The Midnight Carnival Read Online Free PDF Page B

know where he was, and the subject was dropped like a hot potato.
    ‘Drake, tea!’
    Agata yelled with all the strength of her great lungs, though the boy wasn’t that far away, and still he didn’t answer. He remained curled on the tree stump, focussed on whatever was in his backpack.
    ‘Drake, TEA!’
    Adie jumped at the bellow that nearly burst her eardrums, and a little hot tea spilled on her legs.
    ‘Ah.’ Agata waved her hand and laughed. ‘He is shy.’
    Just call a spade a spade , Adie thought. He’s rude .
    Something pushed against the back legs of her chair and, when Adie looked down, there was the famed alligator, like a dark brown monster with lifeless eyes, its short snout full of terrible, pointed teeth.
    ‘Okay, that’s it. I’m going,’ she said.
    ‘Now?’ Delilah said. ‘But it’s early. We said we’d meet the others for a go on the ferris wheel.’
    Adie had no intention of taking another ride on that rusty death trap.
    ‘Sorry, I promised my dad I’d clean out my wardrobe before school starts and… well, I don’t want to get stuck doing it tomorrow. It’s our last day of holidays.’
    ‘I could help you do it tomorrow. Or this evening. It wouldn’t take long with the two of us, we–’
    ‘No, really, that’s okay. Thanks though. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?’
    ‘Are you sure? Okay. See you tomorrow then.’
    ‘Gut to meet you, ja.’ The strongwoman beamed over her teacup.
    ‘Nice to meet you, Agata. Thanks for the tea. Goodbye.’
    As Adie stepped delicately out of the alligator’s path, she knew the others were watching her leave. Their conversation only started up again when she was out of sight behind a trailer, and she heard the voice of Delilah squealing with excitement about something. But Delilah never squealed. She was the quiet one.
    Not any more , Adie thought as she picked her way through the muddied grass. I guess I’m the quiet one now .

    ‘Grace! Jenny, over here!’
    Grace did a double-take when she saw Delilah on the steps of a grey trailer, waving wildly at them.
    ‘You have to meet Agata,’ the small girl said breathlessly, smiling. ‘She’s so nice. We’ve been talking about Soroca, and lots of other places the carnival’s been to. They travel all over.’
    Delilah pulled a fold-out chair from inside the caravan, and propped it open next to three others on the grass.
    ‘Agata.’ She called into the trailer like it was her own home.
    Grace recognised the large woman that appeared in the doorway with a teapot in hand.
    ‘New friends. So nice! Tea, ja?’ She leaned past the door-frame and shouted to her right, ‘Drake, dis time you have tea, okay? Meet nice new friends.’
    Following her gaze, Grace spotted a boy sitting cross-legged on a tree stump at the edge of the park, and caught her breath. It was the strange-skinned boy she had met the night before. Smiling in recognition, he uncurled himself from the stump and made his way over.
    ‘You didn’t make it out of town then?’ Grace kept her voice low as he passed.
    His smile was weary, but his eyes twinkled.
    ‘Never do.’
    Agata’s English wasn’t great, but she managed to communicate so many funny and wonderful tales of far-off lands while the girls drank tea and laughed. The boy, Drake, parked himself on the steps of the trailer, taking it all in and occasionally interrupting to correct details in Agata’s stories, which would result in the woman flapping her hands and nodding her head earnestly, saying,
    ‘Ja, ja, ja, dis I know. I forget. Is correct, ja, ja.’
    Delilah was more lively than Grace had ever seen her, and was becoming a little reckless with the wood nymph that remained hidden beneath her collar. She pulled at her jumper when he shifted into an awkward position, and one time she even scowled at him, scooping her hair over one shoulder and sharply tapping her back. It wasn’t long before the strongwoman noticed something was amiss. Prodding the bump on the girl’s