Anthony was leading his performers with such grace and showmanship. Sebastian and Mia had started their magic routine, Mia was suspended upside-down and blindfolded into a tank of water, Sebastian draped a large curtain over the tank for half a suspenseful minute, he removed the curtain to reveal that Mia was gone, a spotlight pointed her out in the sidelines among the audiences watching, completely dry and wearing a beautiful black gown. She struck a hand-on-hip pose, flashed the crowd a smile and rejoined her husband, both of them took one another's hand and bowed. The crowd erupted into applause and were in awe. Lola was a tall Fire-Juggler, her hair, more ironically more copper than the flames she carried, she carefully nudged by Sebastian, juggling the flame-lit torches, letting the pair know that was their cue to leave the stage, as the juggling acts were drawing to a close the spotlight pointed up, showing Ashe was suspended in the air on his silk curtains, the only thing keeping him so high was a simple knot, a terrifying thought to anybody who had no clue what they were doing, but Ashe did. He wiggled to balance himself on his side of the silks then allowed himself to twist into the curtains, the knot caught him before he had the chance to come any closer to the ground. Another successful act that made the show better with every passing second. Anthony captured the crowd's attention majestically and directed them to Dan, who used his raw strength to hoist himself onto a metal pole and maneuver his weight from left to right, eventually managing to hold his bodyweight off the pole using only the palm of one hand. More awe grew from the crowd, it was a successful show, there was no denying it.
Jesse and Tobias watched from behind the curtains, having a great view of the whole show without having to pay, "Anthony really is a natural born performer." Jesse's gaze drifted from performer to performer.
"Born into a Circus, I guess it's kinda expected from him." Tobias shrugged as he threw a peanut into the air and caught it in his mouth.
Jesse hummed, "I don't really think Anthony would appreciate you telling me personal things."
"Oh, this isn't from reading his mind. That was what he told me, y'know, having conversations with people. You might wanna try it some time rather than just keeping to yourself."
"I have my reasons for not telling my life story to people I don't know."
Tobias smirked. "You mean like how you're ashamed of being half a Mage and half a Mortal?"
Jesse chewed his lip, clenched his jaw and fists, a fire dancer whizzed past them through the curtain to get Ebony's help, she had accidentally set fire to her arm, not many people noticed since it was for a split second but Ebony was on the scene in no time, rushing her off to her medical bay to be treated.
Jesse's glare was cold, it had been for the time he chose to remain quiet whilst Ebony and the young woman were around. "How did you know that?"
Tobias shuffled back onto the table he was sitting on, "I caught you this morning for a split second before you put your contact lenses in."
"Your magic works through eye contact specifically? What did you see?"
"Not a lot, I know you're on our side… And with the being half Mortal, half Mage thing, but that's it."
Jesse grunted and snapped his attention back to the performance. "It's not looked upon too kindly, maybe even shunned in some places, but there's nothing I can do to change that."
"There isn't anything wrong with having a Mortal parent-"
"There's nothing right with it either."
"That's what you've been bullied into thinking, hm? Kinda sad when you think about it."
He sighed "Just drop it, will you please?"
Tobias' devious smirk melted to an understanding and genuine smile, "You do have a soft spot for Mortals, even if you don't want to admit it."
"I'm a part of both worlds so I suppose I don't have any choice."
"You and I both know that's not the case. Who knows, you might be human after all and the wicked witch could still give you that heart you've always wanted." A couple of seconds passed before Tobias asked. "So, is it true that people who are half have a birthmark that points them out?"
Jesse gave the smallest hint of a nod, "Unfortunately, that's what you get. The offspring of Mages who have a child with a Mortal are marked, nobody knows why. It just seems to always be the case. Elders of the past seemed to think it was to show the sign of a curse."
"Elders?"
"That's what High Sages used to be called before the turn of the century, but apparently the High Sages didn't feel respected enough being referred to as Elders so they changed it."
"So where's your birthmark?"
Jesse gave a small tap to his right elbow, his attention was more fixated on watching the show than anything. "And yes, they are fairly noticeable."
Anthony was in the centre of the stage, surrounded by his performers, juggling what appeared to be colourful balls of electricity, they definitely weren't fire, nor bean bags, this turned a few heads, especially when he threw them into the air one at a time, once reaching their peak height they exploded into fireworks.
