The continuation of Mr. Snaggle’s Oddities. In this part, things take a turn for the worst when Peter’s friends seem very suspicious of Mr. Snaggle. Help contribute to the direction of the story by commenting below.

Audio version narrated by David Carroll:

As always, thanks for reading.

Peter thought of the last few days as apprentice at the circus while he got ready. So far, it had been everything he’d hoped it would be. Mr. Snaggle had even gotten a couple new animals since he started. All of them came from places Peter had never heard of.

With a weary step, Peter got out the door before his parents could ask him to do some other task that he’d already taken care of. It was very strange the way they were treating him lately. In every other way they seemed completely themselves, but anything to do with him and they seemed distant.

He hopped onto his bike and left for Jackson’s house. His family had gotten home from vacation the night before. Peter was excited to tell him all about all his work at the circus. When he got there, he noticed John and Tyler were over as well. He left his bike laying next to theirs and headed for the back yard.

He was surprised to find the three of them actually sitting in the back yard. He hadn’t expected that, it was just the way he went in to his friend’s house. They were usually in the living room anyway, and always waved him inside through the large windows. It looked like Jackson and the other boys were throwing rocks into a beat up coffee can and having a very serious discussion.

“How was your trip?” Peter asked.

The three looked up and waved him to come over. When he did, they continued on with their conversation. Jackson didn’t seem to have heard his question. Of all things, they were talking about Mr. Snaggle. What were the odds?

“He’s who I came to talk to you about actually.” He said with a smile.

They all looked at him suspiciously for some reason. It took away his smile. “Oh yea? So have you been noticing all the weird things going on lately too?” Jackson asked.

The question caught him off guard. “Um… no, what do you mean?”

“Well, Tyler noticed that a few kids have been missing. The bully from down the street, and a couple of his friends.”

“Billy?” They all nodded in agreement. “Maybe they just went out of town, you just got back after all.” He said.

“His parents are still at home. That wouldn’t make any sense. Besides, I asked my parents and they told me he was sent away to camp. She said they all were.” Tyler said.

“Sent to camp?” Peter asked. “At the very end of Summer vacation?” All four of them had gone to camp, but they’d gotten back almost a month ago now.

“I’m telling you,” John said, “it is old man Snaggle. It has to be.”

“What about him?” Peter asked.

“Oh right, that’s what we were talking about when you got here.” Jackson said. “All these weird things that keep happening seemed to start when he moved here.”

“Kids going away to camp isn’t all that weird, you know?”

Jackson looked at him very seriously. “It’s not just that. It’s my mom, she’s been acting so strange lately. She can’t seem to remember anything. I thought it was nothing until they both said the same thing.” He gestured to Tyler and John. “We talked about it and we decided it all started when that crazy old man moved here. We’re going to sneak out tonight and go have a look inside those tents. Want to come?”

Peter gulped. He no longer wanted to tell them about him being the man’s apprentice. He certainly didn’t want to go sneaking into his tents either though. He tried to think of something, but nothing came.

“What’s wrong, if you don’t want to do it you don’t have to.” Jackson said. “Anyway, what did you come to tell me? You never did say.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I just wanted to see how your trip was. I can’t go tonight, my parents have been acting strange too. They keep adding all these new rules. Do you really think he could have something to do with it?”

“Of course, what else could it be?” Jackson’s tone showed that he’d made up his mind. It made him feel guilty about not being honest with them.

“Are you sure you should go though? He has signs up warning about trespassing. What if you get caught?”

“He can’t possibly watch the place all the time. We’ll just wait till he should be asleep. What’s the worst that could happen?” His friend smiled with confidence. He’d always admired that about Jackson, but now it was making him very nervous.

He sat with them while they planned out their adventure. Peter wondered what he should do while they took turns throwing rocks. He couldn’t very well warn Mr. Snaggle and go against his own friends. All he could do was sit back and do nothing, hoping that everything turned out alright.

After awhile Jackson’s mom came out to say she was going out for awhile and to call her if anything was wrong. They took the opportunity to go inside and play some video games. Apparently, the three were just avoiding her.

Peter noticed it was getting darker outside and looked at the clock. “Well, I guess I better get home. Be careful tonight, okay guys?” He said.

They all nodded and said their goodbyes. Peter rode home and closed the door quietly. With any luck he wouldn’t have to come out of his room until it was time to eat. Not that his time was being spent any better pacing back and forth across his room.

Eventually, he decided there was nothing else to do but go tonight as well. So he sat through another quiet dinner and waited for his parents to go to bed. Then he climbed out of his bedroom window and rode his bike to the circus tents. He just couldn’t decide who it was exactly that he was going for. His friends or Mr. Snaggle?

Peter found the three boys’ bikes hidden in some tall grass near the tents. The circus looked much creepier at night. The three tents looked more like different shades of gray in the moonlight.

He crept up the entrance to the circus and peeked his head inside the tent flap. It really was strange that the man did not get robbed more often considering anybody could walk right in. The tent was much darker than he was expecting it to be, but he had the place pretty much memorized.

As he looked around he got more and more nervous about his friends. He couldn’t find them anywhere. At the end of the aisles he came to the exit. Or there was the side path that led into the laboratory of course, but he’d been forbidden to enter it without permission.

With a frown, he made his decision and walked to the other entrance. He had to know if his friends were alright. Surely he could explain himself to Mr. Snaggle if he had to.

Peter took a deep breath and opened the flap a little bit. He was surprised to find light coming from the other side. The source of it seemed to be moving around. After a few seconds he realized it was coming from a candle. He was about to poke his head into the tent when he heard a voice from the other side. He couldn’t make out what it said, but it sounded like Mr. Snaggle. Then the light trailed off the other direction and disappeared.

Without making a noise, Peter crept into the tent to where the talking seemed to have come from. He hoped to find his friends, but only noticed two very large caged rats. Something about the voice he heard clicked in his mind. Sneak in like rats… Peter blinked.

The two rats noticed him and rushed to the edge of the cage whining. The noise was very loud. He whispered for them to be quiet, and remarkably they did. What was going on here? He looked at the cages, but they were locked tight with a numbered padlock. He’d never guess the right combination.

Maybe he was imagining it, but the two actually looked like Tyler and John. Thinking about all the animals behind him, Peter shuddered. No, that didn’t make any sense. He heard a noise and whispered to the rats, “I’ll figure something out.” Then he moved quickly to the main circus tent.

Peter quietly closed the tent flap and moved toward the exit. Whatever he was going to do, it didn’t involve confronting the man. He needed time to think about it. He even laughed a little at talking to rats. What could it hurt? If they were his friends they would hopefully understand, and if not who cares? He thought about his words. If they were his friends? That was crazy, and if it were true, then where was Jackson?

Something caught his attention from the side. It was the two-tailed monkey ushering him to come over. Peter had never seen a monkey do that before. The little guy had something in his hand and gave it to Peter when he came near. He took the paper, but couldn’t read what was on it in the dark. The monkey then made a noise and pointed toward the exit. Very strange indeed.

When he got outside and a street away he stopped under a street light and pulled the note out of his pocket. It just had one word on it, scribbled to the point of hardly being legible at all.

All it said, in bold letters, was BOOK.