The Boy of Shadows and Sin

Chapter 17

The first thing that the seven quest-goers saw when they walked into the circus tent was a short, angry looking body builder walking towards them. He had a waxed moustache and a flashy leopard print leotard that made Will want to vomit. His beady little piggy eyes scanned them all up and down disapprovingly.

Will glanced at the others, contemplating their options in a fight, if this guy turned out to be bad news. He had a weapon--he had a whole bag full of weapons--that he didn't know how to use. Damian had a weapon, Natasha was good at hand-to-hand, Ace had some sort of magic--but this guy had biceps the size of watermelons and looked like he could use them to crush somebody's skull without any issue whatsoever. 

Finally the man spoke in a reedy voice that could have matched a piccolo flute note for note. Will couldn't understand what he said, though; he was speaking in French. 

He felt useless standing there as Damian rattled something back at him. Asia turned to the rest of them and shrugged helplessly. They all stood as ready for combat as they could be--a clear difference in readiness, Will noted. Nathan and Allie were tense like himself, ready to run. They all had that in common--the slight build of a sprinter. 

Asia and Natasha had loose, relaxed stances, but were clearly alert. The two of them were used to having to fight, Natasha's hand hung loose by her waist, prepared to grad the machete that hung at her belt if it came to needing to use it, while Asia balanced out on the balls of her feet like she was hovering in that moment before she leaped at something. 

Ace swayed back and forth slightly, eyes darting around spastically. His hands trembled slightly--though whether that was due to the drugs or the magic, Will remained unsure. 

After another rapid-fire burst of conversation, Damian turned to the rest of them and spoke in broken, heavily accented English. "He says we are at the..." He hesitated, searching for the right words. "Comment dotes-vous....Cirque du Peche." 

Asia frowned. "Doesn't that mean--"

A frown of concentration spread across Damian's face, and then there seemed to be a little pop in the air. Nothing seemed to have changed, but when Damian spoke, his English was fluent. "The Circus of Sin."

Natasha blinked, and asked, "Did you just--"

"Cast a variation of the enchantment used at Temple. It'll only hang on for a few minutes. We'll have to find other ways to communicate when it wears off. Natasha, how's your English?"

The girl frowned and made a so-so gesture with her hand. "Passable at best."

He sighed. "Well, the strongman says welcome to the Circus of Sin, and that they would be honoured if we would stay for a while and watch them perform for us."

Will was skeptical. "I don't know, this seems like a bad idea."

The others all nodded, but Ace shook his head. "We need to get these assholes out of here. They're messing with the henge."

Damian agreed with Ace. "It's a dangerous combination, this circus on this land. Downright volatile. Things could go downhill very quickly if we don't get rid of this place."

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Downhill in what way?" He leaned on his left ankle, a nervous tick that he had told Will he had been left with after a bit of fae magic left him with a stiff ankle. 

It had been an interesting story that Ace and Nathan had told him the night before.  Ace had dropped out of school and Nathan was a junior planning on a career in theatre when he had been cursed by Aaron Tveit and turned into a marble statue. Ace had gone through a series of challenges in order to try and reverse the curse on his closest friend. In the end, he had failed, and neither of the two were willing to tell Will how they had gotten to this point in time. All he knew was that they were now inseparable and madly in love. Nathan had lost a few fingers on his left hand when he was a statue, which he concealed with ease, and had been left with such stiff ankles that walking was sometimes impossible.