Book 1:

CIRQUE DU FREAK:

NIGHT'S SLAVE:

I looked around the unfamiliar setting and shivered. This didn't feel right for some reason. First of all, it was that I didn't even know where I was. And second, everything felt…fake. Nothing around me felt real. It was as though I would wake up any minute now and realise that wherever I was now wasn't a real place. That it was all in my head.

It was night time and I stood in the middle of a street. There was no one around but I could make out sounds of laughter and chattering. A street lamp provided and only light along the whole street and I felt that if I were to step out of the circle of light I would be snatched by an unknown creature.

While I stared around I failed to notice a shadowy figure step inside my circle of light. I felt their presence before I even saw them. I whipped my head around, going against my instincts to simply run away quickly. The dark figure took a small step and emerged into the circle of light all around me. I winced and shied back, stepping far too close to the edge of the circle.

"Who are…you?" My voice jumped and I had a hard time swallowing the lump that had lodged itself into my throat. I felt like I would cough up a lung trying to get rid of the lump, as though it were larger than it actually seemed.

When the figure finally spoke I completely forgot all about the lump in my throat and stared in horror at them.

"Oh, you don't have to worry. Too much. All your troubles will be over with in a little while." It was a deep, gruff voice. It felt like little hook had embedded themselves into my skin and were slowly being tugged at, dragging my skin and making a shiver run down my back. This was some kind of nightmare, it had to be. I'm just stressed and scared from what happened at home, I tried to tell myself. This couldn't be real.

I reached up to scratch at my arm, wincing in disgust at the feeling of invisible bugs crawling along my skin. I felt like pulling at my hair when it began to itch and feel like it was on fire.

Wake up, I told myself. I tried to open my mouth to speak but my lips stayed glued to each other, as though they had melted and run into each other before cooling and become a solid. The lump returned and it was pushing at my locked lips, trying to free itself. I couldn't swallow it back down and at the acidic taste in my mouth I began to cry.

This isn't real, it's a nightmare. This can't be happening, I tried to cry out but not even a gurgle escaped my mouth. As tears blinded me I barely managed to see the dark figure zoom in. It was coming closer.

I fell to my knees and tried to put my hands together to plead for freedom. I found myself unable to move as the figure seemed to kneel in front of me. Without much hesitation it ripped my arm away from the rest of my body and brought it to its mouth. And then it open its mouth to reveal rows of sharp, jagged teeth. I tried to scream and thrashed around to put some distance between us but it was futile when the figure pulled on my arm and sank its sharp teeth into the soft flesh.

I screamed. I heard myself screaming. My lips stung but I could now scream for help. But it didn't seem like there was anyone around who would be able to help.

Tears streamed down my face as the pain intensified and suddenly it felt like I couldn't inhale enough air and then suddenly everything went bright, blinding me for a few minutes as I groaned and whimpered.

I sat bolt upright, gasping for air, feeling like I had just run a marathon. I only realised that I had been screaming once my mother began to shake me by my shoulders and telling me that everything was alright and that I was just fine.

"Shh, Leah, it was only a nightmare," she cooed softly, pulling me into an embrace.

I stared around wildly, inspecting the whole of my room - Dad seemingly doing the same at that moment - while someone held up a glass of water to my mouth. I let the water pour down my aching throat as I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to regain my composure.

"Are you better now?" Mom looked me in the eye and I almost wanted to burst into tears and tell her everything that had happened. I swallowed and looked away though, not in the least wanting to share any of my nightmare.

At least it was all a nightmare, I told myself, trying to slow down the beating of my frantic heart.

"Honey bear, if you want to talk about it, your mother and I are here for you. You know that right?" Dad came up to my bed and smiled at me. He patted my head and sat down next to Mom.

"Dad, I'm fine. It was just a stupid nightmare…about …spiders," I licked my lips and winced at the stinging sensation. Mom tut-tutted and swiped my hand away when I reached out to feel my bottom lip.

"It's cracked in the middle, so it'll sting for some time. I don't want you licking at it constantly - it'll take longer to heal."

"Must have been from all the screaming, Honey bear."

