Chapter 16:

Tessa Explains

"Lili?" Raz said, as though he must've heard wrong. Behind him, his father cleared his throat.

"I'll just uh, wait for the police." He said and left, grinning slightly.

"Yeah…" Tessa said cautiously. "Er…you do know her…I mean…don't you?" Raz's eyes widened a little and then he grinned.

"Of course I do." He said, happiness and excitement accompanying his words. "She's my girlfriend…or…at least…she was…I mean…" Raz scratched his head awkwardly. "I think she still is."

Lester raised his brow.

"Lili has a boyfriend. That's a scary thought." Tessa elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

"I'm Tessa." She said warmly, ignoring Lester's breathless choking behind her. "This is Manny and the loser beside me is Lester. We go to school with Lili."

XXX

Lili was sitting outside under an oak tree reading. Dinner would be starting soon in the cafeteria but she was thinking of skipping it, either that or she would wait until she could slip in unnoticed to get a bite to eat. She didn't feel like dealing with people today.

"Hey Lili." Said a shaky voice beside her. Lili blinked and looked up into Angus's eternally apprehensive face. She sighed inwardly.

'So much for being alone.' She thought to herself as while fiddling awkwardly with his shirt he sat next to her.

"So…" He started. Lili's eyes narrowed wearily. He paused for a moment before deciding what to say next. "Like it out here do you?"

"Uh huh." Lili said dully as she read her book and hoped he would take the hint and leave.

"It's pretty…there's even a sunset over there." He said nervously.

"Usually." Lili responded without emotion.

"This tree is…nice for shade…" Angus winced. "Even if the sun is going down…I mean…it's a nice…"

"Did you want something?" Lili interrupted him, looking up from her book. Angus stared stupidly at her under the weight of her impatient gaze. After a few moments of this Lili rose her brow.

"I just wanted…to ask you…to dinner…" He lost his nerve. "Or er…if you wanted to go to the cafeteria with me…me and Zoe of course…the three of us…to eat…food." Lili sighed and shut her book.

"Yeah…I guess I might as well." She said dully and stood. Angus followed suit, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans as he did.

Inside the cafeteria Zoe was just sitting down when she saw Angus and Lili approaching. Lili sat across from her and set her book aside. Angus sat beside Lili and began to fidget, but this was no new thing.

"Hey Zoe." Lili said in a monotone voice. There was a long silence between all three of them before Zoe looked up at both Angus and Lili in an irate manner.

"Where are the others?" She asked. Lili looked up and shrugged.

"I don't know…I haven't seen any of them all day." Both girls looked at Angus who swallowed loudly.

"Uhh…they went somewhere." He said, while drumming his hands on the table. "Excuse me, I'm hungry." He said, his voice squeaking slightly as he got up and hurried to the kitchen.

"He is such a dork!" Zoe said, as though he were doing it on purpose just to annoy her. Lili looked up at her and for a moment she was subject to her harsh gaze. Lili could pierce flesh with her gaze.

"So are we." She said and then stood to get some food. Zoe opened her mouth to retort, and then shut it again and went back to eating. From behind her a boy with dark hair grabbed a muffin off her tray while walking by.

"Thanks fatty." He muttered.

He passed Angus on the way back and tripped him. The boy nearly lost his food, but was used to this by now and managed to save most of it, aside from half of his spaghetti, which splattered onto the floor.

Zoe turned and watched the boy disappear back into the accepted crowd as Angus came up beside her.

"You can have mine." Angus said kindly, as he gave her his muffin. "I'm not supposed to eat it anyways. I'm allergic to blueberries." He sat down again on the other side of the table. Zoe stared at the muffin.

XXX

"See her birthday's coming up in the next couple of days and her father usually plans to take her home during it." Tessa explained to Raz, who was sitting on his trailer steps and playing absentmindedly with his bracelet. He also noticed his heart beat had sped up considerably. "But he's always busy around this time and she winds up having to spend it at the Prep school we all go to."

"Which sucks." Lester said, while examining a fortune telling machine with a plastic man in a turban on inside. "Hey does this thing work?" He said, while nudging it and then rummaging through his pockets for a quarter.

"Anyways, we decided that this year, since it looked like things were going to be the same again, that we would throw her a birthday party ourselves…but we didn't know what she liked."

"She likes flowers…scented candles, reading…" Raz said, as he seemed to search his mind for all of the things he knew Lili liked.

