It was chaos.

Everything was in motion in Cosette’s vision. Going from the dim, empty tent, to the lively, loud room shocked her.

She quickly ducked down under a table to her right. With the shield of the cloth, she could focus easier on the noises.

Everything was noisy. The animated performers chattered. Their steps were smooth yet loud enough to make their presence known. From the small gap between the hem and the floor, colorful shoes were scuffling by in a hurry. She saw bright red shoes, sparkly flats, and even clown shoes.

She peered from underneath, pushing up the tablecloth out of her way to get a glimpse of what was happening.

Her eyes widened at what she saw before her. Never in a million years would she forget this moment.

The two acrobats, which she recognized by their purple sparkly leotards, were soaring through the open space. No bars to swing from. No nets. No safety measures. Nothing.

They had equipment and supplies in their grasps and then dropped it off in a huge wooden crate. They were gliding like graceful birds in the air.

Near the big crate of supplies, the magician, who still had her top black top hat on, disappeared from Cosette’s sight.

Literally.

Not like when she went into a box and reappeared in a similar box some distance away. One second there and the next second was 20 feet to the left. Without any boxes. No smoke covering her disappearance act.

Then a burst of flames cut her thoughts off, bringing her gaze to her right. Everyone turned to the fire act. The sight of the blaze alone made Cosette’s insides queasy. She quickly deduced the closest exit would be the one she came through. Her mom stressed to her and Barrett to have a fire exit plan in any place they spend a lot of time in.

“Ravi! Watch it!” the one acrobat shouted. He had flown up sharply to avoid the blaze.

“Sorry, Shu!” the man apologized. The flames died down but were still very much there. The source of the fire was his hands, and it followed his movements like a command. Cosette realized that he was the fire eater. He had also juggled lit torches during the show which had made her squeal with worry when he did that.

The swirling inferno looked similar to this one movie Barrett likes to watch. In that one, they were superheroes with overt powers. He told her that things that happened in movies weren’t real.

This was real.

“Roar!”

The thunderous exclamation had her whipping her head to face the other side. Her neck protested at the sudden movements of her head.

The menacing beasts pranced around without any cages to confine them. Cosette quivered at the thought of their roars. It did not have the same effect on the other performers though.

“Sorry, Tigger wanted to say that he’s hungry, and we should feed him soon,” the lion tamer said, sheepishly rubbing the back of neck. “You all know how he gets on closing night,” he added. The lion, Tigger, went up to the lion tamer and nudged him with enough force to make him stumble forward. The performers laughed boisterously with such amusement and joy, it made Cosette smile too.

“I don’t think Tigger appreciates you saying that,” the magician said, with a fit of giggles following her words. She disappeared for a moment out of Cosette vision again, and then she reappeared with a piece of raw meat. She tossed it upwards, and Tigger took a mighty leap to catch it.

Her friend’s dog did the same thing for treats, but she had never seen a lion do that.

The beast let out a softer purr and almost seemed to grin with his immense teeth. “He says thanks,” the lion tamer translated, brushing the lion’s furry mane.

They all acted like this was normal. Flying was normal. Teleporting was normal. Moving fire with a flick of your hands was normal. Talking to lions was normal. All of this was normal to them.

Magic was real.