Chapter Twelve:
Tessa's Plan/ Rafael's Suspicion.
Lunchtime, and a nice day. The forecast called for rain later in the week, so it was best to enjoy it while it lasted. At Demure, there was a patio constructed directly by the double doors that entered into the institution, where, if the weather was ideal, many of the students dined in. It was well crafted, very expensive, and just a breath away from being indoors. Because so many students preferred to be in this safe haven (Because god forbid the wind should mess up their hair, or that their shoes get scuffed.) to the callous ground, the best place to be at lunchtime, if you wanted some privacy, was in the yard.
Manny was lying with his eyes shut, enjoying the sun, while nearby Lester and Tessa were arguing loudly over something.
"Why the hell would I want to go to the circus?" Lester said, a sort of half sneer on his face. "I hate the circus, a bunch of men in tights and stupid animals."
"I'm not asking you to sit through it, I'm just asking you to go when Manny's brother picks us up." Tessa responded. "We're not staying, there isn't enough time for that."
"Well why would you want me to go?" He smiled. "Harboring a secret desire for me, Tess?" Tessa made a gagging sound in the back of her throat.
"Gawd no! It just happens to be my misfortune that you should be the only one who would possibly know how to sneak in if we have to, and get back without being robbed or anything." Tessa seemed to think for a moment. "I shouldn't even have to talk you into this, it'll basically involve cutting school for a day, driving for fifty miles and then taking Taxi cabs, busses, and whatever else we can get a hold of to get back without supervision. Why are you being so difficult?"
"Because you're asking me to go." He said, smiling. Tessa's eyes narrowed. "Why do you care so much anyway? What's the point of driving fifty miles out to a circus to meet some kid you don't know…and who might not even be there? Is Lili's birthday THAT important?"
Tessa sighed and bit into an apple. Behind them, Manny sat up and leaned against an oak tree. He watched them both for a moment before sighing and picking at the pedals of a nearby dandelion.
"It'd be nice to see her smile at least once." He said to no one in particular. Both Tessa and Lester looked at him. He blushed a little and pulled out one of the books he had checked out from the Library, before sitting back again and reading. Lester raised his brow.
"Are you like…a closet case Manny?" A moment after he said it a half eaten apple bounced off of his head.
"Hey, gross!" He said, picking a bit of apple out of his hair. "I just asked a question, jeez!" Tessa rolled her eyes.
"You're a jerk, Lester. And Manny's right, Lili deserves to be happy on her birthday." Lester chuckled gallingly.
"And you think this little circus freak will make her happy?"
"Sure." She said, her eyes flashing a little.
"The girl is miserable more then you are…and you're the Goth, and you think some boy in tights who hangs around with escaped criminals can make this girl smile?"
"Why not?" Tessa said, crossing her arms. Lester chuckled again.
"I guess he would be flexible…and he would have to be to put up with her." He said this while feigning engrossed fascination. "I guess it helps to not be around real girls much either."
Tessa stood up, her patience finally worn down.
"You know what, Lester, forget it…I really don't want to spend a whole day with you anyway. Come on Manny." Manny got up and followed her as she started back towards the building.
"Aww come on!" Lester cried after them. "I was just joking around!" She didn't answer, but kept walking.
He laughed and took a few bites of his sandwich…then…after a while he frowned, as it became apparent that they really weren't coming back and she had meant what she said about not wanting to have him with her. He stood, threw his sandwich away and ran after both of them.
Manny and Tessa were at the door that entered into the lunchroom when he caught up.
"Alright, I'll come!" He said bitterly. Tessa cast him a dark look and ignored him. "Tessa! Come on, don't you have a sense of humor?" She stopped.
"Your not funny, Lester. Everything you say makes me want to shove something down your throat." He grinned.
"Like your tongue?" There was a pause in which Tessa looked as though she were counting backwards.
"I hate you." She said after a moment. "And I changed my mind, I'd rather be robbed in a back alley or lost and murdered by psychopaths…at this point, rather then spending any willful time with you." She continued walking. Behind her Lester stuck his tongue out in a suggestive manner and winked at Manny, who looked slightly disgusted.
At a table on the far side of the cafeteria, Lili, Angus and Zoe were sitting by themselves. When their other three friends approached, Angus looked up and smiled.
"Hey, we were wondering where you guys were." He said brightly. Lester put his arm around Tessa, who shivered and ducked out of it immediately.
