12 New Hire

Anthony was at the ringside, sitting with Ebony and Dan whilst his performers took a 15 minute rehearsal break.

"We can't stay here." Ebony cupped her hands around the flask of coffee she took periodic sips from.

"We have to, we don't leave people behind." Anthony sighed.

"I don't understand why you're so desperate to leave," Dan said to Ebony. "I thought you liked London?"

"I do, there's just been…"

"Complications." Anthony butted in.

Ebony nodded. "You saw those crazy people the other day."

"I thought Ant handled them pretty well."

"I did. But we're not leaving without Tobias."

"What if he's gone somewhere else?"

"He hasn't got anywhere else to go."

Ebony shook her head. "We'll give him until tomorrow afternoon. If he's not back then we have no choice, Ant. We have to leave him behind."

Ant sighed, he was in a rare grumpy mood, unlike his usual happy-go-lucky self.

Clarabelle shoved her way into the Circus tent, out of the cold.

She looked around at all the beautiful people before her and couldn't help to feel a little self conscious before marching past them.

Anthony sprung to his feet and walked to her. "Hey, show's aren't running here anymore-"

"I'm not here to see you." Clarabelle was focused and marched past him.

"Typical." Anthony huffed. "Nobody ever comes to see me apart from debt collectors."

He followed her to Ebony's side.

"I need to talk to you."

Ebony looked up and adjusted her glasses. "Clarabelle? What are you doing here? You couldn't have possibly used those NightHowlers already."

"I need to talk to you, it's urgent."

Ebony watched Clarabelle's eyes trying to hold back tears, she nodded and got up, escorting her to the Medical bay.

"What was that about?" Dan raised a brow.

"I don't know," Anthony sighed. "But it smells like trouble. You know the drill, run the joint until I come back.��

Dan nodded and watched Anthony leave.

Anthony walked out from the crimson curtains, almost bumping into Jesse as he crept.

"My apologies."

"Not now. We have some spy work to do." Anthony kept his voice quiet.

"Are you toying with me?"

He crept along the corridor to the Medical bay "No, you're helping me."

"When did that happen?"

"Just now."

"What are we finding out?"

"I don't know."

Jesse gave him a look. "I don't think you know what a spy is."

Anthony hushed him. "Look, just be quiet, something ain't right." He went to slowly pull the door handle down, he was stopped by Jesse when he tapped a Sigil on the back of his hand, it glowed a dull pink colour before he grabbed Anthony's arm with one hand and the door handle with the other, he gently opened it without making a noise.

"What does that do?" Anthony whispered as quietly as he could.

"Silences any noise you or I make, so long as you don't separate from me." He spoke as usual, like he wasn't hiding from anyone.

Anthony peaked through the crack in the door, he could hear and see Ebony with Clarabelle behind a curtain, the two of them speaking to each other.

Anthony crept in first, Jesse followed behind whilst still holding Anthony's arm and silently closed the door.

The two of them kept a distance, as not to be seen, but listened carefully to the two women.

"A what?" Ebony seemed confused.

"An anonymous globe. You activate it and it makes the last thing that touches it invisible."

"How did your parents even come into possession of something like that? Where did it come from?"

"They used to gather technologies, artefacts, relics. You name it, anything they saw as valuable and they had to have it. They left it all to me but I don't really use it that much, mainly for work if I really needed the money."

Jesse spoke as he listened carefully. "Not by legal means did she get them. They're not supposed to be handled by anybody other than High Sages."

"I know what I did was wrong but I felt threatened and I didn't know what else to do. I had the recording on my phone pretty much as soon as she walked through the door." Clarabelle's voice cracked as she spoke.

"And you got rid of the evidence?" Ebony questioned.

"Yes."

"All of it?"

"Yes. The Nighthowler's she didn't drink I poured down the sink, as well as all the rest I had, I scrubbed the cup she used and bleached everything until there was nothing left."

"Okay." Ebony took a moment to process the information. "You keep this to yourself, alright? Nobody has to know it was you, there's nothing to trace it back here. You killing the High Sage will be our little secret."

