~Later that night~

Serenity woke up to sound of a crash. Serenity sighed half tiredly, slowly sitting up in bed. She was a bit surprised when she saw a blanket wrapped around her. "Strange…" she muttered quietly. She quickly glanced down at the floor, only to see the jester asleep on the spare mattress he was talking about. She looked more closely at Umlaut. He was flat on his stomach, both arms under his pillow, and a blanket with a million holes in it draped over him.

She sighed, putting her feet on the cold wooden floor. She cringed when the wood moaned. Umlaut didn't move. She sighed to herself, quickly and quietly making her way to the front door, opening it, and leaving the shack. She looked around at the damned carnival and sighed again. "This place is strange," She shook her head. "Like I'm not strange at all…but still…" she scoffed, limping over to a sign that read 'Rickety Town'.

After about a few minutes of limping, she finally found Rickety Town. She was greeted by a couple of Tinsels, who walked by her as if they couldn't see her. She looked up at the Ferris wheel and 'oohed' at its height. Curious, she power limped there, and while it was still rotating, got onto one of the seats. She placed the safety bar in place as she climbed higher. She gazed in amazement at the wondrous sights that greeted her eyes when she finally got to the top. "This place is beautiful," she commented, looking up at the new moon. She relaxed completely, leaned back in her seat, and enjoyed the sight seeing.

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~Just a few miles away from CarnEvil~

Breathing heavily, a girl ran down Henry Street. She heard the sounds of police, teachers, and her juvie school's guards chasing after her. She looked down at the cuffs around each of her wrists, cursed them, and ran faster. Her long black hair (which was put up into pigtails) with purple tips on each end of her hair blew behind her as she kept going, her breath running ragged. She heard the noises of her pursuers getting closer.

Then, in hopes of getting away, she jumped a metal fence, landing smack dab in a cemetery. She paused hesitantly for a while before she heard dogs barking, German Shepherds by the likes of it. She took off running and kept running until she was certain that nothing was behind her. She then saw a door and ran straight for it. She threw it open, ran inside, and slammed it shut. She leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath.

Man, she thought sullenly. I wish that I could turn into something else besides HUMAN once in a while. Temporarily, so I can hide from anything and fight anything I want. Like animals sort of. I hate being so weak. The girl looked up and looked around at where she was. It was pitch black. She felt around for the switch, but grabbed a lever. "Better try it," she said, pushing it up until it made a crack noise.

Abruptly, lights began to turn on. The girl covered her eyes as mirrors all over where she was began to light up. When her eyes adjusted, she saw her reflections in all the mirrors and blinked in a confused state. In the back of her mind, she felt an impending since of danger. As the girl quickly turned around, her long ponytails coming around with her sudden movement, she quickly noticed what the danger was.

The Mirrors.

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Umlaut turned over on his back; he snorted in his sleep, waking him up. He sat up in bed, surprised. He quickly looked around until he got his bearings. The jester turned his head to the right, seeing Hokis's form in the darkness, still sleeping on his couch. Umlaut blinked slowly, turning his head to the left. He became confused when he saw only the blanket on his bed, for he could have sworn that Serenity was there before.

He shook his head, getting rid of the last of his sleepiness. Then, he finally realized that she was gone! He stood up abruptly, frantically searching the shack. His gaze sweeping every inch, not one tiny corner escaped his vision. His gaze finally stopping at the front door, which had a tiny, yet noticeable crack in it. It was obvious to him that Serenity had gotten out that way.

He quickly looked over at Hokis, and carefully floated past him to the door. When he was outside, he carefully closed the door, and took off running. He didn't stop until he came to the first attraction, Rickety Town. He began to float again due to his unsteadily franticness. "Serenity?!" Umlaut called, cupping his hands around his fanged filled mouth to make it louder. Some of the Tinsels looked over in his direction, shrugged, and went back to their previous tasks.

"Shut up, Umlaut," Krampus shouted from the ice rank, his booming voice echoing through all of Rickety Town. "Some people are trying to get some peace and quiet around here! Go play 'Fantasy Island' somewhere else! Your imaginary girlfriend isn't here!"

Umlaut grew a little bit angry at Krampus's last remark, but called back. "Sorry, OLD GRUMPUS, but she's not imaginary! Her names Serenity and I'm looking for her here in Rickety Town!" He snickered to himself at what he called Krampus.

"OLD GRUMPUS," Krampus roared, his voice shaking some of Rickety Town. "Just you wait until I get my hands on you, Umlaut, you insolent whipper snapper!"

Umlaut snickered before floating off to continue to look for Serenity. "Serenity?!" he called again as he neared the Ferris wheel.

At the sound of her name, Serenity's back straightened. "Crap," she muttered, leaning as far back as she could in her seat. She could see the floating jester come nearer as the Ferris wheel rotated her closer to the top.

Umlaut looked around in worry, looking up at the Ferris wheel. That's when he noticed something strange about the Ferris Wheel. He narrowed his eyes to get a better look. He then noticed that the strange thing was a tail, a cresent moon blade like tail to be precise. He blinked once, allowing a saw grin to slowly form on his lips. He slowly floated up towards her, making sure to stay out of her line of vision. When he was right behind her, he waited a bit to throw her off.

