Victoria Starling

**Victoria Starling** is the main antagonist of *The Bootlace Magician*.

## Biography

### Early Life

Her father was quite insane, and had three different 'insanities,' as they are called. The first, the hat insanity, ended right after she was born, and involved making ugly, flowery ladies' hats. The second insanity was when her father decided to become a furrier, which meant he skinned small animals and sold the fur or skin. This one made quite a lot of money, and Victoria and her mother had all the luxuries they could ask for. But her father decided that he wanted to greet native tribes in the Amazon rainforest. To get there, he sold his furrier business, and made the decision to fly instead of ride by train or boat like a normal man.

The plane fell apart during the flight, and everything except Victoria fell to the ground, including her parents. Her parents and the pilot fell to their deaths, but Victoria, she stayed hovering in the air, suspended by magic. She wandered, doing random carnival shows that paid very little money. She took up singing, and birds were lured to her from her song. Victoria kept her favorites as pets and continued to look for a job.

### Life at Circus Mirandus

She finally wandered upon Circus Mirandus. Victoria auditioned for a show in the circus, and eventually, they took her, somewhat reluctantly, as her show was excellent but her personality left something to be desired. The reason she was accepted was because the Man Who Bends Light volunteered to keep an eye on her. After a while, her personality got the better of her, and she began to think that the circus was useless. After skipping three shows in a row, Mr. Head sent The Man Who Bends Light to scold her. Victoria tried to make him come with her, to no avail. He asked her to do one more show, try to see the potential in the children.

The show started well enough. She flew around the top of the tent, with her flock of birds swirling around her. But then she asked for a volunteer to pet one of her birds, a female swan named Eidel. Victoria invited the little girl to the middle of the tent, then commanded the swan to dive down, smashing itself on the ground. Then all the other birds either fell like Eidel or attacked others. Magical and non-magical alike, they all hit the ground. Phoenixes burst into flames as they crumpled. Every child either screamed or fled or *both*.

While the chaos burst in front of her, the Bird Woman floated in midair, looking neither horrified nor enraged. She was *satisfied*. Mirandus Head, Bibi, and a couple of Strongmen did their best to shield the children and stop Victoria, but they could do nothing while she was in the air. Thankfully, the Man Who Bends Light came in and installed an illusion in the children's minds that everything was perfectly peaceful, and they stopped screaming. The Strongmen rushed the remaining audience out. The Man Who Bends Light stepped forward and asked her why, why would she do such a thing, but again, Victoria replied boldly, saying, that with one misstep, the circus's objective was destroyed.

The Man Who Bends Light proceeded to 'remove' her magic. Really, all he did was make her not believe in her own magic, and if you don't believe, you can't have it. Victoria, horrified, was escorted by Bibi, out of the circus. For good.

### *Circus Mirandus*

The information above was revealed in *Circus Mirandus*, and Mr. Head also concluded that she could still be alive from her years at the circus.