Join the Dance

vii. Shadows

"Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?"
- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

For some reason, the girl was wearing sandals.

Rafe took another blanket from the cupboard and placed it over her half-bare feet.

He'd laid her in one of the church's back rooms, on top of the thickest wool blanket he could find. She was still unconscious. He listened to her deep breathing: it sounded fine, but she'd probably be out for a while.

He hovered, hands over the heated stove, beside her for a moment. Looking at her, he did not have the eerie sense of familiarity that he'd had before. It was a more comforting feeling this time, an easy one. That she was strange. A stranger. She was a girl he had never seen before. Rafe was used to strangers and even more to the strange. The uncanny, the magical, the weird and wonderful; he had seen quite a lot here in New York.

She was a pretty girl. Her dark blonde hair drew down her shoulders, and her dress was a flattering bright yellow. But her hair parted in the middle in a strange fashion. Her dress was extremely thin - Jake and Beetles said they'd found her the coat on Bowery - and ended far too high up her legs to be proper.

He glanced at the blanket over her sandalled feet. It was as if she'd come straight from the western desert.

Why here?  he wondered. She hadn't known what the year was, which was odd. She also hadn't known who he was, which was relatively understandable. The fact that she didn't know that the Bowery fortune tellers were untrustworthy (particularly that two-faced witch with the love potions) cemented his theory that she was from elsewhere.

A very obvious theory, thought Rafe. He should really read more detective novels.

It made sense that she didn't come from Manhattan, but the rest felt suspicious. This dream-girl was too close for comfort, even if it was fine to just pretend she was a stranger. After all, people didn't often have dreams that came true.

He opened the door to look down the hallway.

"Oi!" he shouted. "Anyone that sees Jake and Beetles can send 'em over here, no excuses!"

There was some mumbling in response from the other rooms, and he presumed the word would get around. He'd set the boys up here to watch over the girl, Christmas Eve or not. Whether it was punishment for burdening him with yet another problem, he was yet to decide.

Rafe had carried the girl all the way back to the church. She hadn't been much of a burden, incredibly light in fact, but that was mainly because he had one of her arms around his shoulders and the other around Abigail's. She had met up with them so quickly he doubted she had gone to get the gingerbread. Upon inspection, she was chosen because she was taller than Jake and Beetles by little more than an inch.

This revelation had disturbed them a little.

"Think you're so good," Beetles had been muttering. "helpin' Rafe carry her - "

"What'd she do to you?" frowned Rafe, trying not to let the girl's heels drag on the ground.

"She's opening up a shop," said Jake with a bit more joviality. "The I'm-so-special-because-I'm-taller-than-Jake-and-Beetles-shop."

"I don't even care," ground out Abigail, and they were obliged to pause because she had nearly dropped the girl's arm due to her not caring.

Birdie was tailing along beside them like an excitable bird. "It's like in a fairy-tale!" she crowed. "Rafe, will she fall in love with you?"