Don't Play With Fire [Revised]

Chapter One

No one ever told me that magic wasn't real. At some point, as a child, you just figure it out. Most kids see their parents sneaking presents under the tree or catch them in a lie about how the tooth fairy forgot to visit. I found out when my step mom threw beer into the fireplace at eleven fifty eight pm on Christmas Eve. Santa wasn't making a stop at my house. Not that night, not ever.

I never needed him to. I was given a gift that not him could even bring. Real magic. The gift of psychology and entertainment and charisma so strong that not even a crowd of one hundred and twenty could fend me off.

"Well maybe we can be more than assistants this show. What do you say, Mat?" Stefano said, nailing his rehearsed lines.

Stef and I were assistant magicians for the show at the LINQ hotel. We worked under a great guy named Mat for almost a year now. Mat was great, Mat was also an amazing magician. We loved Mat for who he was but we loved him for what he did for us without even knowing.

"If you say so," Mat said, looking towards me where I stood in the wing of the stage. "Y/n, come on out, I think you guys should try your own magic." I smiled, making my way out onto the stage. This was a rehearsed trick that we three participated in called 'Find The Queen.' It was a spin on a classic trick that we had undermined perfectly.

Mat would have us pick a random seat before the show and when we happened to call that number, that person would come to the stage. Now, Stef and I had our own input without Mat knowing, of course.

We stalked the tickets that were bought before hand and looked up the people who chose VIP seats. Most of them were bachelorette parties or dads who saved up but every once in a while, you were given the golden ticket.

"Okay we have this nice bowl of ping pong balls and we're going to let our amazing stage manager Zain pick for us. Give it up for Zain!"

Zain came out and as usual, he went into the bowl to pick two random balls.

"Row F.."

I looked over at my brother but his eyes were on the crowd, smiling, charming. He was good at that.

"Seat twenty three!"

There were a sea of gasps before a lady stood out in the crowd, her head swiveling side to side in surprise. She looked to be on her thirties but dressed like she was in her forties. It wasn't her fault though.

"Help the lucky lady down, will you guys?"

I walked toward the edge of the stage before hopping down, smiling as she shyly followed the security toward me. "Hi." I said softly, my hand raising to take her. Brown, timid eyes caught mine as her hand followed. "Watch your step, okay? I got ya."

She nodded.

I led her back to the stage where Stef looked at me for a split second, smirked, then put his attention toward our new guest.

"If you don't mind me asking your name?"

"Brandi Lyn." She replied, tucking a stray hair behind her ear as she looked at Mat, then out to the crowd. I followed her line of sight and saw the guy that she had came with. It was her husband. And if our calculations were correct, his name was Ralph Bradley.

"Welcome to the show, Brandi Lyn. Where do you join us from?" Stef asked, holding the mic toward her.

New York.

"We're here from Manhattan. I'm here with my husband." She said, faintly pointing toward him. His face remained void beside the heavy exhale and quick cut of his eyes. He didn't want to be here.

This was her idea which either means she likes magic or just picked the first thing she saw when it came to a night out. Either way, it'd work in my favor.