Boom

"What?" Marie blinked at the sudden announcement that they needed to leave, looking between the darkened ring and her anxious ringmaster. "But..."

She started to protest, but at that moment Jacque stepped into the ring, and the look on Colette's face made Marie close her mouth around her argument. She followed Colette's gaze to the ringmaster, and then to the highwire, uncomprehending and suddenly, inexplicably nervous. She let Colette grab her hand and lead the way from the tent, looking over her shoulder to see the beautiful twin brothers stepping delicately onto the wire, while the crowd held its breath below.

They rushed back to the circus, with a speed that Marie found unreasonable - certainly not merited by the need to prepare for the evening's show, still yet many hours away. But Colette's mysterious anxiety rubbed off on Marie, who suddenly had a Bad Feeling (and of course, knew better than to ignore such things, lest they be premonitions or hints from friendly spirits or something), rushed along without complaint.

As they reached the neighborhood in which their circus had settled, Marie crinkled her nose - smoke? - and walked faster, pulling up the hem of her long skirt and mentally noting that dressing properly was overrated. Yes, there was definitely smoke; there was a plume of it, rising in a cloudy grey curl from a spot some two blocks away. Marie nearly stopped dead to watch it for a moment, realizing its source, and then broke into a sprint.

One of the hot air balloons, which during the show was full of hydrogen to help support a sideshow tent, was crumpled on the ground, the tent collapsed with it, smoke still rising from the scorched silk. There were burn marks on the surrounding balloons and the tops of the tents for yards and yards around, though the balloon hadn't been very big. It was impossible to tell how long ago the accident - had it been an accident? - had occurred; they'd been gone maybe an hour, and though a few audience members lingered at a safe distance, watching circus workers buzz around the fallen balloon as if it were part of the show, most were gone.

Marie coughed on the smoke as she hurried towards the damage to help.