Jesse's expression soured, his heart sank into his chest "He's using magic."
Tobias didn't take his eyes off the show "So?"
"This place is full of Mortals!"
The next 25 minutes lasted a lifetime, it was tense watching Anthony use magic in front of Mortals, all it would take is one person to look a little too closely and the magic community would be exposed. Once the performance had finished and the curtains closed, the crowds left in their masses and the performers began trickling backstage.
Jesse slipped past and waited in Anthony's room for him to arrive, Tobias followed narrowly behind. The two of them were greeted by Buddy who sniffed at them curiously, then hunkered down and growled aggressively. Anthony had guzzled a few drinks with the rest of his performers before making his way to his room, he didn't have a chance to close the door before he was slammed against a wall by Jesse's much taller and leaner physique barrelling down onto him. "You used magic in front of Mortals!"
Anthony took a few moments to register what was going on "It wasn't anything major-"
He lost his temper and slammed Anthony's chest into the wall "You're exposing us and you don't give a damn! Your stupid, pathetic little show isn't worth risking us all! And I'm putting myself in such a position to defend you!"
Anthony gasped the air from his winded lungs, Buddy screeched at seeing his owner being threatened and manhandled, he bolted, jumped and bit into Jesse's leg. He yelped and released his grip of Anthony. Jesse snapped one hand over the other in quick succession, a symbol glowing on his index finger, a bolt of white energy shot from his hand and directly struck Buddy, flinging him off into the corner of the room whimpering.
Tobias stepped between Jesse and Anthony.
Anthony scrambled to his feet and shoved past the both of them to get to Buddy. He knelt down and checked to see if he was alive, when he felt Buddy contort into a ball and make a small yipping noise he knew he was okay and blew a sigh of relief, he sharply turned to Jesse and stood firmly. "Yes, I used magic, but I have never used it to hurt anyone or anything."
"He bit me!"
"I'm his owner!" he snarled "He protects me when he thinks I'm in danger, that's his instinct!"
Tobias chimed in "Maybe the two of you should just calm down-"
He was instantly silenced by the two of them, "Shut up, you idiot!" then backed away from the apparent two Alpha's trying to assert dominance over the other.
"I've never seen such recklessness from someone who considers themselves to be an adult Mage." Jesse's face scrunched up.
Anthony had suddenly become strangely calm, "And yet I've never injured or caused harm to anybody. You just hurt my dragon, who I love dearly...You can call me whatever you want but in the end, all you are is a lapdog for the High Sages. You really are no better than them."
"You used magic! In front of Mortals, so many Mages have been arrested or killed for so much less than that!"
"Then do something! You're all talk and no action. You're reluctant to do anything but then you go and open your mouth making empty threats! You saw the crowd! You couldn't tell that there was a mixture of Mortals and Mages!"
Jesse froze. "There was a mix…?" the words couldn't leave his mouth quick enough.
"Maybe, probably...I don't know."
"You...Purposely place your Circus close to Mage Realms…"
"How could I do that if I didn't know what one was until you told me?"
Tobias felt awkward just standing around listening to an argument that he knew wouldn't lead to anything, Anthony was too tired and Jesse didn't want to attract attention, so he decided to slip out of the room until the mood lifted. As soon as he closed the door behind him he felt something strange, like he had just walked into an invisible wall, a hard and sharp hit to his body, he knew this feeling of an unfamiliar source of magic coming from somewhere, and he knew it couldn't possibly be a good thing.
He crept down the hallway, walking by some performers who gave him a nod with a slurred "Goodnight", tip-toeing his way past Ebony's medical bay and to the entrance of the main tent.
He was closing in, that's when he heard faint voices on the outside, one female the other male.
"This tent is bigger than I thought it would be. Where are we supposed to find him?" the female voice moaned impatiently.
The male grumbled "Simple, we call Jesse and tell him we're here to lure them both out then we kill him on the spot."
"What if they don't come out?"
The male paused for a few moments "Then we set fire to the tent. Make it look like a tragic accident."
Tobias' heart was racing, he knew the connection between the High Sages and Jesse. He raced back to Anthony's room as fast as his feet could carry him, paying no attention to the fact that he knocked someone over, he just kept running then burst into the room "The High Sages are here to kill you!"
