Chapter 77 temporarily suspended

New York, November 1, 1902 The last time Bailey stepped into this tent, Bobby was by his side, and the tent was filled with thick white mist. At that time (Bailey couldn't believe it was only a few days ago) the tent seemed endless.Now without the cover of the mist, Bailey could see the white walls of the tent and all the creatures inside, but they were all motionless. Birds, bats and butterflies hang all over the space, as if hanging on a thread, completely still.No rustling of paper wings.Nothing happened. Other creatures sat on the ground at Bailey's feet, including a black cat crouching ready to leap, near the silver-tailed white fox.There are even bigger animals.The textures present a perfectly contrasting zebra.A reclining lion with a white mane.Antlers majestic white stag.

A man in a dark suit was standing next to the stag. He is almost transparent, like a ghost, or a reflection in glass.Parts of his suit are shadowy at best.Bailey could see the stag clearly through the sleeve of his jacket. Bailey struggled to decide if it was a figment of his imagination.When the man looked at him, his eyes were startlingly bright, but Bailey couldn't see why. I asked her not to send you here in this way, and he said: However, it is more straightforward. Who are you?Bailey asked. My name is Marco and the man said: You must be Bailey. Bailey nodded. I really wish you weren't so young.Marco said there was a deep sadness in his voice, but the ghostly appearance still made it difficult for Bailey to concentrate.

Are you dead?As he asked, he leaned over.Changing the viewing angle, Marco looks almost solid for a moment, but transparent and clear for the next moment. Not really.Marco said. Yuezi said that among those who knew the inside story, she was the only one alive. I suspect that Miss Yuezi may not always tell the truth. You look like a ghost.Bailey said.He has no better way to describe it. To me, you look the same, so which of us is real? Bailey didn't know how to answer that question, so he asked the first question that came to his mind. Is that bowler hat in the atrium yours? To his surprise, Marco actually smiled.

Yes, that's right, he said: it was dropped before it happened, so it was left behind. What happened?Bailey asked. Marco paused before answering. It's a long story. Yuezi also said the same.Bailey said.He wondered if he could find Weggie, who always had a good story to tell. She told the truth at that point, Marco said: Yuezi originally planned to imprison me in the campfire, why, we don't have enough time to explain now.The current situation was caused by a temporary change in that plan.After I was torn apart, I was pieced back together in a less concentrated state. Marco reached out his hand, and Bailey reached over to feel it, and his fingers passed through without stopping, but there was a kind of soft resistance, which faintly indicated that something was occupying that space, even if it was not completely solid.

That's not illusion and it's not juggling.Marco said. Bailey frowned thoughtfully, but nodded after a moment.Poppy had said that nothing was impossible, and he found himself starting to feel the same way. I don't interact with my surroundings as directly as you do, Marco continued: From my point of view, you and everything here are just as ethereal.Maybe we can find another time to talk longer.Come with me.He turned and walked towards the back of the tent. Bailey followed, following the winding path past the animals.Although it was difficult to find a space to step on, Marco, who was sliding in front of him, walked much more easily.

Bailey lost his balance as he walked around the prostrate polar bear, and his shoulder slammed into the crow hanging in the air.The crow fell to the ground, its wings bent and broken. Before Bailey had time to say anything, Marco reached down to pick up the big crow, held it in his hand and turned it over.He removed the broken wing, reached inside, and clicked and twisted something.The big crow turned its head and let out a sharp and piercing quack. how can you touch themBailey asked. I'm still figuring out how to interact with physical things.said Marco, smoothing the great crow's wings so that it danced limply along his arm.It flaps its paper wings but cannot fly.Maybe it has something to do with me being their maker.Among the elements of the circus, the ones I have been involved in creating seem to have a more physical sense.

The raven hopped past a mountain of paper scales, where a curled tail might have once been a dragon. It's incredible.Bailey said. Using paper and clockwork, and ending with a fairly simple spell.You can, too, with a little study. It had never occurred to Bailey that such a thing might be possible for him, but someone telling him so directly made it seem oddly easy. where are we going?Bailey asked as they approached the far end of the tent. Someone wants to talk to you, Marco said: She's waiting at the wishing tree, where things seem to be most stable. I don't think I've seen the wishing tree.Bailey said that walking on thin ice, the two walked towards the other end of the tent.

It’s not the kind of tent that you just happen to come across while walking, Marco said: It’s the kind of tent that you only find when you need it, and it’s one of my favorite tents.You take a candle from the box at the entrance, and then borrow the fire from the candle that was already burning on the tree, and your wish is lit by the wish of others.When they got to the tent wall, Marco pointed to the gap between the fabrics, where a row of ribbon ties loomed, reminding Bailey of the entrance to Wedge's weird pot-filled tent.If you go out from here, you'll see the entrance to the stuntman's tent on the opposite side.I'll be right behind you, but you won't see me until we're in the shed again.Be careful.

