"Ugh, not again!" Luz cried. She ducked behind a stall as some people walked by, but that didn't stop them from giving her some odd lucks as they walked by. She had... 'borrowed' (oh, who was she kidding, she DEFINITELY stole it) a cloak to hide her torn clothes, but, weirdly enough, no one else was wearing a cloak, so if anything, she was standing out even more. Everyone else was wearing muted brown and mostly plain clothes, like some bad medieval era show.

Luz stared at them, and the nearly completely wooden town around them. They ogled at her right back, and Luz ducked back into the empty stall, where she had suddenly and violently woken up, nearly causing her a heart attack as she wondered just where she was. It wasn't at home, in bed, definitely, but somewhere new and unnerving and, if she was going to be completely honest, kind of boring, at least compared to the demon realm.

But still, it wasn't home, so whatever. "So I'm not in the human realm," Luz mused to herself. "And I'm not in the demon realm... and I DEFINITELY didn't go through any doors, so where am I?!"

No one answered. At least it wasn't completely new territory. Luz knew she had ended up in some sort of market, just like in the demon realm. However, due the utter horror of ended up in a completely new world, again, after everything that had happened... Luz just needed to sit down for a while.

Her mind kept going back and forth. If she had managed to navigate one alternate universe, she could navigate another. But after all of that? How was this fair?

Besides it just... it didn't make sense. How could this have happened anyway?

At first, Luz thought she would just sit there forever, feeling her disappointment and horror press in on her like a horrible weight, but also, that got boring quick. So soon, Luz was standing up despite the heaviness on her shoulders, and ignoring the stares she was getting from the people in the other stalls. Most of them were pretending to ignore her, but only half of them were doing a good job at it. Luz didn't look at them, stepping out into the market.

And then quickly stepping back into her stall. She wanted to try something first.

Sitting down again (now with a purpose), Luz took her pointer finger and sketched out a glyph she knew well. The plant glyph, and she hoped that it was innocuous enough not to get noticed. But when she slapped it, nothing happened.

Luz sighed. Not the demon realm then...although she never really suspected it was to begin with. But it also proved another thing: Luz was back at square one: no magic.

-

"Hello!" Luz said happily, smiling at the woman in the plain brown dress that passed her. The woman took one look at her strange cloak and frowned, turning away. Luz pretty much expected that, but it still hurt. She didn't really like the cloak either, but it was beginning to grown on her! Not that she had much choice, but still...

"Hi!" Luz called out, waving, and the man pushing the wheel barrel full of vegetables gave a very confused and small wave back. Luz smiled; he was nice.

"Hey the-oh," Luz started calling out to another person, a person wearing all black and pulling a bag behind him, but she quickly stopped herself when she saw that the bag he had was a body bag, and that everyone else was giving him a wide berth as he walked out of town. He gave her a withering glance as he passed back, making her regret calling out to him even more.

Luz didn't stop calling out to people after that, but she was a lot more careful with who she said 'hi' to.

-

After touring the town twice (it was really, really small), Luz got bored of that, and started interacting with some of the local kids she had seen before. They had never heard of hopscotch before, so she taught them some of it, and in return, they taught her their version. Luz didn't tell them, but her version was far more interesting than theirs, and the human version of hopscotch wasn't really that good, at least, not like the demon version.

During this time, one of the kids asked about her cloak. "What's with your clothes, miss? Do you travel with the circus?"

"Of course she doesn't travel with the circus," another one of the kids snapped while Luz mulled that over. "If she travelled with the circus, she'd be WITH the circus!"

"Where's the circus?" Luz had asked them. One of the kids waved a hand as if it was utterly unimportant.

"Just some thing," they told Luz. "It just left."

"Today?" Luz pressed. Circus' ALWAYS meant something in stories, and also this seemed to be the most important thing in this town.

"I don't know, they're just gone," another kid answered. If they thought her questions were odd, none of them said it on their faces.

"I saw them leave early this morning," the first kid, the one who originally asked Luz if she was part of the circus, said. "They said they move from town to town."

"So they're probably going to Ceedtown next," a different kid (Luz was starting to lose track of them) noted dully. "The town just down the road."

"Ah," Luz said, blinking. Was the kids' information being presented a little weirdly, or was she imagining it? Still, she didn't say anything more about it for the rest of their time together, instead enjoying playing hopscotch with them until they got bored of it, leaving one by one, until they were all gone. They asked if Luz was going to be there tomorrow, and Luz unfortunately had to say no.

She was going to find that circus and get out of here.

(...But who was she kidding? Stories like this never went that quickly, she was here for the long ride.)

-

When Luz came upon the next town, she almost thought she had got turned around somehow went back to the other town, whatever it was called. The towns didn't even announce their names, so this was either Ceedtown, or it wasn't. Luz wouldn't know.

However, she DID see the circus. Not that it was difficult or anything, it was half the size of the town, with a fence set up around half a dozen tents ranging from camping tents to tents bigger than every single building in the town and a lot of balloons. Luz could feel the excitement as she came upon it; the smell of half-decent (and cheap!) food, the sound of bleating animals and the screams and cheers of children, and all the big bright colours popping out of at her from so far away. Next to the sceptical, the town was virtually unnoticeable, and Luz didn't even look at it as she headed towards the tents.

Even the person at the entrance wearing bright makeup and silly clothes gave her cloak off looks as she approached.

"Three chachings, please," he said in a shrilly high voice that made her smile.

"Um, sorry, I left my money at home," Luz said, shrugging. She turned around, and started off before the person could say anything. She started off towards the town, but as soon as she was out of eyesight, she took a hard left, making a wide turn as she snuck around to the back.

Luz didn't have any of this world's money, but as Eda taught her, who needed money when you could just break in?