The two of them were still arguing up until that point, Jesse tensed up. "What?"
"They're outside the tent and you're going to get a phone-call any second to lure you both out into the open. If you don't go they're going to set fire to the tent and kill everyone in here."
Both Jesse and Tobias stared at Anthony, desperate to know what he was going to say or do.
Anthony spoke in a somber tone "Answer it."
"What?" Tobias and Jesse spoke in unison.
"It's not fair dragging everybody else into this. When they call you answer the phone and tell them you're bringing me out kicking and screaming."
"Ant," Tobias shook his head "you don't understand. Your death is going to spark some major events. They're going to pin your death on the Mortals and start a war with them."
"I didn't know I was that important." a slight smugness to Anthony's tone.
"You're not."
Anthony frowned.
"Look, I was only able to get a small amount of information by having the smallest amount of eye contact but it's because of your presence here and your connection to both Mortals and Mages that they're choosing you."
"They won't hesitate or think twice about it," Jesse confirmed. "They've done this before and we can't let this happen, this war isn't yours to bare the burden of death for."
"War?" Anthony tilted his head "What war?"
Then Jesse's phone rang.
Everything went silent between the rings. The reality sprung on them of their own mortality.
Anthony chewed his bottom lip "Answer it and stall them so I can get a small head start."
Tobias gave a confused look "What are you planning? Your mind is all over the place."
"Stop reading my thoughts. I haven't got a plan… Just give me a minute or two." he nodded to Jesse to answer the phone then raced out of the room into the corridor.
Alisha answered back "Jesse, you'll never guess where we are."
"It's late so at home, I'd assume?" he tried to keep calm.
"Cut the crap, Jesse. We know you're at the Circus. We traced your phone and it led us here. Bring Barnum to us outside and you'll be let off with being fired." Her tone was cold and calculating.
"High Sage, I-"
"If you don't we'll burn the tent with you inside. You have two minutes."
"He knows." he blurted out.
"What?"
"I-I knew that you were coming," he lied, hoping it was going to be convincing "I had no choice but to tell him because he was suspicious… He's just having one final drink with everyone. At least give him that?"
"Classy," he knew she was smirking, "but I'm still giving you two minutes to bring him to us." She hung up the phone.
Jesse took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Tobias watched him and knew he was terrified and conflicted, not even he knew what was sure to happen, though he had a few ideas of the scenarios that could play out. He remained silent and patted Jesse's shoulder.
Alisha was waiting as patiently as she could whilst Atlas was pacing back and forth like a hungry predator waiting for its prey.
"Calm yourself down, Atlas. Nothing good's going to come out of this if you're getting jittery."
He shot a glare at her, everyone that knew him agrees that he becomes an unbearable, impatient ball of shadows writhing and festering in his own toxic personality, getting more erratic to the point where nobody wants to be in a room with that ticking time bomb.
"The show ended a while ago." Anthony's calm and smooth voice broke the silent tension between them, he stood at the entrance of the tent.
"Where's Sterling?" Atlas grunted.
Jesse stepped out from behind Anthony and didn't take his eyes from the floor.
"Ah at last," Alisha faltered "we were worried you'd turned your back on us."
Atlas snapped his fingers against his palms and curled his fist "No more waiting around," he slapped both his palms together, creating a sickly green crackling spark that he held comfortably around his fingers "I'll do you a favour and make it quick."
Anthony seemed eerily calm, almost as if he was accepting his fate, it took until now for the High Sages to realize he was holding a glass of what looked like Whiskey "Before you do, mind if I finish this?"
Alisha chuckled "He's joking, right?"
Atlas nodded "Never let it be said that I wasn't a fair man, Barnum." he let the sparks disappear and waved his hand out as a gesture for him to finish his drink.
Anthony smiled and gulped down the drink in one swig then scrunched his face and tossed the glass behind him.
Atlas rekindled the crackling spark, he dashed to Anthony and with the blink of an eye struck him in the chest, there was no noise apart from the gasp from Jesse. Anthony's body fell back and harshly hit the grass with an audible thud.
Atlas coldly straightened up and flicked his wrist, the sparks silenced and faded "No Mage can survive that."
