The child cried, and the mother immediately scolded Khael for his rude behavior, but he ignored her completely and walked away. Cade felt guilty and handed the plush toy to the sobbing child before quickly running after Khael.

“Captain!” Cade called out from behind.

Khael paused, glancing over his shoulder.

“What?” he replied flatly.

“That was… harsh. You didn’t have to scare the kid like that.”

“Weak Kid.”

“Huh?”

“If I were him, I’d have kicked me in the leg and snatched the plush back.”

Cade sighed, realizing that continuing the conversation would be useless. Khael would only listen to what he wanted to hear, no matter what.

Suddenly, Khael pointed ahead.

“Isn’t that a roller coaster?”

“Uhhhh…”

Cade stared at the structure. Steel tracks, sharp twists, and a blur of something moving at high speed along it.

“Yeah, that’s a roller coaster,” Cade answered.

“I thought those things were only in amusement parks…”

“That’s also true.”

Khael glanced at a large steel board to his right, covered in text. The bold red letters at the top read ‘Amusement Park’. He turned to Cade.

“Didn’t you say this was a fair?”

“I didn’t know! It looked like a fair from the outside!”

“…”

Khael walked down the narrow path between stalls. His eyes scanned the shops until something caught his attention. He stopped abruptly in front of a small, cramped shop tucked between two larger stands. The shop was barely bigger than a small room, with shelves stacked high with brightly colored boxes.

“Firecrackers,” Khael eyed the shelves with a strange kind of hunger.

Behind the counter stood a young man, wearing a faded baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. His face was partially obscured by the cap, but the tattoos on his arms were clearly visible as he adjusted a box of firecrackers.

“What’s the biggest boom you’ve got?” Khael asked, eyeing the shelves.

The boy glanced up at him.

“We’ve got a 7-inch comet tail—”

“Anything that’ll make the power grid crash? Bigger, the better.”

The boy hesitated. “We’ve got 8-inch—”

“Which one will make the cops show up?”

“Uhhhh, I might have a 10-inch jumbo shell—”

“I don't want it to reach the sky, I want it to reach the news.”

“What do you mean by that–”

Khael leaned in slightly. “I don’t need a pretty light show. I need a wake-up call for the city.”

“I don’t think I can help you with–”

“Forget fireworks. You got any explosives? Better if it it's a remote detonator–”

“Sorry about him.” Cade interrupted and looked at the young man with an apologetic expression. “Just give us a small one.”

The man’s face was still frozen in shock. He quickly grabbed a smaller cracker and handed it over. Khael took it silently, and without even a glance at the turned to leave. Cade quickly paid, hurrying to follow Khael out.

“What are you going to do with that, captain?” Cade asked, glancing at the small firecracker in Khael’s hand.

“Nothing.” He somehow managed to light the fuse. Cade’s eyes widened, but Khael didn’t react. He stood still, staring ahead as the fuse burned down.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Just as the firecracker was about to explode, he tossed it under a nearby stall. The firecracker exploded with a loud crack and sent a shockwave through the air. The owner of the stall jumped, almost knocking over his display. Around them, people yelled in shock, and some fled in fear. Khael walked away after glancing at the chaos.

Cade watched with his mouth hanging open a little. After shaking his head, he rushed to join Khael. Khael was already seated on a bench facing a water fountain, where he could hear the water gently splashing. Unlike the busy fairgrounds they had just left behind, the place felt empty and was quiet.

Cade sat next to Khael, and they didn’t speak for a while. Khael leaned back on the bench and closed his eyes like he was trying to nap. Cade just sat there staring at the water fountain. The park was quieter in this corner. The ground was made of gray bricks, and most of the crowd stayed near the rides and food stalls. Here, it was mostly empty except for a few people walking by.

Cade’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled out an old phone with buttons. It looked ancient compared to the usual smartphones. He pressed it to his ear without saying anything. Khael opened one eye and stared at him but didn’t say anything either. Cade listened for a bit and then said, “Okay.” He slid the phone back into his pocket and let out a sigh.

“Did your girlfriend dump you?” Khael asked flatly, eyes still half-closed.

“No. My sister just dumped more work on me.”

“What now?”

Cade leaned in closer to Khael and lowered his voice. “There’s going to be a black market auction tonight. It’s behind the circus. There’s a chance they will sell people.”

“Slaves? That’s still a thing?”

“Not the old kind,” Cade said. “It’s more modern. Human trafficking. People being sold for forced labor or worse.”

Khael raised an eyebrow. “So, you’re going to stop it? Save the day like some hero?”

