CHAPTER TWO

MEETING OTHERS ON 45 EAST EVAN ST

The dark-blond haired woman awoke from her slumber when her phone began ringing next to her on her bedside table. She groaned in frustration as she flipped to her side to read the angry bold red letters on her alarm clock. 12:55. She quickly reached over and grabbed hold of her cell phone, pressing the answer button. Placing the phone over my ear, I answered, "Hello?"

"Good morning, sis!" the two twin siblings of the woman cried into the phone.

Due to the loud noise, she retreated the phone away from her face. She brought it back once it was over.

"Hey, what's up?" she questioned.

"What? We can't say hi to our big sister?" her younger brother asked back.

"You can, but you usually want something from me," the blond stated.

"Not this time," her sister sung into the cell.

"We just wanted to say that we got jobs!"

"That's great!" the blond exclaimed. "I'm so happy for you guys!"

"Thanks, Viv!" "Thank you, Vivienne."

A few minutes after being on the phone, the blond, Vivienne, hung up on her siblings, and got out of bed to make herself a quick breakfast.Once she was finished with her oatmeal breakfast, she went into her bathroom to take a shower.

She picked out a cute outfit for the day: her grey, short-sleeved top; dark blue-grey jeans which complemented her teal sweater and grey, white, and teal-colored scarf; finally, her grey purse; and her knee-length light grey boots which matched her shirt; and left it out on the bed.

Once she was finished showering, Vivienne changed into her clothing for the day, and curled her hair a bit at the ends. Grabbing hold of the dragonfly necklace on her nightstand, she clipped it behind her neck. The necklace wrapped around her neck and hung near her chest.

Satisfied, Vivienne made her way out of her apartment, making sure to lock it up before she left, and headed downtown. It took her thirty minutes to walk to her favorite coffee shop down near East Evan Street, and another twenty-five waiting in line to grab her cup of coffee.

She strode toward her destination, crossing the street on her way, and found the building she was seeking. She entered with confidence and headed up the stairs. Halfway there, she heard voices above her, and she couldn't help, but overhear.

"Thanks for keeping me honest. That wasn't mentalism, by the way. It was just an observation. Second observation: you are beautiful," someone spoke.

"That's good, that's very nice. Very well polished, nice bit. J. Daniel Atlas. Nice to meet you," another voiced.

Vivienne managed to catch the last portion as one of the gentlemen in a fedora flipped off another man with long, brown hair. She giggled, finding it ridiculous how grown men still continue acting as if they were children. The three adults turned to the newcomer. A woman was with the two men, with straight red hair, and chocolate brown eyes, who just grinned in relief that she wasn't the only woman there.

"Hey," Vivienne waved awkwardly. "Sorry to interrupt."

"You got one of these, too?" the redhead asked, holding up her tarot card with The Eye on the back.

Viv nodded, and retrieved hers from her bag, and held it up.

"I'm Henley," the redheaded woman greeted.

"Vivienne," the blond answered, while the two men in the corner decided to continue their meaningless squabbling.

"Look, I know who you are, Merritt McKinney," Atlas proceeded with the previous conversation with the fedora-man. "And I just want to say that I'm not interested in you doing your mentalism thing on me. Especially when we don't know who brought us here or even if it's real- "

"Shh!" Merritt silenced him, placing a finger over his own lips before moving his hands to the side of his head. "Hold on, I'm sensing…I'm sensing you are a," he points two index fingers at Atlas, "Control freak."

Vivienne smirked, silently agreeing that Daniel Atlas was indeed a control freak.

"I'm sorry, have we met before?" Danny asked, while the woman scoffed.

"It doesn't take a mentalist to figure that out. You are a control freak!"

"Well, I take that as a compliment."

Viv rolled her green orbs at Atlas' antics. He was getting quite annoying.

The woman stated, turning slightly to include Vivienne into the conversation, "Only he would take that as a compliment."

"Okay, great, good, another compliment."

"Is that why you two are no longer are a couple?"

Once again, the three turned to the blond, with Atlas and the woman denying at the same time. The redhead turned to Vivienne, saying, "He used to saw me in half," while doing hand motions to act it out.

"She was a very good assistant," Daniel added in. The redhead placed a hand on her hip, continuing, "But I was too fat for Danny."

"No, Henley," Danny shook his head. "I said that one time, because of the trap door."

"You built it this size," the woman, Henley said, making a small square with her hands.

"No one could fit in that," Vivienne stated, moving in between Atlas and Henley.

"Exactly! Thank you! And do you know how hard it is to stay in those tiny little costumes?"

Vivienne nodded in response. Oh, she definitely knew what it was like being an assistant. Those costumes could be a real pain in the ass, literally.

"No, because I'm the main attraction," Atlas replied, rather cockily.

Merritt shook his head, disappointingly at Atlas and turned back to Henley. "So, this guy never made you feel special. And, trust me, you and you," he pointed to Vivienne as well. "deserve to be made to feel special." Viv's cheeks lit up light rose as she cracked a small grin.

"That's a really nice story," Danny interrupted. "Hope you guys enjoy each other's company." He turned to leave when someone else entered their group.

"No way!" a young brunette man smiled as he recognized the magician. "J. Daniel Atlas? Dude, I've seen everything that you have ever done. You're like…I idolize you, man, seriously."

"From a true fan," Daniel grinned and took the young man's hand to shake. "It's so nice to meet you."

"I'm Jack, by the way," the new newcomer introduced.

"Question," Merritt spoke up, holding up his card. "Did you get one of these?"

"Uh, yeah," Jack reached into his back pocket and pulls out his card, reading it aloud, "Death."

Henley put in, "The High Priestess," holding hers up.

"I'm the Lover," Daniel said, raising his eyebrows. At this, Henley coughed out, "3 seconds!" causing Vivienne to smile a little more. She had a feeling she and Henley would be great friends.

Everyone turned to her next. "Justice," she held her tarot card up for them to see.

And finally, Merritt told them, "Hermit."

"So, what are we…are we waiting for someone?" Jack asked. "Why are we just- "

"Door's locked," Merritt, Atlas, and Henley said together.

"Oh no, nothing's ever locked," the youngest of the crew stated, making his way in front of them, pulling out his pick locking tools, and opened the door without the key. The five entered the apartment, each equipped with flashlights of their own, and walked down the hallway, passing the dirty, old rooms on their way to the biggest room of the whole apartment.

As each of them made their way into the sizable room, Jack shivered, rubbing his arms with his hands. "Man, it's freezing in here."

Vivienne honestly didn't mind the cold, her excitement was too much for her to notice the temperature of the room. Instead, she walked toward the middle of the room, where there was a symbol of some sort carved into the floor, a white rose lying on the floor next to a note card, and a clear vase a few feet away.

"What is this?" Henley asked, as the five, one by one, flooded the room. Daniel walked to the symbol, but stopped just in front of it to pick up the note.

"What's it say?" Merritt questioned, making his way around the group crowding Atlas and to the random vase on the floor.

Daniel opened it up as Vivienne read, "Now you don't."

"'A rose by any other name'," Henley quoted Shakespeare as she took the rose from its spot and placed it inside the vase. As soon as the stem hit the bottom of the vase, the water drained out of the vase and directed itself to the symbol in the floor.

"Whoa, guys, what's happening?" Jack inquired as the water filled up the carved symbol. When it completed its course, the part of the floor the symbol was on dropped, and haze filled the room, just below their feet.

"It's gas!" Jack shouted, backing away immediately. Vivienne shook her head in disagreement while Merritt spoke her words. "Relax, it's just dry ice."

"Wait, what do you think this is all about?" Daniel asked, looking at Vivienne, who shrugged her shoulders.

"Hang on, hang on," Merritt said, holding his hand to his head, and closing his eyes to concentrate more. Jack, Henley, even Daniel were all waiting in anticipation while Vivienne took a closer look at the haze, now twirling around as it rose higher into the air.

"I got nuthin'."

"Okay, thank you. Thank you for the delay," Atlas said, annoyed with the mentalist.

"I'm just trying to create the space for wisdom," Merritt explained, while Vivienne, once more rolled her eyes, and went over to the light switch.

"Oh, okay, so you're like Buddha, if he wasn't so enlightened," Atlas insulted.

"Oh, and you're like Jesus, if he was arrogant, and all of his miracles were fake," Merritt shot back.

Henley interrupted the two, "Okay, lovebirds, get a room. Danny, be honest, did you do this?"

"No," Daniel responded, but then quickly turned his gaze to Vivienne, giving her a questioning look.

"Don't look at me," Vivienne held up her arms. "I had nothing to do with this."

"What about you," Atlas pointed his flashlight in the direction of Jack, who held up his hands. "No, I wish."

Merritt questioned, "Why didn't anyone ask me if I did it?" Vivienne bites her lip and turns back to the light, trying to turn it on, however, it doesn't work.

"Electricity's out," Jack stated.

The blond shot back, "Brilliant deduction, Sherlock." She noticed Merritt move a lightbulb a little before beams of light shot across the room into the middle of the symbol. Vivienne spotted little projectors in five corners to bring the bigger picture together.

"What is all this?" Henley inquired, moving closer to the hologram, showing them everything they needed to know.

"Blueprints?" Vivienne responded, unsure.

"They're incredible," Atlas gawked at the plans.

"I wonder who did this," Jack muttered.

"I don't know, but I wanna meet them," Henley answered.

Viv took a closer look, and realized, "It's a show."

Daniel leaned closer and touched the holographic symbol floating in the middle of the plans.