Penelope King's Story

Clara Eddington

"Did we beat the pirates?" asked Natalie. Clara had to smile, and she even let out a breathless laugh. “Yes, Naty. You were too fast for them slow adults!” She smiled, looking to Doug as he began to speak. "Thats a good idea." He had followed her line of sight to the apples. “Okay, Peter,” she said indicating Flynn, “you watch over Wendy, and Doug and I will be right back. We’re going to get a snack for us. Stay off the tracks, you don’t want to get swept away by a pirate ship!”
Nodding to Doug, she headed off towards the apple trees. She quickly went about picking up good ones from the ground and picking a few low-laying ones, tucking what she could not carry into her dress pockets in the front. Walking back over to the kids she smiled and tossed an apple to each of them, and put the rest (a total of 6) into the suitcase. They wouldn’t keep for long, but maybe long enough.

Clara leaned against a tree and finally got her heart to calm down. The spot they were in didn’t look too bad. There were trees overhead with nice thick leaves. “How about we camp here tonight, guys? Sleep under the stars, like the lost boys!” She smiled, keeping her tone light and airy. Looking around she noticed a patch of moss big enough for Flynn and Natalie. “You two can sleep here, Doug and I will sleep beside you and take turns watching for pirates. I’ll take the first shift.”
The sun was already setting, and it would be dark soon. Clara took the suitcase and placed it against a tree and sat on it.

Hours later, it’s completely dark out
Clara awoke to the feel of rain splattering against her cheek. Rubber her eyes, her blue hues looked around the forest. Darkness still lay in a thick blanket around her family, and rain was now beginning to fall down onto them. Her yellow house dress was muddy and brown now, and her once white shoes were now a similar color. Waving away a wisp of her blonde hair, she struggled to her feet. She must have fallen asleep on her watch… Just then, the tracks began to vibrate. A train?

Looking up the tracks Clara could see the blinding light of locomotive. Clara held up her hand to her face to block out the blinding glare. With a swoosh, the massive machine went flying past, but this one was different from the rest as many had passed during the night. Bright colors, and elaborate designs flashed by in a whirl of color and lights. Is that a…a… giraffe?

Sure enough, the long neck of the creature towered out of a shoot from the cart, and turned to stare at her as the train rattled by. …. A circus… A grinding sound signified it was coming to a stop. Confused, Clara peeked a little closer to the tracks, watching the train slowly crawl to a stop. They must be near a town…

Sure that the loud sound of the train’s whistle had awoken her siblings, she turned to them. “You guys stay here…. I’m… I’m going to see if we can get a ride.” Taking a breath, she straightened her dress and winced up at the sky. The rain was starting to fall harder. “Stay here and watch them… if I’m not back in two hours, follow the tracks to town.” She directed the comment to Doug. With that, she set off down the track beside the many beautiful carts, ignoring the growls, yelps, bleets, and other odd noises coming from the animal cages as she passed.

When she reached the front of the train she hopped across the tracks delicately. Large planks were being pulled out of unseen compartments, and an uncountable number of men seemed to flow out from the train. Awed, Clara found herself fixed to the spot as the big top took shape in the field in front of the train. The rain was starting to fall more heavily now, and she just stood, getting soaked.

She wasn’t sure what to do… the men looked extremely busy… and she would have to find the ringmaster to ask if her and her siblings could ride with them as far as they could take them in regards to how close they could get to Easthaven. Gathering up her courage, she began toward the front of the train, shivering in the downpour. As she rounded the corner, she found herself face-to-face with a boy. Well, actually, she had bumped into him.

Alex blinked a few times while stretching his arms apart. He yawned, surprised that he had fallen asleep so early and woken up so late. Alex noticed the train was stopped and abruptly got up. Penelope sat next to him on his right, her dazzling face particularly noticeable in the dark room, however the seat usually occupied by her brother was empty. "I thought I was the only one allowed to leave without notice," Alex joked, unsure if Penny (of course he could never call her that) was even awake. "Well, I'm going to go out," Alex announced loudly, hopeful for a response. All he received was a grunt and then continuous snores from the man sitting on Alex's left, Humphrey Gordon. Humphrey was an obese clown who challenged Alex to card games every night despite the fact that he could never win. Alex realized he never took his winnings from the night before and discreetly took Humphrey's wallet out of his bag, pulled out a few dollars (however Alex took more money than he was supposed to take), and then slipped it back in his bag. Humphrey abruptly woke up and snorted, "Huh?", the smell of alcohol reeking from his mouth. "We've arrived," Alex said in an excited tone before continuing in feigned anger,"however is a drunken clown really what you think parents bring their children to a circus for?" To Alex's amusement, Humphrey yelled, "Scram off kid!"