Serenity looked around nervously, wondering where in the world the floating jester went to. After a bit, she sighed, thinking that he went to look for her somewhere else. Umlaut's grin got even wider. "Hey, Serenity." he said right in her ear, in a slightly creepy voice. Serenity jumped, falling out of her seat. She quickly used her tail to grab onto the ledge to keep from meeting the earth and meet her fate.

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Hokis woke up to a weird sense in the back of his mind. He groaned half tiredly, half angrily, but somehow managed to sit up. He looked around the shack, only to see that it was empty, with the exception of himself.

"Alright," he muttered, throwing his blanket off him and getting to his feet. "Something's not right here… my Umlaut senses are tingling…"

Hokis nearly wanted to slap himself at the last remark he just made. He sighed, slowly walking towards the front door. He opened the door, stepping out into the night. As soon as he breathed in the spring air, his senses told him to head for Rickety Town.

"Might as well," he quickly turned on his heels and began to walk towards Rickety Town.

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The girl looked into one of the mirrors, not believing what meet her eyes. She saw, instead of her own reflection, was a black tabby with purple tips on it's tail and ears.

Utterly confused, she forced herself to look in another mirror, this time, seeing a black stallion with it's mane and tail tipped with purple. That's when she started to panic; and again whirled to face a different mirror. This time, seeing a black fox with it's stomach and tail tipped with purple instead of white.

Each time she looked into a mirror, she saw animals, such as a dog, lion, tiger, bear, rabbit, etc. But the weird thing about all these animals was the fact that they all were black with purple tips or strips, just link her hair! Her heart pounded in her ears as gears in a machine began to whir and come to life. Soon, the mirrors began to spin all around her, making the animals look 3-D.

Before she could try and escape, the animals began to run towards her! She held up her arms in defense waiting for them to pound her and take her life with their claws, instead, they went through her! Better yet, IN her. Each animal jumped into her body as the mirrors turned faster and faster. Soon, she fell to her knees, shaking violently.

After what she thought was the last animal, she slowly got to her knees, rubbing her eyes. Only to come face to face with a wolf. She stared into it's pupiless eyes, resisting the erg to scream. The wolf sniffed her, it's black fur glistening in the light of the mirrors. The purple tips on it's ears and tail becoming noticeable. The girl stared in horror as the wolf howled loudly, before finally slashing her.

She screamed.

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~ 5 minutes earlier~

"Oops," Umlaut said, quickly grabbing Serenity's hand. "I've got you." He quickly hoisted her back into the cart, his grin still plastered on his face.

Serenity glared at Umlaut, quickly swiping her hand from his grip. When she unwrapped her tail, she quickly turned to Umlaut, her yellow eye blazing with anger. "You bumbling fool, you could have killed me!"

Umlaut's smile quickly vanished. "I'm sorry." Serenity scoffed, scooting as far away as she could from Umlaut as he took a seat. Umlaut felt hurt when she did this. But he quickly brushed it away, then asking. "Why didn't you answer me when I was calling you?"

Serenity shrugged, crossing her arms over her big chest. "Cause I didn't want you to find me. That's why." Umlaut felt like he just got slapped in the face, hard. He looked away, hurt. Before he could say anything more, Serenity was gone and already walking away from the Ferris Wheel.

Umlaut sighed, quickly floating out of the seat and following Serenity. And before he could try and apologize again, Hokis was calling them. "Umlaut! There you are!" Hokis cried, running towards the two. When he got there, all three of them were standing in front of a building called 'Maze of Mirrors'. "Why are the two of you out here?"

Before Umlaut could answer, he was interrupted, again. But this time, it was a loud scream. The three of them turned to the Maze of Mirrors. Umlaut gasped. "Oh no! It came from there! Of all places!"

"What's wrong with that ride," Hokis asked, following Umlaut and Serenity into the Maze of Mirrors.

"I'll explain later," Umlaut called back, stopping in the center of the mirrors. And lying there, was the black haired girl. Smoke was coming off her body. "Damn it," Umlaut shouted, picking the girl up. "Why was she here? Better yet, how did she even get IN here?" Hokis shrugged, running after a very angry girl and floating Jester.

They reached the shack in record time, surprisingly. When they were all inside, Umlaut placed the girl on his bed, yawning. "There seems to be no signs of injury. I'd say she's just knocked out. She'll probably be up the next night." He looked at Hokis and Serenity. "And I would suggest that we hit the sack too."

Hokis didn't have to be told twice.

He quickly made it to the couch, flopped himself on it, and muttered. "Great. Another girl..." He was out before he could continue. Umlaut turned to Serenity to offer his mattress, but found the girl asleep against the wall, her tail wrapped around her. Umlaut sighed, laid down on his mattress and fell asleep.

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Well...here be another chapter!

And another character has been introduced! Who is this mysterious girl?

Lol. Well...there will be more to come!

Thanks for reading! (If there even is anyone...) :(

-Motoko