I rolled my eyes and dropped my hand back to my side. "Dad, how many times did I tell you not to call me Honey bear?"

Dad cracked another smile while Mom rolled her eyes and cleared her throat.

"Well, now that's sorted, you're fine now. Will you try to sleep some more? It's only four in the morning."

"I doubt she'll be able for it - that seemed like a really bad nightmare."

"I'm sure it's from those horror movies you and Isaac insist on watching late at night. Well, no more, you hear me?"

"It was just about spiders, Mom, really - it's no big deal," I said sheepishly.

Mom crossed her arms over her chest, huffing. "Right, just spiders. Well, they must have been eating you alive if you had to scream that loudly."

"It doesn't look like I woke Isaac up - you're just a light sleeper."

"No - Isaac most likely has his earphones plugged in while sleeping," Mom said, annoyed at the prospect. She'd told him off many times before but he just hid them under his pillows.

"Look, I'm fine, it had nothing to do with horror movies or anything. It was just a random bad nightmare."

Mom huffed and kissed me on the forehead before standing up and dragging Dad away with her after he'd ruffled my hair. Once they were out on the landing and I switched off my light my breath caught in my throat. I tried to calm myself down and in the end just turned the light back on. I did one more check of my room but couldn't see anything. But the more I thought about it the more my arm seemed to hurt.

I pulled my arm out from under the covers and pulled back the sleeve. There wasn't any bite mark there, just red marks from what looked like hand prints. My own hand prints, I told myself as I settled back in to my bed, under the covers.

As I tried to drift off I could pick up random fragments of a conversation. Mom and Dad must have still been up.

"I don't think…not a good idea," Mom's voice could be made out. I tried to listen a bit harder but I couldn't pick up everything she was saying.

"Maybe it's good to send…..with this missing boy…."

I groaned and slapped a hand to my face, wincing after a few seconds. Of course they'd think that Emily's missing brother would give me nightmares. I waited a few minutes, hoping to hear more from their conversation.

And I kept waiting until I could no longer remember what I was doing. When I became aware of my surroundings again I found that it was bright in the room. My light was still on but there was also light coming in from the windows, through my curtains. I reached out and felt around my bedside table for my alarm clock.

Once I propped myself onto my elbows and properly opened my eyes I saw that it was only seven a.m. I turned off my lamp and lay back down. I couldn't shake the feeling that I got every time I closed my eyes. The only way I fell asleep was because I was exhausted - would I have to stay awake for hours every night now?

I decided to get out of bed and get ready for school. Once my face was clean and I was dressed I stuffed all my books into my bag, ignoring how heavy it was, and lumbered down the stairs as Isaac began to move about his bedroom.

Mom was already downstairs, sipping on her cup of coffee while she read the newspaper. She glanced at me as I dropped my bag onto one of the chairs and went to the fridge. I rummaged around for something to my liking.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Why are you asking?"

Mom took another sip of her coffee before replying. "You're up unusually early."

I scuffed as I retrieved the milk. "I've gotten up at this hour before, please." I poured the milk into a bowl and got out the only cereal left in the cupboard. I sat down across from Mom and shoved the spoon into my mouth, anxious to get out the door soon. Being cooped up in the house must have fried my brain completely.

"If you say so," Mom said, looking back at her newspaper. She muttered a few times as she read something of interest and sipped on her coffee, completely ignoring my bad table manners. She was still sitting at the table by the time that I shoved the last spoon full of cereal into my still-full mouth and put the bowl into the sink to rinse. I munched slowly on my mouthful while I got my bag and went to put on my shoes.

"Seeing as you're ready to go would you mind waiting a few minutes while I get ready? I could drop you to school then." Mom looked over at me expectantly as she got up from her seat.

"No, it's okay," I shook my head, smiling apologetically. "I'm fine with cycling." I just wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible and clear my head for a few minutes while I cycled.

"Whatever suits you," Mom shrugged and went to put her mug into the sink.

I called goodbye to her and left the house. I retrieved my bike from the back shed and began cycling down the street, towards the main road. I decided to take a longer route so I could have a few more moments to myself.