Alex pushed open the doors of the train compartment and headed outside into the beautiful and dark scenery, wondering where Zachariah could have went. Suddenly, Alex felt rain trickle down his face. He smiled, nearly jumping of happiness. Rain was one of his favorite things in the world, however he was sure that something like this wouldn't excite Zach too much so Zach was almost certainly inside. Alex was just about to push open the compartment doors to head back in, as he wanted to find Zach, when one of the workers called out, "Hey kid! Come over here and help me set this tent up!" Alex turned around, revealing his face to the worker. The worker, realizing who Alex was, shooed the kid away. One of the perks of being so troublesome was that Alex didn't have to do any work. Only three days after Penelope and Zach convinced the ringmaster, Bartholomew (Barty for short), to let Alex join the train he broke one of the tents, which caused a worker to fall of the tent and break his hip. Penny and Zach were mortified and afraid that Barty would kick them off the train. Luckily, Barty was extremely forgiving and let the kids stay under the "punishment" that Alex's only job would be selling tickets, passing out posters around town, making art to be sold at the concession stand, and singing for the crowd before the show started.

Alex reopened the compartment door and passed by Penny again. He went by a few more train cars and to his disgrace he never found Zach. Maybe Barty called him in for something. Zach was always Barty's favorite, so it wouldn't be surprising if this was true. Alex headed outside to the ringmaster's tent, a beautiful tent decorated with multiple colors. No one appreciated the tent as much as Alex did, which was also true for most artistic things. He was disappointed to see the rain was smearing the colors off the tent, which was in Alex's opinion the only negative of rain. Alex pushed over the tent covers and entered Barty's awkwardly designed room. Something about this room always gave him the creeps. Just as Alex had suspected, Zachariah was standing in the room with an unfamiliar girl, both with their backs facing him.

Normally Alex would take advantage of a situation like this to jump up on someone and scare them, however he learnt the hard way that this wasn't the smartest thing to do with Zach. "What is it, Zachariah?" the ringmaster mumbled, obviously just awaken from sleep. Zach motioned to the girl to step forward. The situation was very unusual, who was this girl? Zach usually didn't do well with strangers, maybe he had a secret girlfriend and was asking the ringmaster to let her join them at the circus. Alex snickered at the thought, knowing that obviously wasn't the case (Zach wasn't too good with secrets or girls and he couldn't have met the girl earlier considering that he'd been travelling for so long). Alex walked to the side of Zach and cheerfully sprouted,"Good morning Zachariah,". The disappointment on Barty's face when he saw Alex was immediately obvious which saddened Alex a little. Alex noticed the girl was around Zach's age and had blonde hair and blue eyes. Alex continued, "Who's this pretty girl you've got with you?"

Clara marveled at the tent, and momentarily lost her voice. The ringmaster appeared to be sleeping, and she was just about to object when the boy began shoving him awake. The man came out of his sleep as if he were coming out of being possessed."What is it, Zachariah?" asked the man, who the boy, Zachariah, had not named. Clara was just about to say something, when a wild-eyed boy suddenly joined Zachariah's other side. Clara must have looked like a soaked owl as she blinked and took in the new person. "Who's this pretty girl you've got with you?" His voice was as cheerful as his eyes appeared to be. Clara shifted uncomfortably and looked back to the ringmaster who was regarding the boy with a scowl. "Ahh, I see we have a guest." Bartholomew purred, quickly regaining his composer.

He lifted himself into an upright position with an inhuman grace and crossed the threshold of the tent to dramatically take Clara's hand and scoop himself into a bow. "To what do we owe the pleasure, dear child?" His voice dripped like warm syrup. Clara was too shocked at his formalities to answer, and just stood there trying not to gawk. "My dear girl, you're soaked to the bone! Where are your parents?" Parents. Clara took a step back from him and cleared her throat. "My name is Clara Eddington, sir." "And I, am the wonderful and mystical Bartholomew Clark. Ringmaster of the Clark and Young circus!" he exclaimed, standing straight and proud, even gesturing with a grand wave of his arm.

