Cirque Periculum

Chapter 9

"Kirklane?" Connor shouted, jumping out of the way of the swinging knife.

"Connor, I'm sorry. I didn't recognize you," Kirklane said, staring at him with wide eyes. "I just saw other bodies lurking around and I expected the worst."

"That was Riley and Adam. Where did you come from anyways?"

"I was over there," he said, pointing in some direction that didn't help clarify anything, "and then I popped through to here."

Popped? Was he the one making that noise?

"How did you get behind me without me seeing you?"

Kirklane shrugged. "I teleported."

So THAT'S what his power is!

"Do you know where anyone else is?"

"You ask a lot of questions. And no, I don't. I saw Meridian before the walls shifted, but I lost track of her. Some of the walls have runes on them that don't let me go through."

"We need to find everyone," Connor said, choosing a direction and hoping that Kirklane would follow. He did, taking long strides to catch up.

Connor snuck glances at the tall man. Up close he wasn't as intimidating. His eyes were softer, and his face seemed younger than Connor first thought.

"How old are you Kirklane?" Connor said as he turned a corner at random.

"Call me Kirk, if you don't mind. Kirklane was what my parents called me," he said, spitting the word as if it were poison. "I'm nineteen, just turned it last April."

Connor nodded. He wasn't too far off of his earlier guess. "So how did you come to join the circus, Kirk?"

Kirk laughed, it's deep sound resonating down the corridor. "You really are full of questions... I'd rather not talk about it..."

Connor nodded, thinking back to what Largo had said about him.

He turned another corner and Kirk stopped him. "We need to find the relic in order to get out. I don't know if Mr. Summertin has it or not."

"Is the relic really that important? I don't see why we just don't leave it here."

"I heard Mr. Summertin and Mr. Salem talking before we came. The relic is the key that'll get us out of here."

"Do you know what the relic is?" Connor asked, squinting through the fog at what looked like a person.

"No, Mr. Summertin has kept us all in the dark about that."

The person Connor was squinting at turned out to be a rather large headstone. Runes glowed over the intricate carving of angel wings, their meaning unknown to Connor.

"Those look like Mr. Summertin's. They've been here," Kirk said, looking around as if he expected them to come running out of the shadows.

"They aren't here now though. So do we have any idea where this relic was hidden?" Connor asked.

"I would assume that it's wherever Mr. Summertin and Mr. Salem were before somebody touched the cross."

Connor's cheeks turned red. "It wasn't me! I-"

"I saw what happened." Kirk laughed. "And honestly I was about to do the same thing."

"It was impossible to see who it was from that far away! And they weren't supposed to be there in the first place."

"They followed you, huh? Riley got that boy to come with her to spy on you?"

Connor's cheeks turned redder. "It was the other way around. Adam couldn't stand that I didn't tell him what I was doing so he got Riley."