Lucie were thrown forward. Dick saw Lucie hit the fence right before he was knocked into the tree next to it. He got up, but Lucie didn't.

"LUCIE!!"

He ran over to her, and looked to see if anything was visibly broken or cut. Luckily he didn't see anything too serious, but he wasn't a doctor either. Hopefully she's just unconscious. Dick looked back to see the explosion had come from his trailer. Dick started running towards his trailer when he stopped and realized Lucie was still there. I have to go stop the fire, but I can't just leave her here. Dick picked her up and ran to the nearest trailer he could find. Good thing it was unlocked. He found a bedroom and put her down there. He noticed that she was starting to come to consciousness.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine, just stay here and I'll send someone to take care of you."

Dick ran out to go help with the fire, looking back to see what trailer she was in. By the time he got to his trailer, half of the circus was there trying to put it out. Out of breath, he ran up to Sabri who was carrying a bucket of water over. "Lucie is... in your trailer... knocked out by the blast... What happened?"

He then noticed something really weird, Humperdink wasn't here. There's no way the boss couldn't have heard that blast. There wouldn't be any reason for him not to be here. Before Sabri could finish explaining what she knew Dick started to run off.

"I have to go find the boss, something's not right here." He yelled back.

*Lydia was still in the shower when the trailer eksploded. Even though she was inside she clearly felt the showertrailer get moved by the blast, and with the wet floor she imediatly lost her footing, falling towards the wall*

~oh no...~

*and get's knocked unconsius, lying on the floor while the water still flows over her*

As the darkness started to clear, Lucie had a vague recollection of smoke and heat...
"Wha...where..."she stammered.

She looked around her and saw her strange surroundings; she had been placed onto a bed in someone's trailer. She tried to sit up, but this immediately brought on a terrible wave of dizziness. She sat still for a few minutes trying to gather her thoughts. Looking down at herself she saw a collection of cuts and bruises, and her ribs felt very painful. Suddenly she remembered.
The explosion...I got thrown into the fence...Dick!!!
She sprung up, ignoring the dizzy feeling and stumbled crazily towards the light coming from outside.
There was a huge heat blazing from down the field and she could smell the acrid smoke of her nightmares. She stubbornly held herself together, fearing that perhaps Dick had also been knocked out but somehow not rescued.
She managed to get a few steps out of the caravan before the pain in her ribs overcame her and she passed out again.

Ri ran towards the pillar of smoke, her breath coming out in gasps.

What had happened? Was anyone hurt? Who did this? What if somebody-

She pushed away the thought and ran faster.

"Hey!" She frantically asked a strong man who was headed towards the smoke with a hose trailing from the shower trailer. "What happened? What is that? Did they catch anyone?" She babbled on until he gently pushed her away.

"I don't know, but I'm going to help put out the fire. Don't worry, we didn't lose anyone, but...." He trailed off before continuing. "I think I saw someone hurt in the trailer when I got the hose. Better check it out, I didn't have time to look." With that, he rushed towards the smoke once more. Ri knew there was nothing she could do about the source, so she turned towards the shower trailer. Maybe there was something she could do about the casualities.

Then she heard a scream. An indistinct figure was carrying away a struggling child.

Alex.

He was shrieking out in his native tongue, before the figure clamped a hand over his mouth and hurried into the trees. Without a thought, Ri dashed after them.

"HEY! Let him GO!" She screamed before she thought. The kidnapper only ran faster and was soon lost to sight.

Ri knew it was impossible to catch up now. She whipped around, scanning the trailers anxiously, but everybody was preoccupied with the smoke and flames. Nobody but her had seen Alex being taken.

"Help! Somebody help!" She yelled as she ran back to the smoking trailer. "Alex is gone! Alex-"

"Who's Alex?" A harried horsetrainer demanded. "What are you yelling about? Help with the fire!"

"No, you don't understand. Alex-" But the trainer had moved on.

Ri felt like crying. Everything was going wrong. The trailer had exploded, people were hurt, and Alex-

"DICK!" She screamed suddenly, as he ran into her view. She grabbed his arm tightly, bringing him abruptly to a halt. "Dick, Alex was kidnapped!!!"

After quickly checking that the horses were out of danger, Lucie was lost among all the confusion, screaming voices and swirling smoke. Suddenly she heard one voice clear over all the rest "HEY! Let him GO!"
She frantically looked around for the owner of the voice and saw Ri, running after a swiftly retreating figure. She could just about make out a small struggling shape, and she was shocked to see that a child was being kidnapped. Almost at once Lucie saw Ri collide into Dick and shout that Alex was kidnapped.

