I don't own the characters. I attach strings to them and shout, "Dance marionettes! Dance for my pleasure!"
The stage setting was a giant empty warehouse. The seats were filled to the brim–a full house–and the audience was waiting with eager anticipation for their favorite magician. But neither of these facts frightened Melanie Kennith. In fact, she would even go so far as to say she was just as excited as them.
Because rule number one in Mel's book of magic: never be afraid to show the world your talents.
A stagehand motioned that she was on in five minutes. Melanie nodded and took a deep breath as she took her place.
The stage was her home, her magic her husband and child. The show was her life and there was nothing better than the rush of seeing someone smile because of her.
And tonight was no different.
Smoke surrounded the stage and the lights went dim.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Mel spoke from a microphone. "welcome to Mel's Magnificent Magic Show!" The crowd went wild. Shouts and screams from all directions and Mel felt she was drunk with happiness. Several red spotlights appeared where Mel stood, waving to the crowd. Her fire red skin-tight leotard shimmered in the red of the spotlight. As soon as the applauding stopped, Mel raised her arm and waved to the crowd. "Hello to everyone today and thank you for coming. I apologize, but tonight I'm only doing one show." She paused so the audience could express their displeasure. "So for my final act I will need a volunteer." Immediately hands shot up from the crowd. She pursed her lips and raised her brows in surprise. "A lot of hands. Wow. Alright then." Mel closed her eyes and pointed up. "Lets have," She paused for a moment before pointing to someone in front of her. "you, the man with the blue shirt. Come on down." The crowd cheered as the man hustled down to the stage. "Hi. Whats your name?" She handed him a microphone.
"Kevin."
"And will you do what is asked of you?"
He smiled with confidence. "Whatever you want baby."
"What a pig." Mel thought. Out loud, she asked, "Without any questions?"
He didn't even hesitate. "Absolutely."
She smiled. "Alright Kevin. I'm about to perform some magic and I need you as an...assistant of sorts. Can you do that?" She grinned harder at his enthusiastic nod. "Great! Now, I'm about to step into that circle," She pointed to the dotted circles in the middle of the stage, one bigger that the other. "but I'm not sure if you can follow me or not." She turned and addressed the crowd. "Who thinks he should step into the ring of fire!" The roar of the crowd would have deafened a lesser professional than Mel. "Alright then!" She slowly walked to the middle the ring. When she was positioned, she turned to Kevin, who was staring at Mel's body so hard she thought he was going to catch on fire before she did. She would have just yelled at him right then and there, but that would ruin the whole point of the show. She beckoned with her index finger, trying to look as seductive as she could. "Come. Step into my ring. See if you can survive the heat."
Like he was in a trance, he slowly walked towards her. When he was between the two circles, she motioned for him to stop. "Why?" He whined.
"Stay back." Her voice became harsh.
"But–"
Before he could complete his sentence, fire sprung out of the circles. Kevin shouted out in horror and leaped back, his clothes set ablaze. The audience gasped and screamed. But Melanie didn't look concerned. In fact, with the flames surrounding her, her glaring at him and her hair flying out behind her, she looked down right scary. "Kevin Forbes, the Phoenix Judge has summoned you and this is your trial. True or false: did you, or did you not, cheat on Yasmin Brooks?" He looked so helpless and scared she was tempted to just let him go. But she was a professional. And she did not break her promises. "Tell me!" She shrieked when she received no response.
"Yes!" He shouted. "Yes I did!"
"With who?"
He whimpered. "Her sister."
The audience 'ooohed'. Mel turned back to the crowd. "Yasmin, please stand up." A teary-eyed girl from the audience stood up. "Is this him?"
Yasmin nodded. "Yes."
"Did this man hurt you?"
Yasmin burst out crying, holding her head in her hands. "Yes!"
"Did this man, while he was cheating on you, have the nerve to accuse you of cheating on him in front of all your friends?"
"Yes yes yes!" Yasmin wailed hysterically.
Mel turned back to the sobbing boy. "You have been brought forth to be judged, Kevin Forbes. Will you plead innocent or guilty?"
"Guilty!" He shouted. "I'm guilty! Whatever you want me to say! Just get these flames off me!"
Mel rose her arms. Flames sprouted out of her arms, spreading around her. "Kevin Forbes, I condemn you." She lifted her hands to the ceiling, her flames surrounding her, and she suddenly began to float. She looked down on the sobbing boy. "You have been judged by the Phoenix. Your sentence?" She rose higher. "To burn."
She raised her head.
And dove straight at the boy.
The audience screamed in horror.
Five people, four men and one woman, surrounded a round table. They sat out on a veranda overlooking the Eiffel Tower. A scruffy-looking man stood up and pushed a picture of a young out in the middle of the table.
"The Eye." He began to speak. "Melanie Kennith is suited to be one of us. Question is, what makes her so special?"
