"You're sure hanging these banners is a good idea, Jimmy?" Paul asked in his thick, english accent. He was standing next to me on the side of the road watching Eve, "The Tall Lady", hang a banner on a street light. "I mean, the cops have been poking around enough as it is and now you say that they are looking for these two."

I knew he was talking about Bette and Dott; the new act that Elsa had found. I admit that I didn't believe her when she said she had found our saving act, but the two headed sisters were everything Elsa had said that they'd be. I shrugged, no, I wasn't sure. I had gone to Elsa with those very concerns. She had assured me that she had it under control. She would tell the cops that the twins had been with us for months. The alibi seemed flimsy to me to say the least, but I had to admit that they were our best chance at getting paying customers into the seats before the show tonight.

"You gotta have some faith, buddy." I put on a brave face and clapped Paul on the back. He looked as unsure as I felt. Eve stepped back and we all admired her handy work. Admittedly, Eve wasn't the most gifted artist. However her hands we better suited to the work than mine or Paul's. Hell, I could barely hold a pencil well enough to write my own name. Luckily my career didn't require much paper work.

"BEEEEEEEEEEP-BEEEP-BEEP-BEEEEP!" A car horn pulled our attention away from the banner and towards the expensive looking convertible that sped around the corner; taking it wide and banking the shoulder. I squinted and saw that it was full of guys about my age, and as soon as they saw the three of us standing on the side of the road they started hollering. I bristled; I knew what was coming.

"Shit." Eve whispered, her eyes widening as they sped closer.

"FREAKS!" They yelled as they zoomed past us. A beer bottle sailed through the air, making a wide arc before exploding at our feet, sending shards of glass skittering across the pavement.

My blood boiled. How dare they? They had the privilege of being normal, the world at their feet and they still had to make sure we knew we were lower than them. I took off running after the car, their words growing fainter and fainter. I only made it about three steps before Eve and Paul flanked me, grabbing onto my shoulders. I struggled to get free.

"Come say that to my face!" I screamed at the retreating car, knowing as I said it that it was a silly sentiment. Of course he would have said it to my face. Many people have. I wasn't a person to them. My breathing was labored; Eve rubbed my back in slow comforting motions. My muscles twitched under her large palm, still looking for a fight.

"I tell you, I can't stand it." I spat, still staring in the direction in which the car had left, though it was long gone, "The way they look at us, the way they treat us. It ain't right."

Eve sighed ruefully, "That's show business."

Ticket sales that night did not disappoint. The crowd, on the other hand, was sorely lacking. A lone girl had managed to purchase a ticket before some rich lady bought them all. What purpose it served to buy all the seats in a freak show for two people, I will never know, but I'll be damned if it didn't drum up some business just to turn people away. They assumed the show would be a hit and bought advanced tickets for the show tomorrow.

After the show, when we had all gathered around the stage to clean up and shoot the shit, the rich lady approached us. She informed us that her name was Gloria and that her companion was her son, Dandy. Then she dropped the bomb.

"How much?" She asked, nodding her head toward Bette and Dott. I blanched at her audacity. Even the desperate housewife who had approached me had the class to be discreet.

"My monsters are not prostitutes." Elsa snapped. I almost laughed. Then what was I? A turnip?

Gloria offered five thousand dollars. My eyes widened as I looked from Gloria to the twins and back again. Five thousand dollars? That made what I got from the house wives seem like chump change. I considered upping my price.

Elsa laughed and lit a cigarette, "For one, maybe, but there are two beauties here."

"Ten thousand." Gloria countered, looking smug while her demon spawn smiled darkly behind her. The entire exchange made my skin crawl. I didn't like the look in that kid's eyes, and I worried about what would happen to Bette and Dott if they happened to offer Elsa the right price.

Elsa and the girls themselves refused a final offer of fifteen thousand dollars. Dandy had stopped smiling and the smug look on Gloria's face was replaced with one of malice.

"I must say," Gloria snipped and she turned toward the flap of the big top, "the most freakish thing I saw tonight was your pathetic attempt at singing." She turned up her nose at Elsa's stricken face before calling, "Come along, Dandy." He scowled at us in a way that I assumed was supposed to scare us before turning and following his mother through the exit.

"What in the hell-" I began, but was interrupted by a loud "AHEM!" from what I had thought was empty seats. There was a young woman sitting alone in the back row. When she was sure she had our attention she stood and smoothed the skirt of her long sleeved dress. How strange, in the Florida heat. I noticed that a suitcase and a large, bound book sat on the seat beside her. She was a rather tall girl; six or so inches shorter than me. Her face was narrow, with high cheek bones and green eyes. A small smattering of freckles was sprinkled across her nose. Her black hair hung to her waist in curls that seemed to have been done in a hurry. I had definitely seen more beautiful women in my life, but there was fire in her green eyes that I found… intriguing.

