From the adventures introduction: Prologue On the Tacoma air so often laced with heavy metals, the acid tang of refineries, assembly lines and the vapours of the sluggish Puget Sound another scent had overlain itself. Cotton candy, crepes and toffees mingled with the industrial air, making it sweet and cancerous all at once. A wide lot, vacant yesterday and long ago bulldozed empty of anything but tarmac and the memory of jobs, was now filled with tents, trucks and temptations for children of all ages. The Carnival had come to Seattle, nestling itself in the city's empty spaces as it had once settled itself in farmers' fields, unheeding Time. A few beefy trolls manhandled the poles of the last tent with ease and a dwarf with grease paint forcing a permanent smile on his face jammed fliers under the wipers of the cars crawling past in the slow rush hour traffic. “Come to the carnival,” they said. “An experience you'll never forget.”