That must be that kid's name...

Lucie had a moment of clarity and knew that she could actually be useful instead of getting herself in the way and needing rescuing! She sprinted over to the fence where she had tied her horse and leapt up onto him bareback. She galloped over to where Dick and Ri were standing, frozen in shock at the figure who could be seen heading into a cluster of oak trees.

"Dick! Get on!" she cried, hoping that like most circus boys he would be comfortable bareback.

ooc. sorry for not being here lately, ya know, life or something like tahe

ic.
As Ri noticed Alex getting kidnapped and getting to Dick, another dark figuer slipped into the shower trailer and grabbed Lydia, covering her up with a towel and slipped out again before anyone noticed.
As the person carried Lydia 'round the fire covered by the trees, in the same direction as the one kidnapping Alex, he made sure she hadn't svallowed any water. He kept an surprisingly fast pace for one carrying a person and soon he had caught up with the other guy.
"we've got move quickly, there's a girl on a horse soon after us"
the other one nodded and they hurried through the forrest

Ri watched Dick and Lucie race off in the direction of Alex's kidnapper, her heart pounding so hard it reverberated throughout her body.

Why did the trailer explode? Why was Alex kidnapped? Would they get to him in time, and if so, could they save him?

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted as one of the tiger tamers- Remmy, she inconsequently remembered- shoved a hose into her hand. "Come on!" He called over the commotion of the crowd. "We're going to try and get organized so we can hose it all down!"

Ri nodded and gripped the hose like a lifeline, aiming it in the flaming trailer's direction. If she could help at all.... and it would help keep her mind off of Alex and his many possible fates.

****

"YEAH!!!!! IT'S OUT! IT'S OUT!"

Ri stepped back and wiped a sooty hand across her forehead. It had taken a while, but the group gathered around the trailer had finally managed to get the tall flames down, and then douse them for good.

As people around her cheered, she couldn't help grinning triumphantly as well. "Wh-"

Her victory whoop was abruptly cut off as it all came rushing back. Oh my gosh, I totally forgot! How could I-

She'd wanted brief respite, not total momentary amnesia! She'd been so focused on fighting the flames, but now.... What had happened to Alex?

"Hey, cheer up!" Remmy slapped her shoulder several times. "We did it! It's okay now!"

Ri whirled on him. "No, it's not! Alex-" She realized he wouldn't understand, and took a deep breath. "Where's Humperdink?" She then asked.

Remmy's face clouded with confusion. "Humperdink? Now that you mention it.... I don't see him anywhere." He looked around as if to confirm his words. "No, he's not here. That's weird... no way he couldn't have noticed that."

"No, there's no way." Ri's brow furrowed in worry. Not him, too....?

She set off for Humperdink's obnoxiously decorated wagon at a run. Humperdink, you fat, pompous ape! You'd better be okay!

The wagon lights were on. Ri was about to burst through the door, when she saw one shadow, then another, move behind the curtains over the little window set in the door.

If Humperdink was inside, then he was not alone.

Ri crouched low to the ground and crept around to a window. Fortunately, Humperdink had left his curtains raised, so she could get a clear view of everything going on inside. And hear, if only very faintly.

There were two men, both of them looming over Humperdink, who was glaring at them defiantly. The taller of the two had a mustache and a bowler hat; the shorter had outrageously bushy eyebrows and a cane. They made for what would have been a comical contrast, were it not for the words coming out of the mustached one's mouth.

"All right, Humperdink," Ri could hear faintly through the glass. "We've told you our terms. Now we want a response, and we want it now."

"And I've told you countless times before! The answer is still no!"

Mustache Man's invisible lips curled up in an ugly grin. "Oh, really. Well, then, maybe you won't be so quick to refuse, when...."

His voice dropped, but Ri had a fair idea of what he was saying from how his mustache bobbed, and Humperdink's face paled.

"When we've got the boy."

"Alex?" Humperdink asked hoarsely.

"Is that his name?" Bushy Brows spoke up. "Not that it'll matter if you keep on refusing us. Because then he won't need it anymore."

"Y-you wouldn't."

"Try us."

Humperdink swayed, then sat down heavily in a chair opposite the window. His eyes were wide and unseeing, his face a ghastly shade of grey.

There was a long silence as both men watched him, and Humperdink did not even so much as blink. Finally, Ri saw his lips move:

"I'll.... I'll think about it." He swallowed. "Come back tomorrow evening.... I'll have the anwer by then."

