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  The man seemed to twitch behind the window as he sat up straight. He wore a maroon bow tie and his thin gray hair was parted down the middle and plastered on either side of his head with too much pomade. He clearly hadn’t been expecting anyone to arrive at the theater that night. He looked at the crowd hanging back behind January and combed his nail-bitten fingers down through his bristling mustache.

  “I don’t think we’re showing that one tonight.”

  January took a step back and looked up at the marquee, bright beneath the electric Rainbow sign. She put her hands on her hips.

  “Looks like you are. Sign says so, anyway. Robin Hood with Douglas Fairbanks and Enid Bennett. Nine o’clock.”

  The cashier narrowed his eyes. He let his gaze roam across the faces of the Giant and the Bearded Lady. The Alligator Lady and Zero the Clown. And Ruby. When his gaze returned to January, leaning against the counter, he was scowling.

  “Listen, lady. I don’t want no trouble. But I don’t think you want to be here tonight.”

  Daniel stepped forward and rested his elbows on the counter. He clasped his hands and met the cashier’s gaze directly.

  “Yes. We do.”

  January stepped back slightly. She looked over her shoulder with concern at Ruby and Ruby shook her head warily. The man scratched his mustache and looked down at the empty counter in front of him, as if searching for a piece of paper that might indicate something different. He spoke slowly.

  “You know, with that revival going on and all, I don’t think I’m even supposed to be open tonight.”

  Daniel didn’t flinch. His voice was deep and steady.

  “Yes. You are.”

  The cashier looked up at Daniel and suddenly seemed nervous. He began to stutter something, but Daniel leaned closer to the glass.

  “Now, it is almost nine o’clock. You are going to sell every one of us a ticket. And then you are going to let us into the theater. And you are going to sell us popcorn and Coca-Colas if we want them. And you are going to go up into your little projection booth and you are going to put Robin Hood with Douglas Fairbanks and Enid Bennett on the film reel and we are going to watch it.”

  The cashier looked back down at the counter and nodded quickly. Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out a dollar bill. He passed it through the window to the man.

  “Three. Myself and these two ladies.”

  Daniel gestured back at Ruby and January. Ruby started to protest, but January pinched her and whispered.

  “Just enjoy it, for God’s sake.”

  Ruby looked at January, confused, but January only tilted her head and widened her eyes, giving her a knowing look. Daniel collected his change and turned around. He held out both his arms for them to take, but he was looking only at Ruby.

  “Shall we?”

  The Rainbow Theater was not much of a picture palace. The popcorn was stale and cold, the seats reeked from years of sweaty mill workers and the man who usually played the Mighty Wurlitzer was busy giving his soul up to God at the revival. Still, it was one of the best times the performers and freaks from the Star Light had ever had. Zero and Marco took control of the theater organ so the film had some sort of soundtrack. Linus began reading the intertitles out loud and soon Bernard took on the role of King Richard, making up the dialogue as he went along. Soon everyone took parts with Zena as Lady Marian, Timothy as the Earl of Huntington and Josephine as the evil Prince John. As the story progressed and the moonshine jar rolled empty along the floor, the performance became more raucous with most of the audience standing on their seats to act out their parts. Timothy soon began leaping from chair to chair, mimicking Robin Hood’s acrobatic feats on the castle turrets and Josephine rose to the challenge of battling him wall to wall across the theater with her invisible sword. Ruby, content with her role as Will Scarlet, one of Robin Hood’s Merry Men, had never seen anything like it.

  Near the end of the film, when endless pageantry takes over the swashbuckling scenes, the group began to quiet down. There was less shouting and more conversation. Popcorn was still being thrown at the screen, but now it was cutting through a heavy cloud of cigarette smoke. During their antics, and being the only occupants, the group had spread out across the theater. Ruby was now sitting in the back corner with empty seats all around her. She stretched her arms out on the wooden armrests, leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes, enjoying the warm glow spreading across her body from the moonshine.

