A/N: Um... here's the begining of my story, it has some spoilers for those who haven't read book 9. I've only read up to the 9th book so everything here happens right after that time.It would be awsome for you guys to review, oh, and two other things, this is my first Fanfic so... be nice, and second: I don't own Cirque Du freak!
Annie Shan looked at herself in the cracked mirror of the ladies bathroom, staring right into the eyes of her reflection. She usually never stared into mirrors; this was because every time she saw herself in one, she only saw her brother, Darren, staring back at her. Even after thirteen years, she could still remember his face perfectly. What had happened thirteen years before? The most horrible experience of her life, that's what. She had been only nine at the time, such a young and fragile age. Her brother and his best friend Steve went to go see a traveling freak show called Cirque Du Freak.
When he got back Darren told Annie about the most amazing things, a woman who could grow a beard at will, a man who could run on his hands faster then any man could run on his feet, a wolf man, a snake boy, and what sounded the most interesting, a dangerous performing spider. Darren always loved spiders. That was the start of something horrible.
For the next couple weeks Darren had stayed up in his room, 'practicing his flute', and Annie knew something was up. Then one week Steve came over again and Darren showed him something up in his room. Then Annie busted through the door and screamed at what she saw. It turned out Darren had stolen the spider, and was controlling it with the flute! When Annie came in, she saw part of the act Darren was putting on for Steve, and the spider was resting on the side of Steve's neck. So, Annie screamed, Darren lost his concentration, and the spider bit Steve. Steve had gone into a coma-like state.
They all thought it was the end of Steve, until one night when he suddenly got all better. Annie knew Darren had something to do with this, but didn't know how.
In the next few weeks, Annie noticed something different in Darren, then one day he acted kind to everyone in the house, not missing an opportunity to hug them, every time someone looked at him, he looked ready to cry. Annie didn't remember much of what happened next, she found out her brother had died that night, she couldn't believe it, then there was the wake and the funeral and she never saw him again.
Annie shook away the memory and put on some more mascara, outside at the bar her best friends were waiting for her. She put on a happy face and walked out on the bathroom and rejoined her friends, still thinking of Darren. When they were kids everyone told her how much she looked like her brother, she got annoyed when people said that, but now no one dared to mention Darren when she was around.
"Hey Annie! What took ya so long?" asked her friend Claire, looking at her for a brief second, then turning back to some guy she way flirting with.
"Look at the hottie over in the corner!" her other friend Kara said, waving in that direction.
"Hey, you guys, I'm not feeling great, I'm going to head home," Annie said, looking up at her pals.
"You're loss," Kara said, getting out of her seat, getting ready to walk over to the 'hottie', "See ya tomorrow Annie" Annie put on a fake smile and pulled on her jacket and walking out of the bar, she never did drink, even though she was 22, she always just had a soda. It was getting dark outside and a bit chillier so she pulled her jacket closer and started to walk home. When she was reaching an alley, she saw a pair of eyes staring at her. She jumped back, "Who's there?" she demanded.
It didn't answer her question, just started to talk, reaching its hand out of the darkness. He had a paper in his hand, but she couldn't see what it was, "You're destiny seems to be lying here" indicating she should take the paper.
She was quite scared, but she reached out for the paper, muttered a thanks, then ran, not looking back, when she was out of sight the figure chuckled and took out a heart shaped watch, "Looks like time I should be leaving"
When Annie got home, she ran up to her room to look at the paper the mysterious figure had gave her, her hands were still trembling as she read it.
Cirque Du Freak
Come See
The Wolf Man
The Twisting Twins
Snake Boy Master
Shan and Madam Octa
And Many More
"Cirque Du Freak," Annie whispered, re-reading the name before she read the other info, then when she was reading the rest, she stopped at the second to last one, "Master Shan… could it be?" she whispered to herself. At the bottom of the flyer there was the location where it was being held, the dates they would be playing, and where to get a ticket. She re-read over the last information, knowing she was going to get a ticket…
-Weeks Earlier-
Darren sat at the windowsill of the hotel him and his team mates were staying at, thinking of what had happened… his mentor, one of his best friends had died, "What am I suppose to do now?" he whispered to himself.
