A/N Ok, so we're on to chapter three which is where Naomi and I have to really start knitting together and trying to make the story work, just humor us if you have to. We appreciate reviews and don't mind if you have any bad comments about our fanfic as long as you tell us how we can improve as well, so thanks people.

I'd been walking aimlessly for about three hours through fields and woods, I didn't know what to do. I was so confused, so disorientated that red was blue and green was pink, hot was cold and sound was movement. I needed desperately to get my head sorted, so I came to a stop and sat down on the ground with a bump, my arm bouncing in the sling and sending pain shooting up to my shoulder and down my spine. I couldn't believe that my home was in danger, Mr. Tall was dead and everyone else might soon be joining him. I thought of my little friend Shancus Von, he was only seven but I spent a lot of time with him, he was small enough for me to pick up and carry around and I'd some times swoop down on him and catch him off guard, making him squeal. Then there was his little brother Urcha and his baby sister Lilia, surely they couldn't be trapped in that stadium surrounded by all those police? They'd all made a big mistake, none of the Cirque performers would hurt a fly. I was thinking about this when I made my decision, I couldn't leave them! I had to help them out! I stood up and prayed that my broken arm wouldn't get in the way and prevent me from getting to the Cirque. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and lifted myself up into the air. The broken arm was awkward but soon I was flying above houses and fields and trying to avoid the birds that were coming in the other direction. What? You didn't think I was in the Cirque Du Freak just to look pretty did you?

I was curled up into a ball on the grass, crying uncontrollably, sobs racking my whole body. I'd been crying for at least an hour there, I couldn't believe the horror of it all, the carnage. It was unbearable, the people from the Cirque who had survived the huge battle had started to clear up the mess but they had a lot of work to do. So many of the performers were dead, Alexander Ribs, Rhamus Two-Bellies, Pasta O'Malley, the Wolf Man had been slaughtered. It hadn't been the police that had caused the swamp of spilt blood though, it had been a clan of Vampaneze, blood draining vampires with a leader so evil that his blood was surely made of poison. He was dead now and the battle was over but it shouldn't have happened in the first place. I was crying because I was so angry, burning all the way through with loathing for Steve Leopard, the Lord of the Vampaneze, and what he'd done to my family. I looked up at the freshly constructed gallows that hadn't yet been taken down, the small body dangling from it… Shancus Von. A fresh wave of anger fell over me and I was forced to stand up, wipe the tears from my eyes and march over to the edge of the stadium where a pile of Vampaneze bodies were already being piled. The vampaneze had taken a few of the bodies away with them when they had left, but a lot of them had been left, mainly vampets, the human vampaneze assistants. There was a long, open, wooden crate beside the pile of corpses, it contained the body of Steve Leonard, they'd fished him out of the lake along with the corpse of Darren Shan… the vampire who killed Leonard and died in the process. I glared hard at the body of Steve Leonard, still soaked from the lake, then I gathered all the saliva in my mouth and spat at it. Then I kicked the crate, then did it again, until soon I was screaming and spitting and kicking the crate like I'd gone savage. After a while I felt someone come up behind me and grab my arms. I turned around, snarling and then stopped... it was Evra Von, Shancus' dad. He didn't say anything, just put his arm round me and pulled me into a strong hug. I buried my face into his shoulder and cried and wailed and he cried too and we stayed like that for a while.

"I'm so sorry about Shancus!" I cried.

"So am I," he sobbed.

"I could never imagine Shancus… I thought…"

"I know…"

"He was just so… alive all the time… you know?"

"Yes."

"Oh Evra, I'm so sorry,"

"I know how close you were to him Kinsey, come on… we'll get through this," he said weakly. Then he stopped and fell to his knees, he put his hands over his face, groaning.

"What am I saying?" he hissed, "We won't get through this… he's gone… my little boys dead and he can't come back!"

"Evra… you have to be strong," I whispered, crouching down and wiping away my new tears. It felt a little better to think that I wasn't the only one who'd lost Shancus, and I realized that his family would miss him as much… if not more, than me. "You have to be strong for Merla and Urcha and Lilia, they need you too, now more than ever."

