Unfortunately, after making a swift appearance in the opening number, I had to just sit around and wait for my act to come around. It was pretty boring, and took enough time that I was hungry again, despite my friends’ generosity in sharing their own meals with me.

A smile of fondness found its way over my face.

“Ooh, look at that! A pretty smile on a pretty girl!” Irving flashed his own smile at me as he wandered over.

“Shove it, Irving.” I rolled my eyes at him.

Our resident ogre would flirt with anything with a pulse that was half attractive, and even though I was a little frumpy and boring for a mermaid, I was still pretty cute, feature-wise. That said, he practically worshiped the ground Serha walked on, and often bugged her, though he was a lot less lecherous with her than he was with me, for whatever reason. It wasn’t flattering, frankly, and annoyed the hell out of me.

“Oh, come on, I know that tail can unwind, and-”

Knowing he was going to be crude, I cut him off, picking idly at my fingernails, “You know I can trap someone in their mind with their worst fear, right?” I flicked my gaze back up to him, letting my eyes show my anger, but keeping my tone as mild as I could manage. “I wonder what yours is?”

There was a flash, and he turned into a spotted black and white cat. “Sorry, sorry. Forgive me?” He stared up at me with his big orange cat eyes.

Dammit, he knew I liked cats, and was using that against me. Stupid ogre knew me too well.

“Fine.” I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms.

“No trapping me with my worst fears. That’s for assholes only.” The cat version of Irving sat down on furry little haunches.

“And you’re not an asshole?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Assholes other than me, I mean. I’m just messing with you, anyways.” He raised a paw and licked it absentmindedly. From what I understood, ogres took on the habits and mannerisms of whatever form they took, meaning that if he saw a mouse while in cat form, he’d feel the urge to chase it.

“It’s not funny. I wouldn't sleep with you if you were the last male in the entire world.” I told him. This was the honest truth. He might be pretty, or put on a pretty face, but he was an idiot, in the end.

Another flash and his smarmy, handsome face was back. He flicked his auburn bangs out of his mischievous blue eyes. “Well, I can take a female shape if-”

I rolled my eyes and cut him off again, “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Just thought I’d offer.” he shrugged, flashing a wicked smile at me. “You never know!”

“You have a special place in my heart, but you’re still an asshole.” That was the truth. We’d known each other too long for me to dislike him earnestly. He’d been there about twenty-five years so far. I’d been a little too young for him to flirt with me when he’d first gotten there, but once I was old enough, it had never stopped.

As much as Irving annoyed me, I knew that none of us wanted to be here, not even him, even if he did like attention. Sometimes those of us fey folk who were in the circus against our will got into arguments or disagreements, but again, we all knew it was better for us to stick together and keep an eye on each other. It was the best way for us to survive.

“Eh, I know. I don’t try to pretend otherwise.” he shrugged.

“At least there’s that.” I sighed.

He might be an idiot, but he was our idiot.

“You’re on, Irving!” Someone called.

The ogre flashed another smartass smile at me as he leaned close to me, murmuring, “How about a kiss for luck?”

I rolled my eyes, “How about I shove my fins up your a-”

“Nevermind!” he cut me off with a bark of laughter. There was another flash of light as he took the shape of a bluebird, and darted away to take his place in the center ring.

“Idiot.” I muttered, shaking my head.

It was my turn to perform after Irving, but given the ogre could do a lot, changing from form to form, his act was decently long.

I stared out a gap in the side of the tent, which wasn’t far away from me.

As I stared, a figure took shape in the darkness, and I saw a pair of eyes reflecting the lights from the tent back at me. I blinked for a moment, trying to discern what was peering in at me. Finally, I realized it was a young faun. He stared at me in wide-eyed awe. With the light behind me, I probably looked interesting, at the very least, with the rhinestones and fake gems sparkling and glittering. Even though the colors were garish, I probably looked quite a sight, especially to a little kid.

Fear for the little boy filled me, and I looked around quickly. More than one of us fey captives that were now in our ranks were ones that had felt our magic and had been drawn to it out of curiosity. They’d thought Bellows, as a dwarf, would be decent, which was generally the rule. Oh how wrong they were.

“Don’t sit here and watch!” I hissed quietly to the little faun. “It’s not safe! If you get caught, you’ll be stuck here like us, and your parents won’t see you again!”

The kid blinked, “What?”

“You have to go! Tell all the other fey in the area to stay away from here! A good many of us fey folk in this circus are captives!” I wiggled my tail at the kid, showing him the metal band around my tail. “These keep us here, and can’t be taken off. Go! Hurry, before someone catches you!”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Able to see the runes on the band, alarm filled the young faun’s face, and he stumbled back. I lost sight of him in the darkness and sincerely hoped the little boy would escape without being noticed.

Maybe the kid would also spread the word in the area for all the fey folk to avoid the circus at all costs.

Granted, there were other fey that were actual employees, and not captives, like Meeks, but there weren’t as many, and all were as unpleasant and horrible as Meeks and Bellows were. There were quite a few humans that worked for the circus, though. They didn’t interact with us much, likely because of the inherent fear and wariness humans often had towards fey folk. It was understandable. It was one thing to go to a circus to see us in our exhibits or performing, but interacting with us on a daily level was another, they likely felt it would put them at risk of being enchanted. Bellows and Meeks encouraged that line of thought, not wanting them to talk to us, lest they sympathize with our plights.

I continued to stare out the gap in the tent for a long while, now watchful, lest I see any other free fey folk come to investigate the circus, so I could warn them away as well.

My stomach rumbled loudly again, and I sighed.

“You alright?” Rowan asked as he walked up.

“Yeah, just hungry. But I’ll be fine.” I shrugged. “It’s about time for me, isn’t it?”

