Come in close.
Closer.
Because the more you think you see,
The easier it will be to fool you.
Because, what is seeing?
You're looking,
But what you're really doing is filtering.
Interpreting.
Searching for meaning.
My job?
To take that most precious of gifts you give me,
Your attention,
And use it against you.
Chicago
Monday
A young man by the name of J. Daniel Atlas was surrounded by a crowd of people. They were all eagerly watching as he prepared to perform his next magic trick. He held out a deck of cards, looking into the eyes of an attractive young lady, "I'm going to flip through this deck, and I want you to see one card. Oh, not this one, that's too obvious."
He flipped through the cards, "That was too fast. I'll do it again. Are you ready?"
The girl nodded with a smile. Daniel slowly flipped through the cards again, "Did you see one?"
The girl responded, still looking into his eyes, "Yes."
Daniel fanned out the cards in front of her, "Now, do you see your card here?"
She looked at the deck in confusion, "No."
"That's because you're looking too closely. And what have I been telling you all night? The closer you look..."
The crowd finished his sentence in sync, "The less you see!"
Daniel threw the cards into the air, drawing the crowd's attention to the tall building behind him, where the card in the girl's mind lit up. Cheers erupted into the crowd and a hooded figure watched silently before leaving.
New Orleans
Tuesday
An older man named Merritt McKinney stood in front of a married couple, speaking to the wife, "Now, look into my eyes." He grabbed onto her as she fell forward, "And sleep. Ok."
He whispered a few commands into her ears before standing her upright and snapping his fingers. The lady awoke and Merritt held up a $20 bill, "If you can get this bill from me, you can have it."
The lady tried, but realized her hands were stuck together and she was rooted to the spot. "Well? Ok, if you can say your name, you can have it."
The lady tried to speak, but couldn't surprising her and making her laugh.
"Alright, just hang out there while I take a peek at your husband over here."
Her husband tried to object, but Merritt spoke before he could, "Now, i'm picturing, don't tell me. A beach, cocktails, Florida?"
The husband tried to make an excuse, "Look, it was a business trip."
Merritt interrupted, "Well it is a kind of business, maybe the oldest business."
The husband was starting to feel nervous, "You know what, uh, maybe we should-"
Merritt brought his attention back to him, "She can't move. You're thinking of a woman's name. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J- Jean, Jane, Janet. Who- who's Janet?"
Merritt looked towards the lady he had hypnotized, "Do you know a Janet?"
She nodded.
"She's not your best friend, is she?"
The woman spoke through her tongue.
"Your sister? Oh my god. You weren't away on business, you were away on Janet!"
The woman attempted to hit her husband with her interlocked hands and Merritt pulled the man aside, "We need to move over here because it seems like she's a little bit upset right now. You want this to go away?"
The man nodded, "Yes."
Merritt held out a hand, "Ok, pull out your wallet."
The man huffed and pulled it out, "Do you shake down everybody like this?"
"No, only the special few. What is this? $200 seem fair? You know what, this is a big deal. Let's go $250."
Merritt made his way back over to the wife, "Ok, and sleep. Now, when I snap my fingers, you won't remember any of this. And you, everytime you see or even think of Janet, you're going to picture me naked, and that's not a pretty sight. And...wide awake!"
The wife suddenly woke up with a smile.
"Well, we did the best we could, but some people just aren't to be hypnotized."
The wife seemed a bit disappointed, "Oh, I did it wrong?"
Merritt shook his head as her husband led her away, "No, you did fine."
A hooded man observed from the background before leaving.
New York
Wednesday
A young man named Jack Wilder stood on a boat, trying to get the attention of everyone on board, "Ladies and gentlemen! I am the next great magician and I will give $100 to anyone who can tell me how this trick is done."
Jack pulled out a spoon as everyone turned to look, "I have an ordinary spoon from Mel's Deli, right here in Brooklyn. Check it out."
He tapped the spoon on the railing to demonstrate. "Now everyone, please pay very close attention, because i'm about to bend this spoon with my mind."
He focused on the spoon and it slowly bent, leaving the spectators in awe. One man came forward with a smug smile and pulled a spoon from the magician's pocket and sleeve, "What's this? We've got a spoon and a stem!"
"Look, i've got other tricks."
"Or you could just give me my 100 bucks."
Jack pulled out his wallet and handed the man $100, "You have a very good eye, sir."
Jack walked down the steps to the lower deck, bumping into a hooded man on his way past. The man who had revealed his trick patted himself down, realizing that Jack had stolen his watch and wallet. He ran to the railings just as Jack exited the boat, "Stop that guy in the leather jacket! He's got my wallet!"
Jack ran off after that.
