“All better,” he said. He released her hand, but she didn’t lower it from his face.
“Will you ever tell me your name?” she whispered.
“Sebastian. And what do I call you?” He looked down along the front of her ripped dress, then quickly looked away.
“Juliana.”
“Where do we go now, Juliana?” He smirked a little. “I don’t think the good reverend will want me back after I helped you. I’m tired of making him look holy, anyway.”
“Why did you do it in the first place?”
“I don’t know, it’s not a bad job. Lots of travel, helping people who need it. You meet lots of interesting people, too, like mysterious pretty girls with a lethal touch.”
“Have you met many of them?” she asked, and he laughed. He looked her over, and his gaze warmed her body.
“Have you had this your entire life?” He touched the palm of her hand.
“Yes.”
“Me, too. But yours must have been a little more...difficult.”
“I’ve survived.”
“You live here in Missouri?”
“No, I’m with a carnival.” She smiled. “I’m the freak show special attraction. The World’s Most Diseased Woman.”
“I’ve heard about your carnival. I’ve been meaning to go, but the boss won’t give me a break...”
“We can go now! If we circle back south.” She looked up at the dark sky. “I have to perform tonight, anyway. Can you take me?”
“I’ve got no job and a stolen horse,” he said. “A man can’t be more free than that. We can go wherever you want.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want? Staying with the carnival?”
“Why not?”
“It just seems like you’d get tired of people staring at you, like you’re some kind of...”
“I’m a freak whether I’m in the show or not. I might as well get paid for it. It’s better than stealing for a living.”
“Sure, but there must be other work out there.”
“Like what? I can’t work with people, can’t even touch animals. In the sideshow tent, I can see people all day and not worry about whether they’re going to brush against me. Being a carnie is the most honest work I can manage.”
He laughed. “Honest work as a carnie.”
“And what were you doing? Helping some guy run a revival-tent scam.”
“It wasn’t a scam,” he said. “People actually got healed.”
“And I really am the world’s most diseased woman. You’re just lucky you were born with something that actually helps people.”
“We’re exact opposites, you know that?” He stepped closer, looking down into her eyes. “That’s what I thought, when I saw the disease taking him over. Another person like me, but opposite.” He took her hands in his. “It’s in our touch. I have to touch people to fix them.”
“I can’t touch anyone,” she whispered.
“You can touch me all you want,” he said. From his twisted grin, she knew he was trying to joke, but his words made her tremble. She released his hands and reached up to his face, then his neck. His skin felt hot beneath his uneven stubble. His hands found their way to her waist.
“Have you never kissed anyone?” he whispered.
“Never.”
Without another word—or bothering to ask permission—he lowered his face to hers and gently kissed her lips. She felt like she’d been set on fire, her body glowing with heat.
The kiss lasted a long time. When he drew back, their eyes were locked on each other. Something had happened. She could feel a deep sense of connection with this boy, like it had been waiting there all her life, just waiting to wake up.
“We’d better keep moving,” she whispered.
“If that’s what you want.” He gazed at her for another long moment before turning toward the horse.
She touched her lips. Her hand was shaking.
As they rode on, she held tight to him, but reminded herself that she’d only just met him. She couldn’t trust him, not yet, no matter what intense feelings he brought up inside of her. He’d helped her, but she began to realize that he was also the only person in the world who could hurt her. Without the demon plague, she was defenseless against him. The thought was scary but thrilling.
The horse walked into the fairgrounds just before dawn, and they stabled him with the Wild West horses. Inside Juliana’s tent, she heaved the blankets from her cot onto the canvas floor, and they lay together. Juliana knew it wasn’t proper, but she was far too tired to find him a different spot. Fortunately, he was far too tired to try anything, if he’d intended to.