The news was all over town - news that Mina had been waiting for months to hear.  A carnival was coming to Mancin!  There would be all sorts of acts and marvels that no one in this town had ever seen, or even imagined, but that wasn't why Mina found herself perched on top of a warehouse near the parade grounds, watching canvas and rope turn into something approaching a small town in its own right.<br/><br/>Mina would not be going to the carnival's opening night - probably not any of the following nights either.  The pockets in her threadbare jeans had holes clean through that let the chill of winter in when she stuck her hands in them.  The shelter had given her some clothing almost as an apology when she had turned seventeen - 'Old enough to be out taking care of herself,' the director had said, and Mina hadn't waited for the official notice that 'her cot was needed'.<br/><br/>That had been two years ago.  She'd managed to scrape by, earning enough money from odd jobs to feed herself, but never quite enough to keep a place of her own.  She'd learned the safest places to hide out for a few hours of sleep, what time the baker discarded his two-day-old bread, and how to get her clothes cleaned by sneaking them into other people's laundromat machines.  Unfortunately, the education she'd gotten on the outside wasn't the sort of thing that would earn her a place to stay.<br/><br/>The warehouse roof was one of her 'safe places'.  From here, she could see for miles - or at least for about three blocks in any direction.  It was where she could go to get away. That was why the carnival was of such interest.  A carnival was the ultimate way to get out of this dead-end town, and get paid to do it.  Mina watched for a little longer as the workers went about their routine, watching the ballet of lines and tarps until she was sure she could blend in at least a little.<br/><br/>With an agility born of long practice, she scampered down the ladder, stopping only long enough to tie back the shoulder-length dark hair that normally shielded her face.  Maybe she could even work her way up to being in one of the acts!  She allowed herself a momentary daydream of performing in front of the very people that - while they didn't mistreat her exactly, they didn't exactly seem to go out of their way to notice her.  She shook off the fantasy.  There would be time for that later.  For now, she just had to wait until the carnival workers were occupied elsewhere, so that she could slip inside the barrier.