Part III: Intersections
Thirteen
There is an opulent and vibrantly colorful anniversary celebration for the circus at Chandresh’s townhouse. All of the originals are there, save the late Tara Burgess. Even A.H. slips in. Herr Thiessen is invited if he promises not to write about it, a condition to which he, of course, acquiesces. He spends much of his evening with Celia. The twins are there, and, as it is their birthday, Chandresh gives them a set of identical marmalade kittens. Chandresh gives a warm but rambling speech, and there is dancing. Marco avoids Isobel as much as he can and whispers to Celia that he wishes he could dance with her. Chandresh introduces her to A.H., but she remembers him from when she was six.
Marco manages to pull Celia away. The air between them is electric and he says he has missed her. A.H. finds them and politely says he would like to speak with Marco. He then sternly admonishes Marco for getting too close to Celia. Marco is frustrated with numerous things, especially when A.H. will not confirm whether he is doing well and insists that he always stay hidden. Marco tells A.H. he is in love with Celia, and for the first time since he has known him, A.H. has a facial expression: sadness. He tells Marco there can only be one victor: Marco cannot quit, as he is bound to this thing and to her.
A.H. departs and Marco angrily throws a billiard ball at him. It does not hit. He swiftly returns to the ballroom, sees Celia with Herr Thiessen, spins her away, and gives her a deep kiss. By the time he leaves the ballroom, almost everyone has forgotten about this. Poppet and Widget see A.H. leaving, and Widget says uncomfortably that the man has no shadow.
Bedtime Stories
On this night, Bailey, Poppet, and Widget have a delightful time exploring the Labyrinth. It takes a bit of time for them to get out, and Bailey and Widget do not understand why Poppet looks discomfited.
While the twins are doing their kitten performance, Bailey wanders away and sees a tag the size of a large postcard on a tent. It welcomes entrance to “Bedtime Stories” and says that one can open what is closed.
Inside, Bailey is alone in a dark tent that seems to have a lot of furniture in it. The room is filled with innumerable jars and bottles, and he experiments with a few. There are smells, memories, and intimations, sensations of the ocean in one and a garden in another. Another one is more disturbing. It is heavy and he smells the circus, but he hears screaming and has the sensation of falling.
After opening another heady bottle, he decides to leave. Outside, he continues along the circus’s pathways, wondering when he will encounter the twins again.
Poppet finds him and asks what he was up to. He tells her about the tent and she laughs that it is Widget’s tent. Celia made it for him so he could practice putting down his stories. It is easier to do that than it is to write them.
They pass the evening, and towards the end, Bailey begins to notices the sartorial flashes of red. Poppet explains about the rêveurs. Before he can ask too much more, she pulls him into the Ice Garden and suggests playing hide-and-seek.
Bookkeeping
Chandresh wanders around his lovely home. He is a bit drunk, a bit discombobulated. He hasn’t really worked in years; nothing makes much sense to him. The circus bothers him and he does not know why. Through the fog in his brain, he wonders if Marco has the circus plans in his office.
He enters the office and tells himself that it is his house, after all. He looks around for a time and is surprised there is not much of a labeling or organization system. Most documents are inscrutable. He looks at the desk and sees a locked drawer that he tries to open. He finds a silver knife and picks at it. Once it opens, he discovers an old, dusty leather book. On the cover are an exquisite tree and ciphers. Each page of the book, he finally discerns, has a signature on it and a lock of hair next to it—all people involved with the circus. He finds his own and does not know what to think.
A shadow falls across the book; it is Marco. He asks what Chandresh is doing, and Chandresh asks about the book. Marco replies that they are the records for the circus. His replies are cryptic to Chandresh, who becomes disturbed and accuses Marco of subterfuge and sabotage. Marco sighs that none of them has any choice—and that Chandresh will not remember this conversation.
True to Marco’s assertion, Chandresh looks up, puzzled, and asks what they were discussing. Amiably, Marco offers him another drink. Once Chandresh leaves, Marco empties the office completely.
Later that night, Chandresh has a conversation with Prospero the Enchanter.
Three Cups of Tea with Lainie Burgess
Lainie visits Mme. Padva in her London studio. They mention Chandresh’s oddness.
Lainie then visits Mr. Barris, asking him what he and Tara discussed when she came to him before she died. He tells her he loves her, but she is not particularly interested in this right now. He sighs that he knows what is going on but will not say. He will not lie, and he will not break his bonds.
Lainie is upset; he holds her hands and tells her he’d tell her if he could. She knows this, but it does not help. She asks where the circus is now; he says it left Budapest but he is not exactly sure where it is going next. He will ask Herr Thiessen, since Celia tells shares the location with him.
In Constantinople, Lainie invites Celia to meet with her at a hotel. They exchange warm greetings and talk for a bit, but Lainie explains the reason for the meeting: she wants to know what is going on. Celia humors her and gives her the broad strokes as honestly as she can. Before she leaves, Lainie tells Celia to tell her if she needs anything from her; people are not as easily repaired as things like teacups.
