Chapter Forty-Five
Even after practicing both routines for the past eight hours, Jack still felt sick to her stomach being up on the same stage upon which her mother had been brutally slain.
Every time she looked down at the wooden floor, all she could see was the final image of her mother, her white dress stained crimson, while her father cradled her lifeless body in his arms, pleading with her not to leave them.
“Are you all right, Jack?” Cordy asked as she came up beside where Jack was standing off to the side of the stage, hidden by the thick, black curtains as the audience began to trickle into the theater, making their way to their seats.
Quickly, Jack nodded, not wanting her friend to see how it was all still affecting her. Something she could not allow to affect her, especially not tonight when everything was on the line.
“It’s to be a full house tonight, isn’t it?” Cordy asked, staring past her at the audience with a look of trepidation on her face.
“It is.” Mr. Finnegan had checked in with them earlier and said that the theater manager had just confirmed that every available ticket had sold out within an hour of being released earlier in the day.
Apparently, they’d never sold out so quickly for any one show before. Not even for her father’s performances.
Mr. Finnegan had been beside himself with glee, but all Jack had been able to do was nod, her stomach already tying itself up in knots with the thought of performing live on this stage of all stages while trying to do justice to the illusions her father had once performed.
As a girl, all she’d wanted to do was perform on stage as a magician, thrilling and amazing the audience just like her father.
At the time, everyone had thought she’d been silly because girls weren’t magicians.
However, her father had always believed in her, encouraging her to be better than even he had been.
It had been a dream she’d thought long since dead…
though perhaps a part of her had wanted to return to her legacy.
Why she’d kept up her morning routine so vigorously over all these years.
And as she stood there looking out into the crowd of ladies and gentlemen all dressed in their finery, a part of her was reveling in the idea of performing in front of them, despite the situation.
Because if things went to plan, shortly, she’d in the hands of a killer.
At least Tobias and all his men would be waiting in the alley. If what they’d planned was what the killer had planned too…
She glanced again to the audience, who were completely oblivious that she stood in the shadowed wings of the stage watching them.
For a second, she wondered if perhaps Thomas Clorren was amongst them somewhere.
Was he waiting until she took to the stage so he could watch some of her performance before making his way out to the secret passage and into the staging room below?
Or was he already there, waiting in the wardrobe? Biding his time until she dropped from above and he would supposedly catch her unawares?
She began praying, which was something she hadn’t done in a long time. Praying that Mrs. Thompson was still alive, and that this whole endeavor would be to save her, not simply to play into a madman’s hands.
“Are you sure about this, Jack?” Sera asked as she came up beside the two women. “You can still back out, you know.”
Jack turned to face them both and reached out, taking each of their hands in her own. “I am. We will find Mrs. Thompson tonight, and we will end Thomas Clorren’s murderous rampage. We will.”
They all nodded and joined together for a group hug.
“It’s nearly time, ladies.”
Jack broke away from her friends and turned to Tobias. She’d never seen him looking so concerned before.
“I better go get into my position,” Cordy said, gently placing a hand on Jack’s shoulder and squeezing it. “Be safe, Jack.”
“You too, Cordy,” she replied before Cordy headed towards the far backstage.
Sera leaned over and gave her another quick hug. “You have your knife in your stocking, don’t you? And your derringer hidden too, don’t you?”
“I have both.” Though she doubted Thomas wouldn’t check her for weapons.
Sera pulled back and nodded. “Good. I’m still nervous I’m going to do something wrong and actually burn you alive…”
“We practiced and you will be fine.”
Sera cringed but gave a reluctant nod. “As Cordy said, stay safe, Jack.”
Then she twisted on her heel and rushed away, leaving Jack and Tobias alone.
“You don’t have to do this,” Tobias said, his voice more serious than she’d ever heard it before.
“Yes, I do.” Slowly, she reached out and took his hand in her own, squeezing it. “He’s coming for me either way. At least this way, it’s on our terms, and we know where he’ll be coming from, or at least we think we do, and we have everything in place to follow and catch him.”
Tobias nodded and gently squeezed her hand.
“Bugger this,” he growled, pulling her into his arms a second before his mouth came down upon hers.
His lips were hot and heavy, and so very soft all at once.
His very touch ignited a fire deep in her belly, making her yearn for more.
But then just as quickly, he pulled away from her and drew in a harsh breath.
“We will continue this”—he waved his hands between the two of them—“whatever this is between us, once this all done. I know you don’t want a liaison, Jack, but there’s something between us even you can’t deny. ”
He was right; she couldn’t. “Let’s get through tonight and then we can talk about it,” was all she would allow.
“I want you to promise me that if at any time, you’re at risk tonight, you’ll yell as loud as you can, and my men and I will break our cover and rescue you, do you understand? I know you want to save Mrs. Thompson, but she could be dead already, Jack—”
“I’m praying she’s not.”
“As am I, but if she is, then it’s not worth you also losing your life over. Do you hear me?”
Jack could see how tense he was holding his jaw, and she gently reached her hand out and cupped his cheek before leaning in and softly kissing his lips. “I hear you. But we must have faith that she’s alive and we will save her.”
Slowly, he breathed out. “All right, then, it looks like this show is about to begin.”
They stood staring at each other for a moment as the orchestra began to play and the lights started to dim. Then Mr. Finnegan came on stage to rapturous applause.
“Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed patrons of wonder and whimsy,” Mr. Finnegan began.
“Welcome to the hallowed halls of the Egyptian Hall, where the veil between the seen and the unseen thins to a whisper! Tonight, we gather not merely for a magic show, but for a reckoning of the soul—a special performance born of legacy, loss, and unyielding defiance!”
As Finnegan continued his introduction, Jack and Tobias gave each other one last glance before he nodded and she turned on her heel to face the stage. Her golden silk gown flashed under the stage lights, sparkling like shimmering diamonds.
She was wearing a Grecian ballgown just as the Burning Lady always did, but with a fitted gold jacket over it, containing several items she might need for later, while her red hair was left out in loose, flowing curls, falling down to her waist. