"So... you claim to be able to speak to the dead?" Elsa poured herself a glass of something alcoholic and then turned to me.

"Yes." I said curtly.

"A medium, as you would call it?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am." I repeated myself again.

"My monsters tell me you did some sort of card trick? To prove your ability?" She questioned.

Roy and I went on to do the same card trick as it were for her too. She seemed impressed enough once I finally pulled off my blindfold.

"Very good, Liebchen." She said, "How about another, trick?"

I stood dumbfounded and thought for a moment. For whatever reason, I couldn't think of another thing I could have Roy and I do.

"Tell her to hold fingers up behind her back." Roy spoke up. He was standing behind her from the card trick before.

"Hold up fingers behind your back." I said, "I'll put on the blindfold and turn around for added measure."

I did as I said I would and waited for Roy to tell me what fingers she was holding up. She did it multiple times and Roy continued to tell me what they were. After a few numbers, I took off my blindfold and turned back to Elsa.

"Very good. You are hired." She said with an almost sly smile.

Both Roy and I smiled to each other. I was glad someone finally believed me.

"Welcome to the family."

Later, I was getting shown to a tent for myself. It was pretty nice. It might not be the most comfortable, but I wasn't complaining.

"That went well. Way better than I thought it would if I'm being honest." Roy said as he plopped down on the bed.

"It's sure a relief to have someone not want to put you in a mental asylum when you say that you can see dead people." I said as I opened my case on the bed next to Roy. It had the few clothes that I owned and a picture of my grandma in it. Otherwise, it was empty.

"Now we just have to think of more things we could do on stage." I said.

Roy leaned back onto the bed, "Well you can always do readings for people."

I sighed, "I don't know if I want to do that."

"Why not? You could help people-" Roy started. I cut him off with a shush. I could feel someone approaching the tent. I slammed my case shut.

"What?" He asked. At that moment, Jimmy appeared at the entrance to the tent.

"Hey Joy." He leaned in.

"Hi Jimmy." I smiled. He walked all the way into the tent.

"We are having dinner all of us. Thought you probably wanted something to eat." He said.

"I don't think that-" I started one of my excuses.

"Come on." He smiled, "I'll introduce you to everyone."

I sighed, "Okay then." I followed him out of the tent. Everybody was out under a tent that had lunch tables.

Jimmy showed me to the table to get some food and then walked me over to everybody else. After a quick introduction to everyone, I sat down between the Amazonian woman, Eve, and Jimmy.

"Welcome to the show." The man I now knew as Paul said as I sat down. He was the one with the flipper arms.

Everyone chatted around the table, I sat silently eating my food. Then, a question came towards me.

"I got to know, what do the dead look like?" Eve asked me.

I stuttered for a moment, "They kinda have some sort of shine to them. Living people don't."

"Shine." Roy chuckled, "That's some strange word choice."

I shot Roy a look which just caused him to laugh harder.

"Shine, really?" Legless Suzi said.

Everyone erupted back into chatter amongst themselves.

"What else can she do? What is she supposed to do for the show?" Someone asked. I had lost track through all the talking. With that question, everyone turned to face me expectantly. I didn't know what I was supposed to say.

"Tell them that you can read souls." Roy offered. He had been sitting at the end of the table the whole time.

"I don't-" I stopped myself realizing it would come off strange if I talked to Roy in front of everyone.

They all looked at each other quite confused. "I don't, what?" Paul asked.

I took a moment to try and gather myself, "I don't know." I sighed.

I could tell everyone looked obviously disappointed and maybe a little bit annoyed to my response. They started to grumble to each other and talk. I hung my head to look at my lap. I was beyond embarrassed.

"Hey guys, that's what we are here for." Jimmy said to everyone else causing them to stop talking. "We'll help you find an act to do." Jimmy said to me.

I smiled, grateful that he saved me from my embarrassment.

The next day, I stood off to the side watching everyone rehearse their acts. Under the big tent, there was rows of wooden chairs waiting empty. Meep was up on stage biting a chicken's head off. Elsa was in her whole get up with a baby blue pantsuit standing right in front of the stage. She barked orders for lights and acts to come on.