Elsa seemed to have recovered from the rich lady's barbs, though the edge in her voice was evidence that she was still stung.

"What do you want?" She spat at the girl. I recognized the warning tone in Elsa's voice and braced myself to do damage control. The girl either didn't hear the annoyance in Elsa's voice or she chose to ignore it.

"Ma'am." She started, her voice was strangely musical, and there was a slight rasp to the music that was comforting somehow, "I am looking for a job." She continued, bluntly. There was no pussyfooting around with this girl. I respected that, even if her request was ridiculous.

Elsa scoffed and sucked on her cigarette. I turned my attention to the stranger again, scanning her body for a sign of an obvious deformity; one that would lead her to believe that that this cesspool was the best she could do.

"I don't just let any random person off the street join my freak show." Elsa continued, eying the girl, "There must be something..." Elsa trailed off, as though she were choosing her words carefully, "Special, about you." Elsa looked the girl up and down before scoffing, "You're completely average."

I rolled my eyes. Elsa said that like it was a bad thing, like she didn't know what any one of us would sacrifice for the chance to be average.

The girl smiled at Elsa's words. Such a wide smile should have looked silly on her narrow face, but somehow it didn't. She smiled with all the delight of a kid on Christmas morning before she lifted her hands to the buttons of her dress. She did not break eye contact with Elsa, and her smile didn't falter as she began to undress.

My eyes widened. What a night. First some batty old lady tried to buy Bette and Dott and now some lunatic was about to strip in front of the entire troop.

Wordlessly she pulled her right arm from the sleeve of her dress, revealing first the strap of a satin slip that threatened to send my blood south of the boarder, and then- oh, the art. Her entire arm, from her shoulder to wrist was covered in black ink; an intricate lace design, that looked like it had taken hours to complete. She removed her left arm next and I was again in awe. A lotus flower bloomed on her wrist, the words 'Hush, Hush, Hush" had been inscribed on her forearm, a flock of birds took off from a branch on her shoulder, and a dozen more.

The silence was so complete in the big top that I was sure that everyone around me could hear my heart slamming against my ribcage as she continued to remove her dress, dropping it so that it landed in a puddle at her ankles. I noticed that her bare feet and legs remained free of ink. She stood in front of us, in only her slip, smiling at Elsa. Slowly she reached down and grasped the hem of her slip, sliding it over the curve of her hip until she revealed her stomach. It was slightly concave in a way that made me wonder when the last time she had eaten was. A scene depicting the night sky drew my eyes away from the parts of her that my male anatomy was screaming at me to look at. She had included the planets, clusters of swirling galaxies; she had shaded the moon in a way that made it look like a compass pointing north. Like she had the universe in her belly.

I let my eyes travel the length of her beautiful body. I knew she didn't belong here. She wasn't a freak, she was art work. She belonged in a museum, not a freak show. Her tattoos were different than Paul's; his were meant to shock, while hers were something else, like she was born with them.

Her voice interrupted my thoughts, "I did them myself." She let the hem of her slip fall through her thin fingers where it swished around her thighs. By herself? If I wasn't impressed before I sure was after that. I couldn't imagine her sitting for hours carving beautiful things into her skin, wiping the blood and ink that spilled away, all by herself.

"You're not modest." Elsa nodded, looking at the girl with a different expression than the one she wore before she had taken off her clothes, "What's your name?"

The girl seemed to hesitate before answering and when she did her voice changed, like she tasted the words for the first time. "Bridget Cooper."

I narrowed my eyes at her; there was something underneath those words.

"I plan on completing my legs and feet while I'm here." Bridget picked her dress up from the floor, much to my disappointment. "There were...extenuating circumstances that didn't allow for me to complete them."

"Good." Elsa turned to leave. She didn't inquire about the 'extenuating circumstance' even though I was damn curious, "It can be part of your act. When you're finished we can come up with something else for you to do."

"Does this mean I'm hired?" Bridget asked happily while threading her arms back through her sleeves.

"On a trial basis." Elsa smirked at her before nodding to my mom - a silent signal that told my mom she had a job to do - and leaving us alone with the new recruit.

This will be interesting. I smiled to myself and watched as Bridget worked over her buttons. Very interesting.

A/N:

I am very sorry for taking forever to write this chapter! I struggled deeply with it. My wonderful Beta Reader, Neowrella, assuaged my fears and absolutely saved this chapter!
I want to thank you all for all the faves, follows, and reviews. I am really excited about this story! I hope you all are too! I will update again much sooner than this one!

xoxox