Cirque Periculum

Chapter 12.2

"Calm down everyone, calm down," Mr. Summertin projected over his audience of uncomfortable circus members. He stood a few steps up on the staircase so everyone could see him. "They know we're here,  but that's not going to drive us away. Listen for a moment, will you? SHUT UP!"

The lobby of the hotel immediately fell silent. Connor glanced around for the millionth time to see if he could find Riley, but she was nowhere in sight. His mind whirled and his growing anger immediately turned to Mr. Summertin. Why weren't they out looking for her?

"Thank you," Mr. Summertin sighed. Bags hung over his eyes and he stood hunched over a little, as if he was trying to carry a heavy load on his back. Connor guessed he had a rough day too.

"Now if I may continue," Mr. Summertin cleared his throat. "Camp Caute is not here to turn us all in. I met with their leader today and he promised not to disturb us if we go about our business peacefully. I don't know why they are here, but they aren't here for a fight."

Connor balled his fists and shouted, "WHERE'S RILEY THEN? THEY TOOK HER AND YOU'RE NOT DOING A THING ABOUT IT!"

His voice echoed off the walls. Any whispered conversations being had came to a close. Adam looked up at the ceiling and discreetly sidestepped away from him. Heads swiveled in his direction, and he immediately regretted speaking up.

Mr. Summertin stared at him for a moment, as if calculating how to handle this outburst. He stepped down from the staircase and crept towards him.

"That is quite the conclusion you have jumped to Connor," Mr. Summertin said, his voice still loud enough for all to hear. "Do you care to explain how you have contrived that?"

"I- I-" Connor's anger fled. "I was with her right before Camp Caute started parading down the street. She left before we did, and I didn't see her on the street or anything."

"So you just assumed the worst? Or did you see Camp Caute take her?"

Connor shook his head, defeated. "No sir, I just assumed."

"Thank you," Mr. Summertin practically whispered. He cleared his throat again. "I will have all of you know that Riley is on an errand for me. She is being escorted by Mr. Salem and they are both safe."

Mutters ran through the crowd as Mr. Summertin strode back to the staircase.

"We won't let Camp Caute deteriorate our stay here," Mr. Summertin said, back to his original volume. "We will still perform as planned tonight. That is all."

The crowd dispersed, and minutes later Connor slammed his hotel room door.

"What are they doing here?" He fumed, stalking over to his window and peeking out at the miniature army filling the street below.

"They're probably looking for you," Adam said, sitting down on his bed. "That's what I was going to tell you about at the library. Meridian is innocent."

Connor whipped around. "What? How do you know that?"

"I found something in that encyclopedia. There's a very rare gift that allows someone to control another person."

"So like she was hypnotized?" Connor asked.

"A lot like that, yeah. The book even had a few of the symptoms of someone being controlled. She's been pretty spacey the last few days, right?"

"Yeah, I think so," Connor said.

"And she's had headaches and felt bad right?"

"Yeah, she complained about it all week."

"I think someone from the rival camp controlled her and tried to get her to snuff you out," Adam said, standing up to pace. "They got Meridian by herself and hypnotized her. I think they had to have been there last night to control her."

But Camp Caute doesn't want to kill me, they want to recruit me.

Instead of vocalizing that thought, Connor said what he had been thinking since last night, "I need to see Meridian."

Adam grinned. "I've been waiting for you to say that."

"So you've thought she was innocent this whole time?" Connor asked, thinking back to his day of suspicion.

"Well, didn't you?" Adam asked, cocking his head to the side. "I mean, Meridian treated you like her own son."

"You said compassion was easy to fake," Connor said. "What changed your mind?"

"Did I say that? Oh- well... Let's get onto the plan. You need to see her, but not tonight."

Connor rolled his eyes but didn't press the matter further. "Why not?"

"Mr. Summertin just announced that we're still doing our show tonight."

"I guess I wasn't listening," Connor said, sitting back down on his bed. "So what's the plan?"

Adam rubbed his hands and smiled. "I thought of it last night. It was really tricky because I assumed that whoever tried to kill you would still be looking for you. I assumed it was the rival camp, but I didn't think they would be here in such big numbers. It looks as if they have the whole camp here. It doesn't change things too much, we would just have to be more careful and we may be able to slip out without-"

"Adam," Connor interrupted, chuckling a little. "The plan?"

"Oh, right, sorry." Adam smiled. "Two nights from now, not tomorrow night because Camp C- Camp Ca-"

"Camp Caute," Connor suggested.

"Yeah, Camp Caute is going to be on their guard all day tomorrow after sighting you today."

"And you don't think that they won't be on guard the next night?"

"They will, but we leave the morning after that," Adam said. "Preferably we would just sneak out of camp to see her back at the home base, but we don't know for sure that's where they'll keep her."

"That's true," Connor said. "I didn't think of that."

Adam didn't respond. Instead he walked over to his nightstand and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen.

"Ever since we got here I've been mapping out the city," he said, handing Connor the pad. "I was fascinated by the pulse and rune walls so I marked where certain symbols were. Now we have a more practical use for it."

He pointed out a particular section of the map that was covered in symbols. Adam had scrawled out the title of the location, the boating dock.

"The boating dock is where the shield is the weakest on the interior. The exterior shield goes out about two hundred feet into the water. As long as you don't use magic between the interior and the exterior you should be fine. After you pass the exterior shield you can just fly the rest of the way."

"So how are we going to get me to the boating dock and steal a boat?" Connor asked, handing Adam his notebook.

"I was hoping you would ask that," Adam said with a devilish grin.