Samlu Acidstar's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Samlu Acidstar stood at the back of the glowing green-and-red circus tent and watched the crowd walk past him. He wanted one thing: to headline this traveling show someday, with his name on every banner. But the people streamed toward other clowns. They never slowed for him. His white skin, blond duck-shaped hair, and black-and-red horns blended into the painted canvas. Even his folded white wings looked gray in the tent's wild light. He had the act. He lacked the look that stuck in a memory. A barker shouted the next show. Samlu raised his arms and spun. A child pointed, then turned to a juggler in a brighter coat. Samlu's wings drooped. He walked out of the tent and sat on the cold ground. "Forgettable," he said to no one. Something pressed against his leg. A black-and-white cat with a single large green eye stared up at him. It carried a thin red vine in its mouth, a strand studded with tiny open eyes. The vine blinked. Samlu jumped back. The cat dropped the vine and sat, patient. "That's yours?" Samlu asked. The cat lifted one white paw and tapped the vine toward him. The small eyes along the vine all turned and fixed on Samlu at once. He felt watched from every angle. Then an idea struck him hard. Nobody forgot a thing that looked back at them. Samlu carried the vine home to the floating castle where he lived, the one crowned with curling horn-spires and grinning jester faces. He worked all night in his tower room. He wove the red eyevine around his collar and down both arms. He fixed clusters of the watchful eyes along the edges of his wings. The cat sat on his table and watched with its one eye. By dawn the vine had rooted to the fabric and stayed alive. The eyes blinked on their own. The next show, Samlu stepped into the green-and-red tent wearing his new costume. The crowd near the entrance went quiet. A woman gasped. Dozens of eyes along his wings opened and swept across the audience. Wherever a person looked, an eye looked back. Children screamed and laughed. Parents pulled out their devices to capture him. Samlu spun once. Every eye on him turned with the motion. The crowd pressed forward instead of past. The barker stopped mid-shout and stared. "What's your name?" a boy called. "Samlu Acidstar," he said. The boy repeated it. Soon a dozen voices repeated it. After the show, the ringmaster found Samlu backstage. She did not smile. "The whole crowd is talking about the eye-clown," she said. "Some of them are frightened. The owner wants to see you in the morning." She turned and left before he could answer. Samlu looked down at his living costume. The eyes blinked back at him. He was remembered now. But remembered was not the same as wanted, and tomorrow someone would decide which one he was.