They sat in the front row of the grandstands under the canvas of the big top, just two ordinary spectators in a crowd full of smiling faces. The boy was wide-eyed and silent, but Harvey found himself humming along to a familiar, bouncing tune as the rich tones of the brass band filled the air. A half-eaten bag of roasted peanuts lay on the bench beside him, and occasionally, a whiff of their warm, hearty smell found its way to his nose, evoking memories of his own childhood visits to the circus.

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Ah, to be a boy again, if only for a day. Inside the tent, none of his problems mattered, and just being here made him feel decades younger. At his age, despite the circumstances that had brought him here in the first place, that was good enough.

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He glanced down at his companion, who reached for a handful of peanuts as he craned his tiny neck to watch the agile trapeze artists soaring overhead. The lithe man hanging upside-down from a swinging bar caught his partner by the arms and held her for the space of a heartbeat before sending her flying again.

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The center ring below them suddenly ignited with dancing purple flames, and the crowd let out a collective gasp. The hanging trapeze artist continued to swing back and forth like a pendulum as the flames reached higher, lapping at his dangling hands.

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His female companion timed another swing and leaped from her raised platform. She passed right over the fire once…twice…then launched herself into the air and pirouetted so fast it seemed impossible for her partner to catch her.

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Harvey gripped the edge of his seat and leaned forward, certain the poor young woman was about to plummet to a fiery death in the flames below.

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At the very last second, the man caught her. As her body swung down through the heart of the fire, the violet flames burst into hundreds of white flower petals that fluttered harmlessly toward the grandstands and drifted down, carrying with them the sweet scent of caramel and vanilla.

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The petals disappeared before they hit the ground, but the magical illusion had ignited the crowd. Harvey applauded and whistled with the rest of the onlookers as the trapeze artists finished their act and bid them all farewell with waves and a few blown kisses.

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Beside him, the boy shoved another handful of peanuts into his mouth. His wide eyes scanned the canvas sidewalls of the tent, but when he didn’t see who he was looking for, he turned his attention back to the center ring for the next act.

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Harvey shifted uncomfortably in his seat and loosened the tie around his neck. The boy seemed like such a sweet, endearing child. A shame that, like the circus, it was all just an elaborate act.