The Midnight Circus

After all the doings in St. Clair, Ray and his carnival land themselves in Chicago, just in time to be bought out by Anastagio's Olde Time Lunar Carnival and Midnight Circus. Devyn Cavendish, the ringmaster and proprietor, hopes that Ray will stay on, offering him an excellent retainer for continuing as stunt driver for the new management.

When it opens in Chicago, the pack heads into the Circus because they hear rumors about a girl who turns into a werewolf...and it sounds alarmingly realistic. Ambrose heads in because he has heard stories about how the place fends off the Technocracy, and because of sheer curiosity. He's expecting changelings. The Garou are expecting nothing in particular. They're all severely disappointed.

At first, it all seems rather staid. Oh, sure, circuses have their little eccentricities, but...was that a vampire? Was that a mage? Is that a whole Renaissance Faire full of fae? Maybe this isn't quite so normal after all...

The werewolves start following the stench of Wyrm taint...which leads them to mysterious ninja assassins. Apparently, some mysterious woman--who's a vampire, except unlike any vampire the Garou have ever known--hired a man to take out the circus's medium.

In the end, Sonya talks to a spirit she saw the vampire conversing with to discover that she's some kind of Asian vampire called a kuei-jin, and for some reason she really, really wanted that medium--an 'akuma,' according to Cavendish's overheard words--dead. Which is all well and good, and something they can safely ignore (all the better if the creeps pick themselves off!) but that young 'werewolf' they came to investigate is indeed the real thing, and she's in desperate need of rescue and doesn't even know it.

While the Garou do their hero thing, Ambrose innocently attempts to uncover the secrets of the Circus. He keeps bumping into the Ringmaster, who seems like a charming enough fellow, if a little smarmy, and then has a couple of weird chats with the magician-in-residence, who's a vampire who can apparently work fae magic. Following the ringmaster's advice, Ambrose goes to meet the eccentric Dr. Owl, an inventor who runs the Museum of Oddities. They share their curiosity for strange critters, and the good Doctor spills his guts about the circus, letting on (among other things) that the Ringmaster is a Nephandus and the place is contracted with infernal powers. It (the conversation) seems to be going fairly well, in fact, till Dr. Owl shows Ambrose his latest project--an attempt to summon a demon into a sacrificial body!

Dr. Quintrell cements the fact that this place is bad news when he catches Cavendish having a conversation with a little girl in Dragon's Tongue. Then, roped into a second "consultation" with Dr. Owl, Ambrose tries to talk his way out of it as pleasantly as possible (Ambrose has exactly zero subtlety, but lucky for him Dr. Owl's equally oblivious), trying to retreat only to nearly run into Devyn on his way in!

Fortunately, Dr. Owl has enough rationality to realize this isn't necessarily the best situation, so he lets Ambrose out the back way, into the mirror maze. Figuring sight will only disorient him here, he closes his eyes and navigates by touch. This works till he feels his hand go into something soft and yielding...which turns out to be a reflection of him, come to life!

The reflection decides that it wants to replace him and take his life over. It nearly kills him before the werewolves come to the rescue in the nick of time. Finally, Cavendish realizes that the little game is up, and--being a betting man--he decides on a little wager: if they can find the way out of the circus by morning, then they're free to go. But that's easier said than done. The whole place is a tangle of realities and paths looping back upon themselves. They nearly manage to establish a path out by contacting Mark and establishing a link with him, but that falls through when Ambrose's doppelganger resurfaces and tries to kill him again.

Finally, when Dr. Owl comes out to chat one more time, Ambrose spots something: reality wobbles and fades in the old man's wake. A terrible suspicion creeps up on him...but feeling desperate, he decides to take the chance. He cons Dr. Owl into walking outside the borders of the Circus, motioning to the Garou to follow in his Marauderly wake.

Sure enough, it works. They escape the circus, much to Cavendish's ire (he calls Ambrose on his cell phone to accuse him of cheating). But that's just bitter dregs, right? They're home free...but they book it for safety, just in case.

And they gain a new friend! Ray the Chameleon Pooka has a sense for what's likely to get him killed or worse, and he books it along with them when they leave.