Okay to start out I do not own the characters of Cirque du Freak or the storyline of the books that all belongs to Darren Shan. I do however own Druella Finley and any other characters that are not in the book series. I also would highly appreciate feed back. NO FLAMES.. but helpful suggestions or advice is welcome. This is my first Cirque du Freak fanfiction so I will try to write everyone as much in character as possible. I also would like to say I will try to update as quickly as possible and thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy!

Cirque Du Freak

A Tail of Two Freaks

Summary:

What if Mr. Crepsley fell for another freak? Can they both find happiness? Druella Finley had been an orphan since she could remember, but after living there for fifteen years, Dru gets the shock of her life. She finds out she is not as normal as she once thought. Trying to find her place in the world, she finds herself buying a ticket to Cirque Du Freak. The night of the show changed her life forever. That night she found a home with the cirque and a guardian in the form of Mr. Hibernius Tall.

Chapter One

52 Year Ago

My name is Druella Finley and I am mostly human. Actually, when I was younger I thought I was just human. I have a secret, a secret that I can't tell anyone. After my fifteenth birthday my life changed forever. It started with just little things. It started with me becoming obsessed with water. I would sometimes take up to five baths a day. I couldn't thinking about water.. I was addicted to it. As time went on I got worse, a whole lot worse. One day I got wet and I grew scales!

As time went on my transformation became worse. Soon I couldn't take a bath without growing a tail and scales. The only way to look normal was to stay completely dry. I'm Druella Finley and I'm a mermaid.

I never told anyone about being a mermaid. I was to scared to. No one could understand what I was going through. My strangeness got me stranded at the orphanage. No one wanted to adopt a girl that looked like me.

I had white-blonde hair that flowed down my back in loose curls and shocking blue eyes. My skin was pale, almost translucent. I was short and scrawny. In my 'mermaid form' I had scales on most of my body and they were as blue as the ocean. My tail looked like any mermaid you've seen on TV and it matched the rest of my body, blue with scales. My hands were also webbed and had the habit of sticking to things when I tried to touch them.

I was sixteen when my life changed for the worse and for the better. One night at the orphanage, I was hanging out with some of the other girls my age when the incident happened. We were just watching TV when some of the boys decided to attack us with water guns. My arms got sprayed and my scales appeared and my hands became webbed. The other kids started freaking out. That was the night I ran away.

That night I wondered the streets of the small town I was living in. I was scared and alone. I didn't have anywhere to go. I sighed miserably and cursed my 'gift'. I stared at the ground as I walked, kicking a pebble as I went. As I was walking, I came upon a street corner where a semi-small crowd of people stood. They were huddled around something. Being the curious teenager that I was, I sneaked closer to them. The group was standing around a very intriguing man.

The man was tall and thin. His skin was so pale it beamed in the moonlight and his bright, orange hair almost glowed in the dark. He was wearing a very strange suit. It was bright red with what looked like a cape flowing behind him. Curious even more, I walked closer. The group was slowly departing and soon it was only the orange haired man and myself on the street corner.

The man didn't even seem to notice me. He stood there shuffling through the papers he was holding. I slowly made my way closer as quietly as possible. I was slightly frightened but strangely fascinated. Suddenly, the man looked straight at me and I froze in mid-step. His look was one of curiosity, his look sent shivers down my spine. I felt like I was an insect and he was studying me. I gulped down my fear and walked over to him cautiously. When I was just a few feet from him I found my voice.

"Hi, err, I-I was just wondering what you are handing out?" I asked.

He was still staring at me like I was a puzzle he couldn't quite put together. He had one eyebrow raised at me questioningly even though I was the one that had asked the question. After a few moments he straightened up and fixed his coat.

"I am handing out flyers for the Cirque Du Freak." He stated, still giving me a strange look.

"Cirque Du Freak?" I asked him confused.

"It is a freak show like no other. Very entertaining. It will make you laugh, scream, and possibly sick." was all the he replied with and he handed me a flyer.

The flyer was dark green. There was a picture of a wolf's head at the top. The wolf had its mouth open and saliva was dripping from its teeth.

Just beneath the wolf, in big black capital letters were the words:

CIRQUE DU FREAK

Underneath that, in smaller writing it gave the names of all the performers in the show. They really had some interesting performers. Some of them made me feel normal. Beneath the names was an address where they where performing and what time the show began. And right a the bottom it read:

NOT FOR THE FAINTHEARTED!

SOME RESTRICTIONS APPLY!

"Are you part of the show?" I asked him. He didn't seem that freaky to me. He looked pretty normal, but then again so did I most of the time.

"Yes, I am Mr. Crepsley. I perform some outstanding illusions." he said, and smirked slightly.

"I see. Do you like working for Cirque Du Freak?" I asked, looking over the flyer again. I was curious about this freak show. Maybe if they were nice to their performers and payed well I could join. I'm sure I'm freaky enough. How many times in your life do you meet a real mermaid?

He never answered and when I looked up he was gone. I didn't even hear him move. I looked at the bottom of the flyer where it gave the address and show time. I realized it wasn't to far from where I was and decided to check it out. I reached my destination, which was a abandoned theater. The flyer didn't state who or where you were suppose to purchase your ticket so I decided to just walk around.

It was getting quite late and it was pitch dark and starting to get chilly. I pulled my light jacket tighter around me. I turned a corner of the building and came upon the old ticket booth. How could I be so silly. It was an abandoned theater of course it would have a ticket booth. I walked quickly over to the small box. The windows had been broken out years ago and had been boarded up by planks of wood. There was a note attached to the ticket booth saying 'back in five seconds'.

