Cirque Du Freak. Darren Shan

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      I didn’t tell them about the freak show, because I knew they would say no if they knew about it. I felt bad about not telling the whole truth, but at the same time, I hadn’t really told a lie: all I’d done was keep my mouth shut.

      Saturday couldn’t go quickly enough for me. I tried keeping busy, because that’s how you make time pass without noticing, but I kept thinking about the Cirque Du Freak and wishing it was time to go. I was quite grumpy, which was odd for me on a Saturday, and Mum was glad to see the back of me when it was time to go to Steve’s.

      Annie knew I was going to the freak show and asked me to bring her back something, a photo if possible, but I told her cameras weren’t allowed (it said so on the ticket) and I didn’t have enough money for a T-shirt. I told her I’d buy her a badge if they had them, or a poster, but she’d have to keep it hidden and not tell Mum and Dad where she’d got it if they found it.

      Dad dropped me off at Steve’s at six o’clock. He asked what time I wanted to be collected in the morning. I told him midday if that was OK.

      “Don’t watch horror movies, OK?” he said before he left. “I don’t want you coming home with nightmares.”

      “Oh, Dad!” I groaned. “Everyone in my class watches horror movies.”

      “Listen,” he said, “I don’t mind an old Vincent Price film, or one of the less scary Dracula movies, but none of these nasty new ones, OK?”

      “OK,” I promised.

      “Good man,” he said, and drove off.

      I hurried up to the house and rang the bell four times, which was my secret signal to Steve. He must have been standing right inside, because he opened the door straightaway and dragged me in.

      “About time,” he growled, then pointed to the stairs. “See that hill?” he asked, speaking like a soldier in a war film.

      “Yes, sir,” I said, snapping my heels together.

      “We have to take it by dawn.”

      “Are we using rifles or machine guns, sir?” I asked.

      “Are you mad?” he barked. “We’d never be able to carry a machine gun through all that mud.” He nodded at the carpet.

      “Rifles it is, sir,” I agreed.

      “And if we’re taken,” he warned me, “save the last bullet for yourself.”

      We started up the stairs like a couple of soldiers, firing imaginary guns at imaginary foes. It was childish, but great fun. Steve ‘lost’ a leg on the way and I had to help him to the top. “You may have taken my leg,” he shouted from the landing, “and you may take my life, but you’ll never take my country!”

      It was a stirring speech. At least, it stirred Mrs Leonard, who came through from the downstairs living room to see what the racket was. She smiled when she saw me and asked if I wanted anything to eat or drink. I didn’t. Steve said he’d like some caviar and champagne, but it wasn’t funny the way he said it, and I didn’t laugh.

      Steve doesn’t get on with his mum. He lives alone with her – his dad left when Steve was very young – and they’re always arguing and shouting. I don’t know why. I’ve never asked him. There are certain things you don’t discuss with your friends if you’re boys. Girls can talk about stuff like that, but if you’re a boy you have to talk about computers, football, war and so on. Parents aren’t cool.

      “How will we sneak out tonight?” I asked in a whisper as Steve’s mum went back into the living room.

      “It’s OK,” Steve said. “She’s going out.” He often called her she instead of Mum. “She’ll think we’re in bed when she gets back.”

      “What if she checks?”

      Steve laughed nastily. “Enter my room without being asked? She wouldn’t dare.”

      I didn’t like Steve when he talked like that, but I said nothing in case he went into one of his moods. I didn’t want to do anything that might spoil the show.

      Steve dragged out some of his horror comics and we read them aloud. Steve has great comics, which are only meant for adults. My mum and dad would hit the roof if they knew about them!

      Steve also has loads of old magazines and books about monsters and vampires and werewolves and ghosts.

      “Does a stake have to be made out of wood?” I asked when I’d finished reading a Dracula comic.

      “No,” he said. “It can be metal or ivory, even plastic, as long as it’s hard enough to go right through the heart.”

      “And that will kill a vampire?” I asked.

      “Every time,” he said.

      I frowned. “But you told me you have to cut off their heads and stuff them with garlic and toss them in a river.”

      “Some books say you have to,” he agreed. “But that’s to make sure you kill the vampire’s spirit as well as its body, so it can’t come back as a ghost.”

      “Can a vampire come back as a ghost?” I asked, eyes wide.

      “Probably not,” Steve said. “But if you had the time, and wanted to make sure, cutting off the head and getting rid of it would be worth doing. You don’t want to take any chances with vampires, do you?”

      “No,” I said, shivering. “What about werewolves? Do you need silver bullets to kill them?”

      “I don’t think so,” Steve said. “I think normal bullets can do the job. You might have to use lots of them, but they should work.”

      Steve knows everything there is to know about horror facts. He’s read every sort of horror book there is. He says every story has at least some bit of truth in it, even if most are made up.

      “Do you think the Wolf Man at the Cirque Du Freak is a werewolf?” I asked.

      Steve shook his head. “From what I’ve read,” he said, “the wolf-men in freak shows are normally just very hairy guys. Some of them are more like animals than people, and eat live chickens and stuff, but they’re not werewolves. A werewolf would be no good in a show, because it can only turn into a wolf when there’s a full moon. Every other night, it would be a normal guy.”

      “Oh,” I said. “What about the snake-boy? Do you—”

      “Hey,” he laughed, “save the questions for later. The shows long ago were terrible. The owners used to starve the freaks and keep them locked up in cages and treat them like dirt. But I don’t know what this one will be like. They might not even be real freaks: they might only be people in costumes.” The freak show was being held at a place near the other side of town. We had to leave not long after nine o’clock, to make sure we got there in time. We could have got a cab, except we’d used most of our pocket money to replace the cash Steve took from his mum. Besides, it was more fun walking. It was spookier!

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