THE EMPRESS | NYSM

ACT TWELVE

THE EYE

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WITHOUT the city's light, the park seemed darker than usual. Of course, Elizabeth barely got out the city and it would be once in a while that she would be at Central Park. "I'm not planning on dying today. Tuesday, maybe, but not on a Monday." Elizabeth joked.

The Horsemen flashed their light and saw a closed gate. Now, they wondered about how they were going to get through. For a group of people who knew how to rob a bank, it was ironic that they couldn't unlock a gate. "Really, guys."

Daniel shushes Elizabeth up and she frowns. Daniel fiddles with the lock that kept the park gate closed. "It's locked," Henley states the obvious. Elizabeth looks through the bars, checking to see if there was anything or anyone on the other side that could be useful. To her and the Horsemen's surprise, there was.

"Weren't you listening?" A voice says. That voice belonged to none other than the infamous Jack Wilder. "Nothings ever locked." He said as he strutted towards the four. A smirk appeared on both Henley and Elizabeth's face as they saw Jack on the other side.

Henley gave him a small applaud for his awesome return. "Well done, Mr. Wilder! Good work." Merrit exclaimed. Without any hesitations, Jack picks the lock and is successful in opening the gates. He welcomes his fellow Horsemen and they enter.

They walk around the park in search of Lionel Shrike's tree. The same tree he had put a card in. "What if this leads us getting mugged in Central Park at 2:00 AM?" Merritt jokes but it sounded as if he was serious. Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the mentalist.

"No, I'm telling you, we're right where we need to be," Daniel reassures the group. "We just have to find-"

Daniel's words are interrupted when Henley turns around and sees what they have been looking for the whole time. She flashes her light to get a clear view, "That?" She asks.

Everyone turns around and sees that it is the tree they have been looking for. "The Lionel Shrike tree," Elizabeth speaks out. "And the card encased in glass," Henley says.

They all walk towards the tree, unsure of what to do next. "What do we do now?" Merritt speaks his mind.

Elizabeth's thoughts bring her to take out her tarot card. The one with the eye on the back. Everyone else copies her actions and takes out their own cards. They place them on top of each other, magnetically connecting to each other. Magically, the card morphs into one transparent card with the same eye symbol that was on the back. Henley waves the card in front of the card encased in glass, hoping for it to do something.

With surprise, it did. The card glowed turning on something in the distance. The sound of the roundabout's music started to play, catching the attention of the five Horsemen in the background. Elizabeth flashed her light at the roundabout, curious about what's inside.

The Horsemen walk to where the noise came from. They were greeted and surprised at the carousel's fancy lights and by the man who stood in front of the ride. Dylan Rhodes.

"No way," Elizabeth mumbled underneath her breath.

Merritt expressed his feelings out loud. "That's impossible!" He exclaimed.

So did Jack, "Woah!"

When they were much closer, Elizabeth was shocked. "That was actually, pretty good," Daniel said with a smirk on his face.

"Thank you," Dylan said.

"When I said, "Always be the smarted guy in the room." Dylan finished his sentenced.

"We were in agreement," 

"Okay, right," Daniel whispered.

Henley walked towards Dylan in complete utter shock. She was speechless. Frozen. Words were not able to spill from her red stained lips. "Henley," Dylan nodded and Daniel laughed. "I've never seen her speechless," He says with a light chuckle.

A smile appeared on Dylan's face as he reaches out to shake the redhead's hand. "I'll take that as a huge compliment,"

Jack, on the other hand, was feeling apologetic more than shocked. To realize that this was the man he had thrown cards at, he knew he had a shit ton of apologizing to do. "Hey, man. I'm so sorry for kicking your ass. Really,"

Merritt comes up and reassures Dylan that he's 100% a believer. "Just for the record. I have always have been a 100% believer and the amount of energy I have expended to keep these infidels-" Henley laughs and playfully hits Merritt on the shoulder. "Merritt, you're in," Dylan says.

"And last but not least, Queen Elizabeth," Dylan teased a nickname. A nickname that only one person Elizabeth knew called her. Dylan Shrike.

When the nickname rang through her ears, she couldn't believe it. It was like a plot twist from a movie. "Shrike?" Elizabeth asked with wide eyes. The smile on Dylan's face brightened. His best friend for over 10 years was back and God did it feel good for everything to be done. Elizabeth throws herself at Dylan to engulf him in a hug.

 "Are we missing something or do you two know each other?" Merritt interrupts the two. Elizabeth pulls away from their hug and lets out a chuckle, forgetting to explain their relationship. "Dylan and I go way back. We became best friends through our dads. But I left for school and we haven't talked since." Elizabeth smiled at Dylan and playfully hit him.

"You're that old?" Merritt asked, chuckling in between.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the mentalist's joke. "See what I had to go through for a year?" She said, turning to Dylan. They share a quick laugh before Dylan instructs them to follow him. 

"The real magic is taking five strong solo acts and making them all work together. And that's exactly what you did," Dylan backs up in to the line of the carousel. "So, welcome," 

"Welcome to the Eye." Dylan says before stepping on to the turning platform of the carousel. The five Horsemen run in to the inside fence, standing in front of the turning carousel. Elizabeth turns to Daniel and then to the rest of the other Horsemen. They all share a look that all of them knew what they were saying. 

Without hesitating, they all jump on the turning carousel.

Becoming apart of the Eye.