Wilhelm

Seattle, WA—Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition

Friday, July 2, 1909

I WAS A fool and had nearly exposed my talent to the entire exposition. I’d been enjoying myself immensely. Jack approached life with a lack of seriousness that I found charming. He laughed at things most people wouldn’t find funny, and he didn’t let that bother him. For a moment, I had felt normal. This was what life might have been if Teddy had never discovered me. But I could only hide from reality for so long. This would never be my life. I would never be normal. The room had grown too small and I’d needed to escape.

“I panicked,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about.” Jack led me to a bench overlooking the most beautiful garden that I had ever seen. Beyond that, Mount Rainier stood guard over us, recording our history in its bones.

“I was six when my mother died,” Jack said, “and I never forgot the smell.” Gone from his voice was the joviality, the cocksure swagger. “I watched her die slowly, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. She wouldn’t let me come near her because she was afraid I’d get sick too, so I sat alone in our tiny apartment while she died in her bed.”

I tried to picture a younger Jack forced to endure his mother’s death. We hadn’t known each other long, but he struck me as the type of person who would try to fight mortality itself.

“After she died, I had nowhere to live, nothing to eat. I slept on the streets for almost a year.”

“It must have been terrible,” I said.

Jack nodded absently. “I did things I’m not proud of, but I survived. And then Evangeline found me.” He laughed. “Actually, I found her, and then she found me with my hand in her pocket.

“She offered me a bath, clean clothes, a hot meal, and a soft bed to sleep in. I’d planned to leave in the morning, but during breakfast, she showed me how to palm a coin.”

A silver dollar appeared in Jack’s hand and then disappeared again just as quickly. He didn’t even seem to realize that he’d done it.

“Every night, I went to bed figuring I’d run off in the morning, but each day she showed me a new trick. Eventually, I stopped thinking about leaving.”

I wasn’t certain what, if anything, Jack expected me to say. It was possible he had told me the story to fill the silence, but it felt too personal a memory to share with a stranger without good reason.

“Evangeline isn’t very maternal.” Jack chuckled. “She never wanted to be a mother, and she definitely isn’t a role model. She taught me how to be a better thief, and she put my skills to good use. She’s a magician and a con artist, and I’m her assistant in both.

“But she helped me when she didn’t have to. She saved me. If it weren’t for her, I’d be dead.” Jack caught my eye. He reached out like he was going to try to take my hand but changed his mind at the last moment. “I’m not a good person, Wil, but I want to help you if you’ll let me.”

Jack seemed achingly sincere, and I wanted to trust him, but my situation wasn’t that simple. I meant to try to explain that to him, I meant to warn him off, but instead, I simply asked, “Why?”

“Out of the millions of folks whose pockets I could’ve tried picking, I chose Evangeline’s.” A wry smile split his face. “I didn’t meet Evangeline by chance, and I don’t think it’s chance that you and I are at this grand world’s fair at the same time either.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in God,” I said.

Jack shook his finger at me and laughed. “Still don’t. But something brought us together. Maybe it was magic.”

“It wasn’t magic,” I said. “Teddy and I arrived by train.”

Jack snickered and covered his mouth as if attempting to hold back laughter. “That was terrible, Wil.” When he’d regained his composure, he said, “I know you believe Laszlo is dangerous and you’re worried he’ll hurt Jessamy—”

“And you, if he learns of our friendship.”

A smile touched Jack’s lips. “And me. But I’ve dealt with dangerous men before. I can handle Laszlo.”

Even after I’d told Jack that Teddy had murdered Mrs. Gallagher, he still didn’t consider Teddy a threat. I had to convince him. “There was a boy named Philip.”

“You mentioned him once before.”

I nodded absently. “Teddy had chosen a farm in Georgia for us to work at while we hid for a time. The farmer, Mr. Lavelle, had a son near my age, and we became fast friends. Teddy thought we had become too friendly, but after Mrs. Gallagher, I didn’t dare tell Philip anything.

“One day, we had gone swimming in a lake. I was on the shore while Philip had swum out to the center. He’d gone too far, and I tried to tell him, but he didn’t listen. Philip was headstrong and reckless. Mr. Lavelle always joked that Philip was only suitable for a life as a circus performer.”

I had enjoyed those weeks with the Lavelles even though I’d known they couldn’t last.

“I didn’t see Philip go under. One moment he was just gone. Without thinking, I Traveled to the center of the lake and dived beneath the water. I found Philip and Traveled both of us back to the shore. I begged Philip not to tell what I had done, but he didn’t understand. He let it slip during dinner how I had saved him. How it had been a miracle. No one believed him, of course, but that night Teddy confronted me, and I had no choice but to tell him the truth.”

I didn’t want to finish the story, I didn’t want to relive the moment, but Jack needed to know how dangerous Teddy was.

“The night before we were to leave the farm, there was a fire in the barn. Philip was trapped inside.” The moon had been full and the sky clear. The barn lit up the night. “I could hear Philip screaming.” I could see his parents calling for help. “I could have Traveled into the fire and retrieved Philip, but Teddy handcuffed my wrist to his so that I couldn’t. He forced me to stand helplessly by while Philip burned. His father pulled him out, but Philip was badly hurt. I wasn’t sure whether to hope for his survival or if death would be a mercy.”

Jack sat with his hands folded in front of him, looking down. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. But you have to know it wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes it was,” I said.

“You didn’t murder Mrs. Gallagher, and you didn’t set fire to that barn.”

“But they happened because I was careless,” I said. “Just like I’m being careless now. With you.”

Jack let out a soft sigh. “I want to help you, Wil.”

“Why?” I asked. “After everything I’ve told you, only a fool would want to get involved.”

“Then I’m a fool.”

My instincts told me to leave, it would have been better for both of us if I’d walked away, but Jack’s sincerity kept me from doing so. “There’s more you don’t know.”

“Tell me,” he said. “Tell me everything, and let me help you.”

So I did. I told him about our many thefts, about Teddy’s desire for notoriety and the way he left folded paper animals behind in an attempt to allow investigators to link together his many crimes. I told Jack every horrible thing Teddy and I had done together. I told him that I suspected Teddy had come to the exposition to commit another theft and that he was likely using Laszlo as a cover for the crime. Jack never flinched. He never judged. He simply listened.

When I finally finished, Jack said, “We’ll figure out why Laszlo’s here, we’ll stop him, and then we’ll make sure he can’t hurt you or anyone else ever again.”

I wanted to believe Jack, but deep down I feared I had doomed us both.