Clara stood, with her soaked yellow dress dripping on the rug she stood upon. "Sir, my family and I are trying to get to Easthaven. Please, we desperately need shelter and, if possible, my brother and I could work for seats for the four of us on your train. We won't be any trouble, I swear! Please, we really need to get to Easthaven. Our aunt is expecting us." So, the last part was a bit of a stretched truth. Honestly, Clara had no idea if her aunt was expecting them or not. Bartholomew watched her carefully as she explained her situation and slowly nodded, turning to walk to the back of his tent. Clara stood, hopeless, as he walked away, tears brimming in her eyes.

When the man returned, he was carrying a plastic poncho, which he gently handed to Clara. "Dear, sweet child. We are but a humble group of misfits. Of course you are welcome here. You may ride with us for as long as you like. It just so happens we recently had an act drop, and we have a two available rooms in one of our carts." Clara could faint, she was so happy. "Go, get your family, and get them warm. I will send Benny to ready your cart. Come see me after the show today. Zach, since you found her, you escort them to the Swan Cart. And Alex, go find Penny and ask her to help Miss Eddington get settled in." He spoke with a gentle finality. He did not expect the children to disrespect them, as he had let both Zach and Alex into his company out of the goodness of his heart, just as he was doing now for this young girl. He knew that the boys were good, and that they would make sure she was well looked after. It might do the children some good to have some more children their age around. Perhaps keep them out of trouble, as it were. "Thank you, sir, thank you so much!" Barty smiled and waved his hand to dismiss them, turning back to a table with a bunch of paperwork upon it. He would have his hands full trying to replace and buy a new act for the Swan Sisters. Clara put the poncho on and shyly looked to Zach, "Um... I'll lead you to them, then.."

---

When Clara arrived back at their camp, she was not surprised to find a very upset looking Flynn and a curious Natalie. Flynn was sitting with his legs crossed under a tree, looking wet and pitiful, and Natalie was staring wide-eyed at the many different carts with an apple in her hand that was half eaten. Clara smiled and ran to Doug when she saw him, throwing her arms around him in a huge hug. "They're going to let us stay with them, Doug! We have a place to sleep!" She was so overcome with joy that she began to cry. The rain was relentless, and only Natalie seemed to not mind the dreary downpour. Clara released her brother and placed the poncho onto Flynn's little body. "C'mon, Flynn, we're going to stay on the train. You always wanted to join the circus, right?" Flynn was being a typical six year old and just whimpered, laying his head into Clara's neck. Natalie grinned and turned at the sound of what Clara had to say. "Join the circus!?" she chirped, wide-eyed and excited. "That sounds like fun, sissy! I want to, I want to!" Clara laughed and shifted Flynn on her hip to hold him better. She turned back to Zach, wincing a little. She could tell he wasn't really a people person. It was then that Natalie took it upon herself to jump over beside him and take his hand. "My name's Natalie Eddington! I'm Clara's sister! HI!" She grinned up at him. "Are you a part of the circus? Are you an act? Do you eat fire? Or swords can you teach me to--" "That's enough, Natalie.." The younger girl looked a little apologetic and smiled. "Sorry," she mumbled, though it was clear that her lighthearted self didn't really mean it.

"Zach is going to show us where our cart is... so.. follow him." Clara looked to Zach and walked over to him, Flynn still in her arms. "Doug, can you grab the suitcase?" After everything they owned was together and they were grouped up, she nodded to Zach to lead the way. Oh, Mama... I really hope they're as nice as they seem.. and I hope we get to Easthaven soon.

So her name was Clara. To Zachariah, the name fit the girl. The teen listened intently as Clara and Barty spoke. The Ringmaster was going to allow her and her family to stay with them. Barty then proceeded to give orders to Alex and Zachariah. Zach didn't even acknowledge the command, instead walking to follow Clara as she spoke to him. "Um... I'll lead you to them, then.." He followed the girl for some time, ignoring the yells he was getting. Zach didn't care. They could yell that they wanted and he would still ignore them. Barty had given him a job to do and he would make sure that it was done.