"...Very well." The two men turned to leave, with Mustache tossing back over his shoulder, "Make your answer a wise one, Humperdink. For Alex's sake."

They strode out the door. Ri sank lower to the ground as they left, her foot moving forward as she planned to go to Humperdink as soon as the two were far, far away.

Then a twig beneath her sole snapped in two, the sound splitting the air like a gunshot.

As Ri gasped and shot back, the men whirled around.

"We heard that!" Bushy Brows called. "Come out, whoever you are!"

Of course, Ri refused.

They approached her hiding place, and she began to run.... But Mustache had longer legs than she'd thought, and before long his hand had her arm in an iron grip.

"What should we do with her, Bernard?" He asked of Bushy Brows. "From the look on her face, I'd wager she heard everything."

"I know. We'll make her forget."

He raised his cane, and Ri's hands flew up, but it was already too late.

when Lydia had been waked by two things; her head hurting and a silent crying, more the latter than the first. She cursed herself for the abillity to wake when a kid was sad
"alex...?"
she slowly sat up and soaked in her sorroundings, finding that she weren't where she was supposed, nor was she properly clothed
"I'll be damned, daring to kidnap me, WITHOUT cover me up with more than a towel, who do they think they are?!"
Then she rememered the reason she woke
"Who's there, is it you alex?" she called out in german
A small voiced answered her from the corner of the room she and alex shared, and she whet over to him, while she made sure the towel was secured. the she sat on her knees in front of him
"are you alright? who did this?"
She stroke his hair caringly as he spoke
"so some men took us...? well at least your not hurt, and somehow thanks to them, neither am I... Don't worry alex, I'm sure the others will come to our rescue, we will be alright"
but as he slowly smiled and falled asleep she put her hurting head to the wall, slowly and faintly added:
"I hope..."

"What on earth was Yuki talking about, a poor girl out here, unconscious. Hmm... he said this way..." Gin made a sharp left turn and sure enough, she found just what Yuki had described to her. "That... looks like Ri."

Gin walked up and knelt down beside the young woman and played with her hair for a moment. "She's out cold alright, I wonder what happened to her."

She stared at the expressionless face with a great deal of interest. Sitting down beside Ri's body, she pulled out her sketchpad and pencil, she sketched the young woman's features in great detail, tilting and turning her head to capture her image from as many angels as possible.

"Little girl, I didn't realize until now, but you'd make a beautiful member of family. You're definitely meant to be a sleeper, you're so elegant just like this." Gin whispered to her unconscious companion. "I think that you'll be the last person that I claim from this circus."

Gin stood back up and put her pad and pencil away, she dusted off her pants and started to walk away, leaving Ri right where she found her. About yen paces away, she stopped, and looked back over her shoulder.

"Hmm... maybe I'll take her with me, so that I can study her a bit more." with that whispered thought, she turned around and picked Ri up off of the ground. Gin propped Ri up on her hip, as if she were a toddler, and walked back towards the animals tent, mumbling little thoughts all the way.


When she reached the tent, she gave the girl that stayed to keep watch an evil glare. "Beat it!" she shouted, and watched at the girl squeaked and ran from the tent. Once she was gone, Gin unlocked Tina's cage and placed Ri inside. The tiger licked her own lips hungrily at she sniffed Ri.

"No no Tina, that girl isn't your meal, let her be. I'll be coming with your food in a minute." Gin smiled, tapping the tiger on the nose a few times. Tina settled in the corner of the cage and waited patiently, though she continued to eyeball Ri.

Gin slowly went around the large tent, feeding all the animals, petting them, and starting light conversations with them, apologizing for her absence, assuring that she was missed by all of them, and promising a relaxing grooming session later on.

When she was all done feeding the others, she picked up one last large bowl of food and climbed inside the cage with Tina and the still unconscious Ri. She locked them all into the cage before setting the food down in front of Tina, who purred in appreciation before eating her meal.

Gin sat beside Ri and took another close look at her, pad and pencil out once again. She sketched Ri's hands in various poses, circling the ones she found most attractive. She removed Ri's shoes and sketched her feet as well.

"Nice... quite nice..." Gin pulled out a measuring tape from her left pocket and started to jot down the different measurements she took from head to toe. Everything from the circumference of her head to the widths of all of her joints, including her knuckles.

"This is a rare and exciting opportunity, wouldn't you agree... Yuki?" her tone was bitter and cold as she looked over into the dark corner of the tent where Yuki stood.

"Indeed Mistress..." Her cloaked accomplish stepped forward and desperately tried to catch Gin's eye, his smooth, flawless face holding a panicked expression. "Mistress" he whispered.