"What makes her special?" The only woman spoke. "Other than her illusions, she is also famous for her other name: The Phoenix Judge. We all know Melanie Kennith; she's a sixteen year-old prodigy who can make real flames appear out of nowhere. Nobody can figure out how she does it. Even people like Thaddeus Bradley can't figure it out. Of course, that just makes her even more famous. They say she used to be a thief, but no one could prove anything or connect any crimes to her name."
The youngest man lazily shrugged. "The purpose of the Phoenix Judge is to humiliate people who deserve it. She does intensive research on whoever someone wants her to condemn before actually doing it. They say she has a friend who is in with the CIA and FBI, someone who can get her any credit card number, any social security number, even the email password of anyone who lives in the United States. She has a good source and apparently she's never been misdirected once."
A bald man spoke up. "She also takes up hypnotism as a hobby and uses it in her shows. I saw a show of hers once. She hypnotized several of the audience members with such finesse, she should really be given a medal. God," He shook his head in envy. "even I couldn't do it with that much grace."
"There has to be something wrong with the girl." The last male said. "No one can be that perfect."
The woman rolled her eyes. "Face it Danny; you just don't like her because you can't see any flaws in her performance and it makes you jealous."
The man, Danny, otherwise known as Daniel, rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue. The youngest man chuckled. "Nice one Henley."
"Shut up Jack."
The scruffiest man rolled his eyes. "If you guys are done behaving like children..."
"Sorry." They all muttered.
"There is one weird thing about her." The bald man piped up.
"Speak Merritt." The scruffiest man commanded.
"In all the shows I've gone to, I've never seen her with an assistant. She always calls her audience members assistants, but I've never seen her with a certified assistant. And not all of her assistants get condemned."
"Whats so weird about that?" Asked Henley.
"Some say that the last person who was her assistant burned to death. They also say that Melanie was the one who sent her to hell."
Jack whistled, low but clear. "We sure we want her?"
The scruffiest man turned away from the table to gaze out at the view. "We need her on our team. I've managed to secure us a live performance in Athens, on the Hecate Stage. But the show requires five members."
All four of the magicians gasped. Anyone in the show business profession knew how much of a career booster it was for someone to perform on the Hecate stage. As the goddess of magic, Hecate was especially essential to magicians. "How did you do that Dylan?" Daniel asked.
Dylan smiled mischievously. "All it took was a bit of convincing and...magic." The rest of the magicians shivered. Though they respected the man immensely, he still scared the shit out of all of them. "But the problem remains: we need a fifth member. I only managed to set us up if we had a fifth member. We need Melanie. And like it or not,you guys need her more than I do. So is it her? Or are we going to look for someone else?" The magicians looked at one another and nodded. "Good." He suddenly smiled. "And unlike last time, if you want to help this all move a bit faster, you can help her out. Assist her shows and help keep the cops off her trail."
Henley raised a brow. "But should we is the question."
He waved dismissively. "You are all free to do as you wish."
Mel stretched her arms as she walked into the amphitheater. Another stupid boy condemned, another broken girl consoled and another full house for the show. Everything in Melanie's life was perfect.
A glimmer from the stage caught her eye. Centered exactly where she had been during the show was a card. She frowned as she walked to the middle of the stage and picked up the card. It was a tarot card, the Star Card. Raising a brow, she turned the card over.
March 15th
5:55 PM
555 Harper Court, Tobias
Rhode Island
Don't be late.
Melanie grinned and took off to call her manager.
Five weeks later Melanie hoped out of a taxi and began to strut down Harper Court. She had to practically wrestle her manager to get the time off, but it was worth it. A half a year of vacation was just what she needed.
But if Mel's intuition was right, she suspected her vacation would be a little shorter lived than she would have liked.
After walking around for awhile, she finally arrived at her destination. To call it a shack was a bit of an understatement. The whole frame looked like it was leaning to one side, towards the sea. The wood was a fading gray and brown color. Mel rolled her eyes and walked towards it. "You'd think that they'd find a place a bit less trashy." She looked down at her watch. 5:55 exactly.
It was time.
Mel knocked on the door. When no one came to it, she tired to push it open and found that it was locked. Rolling her eyes again, she took a pin out of her and began to hack at the lock. Less than five seconds later it was open.
The interior obviously wasn't anything special. Torn sails and life buoys were thrown about randomly, some were even pinned to the walls. The furniture looked like it needed to be replaced twenty years ago and everything was covered in a small layer of dust.
It wasn't until the door mysteriously closed behind her that Mel noticed the neon arrows pointing to another room. Shrugging, Mel followed the arrows into a hallway. That hallway led to a staircase going deeper underground. After walking down for awhile, she noticed light-filled door at the end of the staircase. Rolling her eyes at how cliché it all was, she slowly descended the staircase and stepped into the brightness.