The bone-white wolf prowled across the field only metres away from her, as big as a grizzly bear with paws the size of gravediggers' spades. It turfed up the smooth lawn with each step. Dace frowned: since when were arctic wolves native to Britain? Perhaps it was another one of the Circus' animal performers. Still, that didn't explain why the creature was slipping beneath the skirt of the tent almost sneakily, rotting yellow teeth bared as it turned to look back.

It was only as a little boy cried out "Doggie!" and toddled after the monster that Dace snapped out of her trance, fear shooting through her veins as the boy neared the tent.

"Hey, stop!" She yelled, hot on his tail, but the boy was already on his knees, crawling under the tent with a giggle as his coppery curls brushed against the tarpaulin.

Something about the situation screamed déjà vu, but Dace ignored this as she neared the tent's lining and crawled beneath the loose gap. Briefly she wondered why she wasn't out of breath yet: she was hardly an athlete and even short distances made her wheeze. She felt lighter than usual, stronger, as if running ten miles was a plausible feat. Could she tackle a giant wolf, though? She was about to find out.

Dace emerged into the near-black underbelly of the big top. The bottoms of the seats made for a slanted ceiling and the metal supports were skeletal and cold. It felt like a different world altogether from the brightly lit spectacle above.

The little boy was just to her left, a tiny silhouette in the darkness, so Dace seized his arm and pulled him back.

"What are you doing?" She hissed, "That animal is dangerous. It could kill you!"

His cheery smile shattered, and the boy's eyes welled with tears.

"Hey, hey!" Dace lightened her tone, pulse racing – the last thing she needed with a wolf on the prowl was a wailing child – "It's okay, just part of the show! Tell you what, let's get you back outside and I'll find a nice pretty lady to give you some yummy popcorn, how does that sound?"

He nodded tearfully and, with Dace on guard, he crawled back through the tent. Before she could follow him she felt something clasp around her arm and with a yell she turned around, thrashing wildly.

"Dace! Calm down, it's just me!" Matt's dainty voice lit up the the darkness.

"Oh, thank God."

"What are you doing here? I told you to stay put!"

"Um, I had to pee. Just out of interest, one small question, why is there a huge wolf down here?"

"Never mind that. You need to get back to your seat - it's dangerous for you to roam around."

"So why is it okay for everyone else?"

"Because you're... because that wolf can only hurt members of the circus."

"So what are you doing down here?"

"Patrolling."

"For what?"

Even in the awful lighting Dace was sure she saw Matt's lip curl. "Wolfspawn."

"What's that?"

"Oh, just come with me." Matt's hand closed around her wrist, and Dace was dragged around the circular space until they reached a chink of light shining like a beacon in the dark.

"Wolfspawn are parasites, Dace. They feed off of emotion and thought—the more complex a creature the stronger the monster."

"So one showing up in a tent full of excited spectators is ideal." Even though her words came out in a shaky sob Dace had been aiming for sarcasm—she was beginning to wonder if she'd knocked her head and slipped into some sort of fantasy novel.

"It really is. One mind is a meal but three hundred are an incapacitating overdose." Matt smiled to herself. "They think far too much of themselves."

"Right, yeah, makes sense..." Dace muttered dubiously as they emerged through the folds of the tent into the well-lit backstage area, separated from the ring by a curtain. By now the second half had started and performers were darting back and forth, fixing their hair and adjusting their props as they prepared for their acts. Joy, the apparent secretary, stood on the outskirts of the ring, face masked by harsh light as she stared into the colourless crowd with intense focus. Dace spotted an elderly woman with a hunched back and wiry grey hair bound beneath bright scarves holding Athena the elephant by a lead as if she were a domestic pet. She was even squinting with pleasure as the woman scratched beneath her flappy grey ear.

"Was that wolf an escaped circus animal?" Dace asked after a while.