  The seat next to her creaked as someone sat down beside her and Ruby’s eyes snapped open. It was Daniel, but he wasn’t looking at her, didn’t even seem to notice her. His eyes were trained on the screen before him, his mouth slightly open in rapt attention. Ruby didn’t move. She watched the side of his face, but it didn’t seem as if he was going to turn to her and Ruby hesitantly closed her eyes again. She could hear Daniel breathing next to her and she could smell him. He smelled like cedar. She heard the rustle of his suit as he shifted in the seat and then she felt it. Very light at first, but then with a warm pressure, she felt Daniel’s hand on hers.

  Ruby didn’t open her eyes. Daniel moved his fingers ever so slightly so they curled under hers. She heard him shift and then she felt his suit jacket grazing her bare shoulder as he moved to lean against her. There was timidity in the way he guarded his movements, but also a certain boldness. Daniel had come to her, though she wasn’t even sure she had wanted him to. He was reaching for her in a quiet, assured way that was completely foreign to Ruby and both troubled and excited her. She was afraid that if she moved toward him herself, or even opened her eyes, the spell would be broken and the moment would disappear. She didn’t know if she wanted this or not, but she didn’t want it to end.

  But then the theater was filled with clapping and cheering and Ruby knew the film was over. She heard the seat next to her creak again and when she opened her eyes, she was alone. She stood up, clapping along with everyone else as the lights came on, and searched the theater for Daniel. He was walking toward the exit with his shoulders hunched and his hands deep in his pockets. Ruby watched his back as he ignored the calls of January and Alicia and quietly slipped through the door.

  Daniel stood underneath the streetlamp and waited. He watched The Rainbow Theater slowly empty as the freaks and performers spilled out onto the sidewalk, arguing loudly about the film and reliving their own swordfights. Daniel pulled the silver case from his jacket pocket and lit a cigarette. He snapped the arm on the lighter down, extinguishing the flame, and pocketed it. Daniel knew that if he stood in the pool of light just so, eliciting both mystery and vulnerability, she would come to him. Of course she would. He smoked his cigarette and watched Ruby leave the theater, nodding at something Zero was saying to her. The clown was miming drawing back a bow and arrow, and Daniel could see that Ruby’s lips weren’t moving, but she was smiling slightly while scanning the sidewalk. January had turned around and was waving her forward impatiently, but Daniel knew Ruby was looking for him. He watched Ruby glance over her shoulder and when his eyes met hers, he gave her his most brooding look. Then she was telling January she’d catch up in just a second and January was looking in his direction and smiling her coy, coquettish smile and Ruby was walking alone across the street to meet him. Bingo.

  Daniel took out his case and offered Ruby a cigarette. She shook her head and he snapped the case shut with a loud click. He smiled at her.

  “So, what did you think?”

  He watched her eyes. She was looking everywhere but at him.

  “Of Robin Hood? I liked it. I read the story in a book somewhere once. And, of course, the performance in the theater was better than any picture show.”

  “Of course.”

  She glanced down the street. Two men had come out of the diner and were watching the group pass. They were shaking their heads and one pointed at the Half-Man with disgust.

  “We’re going to hear it tomorrow, though.”

  “From who?”

&nb
sp; Ruby shrugged.

  “Samuel. Pontilliar. For coming out here like this. Causing a disturbance in the town and giving it away for free. I’m sure that’ll be Pontilliar’s biggest worry. That he lost a buck because someone saw us without paying first.”

  Daniel took a small step closer to her.

  “You don’t have much regard for Pontilliar, do you?”

  He watched Ruby scuffing the heel of her shoe against the edge of the sidewalk. She kept looking down, away from him, but there was a smirk on her lips.

  “Is it that obvious?”

  “Even though he’s your father. And your employer. Why?”

  She shook her head.

  “It could take a lifetime to explain. And even then, I’d rather not.”

  Daniel didn’t reply and they stood in silence beneath the streetlamp while he smoked. Daniel decided it was time. She was here now and he needed to do this. He needed to know for sure that what he had felt when she had held the blade to his throat, and just now in the theater, when he had taken her hand, was real. He had to be certain. For the first time that he could remember, Daniel was unsure of trusting himself. His voice cracked.