Stormy Seas
After her show, the illusionist bows and leaves the tent. One man remains, and Celia comes out once everyone else is gone. She is delighted that he has come to visit her. Marco asks if she likes the Cloud Maze; she responds that she truly does, and she likes that Barris helped him.
Marco playfully creates his own illusion for Celia in the tent. The walls are covered with lines of poetry and hymns, all speaking of love. The tent walls morph into branches of poetry-covered trees. Celia is awestruck.
Walking through the trees, they share with each other what they know about the competition. Marco asks about her father and she tells the truth of how he took himself apart but could not quite get himself back together again. He haunts the New York house and tries to hold on to her, but she is better at avoiding him now.
Marco inquires if what Hector wanted to do—to remove himself from the physical world—is possible to do properly. Celia muses that it would require a touchstone, and her father wanted the whole world when he should have more modest ambitions. She might be able to do it, she says, but she is fond of the physical world.
Marco shifts his illusion to be the deck of a ship in the middle of the ocean, but the ocean is made of books.
The two compare their scars from the rings, ruing the fact that they will never go away.
The ship tosses on the sea and Celia is pushed into Marcos’ arms. He holds her and begs her to say his name. When she does, he tries to kiss her. She wants to return the kiss but sadly says this would be too complicated. She wishes she could let go and give up all the control, but it is impossible. Marco suggests they run away, but she tells him to let his thoughts go to that and see what happens. He does, and his finger with the scar begins to burn. The pain is immense; he collapses.
Celia says she had figured out this was what happened the night he kissed her, when she desperately wanted to be with him and to leave this competition. He smiles through his pain at hearing she wanted to be with him.
The rest of the night, they stay apart physically, but they tell stories—stories from childhood, from their lessons, and more. Their feelings for each deepen tremendously, but they must move on.
An Entreaty
Bailey is out with the sheep when he sees Poppet approach. She seems out of place because she is not inside the circus. She tells him she has something important to talk to him about. Nervously, she begins by saying this is the last night at the circus, and when it leaves, she wants him to come with them. She knows deep inside that this is important, but she is still confused as to why. Bailey listens, but he asks what he would do—just tag along? He doesn’t have any talents or magic. Poppet grows more distressed and says that if he doesn’t come, there won’t be any circus anymore. She has trouble explaining how she knows this, but she can tell the circus is sick. For example, that night in the labyrinth when she couldn’t get out was a warning, since that had never happened before.
They sit in silence for a moment. Poppet takes out a bottle and gives it to him, explaining that it captures the smell and sensation of the oak tree. Bailey asks how long he has to think about it. She replies that the train is leaving at dawn. She asks for a favor: don’t come to the circus tonight if he isn’t going with them, because it would be too hard. He agrees.
She leans forward, kisses him softly on the lips, and walks away. Bailey looks after her, uncertain of what to do.
Invitation
Celia is in London. She is tempted to see Marco but instead goes to the Midland Hotel. She meets with the man in the gray suit.
Intersections I: The Drop of a Hat
On All Hallow’s Eve, people wear masks as they wander the circus. It is fascinating and disconcerting for people to blend in here.
Marco spreads the fortune-teller’s beads and sits down in front of Isobel. She has him draw a single card, and it is La Papessa. He says nothing and leaves after a time.
She reaches down to procure a hatbox. She opens it and pulls out a single tarot card and a folded white lace handkerchief. This tempering was only a precaution and she doesn’t even know if it helped keep the circus balanced. She starts to remember everything she saw of Marco and Celia and remembers how she always saw them and their love in the cards. She’d been balancing them, helping them both. She suddenly rips the handkerchief apart. She holds her breath, feeling silly and alone.
Suddenly, she hears Poppet screaming.
Darkest Before the Dawn
A bit before Isobel hears Poppet screaming, Poppet joins Widget at the circus gates and she tells him what happened. She admits she kissed Bailey and he says he knows: she is not concealing it well. She asks if he talked to Celia, and he says she won’t say much and is distracted.
Poppet speaks of what she saw in her vision and Widget asks if it will be soon. She thinks it will. He jokes that they can kidnap Bailey; she sadly replies that they've done what they need to do and now they need to wait.
Intersections II: Scarlet Furies and Red Destinies
Chandresh enters the circus and picks up a silver mask. He wanders around as if in a dream.
The man in the gray suit does not wear a mask. Chandresh follows him, seeing that he seems to be enjoying himself. No seems to notice A.H., but Chandresh watches him.
However, there is someone watching Chandresh as well. Marco wears his own illusory face mask.
A.H. tries out the Ice Garden, sees the illusionist, and enters the Hall of Mirrors. He rides the Carousel and visits the fortune-teller.
As midnight arrives and October becomes November, the crowd thins out. Chandresh watches A.H. stop for some reason. He hears a voice in his own head telling him the man is not real.
