'Me, too,' Jack whispered. 'Just play off my cues, and remember you're supposed to be a mechanical robot. Can you sing or dance or anything?'
Draycos turned his head slightly to gaze directly into Jack's eyes. Jack swallowed; those green eyes did not look very friendly at the moment. 'Dance?' he repeated ominously.
'No, no, of course not,' Jack said hastily. 'That's okay, we'll skip the dance.'
'Are you ready?' Preenoffneoff asked.
'Ready, willing, and able,' Jack said, straightening up. 'Lead the way.'
The Wistawk turned and walked back into the room. Putting on his most confident smile, Jack followed.
'The whelps are there,' Preenoffneoff said, pointing to the outer circle, a ring of short Wistawki Jack hadn't been able to see from the balcony. 'We will see your performance now.'
'Certainly,' Jack said, forcing his smile to stay in place as he felt sweat gathering on his forehead. He had assumed the youngsters would be off in another room somewhere, away from the main festivities. Clearly, the carnival atmosphere was for the adults, too.
Which meant a bigger audience. A more discerning audience. An audience that might decide to tear him into pieces if they didn't like the show.
Terrific.
'Good evening, all,' he said cheerfully, bowing to the room in general. 'My name is Jack O'Lantern, and this is my amazing electromechanical assistant Draycos. Say hello to the folks, Draycos.'
Draycos drew himself up, as if he was going to refuse to play along with this charade. Jack held his breath....
The dragon dropped his head and neck nearly to the floor in a stylized bow of his own, his tail arching up over his head. 'Good evening, all,' he said.
Holding the pose, he fluttered the tip of his tail as if waving. 'And a special good evening to the whelps,' he added.
There was an almost human giggle from the outer circle, and Jack started to breathe again. 'That's Draycos,' he said as Draycos straightened up. 'Did I mention he's my amazing electromechanical assistant?'
'Yes,' one of the whelps obligingly called.
'He looks real,' one of the others added.
'Of course he's real,' Jack said. 'A real robot. Maybe later, if you're good, I'll let one of you push some of his buttons.'
'Me!' the first whelp yipped.
'No, me!' someone else insisted.
'Later,' Jack reminded them. 'Don't worry, there's enough of him to go around.'
There was just the hint of a growl from Draycos, but the dragon didn't say anything. 'Now, I need someone to go find me a few things,' Jack continued, stepping over to the refreshment table set out along the wall beside the door to the balcony. One of the serving plates was loaded with raw fruits and vegetables. 'I'll need a deck of ordinary playing cards, three opaque cups—those are cups you can't see through—and some string or thin rope. And three coins, any size.'
'I'll get the cards!' one of the whelps said, scrambling to his feet. Two others were right behind him, scattering to different parts of the house.
'You do not have your own equipment?' Preenoffneoff asked.
'I have my amazing electromechanical assistant Draycos,' Jack reminded him. He reached to the fruit plate and selected an apple, a pear-shaped white fruit, and a polka-dotted thing the size and shape of a small zucchini. 'For everything else, I prefer to borrow from my audience.'
He smiled out at the crowd. 'After all, anyone can do tricks with special cards, can't they?'
'Show us some tricks!' one of the whelps called impatiently.
'Gee, I don't know if I can,' Jack said with mock uncertainly. He stepped away from the table and tossed the apple up into the air. The zucchini followed, and then the pear, then the apple again. It had been a long time since he'd juggled, but apparently the skill hadn't gone rusty. 'Maybe you can help me think of some,' he added.
Someone giggled. Jack tried varying the pattern a little; someone giggled again. He stole a glance away from the flying fruit, wondering what he was doing that was so funny.
The audience wasn't looking at him. They were looking behind him.
And all the children were giggling now.
Carefully, keeping his eyes mostly on his juggling, Jack threw a quick glance to each side. Preenoffneoff was nowhere to be seen. Could he be coming up behind Jack? With a serving knife from the table, maybe?
A drop of sweat trickled down his back. He hadn't been invited here, after all. He'd crashed this ceremony, and there were plenty of species in the Orion Arm who would consider that a good enough reason to cut such an intruder into fish food. Some of those species might even laugh and applaud and giggle while it was being done.
Did the Wistawki think that way? He didn't have the foggiest idea. More to the point, did Preenoffneoff think that way? He didn't know that, either.
All he knew was that the giggling was getting louder, and that the adults were smiling, too. Keeping the fruit in the air, wondering how fast he could go for his tangler if he had to, he turned his head quickly to the right.