"We were making out." He said, ignoring the girl's reaction. Angus looked confused for a moment.
"All three of you?" Lester's eyebrows danced suggestively. Angus raised his brow and decided he didn't want to enquire any further.
After lunch Tessa pulled Angus aside, motioning for the other's to go on without them.
"I'm going somewhere with Manny and his brother tomorrow morning…to get something for Lili's birthday. You and Zoe need to keep her busy while we're gone, okay?"
Angus blinked, looking slightly curious.
"What are you getting her?" He asked, after looking towards their small group of friends to make sure that they couldn't overhear.
"Umm." Tessa bit her lip. "I just…found out where an old friend of her's is…look just don't tell okay? This might not work and I don't want Lili to get her hopes up."
Angus nodded, but inwardly wondered if it was possible to get Lili's hopes up. She didn't exactly seem like the hopeful sort.
"Okay…where are you going?"
"Uh…the circus…" She added quickly, "But don't tell her that either!"
"The…circus?" Angus looked bewildered for a moment, and was just about to ask Tessa what sort of friends Lili could possibly have in the circus, when Tessa, who seemed in a hurry (Mostly so she wouldn't have to answer any more of his questions.) quickly said goodbye and hurried off, leaving him by himself.
The bell rang.
"Oh…great." He said, and hurried off himself, untied shoelaces bouncing over his skinny ankles.
Tessa had was walking quickly until she got to the corner, where, she nearly ran into Lester who had his hands in his pockets and was smiling at her. She scowled and started to walk around him, but was brought to a halt when he grasped her wrist in his large nail bitten fingers.
"Lester, let go or I'll make sure you don't stand for a week!" Lester let go of her wrist, but followed her down the hall as she headed for her next class.
"So, when are we meeting Manny's brother?" He said deviously.
She stopped and glared at him.
"That isn't any of your business…because you AREN'T coming." He smiled.
"No? So I guess I'll be left here…distracting Lili with the dork." Tessa shrugged and started off again.
"Of course…" Lester said to her back…in the sort of voice one uses for blackmail. Tessa stopped and sighed to herself. "I might let some things slip out while your gone. Like…I might tell Lili…and this is purely by accident of course…where you and Manny went off to." He thought for a moment. "Course I wouldn't want to ruin her surprise…"
"You are a total jerk, you know that?" Tessa said. "Fine, we leave at eight o' clock." She started to walk again, before a thought came to her and she turned.
"Oh…right… be decent for once and don't mention this whole…Raz thing to Angus…okay?"
Lester raised his brow.
"Sure…although I don't know how much good it'll do. If you do find the little circus freak and he does show up…I mean…the dorks going to know sooner or later." Tessa thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Yeah…but I'd rather it be later. Besides, this is Lili's birthday…which means…"
"Which means she can be happy, while he's miserable." Lester interrupted and grinned in slight amusement. Tessa bit her lip.
"He might…NOT have a crush on her…"
"Yeah right. But no sweat…I want to see this circus kid, it'll be interesting to see what turns Lili on."
"You're a pig."
He laughed and headed towards class.
XXX
Dawn and the tent had been set up for hours. Raf was pacing nervously and occasionally looking over his shoulder towards the trailers. At one point, Baroda walked by and Raf caught him by grabbing one of his immense arms.
"Have you seen Razputin in the last couple of hours?" He asked the muscular man, as, inside, people were beginning to get restless in the last hour before the show started. "I told him to meet me hours ago for training, but got a little sidetracked."
Baroda shrugged.
"Lawst I saw 'im he was looking fer ye." He said and headed into the large ornate tent. Raf sighed and started towards his son's trailer.
On his way he passed by the ticket booth, where Pasco was drinking out of a small bottle filled with whiskey. He spotted Raf and corked the bottle, then stood and made his way slowly towards a patch of shadows where a tall blonde man with a scarred face was standing and watching. (Not watching anything in particular per say…but rather, watching everything at once.) Beside him a woman was tending to a young man, who had burned himself on a set of flaming batons.
"¡Haga eso en alguna parte otro¡Usted está de la manera!" (Go do that somewhere else, you are in the way!) Pasco yelled at the woman in Spanish. She looked up, and dragging the young man with her, hurried away. (Not because she understood him…it's just the sort of thing one does when yelled at in a different language.)
