Whispers spread through the city much faster than the posters stuck to the walls: "Circus of Illusions - for three nights only!". Lena had already heard about it in the morning in the school corridor. She was curious, but also a little sceptical; after all, there had already been many circuses, and everyone promised miracles. However, when she met Adrian at the bus stop after school, she felt that something extraordinary was happening. All day the circus had been setting up in a huge, empty meadow by the woods. Old, glittering tents, the largest of which was red and gold, appeared unexpectedly, as if they had sprung from the ground. Lena and Adrian decided not to go to bed early that night. As the clock struck midnight, they got on their bikes and quietly slipped out of their homes. The circus meadow was now almost empty - most of the visitors had long since gone home. Somewhere in the distance, lights twinkled. They left their bikes in the bushes and crept up to the fence, through a hole torn in the netting. On the other side, the world looked different: the air smelled of smoke and candyfloss, and there were unsettling shadows spinning in the semi-darkness. Behind the stage, somewhere between trailers and jugglers in leather jackets, they heard strange whispers. She looked into one of the smaller trailers. Inside, instead of people, there were... paper acrobats who moved without strings, as if they were directed by an invisible force. There was a semi-darkness inside. The paper figures suddenly stopped moving and looked directly at Lena. Then they heard a rustling just behind them. The caravan door closed with a slam. Lena and Adrian were trapped. Quiet, melodious laughter echoed around them, and a red glow began to break through from behind the wall. Someone whispered in an unknown language - and then....