"I'm aware Yuki." Gin whispered back, low enough so that only Yuki could hear.

"Yes a rare opportunity indeed. So rarely do I get the chance..." She spoke up loudly. "To see you face to face sister."

"You've been following me since I picked this girl up from the ground and carried her here... you didn't think you were hiding, did you?" There was a small scoff of anger from just outside the tent, Gin smiled wickedly.

A woman stepped into the tent, smoking a cigarette, her silky shoulder-length ringlets of hair were a vibrant blood red color. Her face would have been gorgeous to behold if it weren't so twisted with the ugly, enraged expression she wore. But as twisted as her face was, it was easy to see that this woman's features looked just like Gin's, only older. She was taller than Gin, and even though she hide herself behind a very masculine-looking suit, you could tell that her body was more curvaceous and mature than Gin's.

"Hi Kin." Gin greeted, not even bothering to look up at her older sister, she continued to sketch. "And please put that out, I don't want my little darlings inhaling that awful smoke" Gin flipped to a blank page of her sketchpad and continued to draw. "You're always such an inconsiderate hag." She added, just loud enough to ensure that Kin heard her.

Kin walked up to the cage quickly and tried to shove Yuki aside, but he wouldn't allow it.

"Let her through Yuki." Gin ordered, and after a small moment of hesitation, he obeyed.

With another angry scoff, Kin removing the cigarette from her mouth, rather than dropping it to the ground and stepping on it, she put it out right on Gin's shoulder... Gin, as if a statue, didn't budge, didn't flinch, didn't utter a sound, she didn't even blink.

"Are you happy now... you wretched little brat." Kin asked, her frowning when she saw no expressions on pain from Gin.

"Quite, thank you, sister." Gin replied, finally looking into Kin's cold, yellow-gold eyes with her own silver eye. There was a dead silence in the tent as they stared at one another, Gin's increasingly devious smile meeting Kin's increasingly murderous scowl.

"Ugh...."

With a groan, she tried to open her eyes, but it felt like they had been turned into lead weights. "My head... my head is killing me!"

Trying to raise herself up on her elbows, she finally managed to open her eyes, scrubbing one hand across them as she did so. Then she gasped.

She was in a cage! With a tiger! It looked hungry!

Squealing, she made to crabwalk as fast as she was able towards the end of the cage opposite from the tiger- then stopped as she abruptly crashed into someone. Her already throbbing head was thrown into a cacophony of banging drums, hammers, drills, all things that were loud and painful in the world.

She moaned, sucking in deep breaths and closing her eyes until the chaos in her head faded down. Then, she turned to the person she'd collided with and attempted to apologize. "I-I'm sorry...."

Sudden realization came to her.

"Excuse me, but, do you know where we are? Why I'm here? Did they lock you in too?"

She felt a sensation like spiders crawling up and down her spine. And then, she saw the red-haired woman, glaring at her as if she wished to run a blade through her heart.

She jumped to the nearest conclusion possible. "Did she lock us in?" She whispered in fright, imagining becoming the hungry tiger's next meal. It was not a pleasant prospect.

“Ah, you’re finally awake are you?” Gin asked, her voice ever so sweet. She closed her sketchpad and set it aside before patting Ri’s head in a very gentle manner, seeming indifferent to her confused and frightened state.

“We’re here at the Circus, my dear. This is the tent I share with the animals.” She waved her hand around, directing Ri’s attention to all the animals, then stopping to rest her gaze on the evil looking red-headed woman. “Who, her?” Gin scoffed. “She is nothing to fear. I was the one to lock us in this cage.”

Gin shifted around a bit, and let Ri rest her aching head on her lap before continuing on, completely ignoring Kin’s dark presence outside the cage. “You see, I found you laying unconscious outside, so I brought you back here… inside this cage with Tina and I, you are as safe as one could be.”

Tina made a low purr of agreement.

“Who on this earth could be safe with a twisted monster like you?” Kin spoke up, having had enough of being ignored. “You on the foulest, sickest freak to ever exist, to do all that you do and look upon yourself as some kind of…”

“I am an artist, reviving the rare and beautiful craft created by our ancestors, it’s the family tradition, as old as time, that landmarks history, the very progression of mankind!” Gin preached adamantly. “We were blessed, born to bear the names of Silver and Gold, and to continue the legacy. You’re a fool to forsake this honor and glory that awaits you for living up to your name.”

