As you've probably already realised, each chapter title is a song title. Not sure why, just something that I felt like doing. I've tried to only pick songs from artists that I really like. Yeah, I know what I'm admitting to, but there's nothing wrong with some cheesy eighties!

I could have called this chapter 'Happy Birthday' (I was SO chuffed to see the adorable Clare Grogan pop up as a skins mum in gen 3!) but I couldn't get over how well this little gem from Morrissey fit. What do they say about little things pleasing little minds? Oh well! I had to abreviate it on the title bar, but the full title is below.

Hope you enjoy! Myrtle


Chapter Thirteen: We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful

Naomi

"'Marvellous McLair's magical masterpiece. The newest show on The Strip had audiences clamouring with amazement last night.'" Cook sighed and scrunched the newspaper he was reading aloud from into a ball. "What a pile of shite." He dropped the newspaper into the bin. "It's official: those thieving bastards are a hit." Much as I hated to admit it, Cook was right. I had called into the newsagents on my way to rehearsals this morning and scanned the papers for the reviews. All of them seemed to love Freddie's act. "And now, we've got a fucking fortnight to find a new ending to the show!" Cook kicked the bin in frustration. It skidded across the floor, spilling it's contents along the way. "How the fuck did JJ find out about it?"

"Before you say it, I didn't say anything!" Katie immediately went on the defensive. I sighed and rubbed at the bridge of my nose.

"Katie it's okay, we know" I told her. "I spoke to my friend in L.A. this morning. The one who was supposed to be making the trick for us. Lets just say that he's not someone I consider a friend anymore." Well, 'spoke to' was not entirely accurate. 'Yelled at him until I was blue in the face' would be a more precise assessment. He had eventually admitted to me that JJ had been on the phone to him several times over the past couple of months, trying to find out the details of my business with him. How JJ had discovered that we were magical associates remained a mystery, but it wasn't exactly a secret. In the end Freddie and JJ bribed the information from him, and decided that they wanted to buy the bullet-catch illusion for themselves, for double the price. Which explained why I had been constantly fobbed off with excuses about it, but it still left me up shit creek without a closing routine for the show.

I scanned the faces of our assembled group - everyone seemed pretty down. We looked defeated before our show had even opened, and that was something that I wasn't going to stand for.

"We'll figure something out" I insisted, hoping I sounded convincing. I actually was sure that we would sort something out. There is nothing like a looming deadline to get the creative juices flowing.

"Like what?" Asked Katie, getting right to the heart of the matter as always. I clicked my tongue thoughtfully for a moment.

"I'm not sure" I admitted at last. "But we're bound to come up with something. There's only about eight effects to choose from."

"What? There's millions!" Declared Katie. I shook my head.

"No, there are millions of tricks, but there are only a few basic effects. Magicians argue over exactly how many there are, but basically there's: production, where you make something appear from nothing; vanish; transformation, which is changing one thing into another; levitation, when you make something or someone float; teleportation, which is making something move to another place; penetration, something solid passes through something else solid; restoration, which is when you destroy something then put it back together; or prediction." I counted each item off on my fingers as I went through the list. "Basically, each trick falls into one or more of those categories."

"Well, whatever effect we do, we'd better come up with it quickly" said Katie. I knew she was right. I decided to change the subject for now - I was trying to pick the mood up after all.

"Listen, forget about Freddie's show. Our advertising campaign is really going to pick up this week. Soon we'll be the latest show on The Strip." We were certainly all set to create our own buzz. We had done a few select interviews up to now, but we were ready to paper practically the whole of Vegas with our posters in the days to come.

"Oh, I had an idea" said Katie. "When me and Em first arrived here, we took a cab to the hotel. The driver wouldn't shut up for the whole journey. God, it was fucking annoying!" I tried not to roll my eyes at her as I wondered if this little trip down memory lane was actually going anywhere. "He just kept going on and on about this show that he'd seen - telling us how great it was. And I was thinking, why don't you get the taxi drivers in to see the show? Give them free tickets or something, then they'll do a load of publicity for you."

"Katie, that's... brilliant!" I told her. She smirked at me.

"Don't sound so fucking surprised, will you?"

