• DON'T READ CHAPTER TWO UNTIL YOU'VE READ THE PROLOGUE AND CHAPTER ONE!!!! OTHERWISE YOUR BRAIN MIGHT AND PROBABLY WILL EXPLODE FROM CONFUSION!!!! (I think)

    They didn't come after me, nor did they show up for the next three days. However, on the night of the third day, I was reminded of the reason I'd always wanted to run away. Although my car worked perfectly when I arrived home, I'd forgotten that I needed new tires. On my way home, I hit a nail or something with my car on the highway. By the time I'd figured out how to change it and get home, it was 20 minutes past my curfew. My parents were furious. I'll spare you the gory details, but those of you who go to bed at night with bruises and sometimes even knife wounds, which are nothing compared to how you feel on the inside, know exactly how I felt. That was just what happens when I only break a minor rule. I laid in my bed, tears streaming down my cheeks. Why did I have to be so helpless? There'd never been a solution, and never would be. I thought back to every other night like this, and I realized that this time, I could go somewhere. Living with some psychic weirdoes would be much better than this. As I thought about it, I figured out that there was no way I could get away. They were always all over my case, keeping me in their evil sight. I couldn't leave. Never.
    "Yes, you can," a tall man appeared in my doorway. I knew by now to be quiet when something weird like that happened. His dark eyes stared at me, processing my expression. "I'm Esprit. I can teleport you out of here. We can leave the details to the others." I stared at him, my mouth hanging open silently.
    "I don't know," I replied. How did he get such perfect timing? I remembered Cecil. "Where's Cecil?" I whispered. I remembered that my parents might still be awake. His eyes wandered to the window in my room.
    "The tree across the street," he smiled and held out his hand, much in the manner Dawn had in the dream. "What do you say? We'll be nice." Unlike the chain man, his polite nature actually seemed real. He met my eyes, and I wondered if it really would be that bad. For a moment I stood there, staring at his warm eyes, Dawn's friendly nature, and the thought of actually getting to leave my tattered life. I remembered the chain man, which made me hesitate. He couldn't be as bad as my parents, could he? Maybe he was just in a bad mood. Anyways, I didn't have anything here. My few friends often forgot about me, going off to do their own thing, and my family wasn't really my preference, as you can probably tell. I sighed, and grabbed his hand. They were crazy, and I was probably making a mistake, but I could always come back if I really wanted to. Then, in a flash, we were in an office, where Oscar sat with Dawn, staring at a computer screen.
    "If we went to Venice?" He asked Dawn, and she closed her eyes and concentrated.
    "Not this time of year. Try next summer." She replied after opening her eyes. He typed something into a computer.
    "Okay, “He replied to her, and he swiveled around in his chair. "Hello Skylar, Esprit. Esprit, you may go get Cecil. He's probably waiting. Skylar, are you sure about all of this? Sure you'd like to join?" I glanced at Dawn, who was smiling brighter than ever. I nodded quietly. I couldn't turn back now. I couldn't break their hopes. "Would you like me to explain everything? I'll tell you everything about us before you agree completely, as long as you will promise not to tell a soul about what I'm about to tell you. Dawn, you can go upstairs for the moment. We won't need you for another quarter hour." Dawn sighed and left.
    "I promise." Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I silently prayed that these people weren't dangerous.
    "Okay. I’m going to try and explain, and you can just sit back, relax, and listen. We are the only circus that uses real psychics instead of faking the abilities with machines and special effects. All of our members have psychic abilities or extraordinary physical abilities, except for a few of our contortionists and acrobats, but they have excellent skills in their field. All together, there are twenty-three of us, and hopefully you. Because we have Esprit, we can teleport back to our mansion at the end of the show, instead of travelling to and staying in hotels and inns. You will have to get used to different sleep cycles, but after a year or two you get used to constant switching of hours. For example, right now it's seven in the morning here," he pulled open the curtains to let some sun shine into the room, “and it's eleven at night where you just came from in Dallas. Our mansion is a few miles away from a small town just out of Paris.
    "We also have a secret that is especially important to our constant success," He looked me straight in the eyes with a serious expression, “This is the part you mustn't tell a soul. You see, there aren't many psychics in the world, or at least very many that ever discover their abilities. Accordingly, there are even less willing to join our circus. So, we have to have a way to make sure we have plenty of psychics to put on a show. Even the ones that do agree to join will eventually age and die, and we only find a few every century. So, we found that if you use a special chemical called Eternus Juvenis in large quantities, you can live forever, never aging, never dying. It also boosts the immune system for a few days, so many doctors use it in small quantities to help perform what many people call "medical miracles" which often are, because of this chemical. It is illegal in America to use it in such quantities, as well as in England and many places in Europe, because it can cause side effects, though they really aren't any worse than using other prescribed medications. We've been very successful using it, though I must warn you; although it does make you never age or die, you can still be killed by outside forces or disease. You still must be careful when doing dangerous tasks," I stared at him. How could I believe this? Something in the back of my head was telling me it was true, and that he wasn't lying. I whipped around to see Cecil leaning against the doorway.
    "That's because he isn't," he said with amusement filling his face. "Think. I can read you mind, so why can't I live forever? Why can't we all live forever? Or, at least, live until something kills you. That can still happen."
    "So, if this chemical is real, how old are you all?" I asked.
    "I'm 482," Oscar replied, "Cecil is over 300, and our circus has been open since 1572, run by my brother and me. Our oldest psychics are Melody and Mathias, who are twins, and 456. We can't prove it to you; you'll have to trust us with this." These people had to be on drugs. I looked at Cecil. Poor kid, he was so young and had jacked up his life already.
    "We're not druggies!" Cecil yelled at me, furious. "You're just going to have to admit that we have psychic abilities!" Someone was agitated.
    "Cecil, calm down," Oscar said, attempting to soothe Cecil's irritation," You need some sleep Cecil. You spent all day in Dallas, so you should be going to bed. You can't stay up all day here too. Take some EJ and go lay down," Cecil frowned, apparently wanting to stay. Finally he groaned and plodded out the door and disappeared. Once Cecil had left, Oscar began to speak again. "He usually isn't this grumpy. He's just tired. Speaking of rest, you should probably get some as well. Right now most of us are sleeping through the day here, but once we come back to Europe for some performances in a couple of weeks, we'll be on a much more convenient schedule. Dawn should be back here in a minute, and she can show you where you will room. When you wake up, she'll show you around." As if right on time, Dawn showed up right outside of the office. I couldn't really decline his offer; I was very tired. They didn't seem like they would do anything to me while I was asleep.
    "Hey Skylar. I'm so glad you decided to join! You're going to have so much fun here. I'll show you our room." She took my wrist in a much lighter fashion than the man had a few days ago. When she led me out of the office room, I was amazed at the size of the house. The dining room seemed to be on my left, with large, round tables. We passed through a large, open area of the house that included a game room and a large TV with a comfy looking couch. I followed her up a double staircase that joined at the top to connect to the second floor. We turned into a hallway and went into the first door on the left. I didn't really see the rest of the upstairs, but I could tell that it was big as well. The door had peach pits hanging on strings, and it puzzled me as to why someone would use them as decor. The room was fairly neat, and two beds were lined up against opposite walls. The room wasn't very big, but it was a comfortable size and wasn't too small either. She pointed to the bed on the left.
    "That's your bed," she said, and she looked at me, motioning for me to sleep in it. "Go on, it's not like it made out of nails," so I finally gave in and laid down. The next thing I knew, I was dreaming happily in the warm, soft covers.