It seemed like they had been walking for quite a while before they came to Clara's family. Zach stood back a bit as Clara approached the older of the two boys, hugging him. He really wasn't listening as the girl spoke to the family. It was none of his business. Suddenly, someone was holding his hand. Zachariah stiffened, unsure of what to do. He looked to see who had touched him. It was the younger girl. She seemed so excited. "My name's Natalie Eddington! I'm Clara's sister! HI!" ,the girl said..smiling. "Are you a part of the circus? Are you an act? Do you eat fire? Or swords can you teach me to--" "That's enough, Natalie..", Clara said to the girl. "Sorry." ,the girl said. He could tell that she really didn't mean it. He was remaining quiet. He was unsure what to say. Now, he felt bad for Natalie. Perhaps he could at least try to answer one of her questions. Before he was able to voice this, Clara spoke again. "Zach is going to show us where our cart is... so.. follow him." The teen waited until everyone seemed ready to go before taking off in the direction of the Swan Cart. They had been walking for only two minutes when Zachariah spoke. "You know, Natalie, I...I work with the horses. I learned everything about them when I first started working here..then..our trainer left us. So, I got promoted." he fell silent. He was slightly surprised with himself. He'd actually not gotten out one sentence but three. "If you'd like I'll show you them one day." He fell quiet after that. Finally, Zach saw the cart that he was looking for. It was sitting quite close to his own. He approached but stopped outside of the cart. He pointed to the cart, signaling to Clara that this was the cart her and her family would be staying in.

Clara glanced to her side, where Alex was whispering to her. "How's your room? Excited for the circus? By the way, if it means anything to you guys, I'm fifteen years old." "Our room is lovely, thank you, and yes... I am. Mostly excited about not having to walk anymore," she grinned at him. Fifteen? She looked to Doug, then back to Alex. The boys were both so young, with so much of the world weighing on their shoulders. "I'm seventeen," Clara managed to whisper, just as the show began to start. She was so consumed with watching the show, and her siblings, that she did not notice the sun beginning to set outside as the show went on. Ribbon dancers, elephants, horses, magicians, zebras, giraffes, lions, tigers, bears-- Oh yes. The circus bloomed to life before their eyes, exploding colors everywhere. Clara laughed until her sides hurt at the funny clowns, and became entranced by the beauty of the gypsies. Everything was so beautiful, and then it ended.

The large mass of people filed out like cold honey from a jar. Their painstakingly slow pace prompted Clara to sit down on an empty row of seats, to try and wait out the crowd. "You don't have to wait for them, come this way!" Penny smiled, waving for Clara, Alex, and the rest of the gang to follow her. Penny led the group out of the back of the tent, smiling at the chaos that the big top hid so well. Clara looked around in amazement. What had just moments before been so beautiful and breathtaking, was now a jumbled mess of carts, animals, equipment, and the men that were shuffling them all about. It looked as though the circus had vomited it's acts out onto the field, and the workers were scrambling to make order of the chunks. The noise was a mild roar of orders being shouted. "Dinner will be in that tent, over there," Penny informed them, gesturing to a large red tent. "Okay, thank you," Clara nodded. "No problem, but hey, I'll see you there, okay? Alex, come help me find my brother, would you?" Clara nodded as Penny turned her attention away, dismissing her. She turned to Natalie and offered her a smile, holding out her hand to the girl. "Let's go get in line for some food."

---

Penny waved goodbye to the group as they headed towards the tent. Getting in line for food wasn't a bad idea, that is if you were the type to wait in line. Personally, she usually skipped someone or just waited for the crowd to die down. She turned her attention back to Alex, who was looking wired as usual. "She's pretty," she said flatly, her eyes watching him for any sort of reaction. "Anyway, where did my brother get off to? He's a better hider than I am..." Penny headed off towards the boy's cart, intending to search for her brother there. Why had he not joined them to see the circus? Was he up to something? Or worse, had he gotten in trouble with the ring leader? Or worse had he gotten hurt? Annoyance rained down on her as she stomped across the grass. Why would he just take off like that without even telling me where he was?

Once Zach had left Clara and her family, he'd made his way to the large area that had been temporarily fenced off for the horses to graze in. He stood at the fence for a long time, just watching the large animals. The circus had eight horses. Four beautiful Friesians and four elegant Lipizzaners. Zach knew each of their names and loved each horse equally. The boy spent a good thirty minutes just watching the horses before he removed himself from the fence. One by one, Zach brought each horse out of the two pens and groomed and tacked them. Once the horses were ready for the show, he motioned to a man to help him to bring the horses into the Big Top. The tent was packed and Zach's mind wandered to the family that he'd helped earlier in the day. He hoped that they'd settled in and were feeling better than when he'd last seen them. Suddenly, Zach heard the Ring Master talking about the horses. That was his cue. One by one, alternating the breeds, the boy sent the horses out into the ring. The horses ran around the ring, as if they'd done this many times before. They performed beautifully. Normally, Zach would have been out in the ring with them but he'd decided that tonight they'd only do a half performance. They needed rehearsing again before going on for very long. Everyone always loved the horses. They never seemed to care about all of the hard work that went into working with the beautiful creatures. Zach was usually with them, even if he wasn't training them. They always seemed to calm him. One by one, the horses came back to Zach. he quickly led them back out of the tent and into their fenced in areas. He groomed and untacked the beasts and made sure that they were taken care of for the night before heading to his cart.

