Book 1:

CIRQUE DY FREAK:

NIGHT'S SLAVE:

It was a rare occasion when anything exciting happened in Bloomsville. The police rarely had any job to do or errand to run, unless it included assisting students home when it was too dark after school. It was a miracle that some of the officers could pay for rent with the lousy job!

"I can't believe the huge spectacle they're making of this," I said as I stopped at Steve's locker as he was taking out his books.

"The disappearance? It's a way of making money, for the paper at least," he shrugged.

It had been three days and the local newspaper was beginning to publish stories that were more and more dramatic. Just last night Mom had slammed her copy down and rage, dubbing it a gossip magazine rather than a truly factual broadsheet newspaper.

"I can't imagine how worried Elaine Wood has been, and now this!"

The paper had begun publishing rather nasty stories about how some sort of abuse must have been going on within the Woods' house. It was a surprise to most people that the publisher hadn't gotten any warnings from anyone.

"I feel bad for that Emma chick. I heard that Alex was her little brother. Is her brother." He zipped up his backpack and slammed the locker door shut.

I frowned. "What Emma chick? I've never heard of an Emma Wood." I scrolled through the list of all the people in the town that I knew by association or through my mother. No Emma Wood.

Steve lifted his hand and pointed to a girl with ash blonde hair which was pulled back into a tight plait. As she turned away from her locker and I saw her tear stained face, I recognised Emily.

"Emily."

"Huh?" Steve looked back at me, his hand falling back to his side.

"It's Emily Wood, not Emma."

"Eh, she's really quiet. I don't think I've ever talked to her."

"She's not exactly the type of person who can easily talk to others."

"She's gonna have to learn to. People keep coming up to her. A few just give their condolences and the majority go up to ask her if it's true what the paper is writing and if the police have questioned her." He snorted. "Kevin had loudly informed the football team yesterday that he saw her getting her picture taken with those special plaques they make you hold up when they take a picture of a criminal. How he could have seen this, well…"

"It's freaky."

"'Course, it is. Someone's disappeared, and now it's official that they are a missing person."

"Everyone always wants something scandalous to happen. Now it's happened and parents are afraid to let their children outside. Mom gave me my bike back even."

"I'll probably be taking rides from the police that are around. Then when I say to girls that I've been in the back of a police car, no one can say I'm lying," Steve smirked.

I laughed, almost humourlessly. It was hard to laugh at anything recently. Everyone was in a panic. In a town this small rarely anyone got kidnapped. A few streets had CCTV cameras and where those usually failed, there were always nosy neighbours.

We passed Emily on our way to homeroom and I decided that at lunch I'd invite her to eat with us. I was positive that the library would be a much more secluded place than anywhere else. Other than the toilets, maybe.

"I'm kind of bummed that there was no helicopter. You know, like in the movies. They bring those out to search for body heat. But I guess they're a bit late."

"Yeah. Alex could either be way past the county border or maybe even …."

"Dead," Steve murmured softly. He opened the door to the classroom and walked in ahead of me. No one was there yet. We chose seats in the back, knowing that our discussion would go on after the bell rang.

"I never really thought that anyone from here would die…like, gruesomely or something. Just of old age. Really old age, considering this whole child-safe place."

"Not child-safe anymore. I saw the CNN this morning. They showed Alex's face and all kinds of details about him. It was freaky, 'cause I've never noticed him before and then I remember that he on the kids team of football. We used to have practice at the same time. They think that he may have been brought to some big city."

The first bell rang and students slowly began to file in.

I pushed my seat closer to Steve's and whispered, "But no one's yet mentioned the possibility that the kidnapper could still be here, with Alex. They could be hiding anywhere. The sewers even!"

"What's that about sewers I hear you saying, Carell?" Kevin's voice drifted over to us as he sauntered up to us with his posse.

I pulled a face at him and gestured for him to walk away. "Just discussing the pros and cons of where you live. Cons; it makes you smell, pros; no one has to see you save for when you're at school."

Kevin's face flushed a deep red as his friends began laughing. Steve snorted with laughter next to me and I waved bye to Kevin as he stormed to the other side of the room. As our laughter died down the rest of the students piled into homeroom.

The door opened again and Ms. Fleming came in, a grave expression on her face. She was followed closely by two police officers.

From the other side of the room I could just make out Kevin whispering with his friends. "Wish she was being taken away."

Ms. Fleming cast a glance around the whole room, making sure every seat was taken and everyone was present.

"Morning to you all. In light of recent events the police have asked me that they speak to every student to set some basic rules."

Immediately after her words a groan rose up from the students. A few hands flew into the air and a couple of students dared to voice their protest.

Ms. Fleming cast her glare at everyone, slamming her hand down on the teacher's desk. "That is not up for discussion. The safety of children is at risk, if it is not clear enough already to you. So, be quiet or risk landing yourselves in detentions."

