Challa Read Online Free

get caught, and it won’t be by someone who knows you’re with the show.”
    She averted her eyes, knowing he was right. But she lived for those runs in the deepest part of the night. The carnival kept to the small towns and cities, always setting up camp just outside the city limits to avoid breaking any ordinances. In almost every case there was a small wood or patch of undeveloped land nearby, studded with trees and undergrowth. She’d spend hours taking in the raw, wild landscape. Savoring it as only she could. Letting all the scents and textures of the area seep into her bloodstream. For when she was in the woods, she could imagine she was home…almost.
    Memories of her real home were nonexistent, and the stories she’d been taught were more like dreams than actuality. She hadn’t been born when her parents were abducted by the Arra. And when she was born, she was immediately taken away from them. Challa had grown up a prisoner and a slave, nothing more than a commodity, until others of her kind revolted and escaped the Arran ships. They’d spent two years floating aimlessly through space before landing on Earth, where they separated to seek a new life and the chance for a future.
    Challa fought back tears. She had survived, but ever since landing, there had been very little that made her happy. And that included her stint working as “Challa, the Alien Girl” for Lawson Hall’s Carnival and Sideshow.
    “Sorry, Lawson, but you know I can’t help myself. I’ll try…I’ll try not to stay up so late when I go, okay? And I’ll stay in seeing distance when I run.”
    The man grunted instead of replying, and disappeared. Coming from Lawson, it was not an approval, but rather a reluctant acceptance of Challa’s uniqueness.
    Adjusting her lightweight, specially-made bodysuit that blended almost seamlessly with her coloration, Challa took her position on the floor in the corner of the cage. Curling up, she bowed her head to hide her face, preventing the crowd from seeing it when the curtains opened.
    Outside she could hear the noise increasing. Lawson was right. It was a good crowd tonight. In fact, it was a good crowd every night, practically. Ever since she and Lawson came to an understanding, and he offered her a job as one of the sideshow attractions, business has been brisk. No, correction—business has been nothing if not booming.
    “You’ve single-handedly saved the carnival, Challa,” Army once told her. “We all owe our jobs to you.”
    That may be, but who is going to save me?
    Charlie checked in on her. “I got dibs tonight, Challa.”
    She nodded, and the young man vanished. Because of the way she was promoted, the carnival often saw its share of curious onlookers with something more than looking on their minds. She’d even had stuff pelted at her through the narrow bars. Taunting was inevitable, as were the scathing remarks of disbelievers. That didn’t bother her. But when someone took it upon himself to try and climb up on the stage to approach her directly, that’s when Challa’s survival instincts took over.
    Usually, all it took to dissuade the obstinate customer was a full-throated hiss, the sight of her needle-shaped teeth, and a warning swipe of her five-inch talons. But there had been that one time in one of the thousands of small towns where they’d set up shop when one customer didn’t take the hint. Either he was soaked to the ears in alcohol, or something else had fueled his unstoppable intent to peel the costume off of her, and prove she wasn’t a real alien.
    Thank goodness Lawson had been able to bail her out before she’d inadvertently revealed her true self to the sheriff and everyone else at the county jail. But ever since then, Lawson had someone assigned to run crowd control, to prevent a customer from trying that kind of stunt again.
    Tonight, Charlie would be her front man. Dear, sweet, six-foot-four, and three hundred plus pounds, the eighteen year old was the son