"No." Matt was no longer bright and bubbly but tense and focused. She kept brushing her hands against the sides of her skirt. "It's something beyond my understanding. Wherever it shows up, there's trouble."

Matt positioned herself against the curtain and Dace copied her, trying to avoid the elephant's clumsy feet as it trudged out into the ring.

The Ringleader's voice boomed out as he announced: "Athena the elephant and her trainer Anara, ladies and gentlemen!"

Retreating from the ring he appeared before them, wiping the sweat from his brow as he recovered from the glare of the spotlights. The elated grin on his face disappeared. He reverted almost instantly back to a moody scowl.

"Can you sense it yet?" He growled at Matt.

Eyes closed in meditation, she nodded. "The Wolfspawn's close. About to surface."

"Will we need backup?"

"Shouldn't do." Matt's eyes flitted open. "It's coming."

Dace heard a pitiful shout from the ring and poked her head around the curtain with her heart in her throat.

Athena the elephant had knocked the elderly woman to one side and now charged around the ring, howling with agony as her trunk writhed back and forth like a serpent. The tank-like animal stumbled to the side almost like she was trying to throw something off, and then she sighed in defeat as her eyes clouded over with a milky white film.

"Matt! With me!" The Ringleader took off his velvet top hat and withdrew a thick wooden staff carved with strange symbols. Dace almost laughed. There was pulling a bunch of roses from a hat, and then there was this. The staff almost matched his height—was the top hat bigger on the inside? After securing it back in place the Ringleader bolted into the ring, twirling the staff around one hand with impossible skill.

Dace watched in awe as the boy sprung into a crouch and then launched himself at the elephant, forcing the butt of his staff into its flank and eliciting a high-pitched squeal from the creature that sounded almost demonic. Dace shivered from the stage's wing, terrified and confused. She remembered the friendly way the elephant had nudged at her shoulder back in the cages, the gleeful way it chewed on its mango. The monstrous thing trying to trample the Ringleader was an entirely different creature – all traces of warmth were gone, leaving something hollow with hatred.

Numb, she watched as boy and beast danced about the ring as if this were a bullfight. Several times its tusks brushed against his coat millimetres away from goring his side and several more times he landed powerful blows to the wild-eyed monster with his weapon.

It dawned on her in a flush of icy shivers: they were going to kill each other.

The audience continued to cheer.

"Matt, what's going on? Why is no one else...?" Voice shaking, Dace couldn't tear her eyes away.

"No time to explain. Stay there, ok? I mean it this time!" Matt ripped her skirt away to reveal twin pistols strapped to her jodhpurs.

The girl sprinted into the ring and clicked her ammo into place before firing at the elephant's mass of skin as it rumbled around, circling the exhausted Ringleader.

A bullet nicked its shoulder and the creature screeched like a banshee, turning with an almost human look of rage as it marked Matt's defensive stance. For a second it was deathly still before the elephant charged at the girl with a roar, blood streaming from its wound.

Matt sprung upwards just in time for the beast to collide with the pole behind her, causing the lights around the ring to flicker and the audience to let out an 'ooh' of excitement as the entire tent shook.

The elephant staggered about but soon found itself at the mercy of the Ringleader's oddly durable staff once more, the thwack of wood on flesh bellowing around the tent. The beast collapsed to its knees on the dusty ground, blood painting its ivory tusks.

Matt raised her gun.

"Wait!" Dace couldn't keep still any longer. They were going to kill it! They couldn't kill it!

Her trainers sprayed dirt into the air around her as she pelted forwards, mind bare of all thoughts except those that willed her to spare the elephant.

"Dace!" Matt almost dropped her gun. The horror in her eyes was almost dooming: she looked at Dace as if she'd already been trampled to death. "What are you doing? Get out of here!"

"Matt, please, there must be another way -"

"DACE! YOU CAN'T BE HERE!" The Ringleader dropped his guard to roar at her from across the ring, his shout almost primal and swollen with terror. Whatever he was about to add to his yell was knocked out of him by the elephant, whose trunk cracked into his stomach with the force of a metal pipe.