"I know!" he cried, "I just… I just…" he trailed off and fresh tears spilt down his face. "Why Shancus? Why did he have to take Shancus? Why couldn't he have taken someone else… why my little boy? I knew as soon as they took him I might never hold him again, might never tuck him into his hammock again, might never play games with him again… but I didn't want to believe it. And then we went after him and Leonard was going to give him back and I was so hopeful… I never thought… never for a moment considered that…" he shuddered and then sniffed. " But it's done now and there's no undoing it." He slammed his fist onto the ground suddenly and then stood up and shook his head.

"You're right Kinsey, I have to be strong for Merla and… the kids. Urcha's in shock and he needs me at the moment, as for Merla, you can imagine. Lilia's too young to know what's happening… bless her. I'm going to gather a team and take down that crossbeam, then I'm going to organise giving Shancus a proper burial."

I nodded silently and watched Evra march off with faked purpose and determination, I knew he was still torn apart, wrecked inside… just like me.

The next day I was in one of the tents that had been saved, the vampaneze had burnt most of them to the ground. Truska had changed the dressing on my arm and was just filling me in on some of the finer details of what had happened during the battle when Merla Von, Evra Von and Cormac Limbs came into the tent.

"Would you be wanting me?" Truska asked, in that strange accent she has.

"Not you Truska," Cormac's left head said, he'd had his head chopped off during the battle and two new one's had grown in it's place, they had a tendency to fight with each other. "Evra and Merla would like to speak with Kinsey."

"Me?" I asked, feeling nervous.

"About Shancus' funeral," Evra said, smiling gently. Merla nodded beside him, her eyes were swollen and bloodshot from crying.

"Ok," I mumbled. I jumped off of the stool I'd been sitting on, said goodbye to Truska and followed Evra, Merla and Cormac out of the tent. Merla turned to me, her eyes gleaming.

"We wondered if you could help us with the funeral," she said, her voice strained.

"We know how much he loved it when you put him on your back and flew with him over the fields, how he'd squeal about hovering over the sea and watching the dolphins leap up from the water," Evra told me.

"He'd always be so excited when he told me where he'd been with you… talk about it for days," Merla said, smiling through fresh tears.

"We wondered if you'd do us the honor of taking Shancus' body to the sea," Evra said gently. I was stunned into silence for a few moments, so shocked I couldn't speak. Then, slowly, I nodded.

The service finished just as the sun had begun to sink below the hills, the sky had turned a pale pink with peach clouds being taken along on a gentle breeze. I stepped forward towards the thin, frail, lifeless body of Shancus Von and picked up the brown sack that lay beside him. It was filled with his old toys and things he had always loved, people had also put flowers in it and small stuffed animals, contributing to his memory. I slung the sack over the shoulder of my good arm and tied it there with a strap, then I put an arm gently under Shancus' body and lifted him up carefully. His long, green-yellow hair fell down over his face as his body hung limp in my grip, his neck twisted at a strange angle where it had been broken, I couldn't help but notice how cold he was. Evra nodded to me, his scaled cheeks soaked and stained with tears, I nodded back and slowly rose into the air, holding the little snake boy's body tightly in my one armed grip. I flew upwards until the crowd that had gathered for the funeral were no more than tiny specks below me, then sailed forward with Shancus into the setting sun.

The sea glistened below me, reflecting the last light from the sun and turning it into glittering diamonds on it's distorted surface. I waited for a while, watching the sea, thinking of the boy who had become my best friend, the child who had always been so lively and full of energy, but who was now gone forever. I spotted a large piece of wood floating in the water and flew down to it, it was perfect. I shrugged the sack off of my back and laid it on the plank of wood, pushing my foot lightly onto the other end to balance it out. Then, with all the care I could muster I lowered Shancus' body down next to it, I flicked the strand of hair that had covered his face behind his ear and straightened his thin clothes. Then I rose into the air again and watched as Shancus was taken by the current and swept further out to sea.

I arrived back at the stadium feeling more peaceful than I had since I arrived, I ducked under the flap to my tent but then stopped still. There was a figure sitting in a wooden chair facing me, sipping at a cup of tea.

"Hello Kinsey," Artemis Fowl said, smiling that creepy smile at me.