Chapter 89 - Leonardo's nervousness

It was late at night and Leonardo was running late.

Thanks to a meeting he had to attend, the young master couldn't fulfil his routine of picking Benjin up from the gym. Since the puppet doesn't have a mobile phone to receive notifications of delays, Leonardo asked Vicente to tell him to wait for him at the circus.

But who would have thought that the meeting would drag on even longer when a pile of documents needed to be signed?

That part of his job was terribly boring.

With hurried steps, he entered the circus grounds, greeting one or other of the foremen he met along the way. The silence of the night was broken by a mobile phone ringing in his pocket.

— Hello?

— Leo, it's Rafa! Are you still at Dreamland?

— Yes, I am. Why?

— Have you seen the little one?

Stopping midway, Leonardo felt a sudden chill run down his spine. 

— I haven't seen him, shouldn't he be meeting you to leave?

— Yeah, man. But we've been waiting for him for half an hour and nothing. So we went to the gym and found the band's lead singer. She said that rehearsal had finished early and everyone had already left.

— Have you tried calling him?

— Of course! No answer from him.

— How strange... Have you tried calling his house? Maybe he's gone and forgot to tell you.

— Juliano called, but his mum said he hadn't arrived yet. We won't say anything more than that, if we don't want to worry.

He had a point.

Feeling a twinge in his head, Leonardo stroked his forehead and let out a low sigh.

— And you're still in Dreamland?

— We're in the car park.

— Okay. I'll check with the security team to see if anyone's seen him. We'll talk about anything.

Gustavo was not an irresponsible boy. He would never leave without telling Rafael and Juliano first. Not even by text message. 

— Leo? Aren't you going home?

Aslan approached with some bags. Swallowing dryly, the young master sighed.

— Something's come up, so I'll be late. Tell Ben to go home without me.

He didn't even give Aslan a chance to reply or ask anything, Leonardo turned his back and ran off through the park. It would be a labour to try and find Gustavo in the middle of that dense fog. But if the band had finished rehearsals early, then there must be something on the security cameras, right?

The surveillance centre was on the upper floors of the entrance castle. It was also home to the security wing, and it wasn't often that he was there. I mean, after he said he wanted to be heir, Vicente dragged him along so that he could be properly introduced to all the wards.

That would come in handy now. No-one would bar his entry.

As soon as Leonardo entered the castle entrance, the staff recognised him and greeted him with a curtsey. Responding only with a nod, the boy pressed on towards the lift, anxious to reach the monitoring room.

It was strange to be there without Vicente, who controlled everything with ease. However, Leonardo was in a hurry.

Something about this story didn't smell right.

The monitoring room was spacious and full of screens showing cameras in various positions throughout Dreamland. The security guards watching everything intently were so focused that they didn't even notice the young master's arrival.

Only a man in uniform recognised him and went to greet him at the door.

— Young master, to what honour do we owe your visit?

Leonardo grimaced slightly. It seemed that Vicente's habit of calling him that in public had already spread among the other employees.

— I need to see the images from the cameras near the rehearsal hall. Can you show me?

— Of course! What time do you want to see it?

Damn it, he'd forgotten to ask Rafael that detail. And Leonardo didn't want to waste any more time. Should he guess the time? If he couldn't find anything, all he had to do was ask for the images from before, right? He, as heir to Dreamland, could ask for that, couldn't he?

— Today around 4pm.

— As you wish. Come with me, please.

The uniformed man guided him to one of the tables full of screens. Leonardo didn't pay any attention to the instructions he gave the employee who was watching those cameras. He just said hello when the man was surprised to see him there.

The employee quickly began to work on the computer and the images from the cameras appeared at different angles. Moving closer, Leonardo peered into his eyes, trying to find any clues.

— If you see a guy leaving the gym, freeze the image. I'm looking for a specific person.

— Yes, sir.

The three of them kept their eyes glued to the monitors, following the comings and goings of the employees in the gym. It took a while for Leonardo to finally find something, more precisely, Gustavo leaving the gym.

— Over here! Can you follow his route on the cameras?

— It'll only take a second, sir.

The screen split, showing several cameras. The employee managed to recreate the steps with the help of his supervisor, who directed him with the name and position of the cameras.

Leonardo didn't pay any attention either, all he did was keep his eyes on Gustavo's image. There was no way he could disappear out of thin air.

— That was his last image — the official pointed, showing Gustavo heading towards a dark tent — After that, the fog prevented the cameras from picking up his images.

— All right — Leaning in to see better, Leonardo tried to recognise the place, which was a bit of a task — Do you know where this tent is?

The uniformed supervisor pulled out a clipboard from under the table.

— It's certainly in the Cove of Mermaid. Hm... The camera's location is on the C32... it's an illusionist tent three blocks from the haunted house, sir.

— If you consider where the magician's attraction is, it should be to the west.

He could manage with that.