I took a moment to think about her idea. Whichever way I looked at it, it made sense. Get the taxi drivers onside, and they will tell anyone who gets in a cab that ours is the show to see. Not to mention that our rivalry campaign would be best spread that way, too. When we give them the free tickets, we can be sure to tell anyone within earshot about how McLair stole our best trick. Rumours travel so much faster by taxi.


"Cook, do you remember when you nicked Katie's driving licence?" Cook nodded as he clambered out of his bear costume. The two of us had just finished our afternoon show. "You said her birthday was June second, right?"

"Dunno."

"Yeah, I'm sure it was." I remembered the date because a friend of mine back home had the same birthday. "That's two days away. We'll have to do something for it." Cook nodded.

"I'll have to nick Emily's licence so we can find out her birthday as well."

"Take your time, Cook." I smirked at him while I waited for the penny to drop. Suddenly, he grinned sheepishly at me.

"Oh, yeah!" He chuckled at his own mistake. "So what did you have in mind?" I shrugged. I hadn't really thought it through enough to have a plan ready.

"I'm not sure. I just thought we should do something for them. Morale's been pretty low lately." Not to mention that I felt guilty for accusing Katie of spilling our secrets to Freddie. And yeah, I guess I also felt pretty shitty for the way I've been ignoring Emily lately. I can't help it, the effect that girl has on me just makes me nervous. But I had resolved not to ignore her anymore. It hadn't done me any good anyway - Emily was constantly in my thoughts, no matter what I did. My mind invariably lingered on how beautiful her laugh sounds, or how perfect her lips tasted, or how good it felt to have my arms around her, or... Fuck. You see what I mean?

"We should get a cake!" Said Cook, with an unwarranted amount of enthusiasm. His words pulled me reluctantly from my daydream.

"Sure, I'll get one" I told him with a nod. We wandered side by side out of the theatre. The last of our audience were still drifting out into the casino so we fell into step along with them. Instinctively, we both trained our ears on the conversations around us. It was something we often did - merging unseen with your audience is a great way to find out what they really think about the show. We both exchanged angry looks when every single word seemed to be about the Marvellous McLair's show, instead of ours. Who had seen it, who was going to see it, how great it was. It certainly seemed to have caused a sensation in this town.

We stopped dead in our tracks as we saw none other than Freddie McLair himself heading towards us. He was followed closely by JJ. Freddie was grinning, but JJ just looked uncomfortable. Freddie spread his arms wide as he sauntered nearer. His cocky gait made me want to slap the fucker to the ground.

"Cook! Naomi! Great to see you both!" Freddie gave us what I'm sure he thought was a smile full of boyish charm. It made me want to throw up. Preferably all over him.

"What the fuck do you want?" Snarled Cook. Freddie put his hands up in a defensive gesture.

"Is that any way to talk to a fellow professional?" His patronising tone pissed me off even more than I already was.

"There's nothing professional about the way you behaved!" I snapped. Freddie turned his grin towards me.

"And what about these rumours I keep hearing?" He asked calmly. "Spreading it around town that we've nicked your whole act!"

"Truth hurts, does it?" I asked with a grin. Freddie just chuckled.

"Do you think it bothers me? Our tickets are selling out faster than we can print them. Your little ploy won't get you anywhere. And besides, I could sue the whole fucking lot of you for libel, if I wanted to!"

I rolled my eyes at him and gave a bored sigh. JJ cleared his throat.

"Actually Freddie, I think you'll find that 'libel' refers to the printed word. Spoken words would be slander, although providing a satisfactory level of proof that they are responsible could prove problematic. There's only..."

"JJ!" Said Freddie harshly, before wrestling his temper back under control. "It's not going to work" he said smoothly. "Our show is the only one on The Strip worth watching. We're already a huge success with the critics."

Cook moved as if to grab Freddie, but I spotted his intention and managed to get in between them.

"Cook! Don't give him the satisfaction of being able to sue you for assault!" I hissed. My words had their desired effect, and Cook settled instead for clenching his fists by his sides. I turned back to glare at Freddie. "Just fuck off, will you?" I told him. Freddie looked to be considering saying more, but he also seemed to be genuinely afraid of Cook.

"See you around!" He said with a wink. Then he turned and strolled away with JJ in pursuit.

"Cook, please don't lose your rag over this!" I insisted. "He only came here 'cause we're getting to him. He doesn't like us spreading his underhand methods all over town. Why else would he come all the way down here just to speak to us about it?"


