"Where to Doll?" asks the slimy looking cab driver, who turns to face me as I slide into the back seat. "44 east Evans St" I reply absently. I slide the coin through my fingers faster and faster as worry burrows into my stomach. The cool felling of the familiar metal against my skin is comforting but not enough to drown out my doubts. What if it's all a setup? What if I end up just getting mugged by some crazed lunatic who wants to know how my tricks are done. I sigh and pull the tarot card out of my pocket. I stare into the eye on the back and for the millionth time hope that its true that maybe the eye is real. With as many getting robbed , or it's all fake worst case scenarios ive played out in my head, my real worry, the reason it feels like something is eating from the inside out is my biggest fear; what if I'm not good enough for the eye? One less than perfect illusion and all my hopes would go down the drain and I'd be back to performing on streets and subway carriages.
The cab roughly slams on its breaks causing me to throw my hand out against the seat to catch myself. "Twenty eight" grunt the cabbie, smiling as I slide the notes towards his outstretched hand. I'm barely out of the car before he pulls away. I curse and push curls out of my eyes before I look up at the shabby apartment building before me. I grin and pull my bag tight on my shoulder. Every illusionist knows there more than just what you see.
Inside the apartment building I race up the stairs to apartment 6B. I try the handle but of course its locked, not like the eye would make it easy. Just as I'm mulling over my chances of success with a bobby pin I hear heavy footsteps on the staircase. I gasp and pull myself into the corner, drawing out some shadows to hide myself just before they reach the landing. He's tall and broad, but dressed in a suit, a little too fancy for this apartment building. When he reaches the door, I can see his profile beneath the hat. He's older than I expected and slightly familiar. I pull myself closer to the wall, confident my illusion will hold as long as I'm quiet. As I carefully control my breathing I rack my brain for where I've seen this man before. I try to think back to if I've seen him performing on the streets before, but there are too many acts to remember, and many like me move around a lot, often never in the same place twice. Just as I'm about to give up it hits me, I've seen him on tv before, back when I was a kid, he did mentalism, Mr Minley or something. I lean forward a bit, wanting to know if it really is the same man.
I manipulate a few more shadows to sneak another peak, as I do the man's eyes flicker in my direction and he smirks. I shouldn't have let my curiosity get the better of me. Look how it ended for the cat. But before the mentalist can move towards me, muffled voices draw his attention away. He turns back to the locked door one more time, probably hoping to get inside before anyone comes, but he can't open it either.
I turned my gaze away from the mentalist as the sound of footsteps reaches us. Their voices echoing up the stairwell. "I think you know exactly what I've been up to Danny. I've seen all your anonymous postings on my website"
"You have a website? That's good, good for you. Get the word out"
"Oh" gasped the red head clearly surprised to find someone already waiting.
"Oh okay so apparently none of us was the only one chosen let me be the first one to kick my ego to the curb" said the man in the hat "its locked" he spoke to hair gel as he advanced forward.
"Is it? I'll check", came the arrogant reply as he pushed through anyway.
"You, let me guess, don't tell me, ah Helen?" Merritt asked, pointing to the young woman.
"It's Henley" she smiled.
"It's on you coffee cup" interrupted Atlas, clearly not impressed.
"Thanks for keeping me honest. That wasn't mentalism, just an observation" he said turning to back towards the younger man. I smiled I was right he was the mentalist man. As he turned around his eyes flicked back to me "another observation you are beautiful" he said flashing a smile in my direction, however the other magician's remained oblivious to my presence.
"Very nice, very well polished, nice bit. I'm j Daniel atlas by the way" Mr Hair gel said, obviously not noticing my arrival. He reached forward to shake the mentalist hand, who promptly flipped him of. "Nice I just wanted to say I know who you are and I don't want you doing your ah 'mentalist' thing on us particularly since we don't know here we are or who set this up" he finished waving his hands around as if to emphasise his statement.
The mentalist raised his hand to his head squinting hard and muttered "wait, wait, wait, I'm sensing you're a control freak" I stifled my laughter behind my hand as atlas retaliated. "I'm sorry have we met before?"
"Oh come on Danny it doesn't take a mentalist to figure you're a control freak' added Henley. Not a very observant control freak I thought, considering I've been standing there watching them for the last five minutes.
"Well I take that as a compliment"
"Only he would take that as a compliment"
"Good another compliment"
"So that's why your no longer a couple" the mentalist leaned back on his heels clearly enjoying the little show. As both magician's stuttered out variations of 'no'.
"No we were never a couple, he used to saw me in half" replied Henley
"She was a very good assistant" interrupted Atlas.
"But I was too fat for Danny"
"I said that one time because of the trap door …"
"No one could fit through there" Henley exclaimed making 'this big' gestures with her hands.
"Rebecca fit" interrupted Atlas "Rebecca fit for years" he added.
Henley looked ready to push him down the stairs with frustration. "Do you know how hard it is to fit into those tiny little costumes?" her frustration seeping into her voice. "No I'm the main attraction" Atlas smirked. By this time it was a miracle I could keep my laughter under control, I had to lean against the wall to try and keep my balance I was silently laughing that hard.
"Okay so he never made you feel special and trust me you deserve to be made special" Merritt flirted, trying to cheer Henley up.