"Pssst, Carell," came the voice of someone from behind me. I turned my head slightly, trying not to make it obvious to my teacher that I wasn't paying much attention.

When the teacher had his back turned to the class, I turned fully in my chair and barked in a whisper, "What?"

The blond guy sitting behind me gestured to a few seats behind him, where Steve sat. I smiled at the guy behind me before sending a glare in Steve's direction. I wasn't in the best of moods today, if it wasn't obvious enough already.

Steve held his hands up in defence, not enough for the teacher to notice but enough for me to see. He proceeded to hold up his notebook with a few equations on it. His maths homework, most likely.

I shrugged and turned back around, now worried about my own maths homework. What was I going to do with maths in two periods? I turned my head back and saw Steve already scribbling on his notebook, likely jotting down someone else's answers. I rolled my eyes but decided that I'd get the answers off of him as payment for the late night call.

The bell rang soon after and I was out of my seat first. I came over to Steve and grabbed his notebook before he could put it away.

"Hey! What are you doing? That's my homework!" Steve tried to reach around me and grab the notebook but I swatted his hands away, tsking.

"Sure it is. Now, I need it!"

"But you said on the phone that you were doing your homework," Steve whined, reaching for my hands again as we walked out of the classroom with everyone else.

"And thanks to you I never finished. Now shush and let me copy down the answers before class."

"By the way-"

"No, Steve! I have not thought any more about your offer?"

Steve rolled his eyes at me, annoyed. "Why not?"

"I told you last night," I said, exasperated by him and his stupid idea. "It's a really stupid idea. If you don't run into the kidnapper then you'll probably run into the police. You can't outsmart them all - they have CCTV's everywhere practically."

"Fine, but worry in your own time, Carell. You could at least be a bit more supportive. I mean, I could very well find Alex Wood," Steve smirked.

"Don't you think the police would have been able to find him already?"

"Have you met a policeman before? They seem to be incompetent fools," Steve shrugged, hoisting his backpack strap up his shoulder. "You should have seen the Rodney guy - I thought he was messing around with me but that was overestimating him by a long shot."

"Not everyone is like Rodney," I pointed out, trying to jot down a particularly tricky equation down onto my copy.

"Whatever, just write faster." I complied and soon was finished, sighing in relief that I homework to show.

We stepped into our class - economics - and our discussion about the police in the town was cut short as we took our seats. Emily turned around in her seat and waved timidly. I waved back but Steve just ignored her. She pretended not to notice but I could see a blush creeping up her neck as she turned back around.

The lesson began once the teacher came in and set some work for the class.

I gritted my teeth and hit the ball with all my might. I tried to use everyone's advice - try to direct the hit - but it didn't seem to work very well as the ball flew behind the line and everyone yet again groaned.

Never had I told anyone that I was good at volleyball. Give me a ball and tell me to hit it - it won't matter how good I am at other sports, I just suck at volleyball and can't play it at all.

"Carell!" the coach yelled again, annoyance creeping into his voice. "Are you trying to tell me that's your best?"

My shoulders sagged as I had to tell yet another person that I should just sit out. "You know I'm no good at this, Coach. Just bench me already!"

A few people around me catcalled and agreed, hoping to kick me to the curb before they seriously ended up on their butts and the other team won.

"Fine, go sit. But next time, there will be no mercy, Carell, you hear me?" Coach gave me a withering look before I jogged off to the benches. I spotted Emily sitting by herself and trotted over before throwing myself down.

"That was torture," I sighed, wiping sweat from my forehead.

Emily giggled, twirling one of her plaits around her finger as she watched the game continue. "You must be faking."

"Why's that?" I looked up at her, curiously.

"There is no way that you can't play this game while you play almost every other sport like a professional," she shrugged, flipping her plaits over her shoulders.

I thought for a moment. I had rarely played volleyball. Maybe on a hot summer's day but usually everyone goofed off and messed around, not really caring about the score. Football was what I was best at. I used to play constantly with Darren - the only time Steve would allow me to play with the boys. I hadn't paid much attention to anything really the past few weeks, ever since…

"I just don't like it - I always hurt my wrist," I made up a flimsy excuse and hoped she wouldn't inquire any more about it. I tried to swallow the lump lodged in my throat as Emily chose a new topic.