"What was that? I've never seen it before." Jesse managed to spit out.
Alisha glanced between Anthony's body and Atlas "That was a Nemesis strike. Technically not a legal thing to do for Necromancers but we'll keep that to ourselves."
Jesse gave a somber nod and watched the big top tent. "High Sages, you should leave before the Mortals realize something's wrong." he knew an odd assassination here or there was normal, but when it happened to someone he got to know and liked, it hit him hard. He wanted to stay to make sure everyone in the Circus would be okay for a few days before he left, purely out of guilt.
Atlas narrowed his eyes "You sound very eager to stay, Jesse."
"The least I could do is damage control on our part to make sure it looks like the Mortals are to blame and to ensure that they don't go looking into things."
"How long do you plan on staying here?"
"As long as it takes."
"In that case, now would be the time to tell you that because of your actions stalling us for time you're relieved of your duty to us."
"I'm fired?" he blinked.
Atlas nodded "Yes. We want loyalty from our assistants, on several occasions we doubted we were getting that from you."
"High Sages-"
"Our word is final, unless you're thinking of trying your luck with me-"
Alisha cut him off "Atlas, the man has lost his job and has watched a man die tonight. Insulting him further by mocking him isn't how we do things and you know it."
"Fine," Atlas turned and walked away "come along, Alisha. We have things to prepare...And Jesse? You keep your mouth closed about everything, I won't hesitate to do the same to you, the fact I'm letting you live is a favour for your years of service to me in the first place."
Jesse nodded slowly and watched the two of them saunter off into the streets like they didn't just commit a murder.
Jesse turned his attention back to Anthony's body and knelt down, placing his hand on the corpse's shoulder, he let out a deafening screech when he felt a hand grab his and scrambled back, his chest pounding and heart thumping.
His screech alerted Tobias and Ebony very quickly, though they were laughing.
"What the hell are you laughing at? Can you not see he's dead?!" Jesse seemed to be the only one to be furious.
"Really?" Tobias grinned "I'm no Doctor but he's sitting up staring at us."
Jesse almost snapped his neck turning so quickly.
He was right.
Anthony was sitting upright with a smirk on his face, even giving Jesse a wink to top off his immaculate resurrection. Jesse couldn't help it and gave another screech.
"Geez," Anthony rubbed his head "you could wake the dead with those lungs."
"You're dead. I watched you die. There's no way a Mage could survive that."
Tobias smirked and helped Anthony to his feet "Exactly, we managed to snag a little loophole in that one."
"What?" Jesse's puzzled expression was amusing to watch, trying to get the gears in his head turning to work out what they meant.
"When you were on the phone and said I was having a final drink it gave me an idea. I knew whatever the High Sages were going to do had full intentions of killing me, so just in case it did I went to Ebony."
Jesse raised a brow "What could you possibly have done to prevent death?"
"He came to me and I gave him this." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vial with a tiny amount of liquid.
"What's that?" Jesse tilted his head.
"Essence of Black Lotus. It's used as a sort of anaesthetic when someone's having a risky operation, it protects all the organs, making someone incapable of dying for a short amount of time."
"But...That's not a Mortal Medicine."
Anthony chimed in "It's not but since Ebony's been with the Circus a long time and knew my family they put her in touch with Mages that can offer Medicines and treatments with no questions asked, so we stock up. I mixed that Essence with a little Whiskey and it came off as being believable, at least I think it did. Jesse, how would you rate my acting?"
"How long does that stuff last?" Jesse grimaced.
"I didn't use a lot," Ebony stuffed the vial back into her pocket and rolled her shoulders back "so around 10 minutes, why?"
"Because I'm going to kill him again."
Anthony scrambled to use Ebony as a human shield "So, what's the plan now? They think I'm dead so I should be out of their mind, right?"
"Supposedly but I'm not too certain," Jesse admitted "from what I understand, if they get the results they want the High Sages go onto the next step of their plan, which would be to rally up support for a hostile takeover."
"How do we stop that?"
"Whoah," Ebony interrupted, "The only thing I understand about this is that these High Sages work as an active government for you guys, there are a grand total of three of you, how could you possibly think that three of you have a chance of going up against and stopping a hostile takeover from a literal government of powerful Mages?"
