awake and explain your duties. Evra will take care of you until then."
I lifted the flap of the tent and looked inside. It was too dark to see anything. "Who's Evra?"I asked, turning back to Mr. Tall. But he was gone, having disappeared with his usual quick, silent speed.
I sighed and entered, clutching the blankets to my chest. I let the flap fall back into place, then stood quietly inside, waiting for my eyes to adjust. I could hear someone breathing softly and could make out a vague shape in a hammock in the darkness beyond the middle of the tent. I looked for somewhere to make my bed. I didn't want my tentmate tripping over me when he was getting up.
I walked forward a few blind steps. Suddenly something slithered toward me through the darkness.
I stopped and stared ahead, wishing so badly that I could see (without the light of the stars or moon, even a vampire struggles to make things out).
"Hello?"I whispered. "Are you Evra? I'm Darren Shan. I'm your new -"
I stopped. The slithering noise had reached my feet. As I stood rooted to the spot, something fleshy and slimy wrapped itself around my legs. I instantly knew what it was but didn't dare look down until it had climbed more than halfway up my body. Finally, as its coils curled around my chest, I worked up the courage to look down and stare into the eyes of a long, thick, hissing... snake!
CHAPTER EIGHT
I stood frozen with fear for more than an hour, staring into the snake's deathly cold eyes, waiting for it to strike.
Finally, with the light of the strong morning sun shining through the canvas of the tent, the sleeping shape in the hammock shifted, yawned, sat up, and glanced around.
It was the snake-boy, and he looked shocked when he saw me. He immediately rocked back in the hammock and raised the covers, as though to protect himself. Then he saw the snake wrapped around me and breathed easily.
"Who are you?"he asked sharply. "What are you doing here?"
I shook my head slowly. I didn't dare speak for fear that the movement of my lungs would cause the snake to strike.
"You'd better answer,"he warned, "or I'll tell her to take your eyes out."
"I... I... I'm Duh-Darren Sh-sh-Shan,"I stuttered. "Mr. Tuh-Tall told me to cuh-come in. He said I wuh-wuh-was supposed to be your new ruh-ruh-ruh-roommate."
"Darren Shan?"The snake-boy frowned, then pointed knowingly. "You're Mr. Crepsley's assistant, aren't you?"
"Yes,"I said quietly.
The snake-boy grinned. "Did he know Mr. Tall was putting you in with me?"I nodded and he laughed. "I've never met a vampire without a nasty sense of humor."
He swung down out of the hammock, crossed the tent, took hold of the snake's head, and began unwrapping it. "You're okay,"he assured me. "In fact, you were never in danger. The snake's been asleep the whole time. You could have tugged her off and she wouldn't have stirred. She's a deep sleeper."
"She's asleep ?"I squeaked. "But... how come she wrapped herself around me?"
He smiled. "She sleepcrawls."
"Sleepcrawls !"I stared at him, then at the snake, which hadn't moved while he was unwinding her. The last of her coils came free and I could step away to one side. My legs were stiff and full of pins and needles.
"A sleepcrawling snake."I laughed uneasily. "Thank God she's not a sleepeating snake!"
The snake-boy tucked his pet away in a corner and stroked her head lovingly. "She wouldn't have eaten you even if she had woken up,"he informed me. "She ate a goat yesterday. Snakes her size don't have to eat very often."
Leaving his snake, he threw back the tent flap and stepped out. I followed quickly, not wanting to be left alone with the reptile.
I studied him closely outside. He was exactly as I remembered: a few years older than me and very thin, with long yellow-green hair, narrow eyes, and strangely webbed fingers and toes; his body was covered in green, gold, yellow, and blue scales. He was wearing a pair of shorts and nothing else.
"By the way,"he said, "my name's Evra Von."He held out a hand and we shook. His palm felt slippery, but dry. A few of the scales came off and stuck to my hand when I pulled it away. They were like scraps of colored dead skin.
"Evra Von what?"I asked.
"Just plain Von,"he said, rubbing his stomach. "You hungry?"
"Yes,"I said, and went with Evra to get something to eat.
The camp was alive with activity. Since there had been no