*Cirque de la Lune*

Magic! Mysteries! Extraordinary feats and more!

Opens at eight. Big Top Shows start at half nine.

Fun for the whole family!

The poster was tacked firmly to a wooden pole, standing off of the large field where the circus had seemingly erupted from the ground overnight.

The tents were already all erect, blue and silver bunting fluttering in the wind. The Big Top itself was colossal in size and speared upwards in four peaked prongs of draped blue canvas.

"Told you so," Dean announced as he turned to face Viv with a triumphant expression.

"Seriously Dean," Viv muttered, "It's like you don't even want to find work."

Dean rolled his eyes but didn't bother arguing as he turned to leave.

"We're coming back after eight," Viv said quickly, glaring at him as if daring him to put up a fight. "We can sneak in round the back when no one's looking."

"We're too old for this shit," Dean shook his head.

"Shut up. I never got to go when we were younger. Mom said she'd take me for my twenty-first but then..." Viv trailed off, staring wistfully up at the eerily silent tents.

"Fine!" Dean exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation and finding himself smothered by Viv's gleeful embrace a moment later.

"Thank you, thank you! I promise you if anyone catches us I'll bat my eyelashes at them until they go away," Viv grinned mischeviously.

"And if it's a girl?" Dean quirked his eyebrow at her with a bemused expression.

"Same applies," Viv winked.

***

It was June, so it was still light out when the town clock struck eight pm. Dean chuckled as he heard squeals of excitement from the gaggles of children in the streets. There was a buzz of sparking anticipation in the air as the entire town's population seemed to gravitate towards the far field beyond the orchards.

"We should wait until it's dark," Viv had instructed. So they stayed sitting underneath an apple tree in the town square.

Viv attempted to braid her own hair, getting frustrated when it knotted and demanding Dean do it for her. He gave her a put upon sigh but did it all the same, it really did look awful when she tried to do it herself.

Eventually, the twilight dimmed to dusk and a pooling darkness began to gently envelope the town. Dean and Viv could already hear the soft notes of circus music trilling through the trees as they padded their way across the dry grass towards the illuminated cluster of tents.

"Can you smell the caramel?" Viv asked, squeezing Dean’s shoulder as her eyes lit up. "Oh my god it smells so good!"

"Smells expensive," Dean muttered, lifting himself up over a wooden farm fence and turning to help Viv. He rolled his eyes as she shooed him away and catapulted herself over with graceful ease.

They stood outside the main entrance to the circus a minute later, eyeing up the two burly men whose job it was to tear up used ticket stubs upon admission.

They were identical twins and every time one tore up someone's entry slip, the other would stop the patron a moment later and pretend to accuse them of not having a ticket. Farcical confusion would ensue, concluding in the two twins standing side by side, wearing matching satisfied grins.

It was apparently a joke that didn't get old, judging from the delighted laughter of the growing crowd.

"Do you think it's an illusion?" Viv asked sounding amazed.

"No Viv. I think they're twins. It's not that unusual. We had twins living down the street from us back in Wilmington."

Viv snorted and punched Dean hard in the arm, "Jeez Dean, lighten up won't you? You used to love the circus!"

"Yeah, when I was a kid," Dean replied.

When mom was alive.

Dean sighed guiltily and mustered up the most genuine smile he could manage before linking his arm with Viv's, "C'mon then - we're definitely not getting in this way."

They circled around the circus fence, staring up in awe at the gigantic domes filled with light and sound. Loud bursts of applause pouring out every time a flapped door was throw open.

"I can hear roaring! Do you think they've got lions in there?"

Dean shrugged back at his sister, "Perhaps. They probably feed them anyone caught trying to sneak in."

"Here," Viv hissed a moment later, pointing at a narrow gap in the wire fence, "We can get through that if you pull it back a little."

"You didn't tell me I needed to bring gloves," Dean muttered as he grabbed hold of the chicken wire and yanked it as hard as he could. The jagged metal sliced unforgivingly against his palm and he swore under his breath as he strained to curl a sheet of it back and round, opening the gap wider.

