WonderLand

Inside the tent, bedlam reigned. The small back section, where props were stored and costume changes made, where the mad dashes between acts took place was crowded with too many people in costumes and masks of every shape, size and color. Every time I sneezed, feathers and sequins exploded into the air around me like a rainbow dust storm. I squeezed my way past the frantic bustle of the troupe preparing all their individual acts, searching for my mother amid the confusion. A tall, slender, dark haired man in a shabby black tux passed me, and I shot out an arm to grab his sleeve.

"Alexander, have you seen my Mom?" I asked our resident Magician.

"Our lovely Lady Fabela? No, not recently, anyways. I think she's out in the back with Len. Kitty's feeling a little antsy, so I hear." He said with a wink.

"'Kay, thanks," I said, turning to leave.

"And make sure you're back in time for your act. You better not be late for mine, either." He wagged a finger warningly at me.

"Whatever," I shot back with a grin, rolling my eyes. I turned away from him and, with some minor difficulty, navigated my way back out of the tent, into a small roped off section behind the lot we had set up in. Back here was where we set up camp- the place was littered with the banged up, gaudily painted trailers we lived in while on the road, a few extra trucks where more supplies were stored, and the cages for the few animals we had.

This, of course, was where Len, the "lion tamer", could be found before shows. Kitty, the big fur ball of a lion whose whiskered face grinned up from every poster our 24 hour man had slapped up around town, wasn't allowed in the tent during the pre-show rush, due to a certain acrobat's crippling fear of any animal bigger than a Jack Russel Terrier.

Even as I jogged up to where I knew Kitty's cage had been set up, I could hear his unhappy yowls, and figured Alexander's diagnoses of "antsy" was a bit of an understatement.

As I neared, I could see Kitty prowling back and forth in his cage, and two figures darting around beneath him.

"Mom, Len!" I called, and ran up to them. My mom turned, saw me, and shot me a slightly frazzled smile. Her glittery green costume and matching make-up was already on, but her usually glossy, perfectly arranged black hair was disheveled and coming loose from it's tight bun.

"Hey hun. How are things going backstage?" She asked me, brushing a curling strand of hair back from her forehead with the palm of her hand.

"Good. We'll be able to start the show on time. What's up with Kitty?" I asked, glancing up at the obviously distressed big cat. Len answered me, his young face crumpled in an angry frown.

"As best I can tell, some drunk snuck back here and broke a bottle by the cage. Kitty stepped on the glass- I think there's some stuck in his paw, but he wont let me near enough to him to get it out. I don't want to have to sedate him, but if he doesn't calm down, I won't have a choice." Len shook his blonde head angrily. "I really hate people."

"No you don't." I replied, patting Len on the arm. "Poor Kitty. You're the star of the show. You really should give Len a break and let him fix your foot." I told the cat, who I am pretty sure ignored me.

"What is it you wanted, love?" My mom asked me, tearing her eyes away from the world weary duo.

"My costume, the one for the magic act, where is it?" I asked her, remembering Alexander's warning about me making him late for our act.

"I don't know, I haven't seen it. It's probably in your trailer, on your bed like always." She answered, raising a slightly disapproving eyebrow.

"It's not, I already looked there!" I argued, pursing my lips the exact same way she did.
"Well, look again." She said firmly. "It was probably right under your nose in plain sight. People always miss the things that are most obvious."

"But-" I began, but she held up a hand, stopping me.

"I don't have time to ague, I'm already late as it is. Just go check. If it isn't there, just wear what you have on now, and I'll see if I can find it myself. Now go." She dismissed me with a finger pointed sternly at the green and gold dented trailer I shared with the trapeze artist Tora. I bite my lip and huffed, but knew from the look on my mom's face I wasn't going to win this argument.

"Alright, fine. I'll check again." I sighed, turning away.

"I love you," She called after me.

"Love you too," I replied automatically, without looking back.

Of course, it turned out she was right, as always. My costume was laying in a crumpled heap on my pull-out bed, sad and wrinkled, but thankfully in one piece and ready for showtime. Relieved, I grabbed it and ran back to the tent, painfully aware that I was already late, and I could hear the happy shouts and voices of the audience assembled inside the tent, waiting for their show to start.

I dashed through the slit opening into the back of the tent just as the lights began to dim, and a hush fell over the audience, out of sight. Inside, most everyone was ready, except for a few last minutes adjustments. I sat myself down in the dirt and began re-lacing my ballet-esque flats, the ends of which I had been dragging in the dirt all day. Tempest, the knife thrower, was sharpening her deadly blades with spine tingling precision, sending little sparks flying into the air. Armstrong the Strongman was tightening the ankle weights on his feet. And Alexander, of course, was busily stuffing countless playing cards up the arms of his sleeves.
Even as I watched him do so, he fumbled, his fingers slipped, and the entire deck exploded into the air, cascading down to earth like black and red rain. He muttered a curse and fell to the ground, gathering the faces up, and I crouched beside him with a grin and a helping hand.

"Isn't magic all about the slight of hand? If you can't even control your basic motor functions, I don't see how your going to-" I teased.

"Oh shut your trap." Alexander elbowed me in the side. "Or next time I saw you in half, I won't put you back together again."

"Oh hah hah." I snorted. He snatched a card out of my hand and glanced at it. Then, abruptly, he stuck it right in my partially open mouth, making me fall backwards in surprise and nearly choke.

"Is this your card?" He asked innocently, patted me on the head, and marched off, black cape a-whirl, towards the caged rabbits across the room.

I spat out the card, glaring at Alexander's back, then glanced down at it.

The Queen of Hearts.

