Chapter two: Storm before the Calm

My eyes snapped closed at the frightening sight of the coming storm. The yellowing sky masked the sun. The air grew hot and damp with the rain that began to spill from the thick clouds. I hated storms. I refused to open my eyes to the beastly disaster waiting to happen. A tornado was approuching. From the upper east region, it came hasteily. Scared as I was, I finally gave in to Mr. Crepsley's sharp warning to "open your eyes, kid!" The harsh wind scratched at the scales on my face, feeling threatenigly like they were going to be ripped from my flesh. I shivered, even though the wind was growing hotter. Mr. Crepsly sighed tiresomely, annoyed with me.

"You have to pick up the slack. I don't care that you can see the tornado. You have to help me secure the Wolfman," he ordered. I nodded glumly. Goody. The Wolfman times tornado equals misery for me. I regretably followed Mr. Crepsley, staying close to his heels like a lost puppy. The Wolfman's cage needed to be bolted together more than usual because of the storm. If he got loose, everyone at camp would probably be ripped to pitiful little shreds. So I stretched the muscles in my arms, and approuched the huge iron cage. Mr. Crepsly handed me some large bolts.

"We have to bolt down each corner," he explained softly, no longer sounding annoyed with me. I knew what to do. I had seen Mr. Tall do it before. But now, I was the one who had to do it while Mr. tall was on a mysterious leave. Shakily, I held a bolt against the bottom right cornor. "If I hit you," Mr. Crepsley announced, "Then you can give me a good blow to the head for hurting you." That made me feel somewhat better. The man did care about me. A little bit at least. Mr. Crepsley struck at the bolt, pounding it in with a decent sized mallet. I had to be careful. Mr. Crepsly could accidentally hit my fingers if I twitched, or the Wolfman could manage to bite my fingers off.

"One down," I breathed, "Three to go." We continued this meathod, the vampire pounding, me avoiding both the mallet and Wolfman, for about five more minutes. As each second ticked awway, the tornado zigzagged dangerously closer. My heart rattled in my chest. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. Never before had I been so scared. The storm was almost upon us, and I was scared I was about to die. I was only four years old. I had my whole life ahead of me and I still hadn't got the pet snake I had been promised. I had waited a week for it already. I couldn't die. I was too young. And I didn't have my snake!

Once the bolts were finished, the swirling mass of destructive wind has struck the camp. Mr. Tall had put a deflective shield over Cirque du Freak, though everything still shook. I collapsed to my knees, sobbing uncontrollably. Mr. Crepsly bent down and picked me up in his arms. He held me close. My head rested on his chest.

"Hold your breath!" he yelled over the noise. I did. He flitted (running with vampire speed), to his own tent. He set me down onto a blanket on the floor. He must of known ahead of time that the storm was coming, since it was my blanket.

"Mr. Cr-Crep-sley!" I gasped, clutching my chest. I had held my breath like he had instructed, but the shock and impact of his speed had winded me. He came over to my side, settling down next to me. I calmed myself down, breathing steadily now. I took in the sight of his tent while we sat together. Not many living beings were allowed to enter Larten's tent. There was a polished black coffin in the far side. It had an eerie faint glow seeming to come from it. There were also several maps spread across a dusty wooden table. On a metal stand, stood a proud cage. Usually it was veiled by a black fabric. But now, I could see what he kept in it clearly. A gigantic vivid colored spider was nestled in the bottom of the cage. I shivered. She was beautiful. My eyes swept over the silver mini flute Mr. Crepsley used to control her.

The vampire suddenly emersed us in a conversation, stealing my attention away from his pet.

"Are you okay?"

"I think so... I'm scared."

"Fear is good."

"It is?"

"Yes. Without it, people would do stupid things. And when people do stupid things, they get themselves and the people around them killed. Don't do stupid things."

"Okay." I replied. Larten ran a hand through my long, thin, yellow-green hair. That surprised me.

"No matter what anyone tells you, you are not a monster." he whispered. I stared at him. Why'd he bring that up?

"Yes I am." I argued.

"No you are not!" Now his voice was sharp. The sudden anger made me jump. The wind outside the safety of the desolated area where we were currently holding the cirque, howled like a thousand mad dogs all in unison. "No you are not," he repeated, this time quietly. I frowned.

"Then what am I?" The man smiled partially, the left cornor of his mouth pricking up. He helped me to my feet.

"You are Evra Von," he stated simply, "You are the special Snake Boy. That's what you are."

...

Slowly, I peered out Mr. Crepsly's tent. The storm had vanished from sight. I grinned. A rainbow stretched over the bright blue sky. I was delighted. This was my first rainbow! I started to tell Mr. Crepsley when i remembered he had drifted off to sleep in his coffin.

"Oh yeah. It's daylight. He's noctornal." I recalled, scratching my chin. I picked up my blanket, then wrapped it around my waist. I wore only a pair of white shorts. My legs were cold.

I yawned, feeling sleepy from all the energy I had lost fretting about the storm. The clouds had parted, letting the sun through. It warmed my back when I sat down on a small hill, facing my home. I watched the people below. Truska, the Bearded Lady, was sitting by a fire, cooking nice juicy sausages. My eyes darted from person to person, intreaged by how differant everyone was from each other. No one had exactally the same personality.

"I wonder if there is anyone here that is like me," I said to myself before I fell alseep in the confort of the warm sun, "I wonder if there are any other snake boys here."