Tobias sighed "It's gonna be a long night figuring out what to do, isn't it?"
Ebony turned her back to them and walked inside "I'll make some coffee."
A few days had passed, Anthony had halted performances in case the High Sages were still watching or keeping an eye on Jesse.
A young Woman had snuck into the Circus, she was very pretty, blonde hair and emerald, piercing green eyes along with a cute button nose, though she was new she walked right on in, her ripped jeans hugging her figure, her shirt was baggy yet tucked in but she made it work, she wandered through the tent and into the living quarters like she knew where she was going around until she found what she was looking for, Ebony medical bay. She knocked on the door and smiled "Ebony?" her voice was confident and bubbly.
Ebony was checking over some notes as she looked up and smiled "Clarabelle, how lovely to see you again."
Clarabelle nodded and cut right to the chase "I'm here to pick up some Night Howlers if you have any?"
"Ah, having trouble sleeping again are we?"
The young woman shrugged her shoulders "It comes and goes."
Ebony bowed her head and put her notes down then gestured for her to sit down in an isolated bay, cordoned off by white curtains for privacy whilst she fetched the container she was searching for.
Clarabelle relaxed into her seat and closed her eyes as she waited, noises coming from behind a curtain caught her attention, it sounded like people talking, she slowly got up and got closer to listen.
"You guys wanna hear a joke?" an American for sure.
"What's the point if Tobias already knows what you're going to say?" a slightly older English gentleman.
"Doesn't mean I can't have a laugh if I already know the joke!" the third voice was a slightly younger American with a New York sounding accent.
"In that case don't look in the mirror. There's one hell of a joke staring back at you." the first American mocked him.
Clarabelle drew back the curtains to see Anthony, Tobias and Jesse staring back at her, the three of them smiled awkwardly until Tobias stood up and stepped beside her "Hey cutie, what's a nice place like you doing in a thing like this?"
Clarabelle giggled before shaking her head "Oh honey, your flirting skills are as bad as your dress sense."
Tobias frowned "What's wrong with the way I dress?"
"A waistcoat with jeans and a T-Shirt, what's right with it?"
Anthony couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, Clarabelle watched him with a grin "You must be Ant, right?"
"Have been all my life."
"Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
Anthony's smile faded "Who told you that?"
She shrugged "Run in with the right circles and you can find out anything."
"You're a Mage? What are you even doing here?" Jesse questioned.
"Ebony is my Doctor if I can find her."
"Oh," Anthony nodded, "You must be one of her contacts about Medicine."
"Usually she mails me stuff but I figured since I was in the area anyway."
Ebony returned to give her the Night Howlers, which appeared to be blue powder in a glass jar, "I hope the boys weren't bothering you."
"I heard he was killed by the High Sages."
"It didn't occur to you that his Circus would still be up if he was?"
"I assumed somebody else would take the reins." Clarabelle hesitated before speaking again, "The High Sages couldn't possibly-"
"They did. They tried to murder him in cold blood. They thought they had killed him." Ebony's reaction was cold.
"Why are you telling me this instead of getting them to Obscure me?"
"We're not like those High Sages, Clarabelle. We're not about controlling people."
Once she had her Night Howlers Clarabelle thanked Ebony and drew back the curtain to look at Anthony, Tobias and Jesse "I don't know what you're all planning but I hope you make the changes we all hope for. The High Sages really need a reality check." she glanced the three of them in the eyes "Hopefully I'll get an update if I need more Night Howlers." she left with a wiggle in her walk, knowing they were watching her leave.
Jesse turned to Eleanor "I know there's patient confidentiality but who was she?"
"Oh," Eleanor couldn't stop herself from grinning "interested in her?"
"No." Jesse blushed.
"No." Anthony was just as quick to answer.
"Yes." Tobias had nothing to hide.
Ebony shook her head "She's attractive, there's no shame in saying that. I usually send her Night Howlers every few months or so but I gave her a message to let her know we were in the area."
"Night Howlers?" Anthony questioned.
"They're flower petals that help you sleep better, all grinded up into powder. You know when you have trouble sleeping and I give you that hot tea that glowed blue?"
"I love that stuff." Anthony's eyes lit up like beacons.