The young man collapsed in a heap, hat falling to the dirt.

"Ah, shit." Matt hissed, the curse out of place on her eloquent tongue, as she dragged Dace behind her and began to fire. The elephant charged again, and with the added duty of protecting Dace the gunwoman couldn't seem to land a hit. The monster neared them and smacked her across the face, knocking her unconscious the instant she slammed against the ground.

The heat of the lights coating her limbs with sweat, Dace stood unguarded just inches away from a vicious animal.

"What the hell?" She heard from the wings of the stage, "It got both of them? Hey, new girl! Get out of there!"

The elephant's clouded eyes noted her features. Its trunk brushed almost curiously over her curls. Its ears sent a cold wind to stab at her cheeks. The holler of the audience fell away and all Dace could hear was her own ragged breathing as she stood paralysed.

Death had often intruded on her thoughts in the past but it had been a distant concern; a heart attack in her late seventies or a peaceful slip into sleep at the age of ninety three.

But here she was, seventeen, and about to be crushed to death by a murderous elephant.

It had probably been a good life. She couldn't remember it. Dace wondered how long it would take the beast to crush her to death. For it to be quick was wishful thinking, but perhaps if a shattered rib pierced a lung she'd drown in her own blood before she had to endure the agony of being slowly trampled...

"Sing to it."

Dace snapped out of her trance. "What?"

From the ground, Matt clutched at Dace's ankle with an iron grip. "Trust me. Like earlier."

"It's a monster." She replied without tearing her eyes away from the beast, "What good will that do?"

"You don't have another choice." Matt croaked, dirt-caked curls obscuring her bloody face. "Trust me, I know."

The memory came back to Dace in a flash; standing in that shuddering carriage with the elephant as she gently sang her father's lullaby.

Logically, the suggestion made no sense.

But neither did any of this.

Dace took a deep breath and formed the first word of the ditty with her lips.

Wolfie, Wolfie, let me in...

The elephant grunted and shuffled back, heavy limbs dragging across the ground.

Dace followed it back and continued to sing.

So we can fight past all your sin...

The song was like soothing ice-water on a flaring burn: the elephant's breath grew steadier and its muscles seemed to deflate as it continued to back away.

Wolfie, Wolfie, take my hand...

Dace raised an arm and, with the audience's oohs at her voice melting into the distance, pressed her trembling palm against the elephant's saggy face. As she stroked it, the creature's eyes flickered and the cloudy film dissolved.

A playful nudge on Dace's shoulder told her that Athena was back to her usual self.

"Wow. I am so very glad that worked." From a few metres behind her Dace caught Matt's sigh of relief.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," His showmanship taking over, the Ringleader swept around to face the audience, "Our grand finale! The Siren with the power to tame the most tempestuous of monsters!"

The next thing Dace was aware of was a tsunami wave of applause. With beams of light blocking out her vision she turned to the masses with a relief-induced grin and a surprisingly graceful bow.

"Thank goodness," As the crowds began to filter out of the tent she made for the curb of the ring, where the elephant's trainer lay cowering. Exhaustion finally taking hold of her, Dace's words came out in a typical bluster of babble as she stretched out a hand to help the woman. "Ah, ma'am, I... uh, I fixed your elephant. You're welcome."

"My dear," The trainer, Anara, hauled herself up with Dace's help – her hand was clammy and shaking – "I cannot thank you enough. My dear Athena, she's been with me since I joined this circus, usually she's no trouble to train, loves to be in the spotlight, wouldn't harm a soul... so glad you were able to subdue her before they—"

"Don't worry about it." Dace's chubby cheeks balled up as she returned the woman's smile. Despite her usual nerves, she'd never been one for tears. Instead she preferred to plaster on a confident grin – not only could she convince herself she was ok, but it acted as a wave of reassurance for those around her.

