Hey y'all! Happy early Fourth of July! Let's jump into this chapter fast before I wriggle out and procrastinate again!
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*Friday, February 28, New Orleans, Louisiana*
"Everybody got their escape routes ready?" Daniel hissed. The other four Horsemen nodded. "Good. I want everybody at that rendezvous spot at midnight, on the dot. Any later and we're leaving you behind, got it?" The illusionist pointedly glared at the most punctually-challenged member of the group.
"Alright, I've been tardy on a few occasions, sue me!" Ember defended.
"A few occasions?! You couldn't be on time if your life depended on it!"
"Well, in this case, my life actually does depend on it!" the Irish girl retorted. "And if you're so worried about being late, why are we still standing here?!"
Daniel opened his mouth to ague, but he realized that Ember was actually right. He pulled his employee tracking device out of his pocket, deactivated the bugs on Jack and Ember's costumes, and handed it off to Jack.
"Meeting point. 12:02. Go."
At that time, another set of fast footsteps could be heard from around the corner. The magicians took off right as Interpol agent Alma Dray ran around the back of the Savoy. Clearly this woman had a lot more brains than her partner. The Horsemen quickened their pace as they dashed down their pre-planned route through the labyrinthine New Orleans streets. After a block or so, Jack broke off from the others, grabbed a duffel bag hidden on the underside of a nearby stairwell, and ducked into the darkest corner of the alley to change. Ember slowed down and glanced back in the pickpocket's direction to make sure he didn't accidentally stumble onto a drug addict or Mardi Gras predator.
"Come on, blondie, we got a job to do," Merritt teased. "You and Jack will have plenty of time to strip dance for each other later."
Ember glared at the balding hypnotist and it took all her self-control not to clobber him. After a year, Ember knew Merritt well enough to know that he wasn't purposefully making a jab at her...previous employment. Still, it stung.
"Oh sod off!" the Irish girl grumbled before running harder to catch up with Daniel and Henley...and to distance herself from the ever-enticing image of Jack's shirtless body.
Meanwhile, Jack managed to slip into a generic police officer's uniform and toss the duffel bag into the nearest dumpster without any drunk tourists noticing. He lowered his hat and turned his back to the sidewalk as Alma sprinted right past him in pursuit of his friends. However, right before Alma did turn the corner, Daniel passed Agent Rhodes' cell phone off to Henley, who split from the group and ran off down a path that would lead right back to the FBI mobile command center parked in front of the Savoy.
Despite the chaotic Mardi Gras scenery and the unexpected French tag-along, the Horsemen's plan was quite simple. Daniel and Merritt were going to follow the most elaborate and roundabout route to the meeting point (just in case someone tried to follow them from the theater). Jack would use Daniel's tracker to lead Dylan, and inevitably Dylan's underlings, right into the busiest street in the city before dropping the tracker right into Dylan's pocket. However, in order to make the suits fall for the trick, they had to believe that they were practically on top of the Horsemen...which was where Ember came in (because apparently being the youngest and the least hindered by her costume meant she was the fastest). Therefore, while Ember led the feds on that wild goose chase, Henley would use the codes in Dylan's phone to access the van, steal a few files, and then take a shortcut to the rendezvous spot. The whole thing was foolproof!
"Stop! Federal agent!" a woman's voice trilled over the sound of the drunk tourists.
"Cac!" Ember cursed under her breath. She hadn't been expecting someone to find her so soon. The distraction dash would only work if whoever had the tracker was following her. Suddenly, a familiar presence brushed up next to the Irish girl. Ember glanced sideways just long enough to see Jack wink at her before he disappeared back into the crowd. Ember looked behind her, saw Dylan hop off a police car to join Alma in chasing her, and took that as her cue to turn left off Bourbon Street.
"She's heading south on Exchange Place!" Dylan yelled into his radio.
Ember stared at the high wall that blocked her path and, without so much as a stall in her steps, channeled every remaining gram of energy to jump the wall.
"STOP!" Alma screamed as she whipped out her gun and aimed it at Ember's chest.
The fire dancer froze in place on top of the wall and held her hands up at her sides, her heart racing from fear and adrenaline. Alma's finger trembled on the trigger, but all of a sudden it was like Ember transformed right in front of Alma's eyes. The low lighting in the alley added a golden hue to Ember's platinum blonde pigtails and made her blue eyes look green.
"Mirabelle?" Alma murmured, her hands wavering around the gun.
Ember's brow furrowed in confusion, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She hopped off the wall and ducked out of sight...right as Alma's irritable American partner caught up.