Some students rolled their eyes but stayed silent as the police officers passed by Fleming as she stepped back. One was tall, blond and had big muscles. He looked kind of young and more than just bored. The shorter man next to him had dark hair and a moustache, and as he began speaking it seem to come to life, wiggling as if it were dancing.

"Hello, I'm Officer Lingard." He had a strange Winnie-the-Pooh voice, causing me to almost burst out laughing as he carried on. "Now, as you all know, Alex Wood is still missing. Our best guess is that he was kidnapped. Of course, there is an off chance that he could have hitched a ride from a stranger. And, to be on the safe side, the parents committee has asked to bring in a few rules so that nothing happens to you."

The blond guy stepped up, revealing a clipboard from behind his back.

"Officer Grant will now read all instructions out to you."

And in a monotonous Officer Grant proceeded to read out the new rules to the homeroom class.

"Students are to sign in upon their arrival to school and sign out when departing. No one is to walk alone, all students must travel in packs/groups/parties. Students are forbidden to walk home by themselves."

"As you can see, these are all basic, logical rules, that I hope you will all follow. Failure to do so could lead you to be …found missing next." And with the ominous ending Officer Lingard turned away from the students who sat aghast in their seats and, along with his partner, walked out of the classroom, Fleming trailing behind them.

Once the door shut arguments broke out. Everyone was trying to be heard over each other but it wasn't working, too many people were talking at once. I looked at Steve, who sat rigidly in his seat. He turned his head to look back at me and we shared a concerned look before the bell rang and everyone ran out to go find their friends before classes started.

"I'll see you in Calculus then," and with that Steve strode away, getting lost in the sea of students.

I'd excused myself from French class, waiting for the class to be half way over. I had been frowned upon but was allowed to go, so long as I didn't take have a century to do my business, as was put by Mrs. DeWayne.

I'd hurried along, having wished that I hadn't waited that long to beg for a bathroom pass. I almost ran the rest of the way, skidding around the last corner and practically falling into the restrooms.

After a few minutes I came out of the last stall and went to wash my hands. As I pushed my hand under the soap dispenser blond hair caught my eye and I turned my head to see Emily walk into the bathrooms, her eyes red and puffy - all the tale telling signs that I needed.

"Hey," I said gently. Emily jumped, not having noticed me at the far end. She smiled sadly and went over to a sink that had a roll of toilet paper. She grabbed some tissues and dabbed at her eyes.

"Hi," she eventually croaked back.

"I'm really sorry about what happened."

"It's fine." She cringed after a seconds. "Well, it's not fine what's happened but…"

"I get what you mean. I kind of do, actually," I gazed off, remembering Darren's death and how everyone had sidled up to me with apologies and reassurances about the future.

"I can't even get it through my head that he's not here. I come home every day and I think that I'll see him."

"You probably will!" I forgot about washing my hands and went to hold Emily by her shoulders with my soapy hands, ruining her cardigan.

"Le-ah," she hiccupped, "if the police haven't found him yet, what are the chances?"

"I don't think our police can qualify for the job - they have no practice at all!"

Emily cringed again and tears spilled down her face.

"No wait! They'll definitely find him, okay? Everything will be okay!" I got a better grip on her shoulders and brought her closer for a hug.

She huddled into me and sobbed against my shoulder, wrapping her arms around my middle. I waited for her calm down, lightly stroking her back.

"It feels so weird," Emily mumbled against my shoulder. It took me a while for my ears to register what she had said. "I never thought that something like this could happen. I never spared something like this any thought at all."

"I never did either. And then it happened out of the blue," I said, now thinking about Darren again.

"Thanks for the comfort," she withdrew her arms and smiled at me, but it never reached her eyes. I smiled almost blandly back at her.

"It's wasn't a problem. Any time, right?" I suggested.

"Sure," she sniffed and stepped back. She grabbed more tissues and was about to enter a stall before an idea popped into my head.

"Wait - how do you feel about having lunch with me?"

Emily turned back and looked at me for a few seconds. "Lunch with you?"

"Well, not just me. Steve will be there, too, I think. I've eaten in the library with him for the past few days.."

"Steve Leopard?" she blinked, as though it were hard to believe.

"Yeah, Steve," I bit my lip.

"As in, Steve the guy you had a fight with a while ago?"

I rubbed at the back of my neck, nervous a bit. "Er, yeah. We made up, so it's…all good now."

It was silent for a moment as I watched Emily process the idea in her mind.

"I guess I could make it, unless, of course, Steve plans to beat me up. I don't think I've any muscle to defend myself with." And with that Emily smiled tightly and closed the door to her stall.

"Great," I called out, walking towards the door. At the last minute I looked at my hands and skipped back to the sink to watch them of the soap, and then making a run for it back to class before Emily realised that there was soap on her cardigan.

As I walked back to class I didn't see the pair of eyes watching my figure as it moved further away.