She ran into the circus and went inside. She paused for a moment. She noticed that the wooden stage was covered with a black curtain. As she turned to leave, she heard the curtain open on its own. She turned her head abruptly and looked. Her eyes widened at the spectacle. On the stage, there was a huge rectangular glass tank, full of water. Just above the tank, she saw seven members of the troupe, excluding Joe, tied with ceiling chains. All of them were unconscious. From left to right were Purple, Pink, Yellow, Green, Red, Blue, and finally Jio.
"Find the sins," she heard a familiar voice, "and if you guess correctly, I will free them; otherwise, they will drown!"
It was the demon. She didn't see him anywhere, no matter how she looked around. "You have ten minutes!" And with these words, a huge bronze clock with Latin characters appeared, hovering in the center of the circus.
The demon was once again speaking in riddles.
"What sins?" she asked loudly, but the demon didn't answer, and time had already begun to count down. Her heart rate increased. She looked at the chained troupe and had no idea what to do... What sins was he talking about? Her mind worked feverishly.
Sins...
And then she remembered! The seven deadly sins!
"Lust, sloth, greed, wrath, envy, pride, gluttony," she said quickly, looking at them all, believing that this was the right answer. But nothing happened.
"Why aren't they freed?"
"Which sin belongs to which one?" the demon's playful voice echoed.
Purple... What was Purple's sin? She racked her brain, but the only feature that came to mind for all of them was madness and paranoia. Jio had described their good sides in the past. But what were their bad sides?
Purple was the one who felt superior to everyone and constantly stared at himself in the mirror... a narcissist. That's it!
"Pride!" she said, pointing at Purple. His chains broke, and he fell into the water. A loud splash echoed, spraying her face.
"What? Was that wrong?" Horror was painted on her face.
"No," the demon laughed, "I just said I would make it a little more interesting. Anyone you identify will fall into the water. To save them, you have to find them all before time runs out; otherwise, they will drown."
Madalen felt stunned, her pulse beating wildly.
She looked at Pink. He seemed so childlike with his blush and pink hair. She couldn't imagine anything negative about him. What could it be? Often, he was bored doing what others told him to do...
He's lazy... she thought.
"Sloth!" she said, sure of the answer. The chain broke, and Pink fell into the tank.
Yellow was never happy with what he had...
"Greed," she said, pointing at Yellow.
She looked at Green. Without much deliberation, she said:
"Envy."
Only the twins and Jio were left. Jio was definitely wrath; it couldn't be anything else. But what about the twins?
"Time is ticking, tick-tock," the demon taunted, trying to stress her.
She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath...
Blue is...
She remembered the scene in bed with half-naked spectators and Blue chasing her around the room...
He likes sex... And Red... eats a lot...
"Gluttony!" she said, pointing at Red.
"One minute left!" the demon announced.
"And lust!" she said, pointing at Blue.
The chains broke.
"A few seconds remain," the demon continued to enjoy himself.
"Wrath!" Madalen shouted confidently and pointed at Jio. But Jio did not fall into the water. The chains seemed firmly in place.
The clock stopped abruptly, a second before the time was up. Her breath caught.
"Wrong," the demon mocked and appeared in front of her with his foul, intangible black form. His yellow, cat-like eyes shone, and his smile reached his invisible ears. He grabbed Jio by the shoulders and disappeared into a black hole that appeared from nowhere above the tank.
"What did I do wrong?" she screamed. "I found all the sins! Release them!"
"You found all but one!" the demon's voice echoed. As soon as he finished his sentence, the glass tank shattered, and the water poured out, turning the circus into a wet landscape. Madalen's feet got wet.
If Jio's sin was wrong, then who was wrath?
Of course, she thought, Joe. How could it have escaped her mind? The demon had set up a trap and managed to fool her. She felt so stupid.
Inside the tank, she saw a black object pulsating. Another piece, she thought, as she picked it up.
She approached the troupe to see if they were breathing. She was sure they were not dead. Purple opened his eyes first.
"What happened?" he asked, feeling confused. He looked at his wet clothes and then at Madalen.
"The demon had tied you with chains and threw you into a tank."
Purple did not speak. He shook Pink, who woke up, and then the rest of the troupe came to.
"Where did the demon take Jio?" Madalen asked, believing they knew the answer.
"We do not know. As for what the demon does with Jio, that is none of our business," Yellow replied.
"Don't you worry?"
"Why?"
"Because the demon almost killed you! He took Jio, and you don't know where he is."
They were all strangely calm.
"It's not the first time," Green replied.
"We are used to the demon's games. After all, we are just his puppets," said Purple as he stood up.
"If you disappear, won't it matter to you?"
"No. If the demon decides to make us disappear, it means that we will all become one again, and the sins will be lost."
"But he won't let that happen," Yellow said.
"I am worried about Jio," said Madalen, full of anxiety.
"And so you should be," Blue said. Madalen looked at him strangely.
"I mean, Jio is the one who is really in danger, not us."
"I have to find him. Help me."
"Unfortunately, only if the demon lets you will you find him."
"When will these trials end?" she asked indignantly.
"They're finished," Purple said.
"What?"
"You passed them." As if he reconsidered, he added, "Supposedly."
"Then why did he take Jio?"
"Obviously, you were make Him angry enough, because you passed the trials. He will have another plan now," Red replied.
"But it was assumed that if I passed them, Jio would be liberated."
She remembered though that the demon tricked her, maybe because it was the last trial.
"It's not so simple," Red said.
"Do not trust the demon," Purple advised.
"He probably has more in store for you," Blue added.
Her heartbeat increased, and a madness overwhelmed her. She wanted to break everything. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "What am I going to do?"
"Wait... it's all you can do," Green said.
Wait? The only thing she couldn't do.
She started looking for Jio everywhere. In vain. Finally, she went to his room. She sat on the bed, gazing at Humpty Dumpty's painting. What an awful creature, she thought. Then her eyes fell on Jio's katana hanging on the wall. She took the katana in her hands and opened the case, displaying its glittering blade. She looked at her reflection on its smooth surface. She stared at it, lost, with paranoid thoughts surrounding her. She felt for a moment that she was losing her mind. What would she do with the katana? Kill the demon? It was unlikely. She put the katana back in the case and left it in place.
"Madalen," she heard the playful voice of the demon. "Oh, Madalen..."
It didn't take her long. She headed back to the circus.