Lana backed away. Somehow these people had died at the circus. A circus fire. And now they were stuck here forever.

Jack flipped onto his feet and whipped a new ice cream cone out of thin air, presenting it to the little girl. She giggled in delight and grabbed it. Jack bowed and came after Lana.

"You are too curious," Jack said.

"I just wanted to know," Lana said. She didn't know why Jack suddenly made her feel uncomfortable. He had always been there for her, since she first set foot on the circus grounds. "What's the harm in that?"

"You ought not to upset the balance."

Lana whirled around. "What balance?"

Jack stood still, looking at her with eyes painted into black diamonds. "Everyone progresses at their own pace."

"What does that mean?"

"Your questions interrupt their progress."

"Look, Jack, you're a cute kid and all, but if you can't stop talking in riddles–"

"I have been here for longer than you've been alive. Since before your parents were alive. Since before your grandparents were alive."

Lana looked at him. Fully took in his costume, and his demeanor. The way Jack's eyes seemed to be glowing.

"I have been here the longest, save for Rooney himself."

Lana swallowed, and asked in a whisper, "How long have you been here?"

"There is no time here," Jack said. "You will find that out, if you keep asking questions. And it will drive you insane."

Suddenly Jack crouched down and did a back flip. Lana stepped back so she wouldn't be kicked in the face, but Jack was cartwheeling away, and hordes of children were following him like he was the Pied Piper.

"You want to know about old Jack?" came a grizzled voice behind her.

She whirled around. It was the midget clown named Tom.

She didn't answer before he said, "Follow me."

Lana had never been in clown alley before. Here, the wounds that would be visible on the other performers were covered with layers of greasepaint and colored wigs and big red noses.

"You're the one they call May, ain'tcha," said Tom. "A bit new?"

"Yeah. I've only done rodeos."

"Rodeos come from circus, you know that much, right?" Tom gave her a squinty eyed look.

Lana shook her head.

Tom sighed. "See, circus started off being like big horse shows. But none of that fancy riding. This was who could do the best tricks, make their horses do crazy things. Rodeo riders started off just showing off their skills with the cattle. Like Western circus. Then along comes Buffalo Bill, and he turns rodeo into one of the biggest circus shows of his time: Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Rodeo riders, trick shooting, battles, races, all of that. You follow?"

"Yeah. I've heard of Buffalo Bill. You know, Annie Oakley, all that. He was pretty famous."

"Sure was. Rodeos like to think they're something different from circus, but they're all one and the same. You know why they call you May?"

"No. Well, I kind of thought it was because I replaced that one girl on the Spanish Web. They said her name was Mae."

"You got lots to learn. They call newbies 'firsts of May.' Most circuses could only tour half the year. Otherwise it's too cold for an outdoor tent. The circus season would start around May first, run through to October, then they'd winter. So–"

"So anyone new to the show would start on May first. First of May," Lana finished.

"Okay, so you're no dumb blonde," Tom said. "Point taken."

He ambled further into clown alley, to what she figured was his own tent.

"Clowns got a history too. You never think about it, something silly like clowning would have a tradition."

"There are rodeo clowns," Lana said. "They distract the bull after the rider gets bucked off."

"Bingo." Tom perched himself up on a stool and gestured for Lana to have a seat beside him. His stool, however, was a foot higher than Lana's, so she ended up looking up at the little man.

"I was a clown during the thirties. Depression era. We had a lot of hobos hopping circus trains – I was one of 'em. And that became a character. They say Emmett Kelly invented the hobo clown. Hooey."

Lana smiled.

"So what kind of a clown is Jack?"

"Jack. Huh. One of the other joeys here once told me Jack changed his name a time ago. It used to be Giacchino. Which means..."

"He's Italian?"

"You got it. But I don't think he's recent Italian. Modern clowning started way back when, in Italy. Back then it was called Commedia dell'Arte. You heard of it?"

"No."

"That's what they called circus back in the Renaissance."

Lana's jaw dropped. "Seriously? Jack's that old?"

Tom shrugged. "It's a theory. He has the traditional Harlequin makeup – "

"I thought Harlequins were romance books," Lana interrupted.

"Harlequins have this diamond pattern, black and white. Like what Jack wears. It's very old, this sort of clown."

"Jack said he was the oldest here, except for Rooney."

"We have our theories about Rooney, too."

"And what's the theory about Jack? Other than he's old and Italian?"

"He's blind, see? In the old stories it's always the blind that can see. Not see, physically, with their eyes. They can see the abstract, the truth of the situation."

"Huh." Lana thought about Jack's riddle-like statements. He had indeed sounded like a prophet or soothsayer.

"We just wonder... can he move on, like some of the others? Or is he something else? Did he become something else from being here so long?"

"What kind of something else?"

"Think about it. Rooney's the ringmaster. He keeps us all in line while we're here, tries to get a rise out of us, push us in directions we might not otherwise go. What does that sound like to you?"

"He sounds like... the devil."

"Exactly. He might not be The Devil, maybe he's just one of the demons from hell. If this place is purgatory, the devil couldn't be here. But he could send one of his henchmen down to run the place. This is purgatory for us. Purgatory could be different for everyone."

Lana laughed a bit. "Yeah, I imagine not everyone would be okay with spending eternity in a circus."

"So then Jack."

"So if Rooney's a demon, Jack might be working in league with him?"

"Or, he might be working for someone else." Here Tom looked up.

"Ooooh." Lana nodded now, getting it. "Jack might be trying to help us. Rooney is trying to keep us here."

Tom sat back and nodded. "So if I were you, May, I'd listen to Jack, ignore Rooney, and try not to make the same dumb mistakes you made in your short time on earth. Because those will definitely keep you here."