Pulling out a piece of paper and writing down his number, Leonardo handed it to the supervisor.

— I want a security team looking for this boy. If you find anything, call me directly, understand?

— Yes, sir.

Leaving in a hurry, Leonardo grabbed his mobile phone while waiting for the lift. He quickly dialled Rafael's number, and it didn't take him long to answer.

— Any news?

— Nothing from him, what about you Leo?

— I went to look at the images from the cameras, and it seems that the last image of him is in an illusionist tent.

— Illusionist tent? Today, just after lunch, we had a call there. 

— A call?

— Yes, Gustavo sent a message asking for one of the attraction's mirrors to be replaced. After that, I accompanied him to the gym myself.

— Do you know where it is then? Let's have a look round.

— Yeah, we'll meet up soon. 

Running his hand through his hair, Leonardo began to get more and more anxious. The only thing he could think of was Diablo wandering around the park.

But there was no way the demon could have been right under Ray's nose and he wouldn't have noticed, right?

Biting his lip, Leonardo just prayed that his friend hadn't bumped into the demon.

In his desperation to find his friends, he ended up bumping into Vicente, Giovani and Viola.

— Young master. I thought you were with Benjin... — greeted Vicente.

— Young master, strange.

Stopping suddenly, Leonardo felt his stomach turn.

What the fuck!

If he kept thinking about that damn demon, he'd go mad soon.

— Did something happen, kid?

The three of them looked at him worriedly. He had no idea what he was doing to make them look like that, but he knew he couldn't help it.

He didn't want to say anything to anyone just yet, because Gustavo could have befriended them and lost track of time while they were talking. Or maybe he'd been charmed by some performance in the park, considering he's a Dreamland fan.

Thinking about the worst case scenario would only attract bad luck.

And yet... At the same time, Leonardo wanted to tell someone.

— Vicente, take Viola to the mansion. Giovani, please accompany me.

— But, young master...

— Now!

Vicente nodded and took Viola's hand, who was reluctant to go without the detective. When they were alone, Giovani approached Leonardo and squeezed his shoulder.

— What's wrong, Leonardo? You look pale.

— Gustavo's gone.

— Who's gone?

— One of my friends, the one I hired to be the band's drummer. He disappeared into the park.

— Calm down, you're nervous and this won't help you think clearly. First tell me what happened.

Taking a few deep breaths, Leonardo managed to reduce his nervousness a little. He was then able to tell the detective about Rafael's call and everything that happened afterwards.

In the meantime, the two of them walked through the park where they found Rafael waiting.

— Leo, and… are you the father of the girl from the food court? — Rafael was surprised to see Giovani standing next to his friend.

— I'll help you look for your friend, don't worry.

— I've already asked the security team to patrol the park, so Rafa, take us to the tent.

— All right, this way.

On the way, Rafael promptly answered Giovani's questions, who then introduced himself as a detective. Leonardo didn't mind the introductions between them, he just kept hoping that the worst hadn't happened.

Even his steps reflected his desperation and haste. He looked everywhere, trying to see beyond the mist that was beginning to dissipate. The lights in the park switched on and night made its entrance.

Shortly afterwards, a dark striped tent appeared. Leonardo recognised what he had seen on the cameras, and Rafael confirmed it too. The entrance to the tent was being closed by a tall man, and the three of them quickly approached.

— Excuse me, have you seen the illusionist who works in this tent?

The tall man turned round, surprised to see the three of them suddenly appear behind him. Opening a friendly smile, he put his hand to his chest. He looked like innocence itself.

— Yes, it's me.

— What? — Rafael shouted with his eyes bulging — No, is there another illusionist working in this tent?

— No, sir. I'm the only one. I was recently hired by the magician Ray.

Leonardo was surprised by his friend's reaction. Then Giovani took the lead in the conversation.

— Did you happen to see a boy of around eighteen entering your tent?

— Haha, difficult. The tent has been closed since it was erected. We haven't opened this attraction yet.

— No way! — Rafael kept shouting in annoyance.

— Are you the only one who has access to this tent?

— Yes, sir.

— No, have there been any cases of people breaking into your tent or anything like that?

— No, everything seems to be in place. There would be no reason for anyone to break into the tent, sir.

— Right, well done and thank you very much.

Before Rafael could continue shouting, Giovani pushed the two boys away from the tent. Pale, Rafael turned to them both.

— I swear to you, it's not that guy.

— What do you mean, kid? He says he owns the tent.

— But the guy who welcomed us this morning was someone else.

— What did he look like, Rafa?

— He was tall and had long dark hair. He wore formal clothes and even had red eyes, just like your magician friend.

It wasn't just Leonardo who paled at the description. Giovani immediately frowned and squeezed Leonardo's shoulder.

— Did he look like Leonardo's secretary?

— I think so, I didn't notice him much as I was concentrating on changing the mirror.

Leonardo's legs weakened and he needed Giovani's help to stand. 

It could only be a nightmare.