A Twist Of Magic

Chapter Two

Daniel and I gazed at each other in silence for what seemed like an eternity, before I quickly looked away and stared at the floor. As my hands began to shake, I could feel the coffee cup slipping from my grasp, but I was powerless to stop it. I watched helplessly as it crashed to the floor, spilling hot liquid over my bare legs. I glanced at the dark haired guy as he quickly walked over to me. I took a tissue out of my pocket and knelt down beside him, I could feel his eyes on me as I quickly removed the hot liquid from my legs.

"I'm Jack by the way." the dark haired guy whispered.

"Amelia." I replied.

"That's a pretty name." he complimented me.

I smiled my thanks and slowly stood up.

"I should introduce my new prodigys, this is Henley." Arthur stated as he pointed at the ginger haired girl. She smiled back at me, and I couldn't help but notice that she was even more stunning when she smiled. It wasn't fair...why couldn't I look like her?

"And this is Merritt." Arthur added, pointing at the guy in the hat.

"Let me guess...." Merritt said dramatically as he pressed his hand against his temple.

"Your name is Amelia." he said quickly.

"Arthur probably told you." I sighed.

I gasped slightly as Arthur shook his head.

"I'm a mentalist, so I can hypnotise people and get information out of their heads." Merritt stated.

I scoffed skeptically.

"I can prove it." he stated defiantly.

"You were born in Ireland, to parents John and Anya. You moved to the US when you were four and your sister Caitlin was six. You were a good child at school... but your parents aren't around anymore...." Merritt started.

I watched him in complete shock as he paused, the only logical explanation was that he'd got his information from Daniel, but that seemed unlikely. Daniel had moved on from me, so it didn't make sense for him to tell people about me.

"I'm thinking car accident." Merritt said quietly.

A rush of images flashed into my head at his words. The memories of the day that Caitlin and I were told that our parents had died in a fatal car accident.

"There's something else." Merritt continued.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said quickly.

"Something happened when you were seventeen...." he started.

"Okay...stop!" I exclaimed.

How the hell did this guy know so much about me and most of all how did he seem to know my biggest secret?!

"Sorry." Merritt muttered.

"Just stay the hell out of my head!" I snapped.

My eyes darted to Jack who was watching me closely, a strange expression on his face that I couldn't quite interpret.

"You already met Jack and this is Daniel." Arthur stated, clearly trying to diffuse the tension.

"Oh I know who he is." I muttered through clenched teeth. Daniel continued staring at the floor, seemingly unable to look me in the eye. After what he did, I wasn't surprised.

"Miss Blake, what is wrong with you today?" Arthur sighed sounding slightly angry that I was embarrasing him in front of his guests.

"I'm fine, I just don't understand what is going on." I admitted.

"Well these four are all magicians and as of now they are the Four Horseman, I'm going to be attending and funding their shows." Arthur stated.

I stared at him blankly, not quite able to comprehend what I was hearing. It seemed to dreadful to be true. If Arthur was attending, did that mean that I had to accompany him, to handle the media attention that was likely to follow.

"Miss Blake, can you please take them to the conference room and remain there, I'll be down for a few moments to give you all a briefing." Arthur instructed.

"Of course Mr Trestler." I smiled falsely.

I quickly put my heels back on and walked to the conference room, the four horseman following behind me. As soon as we reached the conference room I quickly sat down and watched as they sat opposite me. Even though part of me wanted to escape this room and be far away from Daniel, I couldn't help but find the other three fascinating. Henley giggled as she reached her foot underneath the table and began to twirl the chair opposite her around using her foot.

The only sound in the room was the sound of the chair clattering as Henley continued twirling it.

"Henley cut that out." Daniel hissed when he clearly couldn't stand the sound any longer.

It seemed strange to hear his voice again after all this time.

"It is so tense in this room." Henley sighed as she folded her arms and sat back in her seat.

"Yeah well I know the reason for that." Merritt stated, winking at me.

"So Amelia, what's your story?" Jack asked, clearly trying to fill the silence.

"I think Merritt pretty much covered most of it." I said quietly, glancing at Daniel who sat silently shuffling his deck of cards.

"I barely scratched the surface." Merritt argued.

"What about boyfriends, are you seeing anyone?" Jack asked me.

"Real subtle Jack." Henley smiled, elbowing him in the ribs.

"I was just asking a question." Jack cried, holding up his hands in surrender.

They both glared at each other and burst out laughing, I couldn't help but join in, their laughter was infectious. We stopped laughing and fell silent as Arthur entered the room.

"Right, let's get all the details worked out." he stated.