2 What lies in the Shadows
Jesse strolled out of the Circus tent with Anthony by his side and hurried out from the cold onto the more comfortable and luxurious high-end streets of London, occasionally catching a glance at himself in the glass of the designer stores he walked past.
Anthony watched his surroundings, mainly as a mental note of how to get back to the Circus.
"Your branch of magic, what is it?" Jesse spoke quietly.
"My what?" Anthony said absentmindedly.
"What's your branch of magic? Elemental? Adept? Necromancy?"
"It's complicated." Anthony hesitated.
"You don't seem too sure of anything in the magic community that you claim to be a champion for." Jesse led them across a road.
"I'm not a part of anything, I don't belong anywhere, hence why I chose a Circus, you don't stay in one place too long and you meet people from all over the place."
"Surely you must know some things about Mage Realms?"
"What is a Mage Realm?"
"It's just another name for the magic community, their way of life-"
"So where are you taking me? I know High Sages are the people behind the organization for magical laws and stuff, but that's about it."
"The Astoria is where the Council of High Sages conduct their business, we're almost there, afterwards perhaps I should educate you on a few things."
They turned a corner, between two very expensive clothing stores, one with tailored suits, the other with puffy winter coats, was an out of place looking building, it was run down, the dull looking beige paint chipping away, the doors and windows were boarded up and appeared abandoned.
Anthony made a face "This is where you're going to kill me, isn't it?"
"Appearances can be deceiving, Mr. Barnum."
Jesse walked up to the disheveled building, glancing over his shoulders as he got closer, scanning that he wasn't being watched, opened the door with ease and walked straight in.
The outward appearance reflected nothing about what was on the inside, he strolled through a vestibule that screamed grandeur, pristine white marble as far as the eye could see, the end of the vestibule lead to a circular main hall that had paintings of important looking people hanging up on the walls between busts of other important people, the plinths holding them up were made entirely of gold that glistened.
Jesse ignored his immaculate surroundings like he had been there a thousand and one times, whereas Anthony stared in awe at what he was seeing.
"Surely you see the irony of the outside appearance from the inside?"
Jesse opened a side door that led into a corridor, "Why advertise yourself to be robbed? Nobody would enter a place thought to be abandoned and have nothing of value.", down that corridor was a room which could have been confused with a library with the amount of books on the shelves.
Alisha Savage and Atlas Booker were talking amongst themselves, they wore elegant black robes that covered their bodies, the pair of them stopped talking when Jesse approached.
"High Sages." he gave a nod.
Alisha was a pretty woman with impressively sharp cheekbones, looking to be in her mid-40's, her short blonde hair and baby blue eyes were her most striking features, whereas Atlas was tall man around the same age, his figure was broad and his greying beard cropped tightly, whereas his hair was swept back and kept it's chocolate brown colour.
"Sterling." Atlas answered, his gaze focused on Anthony "And who is this?"
"Anthony Barnum-"
"Ant." Anthony interrupted.
The room grew quiet. Jesse took a few steps back to distanced himself from Anthony, shaking his head whilst watching the floor.
"This is the one we've been so concerned about? He's a child." Alisha couldn't help but chuckle.
"I'm Twenty-Four."
"A child." Atlas' gruff voice silenced Anthony. "Once you reach your first Century of life, maybe then you can speak with confidence."
Anthony managed to bite his tongue, he was going to say something about a great skincare routine but decided he was in enough trouble as it was.
"Do you know why you're here?"
Anthony shook his head "Not particularly. I wasn't exactly passing through the neighbourhood"
Alisha piped up "We've heard rumours about a Circus using Magic that matches your name and description. You fit the bill and we've been watching you closely."
"How closely?"
"Close enough," Alisha continued, "You are the Ringmaster to your Circus, yes? Owner?"
Anthony gave a shallow nod.
"Well, it seems your Circus is teeming to the core with magic. You've come up on our radar fairly recently. There's talk that you've been exposing magic to the Mortals."
"Am I on trial here?" Anthony questioned.
"Unofficially, yes."
"Officially?"
The High Sages took a moment to glance at one another, Alisha pushed herself from the desk to stand up fully "Officially we've come to the conclusion that you are risking our community and way of life by exposing magic to the Mortals."
"Look, my Circus has been running for generations-"
Atlas rebutled "Ah, yes. But in that time technology has improved immeasurably. Cameras, Photographs, Phones, you get the idea. Which means it's becoming increasingly harder for you to explain yourself if the time came where you, or any other Mage are caught."
Anthony became defensive "My Circus isn't that big or well known, I'd understand if it was like the Ringling Brothers or Cirque du Soleil but-"
"They don't have Mages as Ringmasters."
Anthony's face scrunched up, "My secrets stay with me. I provide people with something they can't get anywhere else. A sense of wonder and amazement and letting the people who come to see me and my shows forget about their worries and what's outside the tent. I'm not about to give that up because you guys up on your high horses think you'll lose whatever bit of power you have if Mages find out you've been feeding them lies. The Mortals aren't a threat to us. We don't need to hide-"
Atlas snapped his fingers, shadows swooped from his cloak and materialised into solid matter, they swept Anthony's legs from under him, he landed hard on his back, the shadow wrapped itself around his mouth and silenced him by force.
Atlas knelt down and towered over Anthony "That's where you're wrong and show your naivety, Barnum. If the Mortals can't see eye to eye over something as trivial and naturally occuring as a difference in skin tone and race of their own kind, what chance do we, as outsiders, have?"
Anthony tried to protest but the shadow wrapped around his face tighter.
Jesse watched uncomfortably "High Sage Booker… Mr. Barnum is ignorant."
"We're well aware of that." Alisha rolled her eyes.
"I mean, he is a Mage but he isn't aware of the laws… He-he doesn't know a lot when it comes to Mages, by the looks of things, other than he is one and how to use his magic."
Atlas thought to himself for a moment or two, "That isn't unheard of but very unusual." he then placed his finger under Anthony's chin and lifted his head to look at him "Is that true?"
Anthony's golden eyes glistened as they watched him, nodding his head gently.
"You're from a magic family?"
Anthony nodded.
"But that's as far as it goes?"
He nodded again.
"I suppose that would explain a few things, Mage family, runs a Circus, travels a lot and is not part of a Mage Realm." Atlas watched Anthony for a few more seconds before clicking his fingers once more, the shadows wilted away from his mouth "You aren't worth a bad reputation." he stood firmly.
Anthony managed to yank himself up to his feet.
"No more. Mortals do not find out about magic. Do you understand?"
Anthony could only swallow the lump in his throat as he let out a small noise.
"I'll take that as a yes. Stirling, escort Mr. Barnum back from wherever you picked him up from."
Jesse said nothing and gestured for Anthony to walk with him.
Alisha watched the two men leave and sighed heavily, tilting her head to Atlas "I knew that boy was going to be trouble. Why didn't you let me kill him?"
"I believe in second chances, he is young, still in his natural life span."
"You've gone soft."
"Far from it, ignorance isn't worth a murder."
"And if he still continues this behaviour?"
"Then we use him as an example for other Mages to fall in line."
