CHAPTER FIVE

I wake, my head still throbbing, to a redhead standing over me with a piping hot plate of food. It isn’t until I look into her eyes that I recognize Juliette in a wig and a bathrobe.

“I’d stay and eat with you,” she says as she flutters about the room like a startled moth, “but I have to finish getting ready or I’ll be late for the first show.”

My head swims as I try to sit up, and by the time I’ve accomplished that task, she’s gone.

I eat quickly, not wanting to miss any of the act, and afterward, I weave my way across the dusty fairground, following the crowd of eager townsfolk to a small stage with a scarlet curtain drawn across it and a banner bearing the name, “The Amazing Velés.”

As I wait for Juliette’s entrance, my thumb finds the smooth surface of the Wormhole Device in my pocket. I wonder what Dodge is doing right now, then have the gut-churning realization that Dodge won’t be born for two hundred years, that he isn’t doing anything right now, at least not in the physical sense.

You’d think I’d be used to this time travel stuff by now: this strange, in-between experience where I can pinch myself and know I’m alive, but no one else I’ve ever known is yet.

The Amazing Velés takes the stage just as the sun dips itself into the bay, and as he performs his opening acts, I study the crowd. Men in bowler hats smoke pipes and exchange jokes. Women shush small children clinging to their skirts. Young men jostle one another playfully. Everyone is in a pleasant mood, and no one stands out as suspicious. Still, if Dr. Wells believes that TUB is coming for Juliette, I’d better keep my guard up.

Finally, the Amazing Velés—a tall, thin young man with a handlebar mustache, whom I’d only been half-watching—announces that he’s going to make his assistant appear from behind a magical curtain. He raises it above his head, pulls it aside with a flourish, and there she stands.

In addition to the curly wig and a face full of makeup, which makes her expressive eyes and lips look even larger, Juliette is wearing a red dress adorned with feathers and a matching headdress. The crowd—particularly the men—hoot and whistle, but she’s got the poise and confidence of a pro, and her smile doesn’t waver.

Over the next half-hour, the Amazing Velés levitates her, saws her in half, and locks her in a trunk where, upon opening the lid, she disappears, only to appear moments later at my elbow. She winks and tweaks me playfully on the shoulder before parading back to the stage. It isn’t the greatest magic show I’ve seen—in any century—and I’ve read enough on Harry Houdini to know how most the tricks work, but with Juliette’s gaze flicking over to meet mine throughout the show, I can’t look away.

“For tonight’s final trick,” the Amazing Velés announces, “my assistant will be performing a feat of daring and courage, of quickness and skill… one of the most dangerous stunts known to mankind. The bullet-catch!”

The Amazing Velés pulls out an ivory-handled pistol, and my stomach drops. He makes a show of loading the marked bullet while Juliette positions herself in front of a bullseye target, one hand on her hip and her smile still unwavering.

One of the most dangerous stunts known to mankind…

I push my way forward in the crowd, cursing myself for arriving so late. I can’t let her go through with this. People have died (will die, from the viewpoint of this era) when this trick went wrong. And if there’s someone out there, someone associated with TUB, who’s trying to kill Juliette, well, this would be the perfect opportunity. All it’d take is a bit of sabotage: a squib load or swapping the blanks for live rounds. I press forward, ignoring the irritated looks shot my direction. This is what I’m here for: to protect her.

The Amazing Velés loads the pistol and raises it, pointed directly at Juliette’s outturned palm. I find a burst of speed and accidentally knock over a man with a cane.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

I don’t respond. I can’t. I’m nearly at the edge of the stage.

“Stop! Don’t do it!” I yell, but amid the excited crowd’s countdown, my voice is lost.

“Five… four… three…”

I look around. What should I do? What can I do?

“Two… one…”

Ignoring the protests of those around me, I hoist myself up on the stage. The pistol lets out a deafening crack, and I fling myself at Juliette, knocking her to the ground. I land on top of her in a flurry of red feathers and curls.

“Chandler?” She grabs onto her slipping wig. “What are you doing?”

“Close the curtain! Close the curtain!” the Amazing Velés demands. His face turns a bright red as he looks out on the crowd, whose cheers have warped into a noisy mixture of laughter and booing. He’s frozen in place, obviously horrified and uncertain what to do with my unexpected interruption.

“Get off.” Juliette shoves me with one hand while straightening her wig with the other. She faces the crowd, smoothing down the ruffled feathers of her skirt and beaming out at them with her brilliant smile.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” she announces. At her words, the crowd falls silent. “As you see, not everyone trusts my skill as much as the Amazing Velés does.”

Chuckles and grumbles ripple throughout the crowd, and I groan at being the butt of the joke. I’m pretty sure when Dr. Wells sent me back here to keep her safe, this wasn’t what he had in mind.

“However, even with the interference of my dashing knight in shining armor—” She pauses here for the crowd to laugh appreciatively. “—I still managed to pluck the bullet from the air.” She holds up a small, silvery object for the crowd to see, and immediately, their grumblings turn to applause. The Amazing Velés sidles up beside her and grabs her arm, holding the bullet higher. He seems to have overcome his shock and closes the show as if nothing’s wrong.

I, meanwhile, receive a nudge in the ribs with the toe of someone’s boot. From behind the curtain, the obscured figure hisses, “Get off the stage, you idiot!”

Groaning, I roll to my knees. A wrinkled hand shoots out from backstage, grabs me by the shoulder, and—as the magician and his assistant bow and the audience’s applause roars—pulls me from the stage.