And then his grin faded. Maybe he’d seen her expression. Alicia was trying to hide the fear and revulsion roiling within, but she doubted she was doing very well.

“Hey, wait!” he said. “You don’t really think—”

He started toward her. Alicia turned to run but felt a hand close about her upper arm after two steps.

“No, please,” she said as he pulled her to a stop. “Let me go! Let me go or I’ll scream!”

“Just give me a second,” he said. “I just want you to look at something, then you can go. Okay?”

He sounded so reasonable, so… sane. The nerdy voice was gone. She glanced over her shoulder at him. That vacant look from a moment ago was gone too.

But his mouth was still smeared with red.

“Look,” he said, and extended his free hand toward her.

Hesitantly, Alicia glanced down.

Eyes… two eyes… one brown, one blue… soft, glistening, sticky looking… rested in his palm.

She recoiled at first, ready to scream, then noticed the lack of blood. A closer look and she realized…

“They’re fake.”

“Of course they are,” Jack said. “You can buy them in any of the funkier novelty shops in the Village.”

Alicia glanced over Jack’s shoulder at Joey who was sitting up now, but still hunched over, cupping a hand over his eye.

“But what did you do to him?”

Jack showed her a little plastic squeeze bottle filled with red liquid. “Just a little squirt with this. It’s Hollywood blood mixed with ten percent capsicum—you know, that pepper extract they use in those defense sprays? I fill the eyeballs with non-spicy fake blood so when I bite down on them I get red in my mouth. Excuse me.” He turned away and spat more red into the gutter. “Looks real and tastes awful.”

“Looks real is right. I could have sworn—”

Jack’s eyes were bright as he looked at her. “Really? You bought it too? A doctor and all? That’s great! I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting for a chance to try this out.”

“For a minute I thought you were going to start a fight with them.”

“One against three?” He shook his head. “That’s movie stuff. You might get away with it if you take them by surprise and you’ve got a weapon of some sort. But most times, you try something like that in real life, you get your face rearranged. I’m not into pain. And this is so much neater.”

He stepped over to the car and retrieved the faux-bloody faux eye from the window.

“It worked,” he said, more to himself than to her. “It was perfect.”

He’s like a little boy, she thought. A little boy who made something—a wood block car, or a slingshot, maybe—and is delighted to find that it really works.

She watched him grab the ring in Joey’s eyebrow and haul him to his feet.

“Come on, Joey,” he said, turning him toward Alicia. “I don’t think the lady really believes me. Show her your eye.”