Atlas Cloud And The Amulet of Thieves (4 page)

5 –CHOICES-

We walked all the way home, well to Eli’s house. Home for me was merely a memory. The Thorne’s car was parked outside. The service must have finished as they beat us home. I felt guilty for leaving the funeral in the way that I did, like I betrayed him. But the thought of finding out why he died filled me with an odd sense of hope. It wasn’t possible that he was going fast enough to knock us off the road halfway into the field. It must be connected with the surprise visit from Farro in the middle of the night. I remember back to the magic show. We left the show early because dad was afraid of something. It must have been the magician, maybe he has something to do with it. I will find him, confront him and question him. I lay on Eli’s bed, staring at the ceiling, looking at the glow in the dark stars, and wondered how much simpler life would be out there in the abyss. Floating in the nothingness, watching as worlds die, and as worlds are reborn. I stayed there for a good hour wondering and dreaming, considering I don’t sleep most nights it was nice to have time to daydream with just my thoughts, thoughts that I control. I know that as soon as I fall asleep my mind will betray me and force me to watch the woman in the mirror, as if I’m a prisoner in my own body. I turn over and look at Eli sat at the computer, clueless of the mighty torment I suffer. He has tragedy riddled through his life and yet he stands chirpy and sturdy, whilst I feel as if I’m crumbling.

“What you looking at?” I said with curious intrigue.

“I’m researching that magician from the magic show.” He replied with his eyes glued to the monitor.

“Researching?”

“Yeah, there’s a video clip I found of him from a couple of years back.” He turned the monitor towards me. I was curious to see what other tricks he had performed. Eli clicked play and we sat there watching the curtains open, revealing the familiar shiny new oak floor boards. They appear to be in a lot better shape than they are now. The quality on the video was terrible; I could just make out the edge of the stage. The magician swaggered on the same, still wearing the same attire he did before. The staff he was holding had the same skull with glowing eyes on top of it. I don’t know anything about him and yet he has turned up and changed my life. He performed a similar trick except Roko, the assistant, wasn’t there. There was someone else, must have been a previous assistant. There was also a man stood to the side of the stage, just behind the curtain. I couldn’t make out a face, only the silhouette of the mysterious man. He was watching very carefully, his eyes didn’t venture away from the act. The magician stamped his staff down, like before. My palms were sweating and I was fidgeting in my seat. Eli was holding his breath. I could tell because his cheeks were burning bright red. This time after the third stomp of the staff, there was a flash of light. The camera shook about and chaos filled the room. Panic. The man behind the lens steadied himself and put the stage back in the spotlight. The assistant was ablaze, there must have been a mistake, something must have gone wrong. Farro hurriedly pulled his coat off and wrapped it around the man. He was screaming for help, the words started to slur as his tongue began to melt in his mouth. The shady character in the back ran on stage with a fire extinguisher and some more blankets. The camera man moved in close, he must have been standing right up against the stage now.

“Put that camera away, boy!” Farro shouted whilst putting his hand up in front of the camera. He persisted with the recording. The unknown entity who was trying to help save the assistant walked around Farro, towards the camera man. As he moved, he staggered into the spotlight; his face became a lot clearer. Eli turned around in shock and looked at me.

“It’s your dad!” I jumped off the bed.

“Pause it! Pause it!” I yelled at him in a frenzy. He rewound the video clip and paused it on the close up of the man. I examined the stranger. Dark brown hair, golden brown eyes, he was even wearing a leather jacket, ripped slightly at the shoulder. It was unmistakably him. But what the hell was he doing with Farro? And why didn’t he tell me that he already knew him? “When was this filmed?” I said, tapping Eli on the shoulder,

“It was filmed ummmm… here it is, wow three years ago.” He said, surprised at the new discovery. I keep getting questions and more questions, yet not one has been answered. He already knew him, what the bloody hell is going on? I have to find out more.

