The Twilight Circus (11 page)

“You think Lucas Scale is behind this?” asked Fish, her pale face looking even paler.

Crone nodded tiredly. “Our cases have increased in
the last few months. We were used to innocent hauntings and manageable encounters between humans and the supernatural. Then Scale comes back from the dead, keen to cause panic and chaos for us humans, and suddenly there are zombies at Highgate, an old vampire hive in Threadneedle Street, et cetera, et cetera. Scale's dealings with the Dark Side may have extended from here in England to continental Europe. The very fact that there may be malignant activity directly where Nat Carver and the Wolven are headed makes me suspicious that Scale knows where they are and
why
they are there.”

Fish looked quizzically at her boss. “There's another reason they're going south? Not just the warmer weather?”

Crone nodded. “The Salinas region is wild and remote; that's why it's ideal for John Carver and his cryptid friends. It's also the last place the Wolven clan was seen. John Carver intends to help Woody locate them. If Scale finds them before Woody, he will summon the means to wipe them out. If …
when
… his powers get stronger, he could use the vampire activity to his advantage; use them as weapons against the Wolven.”

Fish's eyeballs were on stalks. She opened her mouth
to say something, then shut it again.

“Lady Iona and I found Woody's clan at a place known for centuries as White Wolf Falls,” explained Professor Paxton, “but I have no idea if they are still there. They are a spiritual and shy group of individuals who will migrate if they feel threatened. It'll be a good chance for you to …
ahem
… to kill two birds with one stone: keep an eye on Nat Carver and the Wolven, and find the missing girl.”

“And what shall I do with my spare time?” asked Fish sarcastically.

“Well,” said Professor Paxton with the hint of a smile, “if you could help Woody locate his clan, that would be useful.”

“I know I'm sending you to the wolves, Alex,” said Crone, “quite literally, as it happens. I may be brought up on a misconduct charge from our benefactor if it all goes horribly wrong, but if I send anyone else, I can't rely on the job being done properly, if you get my drift. It's as simple as that.”

Alex Fish allowed herself to blush modestly at Crone's words, and then remembered Agent Jack Tully's laughable
attempts to stake vampires the previous night.

“So we're talking, what …? One vampire, or a hive?” asked Fish.

“Possible hive,” admitted Crone. “You know what ancient vampires are like. They're a bloodthirsty lot. They only need one invitation to get lucky. Spreads like wildfire.”

“I just hope Nat and Woody are ready to fight if we need them to,” she said.

“Call it their apprenticeship,” said Crone, and smiled.

Despite her misgivings, Agent Alexandra Fish felt the familiar stirrings of excitement. She had met Nat Carver, and now she would be meeting the
Wolven
! She tottered across the room and stared up at the ancient tapestry with the proud figure of King Richard the Lionheart and the dozen Wolven at his feet.

Man oh man
, she thought excitedly,
I might even get to meet the whole clan
!

Although Crescent had fumed for hours over being told off, the other Howlers secretly thought JC had been right. Otis had felt ashamed and upset that they had allowed themselves to lose control. It wasn't their way. All prey was fair game except humans (who were forbidden) and captive animals. And JC had been right; it could have been a disaster for everyone if the trail of destruction had led back to the circus. But Crescent remained less than thrilled that JC was treating her like a kid with a curfew.

“And all over a few mangy guinea pigs!” she had ranted to the other Howlers.

Now John Carver had summoned some of the younger members of the circus, and as Crescent stomped reluctantly across the snow to his trailer, she wondered if he was going to tell her off again. But when she arrived, Salim and Ramone were already there, along with several
others, including Nat, Woody, Del, Scarlet, and Natalie, all gathered in the living room. Crescent relaxed a little and waited to see what it was all about.

It was cozy in John Carver's trailer. It was bigger than the others, and for most of them it was the first time they had been invited inside. Immaculately furnished, it had room for two leather sofas on which were luxurious cushions and throws. Gleaming cooking utensils hung above the small kitchen area and everything matched beautifully. Dotted around the place were photographs of John Carver posing with various famous people, from Michael Jackson to the Dalai Lama. The large photograph of a smiling woman in a sparkly leotard was Nat's much-lamented grandmother, Nina, who had died in an unfortunate trapeze accident a few years before Nat had been born.

