Chapter 68 deadlock

Montreal, August 1902 After the illusionist bowed, she disappeared before the eyes of her ecstatic audience, who clapped their hands high-five into the empty air.They rose from their seats, some chattering with their companions, either marveling at the trick or at the reappearance of a door in the side of the striped tent as they left. There was a man sitting on the outer ring of the chair, lingering on the seat as everyone left.His eyes, almost entirely hidden in the shadow cast by the bowler hat, were fixed on the space in the center of the circle where the mesmer had occupied not so long ago.

The rest of the audience left. The man continued to sit. After a few minutes, the door disappeared into the wall of the tent and disappeared again. The man's gaze was unwavering, not even a glance towards the disappearing door. A moment later, Celia.Bowen was sitting in the circle of chairs across from him, still in show attire, with a black dress overlaid with delicate white lace. You usually sit in the back.she says. I want to see more clearly.Marco said. You've come a long way. I had to take a vacation. Celia looked down at her hands. You didn't expect me to come all the way, did you?Marco asked.

No, I didn't expect that. You take the whole circus on the road, and it's hard to hide, you know. I didn't try to hide on purpose. Yes, Marco said: At Mr. Dyson's funeral, I wanted to talk to you, but before I found you, you left first, and then took the circus away and flew away. You made it clear that you were hiding from me . Not intentionally, Celia said: I need a moment to think, thank you for the pool of tears. I wish there was a place where you could cry in peace if I couldn't be by your side. She closed her eyes and didn't answer. You stole my brochure.Marco said after a moment.

sorry.she says. As long as it's in a safe place, it doesn't matter if it stays in my hands or you keep it.You could have said it was okay, you could have said goodbye in person. Celia nodded. I know.she says. For a while neither of them spoke. I'm trying to increase the independence of the circus, Celia said: untie it from the constraints of this challenge, out of us, out of me.I need to learn your system to get it working.I couldn't let a place that meant so much to so many people wither and crumble, a combination of wonder and comfort and mystery that they couldn't find with a lantern.If you had something like that, wouldn't you want to keep it?

As long as I am with you, I have those feelings, Marco said: Let me help you. I don't need your help. You can't do it alone. I have Aiden.Barris and Leni.Burgess, Celia said: They agreed to take over management of basic operations.With a little more practice, Poppy and Wedge can handle a level of control that Aiden and Leni can't handle.I don't need you. She couldn't look him in the eye. You don't trust me.He said. Isobe believed you back then, Celia stared at the ground and said: Chandrash too.I'm the one you have the most reason to deceive, and you've been dishonest to them, how can I trust you to be honest with me?

I never told Isobe that I loved her, Marco said: I was young and lonely at the time.I shouldn't have let her mistakenly think that I had such strong feelings for her, but the feelings I had for her back then couldn't be compared with the feelings I had for you.This is not a strategy to deceive you, do you think I would be so cruel? Celia got up from the chair. Good night, Mr. Alistair.she says. Celia, wait.Marco stood up, but didn't move closer to her.You break my heart so much.You told me once that I'd remind you of your father, and that you never wanted to suffer for a man like your mother did, but you're doing that to me.You keep leaving my side.When I would have given everything to keep you by my side, you left me again and again, leaving me wanting so much that it almost destroyed me.

One of us must be destroyed first.Celia said quietly. What?Marco said. The one who survives is the winner, she said: the winner lives and the loser dies, that's how the game ends. Na Marco shook his head and said: That can't be the intention of this game. That is, Celia said: This is a test of endurance, not skill.I intend to make the circus self-sufficient, before She couldn't say the words, and she could barely look him in the eye. You're going to do what your father did, Marco said: You want to pre-exit yourself. Not really, she said: I think I have always been more like my mother, like a mother, like a daughter.

No, Marco said: You don't mean that. That's the only way to end this race. Then let's keep playing. I can't help it, she said: I can't keep going.Every night it gets harder and harder and I have to let you win. What I want is not to win, Marco said: What I want is you.Seriously, Celia, don't you get it? Celia was silent, but tears began to roll down her cheeks.She didn't wipe them away. How can you think I don't love you?Mark asked: Celia, you are my everything.I don't know who is trying to convince you to reverse this fact.But you gotta trust me, please.

She just looked at him with teary eyes, looking into his eyes for the first time. This is when I first knew I was in love with you.He said. They stood on one side of a small circular room, painted a rich blue and dotted with stars, and above which hung glittering chandeliers on ledges of jewel-coloured cushions surrounding a pool. I was fascinated the moment I saw you for the first time, Marco said: But I didn't know until then.The room around them transformed again, expanding into an empty ballroom with moonlight streaming in from the windows. I just found out at this time.Celia said, her whispers echoing softly in the room.

Ma Ke moved to close the distance between the two, first kissed her tears away, and then pressed her red lips. The campfire was brighter as he kissed her.As the stuntman spins, the light is perfectly reflected.The whole circus is glittering, making every customer dazzled. When Celia pulled away hesitantly, the flawless union stopped suddenly. Sorry.she says. please.He said, refusing to let her go, his fingers gripping the lace of her gown.Please don't leave me. Too late, she said: when I arrived in London and turned your notebook into a pigeon, it was too late; too many people were involved.Our individual actions have an impact on everyone here, on customers who walk through those gates, by hundreds if not thousands.We are like flies in a spider's web, and that web was spun when I was six years old.I am now almost completely immobilized for fear of losing someone else.She looked up at him, raising her hand to stroke his cheek.

can you do something for meshe asked. Anything goes.Marco said. Don't come back.she said quietly. Before Marco could protest, she disappeared, as simple and elegant as the end of her performance every time, her dress disappeared under his hands, leaving only the space that her perfume occupied a few minutes ago Can't hang around. Marco stood alone in the empty tent with only two circles of chairs and an open door, waiting for him to leave on his own. Before he left, he took a playing card out of his pocket and placed it on her chair.