Evening lights spilled over the town as Nela stepped under Orion's dome. She was a fourteen-year-old lighting intern, armed with a headset, notepad and curiosity. Ropes dangled from the ceiling and the smell of resin mingled with icing sugar. It was her first time to run the main lights during a new mirror number. - 'Won't your hand tremble? - asked Iwo, a young acrobat, correcting his silver pads. Master Kaleidos' tower of mirrors rose above the arena, swallowing the lights like a well. - 'I can do it,' Nela replied, although her stomach was a gnawing reminder of stage fright. Ms Stanka, the technical manager, warned that mirrors can be as capricious as the wind. During the rehearsal, something rustled in the tower, as if someone had scratched the strings with an invisible hand. One mirror moved without command and reflected light straight into the moat. Nela slid down the ladder and found a sticky, unregistered magnet on her frame. She tucked it into her pocket and a slightly distorted whisper wailed in her ear. - Hello, director? - the signal cut out like an old radio, though the battery was fresh. The evening crowd pulsed and the drums pounded out a rhythm like the beating heart of a tent. Nela sat at the console, adjusting the beam of light for the magician's entrance. Master Kalejdos bowed and the tower flared, opening a maze of glittering passages. A silhouette flashed in the reflections, which were not allowed in, and stopped in the middle. No one entered from the backstage area, but the mirrors began to form a letter, trembling like metal. Nela moved the darkening slider, but the silhouette only looked more clearly into the cabin. - Turn it off! - shouted Iwo from above, and then all the mirrors slammed at once. The tower slammed the entrance, the light went out, and the shadow turned its head straight towards Nela. The entertainer covered his surprise with laughter, making a joke, but the audience whispered anxiously. Nela touched her pocket; the magnet grew warm, as if someone had blown on metal. The earpiece crackled and someone whispered for her to stay by the lights. Iwo balanced on the auxiliary line, aiming for the emergency lock lever at the top. The mirrors completed the letter, then the surface of the centre shook like water, clattering three times. The panel next to the console lit up green, as if asking for a finger touch itself. Nela held her breath as the shadow knocked once more, and the tent went completely silent.