For a moment, it seems like time stops. An acrobat loses her balance. The bonfire sputters. A kitten doesn’t land on its feet, and the illusionist pauses, her face pale. Marco crumples as if punched by someone.
Chandresh pulls out a silver knife and throws it, but his aim is imprecise. His target moves, and instead of embedding itself in A.H., it hits Herr Thiessen instead. Chandresh looks down and cannot remember what he was holding. He wanders away, confused.
A.H. lowers Herr Thiessen down to the ground. He speaks hurriedly but nothing changes, and he closes the man’s eyes.
Poppet Murray screams, breaking the spell of the circus. Everyone else who saw it assumes it was a stunt.
Farewell
Bailey finds his hidden box but decides he doesn’t want to take anything with him except the white glove. He gathers his savings, writes a note, and says goodbye to his sister, to whom he stands up for the first time.
He walks away from the house and realizes how he is truly leaving and nothing stops him. The stars come out as he walks.
To his shock, though, the circus is no longer there.
Retrospect
Hector and A.H. encounter each other. A.H. admonishes him that the circus is too exposed. The men quarrel and Hector accuses A.H. of getting too close to his players. A.H. retorts that Hector put his daughter in a place where she might end the game herself, like seven of his other players.
A.H. continues firmly that a man died tonight—a man Celia loved, and this will break her. Hector vanishes.
Beautiful Pain
Marco is in his crowded flat. The door swings open and Celia is there. He sees the blood on her gown. She begins to sob that she tried to fix things but could not; it could not be made right.
She does not understand why the balance went off tonight, but Herr Thiessen died and he was her friend. Marco explains that it was Isobel: Isobel was tempering the balance, and tonight, when he told her he loved Celia, she let it go. He is confused as to why Alexander was there, though. Celia replies that she invited him because she wanted a verdict. She does not know how Chandresh knew he was there, and neither does Marco.
She looks at Marco’s notes, papers, and bindings. It is the safeguard, and he wishes he had added Herr Thiessen to it. Celia sighs that it would have been another patron if it had not been him.
After a few moments, Marco takes her to show her another room in the house. There are strings and layers of paper on every surface that replicate the circus. In a cauldron, a miniature bonfire burns bright. Celia breathes that this is old magic, and Marco shrugs that it is the only kind he knows.
Marco starts to say he could talk to Alexander, but Celia stops him. They begin to kiss and remove their clothes. They spend the night together, and though the room shakes, nothing breaks.
The two fall asleep, but Celia is gone when Marco wakes. There is a silver band on the mantel and Marco slips it on his finger. He does not notice the safeguard book is gone.
Analysis
Marco and Celia’s relationship, which the narrator suggests is almost predestined, accelerates in this section. The two fall for each other at the party and continue to get to know each other at the circus when Marco comes to visit her. There is a sense of doom hanging over their relationship, though, which is strongly suggestive of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. They are meant to be competitors, maybe even enemies, yet they are drawn to each other. Though they are able to resist each other for a time, fate cannot be ignored.
Because the circus’s power source and its binder—Celia and Marco, respectively—are faltering in their ability to hold the circus to the standard of perfection it requires, it begins to slowly disintegrate. Its potentially destructive fate is foreshadowed in Bailey’s experience of Widget’s bad dream, as well as what happens when Isobel stops tempering between Marco and Celia. That subtle balance is upset, and it is upset at a crucial moment: when the beleaguered and befuddled Chandresh, at the suggestion of Hector Bowen, throws a knife at A.H. and murders Herr Thiessen instead. The perfect equilibrium is gone for a moment, and even though it rights itself, it will never fully be the same until a definitive end to the competition arrives.
The narrator suggests that there is a way the circus might be saved, but the narrator is vague on the details and effectively creates suspense as to whether or not this will happen. Poppet’s visit to Bailey is the first indication that the boy may have a larger role to play in the circus than he (or the reader) once thought, and that the circus is headed towards disaster if the things that Poppet sees happening do not happen. Bailey's decision to go away with Poppet, Widget, and the circus—which is what Poppet says he must do—is problematized by the fact that the circus leaves early.
One of the major events in this section is the death of Herr Thiessen, which is a heavy blow for Celia and for the reader. Thiessen, who readers may have initially thought was just a minor character who made a fascinating clock for a mysterious patron, becomes a reader stand-in with his enthusiastic, brimming-with-love descriptions of the circus. Morgenstern told a Bookpage interviewer, “Herr Thiessen is very dear to my heart and I think I understood him immediately—who he is and what the circus means to him, why he feels compelled to capture something of it in prose. He’s the person, along with Bailey, who sees the circus from the outside when so many of the other characters are unable to have that perspective, so to me it was the point of view that the circus was meant to be viewed from. It is his eyes that see the sum of the parts, his words that reflect the circus back on itself. I suppose it is a bit postmodern but, given the nature of the circus as a performance space, the audience plays an important role and Fredrick is the beating heart of that audience.”
