Page 5 (1/2)

It felt strange being in a city The noise and smell alhtened senses it was like being in thethe dayti my head with the thickest pillow I could find But by the end of the week I’d grown used to the supersharp sounds and scents and learned to ignore them

We stayed at a hotel located in the corner of a quiet city square In the evenings, when traffic was slow, neighborhood kids gathered outside for a game of soccer I would have loved to join in but didn’t dare - withsomebody’s bones, or worse

By the start of our second week, we’d fallen into a co - Mr Crepsley went off by hi breakfast After that we’d head out and explore the city, which was big and old and full of interesting stuff We’d get back to the hotel at nightfall, in case Mr Crepsley wanted us, then watch soot to bed between eleven and twelve

After a year with the Cirque Du Freak, it was a thrill to live like a nor able to sleep late in thefood for the Little People; it was great not to be rushing around, running errands for the perforTV - that was the best!

Evra was enjoying himself, too He’d never known a life like this He’d been part of the circus world for as long as he could remember, first with a nasty sideshoner, then with Mr Tall He liked the Cirque - I did, too - and was looking forward to returning, but he had to admit it was nice to have a break

"I never realized TV could be so addictive," he said one night, after we’d watched five shows in a row

"My mom and dad never let uys in school atched five or six hours of it every night of the week!"

"I wouldn’t take it that far," Evra mused, "but it’s fun in set back to the Cirque Du Freak"

"I never thought of getting a TV since I joined," I said "Soon ht - it would be nice to have a TV, even if we could only watch reruns of The Simpsons" That was our favorite show

I wondered sometimes what Mr Crepsley was up to - he’d always been mysterious, but never this secretive - but in truth I wasn’t overly bothered: it was nice to have him out of my hair

Evra had to wrap up in layers of clothes whenever ent out Not because of the cold - though it was chilly: the first snow had fallen a couple of days after our arrival - but because of how he looked Although he didn’tat hiet around if he was able to pass for a normal human That way he didn’t have to stop every five or ten er who and what he was

Covering his body, legs, and arloves - but his face was tricky: it wasn’t as heavily scaled or colored as the rest of hi baseball hat took care of his long yellow-green hair, and dark glasses shaded a lot of the upper half of his face But as for the lower half

We experi on the answer: a fake beard! We bought it in a joke shop, and although it looked silly - nobody would mistake it for a real one - it did the job

"We le one day as we strolled around a zoo "You in your pirate costuetup People probably think we’re a couple of escaped crazies"

"The people at the hotel definitely do" I giggled "I’ve heard the bellboys andabout us - they think Mr Crepsley is a mad doctor and we’re two of his patients"

"Yeah?" Evra laughed "Iine if they knew the truth - that you’re a couple of vampires and I’m a snake-boy!"

"I don’t think it would matter," I said Mr Crepsley tips well, and that’s the i ’Money buys privacy, as I heard one of the uy who’d been walking around naked in the corridors"

"I saw hiht he locked himself out of his roo around like that for four or five days According to the er, he comes every year for a couple of weeks and spends the entire ti around naked as a baby"

"They let him?" Evra asked in awe

" ’Money buys privacy, " I repeated

"And I thought the Cirque Du Freak was a strange place to live," Evra muttered wryly "Humans are even weirder than us!"

As the days passed, the city becaeared themselves up for the twenty-fifth of Decehts and decorations lit up the streets and s each night; Father Christmas touched down and took orders; toys of every shape and size filled store shelves fro forward to Christmas: last year’s had passed unnoticed, since Christ hardly anyone associated with the Cirque Du Freak bothered celebrating

Evra couldn’t understand what the fuss was about

"What’s the point of it?" he kept asking "People spend a bunch ofeach other presents they don’t really need; they drive the dinner ready; trees and turkey are bred and slaughtered in huge nu hioodwill, when faether and rejoice, but he wouldn’t listen As far as he was concerned, it was a crazyracket

Mr Crepsley, of course, only snorted whenever the subject was brought up "A silly hu to do with the festival

It would be a lonely Christmas without my family - I missed them more at this time of the year than ever, especially Annie - but at the sa forward to it The hotel staff were throwing a big party for the guests There’d be turkey and ham and Christet soe his opinion when he experienced Christ?" I asked one frosty afternoon, wrapping a scarf around my neck (I didn’t need it - my vampire blood kept me warm - or the thick coat or heavy sweatshirt, but I’d draw attention if I went out without the earlier and the world outside was frosty-white

"Nah," he said "I don’t feel like getting into heavy clothes again" We’d been out that lad he wasn’t co: I wanted to look over a few presents for him "I won’t be more than an hour or two"

"Will you be back before dark?" Evra asked