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I DIDN’T CALL STEVE THAT Sunday I told Moument and that hy I’d come home early They weren’t happy about it, especially ht by rounding etting off lightly Iine what they’d have done to me if they knew about the Cirque Du Freak!

Annie loved her presents She gobbled the candy down quickly and played with the spider for hours She made me tell her all about the show She wanted to knohat every freak looked like and what they’d done Her eyes hen I told her about the wolf-man and how he bit off a wo," she said "That can’t be true"

"It is," I vowed

"Cross your heart?" she asked

"Cross my heart"

"Swear on your eyes?"

"I swear on naw theasped "I wish I’d been there If you ever go again, will you take me?"

"Sure," I said, "but I don’t think the freak show comes here that often They move around a lot"

I didn’t tell Annie about Mr Crepsley being a vaht about the two of the I wanted to call Steve but didn’t knohat to say He would be bound to ask why I didn’t go back to his place, and I didn’t want to tell him that I’d stayed in the theater and spied on hiine: a real-life vampire! I used to believe they were real but then my parents and teachers convinced rownups!

I wondered what va the books and movies said they could I had seen Mr Crepsley make a chair fly, and I’d seen him swoop down from the roof of the theater, and I’d seen him drink some of Steve’s blood What else could he do? Could he turn into a bat, into sht kill hiht about Mr Crepsley, I thought just as ain that I could buy one like her, one I could control I could join a freak show if I had a spider like that, and travel the world, having marvelous adventures

Sunday caarden and Mo ho walk in the afternoon, and daydreamed about vampires and spiders

Then it was Monday and tioing to say to Steve, or what he ht say to me Also, I hadn’t slept much over the weekend (it’s hard to sleep when you’ve seen a real vay

Steve was in the yard when I arrived, which was unusual I nor apart fro for ainst the wall beside hi," he replied There were dark circles under his eyes and I bet he’d slept even less than o after the show?" he asked

"I went ho me carefully

"It was dark outside and I wasn’t looking where I was going I took a ferong turns and got lost By the time I found myself somewhere familiar, I was closer to home than to your house"

Ias possible, and I could see hiure out if it was the truth or not

"You otten into a lot of trouble," he said

"Tell rounded for ato have to do a bunch of chores Still," I said with a grin, "it orth it, right? I mean, was the Cirque Du Freak superb or what!"

Steve studiedthe truth "Yeah," he said, returning reat"

To We were pretty good actors, Steve and I You’d never have guessed that he had spoken to a vampire on Saturday, or that I had seen his would never be quite the sah he believed what I’d told hi at h I was someone who had hurt hiet too close to hier It scared me, what he’d said to Mr Crepsley, and what the va to Crepsley It worried me After all, Steve was prepared to becoo on being friends with so about Madam Octa later that afternoon Steve and I hadn’t said much about Mr Crepsley and his spider We were afraid to talk about hi slip But To us and eventually we filled them in on the act

"How do you think he controlled the spider?" Tommy asked

"Maybe it was a fake spider," Alan said

"It wasn’t a fake," I snorted "None of the freaks were fake That hy it was so brilliant You could tell everything was real"