"She likes you." Tessa interrupted. Raz fell silent, his face coloring slightly as he did. "We thought…maybe…you could come visit her?"

"Hey Tess, do you have a quarter?" Tessa narrowed her eyes and fished through her pockets before shoving a quarter into Lester's outstretched hand.

"Do you mind?" Lester asked Raz while motioning to the fortune telling machine.

"Knock yourself out, buddy." Raz said before turning his attention back onto Tessa. "I definitely would like to come visit her." He said, his voice betraying some of the excitement welling up inside. "I just have to ask my dad…" Tessa was looking hopeful now.

"Will he let you?"

Raz shrugged.

"It's not like we have a show or anything…three of our circus performers are going to the slammer and we wont have anything till they're replaced."

"It says I'll find love with a dark and mysterious woman." Lester said. Both Raz and Tessa looked towards him. "What do you think of that Tessa?" He said, making his eyebrows dance. Tessa rolled her eyes.

"Please, no dark and mysterious woman would fall in love with you unless she was blind and deaf too." Tessa said bitterly. Raz was shaking his head.

"That machine's been broken for months, it always says that." Lester deflated slightly and went over to hassle Manny who seemed to be examining his surroundings with interest, while keeping a plastic clown decoration under his close observation in case it decided to start moving.

"There you guys are!" All four children looked up towards the voice. Thoran was approaching looking rate. He was holding a small piece of paper which, Raz couldn't help but notice, had his father's name on it. "You can't just go wondering off…I'm responsible for you." His gaze fell on to Raz, who was giving him a strange look. The older boy brightened considerably.

"Hey, you Razputin Aquato! I've seen your moves, man, you're awesome!" He seemed to forget about the others. Tessa and Manny met each other's gaze. Manny shrugged.

"Uh thanks…" Raz said, as his arm was brutally shaken by the stranger.

"But seriously, I've been a gymnast for a while and I've been practicing to be as good as you are. You and your dad…wow." Raz finally managed to force his hand from the older boy's.

"Great…" He said while stretching the fingers of his gloved hand.

"Razputin." Raz turned towards his father who was being followed by two men in police uniforms. "The police wish to speak with you."

Raz nodded slightly.

Thoran motioned to the three kids.

"Come on, we're going home…and your lucky you three aren't the ones being arrested for sneaking into the circus. It was great meeting both of you!" Thoran said as he tried to shove the three kids towards the entrance where his car was sitting.

"Wait!" Tessa said and turned to Raz.

"What about Lili?" Raz turned to his father.

"Dad…"

"Not now Razputin, the police are waiting. Later." He said, while looking regretfully at the kids.

Raz looked desperately at Tessa and then a set expression washed across his façade.

"I'll be there." He shot towards her quietly before following his father.

Tessa, although not satisfied finally allowed Thoran to pull her in the right direction towards the car and Demure.

XXX

After the cops left with Pasco and Boris in tow, Rafael turned to their remaining prisoner just as Raz hit him heavily over the head with something.

"Razputin."

"He was waking up." Raz said and tossed the large board aside. Raf let it go.

"You should probably get in contact with the Psychonauts soon. We can't keep him here for much longer."

"Okay, but first can I talk to you about something?" Raz said, while playing with his bracelet. Rafael turned and gave his son an enquiring look.

"About your visitors by chance?"

"Yeah." Raz said and let his gloved hand drop to his side. "Um…see…Lili's birthday is coming up on the seventh…and…I really wanted to…see her." Rafael watched him for a moment. "A lot." Raz added.

"Well…" Rafael started. "The circus'll be closed for a little while…I guess it couldn't hurt…do you know where she is." Raz, who was looking hopeful deflated considerably.

"Oh god." He said. "I didn't ask. Dammit." Rafael looked sympathetic for a moment before, beside Raz, Allarick groaned. Without thought, the older man grabbed the cast aside board and hit him over the head again.

"We'll worry about this later, right now, you need to get into contact with the Psychonauts." Raz nodded, depressed. He took a few steps back to his trailer before his eyes widened as an idea crept across his brain.

XXX

It's short and I'm sorry but we're almost there! Wee! Ne ways I've had some really annoying and depressing stuff on my mind (Involving a jerk that I never want to see again) so I haven't been feeling very creative lately. I think I'm finally over it so I can write some more. I'll get back on this…my writers block is finally over as well…so hopefully I can finish this up soon and get you guys the last couple chapters. Thanx for the reviews!