Bailey untied the ribbon and slipped easily out of the shed to find himself standing on a winding path between two tents.Although the sky began to rain lightly, the gray sky overhead was bright. The stuntman's tent towers higher than the surrounding tents, and a notice that defies gravity wobbles at the entrance, just a few steps away. Bailey had been to the tent a few times and was familiar with the bare open floor and the performers hanging above. But when he walked through the door, what he saw was not the spacious space he expected. He broke into a party.The celebration that was frozen in place was temporarily suspended like a paper bird hovering in mid-air.

There were dozens of performers throughout the tent, bathed in the glowing light of round lanterns hanging high between ropes, chairs and cages.Some of the performers stood in groups or pairs, while others sat scattered on pillows, boxes, and chairs, objects that sprinkled splashes of color among the mostly black and white masses. Every figure is motionless, motionless to the point of not breathing, like a statue. The one next to Bailey had a flute on his lips, and the instrument was silent between his fingers. Another is pouring wine from a bottle, the liquid suspended above the glass. We should have bypassed this tent long ago, Marco said, looming over him like a shadow, and I've been watching them for the past few hours, and it's still unnerving.

What happened to them?Bailey asked. As far as I think it should be fine, Marco replied: The whole circus has been suspended temporarily, just to give us more time, so he raised his hand and waved at the whole party. Confinement belongs to the circus, but it's not like this.Bailey said puzzled. I believe she operates by her own rules.Marco said.go this way.He added, setting off to walk among the crowd of figures. I never thought that navigating through a party would be trickier than navigating among paper animals.Bailey took every step cautiously and fearfully, fearing what might happen if he knocked someone down like he knocked down the crow. Coming.Marco said they walked carefully through a group of people standing around the gaping circle. But Bailey stopped and stared at the figure facing the group. Wage was in costume, but the patchwork jacket had been thrown off and the vest hung open over the black shirt.His hands are raised in the air, gesticulating in a familiar gesture, and Bailey can see that he stops in the middle of the story. Poppy was standing beside him, her head turned toward the courtyard, as if something had pulled her mind away from her brother the moment the party was called off.Her hair spilled out of her back, and the red waves floated in the air, as if she was suspended in the water. Bailey turned to face her, tentatively reaching for her hair.The hair rippled under his fingers, slowly undulating, and then returned to a still state. can she see meBailey asked.Poppy's eyes were still but bright.He expected her to blink at any moment, but she didn't. I don't know, Marco said: maybe, but Before he could finish this thought, the ribbon suddenly tore, and a chair that was hanging high in the sky rolled down.The chair hit the ground hard and shattered, nearly hitting Wage. It's terrible.Marco said Bailey jumped back, narrowly missing Poppy, causing another brief rippling in her hair.go through there.Marco pointed to the side of the tent some distance away, and then disappeared into thin air. Bailey looked back at Poppy and Wage.Poppy's hair settled down again, motionless.Wedge's boots were left with fragments of the fallen chair. Bailey turned away, carefully bypassing the stagnant figure, and reached the edge of the tent.He glanced nervously at the chair and the round iron cage suspended only by frayed ribbons. His fingers trembled as he undid the straps on the wall. As soon as he walked through it, he felt as if he had stepped into a dream. A towering tree stands in the adjoining tent.As big as his old oak, straight out of the ground.The branches are bare and black, but they are covered with white candles dripping with wax tears, and the translucent wax is like hoarfrost covering the bark layer by layer. Only part of the wax was still burning, but the brilliance was not lost, for the candles illuminated the twisted black branches and cast dancing shadows on the striped walls. Marco stands under the tree, with his arms around Bailey, who he immediately recognizes as the illusionist's woman. She looked as transparent as Marco, and her dress was like a mist in the candlelight. Hello, Bailey.she said as he approached.Her voice echoed around him, soft and soft, as if she was whispering to him right next to him.I like your scarf.When he didn't answer right away, she added.Those words sounded warm and strangely comforting to his ears.I'm Celia.I can't believe we haven't been formally introduced. Nice to meet you.Bailey said. Celia Yang smiled, compared to seeing through her and seeing the dark branches behind her, Bailey was even more surprised that she was completely different from the way he had watched her perform at the beginning. How did you know I was coming?he asks. Poppy mentioned that you were part of the chain of events that happened earlier, so I hope you'll come anyway. When Poppy's name was mentioned, Bailey glanced back at the tent wall.That suspended party seemed far away, far beyond the stripes of the canvas. We need your help with one thing. When he turned back, Celia said: We need you to take over the management of the circus. What?Bailey asked.While he wasn't sure what he was expecting, this was something he didn't expect. The circus now needs a new caretaker, says Marco: it's drifting like a ship without its anchor.Someone needs to stabilize it. That person is me?Bailey asked. We hope it's you, yes, Celia asked, if you'd like to make a promise.We should be able to help you in the future, as can Poppy and Wedgie, but the real responsibility