" - so if we're eating in the library again with Steve, I think we should include -"

"Steve?" I caught the middle of her sentence and blushed when she looked at me quizzically. "Sorry - I'm just in a bit of a strop with him right now," I covered up.

"Oh, well then, we can eat somewhere else if you want," Emily said, smiling sympathetically.

"No. No, it's okay. It's nothing big, just a disagreement about something small." I looked down at my shoes and leaned back. "We can eat in the library, it's not a problem. I mean, I don't want to get in the way of you and Steve."

Emily flushed, her mouth gaping as she stared at me. "What? Me and Steve? Why would you think…where would you get that….There is nothing there…He doesn't even look - at - me. I'm invisible."

I laughed, throwing my head back. "I just thought that maybe you liked him. You blush around him a lot."

Emily shook her head quickly. "I blush around everyone. I'm blushing right now and Steve isn't even here."

"Actually he's across the gym," I pointed over to his playing figure as he hit a perfect shot and scored a point for his team.

Emily looked where I pointed and blushed a deeper red. Even her ears went red! Her face looked so bright, especially next to her pale blonde hair. "No, really - there's nothing -"

"Okay," I put my hands up and looked away. It wasn't my business if she did like Steve or not. She knew what kind of person he was - everyone knew. No warning was needed if she did like him. I just couldn't help but be interested.

"There is nothing that I find attractive about Steve - he bullied me once and I can't…" Emily kept talking as I looked at Steve again. Of course, a lot of girls found him attractive but he wasn't the nice kind of guy. As far as I knew he barely acknowledged any female, especially those who liked him unashamedly.

Maybe he doesn't like girls, I thought.

Since I was practically one of the guys, boys never got shy around me when discussing girls they liked. Steve usually piped in that girls were useless and never said anything else. I guess it seemed obvious now - his dislike towards girls. I decided to keep my discovery under wraps so as not to burst Emily's possible dream.

We continued our conversation, me sneaking a few glances at Emily to find her sneaking a few glances at Steve as he played. Maybe she wasn't quite aware of him before as she might now be after I mentioned it. She certainly looked at him more often, a new shine to her blue eyes.

"Did you hear me? Leah?" I just barely heard Emily's worried voice. "Are you okay? Should I call the coach? Leah?"

I shook my head to get out of my daze and my gaze snapped to Emily who had a frown etched onto her pale face.

"Sorry, I spaced out for a bit. What did you say?" I raised my eyebrows, hoping that I hadn't offended her greatly by not listening.

"I asked you if you heard that the inspector that I mentioned the last day was arriving tomorrow."

"Oh - no. That's good, right? He can finally find your brother." I looked at Emily close, trying to see her reaction.

Her face hardened and she scowled. "I hope he finds that kidnapper and soon. He deserves to be punished - brutally." She pounded her fist into her open hand as she stared at a blank spot next to her sneakers.

I gazed at her worriedly. I didn't think Emily was capable of that kind of thinking. She looked so innocent and soft - not one for pounding her fist.

"Don't worry they'll find him. And Alex," I tried to distract her but she didn't tear her gaze away from her spot, and her scowl stayed in place. I opted for the last resort and nonchalantly said, "You should tell Steve when you get a chance - he'll be really interested," I added quickly afterwards, "In this inspector's arrival, I mean."

Emily blushed again and looked away, gnawing on her bottom lip.

As Emily began to talk again about something or other, my thoughts drifted to this inspector fellow. Could he really get the job done if the town police force couldn't? Was it likely that Alex Wood was still in Bloomsville? The inspector could be visiting here just to ask some questions, inspect the house - maybe Emily and Steve had it wrong, maybe the inspector didn't think that Alex was still here, with the kidnapper right under our noses.

A/N: Not much happened. Just a creepy nightmare, a little banter, and a discovery that very well may lead to some awkward conversations! I hope you somewhat enjoyed this - even if it wasn't my finest chapter. Please review - it makes me so happy!