"Dace, wasn't it?" The Ringleader cleared his throat, voice deadpan as ever now that the excitement had died down. "I think we've found your Act."

"My Act?"

He shoved his staff back through the top hat as if he was sheathing a sword before pulling it over his unruly black hair. "Your voice, I have to say, is beautiful. Perhaps you could bring some class to our rowdy little show..."

Now the moment had passed Dace could look back on the moment she sang. She'd been a dedicated member of the school choir since year seven but her words had never been more than tenuous warbles. Tonight, however, they carried like waves across a strong, clear current as she breathed all her energy into the melody in a desperate attempt to subdue the monster. Her voice was sharp as diamond, soft as fresh cotton yet as tempestuous as a summer storm. Maybe she should try for X-Factor next year.

"Thank you," Dace nodded, "It was dumb luck that it worked though."

"No," Matt's hand was on her shoulder, "Not luck. That's your Act."

"My Act?"

"Each of us has an impossible skill. Some can perform with it. Some can fight with it. Few are lucky enough to do both."

"You mean?"

"Magic." Matt's cool eyes flashed like polished steel.

"I was going to say mutant powers but, yeah, magic works too." As Dace pulled a startled Matt into a hug she felt warmth seep through her and an odd jolt in her chest as she caught the perfume twisting through the girl's curls, a sweet mix of florals and citrus defiant against the layer of dirt.

It was nice. To have a friend. A flicker of light in a strange new world of darkness. Perhaps Matt could help her through this, perhaps Dace too could use her new powers to fight the wicked, perhaps their absurd meeting in this ridiculous circus was more than just a coincidence.

"Matt," The Ringleader sounded scornful, and like opposing magnets the two girls broke apart.

"Yeah," Eyes cast downwards, face flushed, Matt began to tinker with one of the guns in her holsters.

The awkwardness about her made Dace uncomfortable and so she shuffled back to the wings of the now hollowed out tent. As she sank onto one of the benches that lined the opening she couldn't help but laugh.

The sound carried out into the darkness, and suddenly Dace's situation wasn't so bad anymore.

Sure, she couldn't remember a thing and sure she'd almost been crushed to death by a monster—but it wasn't every day you learned you had Disney princess-level singing powers.

"Dace, isn't it?" Mr Moone the clown sank down next to her, his posture at ease and his gaudy shirt unbuttoned so that the prominent bones and tendons at the base of his throat were exposed. With the excessive makeup washed away and his crimson curls pulled into a knot at the back of his head the clown's true face caught Dace's attention – he was olive skinned with a smile that curled up to his silver-pierced ears.

"You know my name?"

"Oh, yeah." He turned to her and Dace noted that his eyes were an unusual shade of mint, pupils almost clouded over with faint green. "I know lots of things, Dace Livigin. A lot more than you'd give a guy who dresses as a clown credit for." His handsome features crinkled with a stupid, self-depreciating smile. "I'm Eliot. Eliot Moone."

Dace caught herself outstretching a hand to shake and giggled. "Sorry if I come across as awkward. I'm a bit new to all—"

"Hey," Eliot's brow twitched, his voice smooth but on edge, "Do you see it too?"

Dace followed his gaze to the overlap of the tent lining, where the fields – illuminated by a full moon that hung like a spotlight – were visible.

The wolf, ghostly in the light, pushed its way into the dense shrubbery until its silver tail was swallowed by leaves.

"Apparently it caused tonight's mess," She shivered, clasping her forehead. "I wonder where it's going..."

The moment she'd finished speaking the monster surfaced again from the thickets – but now it hauled a small, limp form that glistened dark red in the moonlight through the grass, jaws clamped around one shredded arm.

The wolf's mouth angled open into a crocodile's grin, and the mutilated body of the copper-haired little boy collapsed to the grass, the whites of his watery eyes just visible beneath the mask of rust that smeared his face. His head clung to the rest of his body by a strip of hot, shiny flesh no thicker than a rope and one of his arms had been torn off completely.