“Look up his rota Eli. Find out how many shows he’s done since then.”

“He has an annual slot that he did his show in, but after the night of this video there isn’t a record on him,” He said, scrolling through the theatre website.

“Until this month, his last showing is tonight but then he’s not back for another year.” He said. I want to go find him right now but I know Eli will want to come; I don’t want him getting caught up in this. Who knows what might happen when we confront him? I lied and told him that we will not go tonight; we will find him in the morning.

“He will probably be there in the morning anyway, it’s better to get some rest, then go to find him.” He nodded and went into his closet; he pulled out a rucksack and started packing some things. Mainly chocolate and sweets he had hidden in his room. Now all I have to do is wait for him to fall asleep.

6 -NEW WORLD-

I laid there on my side with one eye open. The eye trained on Eli, who was again sleeping on the floor. He writhed around to get comfortable but he looked asleep, although I couldn’t quite tell. He stopped and snuggled his head into his pillow and started snoring. Bingo! Now all I had to do is sneak over to the window and climb down the trellis. I fling the covers away from me revealing my body which was fully clothed. I decided that staying clothed was probably the best idea. Also I kept my shoes on; I couldn’t leave anything to chance. I shuffled to the end of the bed and then placed my boiling feet onto the floor, a good five inches away from his head. I paused for a moment, I have to move slowly or he’ll wake up. It was as if I was a thief trying to steal the treasure without waking the dragon. I managed to tiptoe to the window, dodging the books and clothes that were scattered on the floor.

I left my backpack right next to the window sill, so that I could quickly chuck it out the window when I opened it. The window was an old, wooden one, the ones you find on Victorian homes, with brass handles and latches. I unhooked the frame and started to lift the slab of wood, the only thing standing between me and freedom. As I began to lift it, Eli snorts in his sleep, and, for a brief moment, I thought the jig was up and he had caught me red handed. I turned to look at him, but he was still fast asleep, probably dreaming about Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Distracted, the window that I was holding up decided to give me a going away present in the form of a splinter. I ran my fingers along the bottom of the frame to get a better grip and then I feel pinch. I pull away my hand putting my finger in my mouth to stop the pain. The white window slammed down, the border cracking slightly around the edges. The noise made the wall rumble, the sound was deafening. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole neighbourhood woke up. Eli jumped up in his sleeping bag dazed, shaking his head and then focusing.

“Ha, ha caught you red handed, I knew you were going to sneak out.” He said pointing his finger at me. “I was awake the whole time.” He said.

“No you weren’t.” I said pointing a finger back at him.

“Yes I was.”

“Then why were you snoring then?” I said confident of no comeback.

“I was snoring because um…um…because I’m a good actor. Fooled you!”

“Bull.” I said smiling, it was funny how committed he was to the spy act.

“Whatever, where we going then?” He said changing the subject.

“We aren’t going anywhere, I’m going alone.”

“No you’re not.” He said wriggling closer to me in his sleeping bag, the bottom half of his body was still inside it.

“Look, it might be dangerous, the last time someone talked to him someone died. I almost died for Christ sake.” I said, standing my ground. As much as I love having him around, I couldn’t bear to see him hurt. I closed the distance between us, putting him out of his caterpillar like nightmare, and put a hand on his shoulder. He was stiff as a rock. It was two degrees and he wasn’t even shaking. He looked at me, with a deadly intensity.

“I’m here to stay.” He whispered. I didn’t like the idea, but I couldn’t argue with him, he was my best friend, my only friend and in that moment, I just prayed I didn’t regret that decision.

After packing up our things, we slowly crept out of the window. There was a trellis attached to this side of the house with all sorts of flowers and vines along it. I tried my best not to trample them into oblivion, but I failed miserably. I figured the best way to get there would be to take the bus, as there is always a late night bus route just down the road from Eli’s house. After climbing down, we ventured onto the main road. It was a long and narrow piece of tarmac. Nothing special.