Zach made his was slowly, taking his time. Everyone else was most likely heading to eat. Normally, Zach would have as well. Not tonight. He was tired and was still not sure about Clara and her family. He knew that she would most likely be in the tent eating with the others. He didn't want to have to face the new faces..not yet at least. As he entered into his cart, he went into his section..sitting down upon his bed. He sighed heavily. He knew that Penny and/or Alex would most likely come looking for him. It wasn't like him to skip supper. All he had to do was wait.

Alex Curtis

The show passed by quickly, as it always had for Alex. It amused him how bewildered Clara and her siblings were with the show, as if they had never seen anything so quirky yet beautiful in their lives. After the show ended, Penny called him over to go find Zach. It was unheard of for him to disappear for the entirety of the show. He hadn't even come onto the stage.

"She's pretty," Penny shared, obviously speaking of Clara. Alex blushed a little, wishing he could say Yes, but you're prettier. Even if Alex was quick to speak his mind, he still had his limits. After all, whenever he tried flirt with Penny she usually laughed it off and blushed a little. But it wasn't common that he flirted with her anyways.

"Anyway, where did my brother get off to? He's a better hider than I am..." , Penelope said as she walked over to the boy's cart. Her face was so worried, it was visibly apparent that she cared about her brother. Their bond was greater than that of normal siblings, so much so that Penny followed her brother when he was kicked out of their family.

"Hardly a better hider than you, and he's certainly a worse hider than me," Alex joked with mock pride. Penelope and him often tried to hide from each other to pass time, but Alex was apparently better at running away than hiding. The sun got darker as Alex pushed the door open to his cart, which he shared with Zach. Alex held the door open for Penelope and then found Zach sitting on the bed, obviously exhausted.

Alex sat next to Zach and said, "Tired? We could get food for you if you would rather lay in bed. Penny- *ahem*- Penelope was worried about you. You shouldn't leave us like that without any notice." He then nudged Zach's shoulder. In this moment he realized how reliant he and his friends were on each other. It was so unusual, considering they never had a family to rely, at least not in Alex's case. Yet when one member of the group went missing without saying anything, everyone started worrrying (unless Alex went missing, because he often left the group without saying a single word).

Alex seemed to shrug off her opinion of Clara, but instead of prying deeper she decided to let it slide. "Hardly a better hider than you, and he's certainly a worse hider than me," Alex was saying. Penny giggled a little at his feigned confidence. Alex led the way to his cart and was gentlemanly enough to hold the door for her. Weird, but she didn't have time to think about why he was being nice to her because she had noticed Zach sitting on the bed. "Zach!" Relief and joy flooded over her and she bounded across the room and tackled him onto the mattress. "Tired? We could get food for you if you would rather lay in bed. Penny- *ahem*- Penelope was worried about you. You shouldn't leave us like that without any notice," Alex scolded as he sat down on the bed beside her brother. Penny sat up and peered down at her brother. He did look a little tired.

"I wouldn't mind going to get you something... I think it's turkey leg night." She crawled off of him to give him some room to breathe and took a look around the boy's cart. What a mess! Boys were gross... but she'd have to fuss at Zach about that later. For now, she was more interested in where he had been. "So, where did you run off to anyway? I mean, you pull an entire group of kids out of the woods in the pouring rain, dump them on Barty and then just... take off for the day! Without even introducing me to them or telling me you found them! You should have told me first," she complained, crossing her arms. She didn't like being left out of the big decisions her brother made sometimes. Why hadn't she been with him earlier when they found the family? Oh yeah... because she had been hiding and sleeping in, to avoid having to put up the poles.