"What are you doing?!" Dylan demanded, but he didn't give the French woman a chance to answer before he clawed his way over the wall and kept running toward the dead end Napoleon House, failing to notice the blonde fugitive hiding behind a dumpster.
Ember crouched to the ground and pulled down on the side of her boot to check the watch she had fastened around her ankle. 23:58. Just enough time for her to make it to the meeting point before Daniel could chew her out.
The same couldn't be said for Jack, though. Dropping the device into Dylan's suit was child's play for a pickpocket as skilled as Jack. Unfortunately, Bourbon Street was so crowded that Jack could barely make out the road signs that would lead to the rendezvous destination. On top of that, because he was dressed like an NOPD officer, he had to keep ducking away every time a real policeman ran by in the opposite direction.
"12:02:59," Daniel stated petulantly as Jack basically dove into the trunk of the SUV they had rented with cash and a false name. "Looks like Ember hasn't completely corrupted your punctuality."
"Jarvis Daniel Atlas, are you insinuating that I am a bad influence?" Ember questioned, her face the definition of appalled. "I am offended, scandalized even!"
"Cut the drama queen act, Lady Shakespeare!" Daniel retorted as he hit the gas.
"After all," Ember continued, choosing to ignore the fact that Daniel compared her to an Englishman, "you and Henley worked as partners for a long time before this year and she's never turned into a jacka-"
"Um, a-as interesting as this is, can someone please hand me my clothes?" Jack interrupted from the trunk. "This cop outfit is making me feel all...ugh!"
Ember couldn't hold back one last smirk as she grabbed a hoodie and pair of jeans from her satchel and passed them over the headrest. After a minute or two, the dark-haired man climbed over into the driver's side of the backseat, accidentally kicking Merritt's hat off his head in the process.
"Hey!" Merritt whined. "Is this what it's gonna be like for the next five hours?"
"Five?" Jack repeated. "I-Isn't it nineteen hours to drive from New Orleans to New York?"
"I sure hope not," Ember replied. "Nineteen hours in the middle seat next to Merritt constitutes the unofficial tenth circle of hell."
"Yeah, well, quality time with you ain't much of a pot of gold either, Jinxy Charms," Merritt drawled.
Henley chuckled. "You actually think we're driving all the way back to the city?"
"We aren't?" Jack and Ember asked in simultaneous confusion.
Daniel sighed in exasperation. "Maybe if you bothered to show up backstage more than thirty seconds before pre-show prep, we would actually tell you these things."
"Maybe if you didn't treat us like babies, we would already know these things!" Ember snapped back.
"Well I'll take the time to fill you in now," Henley cut in. "It sure beats Danny's crappy taste in music."
"It's not crappy!" Daniel insisted. "It just takes a keen, educated ear to appreciate it...not that I would expect any of you to have that!"
"Dude, you're playing Justin Bieber," Merritt pointed out. "The only people who can appreciate that junk are you and squealing tweens."
"He is an artist!"
"Whose voice has yet to hit puberty," Ember shot down.
"Am I the only one in this group with an attention span of more than two minutes?!" Henley cried out.
The car fell silent...other than JB's oohing in the background.
"We're driving to Birmingham and then flying to New York in a private jet," Henley explained. "Merritt hypnotized one of Art's assistants to book the plane off the record and then completely forget about it."
"Don't forgot the part where I had the assistant pay extra so the pilots don't ask questions," the balding magician added, never one to let his accomplishments go unspoken.
"Too bad you can't do the same with that Interpol agent," Daniel muttered. "I thought we'd have some time to prepare before our final show, but considering her above-average understanding of magic, I think we'll have to move up the time table."
"By how much?" Ember inquired, chewing on her lip anxiously.
"Twenty four hours," Daniel stated before directing his gaze to the rear view mirror. "I hope you're ready, Jack."
The pickpocket sucked in a sharp breath. Ember laid her hand over his and squeezed. All five Horsemen knew how dangerous Jack's upcoming job was, but losing a day of planning and practice made it infinitely more so.
Henley turned around in her seat and patted Ember on the knee. "Try to get some rest, you two. We'll need you both at the top of your game if we want to succeed tomorrow."
"Don't you mean 'survive'?" Ember thought tensely, but this was one time she kept her snarky comments to herself. Instead, the blonde simply nodded and twisted her body so she could rest her head on Jack's shoulder, an action he immediately welcomed by draping his arm over Ember's shoulders.
Merritt lowered his hat over his eyes and leaned up against the opposite door, mumbling something under his breath that sounded like "cuddling" and "'just friends', huh?"
Despite the sense of dread settling in Ember's stomach, Henley's words of wisdom and Jack's comforting embrace - not to mention how exhausting the past few days had been - acted like an anesthetic and the Irish girl found herself dozing off within seconds of closing her eyes. However, that did not mean Ember's sleep was restful.
