Rock Bottom (Tristan & Danika #2) (42 page)

A glowing, swirling blue circle appeared on the ground beneath him, then began to grow in size.
 

“Keep this to yourself,” Jillian said quietly as she passed me.
 

Christian waved at the audience, and then stepped into the circle.
 
He began to descend into the circle, disappearing slowly into the ground.

Jillian’s sister went next, hurrying, and not so much as glancing back at the audience that watched the trick, enthralled.
 
In fact, she kept her back to them all as she followed Christian, sinking into that glowing blue circle.
 

I was quite impressed myself, because I couldn’t see how they were doing it, and my eye was trained well to catch that sort of thing.
 

Jillian waved at me, at the audience, as she approached the blue sphere.
 
It just kept growing.
 
“Magic, by the talented illusionist, Tristan Vega!” she called out, gesturing towards me.
 

The crowd erupted in applause even as she vanished into the ground.
 

The entire circle vanished with her, and even I couldn’t see a trace of where they could have gone.
 
They must have opened a trap door, and somehow I’d missed it.
 
Unlikely, but the only logical explanation.
     

I threw a hand out, gesturing towards the spot where they’d disappeared.
 
I had no idea if they even planned to come back to take a bow, but I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.
 
“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give a nice healthy round of applause for The Dragon Slayers!”

The crowd erupted.
 
I clapped with them, baffled and amused by the entire thing.

I didn’t get around to asking James about it for nearly a week, as we were sitting down for lunch.
 
I just assumed he’d put the entire thing together.
 
Only he would go to some much trouble just to harass me.
 
Plus, he owned the place.

“Nice job on those actors, by the way,” I told him.
 
“Where on earth did you find them?
 
They up and comers?”

He shot me an amused smile.
 
“What on earth,” his tone was succinct, “are you going on about now?”
 

I laughed.
 
“I know it was you.
 
And how did you rig up those effects?
 
It was in
my
theatre.
 
I’ve gone over every inch of that place with a fine-tooth comb.
 
You’ll be happy to know that I studied the area for an hour after the show, and I still can’t figure out how they did it.”
 

He rolled his eyes.
 
“I do hope you haven’t started hitting the booze again.”

I laughed.
 
“Just tell me.
 
You win.
 
I couldn’t figure out the trick.
 
I know it was some sort of bait and switch, that somehow the robed guys set up the trick when they came in, or distracted me while the others set it up, but I still don’t know how they took all trace of it away with them.
 
Now tell me how
you
did it.
 
Is this some other act you’re hiring on?”
 

He shook his head.
 
“No clue what you’re referring to, and I can’t afford another act, not with what I’m paying you.”
 

I’d studied the footage myself, mere hours after the show.
 

James was thorough.
 
Even if this hadn’t been his doing, there was no way he hadn’t seen the film.

“Last Thursday night.
 
Those three…magicians?
 
Plus, like, a dozen extras.
 
I know you’ve seen the footage.”

“Thursday, you say?
 
All of the cameras went black that night.
 
It was strange, but things like this happen sometimes.
 
Are you telling me that something of interest happened on Thursday?”
 

I glared at him.
 
I felt like I was losing my mind, and I just knew that was his intention.
 
“Enough.
 
How long are you going to draw this out?”
 

He threw up his hands, but he was smiling, clearly amused.
 
“Go check for yourself.
 
Thursday was a wipe on the cameras.
 
And if some sort of prank was pulled during your show that night, you should be looking elsewhere, because it sure as hell wasn’t me.
 
Frankie maybe?”

“Maybe,” I said slowly.
 
It was starting to sink in that he really didn’t know about the stunt.
 
Who else would have the resources to do a thing like that?
 
Maybe he was right about Frankie.
 
Maybe she’d called in some favors.
 
She did know a lot of people in the entertainment industry.
 

I made a mental note to ask her about it later.
 
I’d really like to know how they’d managed that trick on
my
stage.
 

More crossover fun coming soon to www.rklilley.com