When Lune returned his excitement in kind, Rayth could already tell he was going to like her. The rest of the circus members spent so much time frowning, it was a wonder their faces didn’t stick that way. Or maybe they had. There were some monsters here that he was sure he had never seen smile since the day he’d arrived. Even Oscar, the one person he got along with, rarely brightened unless he was trying to hit on a girl or was laughing at a prank he’d pulled on someone else.
	Compared to that, Lune’s immediate enthusiasm was a breath of fresh air.
	“I don’t know about any other circuses, but ours does,” he shrugged when she said she didn’t know they still used trains. “They’re not like they used to be though. These ones are a lot nicer, like the sleeper cars in an AmTrak.”
	He glanced away from her as he spoke, noticing that Frieda was already walking off toward the other performers, silently leaving them alone. He found it a little strange that she had put him in charge of showing Lune around. When he’d joined last year, she had put him in the care of one of her faerie workers. He couldn’t help but wonder why she thought he was better equipped to get the new girl settled in than one of her own.
	Rayth snapped back to attention when Lune told him to lead the way. “Alright,” he grinned, waving a hand for her to follow him. “It’s just behind the fence over here. Come on.”
	Turning away from her, he followed the border along the outside of the back yard. It still didn’t make sense to him why Frieda had given him this job, but he wasn’t going to complain. Helping the new girl settle in meant he could get away from the intoxicating chemicals in the air, and he wouldn’t have to help the others tear everything down once the after party was over. He’d have a clear head and get to early turn in for the night. It was a win-win.
	As he walked, Rayth looked at Lune sideways, his thoughts drifting to his other unanswered question. He still couldn’t tell what she was from just her appearance. Even her smell didn’t tip him off. After traveling with the circus for so long, he’d become familiar with the individual scents of all the other creatures in the troupe, but she wasn’t like any of the ones he’d met so far. More so than anything, she just seemed like a normal human to him. Human and something else he couldn’t peg down.
	[i]Maybe it’s a disguise?[/i] He’d never heard of any monster that could mask its scent, but then again, the supernatural world was full of strange creatures. It wouldn’t have surprised him if she was something he’d never even heard of before.
	Whatever the case, it couldn’t hurt to ask.
	“So, what are you?” he queried, giving in to his curiosity. He had to know who and what had captured the ringmistress’s attention so thoroughly that she would skip a meal. The mystery was too enticing to leave unanswered.