Atlas had waited patiently in his office for most of the day, the dank and dimly lit room had a certain appeal to it, mainly to bookworms, since there were stacks upon stacks of books scattered around in shelves and stacks on the floor, the décor looked like it hadn't been changed at all over the years, some type of stains on the carpet that festered a musty stench. The thing that stood out most about this office was the large desk, it was grandiose in size and style, handmade from the finest Oakwood, carved patterns and Celtic runes etched into every surface, its dark colour magnified how heavy it was.
Atlas growled quietly to himself as he drew the curtain to the large window, allowing some much-needed sunlight to pour into the room. He reached into his pocket and grabbed at his phone, dialed a number and slapped the phone against his ear, trying to call Jesse but at that point the phone didn't bother to ring.
He became increasingly frustrated and launched his phone at the wall, smashing it into tiny shards of broken metal and plastic. The loud noise attracted unwanted attention, Alisha was quick to check on her colleague, poking her pretty head through the door "Atlas? Are you alright?" she watched him pacing back and forth "Atlas? What's wrong?"
"Jesse hasn't returned!" he snapped.
"He still has a few hours."
"He's betrayed us, Alisha! Open your eyes!"
"What makes you say that?" She tried to stay calm and collected.
"We've had Mages taken out before, no problem, and all of a sudden he stops answering calls, he finds excuses, he's stalling for time!"
"I think you're overthinking things, Atlas. Let me clean up around here and it might let yourself calm down-"
Atlas yanked Alisha by her wrist and pulled her away from the piles of books on the floor that she had started to pick up "Calm myself down?!" he bared his teeth and let out a snort "I don't need to calm down, I need answers and at least one dead man at my feet!��
Alisha shook her head "He will return. Barnum is a lot more strong willed than any of the other Mages we've dragged back kicking and screaming. Just allow Jesse more time. I trust him."
Atlas released his grip on her wrist "One hour. If he isn't back within the hour with that jumped up, red headed freak show, then we will go to them."
Alisha rubbed at her wrist "That's not the best plan, the Mortals-"
"The Mortals are no longer my concern, so long as I don't use magic to kill them I'm not exposing anything, as for where they are…" he shoved his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, he unfolded it showing a leaflet for Anthony's Circus, it was light purple with nothing more than the Circus name and black silhouettes of performers in the background "Have you ever been to a Circus, Alisha?"
Her eyes glossed over the leaflet "As much as I don't like Barnum, I'm not sure that this is the wisest option."
"I'd share your concerns, but if you remember correctly, Barnum said it himself, he's not running anything big. He's a small time Ringmaster in a show counting pennies to the pound. He won't be missed by a lot."
"That's not what I meant," Alisha hesitated "even if only his performers are there we'd still be outnumbered, more witnesses than we'd be able to Obscure."
Atlas pinched the bridge of his thin nose "If it pleases you, Alisha, we'll corner the two of them, away from everybody else and bring them back here to be killed."
"I thought only Barnum was being killed?"
"If Sterling isn't back within the next 58 minutes. If by some miracle he is as loyal as we thought then he'll simply be fired instead for stalling time."
She sighed and reluctantly nodded. "That's as fair as this situation can be for the time being. What happens after Barnum has been killed?"
Atlas raised a brow "What happens? What happens with what?"
"Well," folded her arms sternly "you're the one that's been going to all these meetings with other territory leaders and you haven't exactly been liberal with what's going on."
"If you wanted to know what was going on why did you send me and not go yourself?"
"Simply put, my dear. I don't want to."
Atlas sunk back into his seat "Everything continues as normal, picking off Mages until the wrong one is killed which we can blame on the Mortals and make our move to take control."
Alisha hummed quietly "Wouldn't it be easier to let that Mage be Barnum?"
"Excuse me?"
"He's a nobody, and the people who know of him know him as a trouble-maker. The once respected family name of his, the respect that he probably doesn't even know about, all comes crashing down and destroys him. It would be a waste not to have him as an initial target, since he has connections to both Mortals and Mages."
Atlas forced an uncomfortable cackle "You mean people care for his well being?" he stretched his arms out ���A shame, really. A family to have been one of the best entertainers known to the Mage Realms, what a fall from grace, the damage of falling out of line is a heavy price to pay."
Alisha glanced down to the leaflet in her hands, crumpling the corners ever so slightly "Where did you get this?"
"On my way here, they're scattered around. The Circus isn't too far of a stretch from here anyway."
Alisha raised a brow "So close to a Mage Realm?"
Atlas froze in his seat, "Then that means…"
"That means Barnum is purposely allowing Mortals to mix with Mages to watch his show, in an enclosed space, meaning they'd more than likely talk, bond and socialize."
"This is a problem. We need to put a stop to this now."
"Exactly, the best thing we can do is wait to see peoples reactions, if nobody cares we keep looking for that Mage. If people do care, however, we use Barnum's death to ignite that spark between the Worlds."