I felt a tap on my shoulder and swatted at whatever was trying to wake me up. I groaned groggily. The one trying to wake me up simply caught my blind shot and pulled me up. I fought the awakening by keeping my eyes shut and trying to fall back into the embrace of the hammock.
"Get up!" I heard a man's voice say. I groaned again, but opened one of my eyes slightly so I could know who to be pissed off at. I saw a blurry orange crop of hair and a blurry scar. I opened my other eye a bit and heard him grumble, " You are worse than me to wake up child…"
I swatted one last time, not putting any actual effort into it and falling out of the hammock. I looked up and saw the more defined features of Mr. Crepsley and squinted, "What the hell do you want." I asked, peeved at being awakened. I could see that it was pitch-black outside. "Mr. Tall wished to speak with you." Mr. Crepsley answered.
I perked up, wiping the post-sleep drool from my face . "Bleh." I said sticking out my tongue, trying to indicate that I was not pleased with Mr. Crepsley . I stood, brushing off the dust from my fall. Just to be difficult, I fell on the ground again and attempted sleep. Eventually, Mr. Crepsley simply picked me up and threw me over his shoulder then carried me to Mr. Tall's trailer.
After a few minutes of walking Mr. Crepsley spoke, " I am going to set you down, and you are going to walk." He demanded. He seemed disgruntled with me. "Alright." I groaned. He sat me down and I stood for a moment, getting my balance. I decided to drag Mr. Crepsley along with me so I could have someone to talk to as I walked to the trailer. That and…Well it was a bit creepy out.
The soft chirps of crickets were absent in the still night. For a few moments we were silent , but I broke the silence ," So…how long have you been with the cirque?" I asked. Somehow the nervousness from before had melted away. He had to think for a moment, "Well I have come and gone much in the past years and it is hard to add up the entire time I have spent with the cirque." He seemed to have chose his words carefully.
" I really enjoyed watching you do your act with her…Madam Octa I mean…" I said with a longful sigh. " I felt like her and I were connected in a way..." I looked over at Mr. Crepsley and smiled, "It must be great working with her." I told him.
He looked at me for a moment as if he were considering if I were telling the truth. " It is interesting, I admit."He stated, "But she also come with the risk of bites…" he said. I remembered from the performance that Madam Octa could kill in a bite if she chose. "I'd say it'd be worth it." I said with a slight smile. There was a hint of a smile in Mr. Crepsley's eyes that didn't quite reach his lips. We chatted for a bit, developing am early friendship.
After a bit I had almost forgotten my anger with him for waking me up. Almost is the key word. Anyways, we made it to Mr. Tall's trailer and he opened the door for me in an old-fashioned manner. "Ah…Arina, Larten welcome." I heard someone say from inside. "Larten, feel free to stay while I speak to our new arrivals." Mr. Tall offered. Larten nodded and entered with me. I think he was just curious, nothing more.
When we entered, Christina and Matthew were already sitting down. Christina was still on edge, Matthew seemed relaxed and relieved, almost as if he wasn't sure he would have made it here safely. "You three are the newest additions to the cirque, which I assume you have figured out by now." He stated with his deep calm voice, " I have spoken with Christina and Matthew already, but I know where each of you hail from. I would prefer if all of you would lay low…not wander out of bounds of the cirque." He said, " The people each of you wanted to get away from. Each are looking for you." A chill ran through the air as he paused, letting the news sink in.
"Do you mean my…" Christina asked. " Yes I do mean him." Mr. Tall said, cutting her sentence off. " So your saying those inferior minded-" Matthew said, seeming to be angry. "Yes, them." Mr. Tall said, cutting Matthew off as well. I wasn't really taking it in. My mind was racing, did that mean the cops were still looking for me? Did that clerk recognize me and call the authorities? I asked myself in my thoughts.
"Are they going to take me!?" I blurted out. Mr. Tall looked at me for a moment, then added a slight nod, "if you reveal yourself, you will be put away." The others looked at me questioningly. Christina raised an eyebrow and mouthed who are you talking about? I shook my head, trying to reject her question.
"We will be in this town for three more days." Mr. Tall said. "So do not draw attention to yourself." He waved us off, " Now go, sleep. " he said, "I will see you three in the morning. Larten I need to speak with you before you return to your nightly activities." I looked back at Mr. Crepsley- I had forgotten he was even there.
He nodded at Mr. Tall and the rest of us left, within seconds Matthew was gone from Christina and my eyesight, headed in the direction of his own quarters. Christina and I walked, side by side to our tent. A tension in the air that was slowly stretching and becoming tighter and tighter by the moment.