Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the series. I only own Adrienne and any other obviouse original Characters.

Chapter Three: Larton Crepsley

Adrienne was in amazement when she saw Mr. Crepsley. How he just, zoomed in on stage had really caught her eye. When Mr. Crepsley began his act and brought out "Madam Octa", she was more fixated than afraid. The spider was quite different than any of the species she had seen before.

Mr. Crepsley played a flute and made Madam Octa do many things. Even things like standing upon her back legs and walking. Things she had never seen a spider do in her entire life.

As he played the flute, his eyes glanced up. Adrienne felt her cheeks become hot as their eyes met. He stared at her for the longest time, yet, he never missed a note.

She was so memorized by him she did not notice the spider was now on her. In fact Adrienne didn't even notice Madam Octa until she leapt off her head and back onto the stage.

Her eyes went wide as she looked from the spider to Mr. Crepsley. After that, Mr. Crepsley had Madam Octa upon his top hat and both he and Madam Octa took a bow. Once again he locked eyes with her again, just briefly before he left the stage.

The rest of the show went on, but Adrienne could not stop thinking about Mr. Crepsley. They way he looked at her, his eyes. Just thinking about it sent shivers down her spine.

The last two acts were the twins and a snake boy. As she was watching the snake boy Adrienne felt a small tug upon her jacket sleeve. She looked down and saw another little hooded person. And in his hand a note; which he handed to her.

Please come back stage after the audience has left.

Mr. Tall

Adrienne became confused, why did Mr. Tall want her to come backstage? She folded the paper back up and put it in her pocket. Now all she had to do was wait patiently.

It didn't take long for the audience to leave after they had finished buying some novelties. Once everybody in the audience had left, Adrienne made her way onto the stage.

Her boots made soft thumps as she walked across the old wooden stage. Finally she reached the curtain and carefully pulled it open before she slipped through.

"Hello?"

Her voice echoed slightly as she continued walking around. "Hello?" She said once again, only a bit louder this time. "Ah there you are Adrienne." She jumped slightly at Mr. Tall's voice, "Wh-what is it you wanted to talk to me about."

Mr. Tall looked at her straight in the eye, slowly raising his hand till it was at her neck. Then he pointed a finger at the exposed bruises upon her neck "I know." Was all he said at that moment before leaving the two in absolute silence.

Mr. Tall place a gentle hand upon Adrienne's shoulder and the two walked out of the now darkened theater. She didn't know where he was taking her, but somehow she knew that she was going to be okay. That everything would be fine, and that she could trust Mr. Tall.

She then thought back to what he said at the theater. 'How,' she thought 'How could he know?' He knew her name, but what else did he know? Did he know of her "gift"? Question upon question entered her head, none that she could answer at that moment.

"Mr. Tall, where are we going?"

She finally asked, but he did not reply. He only kept walking, keeping his hand upon her shoulder. When he stopped, Adrienne finally saw where he had taken her. It was the camp site for Cirque Du Freak.

There were dozens of little trailer type things, tents, and lights. Adrienne couldn't move she was in such awe at the place. She didn't even notice Mr. Tall move away from her only to walk inside the camp, and she soon followed.

"I know of what your father did to you."

He said,

"He treated you like an animal, and did unspeakable things to you." Adrienne stopped as the memories began to ransack her mind, threatening to come out again. Mr. Tall turned and saw that tears were threatening to fall from her eyes. "Here you will be treated as a person, Adrienne, for you are one of us."

She took a breath "Are…are you asking me…to join?" Mr. Tall nodded his head "Yes." Adrienne thought about it for a moment, here…she was free. She looked up to meet Mr. Tall's eyes, and uttered three simple words,

"I'll do it."