Ebony smiled sweetly "The main ingredient was Night Howler. I used to slip it into your drink because you're so fussy and picky. Though you have to be careful with them. Too much and it becomes toxic to the system."
Jesse narrowed his eyes "Wait, she just wandered in here."
"So?" Anthony raised a brow.
"If she could wander in who else could?" he turned to Tobias "When she said 'The right circles' who did she mean?"
Tobias looked confused "Why are you asking me?"
"You can see into people's minds, can't you? All you have to do is look at them-"
"It doesn't work like that."
Almost like a chorus, Anthony, Jesse and Eleanor gave a surprised "What?" at the same time
"I don't get to pick and choose who I can and can't read. Some people I can read straight away, some people's minds just can be read randomly, others I can't tap into at all."
Jesse stared intensely at him "Please tell me you are joking."
"I'm really not…"
Ebony shook her head in confusion "I don't get it, what's the problem with that?"
"Mages should have mastered their chosen discipline at the end of adolescence."
"First off," Tobias shrugged and lounged in his seat "I didn't choose the discipline, I was born with it, and second I'm 20, okay? I have plenty of time to catch up."
"How could you have not learnt a discipline that comes naturally to you?! It doesn't make sense."
Anthony scanned over Tobias' body language, as well as Jesse's condescending tone. He spoke softly "Why didn't you learn your discipline? Didn't your parents or school teach you?"
Tobias' face scrunched as his jaw clenched, up until this point he was avoiding eye-contact but something inside him burned like a wildfire "Maybe some of us were told to suppress our magic! Not everyone has the luxury of being surrounded by accepting people!" He growled and stood up from his seat, pointing at Jesse "You of all people, who's Half Mortal, should know more than anybody about society shunning you because of something out of your control!" he let out an exasperated breath and stormed out of the room and out of the tent. Jesse sat there awkwardly, wallowing in Tobias' festering words fuelled by his anger.
"I don't understand. What's so bad about being a Soothseeker?"
Jesse sighed "It's kind of a long story but Soothseekers used to bring shame on their families because they were seen as naturally untrustworthy and traitors. If there was ever conflict between territories Soothseekers were sent as spies."
"That doesn't seem so bad. It's a stereotype at the worst."
"Because of that, the High Sage at the time, an old man set in the ways of the past, ordered a culling of Soothseekers. So that there wouldn't be any spies to provoke anymore wars between territories. Soothseekers are very rare these days, Mages have been known to kidnap them to get information and kill them when they don't get what they want."
"In that case, surely they can't be easy to spot? How would people know that they're Soothseekers without telling people?"
"The inner circle of his iris is white."
Jesse went quiet for a few moments then glimpsed at Ebony "Did Miss Clarabelle ever mention what her branch of magic was?"
"If I remember rightly, she mentioned once that she was a Siren."
"That explains why she had our attention!" Anthony felt somewhat relieved at knowing that.
"You say that like it's a bad thing, Ant."
"No, Sirens are just…" Anthony tried to phrase himself as best he could "Well, I don't really like having emotions played with."
"Understandable," Jesse nodded "Seduction, lust, affection and devotion is what Sirens are best at. They're usually Female but Male Sirens do exist too, they're just more commonly Female."
"Ah," Ebony chimed "so they play with people's emotions to get what they want?"
"Essentially, yes."
"And that's why I'm not too fond of them." Anthony pouted "I suppose we should find Tobias before he gets into trouble."
"Wouldn't it be easier to call him?"
Anthony and Jesse looked to one another, with an expression that could only be described as I didn't think of that.
"Oh come on." Ebony seemed disappointed.
"I don't think you noticed, Eb. But people have been trying to kill me."
Ebony turned to Jesse "And you shared a room with him, what's your excuse?"
"In all honesty he's rather annoying at times."
"Unbelievable."
"He'll come back," Anthony assured her "from what he's told me he doesn't have anywhere else to go. Just let him cool off and he'll come back."
"He better do, and the moment he does you apologize to him, Jesse. Poor thing has a hard time fitting in as it is but you wouldn't drop it about his magic. Maybe instead of tearing into him about his skillset you should help him."
Jesse sighed. "I know. I will, or at least, I'll try."