Disclaimer: No matter how many times I say this, the fact will never change that I do not own Now You See Me. Or the sequel that is scheduled to be released… 2015, if I remember correctly? So… you know the drill. Don't steal my stuff or accuse me of stealing things, because this fanfiction. I can do whatever I want.

Chapter 3: New Style of Living

Henley
oOo

It had taken a lot of convincing on Dylan's part to get the four of us to lay low and not have any more shows for a while. We all did magic for a living—how were we supposed to make money?

"Don't worry about money," he had said to us one evening in out fancy NYC hotel room. I'd thought it stupid to stay here while we were being searched for, but we were assured that 'The Eye was taking care of it.' "We'll be paying for your house, maintenance that it may need, cars, gas, shopping that you might need to do..." He looked pointedly at me, much to my chagrin. "But don't go too overboard, cause it's not for that long." I probably pouted like a 3-year-old, and nobody could help but laugh. Even Daniel.

"So… how long exactly are we going to have to 'lay low'?" Merritt asked.

"About two months should give enough time for the Press to die down, and that's when you'll start on your next mission."

Nobody could really find any reason to complain. Two months of The Eye paying for living accommodations and pretty much whatever else we needed? That was the best thing that had happened to any of us in two years. Well, other than Jack getting to fake his death and kicking some FBI ass. That was pretty damn cool, and I was stuck wondering why he got have all the fun? Okay, I'll admit, the armed truck robbery stunt was just about as good.

"What do you mean, 'our next mission'?" Jack asked in that snoopy little kid way of his, promptly snapping me from my thoughts.

"Strictly confidential," he said, sending me that famous stare of his when I began to protest. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. All our entitled to know is that we've hired someone to train you in self-defense." His look was set upon Jack now, as he was already known as the feisty street kid-he'd proven this enough times during the whole scandal.

"We have magic—well, most of us do. I'm not sure about Henley being able to stop someone—" Just as Daniel was about to warn Merritt not to comment on my skills, the I decided I'd had just about enough of his relentless teasing (on any subject), so I turned and slugged him right across the face. Very, very hard.

"How's that for self-defense?" I mocked, shaking my hand out a little from the hard contact as Merritt rubbed his jaw, rolling it tenderly.

Dylan was the first to respond. "The person we hired will be able to teach you a lot more than just flinging cards at people and punching them in the jaw," he said, earning sheepish and apologetic looks between Jack and I.

"Who did you hire, Dylan?" Daniel asked, impatience sneaking into his tone. Nobody was surprised.

He shrugged, his face now mimicking the group's youngest member. "I don't actually know. I was told to pass the orders on to this new kid, and he said he knew just the person. Whoever he's hired should be at your house by now."

"Wait wait wait… you mean we already have a house? The Eye already bought us a house?" Jack inquired excitedly.

Dylan looked confused. "Yes. Didn't I already say that?" When none of us confirmed, he continued. "I'm here to take you to the house now. I think you'll like it a lot. It's on the outskirts of a town in Florida where we're sure that nobody will be able to track you. And if they do, the town has lots of agents from The Eye staying there in case you need them."

"Not that that would stop the FBI," Jack muttered, but either Dylan didn't hear or he just chose to ignore it.

"So come on, pack up your bags and let's get a move on. Chop-chop-chop! We don't have all day!"

oOo

We were ushered hurriedly by Dylan into a black limo that was waiting outside the hotel. Bags were loaded into the large trunk, Dylan climbed into the front with the driver, we sat in the back and we were off before anybody had a chance to say anything. I was seated, more-or-less begrudgingly, next to Danny on one side and Jack and Merritt on the other, though all of us were probably farther apart than was necessary.

"I wonder what the house will look like," I sighed, not realizing that I had spoken aloud until Merritt replied by putting his fingers to his temples and closing his eyes.

"Hmm… nope, don't have anything. Dylan has, much to my displeasure, learned how to block things from me."

The house, mission and trainer were speculated upon for a long while, but eventually sleeplessness and crampedness.

oOo

The first time I thought I was waking up, there was a sharp turn that sent me reeling against something very comfortable. I was too tired and thankful for the rest to think too much of it. And so I went on sleeping.

The second time was when I heard gravel crunching on the tires. I snuggled closer to what I assumed to be my pillow at the time.

When I did finally wake up fully, I found that this was not, indeed, a pillow, no matter how much I wished or thought it had been.

My hand had found its way to Danny's shoulder, gripping it tightly as my cheek lay atop my knuckles, my mass of braided hair with bobby-pins pushing every which way and that into my scalp resting in the crook of his neck and my legs bent behind me on the seat. I bolted upright and away from him. When I had finally faked many yawns and over-exaggerated eye-rubs, I decided it was safe to look at him. He was staring right back, his signature smirk gracing his features.

I scowled at him to the best of my ability and looked at Jack and Merritt, confirming that the two of them were still asleep. I was most certainly not in the mood for teasing at the moment. I tried to look out the window, up in the front, anything to keep my eyes off of him, but found that I was surrounded by what seemed to be a fearful and gaping tent of black.