"Alright everyone!" Came my mother's voice, loud and commanding. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at her, standing before the opening of the tent that led into the main ring, where the audience was waiting. "It's showtime! Let's make this one our best yet! These people deserve their money's worth!" She clapped her hands together, and beamed at all of us.

I crumpled the card in my hand and dropped it on the ground, rising to my feet.

"Tora, Ronin, you're up first. Wait for my cue. We're off!" She said, and then disappear in a whirl of color into the brightly lit spotlight beyond the thin drape that veiled us from the audience's hungry eyes.

♥ ♥ ♥

Tora and Ronin did their trapeze act without a hitch, and right when they dashed back under the flap into the back room, I high fived them as I passed them on my way out amid gales of cheers and applause. My own high wire act, always a crowd pleaser, sailed smoothly from start to finish. As I slipped back into the back of the tent, Len, leading a slightly limping but otherwise happy-as-a-clam Kitty, exchanged a quick fist bump with me, and a whispered "Good luck!"

Immediately I hopped over to Alexander's side and began peeling off my sequined leotard, replacing it with my "Beautiful Assistant" costume- a short, light blue dress, white knee high stockings, black pumps, a black ribbon to tie my hair out of my face- pretty modest, overall, but that's how it works when your parents run the show (instead, exploitation usually came in the form of chores).

The costume change only took about a minute, thanks to years of practice, leaving me plenty of time to help Alexander get the final tricks in place for our act. As he carefully tried to coerce a dove into his breast pocket, I unlatched the door to the rabbit hutch and pulled out one of the fat, white bunnies. I held him up in the air, his little pink nose twitching, and looked him sternly in the eye.

"Excuse me sir, but I believe someone is looking for you." I told the rabbit, very seriously. "A fellow in a white suit. He says you're dreadfully late. Now what do you think of that?"
The rabbit said nothing.

I sighed, and handed it to Alexander, who patted the little guy on the head, and stuck him in his hat.

"Maybe someday I'll train the rabbit to pull me out of the hat. That would be a much better trick, don't you think?" Alexander remarked, slipping an unopened deck of cards into his pocket.

"Just about anything is better than the rabbit in a hat trick." I told him, tying up my dark hair in a loose pony tail. "That's our cue, come on," I said, hearing the crowd suddenly burst into applause, and my mother's voice ring, amplified by her microphone, through the small tent.

An act rehearsed and performed a thousand times in a hundred cities in a dozen states looses it novelty after a while, at least for those actually performing it. We try to shake things up a bit every once in a while, to keep things fresh for us, but even so I barely even had to pay attention during the magic act, which was all card tricks and vanishing doves- fun and "magical" for someone who didn't know exactly how they were done.

Instead I cast my gaze up at the crowd, whose laughing, jeering awed faces seemed almost swollen with their disconcerting smiles and the warping, discolored lights. I saw all kinds of people in the audience- young and old, man and woman, every race and size and shape- but as hard as I looked, I couldn't find that strange man in the white suit. Where had he gone? And why had he been here in the first place?

It wasn't like me to fret over stuff like this, but I knew that you always had to keep an eye out for weird stuff. People like us, people who are always on the road, tend to attract trouble from townies, whether we mean to or not. So I did fret, just a little.

But then I was suddenly distracted by Alexander's hand in the small of my back, propelling me forwards. I stumbled and looked around, confused.

"Wake up, Alex!" Alexander's voice hissed in my ear. "It's time for the disappearing act- don't fall asleep on me yet!"

"Sorry, sorry!" I hissed back under my breath, and collected myself, trying to get my head back in the game.

"Don't apologize, just get ready!" Alexander breathed, flashing a fake but charming smile at the crowd. I frowned, but he was right. This act required perfect timing and attention- I couldn't afford to let my mind wander.

I slapped on a cheery, toothy grin for the audience, as the black Vanishing Box- a rectangular box made of wood, about six feet tall and just wide enough for me to stand inside comfortably- was wheeled out into the center of the ring.

Alexander began his little speech about how he was going to make me "vanish" off the face of the earth, as I, still beaming stupidly, opened the door of the Box, spun it around, stepped in and out, and generally pretended to prove there was nothing shifty about it at all.

The trick was simple enough. A fake bottom, a trap door, a secret compartment, perfect timing and some very impressive flexibility on my part made for a convincing vanishing act. But people like to be tricked, and if the thought ever crossed their minds, they pretended not to notice.

"And now, my lovely assistant will step inside the Box," Alexander's voice rang through the tent. He helped me unnecessarily inside the contraption as I waved to the crowd. Someone wolf whistled. "And I will shut the door, trapping her inside, with no way out!" Alexander closed the door, and I was immediately enveloped in near darkness. I stood motionless, slowly beginning my count, waiting for my cue, as my eyes adjusted to the dark.

The box slowly started spinning- it was almost time. I moved my foot slightly, getting ready to spring to latch-

And drew back in shock as my foot connected with something small and soft. I blinked in the darkness, peering down at the ground. Slowly, I began to be able to make out the shape.
It was the rabbit, the one from the hat trick earlier, crouching in a little white heap in the corner of the box. How had I not noticed it before?

I stopped down and scooped the rabbit up, petting his soft little head.

"How did you get in here, little guy?" I whispered, holding his quivering body close. "You must be scared. Who'd you get away from?"

"And now, on the count of three, I'll open the door, and reveal the truth about the Vanishing Box!"

I froze. That was Alexander- I had missed my cue. There wasn't any time now to hide, the act was ruined, I'd have to fake it-

Just then, the floor disappeared.

I didn't even have time to scream, all I could do was clutch the rabbit to my chest and stare up high above me as the door of the Box was pulled open, creating a square of light no bigger than a postage stamp by now and shrinking rapidly, as I fell into blackness.