Lilly thought about saying she really hadn’t seen anything like them in her life, but it didn’t matter now. It was all she could do to stand upright. “Do I move around or stand still?”
“You can move, but act like a princess, like the rubes are beneath you and you don’t have time for them. And you don’t speak English, so don’t talk to them. If anyone tries anything, just yell and I’ll come right over.”
“Wh-what do you mean? What would they try?”
Glory shrugged. “You never know. Rubes can be strange. But don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” She let the curtain drop and left Lilly all alone.
Lilly moved to the center of the stage and looked around, her arms and legs trembling. White sheets, silver ribbon, and glitter-covered stars hung on the side and back walls, and mounds of cotton and white felt covered every floorboard. A white chair and pearl-covered table sat below a hanging light made of sparkling crystals, reminding her of the one she’d seen in her parents’ living room. Thinking about her parents’ house, something cold and hard twisted in her chest. Leaving her attic bedroom and walking through Blackwood Manor seemed like a lifetime ago. And in all her fantasies of escape and imagined journeys, she never pictured herself ending up like this—a freak in a circus sideshow.
The viewing area behind the rope in front of the stage stood empty, waiting to be filled with townies wanting to examine her with their eyes. She stared at the murky, open space, her heart in her throat. It seemed gigantic and dark, like an open mouth made of grass and canvas, waiting to swallow her whole. She pulled her eyes away from it and counted the stars on the wall. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine— The canvas behind her flipped open and she jumped.
It was Glory.
Glory smiled and pointed at a rod wrapped in white ribbons and silver beads, leaning against the sidewall. “I almost forgot. Your scepter, my queen.”
Lilly picked up the pole with shaking hands and nodded her thanks. At least she had something to hold on to if she felt dizzy.
A whistle screeched outside and someone shouted, “Doors!”
“Here we go!” Glory said, and disappeared.
Outside the tent, thousands of footsteps walked and ran and stampeded into the midway. Children laughed and squealed and shouted. Grown-ups scolded and told them to slow down. A man on a stage outside the freak-show tent started his pitch to the incoming crowd. Glory said he was called the professor, and his job was to lure the townies into the sideshow by giving them a taste of what they would find inside.
“Ladiiiies and gentlemennnn,” the professor shouted. “Step right up and get a look at the wonders we’ve got waiting for you inside! The big show starts in sixty minutes, in sixty minutes, so you’ve got plenty of time to see our show and get your place in line for the big top. There’s plenty of time to see the oddities and spectacles behind these walls! Come one, come all, this is the show you’ve been waiting for, the one you’ll be talking about next week. We’ve got the sights of a lifetime here, folks! We’ve got the half girl who giggles and talks and walks. Your mind will fail to believe what your eyes will see! She’s not all there, but she’s in here, and she’s alive! See Zurie the Turtle Boy, with the head of a human and the body of a turtle. Have you seen Stubs the World’s Smallest Man? What about Belinda the Woman with Two Bodies and One Head? There’re all here, and there’re all alive and inside. They all perform, they all entertain—one act after the other until you’ve seen them all. Have you seen Dolly the World’s Most Beautiful Fat Woman? You won’t believe the size of her thighs! This is the biggest show on earth for so little money. Come in now. There are no charges on the inside. Remember, you stay as long as you like and leave when you so desire. Oh wait, there’s more! I almost forgot! We have a new act, folks, a new act. This is the only show in the world with this act. You won’t see it anywhere else. We’ve got Lilly the Ice Princess from Another Planet. Our very own Syd Barlow captured her from the farthest corners of the earth, and she’s here, inside and alive. Don’t miss it! You’ll be talking about her for the rest of your lives, folks!”
Lilly could hear the townies getting closer and closer, the excited voices, the laughing and talking and shouting. The shadows on the tent walls grew bigger and wider and darker, the shapes of bonnets and hats and heads and shoulders and balloons and children crowding one another for space. Sweat slicked Lilly’s hands and her knees felt wobbly. She wanted to get off the stage, flee out of the back of the tent, and keep running until she couldn’t go any farther. She gripped the scepter in one hand and counted the seams in the canvas behind the viewing area. One, two, three, four. If she could escape out of the tent, where would she go? And what would she do when she got there? Maybe she’d end up dead like Leon’s daughter. Or maybe Merrick would send Viktor after her. Five, six, seven . . .
Outside, the professor kept shouting. “That’s it, folks, step right up. My good friend here will take your money and give change if you need it. That’s right, line up right here. There’s no hurry now. These freaks aren’t going anywhere. They’ll stay inside this tent until you’ve seen them all.”
Then the canvas entrance flapped open and a slice of sunlight burst into the viewing area. Lilly couldn’t see the door, but it seemed as if she could feel the townies coming into the tent. The air grew thinner and hotter, and she could feel the presence of other humans, other beings, other bodies. A thousand smells filled the air all at once—cologne, popcorn, sweat, cigarette smoke, roasted peanuts, hot dogs, soap, leather, perfume, lace. It felt almost as if the townies were pushing in on her, trying to smother her, even though they were nowhere near her stage. Her breath grew shallow and tight in her chest. One, two, three, four.
At first, the townies made their way into the tent talking and laughing. Then, little by little, they grew quiet as they looked at the first freaks. Women whispered and gasped in surprise, men talked in hushed voices and laughed nervously.
Lilly gritted her teeth and stared at the grass on the other side of the rope, waiting for the first person to appear. What would their reaction be when they saw her? Would they recoil in fear? Would they cry? Would they laugh? Would they be sick? Would they jump onstage and try to hurt her? Would she be able to stand here and let them gawk without screaming? What if she couldn’t do what Merrick wanted her to do?