First of all, thank you SO much everybody who reviewed and followed and favorited this! I think this is the best reaction I've ever had to something I've written EVER so I"ll try not to disappoint! To answer some of the questions I've received over this story: YES, there will be romance. The WHO, has yet to be decided. And thanks so much to the guest hailing me for no Mary Sues. I LOVE YOU TOO, RANDOM CITIZEN. You guys are seriously the coolest. So, I guess this means that the story will continue!
She hadn't meant to fall asleep at the restaurant table, but the next thing she knew, she was being carried towards the silver car that always seemed to be parked wherever they needed it. S'just like magic…,She thought to herself as her eyelids grew heavy once more and she snuggled in closer to whoever was carrying her.
Ugh, Harper mentally groaned as the sun's heated rays pulled her into wakefulness from where she had burrowed into a snug cocoon of blankets. Why do you shine so damn bright in the morning?! However, her morning mentality did a complete turnaround when she smelled the seductive aroma of breakfast foods emitting from the hotel's mini kitchen. Still too tired to bother with opening her eyes, she literally rolled out of the bed and onto the floor with a louder thud than she had expected. Running footsteps drummed on the stairs to her room and the door slammed open to reveal a slightly disheveled Jack Wilder who looked about ready to kick ass. Which scared the hell out of her. She'd seen the boy fight, and knew enough that you didn't mess with someone who could kill you with a pack of cards.
"Harper! Are you okay?" The normally chill sleight questioned as his eyes roved around the room, all the while firing questions faster than she could answer. "What was that noise? Was someone in here? What happened?"
Majorly confused as to why he was so riled (normally Daniel's the paranoid one) she rubbed her eyes and grumbled, "There's no one here Jack, good God are you trying to scare me to death." She tried to glare at him from under her bangs but judging from the lopsided grin on his face it wasn't nearly as intimidating as usual. Giving up on that tactic, she chucked a pillow at him, missing fantastically. Grinning even wider, Jack cocked an eyebrow as if to say "Really?" before scooting out of the door when she threatened him with an imaginative array of bodily harm. He poked his head through the door before she could slam it. "Don't blame me when Merritt eats all the bacon!"
"I'll kick his ass if he does, you tell him that!"
Harper huffed when he finally left. Shrugging out of the clothes she had worn the previous night and running her fingers through her thick head of hair, she tugged on leggings and her trademark oversized sweater before exiting the room. Fortunately for her, the bacon was still there. Snatching a plate from the counter, Harper proceeded to load it with toast, bacon, and fruit. She made her way through the lounging area and plopped down beside a still yawning Henley. "G'morning sunshine." She smirked at Henley who managed to scowl with one eye still closed. "Had a late night, did we?" Henley poked her with a toe from her end of the couch. "None of your business. God, how do you eat so much in the morning?" Harper looked up, cheeks bulging with toast. "Mmhrrmm mm hurrrm." Henley rolled her eyes. "Chew and swallow, please."
Harper obliged before grinning at Jack who was reclined in a chair, practicing card tricks. "Because I don't have to fit into those itty bitty bathing suits." Jack chuckled at that, as Henley rolled her eyes again saying, "Whatever. I'm gonna go for coffee."
Harper perked up at that. "Get me a caramel frappe, would ya?"
Jack called after her, "And a cinnamon cappuccino!"
"MAKE MINE A DOUBLE ESPRESSO!" Merritt shouted from upstairs.
Rubbing her forehead, Henley rose from the sofa and muttered something that sounded like, "Get your own damn coffee.." before trudging up the stairs to change.
Merritt took her place just as Harper had gotten up to put her plate in the sink. He swung his feet up, pretty as you please, ignoring her grumbling and buried his nose in a beaten up paperback. She offered a good morning to Daniel as she passed him, but he continued to stare broodingly out the huge glass windows that lined the hotel pad, just...being Daniel. "Well, fuck you too," she muttered, dumping her dishes when she heard the door being slammed open and a voice shout, "Police! Put up your hands!"
She sighed. Of course. And it had looked like such a great morning.
Fifty one…..fifty two….fifty three…..fifty four tiles on the ceiling of the interrogation room that she had been shoved in. She sighed and rested her forehead on the cool metal of the desk in front of her. Just hurry it up already, she thought. As if controlled by her thoughts, the door opened, and in stepped a scruffy albeit attractive, FBI officer and a harried looking woman who shot him a dirty look when he slapped Harper's paperwork on the table like a toddler with a tantrum. He must really not want to be here. Well, that makes two of us buddy. She smirked up at the man who seated himself across from her and began to drum his fingers on the table.
Jesus , Rhodes thought when the girl looked up from where she was shackled to the table top. She can't be more than 18. He began by seeing how she dealt with pressure, tapping on the desk and maintaining eye contact. To his surprise, the kid was able to look right back, even smirking in defiance the longer he glared. "What's your part in this circus act?" His question was met with silence. "Okay, let's start with something easy. How old are you?" More silence.
To his right, Alma was taking note of the girl's appearance. Hazel eyes peered out from under messy dark bangs, hair pulled back into a short tuft of a ponytail. Freckles dusted her tanned skin, giving her a slightly exotic appearance and though the young woman was sitting down, Alma could tell that she wasn't very tall. She supposed she should intervene. Rhodes was becoming increasingly frustrated and she worried that he would start punching one of these magicians if they didn't give him something.
"You were in an orphanage?" The girl's eyes darkened at that but she kept her silence. "You were nine." Alma kept reading from her file, hoping for a reaction. "It says here that you ran away more than once. Even got as far as Virginia before authorities found you in an abandoned theatre, hmm….interesting hiding place." She shot a glance at Rhodes but the gruff man kept up his bad cop persona and was back to having a staring contest with their suspect. "It says that your parents were ki-"
She was cut off when the girl stood up abruptly, knocking her chair to the floor. Her words were uttered from between clenched teeth. "I don't need you to read my life to me." She remained standing as Alma retrieved the paper and replaced it in the file.
"Fine." Alma said "I won't read your life to you, if you will explain to me how your friends succeeded in robbing a heavily guard parisian bank while in Nevada." The girls eyes darted from her to Rhodes before sighing and picking up her chair. Re-seated, she leaned forward and in a rushed voice said, "Fine, I'll tell you how they did it. But you gotta promise me that they'll never know it was me who told you!" Rhodes quirked an eyebrow at her sudden cooperation but nodded. "Agreed. Now, how'd they do it?"
The young woman leaned in even closer, her face serious and whispered, "They did it with….magic.
Now it was Rhodes' turn to knock his chair over. He grabbed her wrist and was about to demand that she take this seriously when suddenly the room rippled, and the floor shifted so that he fell back on the floor in astonishment. Alma stood, a hand on her concealed weapon, eyes trained on the girl, waiting for any sudden movements.
Outside the interrogation room. "What the HELL was that?!" Rhodes asked, outraged at being knocked on his ass by a girl half his size.
Alma looked at him, amused at his expense and stated, "I think they called it magic Mr. Rhodes." He scowled at her before opening the door to the next suspect. Hardy har har.