"Darren?" he heard someone softly say, as Darren turned around, he saw Harkat, a gray skinned 'monster'. He was a Little Person from Cirque Du Freak who had traveled with them, "Vancha has something… to ask you," he said, taking a breathe between the words.
"Thanks," Darren said dully walking out of the room, "Yes, Vancha?"
"I've been doing some thinking, and, after what happened…" Vancha paused and looked at Darren, "and right now I'm thinking that we could go to the Cirque, until we figure out what to do about the Lord of the Vampaneze."
Darren's face brightened, "Really?" he asked cheerfully then remembered something and frowned, "But what will I do for an act?"
"Well, I flitted to Vampire Mountain and back a few days ago, and I brought back one of Madam Octa's children," he paused and looked at Darren, waiting to see his reply, "I thought maybe you'd like to do Larten's old routine, but with a new spider?"
Darren thought for a second, he loved spiders, all but Madam Octa, but techniqually it wasn't her, "You know? That's actually a good idea, my heart is telling me to back to the Cirque" After he said that, Vancha and Harkat let out a smile, then Vancha took Darren to see the new spider.
"To keep the routine mostly the same, we can call this new spider Madam Octa, you'll be surprised on how much she resembles her mother…" and with that Vancha gave Darren the cage with the spider, and then handed him a tin flute, just like the one Darren used to use.
Darren grinned, liking the new spider, "I'll get to work teaching it right away!"
Soon they were at the edge of the Cirque Du Freak campsite, they were in a small town. They walked up to the head trailer and knocked the door, obediently to be opened by Mr. Tall, "Great Timing! I knew you'd be coming soon," he greeted nicely, "So I suppose young Darren wants his job at the Cirque back? Hm?"
"Yes, because," Darren stopped and frowned again, "Well, have you heard the news?"
Mr. Tall frowned also, "Yes, Larten was a very close friend of mine, dreadfully sorry Darren" but then he smiled again, "To get off that uncomfortable subject, I suppose you would like to be in the same tent as Evra's family?"
Darren beamed, "He's still here?"
"Well of course," Mr. Tall said, motioning us out the door, "Darren, we will get you a costume for your performance, but you won't be able to start until next week when we go to our next city."
Darren nodded then leaded Harkat and Vancha to Evra's tent, "Anyone here?" he whispered, they were probably all sleeping, since they had to leave at night since light can kill a vampire. Darren opened the tent and saw two hammocks set up and a small mat by the floor (Vancha always liked sleeping on the ground). Harkat and Vancha said they were going to go to sleep when Darren left to go practice with Madam Octa.
The music from the flute echo through the camp until dawn, when the performers and stage crew woke up. Evra and his family were sitting by a bonfire eating breakfast and Darren walked up behind them, "So how's my beast-est roommate doing?" he asked.
Evra turned around and saw Darren, jumping out of his seat he hugged his old friend, "Darren!" he yelled, his family turning around, looking at the commotion, "You're back! Come! Have some breakfast."
Harkat woke up later and joined them, Darren was telling Evra about what had happened, after he finished his story, he tried to look like he was in a positive mood but I wasn't working well, "Wow…" was all Evra could say, staring blankly at the bonfire, "I'm so sorry."
"Thanks…" Darren whispered, then pepped up, "I'll be hitting the roads with you guys for awhile now, doing my old act." Evra smiled, then was called away to do some sort of chore.
The rest of the day past quickly, Darren met with old friends and met a few new performers too, then when it was time for the show, he worked backstage, helping with the costumes. The Cirque was always in a rush, so right after the show, everyone packed up and was one the road again for the next show in a new town… When Darren was looking out the window when they entered the town, he was watching the sights go by, all of them looking strangely familiar, then something hit him, "No…" he said in shock, "It can't be!"
-Back With Annie-
Annie didn't have a hard time getting a ticket to the Cirque, she bought the ticket from a strange, tiny person in a blue cloak, then ran off back to her house, she had tickets to the opening night show, the next day.
