THE EMPRESS | NYSM

ACT TWO.

THE BLUEPRINTS
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MARCH 29. Fifteen minutes till 4:44 PM, the time she was instructed to be there. She had already arrived at the building, the thing was she stood outside still debating on whether she should go. The suns out in New York, it's warm and the building looks pretty old. It was clear that this wasn't another magic show, she was at a old apartment with rust covering its railing.

It was a big building but it seemed empty. Not a single person stepped out the door. Everything is rusted and old to the point no one seemed to walk anywhere near it.

She held the tarot card in her hand, looking down she checks the address once again and she's given the same answer.

Elizabeth makes a quick decision knowing that whatever she does, she needs to be prepare for this. Getting a random tarot card out of nowhere wasn't just a trick someone wanted to play on her, this could be something more serious. She crosses the pedestrian and walks over to the entrance of the building.

Upon arriving at the designated floor, she could hear talking meaning she wasn't alone. As she reaches the stairs she sees that not she's not the only one who's been given a tarot card.

"No way, J. Daniel Atlas. Dude, I've seen everything that you have ever done. I idolize you." A voice says.

"From a true fan. It's so nice to meet you." Another says.

It was clear that there was more than one person on the floor, meaning how many more could've received the cards.

When she reaches the final stairs, she sees four people. Three men and one woman. They all stop their talking to glance back at the next stranger walking up, when they turn Elizabeth was shocked to see who was one of them. "Oh." Was all she was able to say.

"You're the girl next door." The mystery man says.

"And you're the sex obsessed dude." Elizabeth says.

"Sex obsessed? I don't think that I have that much—"

"Yeah, you might want to keep your girl down."

The man with the black velvet hat turns and looks at the two. "I'm guessing you got a card too?" The man with the hat says.

With one swift motion the tarot card that was sent to her by mail appeared between her fingers. "J. Daniel Atlas." Atlas says, as he reaches his hand out for Elizabeth to shake in which she politely does. After all this time, she finally gets to know his name. She's shocked that this is the J. Daniel Atlas she heard about around the neighbourhood. She's never went to one of his shows hence why she didn't recognize him, but since she never bothered to talk to him or ask for his name she never knew he was the famous magician living next door.

"Merritt McKinney." Merritt has his hand out the same way Atlas had his out for Elizabeth to shake. She does it as a polite gesture. She turns to around and sees two more people, a red-head and a brunet. "Henley Reeves." The red-head says.

"Jack Wilder." Jack says, and Elizabeth just nods.

"And you are?" Atlas asks, and Elizabeth gasp forgetting to introduce herself to a couple of new strangers. "Elizabeth Marigold."

"Did you get one of these?" Merritt asks Jack, and without hesitating Jack reaches for his right front pocket of his jeans, pulling out the same type card she received. "Death." Jack says.