For the past few weeks, everyone in the town had been talking about only one thing - the Shadow Circus had come to the riverbank. There was a strange energy over the town, and colourful posters with the silhouette of a hooded figure juggling flaming balls appeared in shop windows. The adults complained about the noise, but the youngsters were excited. Above all, Susanna and her pack: Michal the trick-lover, Lila the incorrigible optimist, and Igor, the most sceptical of the three. That evening the air was thick with anticipation. Susanna slipped under the old fence leading to the circus grounds. Her friends followed behind her, trying not to make any noise. "Did you know tickets cost a fortune? What if we get caught?" - whispered Igor, but Susanna only smiled and pointed to the illuminated circus tent. The inside of the circus was completely different to what they had expected - the walls moved under the light, and a huge black glass rose grew in the arena. The artists appeared one by one, performing shows that might as well have been a dream: a dancer spinning on a rope looked like she was disappearing into thin air, and a circus magician summoned birds of black feathers from the darkness. The whole thing was mesmerising. However, the strangest thing came later. As the final act was about to begin, the director came out into the arena, carrying something covered with a purple sheet. The audience quietened down and the spotlights turned towards the centre. "Dear spectators," he said in a deep voice, "it is time for a show you will never forget. But be warned: not every eye is ready to see everything." At the same moment, Lila poked Susanna and pointed to something between the rows. Someone strange, wearing a black mask, was watching them intently. As the director lifted the sheet and the light dimmed, Susanna felt her heart beat faster. A sense hung in the air that just beyond the thin border something extraordinary was about to happen. Should they follow the stranger in the mask? Or take a closer look at what the purple sheet was hiding? Before they had time to decide, the headlights began to flicker and the sound of breaking glass rang out all around them....