Delusions of the Mind

Day 10- Part 2- Finding the Pins

“Evan!” called Emilia rushing up behind me, “Keylan found something of interest you may want to join us!”

“What did he find?!” I asked, turning to face Emilia, her hair had been blown into her face sticking to the chap stick covering her lips.

“He claims he found your juggling pins you lost.” Emilia replied, pulling the hair from her lips.

“My juggling pins?! I thought I had left those behind at our last stop, seeing as I couldn’t find them anywhere around the warehouse.” I stated, sharing a glance with Ben, who seemed to be just as shocked as I was.

Hoping that Keylan wasn’t wrong, and that they were indeed my pins gave me a glimpse of relief. I wouldn’t have to do without my medication after all. I would have my extra to push myself through this nightmare. Following Emilia as she weaved back through the crowd to the acrobats practice tent, pushing aside the mesh netting to enter the performers area. The small crowd standing around Keylan, as he dug through the costumes trying to find something that was located at the bottom of the trunk, he was in.

“What are you looking for?” I asked, as we approached him, standing directly behind him attempting to peer over his shoulder.

“I know what those pins held. I’m looking for it now.” Keylan replied, throwing another costume past my head, the brilliant gold and blue glitter sailing through the air, landing on our clothes.

“Are you suggesting that my pins no longer hold my medication?!” I inquired.

“They sure felt a lot lighter than the did when it was inside of them. If you want to look, be my guest, but it isn’t my place to open up the pins.” Keylan replied, throwing a baton to the side.

Picking up a blue pin removing the price tag sticker off the top, pressing in on the plastic to pull up the square meant to come off. Starring down at the knife inside of the pin, this couldn’t be right, who had taken my pins to hide a knife in it, much less how did they figure out that the top was cut away to be a secret compartment.

“Keylan…. You… You… You can stop… stop looking.” I stammered out, turning to face them knowing all color had drained from my face.

“What do you mean I can stop looking?” Keylan asked, before looking up at my face, rocking back on his feet pushing himself up from the kneeling position he was in, starring down the top of my pin with me, “Who’s knife is this?! Is the other one the same way?! If it is that means whoever did this knew where you kept your extra medication!”

“That could be anyone! Everyone knew where to find it on the off chance I needed it!” I shouted, startling my own self with how defensive my words came out.

“That was a mistake, not everyone should have known where to find it. The thing is though, those knives aren’t your normal knives. Those are made specifically for a knife thrower. So, whoever did this is part of my own group.” Keylan replied hanging his head in his hands.

“There aren’t but four of you, not including Ariella.” I whispered, “Are you really suggesting it is one of you four?! If you start spreading this through the circus not a single person is going to trust a knife thrower alone, much less in the open!”

“I know this! What I don’t know is whose knives those are, they look to be made by an amateur craftsman.” Keylan stated, sliding the knife out of its hiding spot.

“How can you tell?” Emilia questioned, starring at the small thin blade in front of us.

“The metal, it wasn’t heated to a high enough temperature when it was made. This blade has chips in the metal from when it was flattened. The only way a metal blade chips like this is when the temperature of the forge isn’t hot enough. Whoever this was that made them, wasn’t an expert blacksmith.” Keylan replied confidently.

Keylan had always been interested in blacksmithing, he even worked with one for a short period of time, before joining the circus as a knife thrower. No one quiet knew why Keylan would have given up such a quality craft, especially being talented with it, but that talent was now being used in the circus. He usually mended broken blades or crafted new ones if they broke for the performers, he had mentioned on a few occasions that Ariella had been interested in this special talent of his.

“Do you think Ariella could have been the one to make the blade?” I asked.

“I doubt it, I never trained her as she wanted me to. I told her that she didn’t possess the skills to learn how to be a proper blacksmith, which isn’t far from the truth. She would be a liability to anyone running a forge with as careless as she is.” Keylan remarked.

“Could this type of weapon be used for any of the murders we have found bodies for?” I inquired.

“It could have been, it could have also been the weapon stored for safe keeping, so no one knew someone else was working with metal within the circus.” Keylan replied, placing the knife back inside of my pin, “Hold onto those for now, don’t let them out of your sight. I’m sorry I couldn’t find your extra medication, maybe it will turn up next?”

“Maybe, I’ll return these to my own trunk, within the warehouse.” I replied, turning to take my leave, I had thought my luck was turning around, but instead it had only become worse. My medication had been ditched, and the weapons inside of my pins didn’t look good either.