Chapter 1: The Mission
"What the hell, Danny?" Henley snaps tiredly. Flinging a pillow at him would help satisfy her annoyance at the present moment in time, but she is far too exhausted from her last solo performance for a while, which took place the night before. The morning sun had only begun to rise in the window of her small studio apartment when Daniel Atlas ripped the sheets off of her, leaving her to the bitter chill of the early March air.
"Well, you wouldn't answer your phone and I had to get you up somehow, I figured this was the only way." He replies steadily in his quick paced voice as he flicks the light to Henley's small bedroom on. She blinks the sleep from her eyes and reluctantly gets out of bed, quickly covering her small, thin, silk sleep gown with a ruby-red silk robe. "Woah," Danny looks away quickly, making things awkward once more between the two. He seemed to be really good at that. "I haven't seen that much of you, well, I haven't seen any of this place since that one night."
"What night?" Jack asks as he strides happily into the room.
Henley roll her eyes and huffed, "I should've known you would be the accomplice to help break into my home. And that night doesn't concern you, Jack."
"Incorrect!" another voice calls from the living room/kitchen area beyond the bedroom door. Moments later, Merritt struts in, holding a half-eaten apple with a smirk on his face. "You looked like the kind of gal who liked having a backup plan. Being an escape artist, that's a pretty good thing to have. But come on, a spare key on the door frame? Isn't that a bit too cliché? And to your question Jack, about their special night in the love sack, I'm guessing Miss Reeves and Mr. Atlas here had a bit too much to drink after a flawless J. Daniel Atlas magic show, got a little friendly, then after their 3 minutes in heaven, things became a little awkward, a bit testy, arguments flared up between the two love birds, and then bang, Henley took on a solo act." Jack listened intently then chuckled lightly before Danny and Hanley shoot a glare at him. "But, I mean, I've only personally known these two for a few days so who knows what kind of juicy details I'm leaving out." Merritt smirks towards Henley. Danny and Jack are silent.
"Whatever, why are you all barging into my apartment at 6:30 in the morning?" Henley ask in an attempt to change the topic.
"The Eye people left another note at each of our doorsteps." Danny fills her in and tosses her the card matching the first one she got, but now reading 'The Mission'.
"Along with 4 first class tickets to Paris." Jack reveals excitedly.
"Why Paris?" Henley ask again, now through the closet door while she quickly gets dressed. She steps back into her bedroom to see Jack laying on her bed with his eyes closed, smiling. Henley finds herself chuckling and then smacks him playfully with a pillow.
"Who knows, but the plane leaves in an hour so I'd suggest you get to packing, Missy." Merritt tells her as the three boys walk out of the room. Henley's mind wonders as she packs up her single suitcase. This sure has been one hell of a week. Four solo acts got thrown into a group, now called 'The Four Horsemen', construction of a 'transportation' device has begun for the first act of a master plan, done by their faceless and bodiless leader called "The Eye", a millionaire and debunker have been said to be the victims of the magical crimes, and now Paris? Just last week Henley was happily engaged in her career, doing shows every night, basking in the glory of sharing magic with the world, and she had even completely forgotten about what happened with Daniel. Does "The Eye" know about their history? Is "The Eye" even real? How can she be told, by someone or something that may not even be legit, to have faith in something so insane that the four might end up in jail? Can they even pull this off?
As if reading her mind, Daniel speaks up while grabbing her suitcase after she is finishes packing and gives it to Merritt to take down to the cab waiting to take the four to the airport. "This is bigger than all of us, Henley." Daniel admits slowly, sitting down on the couch by Jack. "I know you and I know you will start drowning in your endless questions when you have no answers. You just need to have faith."
"Yeah, faith in something that could get us all locked up if something goes wrong." Henley mutter back as the remaining three Horsemen head down to the cab waiting to take them to begin their journey.