I pop a licorice cherry into my mouth. “He’s improving.”
“He’s been delightful,” she says. “And did you see Nicoleta’s date? I ran into them outside. A really sweet girl, she seems like.”
Hawk clears her throat and begins her song. It’s a sad one, the same she sang at Blister’s funeral, which serves as a memorial during our show for Blister, Gill and Venera. Her lyrics speak of friends who have gone for the night but will return in the morning, and every time, I need to fight back my urge to cry. Until I see Luca onstage, with Hawk, Tree, Crown and Unu and Du watching from backstage, and I’m reminded of the family that I still have here with me. It’s what Kahina has often told me to do.
I return to my spot behind the curtain just as Hawk makes her exit. Luca sits again in the center of the stage, dangling his legs off the edge. “How am I doing as the manager?” he asks. “I’m rather new. The previous manager is on to bigger and brighter things.”
The audience claps for him, and Nicoleta laughs from the front row.
“I used to work in this other show. People paid to try to kill me. You can imagine why I was eager for a new position.”
This only gets a few laughs, one being from Luca. He’s the only one who finds his morbid jokes amusing.
“My next friends come in a pair.Theyactually believe they’re funnier than I am,” he says, straightening his cloak. “But I’ll let you decide for yourselves.” He stands up in an almost-jump. “Unu, Du, I think the audience could use some lightening up.”
Unu and Du step onto the stage to begin their new comedy routine, which has proven much more popular than their previous dancing one. They tell their jokes in a rhythm to match their drumbeats.
Luca steps off the stage for a few moments and stands beside me. “How am I doing?” he asks. He grabs a cup of water and chugs it.
“You’re marvelous,” I say and kiss his cheek. “You really are quite the performer.”
“I still think we could have a dancing routine. Once, you know, you obviously practice up a bit—”
“Hey, I’m a fantastic dancer,” I say, elbowing him in the ribs.
“You’re terrible. But it’s all right,” he says. Behind us, the audience laughs at one of Unu’s jokes. Most of their punchlines involve insulting each other. Shockingly, their routine was not difficult for them to come up with.
“I thought, after this, we could go watch the fireworks,” he says. “All of us. You, me, the whole lot.”
“First you join our show, and now you’re planning family outings,” I tease.
“But it will have to be fast. The Leather Viper wants to have tea again. He claims he has a juicy secret about the ex-lover of the Cougar that I’d love to hear—”
“Tell Ed I’d love to go, but I promised Nicoleta I’d meet her new girlfriend.” Over the past few months, Luca has been steadily introducing me to more and more people in Gomorrah, particularly in the Downhill. Gomorrah is my home, and I should know more people in it. It’s nice to wave at the man who provides my family with produce or to stop for a conversation with the palm-reader across the path.
“I heard she’s a charm-worker with a successful shop in the Downhill—”
“She doesn’t look like she’d be from the Downhill.”
“We all know Nicoleta prefers a bit of the wild side when it comes to her romantic interests.”
The audience claps as Unu and Du’s act ends. The second they are offstage, they resume their bickering. Their latest argument is about a lucky coin they recently commissioned—the Illusionist. The attack stats are rather pitiful, but the defense leaves little to be desired. And, as the only one of its kind in existence, it’s a collector’s piece. They forgot to ask for a second, so they keep debating about who it belongs to.
Luca quickly breaks apart from me and returns to the stage. “And now, for the final act, I’d like to introduce you to the Girl Who Sees Without Eyes.”
I make my grand entrance, wearing my floor-length black cloak, red sequined mask and brilliantly violet lipstick.
“How do we know she doesn’t have eyes if we can’t see under the mask?” a woman in the front row asks haughtily. “She should take it off.”
“Honestly, you should at least take her to dinner first,” Luca scoffs.
I hold my breath. This isn’t the first time the audience has asked, and I’ve done it before. But I will freely admit that it still scares me.
I untie the ribbon in the back, let the mask slip off and shove it in my pocket.
The audience gasps, and then the room goes quiet. My back sweats a little. I remind myself that my face isn’t a deformity. It’s magic.Iam magic.
“Where would we like to go today?” Luca asks the audience. “A rainforest? To the stars?”
