Cirque Periculum

Chapter 8

When Connor woke up again, he was surrounded by people. His head pounded and his vision was blurred. The first person he recognized was Meridian. Then he saw Mr. Summertin shove through everyone to get to him.

With his fists clenched and his face flushed, Connor didn't have to be a mind reader to guess how he was feeling.

He grabbed Connor's shirt and pulled him up to his feet. "What happened?" He shouted in his face.

Connor's hands shook. "I don't know sir, I didn't do anything."

"You didn't do anything? Really? Well who did boy?"

Riley shoved through to join them. "Do you really think he would burn his ropes on purpose? Or that he wanted to fall in the first place?"

"No one else was up there with him. Who else would have done it?" Mr. Summertin snapped back. Connor had never seen him this angry.

"We all know there's only one other person in this tent with the pyro gift," Riley said, pointing to the nearby Mr. Salem.

Adam crawled under someone's legs and stood up next to Riley. "Mr. Salem was near me for all of Connor's performance," he said. "It couldn't have been him."

Connor looked around at them all. "I saw someone- right before I fell. I couldn't tell who it was, but they were standing on my platform. And their hand was glowing right before my trapeze broke."

The huddled performers looked around at each other, whispering. Mr. Summertin sighed. "Well whatever happened, it's ruined our entire week of performances. When Meridian flew down and caught you, Mr. Barge had to send a pulse that made everyone forget what they saw. Thankfully I don't think any pictures were taken."

"It's Amanda's prophecy," Adam said. "She said there was a traitor in our midst. Someone tried to kill Connor, but why?"

Mr. Summertin sighed again before turning to everyone else. "Alright, the circus is closed tonight. We won't be staying here any longer than we have to now. Tomorrow morning we will pack everything up. We're going back to headquarters until further notice. Be on your toes. And stay in your tents tonight."

The crowd of performers left the tent in bunches, conversing loudly about the incident. Riley pulled on Connor's arm to leave, but Mr. Summertin stopped them.

"Connor, I need you to stay behind for a second. We need to talk."

Stopping, Connor swore to himself. Hadn't Mr. Summertin berated him enough about the whole ordeal?

Connor noticed that he wasn't the only one sticking around. Largo, Mr. Salem, Meridian, and some man Connor had never seen before stood huddled in a group, talking in hushed tones. It was strange to see Meridian and Mr. Salem in the same group. They hadn't ever shown a reason for Connor to think they disliked each other, but he just figured from how different his lessons are between the two that they wouldn't get along. At that moment he wished he could join them, but Mr. Summertin wouldn't allow it.

"Hurry please," he said, ushering Connor off to the side of the tent, away from the lingering performers. Once they were out of earshot, he continued.

"We don't have much time and a lot to do, so I'll be brief. Myself and that fine group behind us are leaving for a time tonight, and I feel that it would be too dangerous to leave you here without us being present. I'm expecting that your... friend, is still lurking around somewhere."

Or he's standing right behind us right now, waiting to go with us. Mr. Salem would do something like this, Connor thought, thinking back to Riley's accusations.

"Anyways, we are leaving right now, so get your gear together and meet us back here in five minutes."

"What gear?" Connor asked. "And what are we doing? Did we run out of groceries already?"

Mr. Summertin's face turned serious. "I won't tell you what we're doing just yet. We need secrecy on our side, not that I don't trust Adam and Riley, but I don't want to put any of you in danger."

Danger?!

"You will need a jacket, the dark one preferably. Anything else that's darker than what you're wearing now. we don't want to stand out."

Connor looked down at himself. In all the commotion he had forgotten he was wearing his performing garb.

"You're right, I wouldn't want to go anywhere in this."

Mr. Summertin smiled before joining the group behind them. Connor rushed back to his tent. He could already see signs of the circus disassembling. The lamps were gone and he could see a line of tents that have already been taken down that sat in lumps of bright cloth. He couldn't help but feel disappointed that the shows got an early cancellation.

Connor rushed down to his tent. Connor thought about nothing else other than the trip. What were they doing, and why couldn't Mr. Summertin tell him where they were going? Or what they were doing?

Adam was sitting on his cot when he reached the tent.

"What's going on?" Adam asked, noticing Connor's contemplative expression.

"I don't know. Mr. Summertin has to go somewhere, and he wanted me to go with him."

"Can I come?"

"No, it's nothing big I think. We're probably going to go get groceries or something."

"Well why didn't he just tell you that then?" Adam said, standing up.

Connor walked over and pulled out a black hoodie and dark jeans. "I don't know, he just didn't tell me. I'll let you know what's going on when I get back."

Adam furrowed his brow. "Alright," he said slowly, "does Riley know?"

"No, I haven't told her."

Connor quickly changed and left the tent and a very contemplative Adam. He couldn't figure it out, and it was killing him.

Mr. Summertin and the four others were still waiting in the tent, talking in hushed tones as if they were afraid someone would overhear.

Meridian noticed Connor first and walked over to him. She wasn't smiling.

"After tonight, I don't know who you can trust Connor, so listen to me," she said. She spoke quickly, her tone almost panicked. "You need to be able to protect yourself."

She pressed something into his hands. It was a dagger.

"What am I going to do with thi-"

"Shh, be quiet. I know it's not much, but it's enough for tonight."

"What are we doing tonight?"

"You'll see soon enough. Just, be careful, and don't trust anyone."

***

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