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WE FOUND OURSELVES STANDING in a long, dark, cold corridor I had !

"Why is it so cold?" I asked Steve "It arm outside"

"Old houses are like that," he told ht down by the other end, so the farther in we got, the brighter it becalad for that I don’t think I could have made it otherwise: it would have been too scary!

The walls were scratched and scribbled on, and bits of the ceiling were flaky It was a creepy place It would have been bad enough in the middle of the day, but this was ten o’clock, only two hours away froht!

"There’s a door here," Steve said and stopped He pushed it ajar and it creaked loudly I al tugged open!

Steve showed no fear and stuck his head in He said nothing for a few seconds, while his eyes got used to the dark, then he pulled back "It’s the stairs up to the balcony," he said

"Where the kid fell from?" I asked

"Yes"

"Do you think we should go up?" I asked

He shook his head "I don’t think so It’s dark up there, no sign of any sort of light We’ll try it if we can’t find another way in, but I think"

"Can I help you boys?" somebody said behind us, and we nearly jumped out of our skins!

We turned around quickly and the tallestdown on us as if ere a couple of rats He was so tall, his head ale bony hands and eyes that were so dark, they looked like two black coals stuck in the middle of his face

"Isn’t it rather late for two little boys like yourselves to be out and about?" he asked His voice was as deep and croaky as a frog’s, but his lips hardly seereat ventriloquist

"We" Steve began, but had to stop and lick his lips before he could continue "We’re here to see the Cirque Du Freak," he said

"Are you?" The man nodded slowly "Do you have tickets?"

"Yes," Steve said, and showed his

"Very good," the man muttered Then he turned to me and said: "How about you, Darren? Do you have a ticket?"

"Yes," I said, reaching into my pocket Then I stopped dead in lanced at Steve and he was shaking in his sneakers

The tall , and his tongue was a dirty shade of yellow "My name is Mr Tall," he said "I own the Cirque Du Freak"

"How did you know my friend’s nahed and bent down, so he was eyeball-to-eyeball with Steve "I know lots of things," he said softly I know your names I knohere you live I know you don’t like your mommy or your daddy" He turned to face h heavens "I know you didn’t tell your parents you were co here And I kno you won your ticket"

"How?" I asked My teeth were shaking so much, I wasn’t sure if he heard me or not If he did, he decided not to answer, because next he stood up and turned away fro to walk I thought he would take giant steps, but he didn’t, he took short ones "The show is about to begin Everyone else is present and seated You are late, boys You’re lucky we didn’t start without you"

He turned a corner at the end of the corridor He was only two or three steps in front of us, but e turned the corner, he was sitting behind a long table covered with a black cloth that reached down to the floor He earing a tall red hat now, and a pair of gloves

"Tickets, please," he said He reached out, took them, opened his mouth, put the tickets in, then chewed them to pieces and sed!

"Very well," he said "You o in now We normally don’t welco men We will make an exception"