Hello and welcome to the sequel to Tower Falling! If you've seen Now You See Me 2, you should get the title (unless I'm too obscure; I couldn't think of another title, so we're going with this). It should also be safe to read this prologue, even if you haven't seen the movie. A couple of things get spoiled, but nothing major at all - I promise. So, I hope you guys enjoy this! I doubt I'll be updating this before the movie is released on DVD, as I'm gonna jump right into the movie after the prologue. Hopefully this will tide you guys over until then? I thought we could all do with some fluffiness.

Prologue

"Danny, you realize that you drive me absolutely bat shit crazy, right?"

Daniel Atlas looked up from his book, one eyebrow raised. He was sitting cross-legged on the couch with one elbow propped up on the armrest. "Um, yes. You've told me that several times before, Andie."

I moved from where I'd been leaning against the door frame and walked over to him. He patted the empty space on the sofa beside him and I sat down, immediately drawing my legs up beside me. Danny lifted his arm. Grinning, I ducked under it and laid my head on his shoulder. His arm casually draped itself around me moments later.

I was quiet for a minute, just watching his face as his blue eyes scanned the words on the pages in front of them. But I can only be quiet for so long. "Why do you insist on leaving your dirty dishes in the sink?"

He smirked without looking away from the page. "Because I know how much it bothers you."

"You're a menace."

He laughed and ran a hand through my hair, kissing the top of my head right after. "I know."

Danny's phone went off at the same time as mine did. The group chat. Of course. God only knows how much I despise the damn thing.

Danny laid his book in his lap and grabbed his phone, holding it so I could see it too. Jack had texted: When are we going to finally do something? Merritt sucks at throwing cards and I'm getting tired of teaching him.

I stifled a laugh; Danny merely smiled. "What do we say back?" I asked, reaching to grab my own phone from the coffee table.

Before I could touch it, they both went off again. Dylan.

Be patient. The Eye has a plan.

Danny stood up so quickly the book flew off his lap and I smacked my head on the armrest. "Shit - ow," I said, propping myself up on my elbow. I rubbed the side of my head with my free hand. "Danny?"

He wasn't looking at me; all I got was his profile. His hands were clenched around his phone as he furiously typed out a message. My phone buzzed seconds later. Why do you keep saying that? Why the hell can't the Eye just tell us what to do already? It's been a year!

Be patient. The Eye has a plan. The same thing Dylan always responded with.

Danny made a noise of frustration and dropped his phone on the rug, running a hand through his hair. "Goddammit," he said, his voice snappy. "Why can't he just give us a straight answer for once? I'm so tired of all this bullshit!"

I set my phone aside and got off the couch, crossing over to where he stood with his shoulders tensed like he was prepping for an attack. "Danny," I said sternly. He hummed. "I told you to stop worrying about this."

"Andie - "

"The Eye will give us a mission when the time is right for it." I wrapped my arms around his torso from behind and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. Slowly, I felt his tense muscles relax against me. "I bet they're saving up something really great for us."

Danny ran a finger back and forth across one of my hands. "This just isn't what I imagined it'd be," he said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "I thought joining the Eye would mean constantly performing magic in front of huge crowds and stopping criminals from exploiting other people. But we haven't done anything other than hide out and pretend like we really disappeared after our final performance in New York last year."

I leaned my forehead between his shoulder blades and hugged him tightly. "I know it's frustrating, Danny, but you shouldn't get so worked up about it. Things'll be okay."

"Things haven't been okay, though," he said bitterly. "Henley gave up on waiting and left. Merritt and Jack are so bored that Merritt's trying to teach Jack how to hypnotize people and Jack's trying to teach Merritt to throw cards." He heaved a heavy sigh and put his face in his hands. "And you're just waiting for the right moment to leave me because I'm such a shitty boyfriend. The Horsemen are falling apart. We're falling apart."

"Hey." I stepped back and gripped his shoulder, whipping him around to face me. "We're not falling apart." He rolled his eyes and I reached up to grab his chin with one hand. My eyes narrowed. "Hey. We're fine. You and me." I took one of his hands in my free one and smiled. "We're fine. Okay?"

He leaned toward me and rested his forehead against mine. He closed his eyes. "We're fine?"

"Of course."

He sighed. His breath was minty when it hit my face. "We're fine."

I tilted my face up and pressed a quick kiss to the tip of his nose. "You're not a shitty boyfriend. Don't say that to me again."

Danny squeezed my hand and stepped back. "I leave dishes in the sink all the time. And you told me I drive you bat shit crazy."

I laughed. "But that's just you. You've been driving me crazy since the moment I met you." He grinned and nodded a little. "And just because you leave dishes in the sink doesn't mean I like you any less. There are worse things you could do."

He set his hands on my waist with a small smile. "Like what?"

I tilted my head to the side with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "Break my heart?"

I didn't really expect a kiss so suddenly, but it happened anyway - not that I minded. He had moved close enough to me that our bodies were pressed together and his hands were on the small of my back. I ran my fingers over the short strands of hair at the back of his head. He'd shaved his hair pretty short after Merritt accidentally got a huge wad of gum stuck in pretty boy's fabulous hair. He couldn't do with one short chunk of hair, so I guess the best option in his eyes was to just get rid of it all.

Honestly, he was cute either way.

Danny pulled away from me not long after he started kissing me. He was smiling, but I could see the seriousness in his eyes. "You know I would never do that." I grinned and punched his shoulder. He winced and rubbed where I'd hit him. "What the hell, Andie?"

"That better be true," I said sternly, trying to mask my smile. "I'd kick your ass if you hurt me, you know."

Danny scratched the back of his neck. "I feel like you'll hurt me before I ever hurt you. You're so violent. And kinda scary."

I winked. "You know you like it."

He gave an exaggerated eye roll. "Yeah, I guess." I punched his shoulder again, a little harder than before. "Ow. See what I mean?"

Both of us were laughing by that point, enough that we ended up falling back onto the couch. Danny pulled me into his arms and held me against his chest. It didn't take me as long as I had thought it would to get used to sweet, overly affectionate Danny. I actually kind of loved it. I wasn't quite as caustic as I was when I first became a Horseman, but I could put him in his place if I really wanted to. I was content to just relax for long hours beside him, though. Fighting with him wasn't a common trend anymore.

"What're you thinking about?"

I blinked, my mind blank for a moment. I tilted my face back to look up at him. "I don't want you to worry anymore about when we're going to get a mission from the Eye. Okay? Pretending we disappeared isn't horrible; we can do it for a little while longer." Danny sighed and nodded. "Promise me, Danny. You're not going to stress about this anymore."

He maintained eye contact with me when he spoke. "I'm not going to stress about it anymore. Happy?"

I just nodded and pretended like I hadn't felt his fingers cross against my back.