Looking back on the first time she'd been faced with a corpse, Dace supposed she took the whole thing rather well.

She screamed for about four minutes as the wolf turned back into the woods, whacked Eliot around the face twice with her flailing limbs and then her innards constricted and she threw up her feast of popcorn into the grass.

"He's dead. I let him leave on his own and he's dead." Throat burning, Dace stared numbly at the body.

At that moment Matt's words found their way back to the forefront of her mind and she slackened her grip on the clown in an instant.

Matt had claimed the wolf could only hurt members of the circus.

For whatever reason, she had lied to her.

As desperate fury replaced the initial shock Dace barely heard Eliot's giggle. "Oh, it's about to get interesting, Dace, I think-"

A round of gunshot hacked through his excited cry and both of them shot up.

"That came from the ring," Dace pulled him along with her and emerged into a scene of chaos.

A dozen bullets lining her soft underbelly, Athena once more charged around the ring. Now, however, she was driven not by mindless malice but by simple, agony-induced fear.

The same fear flooded through Dace as she saw how the creature charged at the Ringleader's back.

With no name to call out, her warning was an indecipherable squeak as he was lost behind a hulk of grey. There was a faint whoosh and a blur shot to the metal frames fixed near the skylight as Athena, mewling pitifully, finally collapsed into a heap as the ground around her spilled with red.

The elephant died to the sound of the trainer's wailing and Matt's controlled gasps as she lowered her twin pistols.

Dace finally found her voice, confusion and betrayal fuelling her rage: "What the hell was that? I thought we were all safe! Why did you kill her?"

Matt stored her weapons before flicking a smear of blood from her porcelain cheek. She didn't meet Dace's eyes as she answered. "We can never be sure the Wolfspawn is gone. We don't want it to resurface and kill anyone else, do we?"

"So you knew about the boy!" Dace roared, shoving Matt so hard the girl stumbled back, "You knew and you lied to me about it! You said he'd be fine, that I was the only one in danger! That thing tore him to pieces, and you could have stopped it!"

"So what? There's nothing we can do now, he's dead." Dace's visions of friendship shattered as Mathilda Wisely strolled away from the huge animal's corpse with an indifferent jaunty shrug. The girl who had sung the elephant back to sanity felt her mouth fall open and all thoughts break apart.

"This place," She finally whispered, hands balled into trembling fists, "Is not what I thought it was."

From behind her Eliot sighed understandingly. He was, she now knew, another poor soul ensnared by this supernatural show. Maybe this was her future – life as a performer who stood by and watched as people and animals were slaughtered gruesomely left and right.

"At least the Ringleader's okay..." She caught someone saying, though she wasn't focused enough to remember who.

"This is a nightmare," She decided as her head spun, taking a few steps back as the blood running from the second corpse of the night nipped at her toes. "I'm – I'm dreaming. There's no way any of this is real. It's not -"

"Welcome, Dace," Eliot laughed sarcastically, "To the Circus Dirus."

Dace finally passed out moments after the Ringleader landed back on the ground, outstretched palm digging into the dirt as he crouched.

"Matt," he praised, "Well done. Take tomorrow off."

The Ringleader folded his inky black wings beneath the red coat once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1:3 song: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing by Set it Off

((no animals were harmed in the making of this chapter, but it was inspired by a really messed up elephant rampage video i saw on youtube. elephants are creepy af))

So, hopefully this chapter shook things up a bit

Let me know what you think of the story, the action scenes (I'm not used to writing them so?? they probably were weird??) and the characters so far. 

Where did Dace's power come from?

What exactly is the Wolf and how, exactly, is it connected to the Wolfspawn?

How the hell does this circus' insurance cover demon elephant attacks?

Some of these questions will be answered next time,

Ellie