"That's a really nice story, I hope you enjoy each other's company", atlas muttered turning to leave, just as a young guy, barely in his twenties, rounded the stairwell. He wore an awed expression. "No way man, J. Daniel atlas? Dude I have seen everything you've ever done, man you are like, I…I idolise you seriously.
"A true fan" atlas perked up now that he was being admired. "So nice to meet you" he reached out to shake the new kid's hand. "I'm jack by the way"
"Question. Did you get one of these?" Merritt stepped forward, tapping his tarot card. The kid turned and searched through his pockets. "Oh yeah death" he said raising his tarot card.
"The high priestess" Henley stated lifting up hers. For a moment atlas looked impressed before smugly raising his, "the lover", to this Henley coughed "three minutes" I snorted softly. "The hermit" the mentalist muttered clearly not pleased with his card. I figured now was a good time to reveal myself. "The star" I grinned holding my tarot card in front of me as I stepped out from the shadows I'd created. Henley jumped; Danny took a step back and jacked 'whoa'ed at my sudden entrance.
"About time you entered the conversation sweetheart" Merritt smirked, clearly pleased to be the only magician to have known about my presence. "I'm sorry who, ah who are you?" Atlas questioned as he stepped forward, obviously trying to regain 'control' of the conversation. He looked me up and down quickly, before finally meeting my eyes. "I'm Tessa" I stated smiling widely "but sweetheart works too" I add winking at Merritt, glad he didn't give me away. Henley returns my smile, obviously pleased that there will be another girl around, jack still seems shocked and Atlas looks irritable. Guess someone doesn't like surprises.
"What do you do?" Atlas asked snidely, "jump out of shadows and mug people?" Wow someone really hates not having the upper hand. I push some loose curls behind my ear; I hadn't expected such a rude reception. "Illusions" I replied curtly, shifting my attention back to the locked door.
"Illusions really? Do all your illusions involve hiding and spying on people?" Alas grilled, clearly annoyed that I'd fooled him.
"I figured it was best to figure out what I was getting into first, instead of just walking in blind". I retorted.
"What are we… umm are we waiting for someone?" Jack cut in changing the subject. He gestured around, seeming confused as to why we were all standing around in the hallway arguing. "The doors locked" the rest of us answer in unison.
"No, nah nothings ever locked" smirked jack as he strode towards the locked door of 6A. He bent down to the lock and pulling out something sliver, it flashed for a second in the dull light before disappearing into the keyhole. A firm click sounded as the door swung open and we all leaned closer to try and see into the dark hallway.
What is this place?" Henley stepped around jack, shinning her flashlight around the dark apartment.
"Ergh I thought my place was gross" Merritt said disgusted as he peered into the filthy, grime covered bathroom.
"Man it's freezing in here" puffed jack, his breath visible as we slowly made down the hallway into what I think was meant to be a living room. It was dark the blinds drawn and it was completely empty apart from the items on the floor, a single white rose and a card, placed in front of some geometric symbol etched into the floor. "What is that?" Henley's voice drew my attention from the etching, as atlas bent down to pick up the card. "I don't know"
"What does it say?" Merritt called from the corner.
"Now you don't" said Atlas in a distracted tone. Henley strode forward to inspect the rose. "A rose by any other name" she recited as she dropped in into a vase of water. Suddenly water was running across the floorboards, the rose must have been a trigger.
"Ohhhh" Atlas laughed as the water began to fill the etched out symbol. "Guys what's happening jack said worriedly, quickly stepping back as smoke suddenly filled the floor. "Whoa is that gas?"
"Relax its just dry ice" Merritt reassured, edging closer to get a better look.
"What do you think is going on" Atlas looked around at each of us. I shrugged and bent down to run my fingers through the smoke. I liked dry ice. It complimented illusions nicely.
"Hold on" Merritt spoke as he resumed his, 'mentalist pose' as I referred to it. Atlas actually looked hopeful for a second. "Nope I've got nothing" he ended. "Great, thank you for the delay" Atlas retorted snidely.
"Danny be honest did you do this" Henley called from the other side of the room.
"No. Did you? Is this one of your 'illusions'?" he rounded on me, sarcasm filling his voice on the last word. I stood up shaking my head, I'd never made an illusion like this, and anyway this was real, well with real objects. "Did you?" I turned to jack, who shook his head, "I wish" he stated looking around at the trick.
"How come nobody asked me if I did it?" Merritt spun around offended. Henley and I both raised our eyebrows at each other as the guys suddenly became really interested in the walls. "Oh. Great"
"Electricity's out" Jack flicked the switched, changing the subject. "Well let's check said merit, still miffed. He reached up to pull the light switch Four cameras suddenly switched to life and blue holograms filled the apartment.
"Blue prints" gasped Henley as we all stood transfixed by the swirling mass of holograms. "They're incredible", amazement filling atlas's voice. "I've never seen anything like this" I gasped reaching out to them, illusions and holograms sometimes went hand in hand, but I'd never seen ones like these. "Who do you think did this?" drawled jack. "I don't know but I'd really like to meet them" she replied enthralled by the spinning blueprints. I leant forward focusing on one of the holograms, it looks like plans… "It's a show" I gasped.
