Chapter 4

Chapter FOUR 'There you are!' said Mum when I scurried into the row of seats and sat down next to her. 'Where have you been?' 'I met a friend,' I said. 'Lovely!' said Mum. 'And don't worry about the performance. I've told the organizers of the ball to take your name off the list. You won't be called up to

perform anything.' 'Oh...' I said. But then I remembered that it didn't matter. Araminta and I had agreed that we would both go up when one of our names was called-whichever one was called first. I decided not to tell Mum and Dad. It would be a nice surprise for them. 'Granny and Grandpa were a bit disappointed,' whispered Mum as a gust of wind blew through the ballroom, blowing out the candles above our heads. 'But I told them you would do a special little show for them next time we visit.' Just then the orchestra started up and a bright light shone onto the stage.

A very distinguished-looking vampire with a twirly moustache came prancing into view.

'Welcome,' he said grandly, 'to the annual vampire ball!' There was a big cheer from the audience. 'How wonderful to see so many bright white fangs shining back at me! To celebrate the blood moon tonight, our little vampires are going to put on a show for us. We will see just how talented they all are! And there will be a few prizes for the best performances. So without further ado here is the first act. Introducing Nicholas Darkfang with his synchronized flying bats!' There was another big cheer, and a vampire about my age walked confidently onto the stage, holding a tall wire cage. He opened the door of the cage and eight

bats fluttered out into the air and arranged themselves into a circle above Nicholas's head. Nicholas pulled a thin black stick out from under his cape and began to wave it around like a conductor. The bats followed the stick and began to fly up and down alternately, making pretty patterns in the air. 'Ooh!' said the audience.

'Ahh!' I held Pink Rabbit up so that he could see better. Next onto the stage was another vampire boy who was wearing a pair of black-rimmed spectacles. I am going to show you how to make the best vampire hair gel in the world!' he said, opening up a suitcase and getting out all sort of bottles and test tubes. He began to pour and stir. There was a lot of smoke and then a loud bang.