A Twist Of Magic

Chapter Twenty Seven

"What is magic...magic is deception, but deception designed to delight, to entertain to inspire...it is about belief..." Daniel's voice rang out as his image was projected onto the side of the building.

"Faith." Merritt joined in.

"Trust." Henley piped up.

"Without those qualities, magic as an artform would no longer exist." Merrit said.

"But what happens when these qualities are not used for their higher purpose and instead they are used to cheat and lie." Henley stated.

"For personal gain or for greed...well then it's no longer magic." Daniel said.

"It's crime." Merritt agreed.

"And so tonight for our final act, you're going to help us set a few things right." Henley smiled.

The lights began to flash and the crowd erupted as the three of them took to the stage.

"Hello New York!" Henley cried, causing the crowd to cheer even more.

"Welcome to our third and final show." Merritt joined in.

"We have a little surprise for one member of the audience!" Daniel stated. I smiled slightly as the crowd jumped up and down excitedly, all hoping that it would be them that got picked.

Henley laughed and put her hand to her ear, pretending that she was listening to the crowd.

"Would Amelia Blake please come up on the stage!" Merritt called.

Daniel locked eyes with me in the crowd and I slowly shook my head, giving him the signal that I didn't want to come up on stage.

"Come on Amelia, you need to help us with our trick." Henley encouraged.

I blushed as a spotlight shined on me. I knew that there was no way of getting out of it, so I took a deep breath and reluctantly walked onto the stage.

"Give a big round of applause for Mia!" Daniel said as he winked at me and casually rested his arm on my shoulders.

The crowd cheered and clapped as I stood on the stage awkwardly.

"Okay, so I have an ordinary deck of cards here." Daniel stated, as he showed the crowd his deck of cards.

"Now Mia, if you pick a card at random and don't show it to me." Daniel instructed.

My hands were shaking as I gently took a card. Daniel winked at me and walked over the other side of the stage.

"Now write your full name onto the card with this." Merritt stated, handing me a marker pen.

I took the pen from him and quickly wrote my name on the front of the two of hearts card.

"Now take this." Henley stated, handing me a rubix cube. I smiled at her as she handed me the paper bag that I used for doing my rubix cube trick. I quickly placed the cube into the bag, snapped my fingers and pulled out a completed cube. Merritt quickly took the bag from me and showed the crowd that it was empty. The crowd cheered and clapped. My eyes were drawn to the cube as I noticed that one of the sides had lifted up, almost like there was a secret compartment. Before I had a chance to peer into the compartment, Daniel walked over to me and held out his hand for the card. I watched as he gazed at me and gently blew onto the card. He smiled slightly and handed me the card back.

"Now read it out loud." Daniel told me as he watched me intensely.

I frowned as I gazed at the card and saw that it was no different than before. It still just said my name. I glanced up at Daniel who nodded at me in reassurance.

"It says Amelia Blake.." I started. I gasped to myself as more words started to appear as I read.

"Start again." Daniel said gently.

"Amelia Blake...will...you...marry...me." I read.

"Oh my god!" I gasped as I finally realised what the card said.

"Take a look in the box." he told me.

I glanced at him and did what he said...gasping as I pulled out a beautiful diamond ring.

"Danny." I whispered, tears filling my eyes as I glanced around at the crowd who were cheering excitedly.

Daniel reached over and gently took the ring from my hand. He smiled as he got down on one knee and held the ring up to me.

"So what's your answer?" he asked, sounding slightly nervous.

My brain was spinning as I stood gazing down at Daniel. We weren't even together, so why was he asking me to marry him? It didn't make any sense.

"I love you." Daniel mouthed. I stared into his blue eyes and slowly nodded. He stood up quickly and gently placed the ring on my finger.

"Thank you everyone for being such a dedicated audience, but unfortunately all good things must come to an end." Henley stated.

"What's going on?" I whispered to Daniel who quickly took my hand.

"Just stay with me." he whispered back.

"It's time for us to say goodbye." Merritt announced.

The crowd watched in awe as the four of us ran towards the edge of the building.

"Danny?" I questioned.

"Just trust me." he shouted above the noise of the crowd.