The hospitable field below the city had changed beyond recognition. A huge, scarlet circus dome shone in the moonlight and colourful trailers, fiery torches and stalls selling bizarre snacks were set up around it. The Solaria circus, known for its most bizarre shows, had set up camp here for several nights. Pola, Viktor and Lena - a pack of slightly grown-up friends who have recently been arranging nighttime excursions more often than before - had long felt that this night would be different from all the others. It was Lena who spotted first: a circus performer no one had ever seen before was training under the dome just after midnight. Her movements were too fluid, too.... different. She had hair so white it seemed to glow in the dark, and a coat with a strange, shiny lining. None of the adults spoke of her arrival. Instead, the old artists exchanged brief, anxious glances among themselves. Friends hid behind piles of trunks. The circus was asleep, only somewhere far away dogs barked and the trapeze rope creaked. Suddenly, no sound at all - just a slight whisper under the dome. Pola felt a shiver run up the back of her neck. Lena squeezed Viktor's hand as the mysterious artist began to perform aerial acrobatics without protection. As she hovered over the arena and her shadow danced across the colourful canvases of the tent, there was a sound of what sounded like a short laugh and then - a deep, drawn-out sigh. Pola suddenly noticed that the shadow on the canvas was moving differently from the artist's figure itself. They moved closer, holding each other's shoulders tightly. Then, from the darkness, they heard a snarling whisper: - Not every show ends the way you assume.... At the same moment, the lights around the arena went out. A quiet sound came from deep within the tent, as if someone was slowly moving a heavy trunk across the floor. The friends held their breath, not knowing whether they were more afraid of being spotted or of what they would see if they dared to come closer....