Tales of Gloomsdale #4: The Horror of the Big Top

Chapter Fourteen

I shuddered as we walked through the street, the evening chill beginning to seep through my skin. I could vaguely hear the bustle of the circus in the distance, which made my hairs stand on end more than the cold. I told myself it was just because the street was so quiet and empty at this hour, especially the way Antonio was leading us.

"How much further to the circus?" I whispered to Antonio while following him around a corner, wincing at the sound of clangs through the abandoned alley. "This isn't the right direction, is it?" I realized it probably wasn't a good idea for all three of us to go off, but it was too late to turn back now.

"Here's where we all stay when we're traveling to a new town." I raised my head as Antonio came to a stop at an abandoned area lined with a row of worn-down, rickety caravans. I realized they were attached together like a train, with a larger carriage at the front.

"So the case is just inside?" Ben asked, backing away.

"You know it is," Antonio retorted, slightly annoyed. "It isn't locked or anything. Neither is the door. Any of us could've walked in and taken it at any time."

"Easy for you to know, isn't it?" Ben pointed out. "You're the ringmaster's son, so he probably tells you everything."

"He does not," Antonio protested.

"We don't have time for this," I hissed, glaring at both of them. "We already wasted too much time talking. Now we have to go back to the circus and somehow distract him enough to put his staff aside."

"Then what was the point of coming here?" Ben demanded, looking around. "You brought us here for no reason."

Antonio shook his head. "No, I have a plan. Kyle and I will head back to the circus and convince him to come here while you hide in one of the other caravans. Then one of us will get him to put his staff aside somehow and leave before he remembers to take it. After he returns to the circus, you'll take it from wherever he put it in his carriage."

"Not the most well thought-out plan," Ben quipped.

"I know, but it's the best one I could think of," Antonio said.

None of us had any better ideas, so we agreed. "Why do I have to hide here? Why can't just take it from him at the circus?" Ben asked.

"It probably isn't a good idea to make a scene in front of a huge crowd," Antonio pointed out. "We should do it here, where it's more secluded. And he'll probably realize something's up if we all try to distract him."

"I don't know. I'd rather have people around, in case the ringmaster catches me trying to steal from him and goes crazy," Ben shuddered.

"When have they ever stood up for us before?" Antonio retorted. "Well, aside from Kyle. And he won't notice you. Kyle and I will distract him, and we'll convince him to head back to the circus."

Antonio opened one of the caravans for my dad to hide inside, even if he clearly wasn't comfortable. I wasn't either when seeing how small and dirty it was.

"It's where we eat, usually," Antonio explained.

We kept discussing our plan on the way to the circus, trying to think of a way to distract the ringmaster and convince him to leave the circus.

"You could pretend to be sick and say you need help," I suggested.

Antonio scoffed. "Are you serious? He'd probably just tell me to stop being a wimp."

"Well, what's in the caravans?" I asked. "Maybe he left something there."

"Not much. He puts the performers' caravans behind the big top whenever we're performing," Antonio explained. "And mine and the horse's."