Freaks by Kieran Larwood Read Free Book Online

the hinclination to give us the time of day. We ’as been all over Sarf London asking for ’elp, and ’as been spat on as often as not. We ’ad all but given up ’ope, until the missus fought of asking yourselves.”
    â€œHelp, dearie?” said Mama Rat. “I think you’ve got us mistaken. We’re just a small sideshow troupe. Unless you want to book us for a performance, we won’t be much use to you.”
    Sheba could see the pity in her eyes. It mirrored what she herself was feeling.
That’s just the way people look at me
, she realized with a sudden chill. That patronizing arch of the eyebrows, the glance that says, “Poor thing — how miserable it must be to be
her
.” She felt the skin beneath her furry cheeks prickle and blush at having done exactly the thing she most hated to someone else.
    â€œWe know that, your ladyness. It’s just that we’ve asked everyone what is supposed to ’elp us — the peelers, the men on the river — and they all just laughed in our face. On account of what we ’eard, we fought this might be the place to come.”
    The woman plucked up courage and stepped forward to speak. She too sounded much younger than she looked.
    â€œIt’s our little girl, ma’am. She came ’ere last night, told us all about you lot and how fantastic and magical you all were and stuff. Then she went out to gather from the river this morning and never come back. All we found is her picking sack, left on the mud . . . my poor Till . . .” The woman broke down in tears.
    From her hiding place beneath the caravan, Sheba gasped. Till!
    â€œMissing, you say?” said Mama Rat. “And you’re sure she hasn’t just run away?”
    â€œRun away to what?” asked the man, then looked shocked at his sudden outburst. “Begging your pardon, your ladyshipness, but you can see from the sight of us that we ’as no better station to run to than the one we got. Picking from the mud is all we is good for. Ain’t nowhere for us to run, nor no one what would ’ave us.”
    â€œHmm, you have a point, dearie,” Mama Rat said. “Do you have any idea as to what might have happened? Has she failed to come home before?”
    â€œNo, your nobleness. Besides skipping off to see you lot last night, she’s always done as she was told. Tess fought she might ’ave come back to join you, but I said, ‘What’s so fantastical about a raggedy little mudlark?’ Grand folk like you wouldn’t want someone like ’er ’anging around. . . .”
    Mama Rat sat and puffed on her pipe for a few moments while the mudlark woman sniffled and the man shuffled his feet.
    Sheba reached forward and clutched the wheel spokes, staring wide-eyed from the shadows.
We have to help find her, we just
have
to!
She could almost picture Till — lost and lonely somewhere, away from her parents. It was hard enough for Sheba, forever wondering about the family she had never had. Imagine having known that kind of love and having it ripped away from you.
Say we’ll help her!
She tried to will the thought across the yard and into Mama Rat’s head. If she didn’t think it would send Till’s ma and da screaming out of the yard, she would have jumped out and begged.
    In between the clouds of pipe smoke, Mama Rat caught her eye. Some kind of understanding passed between them.
    â€œI think we might be able to help you, dearies,” she said slowly.
    â€œYou will?” The man looked directly at Mama Rat for the first time, his mouth open in shock. “You really will?”
    â€œI’m not promising anything,” said Mama Rat. “As I said, we’re just a little sideshow troupe. But we do have some connections and . . . abilities that might be of service, I suppose. And after all, your daughter was a member of our audience, however briefly.”
    â€œLawd bless