*Saturday, March 1, Birmingham, Alabama*
All she could see were flames, hungry and ruthless, ready to consume any and all forms of life that dared come near. Suddenly, a cloaked figure walked out from the fire, completely unscathed, with a glowing Eye of Horus emblazoned on his chest. Ember tried to see whose face was behind the hood, but the stranger vanished immediately, leaving Ember drowning in a swirling vortex of balloons, money, and exploding playing cards.
"Ember!" a voice echoed in the distance. "Ember!"
"EMBER!" Daniel snapped, jarring the fire dancer awake. "Great, we just lost another two minutes of valuable time. Everybody gear up and get on the plane, NOW!"
Daniel, Jack, and Merritt climbed out of the car and quickly unloaded their luggage and equipment. Henley got out, too, but she turned back around and leaned in the open door of the backseat when she saw Ember wasn't moving.
"Hey, you okay?" Henley murmured.
"Y-Yeah," Ember replied as she tried to slow her breathing. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Henley studied her with those brown eyes. "Don't lie to me, Em."
"I'm not!" the blonde insisted before climbing toward the door on the other side, but Henley grabbed hold of her wrist before she could make it.
"Oh my- Em, you're shaking! What happened while you were asleep?"
"Nothing!" Ember insisted as she yanked her hand out of Henley's grip. "I said I'm fine!"
However, the redhead refused to back down. "It was about Jack, wasn't it?"
Ember struggled to gather her thoughts. "Maybe, I-I don't know!"
"It's okay for you to feel scared, Ember. Hell, you'd have to be insane to not feel scared in a situation like this!" Henley joked, but Ember made no effort to smile or even chuckle, so Henley switched tactics. The escape artist crawled into the backseat and took Ember's hands in her own. "Em, you and Jack have a very special bond, one that Danny and I never had. You two truly love and care for one another, which is why it hurts you so much to know that he's about to put his life at risk for something so...invisible."
"I'm not just scared, Henley," Ember whispered. "I'm terrified! What happens if something goes wrong?! What if the explosive malfunctions or what if Jack can't handle the chase or what if-"
"Or what if the whole world just blows up tomorrow and kills us all?" Henley teased.
"Exactly!"
"I was joking!"
"Oh..."
Henley sighed. "Look, you can either sit here and think of every possible mistake that could happen today...or you can get your head in the game and make sure those mistakes don't happen."
"HENLEY!" Daniel squawked from the steps up to the jet.
"SHUT UP! WE'LL BE RIGHT THERE! ONE MORE MINUTE'S NOT GONNA KILL US!" Henley hollered back. Even without looking, Ember could almost see the smoke spewing from Daniel's ears, which brought a small grin to her face right as Henley turned back around. "Personally, as much as I love getting on Danny's nerves, I'd go for the second option."
Ember pressed her lips into a thin line, but she realized that the redhead was right (as usual). Ember took a deep breath, grabbed her bag from her feet, and looked Henley right in the eyes. "Let's finish this!"
"Woohoo!" the escape artist cheered as she pulled Ember out of the car for a hug. "That's my girl!"
"Henley...thank you," Ember murmured over Henley's shoulder.
"For what?"
"For being the sister I always wanted."
At that, Henley wrapped her arms even tighter around the Irish girl. "I could say the same for you."
"HEY! CUT THE SENTIMENTAL CRAP! THIS PLANE IS TAKING OFF WITH OR WITHOUT YOU!" Daniel shouted.
The two girls glared in the direction of the plane.
"WE'RE COMING!" Henley called out.
"DON'T GET YOUR KNICKERS IN A TWIST!" Ember added for good measure.
Daniel rolled his eyes and walked inside the plane, leaving the girls to share a giggle before pulling apart from their hug.
Henley locked her brown eyes on Ember's navy ones. "You ready?"
Ember once again donned that mischievous smirk. "Let's go show the Eye what we're made of."
*{0}*
Huh...that didn't actually take as much strategizing as I thought it would. But I will say this: for a scene that only takes about two minutes in the movie, explaining of the logistics behind it is NOT EASY! Strangely enough, though, tweaking it to include Ember made it less difficult than it would have been otherwise. Also, that Henley/Ember bonding at the end was originally going to be a Jember moment, but I thought I'd throw another kind of fluff your way just to change it up a little.
So, who is Mirabelle? What's Ember's role in the New York finale? Will Henley and Daniel drop the feud and finally hook up again? All these vital questions will be answered (as long as I get some reviews) on the next installment of Through the Sun's Flames!