"Surprise!" As we led Emily and Katie through to the back-stage area, Cook, Panda and I did our best to impute our feeble efforts with some enthusiasm. We had made a rushed job at decorating the place with some bunting, and had laid out a table with a cake on it. The twins both seemed happy at our efforts, clearly not expecting anything to mark their birthday. I handed them each their wrapped gifts. I had gone shopping the day before, which was not my activity of choice, and picked out a new top for each of them that I hoped they would like. I held my breath as they tore the paper off. Katie held her item rather gingerly, a slight frown on her face. Her expression instantly brightened when she saw that I had included the receipt in the package. But the smile on Emily's face was very genuine. She surprised me by wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. Without even thinking, I slid my arms around her back, before I checked myself and let her go.

"They're from us both" I said awkwardly, as she moved away. She grinned, and moved over to hug Cook as well.

"Thanks guys" said Katie. "We weren't expecting anything."

"Time for cake!" Announced Cook. I moved quickly to reach the cake before he did. I had seen Cook eating cake before - I didn't want him to just rip chunks out of it with his hands. The cake was Panda's contribution. I had been planning to buy a one, but Panda insisted that she could make a one for us. I had to admit that it looked lovely. I cut into it, and passed round slices on paper plates.

The next few minutes passed in silence, as we all filled our faces with cake. Emily was sat next to me. Katie, Panda and Cook were sat a little away from us.

"Thanks for this" said Emily quietly, after she finished her first slice.

"It was all of us."

She smiled softly at me, a knowing look in her eye. I shrugged.

"I felt bad for the way things have been between us all lately" I admitted. "Besides, you deserve it." Emily's smile widened, and I felt a sudden sense of panic. "You've both been working so hard at the show" I added hastily. She nodded, but suddenly dropped her gaze to the floor.

"You never told me what you thought about Freddie's show" she asked after a moment of silence.

"What, you mean besides 'it was shit'?" I deadpanned. Emily laughed.

"It wasn't shit, you just hoped it would be!"

"No, it wasn't shit" I admitted reluctantly. "It was really good, if I'm honest. But there was nothing really new about it. People are getting tired of magicians poncing around like that."

"Like what?" Asked Emily with a smile.

"Well, the top hat and tails for a start! Magicians started wearing that stuff at the start of the twentieth century - because that's what men wore back then, when they were going out for the evening. But it just stuck - everyone does it, even though it's not relevant any more." I sighed softly. The fact that magic is not as popular with the public as it used to be was quite a sore point with me. And the fact that magicians are themselves entirely responsible for that, was another one. "And why do so many magicians have to act so smug?" I continued, really getting into my stride. "They act like they think they're smarter than their audience, just because they know something that the audience doesn't. Lay people are..."

"Lay people?" Asked Katie with a frown. I hadn't even realised that Cook, Panda and Katie were no longer having their own conversation. "You're not a fucking doctor, Naomi!"

I chuckled.

"Yeah, I know. That's what magicians call non-magicians."

"So what will our costumes be like?" Asked Emily, as if there hadn't been an interruption.

"This is Vegas" I answered with a sigh. "Much as I would love to go for something different, We can't do away with the sequins altogether - it's expected. And we're probably all going to have to flash some leg, as well."

Cook placed a hand to his chest in an affronted stance.

"I'm a person Naomi, not a piece of meat" he said haughtily, sending us all into a fit of giggles.

"But you've got such lovely legs Cook, it's a shame to hide them away!" I told him with a smile. After a pause, Emily started back on the same topic of conversation.

"How come you seem to dislike magic so much?" She asked with a frown.

"I don't!" I insisted. "There are loads of magicians that I really admire out there, but there seem to be a load more that would rather do the same as everyone else. Same jokes, same tricks... what's the point of that?" Emily nodded. I took that as my cue to continue. "But magic at it's best can be amazing. Is there anything more wonderful than seeing something that you know is impossible?" Katie gave an elaborate sigh.

"Okay, we get it! You fucking love magic, now can we please change the subject!" I lapsed into silence, feeling self-conscious about my little ramble. Katie turned to face Panda with a grin on her face. "I want to know what's going on between Panda and Mr Tomone!" She declared. Panda instantly flushed.