"He goes for boy." Pasco then whispered to Jamie, who didn't give him the courtesy of looking at him and spoke out of the corner of his half demolished lips.
"It's taken care of. Boris put him in his bed. We will simply say he has fallen ill."
"How long can we say so, before boy wakes?"
"Most was spilled on his desk…I'd wager he took only a few sips of the blasted stuff. Not long…a day…or two…perhaps."
"So we're forced to work faster then expected?"
"We must take Rafael this evening, after the show is over." Jamie said. "We'll take him by surprise…and we shall be able to hand him over to Garret by morning…and then there shall be no more problems. Dr. Kay will get his Psychonaut."
"He seems so useless, yes? This man who goes in cover of circus?"
"Perhaps, but I don't question Alarick Kay's orders. He said that this one Psychonaut screwed up an operation that was in effect under his orders. He said it was almost single handedly. An R. Aquato. Pathetic as he may seem to us, he has induced a great deal of hatred in a very powerful man. Therefore…see that you and that idiot you call a partner take all of the caution necessary to bring him down." Jamie folded his hands behind his back and walked off gracefully, a stance that severely contrasted his horribly mangled façade.
Pasco uncorked his bottle again and began to drink.
"Very well, perhaps when this over, we wont have to look at ugly face of yours again." He chuckled and headed back towards the ticket booth, prepared to take his aggression out on visitors by contorting his accent as much as possible and giving small children a number of dirty looks. (Preferably until they cried…where after doing so, he would pretend to not understand the horrible language their parents used to scold him.)
XXX
Raf knocked on the door of his son's trailer, his brow creased with slight concern.
"Razputin, are you in there?" There was no answer. "Crap." He whispered afterwards. His first thought was that his son had taken off on one of his walks, as he often did, and would either be late in returning, or would manage to make it just in time to perform his act. Of course, any decent parent wouldn't just assume this, and would therefore do what Rafael did after calling on his son failed to work.
It was dark when he stepped into his son's trailer. He quickly reached out, and pulled on a chain hanging a little ways from the door. The trailer was illuminated slightly. The first thing he noticed was that the windows, usually left bare, was completely covered with old clothes. (apparently a makeshift curtain.) the second thing he noticed was that his son was in his bed, still fully clothed (well…yeah…of course he was…these men aren't total sickos…what I mean is that he wasn't in his Pj's.) but obviously in a rather deep slumber. Raf frowned.
"Razputin!" He said loudly, and shook the boy gently by the arm. He didn't respond, but rather just lay there…like he was unconscious…or dead. Raf's concern turned to fear and he shook the boy a little harder. "Wake up son!" He said. There was no response. He leaned closer to make sure he was in fact breathing and sighed in relief when he was. Still, he watched his son with a creased eyebrow. SOMETHING wasn't right.
"Found him passed out at his desk. His nerves I think." The voice came from the behind Raf. He turned and saw Boris standing in the doorway. "Panicking about something…whining about a ten foot man with red eyes…just knocked him out. He has a temperature…I think he was slightly delusional." Raf wasn't listening closely, for his mind had set on one detail and particular, which he was going over in his head.
"My son's nerves?" He whispered, mostly to himself…doubt lacing with his words. Boris apparently missed this.
"'S what I said. Don't worry about him, we don't need to him to do the show." Boris turned and skulked off towards the large tent, his lanky form mixing with the shadows. Rafael looked at his son again. The boy's eyes fluttered a little. (Though it could have been Raf's imagination.)
"My son's nerves?" He questioned again, this time, with no one there to listen. "Now why do I find that hard to believe?" He said, thinking about Razputin, and how, in every situation ever presented to him, he showed to be completely undaunted by his nerves. He raised his brow.
Something wrong. He thought as he stood. He'd do the show, then return to Raz. Until then he'd have someone else watch him periodically. Someone who wasn't Boris Batik's. Nerves? Yeah right.
XXX
Unfortunately, until I update again I have to update on two of my other, non-Psychonaut stories. (It's been months now and people are starting to complain.) Sadly enough, I have had the motivation for only Psychonaut related fictions…and have unwillingly neglected those non-psychonaut fans for WAY too long. It won't take too much time, and I'll probably work on Psychonaut stuff along with the other stuff. I'd give it at least a week though…but not much more.
I love you all! And be patient my lovelies!