A LEAP OF FAITH

Chapter 12: The court fool.

The seven of them quickly turned around, trying to find where the voice came from. Bright lights turned on, illuminating the room. Standing on top of a large platform, suspended up in the air, was a small clown.

"Who are you?!" Kiren demanded.

"My, my, so feisty! I suppose it suits a little fiery thing such as yourself!" The clown cooed, clasping his hands together. His voice was high-pitched, and he had a British accent. "You shall address me as Jester, the keeper of this here carnival!" He introduced himself in a sing-songy tone.

"You look oddly familiar..." Sugar mumbled, squinting her eyes.

"ARE YOU THE JESTER WE STUDIED ABOUT IN HISTORY CLASS?! Ah, what was your name again... I forgot; I wasn't paying attention..." Kiren paused.

"Jessie Solace," Mugi said. He was really the only one that paid attention during class.

"YEAH, YEAH, JESSIE SOLACE, THAT'S YOU, RIGHT?!" Kiren pointed at the clown.

"I DON'T GO BY THAT ANYMORE," he hissed, clenching his fists.

"SO YOU ARE! How'd you end up here?!" Kiren asked in curiosity.

"After the kingdom that I resided in fell to nothing but an abandoned castle, I just had to find another place to go! This here abandoned carnival piqued my interest, so I took it for my own!" He giggled.

The seven of them stared up at Jester, confusion filling their minds.

He was incredibly short, just a bit taller than Mugi. He had short, messy and pure white hair. Sitting atop his head was a jester cap with two points at the ends of his hat. One side was blue, while the other was red with yellow polka dots. His eyes were yellow and downturned, he had a button nose and a large grin. His skin was incredibly pale, his cheeks and nose being light pink. Around his neck sat a white ruffled collar. His shirt was plain red. Over that were large, yellow suspenders and bloomers. His sleeves and arms were abnormally long, they came down just above his ankles. He wore thigh-high striped socks, paired with shoes that had star-shaped bells on the end of them. He was on the chubbier side and looked like a young child.

"How old are you-?" Malcolm asked in confusion.

"TECHNICALLY I'm... over one thousand years old, but I'm physically and mentally fifteen!" Jester explained happily. He jumped down from the platform, landing on his feet like a cat.

"You look like you're seven." Sugar snickered.

Jester scoffed, his grin disappearing, "I DO NOT! YOU DO!" He folded his arms, pouting.

"You act seven as well." Ari rolled his eyes before looking around, "either way... have you any idea where our friend is?" He asked.

"Well, I was going to tell you, buuut you guys are being mean to me, so I don't think I will!" Jester smiled slyly, placing his hands on his hips.

Sugar groaned, "We don't have time for games, just tell us where she is!" She demanded.

"There's no need to be so rude to little 'ol me, now is there?" Jester tilted his head, "and... after all, this is a carnival. Why wouldn't there be games?" He snapped his fingers, a long baton appearing in his hand. He slammed his baton down onto the ground, the floor of the circus tent began to spin slowly. Jester tapped his baton again; he teleported back up to the platform.

Sugar stumbled; it was hard to keep her balance in platform heels.

"WHAT THE HELL-" Kiren shouted, hanging on tightly to Malcolm.

Jester swayed his legs back and forth, obviously enjoying their struggle. "Oh, how I just love having power! It's similar to being a dictator, aw, it brings me back to my prime years!" He rambled, "except I'M the dictator this time, isn't that lovely?!" He giggled. He swung his baton, the floor stopped spinning. Everyone except for Mugi fell onto the floor, he was good at keeping his balance.