"Back in five seconds?" I asked to myself out loud. "One, two, three, four, five." Nothing happened. "It's been five seconds!" I told the ticket both.

Suddenly, a little door in the bottom of the booth opened up and a little person came out. It was wearing a blue hooded cloak and I couldn't tell anything about its face. The little person walked up to me and held out a hand. I stared down at the little... creature? It's hand was a dull gray color and a lot larger then would be expected for something that was only about four feet tall.

"Err, I want to buy a ticket for the Cirque du Freak. Is this where I buy one at?" I asked the little person. It didn't answer just shook its gray hand at me. "Do you want money for the ticket. Here," I pulled money out of my jacket and I placed it in the little person's opened hand.

It stood in-front of me just for a second before going back through the door in the ticket booth. I was just about to scream at it for taking my money when it returned. It held out a bright red piece of paper to me. I gladly took it from it and examined it. It was just an ordinary little ticket that read in bold black letters 'Cirque du Freak- ADMIT ONE'.

I checked my watch it read 11:15. The flyer had said the show starts at midnight so I still had a little time to wait so I decided to wait outside the theater until it was time to go in. In-front of the theater was a old, wooden bench. I decided to take a seat there a wait for the show to begin. I took the small bag that I had packed with some of my things down on one side of the bench and took a seat beside of it.

I set there for awhile just thinking about my life and all that I had been through. I wondered if I would ever know who my real parents where. Were they mermaids too? Or was I just born a freak to the world? Would I ever find out? I hoped so. I snapped out of my thoughts when the hair on my neck and arms prickled. I looked up and saw a very tall man staring at me from the entrance of the theater. He seemed to be studying me. When he realized I was staring back he walked over to me.

"Why are you out here all alone?" the unusually tall man asked.

I was a little wary of him and I didn't answer I just stared at him. He seemed to notice that I was uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, let me introduce myself. My name is Hibernius Tall," he said and bowed to me. "I'm the owner of the circus that is performing here tonight. Would you like to go ahead and take your seat inside?" he asked me.

"Sure, I would love too. It's getting kind of chilly out here." I answered. He showed me to the door and asked me for my ticket which I gladly handed to him. After taking my ticket he opened the door to the theater.

As I entered I took a look at my surroundings. The theater wasn't very impressive it was extremely worn down. At one time in it's life it was probably a very impressive building but with no one taking care of it now it had become very run down. There where only a few people in the audience. In the back there was a group people, who looked to be around my age. When I walked past them one of the girls looked at me and pointed at me while speaking to her friends.

"Hey, look, I think that girl might be part of the show. She sure does look like a real freak!" the girl said and all her friends laughed with her. Apparently they where here to laugh at the freaks.

I rolled my eyes at them and walked up to the front row and took a seat in the middle. I checked my watch again, it was fifteen till midnight. As the minutes went by more and more people filled into the theater and soon the theater was completely packed with people. At exactly midnight Mr. Tall appeared on the stage to get the show started.

I had one thing to say about the show when it was finished- amazing! The performers where incredible. They were not just normal freaks... they were magical and strange ones, like myself. I had already decided half way through the show that I was going to stay behind and ask Mr. Tall if I could join.

While the rest of the people where walking out of the theater, I walked off to the right side of the stage trying to figure out where Mr. Tall had went to. I had to admit I was a little afraid to ask any of performers, I didn't want to bother them. I was just about to give up hope when I saw a bright red streak walk past me, it was the man I talked to earlier tonight- Mr Crepsley.

"Mr. Crepsley! Hey Mr. Crepsley!" I shouted trying to get his attention as I raced after him. He stopped as he heard his name and watched me curiously as he waited for me to reach him.

"Can I help you?" he asked immediately when I walked up to him.

"Err, well, I was wondering if you knew where, err, Mr. Tall is? I would like to speak with him... If that's okay?" I asked nervously. As I spoke I pulled at the bottom of my jacket not looking him in the eyes.

"Why?" Mr. Crepsley asked me suspiciously. "What do you want with him?"

"Well, I was actually going to ask him if I could, you know, join the Cirque du Freak." I said to him. He raised an eyebrow at me and stared at me for a long time before saying anything else to me.

"Come with me and I will show you to Mr. Tall." he stated simply and beckoned me to follow him, which I did immediately.

He lead me to a door off to the side of the stage where the performers where standing around talking to each other about the show and was helping pack up all the supplies. We walked past all of them until we got to where Mr. Tall was standing and taking to one of the performers about the show. Mr. Crepsley walked behind him and patently waited for the conversation to be finished. After a few moments Mr. Tall turned to greet us.

"What can I do for you Larten?" he said and then looking at me "Oh I see we have a visitor. Nice to see you again Miss Finley."

"How did you know my name?" I asked immediately.

"I have many talents. As do you." he said to me. "Are you here to ask me if you can join the cirque Druella?" Mr Tall asked.

I was speechless, how did he know that? Could he read minds or something. It was amazing! My brain couldn't make my mouth make words so I just dumbly nodded my head yes. Mr. Tall gave a very small smile.

"We would love to have you as a member of The Cirque du Freak. Since you are under age you will need a guardian. If it is fine with you I could be yours? You will need to listen to me and you will also need to help around the cirque. Will that be fine with you?" Mr. Tall asked me.

"Yes! That will be perfect! I have everything I need already so I'm ready to join." I said. I was so excited. I could feel the large smile that spread across my face. I almost reached out to grab Mr. Tall in a hug but stopped my self. I couldn't believe it I was actually a member of The Cirque du Freak!