Putting up the poles and other labor were to be avoided at all costs, especially when it was pouring down rain. Besides, she hadn't gotten very good sleep the night before. Penny had had a nightmare. The same nightmare that she has about once a week. The dream that was really a memory gone wrong. It's the scene of her parents screaming at Zach from the kitchen, telling him to get out. It's the first few weeks they spent running from cops, nearly starving, sleeping in the dirt... it was awful. In her dream, wolves chase them off a cliff, and her and Zach are free-falling into a froth of rapids below. She wakes up just moments before they make contact with the water. The dreams have been getting worse lately, but she doesn't want to tell Zach... she doesn't want to worry him. Penny pulled herself from her thoughts and turned her attention back to the two boys. " I think you should eat with the family you found... I'm going to. You really should come. I remember what it was like when we first got here- not knowing anyone, it was kind of scary. You know, with all the clowns and circus freaks walking about... Course we know they're harmless, but they don't. C'mon, eat with us? Please?"

Zach attempted a smile at Alex when he saw the younger boy enter the cart and was about to speak when his sister entered. The young girl tackled Zach to the mattress. Zachariah turned his gaze to Alex as the younger boy spoke to him. "Tired? We could get food for you if you would rather lay in bed. Penny- *ahem*- Penelope was worried about you. You shouldn't leave us like that without any notice." Alex said. Zach didn't answer right away but instead chose to slowly sit back up after Penny had gotten off of him. He smiled at the two. Zach wasn't sure if he was even hungry. He'd been through quite a bit that day. He'd not expected to find the pretty girl and her family. He still wasn't sure why he hadn't just directed her to Barty and then been on his way. Penny was speaking to him again, bringing him out of his thoughts. "So, where did you run off to anyway? I mean, you pull an entire group of kids out of the woods in the pouring rain, dump them on Barty and then just... take off for the day! Without even introducing me to them or telling me you found them! You should have told me first. I think you should eat with the family you found... I'm going to. You really should come. I remember what it was like when we first got here- not knowing anyone, it was kind of scary. You know, with all the clowns and circus freaks walking about... Course we know they're harmless, but they don't. C'mon, eat with us? Please?" Zach thought for a moment. He knew that he couldn't say no to Penny and she knew it as well. "All right." he said softly, smiling at his sister and friend.

Zach slid off of the bed and led the way out of the cart. As usual he didn't say much. He walked close to his sister and friend, listening as they spoke softly. As they slowly neared the large red tent. Zach could hear the loud noises coming from the tent. The talking was happy and nonstop. He could even hear the sounds of many people heading through the line to get food. Zach slowly entered into the large tent, making sure to stay behind Alex and Penny. His eyes scanned around the room, finally spotting Clara and her family. His eyes held the girl's for only a short moment before Zach forced himself to look away. He followed behind Penny and Alex as they made their way through the line. It took a bit, since there were so many already ahead of them. At long last, Zach reached the end of the line. Getting some food, the boy slowly followed behind his sister. It seemed to him that they were heading straight for the new family. He wasn't sure if he was happy about that. If it had been up to him, Zach probably would have just sat off to the side, as he normally did. He kept his face quite blank as he sat down in front of Clara, refusing to look at her. He slowly began eating, listening closely to everyone talking around them.

Alex Curtis

Alex hardly payed attention to Penelope and Zach's conversation, instead focusing on his messy side of the cart. The room was a messy one, but that's what would be expected when two teen boys get a room of their own to take care of. Zach's side, however, was much cleaner. There was a few notebooks and pencils nearby, and a folded bed sheet. Not neat, but acceptable. Alex's side had the smaller bed of their clustered cart yet had open books laying on it and art utensils on the desk. Three half-finished clay models were also positioned on his desk as well as one of few finished paintings partly-nailed onto the wall. A small, broken guitar and old prank material laid under his bed as well.

"All right," Zach announced, bringing Alex back to reality. He wasn't surprised that Zach agreed to go to dinner as Penny could convince her brother to do nearly anything. Maybe it was just because she meant the world to him. Maybe it was because he felt like he owed his sister for coming with him. Probably a mix of both.

Alex quickly snuck a pack of cards in his pocket because if anything got awkward at the dinner table, he could distract everyone with a game of blackjack or poker. As they exited the cart they walked out to the crowded area with their coworkers offering each other hi-fives and toasting each other. That was the routine after every successful, and even unsuccessful circus.

