Strength ~Jack Wilder FanFic~

Chapter 7

*Edited*

The Horsemen begin to take the stage, ready for their second act in New Orleans. 

I begin to walk onto the dark stage, quickly and quietly so the audience doesn't realize we were there and ready to begin. I am almost to my mark when Jack grabs my arm, keeping me from walking any further. "Jack, what are you doing we need to go to our spots." I say to him, confused about what he was doing.

"I heard you." He says, "On the jet."

I close my eyes in embarrassment, "Jack, don't listen to Henley and Merritt, they just like to mess with me. We're just friends." I ramble to him, "I don't have feelings for you like that and if I did that'd be weird because we work together and stuff." I finish as the lights over the audience begin to flash, signaling them to take their seats because the show is about to start.

"That's too bad." Jack says, letting go of my arm and starting to walk over to his spot, "Because I totally like you." He finishes before going to his spot, leaving me completely speechless just as the audience starts to cheer. I quickly go over to my spot just as we are being announced, a spot light appearing on each of us as our names out called.

"Arthur Tressler presents Jack Wilder, Henley Reeves, Stephanie Crowley,  Merritt McKinney, and Daniel Atlas. The Four Horsemen." The audience claps for us, excited to see what magic we were going to preform for them.

"Thank you!" Atlas calls out, quieting down the audience. "Before we begin, we'd like to single out two people in particular."

"A man and a woman to whom we'd like to dedicate tonight's performance." I say, "FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes and the lovely, if somewhat inexperienced, Interpol Agent Alma Dray, everyone." I finish, pointing up to the two as a spot light shines on them, the audience booing them.

"Yeah, Agent Rhodes has personally vowed to 'nail us.' And we encourage him to do so if he has the brains and the fur." Jack says, stopping the booing and gaining some laughs.

"What is magic?" Henley asks the audience.

"Our argument, nothing but targeted deception." Merritt answers the question.

"So I want you to look. Look as closely as possible." Daniel is telling the audience, "Because the tricks you are about to see may not seem connected. But we assure you, they are." He explains, looking up at the agents, "Is what follows 100 different tricks? Or is it one giant illusion?" The audience begins to cheer for us again. It was time for the show to begin.

~

After Merritt hypnotized 12 audience members to become football members who need to tackle the "quarterback" once he yells "freeze", and Jack throws some cards really impressing the audience, Henley and I go to the front of the stage ready to do our trick. "And now for one of the oldest tricks in the book." Henley says as a box comes out of the stage and a crew member hands me a rabbit. "Danny, if you wouldn't mind opening up the box, and showing everybody that it's completely empty." Henley says to him, and he opens to box for us before getting out of our way.

"Now, I'm gonna take sweet little Fluffy here, and put her inside this mystery box." I say, setting the rabbit down and closing the box. "And now, you will say the magic word."

"Abracadabra."

"Yes, and I will wave this magic wand for no reason. And then..." I say, taking a plastic wand out of my pocket, quickly waving it over the box before throwing it behind me and opening the box, "Fluffy has magically vanished before your very eyes." I say as the audience gasps at the empty box.

"And now we are gonna debunk a few magic myths this evening." Henley says, interrupting the gasps, removing the mirror out of the box, "And Fluffy has miraculously appeared. As has the mirror which makes the box only appear as though it's empty."

~

It was now intermission and I had the job of going through the audience members and finding out their current bank balance for our final trick.

Intermission was almost over and I still had a ton of names to go through.

"Hey," I look up at Jack, who was awkwardly scratching the back of his head, "Daniel told me to come help you." He tells me. I move my chair over, giving him room to sit at the table, and hand him a couple of papers with audience information on them. We sit in awkward silence as we work, me not knowing what to say after Jack's little confession, and Jack probably feeling embarrassed about it.

"I'm sorry," I finally say, breaking the silence, just as Jack mutters the two words as well. "Wait, why are you sorry?" I ask him before he makes me go first.

"For what I said before, before the show, I didn't want to make things awkward between us. We've just been friends for so long and when I heard the others teasing you I just thought you should know." He explains to me.

I let out a slight laugh, "Well I'm sorry for lying about not having feelings for you and making it awkward in the first place."

Jack's face lights up as he smiles at me, "Wait what?" He asks me, wanting to hear me say it.

"I totally like you too," I say, smiling at him.

The next couple of moments felt like they were going in slow motion, as two best friends and fellow Horsemen admitted their feelings for each other, and desperately wanted to kiss. And they were going to, until intermission ended and the cheering audience and Merritt beginning the final interrupted them.

~