I am a cat. Actually, I am a cat girl, if you please. I know, the first thing that comes to your mind is: Cat girl? Hey, that's like Cat Woman, huh?

Well to be entirely honest, I don't wear leather that only covers 1/3 of my body, I don't carry around a whip, and I'm not super hot.

Nope I'm just an average Joe. Or rather, Joanna. I have short brown hair, beige skin, and I'm about 5'5. The only thing that actually resembles a cat would have to be my eyes.

At night my eyes turn from ordinary brown to electric orange, but my pupils are always like a cat's.

But aside from sort of looking like a cat, I can telepathically talk to anything living and feline related.

"Hey, Emily! The show's on in 2!" "Thanks Darren!" I called back from behind the frayed red curtains. First, I'll tell you about why I'm in a broken down theater in London, and then I'll tell you about Darren and my other friends, Evra and Blaze.

I'm here because I participate in a freak show, by the name of Cirque du Freak, and I've been here for about a month. Usually, the tickets to the freak shows are quite expensive, but you won't believe how many people actually show up. Most of the time its just gothies that come, but once we had an old couple come who were in their, like, 70's and they stayed through the whole thing.

Freak shows are against the law, so we have to do them in hidden areas. Like a run-down theater for instance.

The owner of the Cirque is Mr. Tall. He brought me here when I stumbled across him along the streets of Seattle. He noticed me, because my eyes glow in the dark, and he recognized me as a homeless person.

Although I hate to admit it, I don't know how I became homeless. I just lived by the water front with an elderly lady named Pam. She set me free from her about 2 months ago on my 14th birthday. Mr. Tall picked me up that night. So now I work around the campsite with Darren, Evra, and Blaze. Now I can tell you about them.

Darren Shan is my closest friend, because I met him when I first met Mr. Tall. He is a half vampire and he's been in the Cirque for a few years now. I think. I can't remember. He is about 15 with (now short thanks to Blaze) black hair and bright blue eyes. Usually, he, Evra, Blaze and I will keep ourselves busy with chores around the camp and he will help me sell souvenirs at shows, or sit with me in the audience.

Then there's Evra. He's a snake boy. Cool, huh? He also has a pet snake that resembles him quite well. He has medium-length blond hair and yellow eyes. His skin is covered in green, gold, and yellow scales. More often than not, he will just wear a pair of camouflage shorts, but for the show tonight, he'll probably be wearing gold shorts. To tell the truth, I actually fancy him a bit.

And now for my last friend, Blaze. That's not his real name, obviously. It's Donnie, but he hates that, so we call him Blaze. He's an adorable little 12 yr old with blond hair and glittery blue eyes. But don't be fooled by that angelic face of his. He's one of the most dangerous freaks in the Cirque. He's a pyro. Well, no I shouldn't say that since he doesn't have an obsession with fire-starting, but he can control fire and start fires mentally. You may ask, "Why is he so dangerous then?" Well, I'll tell you. He's only 12 and cant always gain full control of his powers therefore, causing reduced amounts of hair and 2nd degree burns. He has been in the Cirque for about 2 weeks now and Mr. Tall has been giving him regular training sessions to help with his gift in hopes that one day, he will be able to perform in the shows.

Right now, Evra is the only one who performs on a standers schedule; Darren just helps Mr. Crepsley (his teacher) perform his act, Blaze usually falls asleep at the end of the day, tired from all of the chores (Hey, go easy on the kid, okay?). and I have to set up the souvenir cart (which tonight consisted of edible glass, candy spider webs and hair from the wolf man). Evra spends all day getting ready for his act, and Darren sometimes helps me with selling souvenirs to the crowd. Blaze does his classes.

So that's us. We all bunk together in the same tent, which is fine by me. But I've got to go. Gifts don't sell themselves!