  “Who are you?”

  She finally looked up at him. There was something audacious in her eyes. Defiant. Even dangerous. Daniel frowned, finding himself on unfamiliar ground. Ruby tilted her head slightly.

  “I thought that was my question to ask.”

  Her eyes were still on him, still blazing in an almost preternatural way. Challenging him. He couldn’t understand it.

  “I don’t know what to make of you.”

  It was the first truly honest thing he had said out loud in a while and it felt strange. Like a scratching at the back of his throat. Or deep in his chest somewhere. Like a cough that wouldn’t come out. He let his eyes drift down to her lips. She was halfway smiling now.

  “Do you have to know?”

  Daniel brought the cigarette up to his lips.

  “No. I suppose not.”

  He reached for her.

  “Ruby.”

  Daniel took both of her hands in his. He ran his thumbs down the back of her hands, along the bones, and then gently turned her palms upward. Her skin was warm. He traced his thumbs along the lines in her palms. The sun line, the heart line, the fate line. He slowly raised his eyes, let them rest first on her slightly parted lips and then on her eyes, wide and shining in the streetlamp glow. He waited a moment and then jabbed his thumbs into her palms as hard as he could.

  They both gasped at the same time and Ruby tried to snatch her hands away from him. He held fast and pressed deeper, searching harder. When she struggled again, he quickly released her and dropped his arms at his sides.

  “What the hell? What’s wrong with you?”

  Ruby held her hands up to her chest protectively as Daniel slowly took the cigarette from his lips and dropped it on the pavement.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Ruby stepped away from him and rubbed her palms together. Her face was livid.

  “You’re sorry? What are you, crazy? Are you trying to crucify me or something?”

  Daniel shook his head. He needed time to think and didn’t have the energy to be charming.

  “No. It wasn’t my intention to hurt you.”

  He looked down Main Street at the group, now several blocks away from them.

  “We should go.”

  Ruby crossed her arms in front of her chest.

  “Seriously? You’re not even going to try to explain yourself?”

  Daniel bit his lip and dipped his chin.

  “I will. I promise. It’s all too much right now. You. You’re too much right now.”

  He walked past her, not letting himself look up at her eyes. He waited until he was a few feet away and then stopped. She was still behind him, unmoving. He raised his head and called back to her.

  “And, Ruby…”

  He looked over his shoulder to see that she had done the same. He gave her a small, dejected smile.

  “…you really do look beautiful tonight.”

  Madame Celeste never explained to Ruby how she had been found and how she had survived falling into a nest of cottonmouths. When she woke, it had been in a proper bedroom in the back of Madame Celeste’s house, and once Ruby was coherent enough to drink some five finger tea, Madame Celeste had put it to her plainly. No more chicanery, no more servitude and no punishment for running away. She would tattoo Ruby as asked, temple to ankle, and send her back to New Orleans when her body was complete. Madame Celeste had taken Ruby’s hands and performed the binding ritual, giving her a new name as well: Vwayaje Wairua. Ghost Traveler. Madame Celeste had refused to explain, however, what had made her change her mind and uphold her agreement with Pontilliar. She had said only that the sky had told her she must. Madame Celeste had waited until Ruby’s snakebites had healed and then began the ordeal.

  Ruby spent the next two and a half years in Madame Celeste’s house, plucking chickens, grinding roots, molding conjure balls and laying under the tap-tapping of the Uhi chisel and mallet grinding ink into her skin. She asked about the strange designs accumulating across her body, but was met only with silence and the occasional bizarre tale of spirits and monsters that came to her through the pain like a fever dream. At times, while she lay dazed and sweating on the rough cypress floor, she was sure she saw shadows crouching all around Madame Celeste as she worked. Once, as the hours of dull pain dragged on, she saw Rohe, wife of Maui, the trickster god from the far islands, and half-goddess of death. When she had later explained to Madame Celeste how Rohe had come to her with a bird on her hand and touched Ruby’s forehead, the old woman had thrashed her across the face. Ruby could listen to the stories of the gods from across both oceans, but she could not dare pretend that the Iwa would ever visit her.