"Nothing!" She said, but there was a grin on her face that made a lie of her denial.

"Don't give me that!" Pushed Katie. "Whenever I see you you're heading up to his office, or just leaving it!" Panda shrugged.

"We're just spending time together!"

"And..?" Prompted Cook. Panda grinned again.

"Well quite a lot of time, really! Oh, he's well lush!"

Further conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the man himself. Mr Tomone had taken a real interest in how we were going to fill the gap in our show left by the bullet-catch illusion. So much so, that he had insisted on watching one of our run-throughs of the whole show as it stood. We had readily agreed - we were always open to points of view from outside of our group. All eyes eagerly watched Panda and Mr Tomone to see how they reacted around each other. Mr Tomone grinned happily at Panda, who waved excitedly back at him.

"Are you ready to perform your show?" Asked Mr Tomone, turning his attention to the rest of the people present. The sound of scraping chairs filled the room as we all rose to head back through to the theatre.

The run through went very smoothly. We were all pretty confident with what we were doing by now, only really needing small adjustments for the most part. We headed into the penultimate illusion - although for the moment it was the final one. It was the one where I had to tie Emily to a frame. I furrowed my brow as I tied the first knot, pretending that it needed my full concentration. That way, I could avoid looking at Emily while standing so close to her. Then I reached across her to tie her other wrist. Her breath tickled the skin on the back of my neck, sending my heartbeat sky-rocketing. I bit my lip and tried desperately not to breath in her distinct scent. Her wrists fastened, I crouched down to tie the rope across her legs. Metal hoops stood out from the frame to hold the rope in place. I threaded it through with slightly shaking fingers. Jesus, this was hard enough while she's in jeans and a t-shirt! How the fuck am I going to concentrate on the show when she's wearing a skimpy showgirl outfit?

I finished the final knot, and gratefully snatched at the cover to hide Emily from view. I waited until I heard a tiny tap - Emily's signal that she was free and out of sight - before whipping the cover back again to reveal her disappearance. A moment later, Katie stepped out onto the other side of the stage, snapping me from my Emily-induced haze. I turned to face Mr Tomone and Panda.

"That's the whole show, apart from the ending" I told them. Myself and the twins stepped down from the stage and headed nearer to where they were sat. Cook re-emerged from the wings and ambled over with us. Mr Tomone was on his feet by the time we reached him.

"Excellent! Yes, that is a really superb show!" He clapped his hands together with enthusiasm. "It has a real 'je ne sais quoi' to it!"

"What's 'je ne sais quoi' mean, Tommo?" Asked Panda. I couldn't help but notice the familiar nickname she had for him.

"I don't know what" answered Mr Tomone. Panda shrugged dismissively.

"Why'd you say it for, then?" She got to her feet and turned to face our group. "That was real whizzer, I loved it!" She gushed. "But that last one was a bit..." she made a noise that I think was meant to indicate that she felt it was a bit flat.

"Well the audience won't know that it's two people" I reminded her.

"Yeah, I know that" she answered with a shrug. "But it was still a bit dull. It could be really amazing if you dress it up some more." I nodded thoughtfully as Panda continued. "If they think that it's just one person, then the fact that she can suddenly appear elsewhere is pretty amazing, isn't it? At least I think it will be to muggles, anyway."

"She's right you know" said Cook with a nod. "It could even be good enough to be the last illusion, with the right presentation."

"I agree" said Mr Tomone as he made his way to the aisle. "It's certainly something for you all to think about, but I'm afraid I have to leave now." He made his goodbyes to everyone, before turning to Panda. Our group hung back awkwardly, each of us trying to watch without watching as they said their farewells.

"So, I'll see you later" said Panda brightly. She cast a furtive look over her shoulder at the rest of us before continuing. "And we can, you know - foxtrot, uniform, charlie kilo." Mr Tomone flushed scarlet and made a hurried departure from the theatre. Cook, the twins and myself all exchanged furtive smiles at Panda's transparent code. We each did our best to compose ourselves as Panda turned back to face us. She clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Right, let's talk about that last trick. I've got some great ideas for costumes."


Well, I know at least one person will be excited by that final sentence! More on that next chapter.

I'm afraid we magicians really do refer to non-magicians as 'lay people'. Though I do prefer the term 'muggles'!