"You killed the High Sage?!?" Jesse let go of Anthony's arm in shock, revealing the ungodly noise he made.

"Well...That was a well kept secret." Ebony rolled her eyes and drew back the curtains. "You two. How long were you here?"

"You killed a High Sage?!" Jesse couldn't believe what he had heard.

"Okay, about that long." Ebony sighed and folded her arms.

Clarabelle buried her face into her hands. "I didn't know what else to do! She barged into my flat and made demands that I didn't want to do, she threatened me! She threatened all of us!"

Anthony shook his head "Wait, slow down. What do you mean?"

Clarabelle hesitated but placed her phone down on the bed in front of them and let the recording play, the four of them listened to the audio and sat in silence for a moment or two, none of them wanting to be the first to speak.

"We…" Anthony chose his words carefully. "Are so screwed."

"Anthony!" Ebony scowled at him.

"Beyond screwed. We're boned, we're toast. Nobody is ever going to recover our bodies once they're done with us-"

He was cut off by Ebony giving him an icy cold glare, it was terrifying.

"This is going to end very badly for everyone." Jesse stared at the phone.

Ebony thought for a moment. "Wait, Ant's been trying to do the same thing but he gets 'killed' for it? Even though he has good intentions?"

"The High Sages don't have good intentions. They never did. If they get Clarabelle to do what they want...Well, I have no idea what the outcome will be, but we'll never be able to go back to what we have now."

Anthony cleared his throat and gestured to Clarabelle. "Are we forgetting the important detail that she killed someone?"

Clarabelle sounded panicked. "I made sure nobody would find out! And that my tracks were covered."

"... This isn't your first murder, is it?"

Ebony snapped a rubber glove at Anthony's face. "Shut up."

Anthony whined. "That hurt."

"Good, then you know it wasn't an accident."

"Well...What do we do?" Jesse questioned Ebony.

"Why are you looking at me as if I know all the answers?"

Anthony rubbed his face. "You're the brains around here, Eb."

"Nice try, flattery and charm might work on the people you bring home but it doesn't work on me." Ebony's gaze snatched from Anton to Clarabelle "I don't like what you did. Hell, even you being here right now is endangering us all if anybody finds out and traces you here… But at the same time none of us are perfect. You're lucky we move around a lot so it'll be harder to catch up to us. You have our back, don't worry, but just keep your head down."

Clarabelle nodded quickly "Thank you, Ebony."

"Ant, are there any rooms left?"

He shook his head "Tobias and Jesse took the last one but she can have my room until one someone leaves."

"That's if he comes back." Jesse folded his arms.

Ebony shook her head and sighed. "We'll burn that bridge when we cross it. Ant, go help Clarabelle and get her settled in."

Anthony nodded and led Clarabelle into the hallway, the both of them strolling their way to his room down the long corridor, there was a daunting awkward silence between them. Clarabelle hesitated to speak but found herself opening her mouth and the words falling from her lips. "You don't have to give up your room for me, you know?"

"I know."

"Where are you going to sleep?"

Anthony chuckled. "I don't have time to sleep between shows, setting up and trying not to be killed by a whole orchestrated government conspiring against us."

"You're not scared?"

"Terrified, but when other people depend on you and look to you to know what to do you have to pretend to know what you're doing."

"How's that working out for you?"

"Got me here, didn't it?"

"And here's me panicking because I just left my life behind, my flat, my job."

"Well, you know I could hire you, if you want?"

Clarabelle stopped and stared at Anthony. "Do I look like some side-show attraction showgirl to you?"

"No, you look like a girl I just offended somehow."

She thought about what he had just offered her for a few seconds. "Wait, you travel around all the time, right?"

"Right."

"And I'd get paid for doing whatever it is I'd be doing, right?"

"Right."

"In that case, I'm in." she walked ahead with a gleeful bounce in her step.

Anthony stood there looking awkward and confused, "What an emotional rollercoaster I just went through there…" and caught up to her with a brisk jog.

