Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Novalee
Neon lights cut through the night as the Strip pulses with life.
Multi-colored lights ripple across the towering windows of the Harrington Heights, the Belmont Plaza, and the Lane Building, all three glowing facades standing like sentinels of the city I’ve called home for the last six years. The streets are cast in an eerie kaleidoscope of color and shadow as the crowd grows thicker with every passing minute.
I stand in the shadow of our van with Ace, balancing as best I can on rollerblades. The murmur of the gathering crowd rolls through the air like the low hum of an engine, vibrating in my chest.
Inside the van, Sylus is at work spreading the word on social media, making sure everyone in Vegas knows that the show is about to happen. They’re in for quite a night when it does.
Sylus is ready with everything he needs to orchestrate it all. The lights, illusions, massive screens, and camera-equipped drones are all prepared to create and broadcast an unmissable show.
Ace and I are dressed to blend seamlessly into the shadows. I’m wearing black leggings that hug my legs and a matching long-sleeve top that clings to my skin. Even my hair is braided tightly, thanks to Annabelle, who is somewhere in the crowd tonight, and a black mask that will come into play later is perched on top of my head.
I adjust the small black backpack over my shoulder, working through a catalog of its contents to help calm my nerves. Shoes, hotel key cards, tools from Sylus, a pair of black gloves, a flashlight.
My eyes flick to the ground in front of us, where there are two buckets filled to the brim with neatly stacked decks of cards.
I rock nervously on my wheels as I run out of things to check over. The simple, static act of waiting seems at odds with the bubbling energy of the crowd ahead, but I know I can’t let my restlessness break the rhythm of tonight.
It’s all about timing, and so far, our timing is perfect.
Ace shifts beside me, and I clock the agitated flick of his fingers. It seems we’re matching on every level tonight. A faint sheen of sweat shows along his jawline, and he looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here. The press of the crowd, the noise, and the energy around us are all wrong for him.
I continue rocking back and forth on my wheels, wishing there were some way to ease Ace’s tension. “You okay?” I murmur, keeping my voice low.
“Of course, he’s okay.” Sylus’s voice crackles in my earpiece before Ace can answer for himself. We’re all equipped with them now—well, almost all of us. Nicholas isn’t wearing his yet, as we couldn’t risk Veronica noticing anything unusual. “He was born for this day,” Sylus continues. “It’s his plan, Sparkle. He can do it.”
I reach for Ace’s hand, hoping he sees it for what it is, that I believe Sylus’s words. He accepts it, and after a few moments, the tension seems to physically bleed out of him. His fingers relax, and I take the opportunity to intertwine our fingers.
“Anyone see Ezra or Nico?” I ask, casting my gaze over the crowd.
It’s Koen who speaks next. “I saw Ez earlier. They’re both somewhere beside the Plaza, so make sure to keep an eye on cops when you get over there.”
“Got it,” I reply, filing the information away for later.
“Nico’s guiding Veronica to the front,” Koen continues, dry and amused. “Such a good boy.”
“Oh, shut up,” I mutter, even as I welcome the surge of amusement that pushes against my nerves. I turn my attention to Ace, and he smirks at me, confirming we’re still in sync. “Do you think the people are ready for this?”
Levi’s chuckle fills the earpiece. “Ready or not, they’re about to get it.”
“Damn right,” Sylus chimes in almost too excitedly, even for him, and I have to wonder if the others catch that nervous edge to his reply. “Let’s get this party started.”
The comms go quiet, and my pulse kicks up in response, each second stretching too long like the world itself is holding its breath.
Then, the crowd stirs as if everyone feels it, too, even if they don’t know why .
“As you wish,” Levi responds ominously.
And then…
… chaos.
There’s a ripple in both the crowd and the sky as shadows seem to materialize in the air, and everyone cranes their necks to try to make sense of what they’re seeing.
But I know exactly what they are.
Pigeons.
Dozens, no. Hundreds of birds descend onto the empty street, seemingly from thin air, blanketing the asphalt in a writhing, feathery mass.
The audience freezes, captivated by the sight for several long moments before the murmurs of confusion begin.
The towering screens on the Lane Building above us come to life, broadcasting a magnified view of the pigeons below. Feathers flash silver under the Strip’s lights in a display of pure anarchy, yet no one dares move.
“ Showtime,” Levi mutters, and the pigeons take flight as if responding to some unseen cue. They rise in a storm of wings and shrill cries, scattering in every direction, leaving the street momentarily empty.
Then the street comes alive, breathing heat and life into the sky as fire erupts from the pavement. The roaring columns of flame shoot skyward, drawing a collective gasp from the crowd. Anonymous faces are illuminated by the fire as the drones capture the entire scene and broadcast it to the screens, the looks of shock and awe turning to starstruck worship as the flames vanish from sight, revealing Levi—with Pebble on his shoulder—and Koen in the exact places the flames had just been.
The applause is instantaneous, a wave of sound crashing over us, a twin to the sound of the flock taking flight mere minutes ago. Levi grins, his smile wide as he waves to the crowd like he’s greeting old friends, dressed in his white glittery suit. Koen only bows slightly, his expression intense and reserved, firmly in his mentalist persona and usual black outfit.
Sylus’s drones switch from the audience’s reaction to the main event, and the twins’ larger-than-life figures light up the Lane Building. Koen’s piercing gaze is magnified to a stunning degree, his overwhelming presence even more commanding at that scale. I rock back on my rollerblades, my back hitting the van as my heart does a flip, unprepared for how breathtaking he looks.
“I want your babies, Koen,” a girl near me exclaims, and I tense as my head snaps in the direction of the sound. Ace chuckles as he tugs our intertwined hands and rolls me closer to him.
