Joy giggled. Whatever she read had broken her out of her cycle of confusion. "Now that's just silly."
Julie cocked her head. A wave of hair tickled her side all the way to her knees as she did so. "...What?"
"'Julie can hear a mouse squeak from 500 meters away,'" She read irreverently. "I definitely can't believe that."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Professor Lupo rejoined. "What could give an animal such a keen sense of hearing?"
Joy shrugged. "I mean, bigger ears, but..."
"Shh!" Julie hissed. "Don't answer him! He's only going to--"
Too late. Lupo faced the crowd, his hands at his ears with fingers pointing out. "'Ears!' Did you hear that? Of course you did, because you have them! Everybody has them. But Julie's ears, they're special. Yes indeed! They can detect a pin dropping in the next room. Why is that, do you suppose?"
One audience member answered the prompt. "Because they're big!"
Lupo pointed to her. "Correct, madam! Tigress Julie's ears have to be big and round to pick up the faintest acoustic resonance. They're part of what make her an apex predator. Why, you can even see them from the back bench! Can't you, sir?"
The guy sitting all the way in back shouted a dull "no." The crowd chuckled. Julie let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.
"It's okay," Joy said, taking Julie's hand at last. "I don't see them either."
Lupo didn't seem fazed, which was quite troubling. He clasped his hands together. "Of course, of course. Silly me. I forgot how much thickness those curls add to her hair. Felines are able to move their ears, you see. They can rotate them, even fold them so you wouldn't notice them as easily. But..." He thrust a hand into his coat once more, quickly pulled out something with a small black barrel and pointed it at them. Julie grabbed Joy instinctively and put her back to him. Lupo chuckled. "Fear not, my good volunteers." He opened his palm to reveal a white canister attached to the fringed barrel. "It's loud, but it can't hurt you. As long as you don't get too close." He spoke coyly, as if they were expected to recognize it wasn't a gun at a glance from half a stage away.
"Fucking air horn," Julie grumbled. "I'd still like to rip it off his wrist, along with his hand." Joy looked at her with just as much fear as when Lupo had pulled it out.
"Look very closely at our subject, gentlefolks. One sharp sound ought to bring those babies standing to attention."
"Joy," Julie said firmly. "Don't look at my head. Whatever you hear, don't look." Joy nodded.
The blare of the horn rang across the tent. Julie's ears stung for a second, but otherwise felt fine. The crowd gasped. Then they clapped. It was an all-too-familiar progression and she was sick of hearing it. "They saw something," Julie said calmly to Joy. "But they're hallucinating. You're not hallucinating. Tell me I have human ears."
"You have human ears," Joy repeated. She didn't sound convinced.
"Come now, Joy, why so bashful?" Lupo said. "I'm sorry if I scared you." He put the horn down on a table at the side of the stage and started walking toward them. Julie bared her teeth. Lupo stopped short. "Why don't you look at your sister's lovely ears? Their fur is quite exquisite."
Joy kept looking down at their sneakers. "She doesn't have round ears."
"What's that? I'm afraid my hearing isn't nearly as good as your sister's. Can you repeat that for all of us?"
Joy turned her head upward in exasperation. "Julie doesn't have--"
Her fur-faced sister looked at her nervously.
Joy licked her lips. "She... she has normal ears."
"'Normal' for a tiger, you mean?" Lupo persisted. "Come, come, out with it!"
Julie shook her head slowly as her heart sank. "You see them, don't you?" Joy's head didn't move. Her eyes were locked just above Julie's forehead. "It's okay if you see them. Just remember it's an illusion. Tell him my ears are human. Tell him I'M human. That will make them go away."
Joy blinked, trying to clear her vision. She was fighting it. "I... I think it'd be a lie. That's just as bad, isn't it?"
"We won't know unless we try. Tell them."
"Yes, tell us!" Lupo said. "If you're so sure you can see something the rest of us can't. Maybe YOU'RE the illusionist of this show! Tell us!"
The crowd started chanting "Tell us! Tell us! Tell us!"
Joy gave Julie a quizzical little smile, then spoke, her voice much louder and clearer than before.