Minutes later there was a sharp rap at the door.

“Come right in,” invited JC, smiling at the expectant faces of the others. “It's not locked.”

There were sounds of someone outside struggling with the door handle. Nat felt his body tense. In the few seconds it took for the door to be nearly wrenched from its hinges, he
knew
, somehow, who the mysterious visitor was
going to be. There was more scrabbling with the handle, and then a short, slightly built person in a bright red ski suit and mirrored goggles came flying through, followed by a smattering of sleety rain and a draft of freezing air.

“Sorry,
sorry
,” the person apologized. “I'm not good with door handles.”

She pushed her steamed-up goggles on top of her head, flattening her snow-dusted spiky black hair. She smiled brightly at the expectant faces of her future pupils, though she nearly had a fit at the sight of them. There were at least two werewolves, one of them a girl—
That's unusual
, she noted, as she scanned the room, also noticing a tattooed boy with—
Oh my gawd, are they horns
? And, most exciting and amazing of all, standing together were Nat Carver and the Wolven creature. Fish thought she was going to expire with sheer excitement.

JC beamed at them all. “Everyone, this is Alexandra Fish, your tutor for the winter.”

The girl from St. Pancras
! Nat was so stunned and confused to have his thoughts confirmed by Fish's appearance that he nearly fell over, and Woody, who had obviously sensed something was up, looked at
him
expectantly.

Nat sent his thoughts in a rush, trying not to jumble them:
ThisveryshortpersonwithspikyhairistheNightShiftagent ItoldyouaboutwhopretendedtobeamuggeratSt.Pancras accordingtoQuentinCroneshe'sasuperhumanheroine blackbeltinthreedisciplineszombiebasher
.

Woody sent back equally as rushed.
Whattheheckis shedoinghere
?

“What the heck are
you
doing here?” demanded Nat. As soon as their meeting with JC had finished, Nat and Woody had gone to confront their new “tutor.”

“It's really great to mee —” began Alex Fish as Nat and Woody barged past her, through the door, and into her trailer.

“—eet you,” finished Fish as she pulled out a couple of beanbags for them to sit on. She had expected to see them as soon as they had left JC, and they hadn't disappointed her. She was dead nervous and tried not to stare, especially at Woody.
Woohoo
! she marveled to herself.
A living legend, a mythical Wolven creature, sitting on a bean-bag only a few inches away
!

She sat opposite and was aware she was staring after
all. She couldn't help it. How had she imagined Woody in human form? All she had ever seen was a centuries-old tapestry of the Wolven in animal shape, but she would never have been able to imagine him as the strange boy who sat solemnly in her trailer. He was dressed in ordinary clothes, the kind her kid brother would wear, his unusual silvery blond hair cut in a kind of funky, choppy style that was trendy just now. But that was where the resemblance to a human kid stopped. His face was a regular shape—
Nice, really
, thought Fish—but sort of wild-looking.
That was it
, she thought,
he looks wrong in his clothes. It's as if he can't wait to run and shift into what he feels happiest as—a wolf creature
!

Nat sat next to him, a tall, slender boy with dark, slightly too long hair and those solemn navy blue eyes, eyes that she had seen turn a bright topaz in the dreary afternoon light of St. Pancras station. In answer to Nat's question, she told them what the boss had told her to tell them.

“So, you're kind of like our
babysitter
?” asked Nat incredulously after Fish had finished talking.

Fish nodded. “Uh-huh, kind of, but keeping an eye on everything else, too.”

Nat was dead suspicious. He had tried earlier to brain-jack her thoughts, but all he could get from inside her head was a really annoying Dizzee Rascal earworm. He realized then that Agent Fish had been trained in all manner of disciplines for her job at NightShift. She clearly knew about blocking unwelcome brain-jacking, since she'd activated her own earworm.