  Even though Ruby was no longer considered a slave in The Village, she was still not allowed to take part in any of the numerous festivals and ceremonies held throughout the year. Whenever a Night Fire took place, whether its cause was for celebrating a manje, warding off bakas spirits or calling to the lemo from the grave, Ruby was barred inside Madame Celeste’s house and guarded by Hetako, her mute servant. No matter that she had cheated death and was undergoing a transformation. She was not one of the Pedi Moun Ki. She was still an outsider. She was still a ghost.

  At times, though, she was just a young woman, growing up with the other children of The Village. She quickly picked up their language, a unique amalgamation of English, Creole and Maori, though she was often chided for her pitiful accent. She understood it was taboo for her to wear a skirt when she was unmarried and she sewed herself a pair of wide, loose trousers as the other women her age wore. She learned to play Boul Gayan and that she could run faster after the ball if she went barefoot, with her toes digging into the mud. She braided white spider lilies into her hair and wore turtle shell bangles on her arms and attracted the attentions of a few of the eligible Mohoao, even though it was forbidden. At the start of her third summer in The Village, she found herself to be happy.

  Ruby had not been prepared, then, to be dismissed by Madame Celeste. She had just turned nineteen when the last tattoo, in the center of her chest, had healed and she was told that it was time for her to go. Ruby argued with Madame Celeste, but the old woman had been adamant. It didn’t matter that Ruby had spent more time in The Village than she had with the Star Light; she had to leave. Madame Celeste didn’t even care if Ruby returned to Pontilliar or not. But she could no longer stay in The Village and she would never be allowed to come back. Everyone had a place in life, Madame Celeste had told her, and Ruby’s place was not in the bayou. She had an Iku’anga to fulfill. Her charge would be to create a Toenga Lespri in the world. Ruby didn’t understand and she didn’t care about the world outside of The Village, but she had no choice. Madame Celeste herself had tied the blindfold around Ruby’s eyes and guided her back through the swamp until they reached the road and the waiting mule wago
n. Ruby’s time as a Wairua was over.

  Ruby leaned against one of the tent poles and pushed her sleeves up higher. Even though it was just past midnight, it was still sweltering, and it was even hotter in the geek tent. She had unbuttoned her shirt an extra button and pinned her hair, still coiled into braids, high up on her head to keep her neck cool. She watched Daniel, slowly and methodically folding and putting the chairs in the pit away. He was wearing his suit, of course, but Ruby could see that he wasn’t sweating. She watched him work, waiting for him to acknowledge her. Finally, he stood up straight and nodded.

  “I’m glad to see I haven’t run you off for good.”

  Ruby didn’t know whether to be angry with Daniel, or to pity him. Or something else entirely. She arched an eyebrow.

  “Not yet, anyhow. Though I think it’s fair to say that you owe me an explanation.”

  Ruby held out her hands to him. In the center of each palm was a thin, red crescent. Daniel looked at her hands, but said nothing. His mouth was drawn tight and his eyes were hooded. He appeared to be regarding her more with regret than with remorse. Ruby shoved her hands in her pockets.

  “I mean, I don’t know if you’ve got some strange idea of being The Sheik, but let me just go ahead and break it to you. You’re no Rudolph Valentino.”

  Daniel stood completely still, with his hands behind his back and his eyes cast down. His voice was very quiet.

  “No. I suppose not.”

  Daniel raised his head and finally met Ruby’s eyes.

  “I don’t know how to act around you. You’re not like other women.”

  Ruby stepped away from the tent pole.

  “Well, you’ve made that clear. I get it, I’m different. You didn’t need to cut off my circulation to tell me.”

  “You’re remarkable.”

  Daniel took a few quick steps toward her.

  “That’s what you are. Remarkable. I’ve traveled the world. I’ve met so many people, so many women. But no one like you. No one who brings out in me what you do.”