"That's enough," Viv announced quickly, tip toeing forwards and ducking her head through the hole, "Keep a look out for me."

She took a deep breath before squeezing through the fence, emerging triumphantly the other side with only a partially ripped skirt.

Dean followed suit after she nodded at him, swearing again as he received a nasty scratch on his arm that quickly drew a line of pinpricked blood.

"Stop whining, you got worse than that last week doing ranch work," Viv ordered, grabbing his arm to inspect the damage. Dean huffed and looked over towards the back of the tents, flinching when his eyes locked with wide green ones.

"Fuck – Viv," Dean hissed, grabbing hold of her shoulder. "There's a boy over there..." Dean trailed off as he looked up again at the now empty space where the brown haired boy had been standing, watching them.

"Who? Where?" Viv asked, craning her neck and looking around, "I don't see anyone."

"No...never mind, he's gone," Dean shook his head. The boy had looked like he was about sixteen and he'd had some kind of swirling painted design down one side of his face.

"He seemed like circus folk though, we should get moving in case he's gone to report us," Dean muttered.

Dean rolled his sleeve back down gingerly over his cut and took hold of Viv's hand. He dragged them both through a narrow space in between the tents and out into an open grassy area populated with tightly packed crowds.

"Woah," Viv breathed deeply, drawing them both to a halt and staring out at the scene that greeted them.

"Woah," Dean concurred, his heart catching in his chest as he gazed, mesmerized, across the sudden explosion of painted performers and twinkling fairy lights.

It was a dreamlike landscape of coloured swirling smoke, sweet-smelling popcorn, hot dog vendors and sequin clad girls twirling flaming batons up at the night sky. Dean followed the taut lines of the towering tents up to an inky ocean perforated with clusters of summer stars.

"It's a full moon tonight - look, it's right above the Big Top," Viv whispered, nudging his side. Dean followed his sister’s eye line and saw that the large pale disc was indeed nestled right above the tallest prong of the main tent. It was as if they had positioned it perfectly for Dean and Viv's viewpoint.

"Where do you want to go first?" Dean whispered back, not sure why he was keeping his voice so low and reverent when all the other circus goers were shouting and screaming in excitement right in front of them.

"How about we each pick three things?" Viv suggested, "There's a map over there on that board, let's go see what's on offer."

They studied the circus map for probably longer than was necessary, but it was a sight in itself, hand drawn with swirling calligraphy and miniature painted representations of the attractions.

"Tarot readings!" Viv exclaimed enthusiastically, "I've always wanted to know my future - please Dean?"

Dean snorted and rolled his eyes, "It's your money - if you want to throw it away I can't stop you."

"I'll earn it back," Viv smiled, a little woodenly as she squeezed his arm. Dean tensed and turned to focus hard on the map, calling out the first attraction name he saw, "Trapeze artists."

"Okay, we'll go see them first - there's a show that starts in ten minutes in the Big Top!" Viv grinned, "After that I want to go see -ooh look! It says there are lions - and wolves! It's in the same place as the trapeze artists."

"Fine. You get one more pick," Dean replied gruffly, although the idea of real live wolves did sound rather fun.

"What? No - lions and wolves counts as the same thing! I choose Inez’s Tarot Readings, Lola's Performing Animal Show and...The Clown Show."

"I don't like clowns," Dean interrupted immediately, "And neither do you, you've just chosen them because you know they wig me out."

"Don't be such a pill Dean," Viv laughed loudly, clapping him on the back, "Who doesn't like clowns?"

Dean huffed and jabbed his finger at the map, "Whatever, I want to see the archery show..."

"Ooh it's on horseback!" Viv interjected.

"And the contortionist," Dean finished.

"Fine, fine, come on, we have to get to the Big Top before the show starts!" Viv exclaimed, wrapping her surprisingly strong fingers around Dean’s wrist in a vice-like hold and charging through the milling crowds towards the imposing structure.