"This, ladies, is a replica of Jackson Strange's transparent box," Benny said, slapping his hand atop it as Allie and Zoe sat on a couch in front of him. They were currently in Benny's loft, his girlfriend at work. Allie and Zoe exchanged a look and then looked back at Benny.
"Where did you even get this?" Allie asked. "Does that matter?" Benny asked, shrugging. "I'm just curious how one goes about procuring a transparent box," Allie said, "I mean, I get that we're magicians, but still, I can't imagine you can just call someone up and ask if they have them readily available. How hard was it to get this thing? How much did you pay?" "Listen," Benny said, "none of that matters. All that matters is I have it, okay? And now, it's up to us to-" "Does your girlfriend know you bought this?" Zoe asked. "Oh, that's a good question," Allie said, snapping her fingers and pointing at Benny, adding, "did she get mad when it showed up?" "What is wrong with you two?" Benny asked, annoyed, "we're committing a crime, here, why are you so stuck on how I got it? Who cares how I got it?! I got it! That's all that matters! Now, are you gonna help me figure out how to vanish in something everyone can clearly see through, or would you rather just ask me stupid questions?" "I kinda am having fun annoying you, honestly," Allie said, "but you're right, we should get down to business. So, what do you have to tell us about it?" Benny sighed and walked to the back of the box, unlatched it and pulled the back open, stepping inside, closing the entrance behind himself. Allie and Zoe leaned forward and looked confused. He wasn't visible. Somehow, despite walking inside of a seemingly transparent box, he wasn't visible. Benny then came back out and walked back around to the front of the box, grinning. "It's a two way mirror, inserted halfway," Benny said, "that's how he does it. There's a small section, just long and tall enough to conceal him in the middle of the box, where he can see out of, but nobody can see him. This gives him the illusion of having vanished. It's actually pretty simple, which isn't surprising, given he seemed pretty simple." "Someone sounds jealous," Allie murmured. "I'm not going to stoop to allow myself to be jealous of an idiot," Benny said, "the real question is...once he's hidden, how does he get out. That's the real trick, and if we can crack that, then we'll be golden." "...I'm gonna get some snacks. We're gonna be here a while," Allie said, standing up from the couch. *** Rachel St. Sebastian was lying on her side on her bed, staring at the wall. She'd never felt more conflicted in her life. She felt a hand creep up onto her hip and she tensed up. She knew Claire wasn't awake, she could hear her lightly snoring, but still...something about her being so close...though, how much closer could they get after last night, really? Rachel quietly slipped out of bed and pulled on some underwear and a loose shirt, then headed out the hall towards her kitchen. She started to make some coffee, and, standing there watching it drip, she thought how easy it'd be. Claire was sleeping. It wouldn't even hurt. She had all the necessary supplies downstairs. She could simply knock her out further with ether and kill her painlessly, and would anybody even care? She was a serial killer, after all. Rachel would probably be hailed a hero of some kind. She tapped her nails lightly on the countertip and bit her lip. But she loved her. She couldn't do that to someone she loved, someone who was finally reciprocating the feelings she'd long since had for her. That would just be plain sick. She suddenly heard moans from upstairs, and figured Claire was waking up. Rachel felt herself shift within her skin, almost purely out of fear. Why did she even come here? What could she possibly need from Rachel now? The coffee finished preparing, and Rachel quickly grabbed two mugs and filled them up, then headed back to the bedroom, where she found Claire sitting up in bed, and for a brief moment as she entered the room - seeing the morning early afternoon sun coming in through the half shut blinds and dancing on Claire's red hair - Rachel felt a pang in her heart of genuine adoration. She smiled and handed a mug to Claire, who happily took it and sipped it as Rachel seated herself back on the bed. "Did you sleep well?" Rachel asked quietly, and Claire nodded. After a few minutes of silence and drinking, Claire set her mug down on the bedside table, then climbed on her knees behind Rachel, putting her arms around her shoulders and nuzzling her neck with her lips, making Rachel shiver and blush, giggling like an adolescent teenage girl. "I need you," Claire whispered, and Rachel nodded. Who was she kidding. She would do anything Claire asked, no matter how toxic and one sided this relationship was. That's kind of what love does to a brain. It makes you stupid. *** "It just needs to appear like