There was no one around, so Luz quickly scrambled up the fence, into the back of the circus. It looked empty right now, probably because everyone was up and running the show, but Luz doubted this place would be completely devoid of people.

She wished she had her invisibility spell right now, just in case.

Sneaking around, Luz ducked under the first tent she came across. Not the biggest or the most colourful, but undoubtably part of the circus. Luckily, it was devoid of people, and Luz could look around without fear. It seemed to be a storage of some sort, with metal poles for hanging things up or setting up tents, clothe, and buckets full of things like juggling balls and juggling pins.

There was also a small stack of papers resting on a table. Luz picked one up, and saw that it was an advertisement for... 'The Circus'. It didn't even have a name or anything it was just 'The Circus'. There weren't even special names for the acts, they were only named 'Tightrope Act' and 'Knifethrowing Act' and 'Unicorn Act'.

...Okay, that last one seemed pretty interesting, unlike the others. Luz studied it, reading the description. 'From the wild to weird to wonderful, Whiz Calica had got it all on display for you! Come gawk and guffaw at all the creatures you never could have imagined at the North corner of the circus, in the big tent with the blue and silver stripes!'

Luz hummed, and tucked the advertisement in her pocket, for later. She started to leave... but before she did, she spotted a pile of stage clothes by the wall.

Okay, breaking and entering into a circus was one thing, but stealing was another. Luz wasn't the type...

Okay, she took the clothes, putting them on, because even though they were strange and stood out, they were at least clean and were better than the cloak. And hey! It was for a good cause!

Luz didn't feel too bad.

At least in this place, Luz didn't look two strange with all the other circus performers wandering around, and she made it to the described tent with minimal difficulty, other than getting lost. There were a million maps, though, so Luz didn't struggle too hard, and when she got there, she immediately consulted the advertisement, nodding to herself. This was it.

The show had, obviously, already started when she walked in, settling down in a seat near the entrance so no one noticed her.

Luz followed everyone else's gaze to the stage, where the main speaker held the audience's rapt attention. Even Luz found herself getting caught up in the excitement, despite not seeing any of the show yet.

The speaker, Whiz Calica, Luz assumed, was an aging lady, but despite the wrinkles on her face she was one heck of a presenter, with even Luz near the back being able to clearly see her lively expressions and her bold actions.

"Well, Izzy's always a strange one, you know," Calica laughed, probably referring to something Luz hadn't been in time to hear. "Izzy the Dizzy, who doesn't love a good flyboy? But I'm afraid we must move on now, we're running out of time, unfortunately."

Calica nodded to someone just off stage behind her and before turning back to the audience, spreading her arms wide. "And now the favourite you didn't even know you had, please welcome our good friend: the magical Fox-Dog!"

The audience cheered wildly, and they must have seen something amazing before to have this level of excitement, because they were practically bouncing off the walls. Luz clapped, too, caught up in all the happiness, but she suddenly froze in horror at what she saw wheeled out: exactly what Calica had described, a mix between a fox and a dog with white fur and pink highlights... but it was in a cage. And chained.

Suddenly, the excitement around her felt like a dull roar, and Luz felt horror in the pit of her stomach. Even the demon realm wasn't this cruel (mostly)! How could people be cheering instead of booing? How could they be okay with this?

Without thinking, Luz stood up, still feeling the rush in her ears of this horrible revelation. She stared at the stage, feeling sickened to her stomach, unable to hear anything around her.

Well, for a minute or two at least. Then, the roar of the audience died down, and Luz was able to somewhat focus. To her horror, Calica was staring right at her, and smiling.

"It seems we have a volunteer," she announced, and Luz frowned. A volunteer for what? Calica laughed at her expression, seeming to take it for something else. "Well, don't be shy, my dear, come on up! It won't bite. I might, but don't worry, I'll keep my distance."

Luz stared at the announcer. How could she joke at a time like this? But the audience laughed with her, and Luz felt her face burn with indignation. How were they all so blind? Gathering her righteousness, Luz marched up to the stage, glaring at the announcer.

"What do you think you're doing?!" she cried at the lady. "You can't do this-!"

"Now, I may have... somewhat, already spoiled it," Calica continued on with a bashful smirk. Either she hadn't heard Luz, or she had completely ignored her. "But this creature has a very special quality. You see... well, you'll see. Go on, dear. Go open its cage."

Luz frowned, skeptical, but she glared at Calica, silently doing what she asked. She gave the creature inside a sympathetic look, and, to her surprise, the creature almost seemed to understand, its eyes widening in... something.

"Perfect, perfect," Calica purred, stepping closer. "Take it out now, girl, thank you. Over here."

Luz changed her face to a sheepish look, but otherwise did as the woman asked. The chains that connected all four of the creature's legs clinked together as Luz carefully lifted it out, setting it carefully on a pedestal. Leaning over slightly, Calica spoke lowly to the creature, so soft that Luz, standing right beside them, could barely hear.

"You know what to do," Calica told it, or something like that. And, then louder, to Luz, she smiled brightly, speaking louder. "Thank you, my girl. You can go back to your seat now."

Luz frowned, wanting to protest, but really, what could she do? With a sorry glance at the creature, Luz did as Calica said. Or, she tried to, at least.

Suddenly, Luz felt weightless, rising up in the air. She cried out, and the audience let out cries of amazement and awe. Luz stared at herself hovering above the ground for a few seconds, jaw dropped open, before she twisted around, back to the stage.

Calica had a huge grin on her face, waving a hand at Luz and speaking excitedly. But Luz barely heard her; she was staring at the creature. That's who was really doing this.

Despite herself, Luz felt herself beaming. This was magic.

There was magic in this world...