Chapter 7
- Las Bombas, Theo, and Musket head off to a new town called Born. LB is happy that there's a lot of ditch water that they can use to make Dr. Absalom's Elixir—he proposes a trick called The Unfortunate Child of Nature, in which Theo pretends to be a wild, untamed man who is calmed by a sip of the elixir, while LB brings out his phrenological head (just a wooden head model where he can point out stuff using his medical "expertise").
- Once a crowd gathers, a voice comes out of the phrenological head, surprising people (including our hero and his friends). The voice insults everybody, including Las Bombas, which delights the crowd, so much so that everybody gets really happy and tosses a whole lot of coins at him.
- Who was the big voice behind the lil' head? It turns out one of the local kids, an urchin named Mickle, has the talent of making the head look like it's chatting. Las Bombas tries to get rid of her, but Mickle tries to get some money out of him (you go, girl). Mickle taught herself the trick while living in the Queen's Home for Repentant Girls, and now she's entirely on her own—she once had a BFF named Hanno though, a thief who was caught and hanged.
- Las Bombas realizes her talents and invites Mickle on to be a part of their traveling circus. She agrees, but Theo thinks you can't just pick her up like a stray—she needs to be taken care of. Mickle mocks Theo, but he doesn't say anything in response; at night, Theo wakes up to hear Mickle sobbing in her sleep.