Jimmy came on stage next. I learned that they called him "Lobster Boy" during the show. He went on to juggle some pins with his claw hands.

"This is sick." I said to Roy next to me.

"What you mean?" He asked.

"These people stand up there with their disabilities to have others gawk at them and be entertained by their weirdness." I spat, "It's like a zoo, but for people, and it's sad."

"I guess you could think of it like that. But, what else are they going to do for work? I hate to break it to you, but I don't think anyone's going to hire legless Suzi." Roy said.

I looked at him with an angry look. He continued, "And maybe you are looking at it wrong."

I furrowed my brow and crossed my arms. "Really?"

"I don't see them as disabilities. They are abilities." He said in his always nonchalant attitude.

"People wouldn't call them freaks if they were abilities." I argued. Roy just shrugged his shoulders not wanting to continue his point.

"Joy!" Elsa yelled from the front. I walked briskly up to her, "Get up on the stage, we need to practice your act." She said to me. I walked up the wooden steps to under the lights. The rest of the show was off to the side.

"What is, my act?" I asked sheepishly.

"You, liebchen, are the magnificent medium." Elsa said in her extravagant voice, making me sound better than I actually was. When I didn't move to her words, she continued to talk. "You can do the card trick for a random person in the audience. For now that's me."

I was beyond nervous, but I pulled out the deck of cards that was wrapped in the bandana. I was about to hand her the cards, when she cut me off with a wave of her hand.

"Joy, you need showmanship. You can't just hand the cards over." Elsa said.

I retracted back into myself. I wasn't a showmanship person. "I-I don't know if I am good at that." I mumbled.

Elsa eyed me for a moment, "We will work on it. For now, Ethel."

Jimmy's mother, Ethel, the bearded woman walked out from backstage and into the bright lights next to me. I was grateful when Ethel started to narrate the card trick. She had the loud, showmanship that Elsa was looking for. Roy and I did the trick again with no problem for Elsa.

Afterwards, I wrapped the cards in the bandana and awkwardly walked off stage. "That girl needs work." I heard Elsa say to Ethel once I was out of sight of the stage lights.

I sighed as I stood in the dark behind the curtains watching everyone prepare for Elsa's singing act. Some of them played the piano and drums for her.

"That was atrocious." Roy said behind me. I turned to look at him. He was always looking around in stuff because it didn't matter if he did.

"I know." I sighed, "I'm not a- a stage person." I crossed my arms and watched Elsa sing from the side.

"I'm not a stage person either." This time it wasn't Roy's voice. I turned to see Jimmy. I immediately looked to my feet. It was embarrassing whenever someone caught me talking to Roy.

"Sorry, I was talking..." I looked over at Roy and he lifted his eyebrow. I trailed off as I realized it would probably make it worse if I tried to explain myself

"The dead?" Jimmy tried to finish my sentence for me.

"Yeah..." I said.

Jimmy let a small smile grow on his lips, "You know the first time I ever went on stage, I nearly chickened out."

"You didn't seem nervous earlier. I find that hard to believe." I said.

"It's true. I nearly puked myself, and even now I still get nervous I might drop a pin on stage."

"How do you do it?" I asked over the music.

Jimmy walked up closer and stood next to me looking at Elsa's act. "Even when I get nervous, I still just get out on the stage and I always do good."

"And practicing a lot helps make it not so bad." He looked over from the stage to me. I smiled.

"I'll help you with your act if you want." He offered.

"Thank you. I definitely need it." I stopped talking when I saw Roy standing on the stage. He just stood there. I laughed at him. He always loved to stand in the middle of things or look around because it's not like anyone would see him do it. He stood behind Elsa and mocked her singing. I laughed at him louder this time.

"What's so funny?" Jimmy asked. My laughing died as I said, "Oh, nothing."

~

A/N

Just wondering, can anyone tell where I got the "shine" remark from?

Thank you for reading :)