"You know that other family, the newcomers? They don't really seem prepared for this sort of life. I guess none of us really were either though. Maybe they're just trying to get somewhere though, and don't plan on sticking along with us," Alex said to Penny, loudly saying the last part so Zach could add on if he wanted to. Maybe Zach also didn't know where, if anywhere, they were heading. Either way, Zach did not respond as he seemed consumed with his thoughts. As they entered the tent where food was served, Alex softly grabbed Penny's arm and asked her, "Wanna cut the line?" That's what Penny and Alex did most of the time anyways. He also noticed Clara and her eldest brother's face in the crowd and waved to her.

Alex had asked if she wanted to cut line, but by the time they had gotten there, it had already died down. "No point today," she shrugged. After standing in line with the boys she made a B-line for the Eddington family. Immediately she sat down next to Clara and offered her a wide smile. "Well, how did you like the circus?" As the girl answered, Penny glanced over to her brother, frowning. What was his problem? At his silence, she reached her leg under the picnic style table and kicked his shin. She glared for extra emphasis. 'Be nice,' she mouthed, jerking her eyes towards Clara and her family. "You know, no offense or nothing, but... you all don't look much like circus folk. Why are you here? Are you staying or just passing through?" Penny had so many questions, all swimming in and out of her thoughts. Biting her lower lip, she forced herself to wait for another response before spilling out any more.

It had been a long time since she'd seen another girl around her own age, and it was kind of nice to have another girl around. Not that she was going to start going all girly and cooking for anyone! To hell with that! But it was nice, to see a 'proper' young lady around. Penny would never admit it, but Clara kind of reminded her of Wendy, from the stories Zach used to read her. Wendy was just a kid herself, but she pretended to be the mother of all those Lost Boys. Penny felt her mood dropping a little at the thought. Lost boys. That's what Alex and Zach were. Penny glanced over to her dark haired friend, who always had a smile on his face. Did he have a family to go back to? After all this time, did they? Did their mother and father even remember them anymore? Were they missed? Penny's shoulders slowly began to fall with all the sad thoughts she was thinking.

Upon being noticed, she perked right back up and flashed one of her usual Penny King smiles. The only people allowed to be sad in the circus were the clowns; and they had real reasons to be sad! They get made fun of all day, so at least she didn't have to deal with that.

---

Clara waved at the others who were in line, and pointed them out to her siblings. She continued to eat until the others had their food and sat down, Penny beside her, Alex beside Penny, and Zach directly in front of her. "Well, how did you like the circus?" Penny chirped, bright eyed and full of life. "I thought it was wonderful," Clara replied honestly, a smile lifting her lips. "What did you all think of it," she asked to her siblings, hoping that they enjoyed the show as much as she did. After she was answered, the black haired girl beside her spared no time. "You know, no offense or nothing, but... you all don't look much like circus folk. Why are you here? Are you staying or just passing through?" Clara laughed, unable to answer her right away. Penny was like a puppy; so excited, it was unsure what to do with itself. Clara regarded the girl, wondering if she would start vibrating from her restraint of more questions.

Ever patient, Clara calmed her laughing and nodded. "You're right, and I'm sorry to say we can not stay. We are heading to Easthaven, to live with our late aunt. The ringmaster was kind enough to give us a ride... Although it is lovely here and the people," she paused to offer the three of the circus group a smile, "are wonderful... We need to get to our aunts as soon as possible." Once she was sure that the two little ones were busy eating their food, and tuning her out, she added in a low tone, "I think that is where our mother went, and we are trying to find her." Clara felt a blush rise in her cheeks, and the reaction was unexpected. She was embarrassed. How does one 'lose' their mother? She felt like an idiot.

It was just then that she noticed a change in the younger female sitting beside her. "Penny, are you alright? Honestly, it's no problem at all, there's no need to be sad for us. I think the younger two are quite happy to be on such an adventure!" Clara felt relief when the other girl lifted her head and flashed a beautiful smile towards her. Clara smiled back, thankful to have lifted the girl's sadness. "What about you," she asked, turning her attention directly to Zach and then to Alex. "What brought you here, and why did you stay?" Don't you have families, she wanted to ask, but after glancing between the trio again, she decided against it.