“Yep.” the centaur nodded, turning and helping me haul myself up onto his back.

Just as I got settled, the fanfare that signaled the end of Irving’s act sounded.

“And I’m on.” I stretched my arms, and cracked my neck as the ogre, in the shape of a tiger, bounded into the backstage area, immediately taking his elf-like form again. Though he was clearly tired, he shot me a smartass smile and ran his gaze longingly up and down the entire length of me, “You could give them the show of their lives if you flashed ‘em.”

I bristled, “And you can go fu-”

The announcer’s loud voice cut me off, “AND NOW….THE SIREN QUEEN!”

Irving grinned widely and gave me the thumbs up, saying, “Knock ‘em dead, babe!”

Rolling my eyes, I flipped the lecherous ogre the bird as Rowan walked out from the backstage area, and carried me to the enormous tank of water.

I turned my rude hand gesture immediately into a wave, and pasted what I hoped was a brilliant, ‘I’m totally not starving and enslaved’ smile on my face as I looked out at the large crowd, which was cheering wildly.

Unlike my tank in the exhibit tent, this tank had a ramp that Rowan could easily walk up during performances.

The ring-master and announcer, a human man named Karl, was already on the platform area behind the actual tank, standing beside a large, gold-painted throne, which was where the first part of my act took place. Karl was a small man, not all that much bigger than Bellows himself. He had a large, luxurious black mustache that twisted up on the ends. He wore a large top hat and a fancy black suit as his costume for each performance.

As one of the human employees, and one of the very few that took part in the actual circus performances, I knew little about him, since he kept himself separate from us aside from said performances.

Rowan helped me get situated in the throne, then quickly retreated backstage. He’d go on later with the goblin clowns, who would do tricks on his back as he rode swiftly through the main ring, jumping over obstacles.

“YOU MUST BEWARE THE SONG OF THE SIREN QUEEN!” Karl’s announcement warned.

This was my cue to sing.

Channeling a little magic into my voice, I started to sing, motioning dramatically as I did. As stupid as I felt doing it, the crowd was immediately ensnared by the sound of my voice, and would only think it amazing.

With my song, I presented them with a rolling seascape all around us. I couldn't see it myself, of course, but I sort of knew what they should be seeing based on the story I sang in my wordless song.

Enormous waves crashed and swelled as a huge boat sailed along. As it drew near an outcropping of rocks, fog enshrouded the area, and my eerie song echoed through the mists.

The boat sailed ever closer to the rocks, which was actually the platform I was seated on. I turned towards where I guessed the vision of the boat was, and with my singing, made the boat crash upon the rocks, actually playing the part of a siren in that moment.

Some of the audience cried out in alarm as the boat began to sink. As the wooden hull sank swiftly below the waves, I brought the water up as well, as if everyone in the audience, who were the only ones currently being affected by my singing, were going down with the ship. That drew more shouts of alarm, but when everyone realized they were still breathing just fine, despite their eyes telling them they were underwater, the cries of confusion and fear died down.

Schools of brightly colored fishes swam by, as well as a whale, a group of squid, and then a bunch of sharks all chased them away. I knew good and well, as every merperson did, that sharks weren’t nearly as frightening as humans thought they were. But I was playing into the audience’s expectations here, and they expected sharks to be frightening.

After the sharks had swam around for a little while, having chased away all the prettier sea life, a group of merfolk swam up. Conjuring a picture of my family in my mind, I made sure that some of the merfolk were my family.

I couldn't see them the same way the audience could, given I wasn’t affected by my own magic, but I did get to see them as I imagined them for my song, which was nice. Every night that I performed, I made sure to put my parents and sister into my song. It helped me remember what they looked like, and being able to picture their faces was important to me. Not only did it make sure I’d never forget them, but it also reminded me of when I’d been free.

Maybe someday I’d be free again. One could hope.

The group of merfolk chased the sharks around for a little while with gleaming tridents of gold and silver, then drove them away. Then they swam through the water. I took the audience through a mer-city with buildings made of enormous shells, or glowing green spires of stone that looked a little bit like gigantic tendrils of seaweed.

The city was based on the one or two I’d ever been to. My family had been nomadic mer-folk. That meant we were often on the move in our shell-shaped home, which could be pulled along easily behind us as we traveled. Though we’d never lived in an actual city, I’d been through a couple, and had stared around in awe, drinking in every detail even as a young child, which was what let me recreate those details so skillfully now.

I took the audience out of the city, and towards the black maw of a cave, as the singing portion of my act drew to a close.

We would soon move on to the more difficult part, the swimming portion of my performance.

The lights in the tent were slowly extinguished in the real world as I took the audience deeper and deeper into the depth of the sea-cave. I let the lights of creepy, glowing fish flicker around, drawing gasps of surprise from the audience.

Once all the lights were out, I brought my song to a close, and the audience returned to reality, only to find that the world was entirely dark around them still.

Conversation hummed around the room as the crowd undoubtedly wondered what would happen next, but Karl’s voice silenced them all as he announced, “AND NOW…THE RING OF FIRE!” As he spoke, one of several large rings that had been lowered above the middle of the tank burst aflame, lit by a passing firebug that was right on cue.

The audience burst into cheers. The lights were raised so they could see me waving and motioning for them to cheer more.

After a few moments of encouraging the crowd, I slid out of my seat, and slipped down into the water.

Karl let me warm up for a little while by darting back and forth across the large, magically reinforced glass tank.

As much as I hated performing in front of a crowd, I really did like being able to swim so fast, as the tank was big enough for me to go full speed, since the tricks I would do required a fairly high amount of speed.

I signaled to Karl that I was sufficiently warmed up, and the musicians began to play a tense music that rose as I started to swim very fast, building up speed for my first trick.