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Wilhelm

Seattle, WA—Beacon Theatre

Saturday, July 24, 1909

WE EXISTED HERE and there, we existed nowhere and everywhere. I felt the pain of being Jack Nevin—of the wounds he still carried from the loss of his mother, of the bruises inflicted upon him by Evangeline that he refused to acknowledge, of the scars he kept hidden—and I felt the joy. My body might have been bound to the terrestrial plane, but my heart was a bird set free.

Jack chuckled darkly. “I should be the one telling you to run. If you knew what kind of person I really am—”

“I see you, Jack,” I said. “Not what you think I see, not what you want others to see, but what’s real. I have never seen you any other way.”

The words rolled easily off my tongue. I wondered if it was still the alcohol clouding my judgment, but it wasn’t. If I was intoxicated, it was Jack I was drunk on.

“I’m a thief,” he said. “I like stealing.”

“No one is perfect.”

“You deserve better.”

I leaned my forehead against Jack’s. “I have also done things of which I’m ashamed.”

“That’s different. Laszlo forced you to do them. Besides, I’m not ashamed.”

My thoughts returned to what Ruth had said. Jack seemed convinced he was unworthy of happiness, and I was uncertain of my ability to convince him otherwise. “You could have walked away after you discovered my imprisonment. You could have exposed my talent to Evangeline and used me for your own gain.” I tapped his chest. “You are a good person, Jack Nevin.”

“I’ll steal your heart,” he said.

“You cannot steal a gift freely given.”

Jack reached for me, and time lost meaning. There are worlds other than Earth, other than the between, to explore, and we found them on the stage of the Beacon in the dark that night.

Abruptly, while I was entangled in the closeness of Jack, he jumped up, pulling his shirt back on, and ran into the shadows. “Don’t go anywhere!”

I felt flush with excitement, unable to comprehend the emotions Jack engendered within me and yet unwilling to consider living a moment without them. My logical mind, the demanding, unyielding, analytical voice that had time for neither emotion nor falsehoods, calmly stated that nothing good could come of my relationship with Jack so long as I remained Teddy’s prisoner. I knew it spoke the truth, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t care, not at that moment. Not with the feel of Jack’s lips on my neck and the smell of his skin in my nose. Reality could wait until tomorrow.

From out of the dark, the sound of Jack’s violin sailed the stage like a lazy gondola across placid waters. He emerged, his chin resting on his instrument, taking long, slow steps as he played. And then he attacked, sending the bow flying across the strings. He didn’t need lightning to create life, he didn’t need seven days to build heaven and earth. He only needed a violin, a bow, and one perfect song.

I watched from the between as colors pulsed from Jack’s chest, traveled through his arms to his hands, and flowed into and then from the violin. Jack wasn’t simply playing music, he was creating it from his dreams and his heart, from his soul, and he was giving it to me. I caught the colors and wrapped them about myself like a cocoon, unsure what I would emerge as later, but I left room within so that when Jack’s song ended, he could join me inside.

The rain had stopped long ago, but the night still felt cool and damp. I, however, was warmed by my affection for this amazing boy beside me as we stood across the street from my house, inside of which the cage awaited.

Jack pulled me back and kissed me again. So long as Jack held me, the cage could not.

“I don’t want to go,” I said.

“One way or another, we’re going to work this out.”

My knees were wobbly and weak, though my illness might have contributed to that. This was what happiness felt like. Jack’s violin was what happiness sounded like. The smell of wet hair was what happiness smelled like. I was happy. As happy as I had ever been.

“I’ll come by the next time Evangeline and Laszlo are together.”

I nodded, unsure I could speak, because even “next time” felt too far away.

Jack finally, regretfully, let me go, and I could have skipped across the street. I felt his eyes on my back as I climbed the steps. I let myself in and leaned against the door, smiling. I didn’t think I’d ever stop smiling.

“Had a good night, did you?”

Teddy’s voice felt like poison. I turned to find him sitting at the table, wearing a sardonic grin.

“I can explain—”

Teddy was on me before I could finish. The backhand sent me sprawling to the floor, clutching my cheek. The same cheek Jack had run his thumb across, the same cheek he’d kissed.

“How dare you defy me!” His kick caught me off guard. Still smarting from the first hit, I curled in on myself.

“I’m sorry, sir!”

“Who were you with?” Teddy’s voice was a viper, swift and venomous.

“No one, sir. I swear.”

“Liar!” he yelled. “I saw you out there with him, the Enchantress’s boy.”

I tried to cover my head to protect myself from the next attack.

“I thought I could trust you, but I can’t, can I?”

“You can, sir! I’m sorry, sir!”

Staring down at me, he said, “How many people must I hurt before you learn to obey me?”

I crawled to my knees and reached for his legs. “None, sir! Please don’t hurt anyone!”

“Did you tell him the truth about yourself?” Teddy grabbed my chin and squeezed until I yelped. “You did, didn’t you?”

“He won’t tell anyone, I swear!”

“You know what that means, don’t you?” Teddy said. “You know what I’m going to do to him. What you have forced me to do.”

Tears streamed down my cheeks. “Please don’t hurt Jack, sir. I’m begging you. I’ll do anything you ask.”

Teddy glared at me with pitiless eyes. “You’ve put me in quite a bind, Wilhelm. I can’t kill the thief you’ve been cavorting with now or it might arouse suspicions.”

“I’ll stop seeing him, sir. I’ll never see him again if you promise not to hurt him.”

“You can’t do that either. If you do, he might come looking for you, and the last thing I need is a nosy boy skulking around.” Teddy shook his head. “No, you must continue on with him as you have been, as if nothing is wrong.”

Relief flooded through me. “I’ll be good. I’ll do everything you say, sir. I swear it.”

Teddy pursed his lips. “Keep that promise, and I’ll kill him quickly once our business in Seattle is finished. Break it, and I will break him one piece at a time before I kill him.” He kicked me off. “Now, get in the cage.”

I was numb. I was shattered. I didn’t doubt for one single second that Teddy would follow through with his threat. All I had earned Jack tonight was a reprieve. Teddy was going to kill him, and it was my fault.

Once Teddy had shut the latch, he knelt in front of me. He looked almost sympathetic. “You’ve only yourself to blame, Wilhelm. Continue to disobey me, and I will end Miss Valentine and that creature she thinks I don’t know she spends her time with as well. I will snuff out anyone who has ever shown you a moment’s kindness.”

I couldn’t speak, and even if I’d had words, they couldn’t have reached the surface from the depths of my misery.

“You have two weeks to learn how to escape that cage. Don’t disappoint me.” Teddy’s fiendish smile proved that I had been wrong. There was no humanity within him. He was a monster through and through, and there was nothing I could do to stop him. “Sleep well, Wilhelm.”