Chapter Ten ; Welcome to the Cirque
I hadn't slept in ages. I could barely feel my feet, they were aching so much. Mr Crepsley didn't stop for breaks very often – he said he wanted to get to the Cirque Du Freak as soon as possible. He still hadn't explained to me what this place was. I figured, from the French lessons that I'd taken at school, that it meant "Circus of Freaks" in English. A freak show? Why the heck did Mr Crepsley want to take me to a freak show of all places? Were there vampires there? When I mentioned this to my mentor, he chuckled lightly and didn't reply. It really annoyed me when he did that.
Come to think of it, he annoyed me a lot.
I absolutely resented him with every bone in my body for taking me away from my home – but I knew in my heart that, if I had stayed human, my life wouldn't have been much better. Sure, I'd have Kelly and Harry, but Bonnie was dead, and without her, my life wasn't even worth living.
Besides, most of the time he wasn't that bad.
My mind kept rewinding back to that night when I was unburied by the orange haired vampire. When I had jumped on Mr Crepsley's back, he had flitted, a really fast type of running that only vampires and vampaneze could reach speeds of. Half vampires couldn't, nor could half vampaneze. Not that I was upset about that. Once we had finally finished flitting, I felt uneasy, dizzy and sick.
"It is always worse the first time." Mr Crepsley told me after I'd thrown up about fifty times. I had rolled my eyes dryly. "Well isn't that a relief."
It took a long time to get to the Cirque Du Freak. When Mr Crepsley suggested flitting again, I snapped and told him I would rather be squished by a truck. So he retorted with a "I do not see why I bother to ask anyway. All you would do is moan and whinge like a baby again."
I resisted the urge to slap him.
At last, we arrived at the Cirque Du Freak. I wanted to faint with relief. In stead, I pretty much screamed, "Halle-flipping-lujah!" Earning an icy glare from my mentor. Mr Crepsley led me through a huge arch, it was black and had the effect of spiderwebs, all laced together in a pretty awesome swirly pattern. I took an immediate shine to it. It was topped off with round, shining orbs, green and purple and red and turquoise.
"Welcome to the Cirque Du Freak." Mr Crepsley stopped, facing me in the center of the campground, arms outstretched, gesturing to the tents and trailers on either side of him. I gazed around in complete and utter wonder. There were trailers pretty much everywhere I looked, and each had its unique look to it. One, for example, looked like a ribcage. Another looked like a snake's open mouth. "What's with the creepy tents?" I asked. "Each represents their owner in their own unique form." The vampire answered. "For example, that trailer," He indicated to the ribcage trailer with a long pale finger, "Belongs to Alexander Ribs, the world's skinniest man." I nodded – but inside I was confused. World's skinniest man? What else did they have here?
Suddenly, a hand grabbed my shoulder. "Greetings, Larten." I whirled around, fear pounding in my heart, and came face to face with the tallest man I had ever seen in my life. And when I say tall, I mean freakishly gigantic. He was very curious looking. He smiled, and his teeth were black! Urgh! I also noted his eyes. They were so dark… it was like staring into a whirling black tidepool, about to be dragged under…
I snapped out of my thoughts when Mr Crepsley shook hands with the tall man. "Hibernius. And how are you?"
"I am very well, thank you." The tall man turned to me, dark eyes boring into my own. "Hibernius, this is-" Mr Crepsley started.
"Mercy Darter." The man interrupted, holding out a hand for me to shake. I was pretty freaked out by now, but I shook his outstretched hand all the same.
Mr Crepsley smiled weakly. "Ah, of course, I should have known. Mercy, this is Mr Tall."
Mr Tall. How very damn appropriate.
"How do you know my name?" I queried the odd man.
"I know a lot of things." Mr Tall tapped the side of his nose with a long, skinny finger.
I frowned. Okay – now I was very confused. "What do you do here?"
"We have the world's most amazing and unique people that you will ever meet. You will find nothing like us anywhere else."
"What sort of people?" I asked, intrigued.
"Just you wait and see." Was his reply. He was nearly as bad as Mr Crepsley for telling me things! I huffed, and he continued.
"You will have to help out around the Cirque, Mercy." He told me sternly. "Everybody here lends a hand. Tomorrow, I'll let you off your duties – you need to catch up on some sleep. Just spend tomorrow finding your way around."
"Thank you." I said, relieved that he had allowed me to stay at the Cirque.
"Where should she sleep?" Mr Crepsley asked. "Have you any ideas?"
The tall, mysterious man nodded slowly. "I shall put her in with Lilia."
Mr Crepsley smiled. "This reminds me of Darren very much." He commented as he ushered me to his left. Hibernius Tall nodded, and a smile stretched at the corners of his lips. "Precisely."
"Who's Lilia?" I asked as I followed Mr Crepsley. His eyes were focused on the orange-red glow of the sun as it began to rise over the horizon. "Wait and see."
"I'm fed up of waiting!" I growled under my breath.
"It is a fact of life, learn to deal with it." The killjoy replied moodily. He always got moody when he was tired.
Soon we arrived at a medium sized purple tent. In the faint light of the rising sun, I saw scale shapes on the sides. Mr Crepsley shoved me a little in the direction of the tent. "Just go in, she will not bite." The sun was strong enough for me to see his half smile.
"But-"
"Just go in." He said, and shoved me again. This time I stepped into the tent. When I turned round again to moan at my mentor, there was no sign of the orange haired vampire to be seen. "Stupid old…" I grumbled, my sentence left unfinished.
I gingerly tip toed further into the tent. It was quite dark, but I saw a small hammock to one corner. I couldn't see my new room-mate yet, but there was another section of the tent off to my right, so I guessed she must be over there. I went over to the hammock and shoved my pack underneath it. I fell straight into the hammock, exhausted, and fell asleep almost as soon as I closed my eyes.