“You’re the fool! You, blindly following the ways of ancestors instead of living your own life. There is no honor and glory awaiting you! Our ancestors were psychopaths, and so are you, you have no mind of your own!” Kin roared. “We can end this sick ‘tradition’ if you just stop this!”

“Never. Either you help me make the history, or you will become the history, the choice is yours Kin. I’ve made my choice, and I’m living my life exactly how I want to.” Gin stated clearly, shaking her head at his sister’s inability to cooperate, to understand the beauty and importance of their destiny. “But I guess we’ve both made it very clear where we stand. Be gone from my sight, traitor… I’ll deal with you when the time comes, so enjoy your worthless life until then.”

With that, Gin waved her hand dismissively and was about to turn her back, but Kin, outraged, reached through the bars of the cage and wrapped her hands tightly around Gin’s neck, trying to strangle her. Gin’s held both her hands up, signaling to both Yuki and the tiger that they need not intervene.

“You mindless wench, I’ll put and end to this!! I’ll kill you!!” Kin yelled, squeezing tighter. Gin’s face was turning a shade of purple, but her smile never vanished. “I’ll kill you if I have too, so just stop Gin, it’s not too late to stop this!!”

“But it is too late…” Yuki hissed from a dark corner of the tent.

Gin used her left hand and pulled her hair back to uncover the left side of her face, still making sure that Ri couldn’t see. There was patch of gauze taped over her eye, she ripped the gauze off and Kin screamed in terror, immediately releasing her grip on Gin’s neck. It was a horrid, grotesque, sickening sight, so unreal, so unbearable that Kin quickly averted her gaze… she stood silently, stunned.

“Did you honestly think I would never find it? That I wouldn’t find it and use it?” Gin let her hair fall back down and gave a hearty, manic laugh. “You should be ashamed of yourself, trying to keep it from me.”

Kin’s tense body shook a little, thanks a wide range of emotions she was feeling right then, rage, fear, hopelessness, and the pure desire to kill…

“Don’t you know what that thing will do to you?”

“But of course, I know each and ever consequence, and it’s nothing I wouldn’t sacrifice for the power it grants me. Now… I suggest you leave before you see firsthand what it’s capable of.” Gin smiled widely.

“This isn’t over Gin.” Kin said in disgust, before running out of the tent.

“I’m sure it isn’t my sister… I’m sure.” Gin whispered to herself, before turning and directing her attention to Ri. “How are you my dear, does your head feel better?”

She had tumbled off of Gin's lap when Kin had tried to strangle her sister. Now, still lying on the floor, she slowly put a hand to her head.

"No.... No. It still hurts. A lot." Squeezing her eyes shut from the constant, drumming ache, she nonetheless struggled to raise herself up from the floor. After a few tries, she finally managed it and ended up half-sitting, half-slouching, her hand pressed tight against her forehead. "Oh my gosh, it.... It's not stopping." Two single tears leaked out from the corners of both eyes, backing up her words. "Why does it hurt so much?" Her head fell forward as if she had lost the strength to hold it up. Haltingly, she whispered, "You... said you found me unconscious. Right, Gin? That's your name, isn't it? That.... that horrible woman called you that...."

She was silent for a while, her face hidden behind a veil of braids. Finally, she softly spoke. "You know what, I... I don't know my own...."

She looked up as she talked, her voice abruptly trailing away. Her eyes squinted as if to puzzle out what she was seeing.... Was her head-ache making her hallucinate? If she didn't know better, she would almost think that she saw rays of brilliant, blue-white light radiating out from between the strands of Gin's hair that had fallen back over her left eye. It seemed as if someone had stuck a powerful flashlight bulb in the artist's eye-socket.... She closed her eyes, both to block out the bright beams that were certainly not helping her pounding skull, and to try to convince herself that the light was really all in her head. If I can't see it, it's not there, right? She asked herself almost hypothetically. "A-anyway.... my name.... I don't know what it is. I mean, I must have a name, right? But I can't remember it.... It's like trying to see through a wall, or something."

Hesitantly, she peeped out at Gin through her eyelashes. "You wouldn't happen to know who I--AAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHH!!!!!"

She broke off with a blood-curdling scream that pierced the air like a gunshot, throwing herself back down on the cage floor. She squeezed her eyes shut, desperately turning her face away from the woman sitting there.... But not even that act could erase the all-too-recent memory of what she had just seen. Whimpering like a kicked puppy, she drew her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them tightly, trembling like one with the ague.

For as she had looked up at Gin, a sudden gust of wind had blown open the tent flap and flurried the concealing strands of hair away from the artist's left eye, completely unveiling the truth of what lay in its socket.