It all happened fast, and then everyone was screaming.  The Ringmaster was dead, and now so was Gabriel.  Numbness and incomprehension washed over me, but I fought against it, harder than I had ever had fought against my own mind.  Now was the time for action, not reflection.<br/><br/>With one long, thin arm I reached into RÃ¦ven's cage, ignoring the sickening popping in my artificial joints as I stretched. I snatched the small black bag, restored it's contents, and slipped it into the waistband of my flashy performance outfit, now ruined from bloodstains and the beating.  I snaked my arm through the bars again, past Akello now, who was sitting unmoving, to the Ringmaster.  I grabbed his key ring, and unlocked all our cells.  I crawled to RÃ¦ven. Her face was frozen in horrified shock.  "Now is the time move." I told her, echoing my thoughts. "It was an accident." I said softly. "Not your fault.<span style="font-style: italic">They</span>made you a cat. A predator. It's not your fault. We have to leave now." I pulled her up, using the same gentle hands she had gifted to me earlier.  I looked our group. The girl with wings, the boy who ate anything, the girl who could twist her body in any direction,  the conjoined twins, the girl with goat legs, the cat on my spindly arm.  And the mermaid.  A single tear slipped down my cheek. Then other, jealous, ones fell from my eyes and augmented it. No. There had to be a way to bring her with us.