THE LESS YOU'LL SEE

NOTES: I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:

1) This is primarily a Lover's Death story.

2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me no copyright infringement intended. I really am just a hopeless fan girl refreshing my feed for more stories about Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess (daily, twice a day, might I add).

3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.

4) Should anyone be willing to beta read the magic technicalities in future chapters, then raise your hand so we can talk. And can more of you please share awesome Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess stories? We would all love that.

November 2006: Thank You For The Magic

"Jack!"

He turned to face the high-pitched and excited voice that called out to him from across the hall, and he felt the corner of his lips turn upward into a smile. "What's up, mon cherie?"

Alma Dray ran to him, her light blonde hair catching the warm rays of the afternoon sunshine. She really was beautiful, and more than once did he almost convince himself in the two short months that he had known her that he (and the rest of the male population in school) was probably in love with her. He always wondered why a gorgeous woman like her was still single and – apparently – showed no interest in mingling, not in the slightest.

"There's someone I want you to meet," she said with a mischievous smile on her face, and only then did he notice that she had someone in tow. Jack looked over at the other girl curiously, and the first thing he noticed was how red she was in the face. "This is Lula May. Lula, this is Jack Wilder." Her eyebrows were practically wagging as she looked at her friend's reaction.

"Hey, Lula," Jack said warmly, extending a hand for her to shake. "It's good to meet you."

"Oh, uh, yes, Jack, hi!" Lula stuttered out, taking his hand and squeezing it a bit too tightly. "Don't mind her, I just… I just saw you work magic with your hands the other day at the talent show and I thought it would be nice to meet you to see you do it firsthand."

Alma ribbed her hard and Jack coughed out a laugh as she realized the implications of her words. "I mean, magic with your hands, with the cards, of course, not… oh, Jesus. I'm sorry. It's just really nice to meet you, Jack."

Jack eyed the lower classman carefully. She was very pretty, with shoulder-length brown hair and bright blue eyes that almost matched the shade of Danny's, and he wondered again how he was… No, Jack, you aren't going there, he berates himself before turning his full attention back to her. He was no mentalist, certainly nowhere near the dust at Merritt's feet, but he knew enough about girls to know that this one was quite taken with him.

He wished he could like her as much as she seemed to like him: it seemed that on top of it all, she was also into magic as much as he was. After all, where else would he find someone like that in this world?

"Daniel."

Sometimes, Daniel would lose himself in his thoughts. It's why he was so much into magic: it was like a tranquilizer to him, something that brought him back down to reality in a non-painful way. This time was one such instance, while with his parents for their customary Thanksgiving dinner together.

"Daniel," a sharp voice cut him from his reverie.

"Mmm," Daniel acknowledged, looking up from his plate into the stern eyes of his father.

"It's your turn to tell us what you're thankful for this year, son."

"And don't say family, Danny, because you know that's a given!" his mother chirped, but her eyes were full of concern as she looked at him. One corner of his mouth twitched upward into a smile, wanting to reassure her that everything was more than okay, and she relaxed visibly. He took a deep breath and a few seconds to think about what he was to be thankful for this year.

Jack Wilder, now a huge fan of yours.

Daniel cleared his throat as he rewound the sudden voice in his head. "I—I'm thankful for our talents, and the joy it brings to people who witness them."

How about we grab a drink and you teach me how you did that trick? "I'm thankful for the time we take and spend with each other to perfect it. We didn't have to, but we did."

See you, man. "I'm thankful for the time given for us to be together, no matter how short a time it is."

His father smiled warmly at that, raising his wine glass. "Let's drink to that, then, son. Cheers."

Later on, when he was alone in his room, J. Daniel Atlas, the great showman, was nervous. He was thumbing his mobile for several minutes, fighting the eternal internal battle of sending the one message he wanted to send to just one person. It was the reason why he was thankful this year, after all.

It was just another day for Merritt McKinney in New Orleans. He meant to surprise his parents by visiting them with the great news that he had made dean's list yet again, but instead found a near-empty house and an answering machine that explained the McKinneys had gone on an extended holiday. Of course, Chase was not among his top 50 people he would gladly spend his time with, and so he made his way to one of the nearby coffee shops.

Happy Thanksgiving, Merritt, he thought to himself gloomily as he fell in line. He ordered a standard latte with extra whipped cream and was so lost in his thoughts that the minute he turned from the counter, he nearly crashed into a girl holding a similar cup in hand.

"Oh, crap, I am so sorry," Merritt apologized immediately, caught off-guard.

The girl shook her head of red hair. "No, no, that was entirely me, I am so sorry."

"No, I'm sorry…" Merritt glanced quickly at the cup she had in hand for a name. "Henley."

She gaped slightly, shaking her head. "How did you…"

"It was on your cup," Merritt said sheepishly.

Henley laughed loudly, and Merritt had to smile at that. "For a minute there I thought you were doing some kind of mentalism on me."

He shook his head. "That wasn't mentalism, that was merely an observation." He watched her carefully, weighing the effect of his next words. Her slightly hunched posture and tight-lipped smile told him this was a girl who probably didn't mind some kind of reassurance, so he decided to go with it. "The second observation I had is that you… are beautiful."

Her facial features softened, and there was an almost wistful look in her eyes when he said the word 'beautiful'. "Thank you," she said gently.

Merritt shrugged off-handedly, not wanting to scare her off. "I'm just keeping myself honest here," he said lightly. "So, Henley, on this lonely Thanksgiving, would a lovely woman such as yourself like to join me for coffee?"

Jack came home that night, full of energy and high spirits from that successful date with Lula. He liked the way she laughed every time he would pull a card out of her ear, out of her pocket, out of her… well, let's just say it was a good third date. They had almost gone into the obligatory first kiss, but somehow, he found himself pulling back with a smile on his face, and he instead pecked her on her nose, much to Lula's chagrin.

The phone buzzed just as he threw himself on his bed, and he immediately grabbed it to read the message he assumed was from Lula. His mouth dropped slightly when he did read the message: Hi Jack. It's Thanksgiving. I hope you're having a good time celebrating. Thank you for the magic. – Danny

Jack bit back a smile. Thank you for the magic, indeed.