She was nervous the next day, all day. 'What if it's really Darren?' one half of her mind asked herself, 'It can't be, he's dead' the other half was saying, 'It's worth trying…' during the day, she looked through the photo albums, looking at the photos of Darren, in the last few weeks before he died, Annie noticed something strange about the pictures taken of him, it was like the camera was out of focus just on the area he was standing in and each picture didn't give a very good picture of his face. At this Annie was very mad, all the memories of Darren she could hold on to were useless, blurry messes!
While she was scowling to herself, she noticed the time, "It's starting soon…" she whispered to herself, grabbing a backpack and the ticket and walking out the door. The show was taking place in an old theater, the theater shut down almost 30 years before, something about a kid falling off a balcony and dying. Annie shivered as she entered the building and tried deciding which way to go.
"Hello there, young Annie," said a voice from behind her. Her blood went cold with fright as she slowly turned around, seeing what seemed like the tallest man in the world, he put out a hand for her to shake, "Hello, I am Mr. Tall, owner of Cirque Du Freak. Come to see the show I presume?"
She put out a shaking hand and gave him the ticket, "Y-Yes sir."
He grinned, "Ah, Very good, right this way," he said, motioning her to deep red curtains near a table, "Go and find a seat." She looked from him to the curtains then nodded. When she opened the curtains, she noticed a whole theater full of people, about half we talking excitedly to a friend and the other half were looking around nervously in their seats. Annie took a seat in the middle section, a couple rows from the front, it was a very good seat, you could see the whole stage. Then after a few minutes of fidgeting nervously in her seat, the lights went down and everyone stopped talking. In a cloud of blue smoke, Mr. Tall appeared on the stage and introduced himself.
"To those of you who came here thinking this was a joke, men in masks, then you would be wrong, everything you see here tonight is real," He said, "And dangerous…if you scare easily or are one of those who scream, I suggest you leave." A few people looked around nervously, but no one left. Then Mr. Tall introduced the first performer, which was the wolf-man, then Truska, the bearded lady came on, then Gertha Teeth, Hans Hands, and then, after that… was Master Shan and his performing spider.
-Backstage-
Darren's turn was up next and he was running around franticly, looking for his flute, "Where could it be!" he mumbled.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around, it was Harkat, "Try…looking over…there" he said, pointing to the cage with the new Madam Octa, right beside it was the flute, "Don't be so…worried"
"I know, but what if there's some one out there I know?" Darren said, grabbing the flute and adjusting his red robes- they looked identical to the ones Mr. Crepsley wore.
One of the members of the stage crew put a cloth on top of Madam Octa's cage and gave it to Darren, "Your turn, break a leg" he whispered.
Darren gulped then calmed down a little, putting on the calmest face he could, he took the cage and the flute and walked onto the stage.
He placed the cage on the table and addressed the audience. He told them that his act was very dangerous and that no one should make any loud noises or else someone could get hurt, including himself. Then Darren started talking about how the spider he had was very poisonous and said some other facts about his spider. Next he lifted the cloth from Madam Octa's cage as the Little People, just like in Mr. Crepsley's original act, brought up a goat to the stage. Madam Octa Crept over to the goat and bit it in the neck. Darren told the audience that her bite would paralyze on the first bite, and kill on the second. The little people took the goat off stage and Darren took out his Flute and began the routine. He first made Madam Octa dance then let her crawl up on top of his head, a lot of people gasps at that, then, Darren did Larten's signature move, having Madam Octa weave a web in his mouth while Mr. Tall took over the flute playing. Once the spider was done, she crawled back to the table and Darren licked off the webs and swallowed, "What a fine delicacy," he said as he looked at the crowd and smiled. Then he got back to his flute playing and made Octa do some arobic moves on a miniature gym.
Once the spider was back in her cage and had the cloth over the top, people clapped and Darren smiled again and walked off stage. But in the audience there was one person who wasn't clapping, her face was pure white in shock as is she had seen a ghost, and according to what Annie had grown up learning, she just had!
A/N: Well there you go. I'll continue writing sooner or later, to reassure you, I'll probably add more in the next couple days. So how'd you like it? Comments? Suggestions for what should happen in later chapters? Just, I'd mind if you not flame it...