we were never there," Allie said, pacing circles around the box, "it just needs to seem like nobody came in or exited. That's why cracking this thing is so important. Because if it looks like anyone came in, the first person he's gonna suspect is Molly, because she's the only other one with knowledge of it. I don't want to put her in any further danger than she's already in." "That's noble of you," Zoe said, her and Allie exchanging an uncomfortable glance. Allie sighed and knelt in front of Zoe, putting her hands on her knees. "Listen, I didn't want to drag you into anything either, but you're my partner in magic, you're the only other magician whose skills I trust-" Allie started. "Uh, rude, in the room," Benny said from behind, shaking his head. "-but," Allie continued, "I don't want you to be involved in this either. After you help me crack this thing, you just go do whatever it is you want, okay? Leave the rest to Benny and I, because you deserve a break after what I've put you through. I'm sorry I have turned your life into a spectacle of crime, that's not something I ever wanted for you, and you deserve better from better people than me." Zoe was, admittedly, surprised at this statement. Her eyebrows raised, and a little weak smile broke out on her lips as she nodded. Allie was, if nothing else, at least maturing to recognize how her actions affected others. Being sober probably helped in that regard. "Well," Zoe said, standing up and smoothing out her skirt, "in that case...I think we should take a lesson from Occam's Razor, in that the simplest solution is often the correct one. If you want to get into something, it has to look seamless, that's the whole trick to the box, right? His disappearance is seamless. They might question how it happens, but they don't question that it happened. We need that level of acceptance. And how do you do that? With something that, just like the box, blends in with itself." Benny and Allie looked at one another, then Benny glanced back at Zoe and furrowed his brow. "Are you saying..." he asked. "Yeah," she replied, grinning, "fake wall. Think of the hangman illusion. You've got someone clearly about to be hanged, a real rope, a real stage, or at least real enough to be accepted as fact. Props that don't look like props are never questioned. That's why the box is so perfect, because it's designed to look like something we're all aware of the visual of. Nobody questions a box, and nobody..." Zoe said, putting her hand on the box now, smiling, "...questions a wall." *** Rachel St. Sebastian had never really had what others might call a 'successful relationship', and the fact that the closest she'd come thusfar was with a serial killer who ran a cult proved she wasn't going to anytime soon. In fact, for a majority of her life, Rachel had rarely had relationships at all. Despite being constantly chased after by other women, she wasn't all that interested in them most of the time, and the few she was were never interested in her in the same way. So Rachel St. Sebastian focused on the dead. She focused on those who couldn't judge her and, instead, would likely be grateful for her help. And this level of desperation for acceptance was becoming all the more clear with Claire's requests for help. "They want me to turn on her," Claire said, sitting at the kitchen table, sipping her coffee as Rachel made breakfast; Claire continued, "they want me to lure her somewhere where they can approach her, because they know she and I have spoken. The question is...should I? I have nothing but respect for Allie. I mean, let's face it, she killed a man and put him in a box, and I killed people and put them in walls. We're not so different. It'd be like turning on myself." "Mmm," Rachel said, flipping her eggs, "but...but she's not you, you know that, right?" "I'm well aware, yes," Claire said, lightening a cigarette and taking a long inhale, "but when you're so similar to someone, it's hard to want to hurt them without feeling like you're hurting yourself. Besides, she at least had noble reasons for what she did. I didn't. I was just sick." Rachel smirked as she seasoned her eggs and continued cooking. At least, if nothing else, it seemed Claire was acknowledging her faults and taking responsibility for them. That was progress. The lowest level of progress, but progress nonetheless. Everyone's got to start somewhere. "And why do you need my help, exactly?" Rachel asked over her shoulder. "Because I need a mediator. I can't risk exposing myself," Claire said, "I need to keep as low a profile as possible, which means I need you to set up a meeting between Allie and I. Please Rachel, I...I really really need you right now." Rachel blushed and plated her eggs, then plated some for Claire and sat herself and the plates down at the table. Rachel looked at Claire, who held her mug in her lap, both hands cupped around it and her eyes looking