“Easy, Trouble,” he murmurs, his lips brushing against my temple as he presses a quick kiss there. His teasing cuts through the strange, misplaced flare of irritation in my chest. I swallow hard, forcing myself to look back at the twins and not at Ace or the girl.
Get a grip, Nova.
“Welcome, everyone!” Levi’s voice booms through the air. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? We’ve missed you.” The crowd erupts into cheers, and Levi’s grin widens as he spreads his arms wide and continues, “Tonight’s not just any show. It’s a special one. We’ve got a little magic, a little mischief, and maybe a few surprises. And trust me, you’ll want to stay until the end.”
Ace and I share a knowing look, wordlessly communicating the same thing.
Levi Lane was made for this.
“But tonight’s show isn’t only for you and us.” Levi’s grin softens as he takes a small step forward. “It’s for the man who made all of this possible. Oscar Lane.”
The crowd quiets, the energy seamlessly shifting from electric excitement to quiet reverence.
“Oscar wasn’t just the best magician Vegas has ever seen,” Levi continues. “He was a visionary. A man who didn’t just dream of a better Las Vegas but made it a reality. He brought magic not only to the stage but to people’s lives. He built community. He gave second chances. Everyone here is standing in a city he made brighter.”
Ace lets go of my hand and wraps his arm around my waist. I lean into him instinctively, wrapping my arms around his middle. The side of his head comes to rest on top of mine, and I feel his breathing deepen with emotion.
Levi glances at the screens overhead as a black-and-white image of Oscar appears, smiling in an easy, magnetic way that could make anyone believe in the impossible. “It always feels like he’s still here, doesn’t it?” Levi’s voice breaks slightly, but he pushes through it, his posture full of pride. “Not just because of the tricks we still do but because of the lives he touched. The hearts he changed. He might not be with us in body, but his magic lives on in every one of us.”
Koen steps forward and takes his place beside Levi as his twin holds a coin up for the crowd to see. Pebble shifts on his shoulder, ruffling her feathers and letting out a prolonged coo that gets picked up by the microphone.
“Sometimes it spins,” Levi says as he flips the coin high into the air. “And sometimes it falls.” The coin arcs gracefully, glinting silver under the neon lights before… nothing. It’s gone, vanishing mid-flight as if swallowed by the night itself.
There’s another inhale from the crowd followed by a rippling flow of murmured variations of “Where did it go?”
Koen raises his upturned palm to the sky as if summoning something from the void. From nowhere, the coin drops into his waiting hand as if gravity had just remembered it existed. He presents it to the crowd, raising his eyebrow in a subtle, self-assured way, and Levi smiles widely beside him.
The murmurs shift abruptly to gasps and scattered applause, and I can’t help but draw a sharp breath too. The seamless illusion even leaves me awestruck.
“That was Oscar’s signature move,” Ace murmurs beside me, somehow filled with both pride and grief.
A pang of regret tugs at me as I whisper, “I wish I could have known him.”
“I wish you could’ve, too, Sparkle,” Sylus’s voice cuts in softly through the earpiece. “He would’ve loved you.”
Ace squeezes me as if agreeing with him, and then Levi moves, drawing our attention back to the show. He takes the coin from Koen and flicks it into the air again, but this time, it doesn’t vanish or fall. Instead, it hovers in the air, and when Levi raises his hand and points his open palm in its direction, it begins to spin. Pebble lets out an excited trill as the coin goes faster and faster as if caught in some unseen current.
Koen produces his own coin and tosses it into the air, where it joins Levi’s, spinning side by side in perfect harmony. The crowd audibly reacts when more coins suddenly materialize out of thin air, some cascading from Levi’s hands while others appear between Koen’s fingers, all of them dancing through the night like a constellation brought to life. Koen and Levi interact with each other along the way, the two of them working together in a seamless dance of sleight and illusion.
The coins swirl faster, weaving through one another in impossible patterns. After a quick, shared smile, the twins shift, and the shimmering shapes gradually begin to align, forming two distinct shapes to create an emblem. An ‘O’ with an ‘L’ in the middle.
A literal glowing tribute to Oscar.
The symbol lingers, illuminated in the air like a beacon, the crowd staring on in silent awe.
After several long seconds of the illusion being broadcasted on the screens, there’s a faint shimmer, and the coins dissolve. Some scatter into mist, others explode into tiny, harmless sparks that drift down like glittering stardust.
As the last fragments fade into the night, a single intact coin remains. It floats downward gracefully, almost reverently, to land in Koen’s outstretched hand.
He holds it up, and with a quiet intensity that silences even the most awestruck murmurs, he says, “Two sides of one coin. Destiny calls.”
The crowd erupts into cheers, and even I can’t help but clap, my heart pounding.
Levi’s grin widens as Koen hands the coin to him, then he looks into the camera that projects his image onto the towering screen. “This one’s for you, Uncle Oscar,” he says softly, holding up the final coin, then he lets it vanish with a flick of his wrist.
The cheers swell, and my hands clench into fists at my sides, not out of anger or tension but from the sheer effort of keeping it together. The magic in the air feels too real, too overwhelming. It clings to my skin, and somewhere deep in my chest, I ache with the weight of loss—for a man I never knew, for the pieces of Ace and Sylus that still belong to him, for the way the twins’ grief radiates even as they dazzle the world.
I unclench my fists and rest my arms over Ace’s, where they still hold me, and glance up at him, finding his eyes fixed on the twins. There’s pride there, yes, but he looks like he’s carrying the same weight I feel.
But his shoulders are broader, stronger, steadier.
The crowd’s roar grows louder as Levi waves again, his grin spreading through them like wildfire, and I can’t help but wonder if they’ll ever understand what they’re really applauding.
This isn’t just a show.
It’s a promise.
A declaration.
And tonight is the start—and end—of something bigger than all of us.