You could see far into the distance, the only thing abstracting the view was the curvature of the Earth, bending the road to its will. I perched on the seat under the bus shelter. Eli stayed standing up; we waited around, twiddling our thumbs.

“Are you sure buses come this late, Atlas?” Eli said, pacing up and down the pavement.

“Yes, it says right there.” I get up and show him the sign that stated the bus times. “Look, right there, we’ll be fine.” I said, not really believing myself. I mean it did say that it was running this late, but if it’s late or its and old sign then we could be sat here for hours. I thought over what might happen when I confront Farro. What would I say? What would I do? I thought I had so many questions but they’re all slipping away from me, escaping me. My palms get sweaty as I think about how it could all go wrong. What if he caused the accident? Would I be walking into a trap? I am in way over my head. I jerk up to tell Eli that this has all been a waste of time and that we should turn back and go home.

“Atlas!” Eli cried out bobbing up and down, “There it is!” He said picking his bags up off the floor waiting eagerly on the edge of the curb.

“Damn.” I mutter under my breath, I guess I have to go now.

“You coming Atlas?” He said with a grin on his face. “You’re not chickening out on me are ya?” I walked over to him, a bit of swagger in my step and put my arm around his shoulders.

“Me? No, I thought for a minute there you were going to run off and leave me here.” I said putting on a pretty terrible grin of my own. We step on to the bus and are greeted by a slimy, deathly thin driver. He had large stains on his shirt, spots on his face. He obviously didn’t wash, the foul stench tearing through my senses. I threw the change I had in my pocket into the bowl under the window, and walked to the back. I took a quick glance at everyone else on the bus. Not many people were on which didn’t surprise me. They all looked weird. We sat down on the back seat; I grabbed the window seat before Eli could. He looked at me but then submitted and settled down next to me. The bus smelt like old boots left inside a plastic bag, and the smell of the other passengers was revolting, their musk combining together to become one putrid mist.

Sitting at the front, there was a humongous elephant of a man, wearing a white vest that didn’t cover enough of his hairy back. There were two people sitting about three seats in front of us; one of them had the longest neck I have ever seen. He was wearing an old bowler hat and had a large black moustache. He looked very unnerving, and the thought of his eyes gave a chill up my spin. There was a short woman residing next to him, she can’t have been taller than four foot. She also was wearing very old fashioned clothing, a Victorian dress, a corset around her chest. They both looked like they were ghosts of the past, wandering aimlessly through the six forty seven bus route. The only other person riding on this ghost bus was another woman. She had a fiery Mohican and tribal tattoos covering most of her face. She had her feet up on the seat and was banging her head to the death metal music loudly playing through the headphones she was wearing. After a short while I pressed the button to stop the bus.

“Hay! What are you doing? It’s not our stop yet.” Eli said, pulling my arm away from the button.

“Look, I want to see him as much as you do but I don’t want to get stabbed in the process.” I said, trying to get him on my side. “It’s only down the road from here anyway.”

“Ok then, this bus is giving me the creeps anyway.” Eli said. We shuffled towards the exit, keeping our hands to ourselves. I stepped off the bus and breathed in the fresh air, not filling my lungs with the bus poisons. “Which way?” Eli asked.

“Erm…” I stuttered and looked around for the sign hanging above the theatre. Far in the distance I spot it. The ‘Theatre Black’. We stroll in and sneak into the back of the venue. The act had already started and was hopefully nearly finished. I didn’t feel like watching another magic show, in fact I don’t think I’ll watch one again. Farro stood on stage with the same yellow trench coat and old, dusty hat. It must be a costume. The assistant was standing to the side of him, this time with green hair and an all-black ensemble. The eyes inside of the skull that was in Farro’s cane glowed green. It was if they were looking at me, telling me to leave. It didn’t want me here.

“What’s the assistant’s name?” Eli whispered in my ear.

“Why?”