will be on you. But I'm not special, Bailey said: not like them.I am nobody. I know, Celia said: You weren't fated or hand-picked, and if it made things easier to say that, I wish I could tell you you were, but that's not true.You were in the right place at the right time, and you cared enough about the circus to take the necessary action.Sometimes that's enough. Bailey looked at her in the flickering light, and immediately felt that she was much older than she looked, and maybe Marco had the same situation.It's like realizing that someone in the photo is no longer the age they were when the photo was taken, and because of that, they seem even more distant.The circus itself felt far away, even though he himself was standing in it; as if it were drifting away from him. All right.Bailey said.But before he agreed, Celia raised her transparent hand to stop him. Wait, Celia said: This is very important.I want you to have something that neither of us really had.I want you to have a choice.You can agree to accept or simply leave.You are under no obligation to help, and I don't want you to feel compelled. What would happen if I just walked away?Bailey asked.Celia replied to look at Marco before. They just stared at each other without saying a word.But the gesture was so intimate that Bailey looked away at the twisted branches of the trees. It just won't last.Celia said after a while.Without elaborating, she continued as she turned to Bailey: I know it's too much to ask of you, but I don't have anyone else to ask. The candles on the tree flickered suddenly.It was a little dark, and the coiled smoke that had just replaced the bright candlelight disappeared without a trace. Celia swayed and Bailey thought for a moment that she was going to faint, but Marco steadied her. Celia, honey, Marco said, running his hand through her hair, you're the toughest person I've ever known.You can hold on a little longer, I know you can. Feel sorry.Celia said. Bailey couldn't tell which of them she was talking to. You have nothing to apologize for.Marco said. Celia grabbed his hand tightly. What would happen to you two if the circus shut down?Bailey asked. Honestly, I'm not so sure.Celia said. Nothing good will happen.Marco grumbled. what do you want me to doBailey asked. I want you to help me finish something I started, Celia said: I acted impulsively and didn't play by the rules.And now there's the campfire thing to deal with. campfire?Bailey asked. Think of the circus as a machine, Marco said: one of its power sources is the campfire. There are two things to do, Celia said: First, the campfire must be lit.That would provide half the power of the circus. What about the other half?Bailey asked. That's more complicated, Celia said: I carry that half with me.I must hand it over to you. oh. Then you have to carry it with you, Celia said: all the time.You are very closely bound to the circus itself.You can leave, but not for too long.I don't know if you can pass the baton to someone else.It will be yours.forever and ever. It wasn't until this moment that Bailey realized how important the promise the other party asked him to make was. Not a few years like going to Harvard, he thought, but a commitment bigger than the responsibility of inheriting the family farm. He looked back and forth between Marco and Celia.He knew from her eyes that if he asked to leave, she would let him go, no matter what it might mean for them or the circus. He thought of a long list of questions, but none of them really mattered.He already knew his answer.He had already made a decision when he was ten years old, and made vows under different trees with acorns, bets and a white glove. He will always choose the circus. Let me come, he said: I will stay.I will do whatever you want me to do. Thank you Bailey.Celia said softly.Those words echoed in his ears, calming his nerves that had been tense to the last moment. Indeed, Marco said: I think we should be more formal. Do you think that is absolutely necessary?Celia asked. It's come to this juncture, and I don't intend to succumb to the verbal contract.Marco said.Celia frowned for a moment, but still nodded in agreement.Marco let go of her hand carefully.She remained steady and showed no signs of wobbling. do you want me to sign somethingBailey asked. Not really.said Mark, and took off a silver ring from his right hand.It was engraved with something Bailey couldn't see in the light.Marco reached for the branch above his head and passed the ring through a burning candle until the ring was ablaze, white and hot. Bailey thought to himself, the cluster of flames does not know who made the wish. I made a wish on this tree many years ago.Marco said, as if he could see through Bailey's current thoughts. What did you wish for?Bailey asked, hoping it wasn't too rash to ask, but Marco didn't answer. He put the glowing ring in his palm, and stretched out his hand to Bailey. Bailey stretched out his hand hesitantly, expecting his fingers to penetrate Marco's hand as easily as before. But the fingers stopped unexpectedly, and Marco's hand was almost solid when held.Marco leaned forward and whispered into Bailey's ear. My wish is her.He said. Then Bailey's hand started to ache.The pain was bright and hot, as if the ring had burned into his skin. What are you doingWhen he managed to get enough air, he reluctantly asked a question.The pain was intense and scorching, spreading all over his body, making him almost unable to support his weak knees. Constraints, Marco says, are one of my specialties. He let go of Bailey's hand.The pain disappeared immediately, but Bailey's legs continued to tremble. How are you?Celia asked. Bailey nodded, looking down at his palm.The ring was gone, but a bright red circle was burned into the skin.Bailey didn't have to ask to be sure that the scar would always follow him.He put his hands together and looked back at Marco and Celia. tell me what to do now.He said.