"There's screens on the windows, Hen." Danny answered my unspoken question. I hated that nickname, but I still wasn't about to speak with him. for more reasons than one. "We've been driving since the early afternoon yesterday for twenty hours now. That's just about how long it takes to get across the country North to South."

I gave Danny an odd look, immediately forgetting my personal promise. "So I haven't gotten out of this car in twenty hours?" I whispered (albeit loudly and resisting the urge to slap myself for even uttering a sound to him) so as not to wake the other sleeping men. If you could even count any of them, including Danny, as that.

"No, we an hour and half at a Rest Stop somewhere along the Blue Ridge in Tennessee. Don't you remember?"

It all started to come back to me-I must have woken up more times than I thought. There had been the Rest Stop around midnight… the disgusting and uncleaned bathrooms… buying something from the vending machine… chasing Jack around the whole place when he stole my phone… Ah. Yes. Clear as mud.

I nodded briskly and clambered up the aisle, opened the car door and went around to Jack and Merritt's window. I smiled slyly as I pounded on it loudly with a clenched fist and had to stifle a giggle fit when I heard both of them scream. Danny followed me quickly afterwards and climbed from the car, the other two right on his tail, identical looks of terror etched across their faces.

"Henley, what the hell was that…" His eyes were as big as saucers, mouth spreading wide enough to swallow a Boa Constrictor whole and face just as pale as if he'd seen a ghost. Then he was turning around, and the expression changed from horror to cluelessness to awe and finally to excitement. "Whoa?!" All three of us turned and copied him, expecting there to be a field or something and his voice echoing across the plains 'Whoo, I got you good!'

But no such thing.

The house was a grand old thing. It's exterior, made with mixes of red and gray brick washed out from the constant Florida heat and sun, was so beaming with normalcy that it almost took away the largeness and pure grace of the whole structure. Its windows shone with the glint from the afternoon sun, stuck in exact intervals all along the front and what was visible of the sides. The porch was broad and sturdy and took six steps to reach it at last. The roof looked as though the only things keeping it from collapsing onto the floor like magnets drawn together with a snap were the round, white columns supporting it in the corners and all the places in between.

The doors were probably the one thing that a person could not help but have their eyes captured by. They were tall, taller than any normal house, and just as wide as their height. They were church-worthy, thick oak that looked as though it could easily have weighed a ton with panes of glass seamlessly worked into the wood. Designs of vines and trees and birds flying round the edges glowed with colors that spread all across the wood and onto the walls and columns and floor as well.

Plants clustered together on the walk up the drive, palm trees dotting the full yard of carefully groomed green grass here and there, the fronds rustling in the light breeze. All the sounds of the busy city that had constantly buzzed in my ears for so many years became dull and distant, beginning to fade away, but there was just enough noise here that I knew I would not feel deaf if I were not to speak.

Nobody spoke up for a while, even when the driver and Dylan made their way from the car. The driver popped the trunk to unload luggage onto the pavement while Dylan came over and leaned against the limo's side.

"I told you you'd like it," he laughed, seeing our expressions.

"Dude, this is awesome!" Jack exclaimed, the first to speak. I could only nod in agreement before snapping out of my daze. Paradise, I kept thinking. I looked to Danny. Well, maybe not.

"So this is what The Eye qualifies as 'laying low'? Because this does not look like 'low' to me. The low end of upper class, maybe..." Merritt trailed off.

"Upper class?" Dylan asked. "Well, yeah, sure. I guess for you guys, but this is nothing to The Eye. They didn't want you getting too much attention with a great big house." Danny scoffed and Dylan simply rolled his eyes and decided it was best to drop the subject. "We're on the very edge of Crows Landing—ever heard of the place? No, of course you haven't because it has a population of two-hundred and forty-eight as of this year, most of whom are part of The Eye."

"Why?" I asked skeptically.

"Because it's small and out of the way and totally off the grid. Technically, it doesn't even exist." I gave an impressed look before turning to look down at said town below us. Modest, small. The houses were like ants way up here-I didn't even think it was possible to be this elevated in Florida. I could see street lights washing the color from the buildings already, and I wondered if anybody was down there, even smaller than the houses, completely invisible to me now, looking up here at us. It was only slightly terrifying.

Dylan had continued, but I didn't pick up until about the middle of his little tirade. "...ouse and town were first built in 1857, then passed from generation to generation for years. And now it's yours."

"We're going to live here... forever?" I asked, my voice sounding rusty. I wasn't used to this air, and I figured I wouldn't be for a while. In the meantime, I guess I'd have to get used to a high-pitched crack here and there.

Dylan frowned. "Well, I'd say very far into the foreseeable future, but yeah. Unless you have to be relocated ICE, in which case you'll be moved to another place, probably the safe house out west. But that's never happened here, and we hope it never will." He clapped his hands together, startling everybody. I noticed Danny jump, and I snickered quietly to myself. "Now, grab your bags an get a move on. We'll get you settled, and your new instructor should already be inside."