“Crone told me that there's more weird stuff happening,” said Nat. “
Bad
supernatural stuff, like something waking up evil. He thinks that … Lucas Scale might be behind it.”

Fish hesitated. “I … We don't know for sure. It's just a precaution.”

Unconsciously, Nat put his hand to his neck where Scale's teeth had once bitten him. He felt sick, but forced a smile for Woody's benefit. “Since my … accident, I get these … sort of …
premonitions
,” he said. “It's a reliable warning that something bad is going to happen.”

Alex Fish felt for Nat Carver. The poor kid had been through a werewolf attack that he called his
accident
, although ripping someone's throat apart was rarely an accident. Lucas Scale had meant to finish him off, not
leave him alive.
That
was the only accidental bit about the attack.

“And can you feel it now?” asked Fish gently.

Nat shook his head. “I just get nightmares about … what happened”—his hand went back to his throat—”and then I think about Lucas Scale again.”

“What about you, Woody?” asked Fish.

“Same,” agreed Woody. “Nightmares.”

Alex Fish looked at the two boys. She swallowed hard. Her discussion with Crone had convinced her there was a malevolent vampire loose in Salinas. But what if they were wrong? What if the missing people
had
just left of their own accord? But that still left the mutilated animals. That definitely sounded like the work of a rogue vampire, but she didn't have
proof
.

She made what her boss called “an executive decision.”

As gently as she could under the circumstances, she told the boys what the boss had shared with her on her last day in London.

“So, like, this vampire is going to take us out because of some sort of revenge deal with Lucas Scale?” asked Nat, staring at Fish aghast.

“What about everyone else?” pointed out Woody, his eyes flashing slightly. “The Crone man is putting everyone at risk.”

“
If it
is vampire activity, I'll find it and do what I have to do,” said Fish grimly. “Alone, if I have to. It's my job.”

Woody looked at her, his strange eyes huge and glowing golden in the candlelight.

“You won't have to do anything alone,” he said. “Right, Nat?”

Nat closed his eyes. “I thought you didn't want anything to do with this,” he said tiredly.

Woody cast him a ghost of a smile. “You didn't leave me alone when I needed help,” he said softly.

“Here we go again,” said Nat.

John Carver had been puzzled, but not too concerned, when his contact in Salinas had not been in touch as agreed. The severe weather conditions were playing havoc with power and communication systems all over Europe, and the Salinas region was notorious for its lack of a mobile phone signal. If there was anything wrong, he would find out when he arrived—too many people were relying on him to provide a safe haven for the winter months to change things now. Frowning slightly, he pocketed his iPhone and looked up at the sky. The forecast had warned more snow and the leaden sky confirmed it. He pulled his thick sheepskin coat around him and shivered. It was time to hit the road and head south to warmer climes.

Just after dawn on the coldest day of the year, while the people of Paris slept, the Twilighters made the final preparations for their journey south. The horses and Titus the
sacred bull were loaded into a luxury horse box, complete with a loft area for Scarlet and Natalie Ribbons to keep their eyes on the precious cargo. Nat and Woody helped Evan and Jude connect their two silver trailers tandem-style on to Evan's Land Rover. At last, when everyone was ready, they waited for John Carver to give the signal. He drove to the front in his gleaming Daimler and sounded the horn long and hard. Nat could feel everyone's excitement deep in the pit of his stomach as the first vehicles moved off, including his dad's truck. As they fell into place behind his grandpa Carver, he caught a glimpse of Scarlet and Natalie, who gave the thumbs-up sign, and saw the dark limo that he knew belonged to Maccabee Hammer. The special blacked-out windows were designed to keep Mac away from bright sunlight, but with their enhanced vision both he and Woody could see the vampire inside. Nat grinned to himself as he caught sight of the aye-ayes snuggled up fast asleep in the backseats like very ugly children. The procession of thirty silver trailers and various cars and trucks made an impressive sight as it snaked alongside the frozen river Seine.