The Ringmaster's Keeper

Chapter 23: Meeting

Later that night...

I went into the kitchen to clear my plate, grabbing my crystal just to double check it was there, just in case I had a reoccurrence. I left the plate at the sink and went back into the dining room. Everyone was sitting around the table, even Autumn. She was getting better, but was more sick than me. Everyone looked at me as I entered and I sat at the table. I looked around the table at all these people that I'd come to know. Allegra sat to my right, then Rachel, Lili, Oscar, Autumn, some others that I didn't know too well, and me.

"Well, now that we are all here, it's about time we start the meeting." Oscar said rather formally, "As all of you are well aware, güvenli hafta starts tomorrow. That means we need a plan. Now, everyone has a memory to look for, right?" There was a murmur of agreement and he continued. "Ok, good. Here's a map that we've made of this area." He pointed to a felt board with a big hand drawn map pinned onto it. "It might not be all that accurate, but it's all we've got. This is us." He said pointing to a big red dot. "This," he said as he pointed to a big blue dot on the map, "is where the memories are being kept, well, we think this is where they are being kept." Oscar said sheepishly. The place where they thoughts were kept was marked on the map as aşılamaz saray. What was with all these weird words? What do they even mean.

"Well, that's a good question,"Oscar replied. I just realised that I spoke it rather than thought it. "they are in fact Turkish. Claudius is Turkish you see, and he told us the names of certain things in Turkish, but not actually in English. So it could mean anything. We have no idea. We did once try to crack the words once, but had no luck. There's no translating programs here in his mind, obviously because why would-"

"You're getting side tracked." Lili interrupted in a sing-song voice. Oscar stopped mid sentence awkwardly and continued.

"Right. Ok, sorry 'bout that. Umm, what was I saying before that..."

"The map." Lili replied.

"Oh, yeah..." He said, trying to remember what he was saying, "Oh yeah! That's what I was going to say!" Lili rolled her eyes. "That's right. This place, aşılamaz saray, is where we think the memories are being kept. In a nutshell, it's a palace. A palace full of creepy stuff, stuff that will trick and sidetrack you. But do not fall for it. Do not-" The alarm went off and we all looked at it. Oscar groaned.

"Great, ok, we'll finish this conversation later. Dismissed." Lili and Oscar rushed off and we all dispersed. I went into the hallway to go to my room, when Oscar and Lili rushed past me in doctor's uniforms. The went into the room to prepare the fake death, but they stopped in the doorway.

"What the...?" They both said in all most unison. I peeped in between their shoulders to see. There wasn't anyone there.