As Penny began speaking to Clara, Zach kept quiet still. He'd not really thought anything different about his actions but apparently his sister didn't care for it. The younger girl kicked him quite hard in the shin and if that wasn't enough Penny made sure to mouth the words, "Be nice" to him. The younger girl even went so far as to glare at him. Zach had done a poor job at hiding his pain, though. He turned his blue eyes to his sister, returning her glare before rolling his eyes at her. He didn't understand why Penny wanted him to be social. She knew how much he hated speaking with those that he didn't know. He tried to push these thoughts from his mind and attempted to concentrate on what was going on around him. Penny was still talking with Clara. "You know, no offense or nothing, but... you all don't look much like circus folk. Why are you here? Are you staying or just passing through?" Zach noted quickly Penny's mood turning. He wondered what she was thinking. Hopefully it had nothing to do with him, though..he was afraid that perhaps it had to do with the both of them. Zach kept his eyes upon Penny, even as Clara answered the younger girl. "You're right, and I'm sorry to say we can not stay. We are heading to Easthaven, to live with our late aunt. The ringmaster was kind enough to give us a ride... Although it is lovely here and the people," she said smiling, "are wonderful... We need to get to our aunts as soon as possible." Clara spoke again before noticing the change in Penny. "Penny, are you alright? Honestly, it's no problem at all, there's no need to be sad for us. I think the younger two are quite happy to be on such an adventure!" the older girl said. Zach was quite happy when his sister seemed to perk back up and even smiled. Zach was frowning towards his sister. He would have to speak with her later about what was bothering her.

Zach was finally forced to take his eyes off of his sister when Clara directed a question towards the trio. "What about you? What brought you here, and why did you stay?" His blue eyes focused upon Clara. The boy's face was still quite blank even after Penny telling him to be nice. He just couldn't help it. He allowed Alex to answer first, listening to his friend. Zach knew that Penny was expecting him to answer Clara. Could he do it? He wasn't sure but he would try. After Alex had finished speaking, Zach stared at Clara. He wasn't sure why he was, but at last he finally tore his eyes from the girl in front of him, looking down at his plate. "My parents..they kicked me out of the house. Said that I was too much to handle..needed to straighten up." he said softly, still looking down. "I begged Penny to stay but..she insisted upon coming with me. We stayed because we have nowhere else to go." Finally he looked up again, holding Clara's gaze this time, for a moment before turning his gaze to Penny, trying to see if she was happy that he'd at least made an effort to speak with the girl.

Alex Curtis

Penny asked the question Alex had been wondering the whole time, "You know, no offense or nothing, but... you all don't look much like circus folk. Why are you here? Are you staying or just passing through?" The mood suddenly became tense at the wait for Clara's response, however it was all lost as Clara started laughing. Penny bit her lip, obviously restraining the multiple questions she wanted to blurt out.

Clara responded, "You're right, and I'm sorry to say we can not stay. We are heading to Easthaven, to live with our late aunt. The ringmaster was kind enough to give us a ride... Although it is lovely here and the people are wonderful... We need to get to our aunts as soon as possible." She then blushed a little as she bent closer to the trio and said in a hushed tone, "I think that is where our mother went, and we are trying to find her."

Alex didn't understand how a mother could get lost without the intent of abandoning her children but seeing Clara's blush made him refrain from asking and he did not want to make her sad. Penny's mood suddenly dropped and the whole atmosphere of the room nearly changed. Clara almost instantly said, "Penny, are you alright? Honestly, it's no problem at all, there's no need to be sad for us. I think the younger two are quite happy to be on such an adventure!" which brought Penny out of her zone and led to her giving one of her sparkling smiles. It was rare for Penny to be so sad which caught Alex a little off guard.

"What about you? What brought you here, and why did you stay?" Clara asked curiously. Alex suddenly became self-conscious of his scars, something he had learned to ignore, and while he couldn't cover the barely-visible scars on his eyes he made sure his sleeve was tucked down enough to cover the scars on his arm. Even Penny and Zach spoke to Alex little of his past. "You know, my family went through some tough times. My mother died when I was seven, which was tough on me but a lot tougher on my dad, who was very close to her. He started going out and drinking and eventually I couldn't take it much more and left on my eighth birthday. I didn't meet Zachariah or Penelope until I was twelve- or was it thirteen? I think they were frightened of me at first," Alex joked. He decided to leave out his habits of gambling and his fathers beatings.

Zach suddenly surprised Alex by sharing his story. He seemed to be doing it more to impress his sister rather than share his story, but nonetheless it was something unusual of Zach. The story always amazed Alex of how attached Penny was that she decided to go with her brother. However, the story always made Alex long for a companion who would always stick by his side. Clara's siblings had Clara and Zach had Penelope while Alex had no one.