And the circus sweeps in

*This fanfic is under my folder “Shadow House fanfics”. Gacha Club character designs are under this forum: https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/topic/117842-my-character-designs-lt-33-3?start=225. This is based off the Dan Poblocki Scholastic book series “Shadow House”, except it takes place long after the events in the books. Poppy is twelve in the books but she’s an adult here. Valerian is my OC. Enjoy!*

Poppy couldn’t help but scream when Valerian flew her towards the door. His black, leathery black wings covered most of her view of the decaying manor. Not that she wanted to see it, anyway.

It was as if she were twelve years old again, without a family, without anyone to love her, trying to find comfort in the encroaching shadows, a reason for all the madness-but did she really grow up? Did she really? All those years and still no sense of true clarity and purpose. She was still trying to find her place in the world. She was still trying to belong.

But Valerian wasn’t flying anymore. There was a deep pressure all around them that was pushing them down, trying to stop them-Larkspur. It was always Larkspur, giving them wrong turns, giving them exits that did not exist. Poppy saw him beating his wings, straining against the movement. It was a lot of effort and it would not work.

She could hear music crawling up the walls, tinkling and chiming in a distantly familiar circus melody. The farther they fell, the louder it got, until-

Dirt. Dirt underneath them and circus tents towering above them. Poppy sat up on the ground, looking for the three clowns that were there last time, the clowns that watched…but there were no clowns. Nobody but the two of them.

That did not mean they weren’t there.