down at her legs. Claire seemed...uncertain of herself, and it wasn't something Rachel was used to seeing from her. Even when she'd known her to be on medication, Claire had always been confident, but now she seemed rather cautious. "...please Rachel," she whispered, sounding like she was going to cry, "you're the only one I have." "I got you," Rachel said, reaching out and touching her leg, smiling. Rachel would do anything for Claire, and that unrestricted loyalty terrified her. *** Allie was standing at the box while Zoe pulled her jacket on and looked back at her. Benny was in his kitchen, getting a drink. Zoe approached Allie and tapped her on the arm, causing her concentration to break and make her chuckle. "Sorry," Allie said, "lost in thought." "I'm gonna go," Zoe said, "Effie and I are supposed to have dinner together. You gonna be okay?" "Yeah, I'll be fine," Allie said, waving her hand at Zoe, "don't worry about me, you go and have a nice dinner. Tell Effie I said hi." Zoe nodded, hugged Allie and then exited the apartment. As the door closed, Benny walked back to Allie and the box, standing opposite of it from her, taking a long drink from the uncapped bottle of soda he'd gotten. After a moment Allie glanced up and their eyes met. "You sure about this?" Allie asked, and Benny shrugged. "Not really sure about anything to be honest, I don't have much self confidence," Benny said, making Allie chuckle as he added, "but Allie, if there's one thing I know, it's magic. You and I both know magic. Between the three of us, I think we can pull this off. Fuck Tony, he deserves to be taken down a notch." Zoe chewed on her lip and nodded slowly. "...Zoe's not coming," Allie said, making Benny raise an eyebrow in surprise. "She's not?" "She's not," Allie said, "I've done so much damage to her life. I can't make her go any further. Molly too. Once we get in, she's out. Are you absolutely certain you wanna be a part of this? You could go to jail." "I'm a magician, my life is already a kind of prison," Benny said, making Allie throw her head back and laugh. Allie hugged Benny, got her own jacket on, thanked him for getting the box and then headed out herself. As she got into the elevator and headed back down to surface level, she couldn't stop thinking about how they were going to manage to pull this off. It was going to be one hell of a stunt, if accomplished correctly. Her thoughts then turned back to Zoe, and she grimaced. All Zoe had wanted to do was perform magic with her idol, and what had Allie done to her life? Absolutely destroy it. Kill a man for her. Rope her into covering up multiple crimes. The gravity of the ongoing situations was starting to wear on her conscious. As she reached the bottom of the complex, and headed into the parking garage pulling her keys out, she heard Zoe suddenly and turned to see her standing there. "...what...I thought you left," Allie said, "What are you still-" "Come here," Zoe said quietly, and Allie nodded, following her. They walked between a handful of closely parked cars, like tins of sardines in a case, past pillars of varying numbers and letters, only to finally reach a small black car that was idling. Zoe and Allie stopped, and Allie looked at Zoe, confused, but Zoe just shook her head. The car door opened and out stepped Rachel St. Sebastian. "Oh," Allie said, almost sounding relieved, "it's just you. What...what are you doing here? How did you even know where I'd be?" "You're not a hard person to track down, contrary to the police's belief," Rachel said, standing by the drivers side door, hand on the top, "but I'm not the one who wants to see you. You guys should get in." Zoe and Allie waited a moment, then they walked to the car and, Zoe getting into the front passenger seat and Allie climbing into the backseat, Rachel climbed back into the drivers seat and slammed her door shut, starting the car up proper. Allie coughed and waved at the smoke that had filled the car, only to recognize Claire's face as she did so. Claire just smiled at her. "Hi Allie," she said. "...you're out?" Allie asked quietly, shocked. "We have a lot to talk about," Claire said, "Rachel, drive." Rachel pulled out of the parking space, reversed and headed towards the parking garage exit, heading off to god knows where. They didn't know at the moment the car hit the street, basking in the glow of the early evening sun, but in less than 24 hours, their whole lives would change drastically again.
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ABOUT
Allie Meers is what she dreamed of being since she was a little girl...a successful Vegas magician. The only problem now is she can't make all her problems disappear; Allie grapples with her strained relationship, crippling addictions and FBI agents on her tail, all while trying to stay at the top of her career. Archives
December 2023
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