The two of them stood outside his bedroom, he paused a brief second before turning the handle "You're not allergic to anything are you?"

Clarabelle gave him a strange look.

"I have a dragon-"

"I love dragons!" she excitedly squealed and clapped her hands together. Anthony smiled and opened his door, letting her in and walking in behind her.

Buddy heard them come in and ran over, sniffing around Clarabelle's ankles and rolling onto his back over her feet, Clarabelle bent down and scratched at his belly, making him purr.

"That's weird, he usually doesn't let new people rub his belly."

"I don't know what to say, I love him. What's his name? How old is he? What type?"

"Hi name's Buddy, he's 10 years old and I'm not sure, Jesse called him a something-snout something."

"Where did you even get him? He's adorable." Clarabelle scratched her nails under Buddy's chin, he seemed to enjoy the attention he was getting.

"My brother gave him to me as a gift, he breeds all sorts of animals on his Ranch in Texas."

"Really? Can we drop by at some point? I adore magical creatures, especially dragons."

Anthony was apprehensive. "I wouldn't count on it, we're not on good terms right now."

"How come?"

"Family stuff, he stole ten dollars from me, I stole his girlfriend, clashing personalities, that sort of stuff." Anthony folded his arms and watched her play with Buddy.

"Oh." She didn't know how to respond, so changed the subject. "Well, thank you for helping me, I really appreciate it."

He shrugged "Why wouldn't I? It's what any decent person would do."

Clarabelle nodded and let go of Buddy, he whined for more scratches, so she was obliged to give him more. "So, How many Mages here are there?"

"Not many." Anthony shook his head. "Me, Jesse, Tobias and Ashe."

"The rest are Mortals?"

"Yeah, they can't know about us yet."

Clarabelle's face scrunched in confusion "But, you're trying to show magic to Mortals, why wouldn't you tell the people you work with first?"

"It's different when they're people you're around and consider family. With my performers I'm genuinely scared of what they'll think or say, or even if they'll stick around."

"Why would it matter what some performers think of you? You're their boss, it should be the other way around."

Anthony sighed. "Yeah, well they're all I have. Circus performing is a dying art really. Not many people want this life, can't blame them, it's not an easy one."

"Then why do you do it?"

"I love entertaining people. It helps people escape."

"I don't think I follow."

"People worry about everything and anything, they have such busy lives that sometimes they want a break. When we put on a show I want people to forget about the world around them for a while so they can just relax, be happy and maybe see something new. Making people genuinely smile is the noblest of arts, but it's also a dying one."

Clarabelle couldn't help herself but to stare at him for the longest time, she had never thought of life in this way before. To her life was serious, it was about getting a job and paying for stuff she didn't need or want, work was always seen as a chore, but she could tell he loved his work and everything that came with it.

At this point Anthony had just realized that he'd been staring at her too, but for a completely different reason. His cheeks blushed a deep red, he made himself jump then chuckle nervously. "Ugh...Yep. Good talk. I have to do a thing now." He promptly left with a heavy sigh as he shut the door quickly behind him.

"You got it bad." Dan's silky smooth voice made him jump, he was standing in the hallway, arms folded and leaning against the door frame.

"It?"

"Ebony was pressing for you to settle down but moving her into your room on the first day...You move very quickly."

Anthony playfully shoved him away with a grin, Dan didn't budge an inch thanks to his muscular frame. "Knock it off, she's having a rough time so I employed her."

"That's so nice of you." He smirked. "So when's the Wedding?"

"The same day you shave your beard."

Dan looked insulted and offended by his remark "How dare you."

"I dare...What were you doing hanging outside my room anyway? How long were you there for?"

"Not long, but long enough to see that your face was as red as your hair when you walked out of there."

"So?"

"I know you well enough. You like her."

"I like her about as much as I like you."

"That's a lot of love."

Anthony smirked "More like I put up with you because I feel sorry for you."

The both of them started throwing jabs at one another as they walked down the corridor.