Los Angeles
Thursday
An attractive young lady by the name of Henley Reeves was making her way onto a high platform, cheers coming from the audience with every step. She stripped off her blazers, "Ok Los Angeles! Are we ready to end this thing?! When that timer hits 0, a tank full of flesh-eating piranhas will fall from above!"
Two of her assistants came up and placed chains on her ankles and wrists.
"A lady has to have handcuffs, right girls?"
A countdown began and as they hit 3, Henley's pants were ripped off to reveal shorts underneath. She was dropped into the tank of water with the task of escaping. She managed to take the chains off from her wrists, waving at the crowd once they were freed.
However, once she got to her feet, she couldn't unchain herself. The crowd started panicking and a man went to the back, picking up a pole and attempting to break the glass. Meanwhile, Henley was screaming for help as the timer continued to tick down.
The timer hit 0, and the piranhas were released into the tank. They chewed into her skin and a pool of red clouded the entire tank. The audience fell silent until a voice rang out from the center of the crowd, "Come on! This is bullshit! Whoever thought of this is a sick sadist!"
The crowd realized that it was Henley and cheered, giving her high fives and quickly forgetting about the cruel trick.
A hooded figure was in the background, soon leaving.
Orlando
Thursday
A girl, Nikole Rivera, was pacing in front of a crowd of passersby, announcing her final trick of the evening, "And now, I will need one volunteer from the audience!"
Hands raised throughout the audience. Nikole pointed towards a blonde woman in the front of the crowd, "You, please come up!"
The lady came up and smiled. Nikole put a hand on her shoulder, "Now, what's your name?"
"Alexa."
Nikole nodded, "Alright Alexa, now I want you to pick a card."
Nikole fanned out a deck for her and Alexa picked one.
"Alright, now sign the face of the card."
Alexa took out a pen and wrote her name on the card, a 3 of spades.
Nikole turned around and reached into her duffel bag, pulling out a sword, "Now don't worry, Alexa will be nowhere near this dangerous beauty!"
Nikole took the deck from Alexa and asked her to move back. Nikole shuffled the cards before placing them into the palm of her hand, with the sword in her other hand, she carefully slid the sword between the cards and her hand, "Alright, now watch carefully!"
Nikole threw up the cards and quickly swung the sword through the air, impaling one of the cards. Nikole took the card off of the sword and showed it to the crowd, revealing that it was the card with Alexa's name on it.
The crowd clapped their hands and cheered loudly.
A hooded man left the scene unnoticed.
Back with Daniel
Daniel and the girl from before stumble into his room. "I am your biggest fan."
Daniel replies sarcastically, "I can tell by the way you're attacking my face right now."
He quickly closes the door and the girl takes off her clothes and pushes him onto the couch. Daniel seems surprised, but doesn't reject the actions. The girl leans up and places a finger onto his lips, "Wait. How did you do that-"
"The 7 of diamonds on the side of the tower? That's a trade secret."
The girl pushes him back down and Daniel complies, "I'll give you a hint. It involved bribing the tower electrician."
"How much?"
"50 bucks."
"Wow. Is it always a 7?"
Daniel pushed onto his elbows, "I can do that trick about 52 different ways."
The girl smiled seductively, "Can you do 52 different tricks on me?"
Daniel smirked, "I'll see what I can do."
They were about to continue when Daniel spotted a card sticking out of his shoe. He pushed the girl off of him, "You need to leave."
The girl glared at him as he ignored her. She quickly put her clothes on and stormed out, cursing at him.
Daniel continued to ignore her and picked up the card, it was a tarot card. The Lovers. On the back, there was an eye, with information printed onto the back.
Back with Jack
Jack was standing at the shoreline with his hands in his pockets. He pulled out the stolen wallet and took out the money before throwing the wallet into the ocean. He put the money into his pocket when he felt something that wasn't there before and pulled it out. It was a tarot card. Death. On the back of the tarot card was an eye with information printed just underneath laughed slightly, curious as to what it meant.
Back with Merritt
Merritt was packing up his equipment when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was a tarot card. The Hermit. On the back of the card, there was an eye as well as information. He was confused, wondering who could have put it there without him noticing.
Back with Henley
The show room was silent, the crowd had left the room long ago, but Henley was still there. She walked back into the center of the room, near the piranha tank. She stopped abruptly when she saw something floating in the water. A tarot card. The High Priestess. A piranha bumped into the card, revealing the back. An eye with information printed beneath it.
Back with Nikole
Nikole packed everything up into her duffel bag. As she reached in to put the last thing away, she noticed a tarot card sitting right on top of her sword. Justice. Nikole picked it up and turned it over. Her eyes widened, excitement running through her. There was an eye. Beneath it was information printed in white letters...
March 29
4:44 PM
45 East Evan St
NY, NY