Cade shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. You stop one, and ten more pop up somewhere else. This isn’t something you can just take down overnight.”

“Then why bother?”

“Only my sister knows.”

“Good luck with that.” Khael leaned back again.

Cade stared at him for a moment. Then he said, “Aren’t you coming, captain?”

“I can?”

“It’s not hard to get in if you stay with me.”

When the sun went down, the park came alive. Lights lit up every ride and stall. Crowds grew thicker, and the noise of laughter and chatter filled the air. The water fountain that was empty earlier was now surrounded by people taking pictures and videos. Cade led Khael toward the circus tent. It was huge and covered in bright colors that looked like they were pulled straight out of a cartoon.

They blended in the crowd, scanning their surroundings. Aside from the jesters performing tricks to draw more people, nothing seemed out of place—until they spotted a man wearing a mask that covered everything but the lower half of his face. The man quietly slipped away from the crowd and walked toward a grassy area.

From behind a corner, they watched as he approached a tall man dressed head-to-toe in black, complete with dark sunglasses. The masked man pulled out a small red slip of paper, holding it up for the guard to see. The guard gave it a quick look, then gestured for him to go inside without a word.

“Great,” Khael muttered. “Now we need masks and passes?”

Cade pulled out two masks from his jacket. He handed one to Khael.

“When did you get these?” Khael asked.

“Earlier,” Cade said, slipping his mask on.

“And what about the red thing?”

Cade pulled out a red card identical to the one the man had shown.

“Now where did you get this?”

“I stole it from someone's pocket.”

“You're good at this,”

“Heheh, am I?” Cade chuckled shyly.

They walked up to the guard and showed the red card. He barely looked at them before letting them through. Cade put it back into his pocket and entered through the dimly lit path ahead. The air smelled faintly of smoke and damp wood.

“That was easy,” Khael said, glancing around. “But don’t we look suspicious?”

“You haven’t seen anything yet, Captain.”

Cade pushed aside the hanging cloth that dimmed the light, revealing a large open space ahead. Rows of seats stretched upward in a tiered arrangement, all facing a wooden stage at the front. As they stepped inside, a few people turned their eyes at them. It didn’t take long for Khael to understand why they didn’t stand out—there were plenty of individuals younger than him, barely older than fifteen, and even those around his age were dressed in clothes that looked far more worn and tattered.

As they moved to an empty row, the seated spectators continued to stare at them. Ignoring them, Khael fell onto the seat next to Cade, staying close behind him. They were positioned far from the stage in the upper section.

“Why are we here again?” Khael asked.

Cade didn’t look at him. “Just observing. My sister wanted me to. She thinks something important might happen here.”

“Sounds like fun—”

“WHEN DOES THIS START?”

Someone behind them suddenly shouted. Khael glanced back and saw a young boy sitting between two sturdy men. The boy's eyes fell on Khael, and despite the mask covering his face, it was clear that he was disgusted. Khael turned around back without thinking much about it.

He was more focused on the auction. It was something he’d only read about in books, and now he was witnessing one in real life. Illegal or not, he found it thrilling. He was enjoying every second, until something soft smacked the back of his head.

He turned around and saw a crumpled piece of paper on the ground. His eyes landed on the boy, who was clutching another sheet of paper.

“What’re you staring at? Wasn’t me,” the boy said with a sneer.

Khael narrowed his eyes but turned back. His attempts at ignoring the situation were short-lived. Another paper hit him, this time in the neck. He turned around again, glaring at the boy.

“You’ve got a problem?” The boy's tone annoyed Khael when he said it. He was about get up from his chair when Cade gave him a light pinch.

Khael exhaled sharply and turned back, forcing himself to let it go. He tried to recapture the earlier excitement, scanning the room for distractions. But before long, another crumpled paper hit him in the head, harder this time.

Veins started to pop on Khael’s head and arms. His hands shook as he gripped the armrest so hard that it left an indentation. Cade leaned closer and whispered, “Captain, please don’t do anything. Just ignore them.”

Khael closed his eyes and took deep breaths. It worked, barely. Then something hit him again—this time harder. It wasn’t paper. It bounced off his head and landed in his lap. A small shoe.

His blood boiled, and he shot up from the chair like a volcano about to erupt. Just as he was about to do something, the lights went out. A spotlight hit the stage, focusing on a masked man dressed in neat clothes.

“Ladies and gentlemen,”

Khael froze, looking back.

“Welcome to tonight’s exclusive auction, where only the bold dare to bid.”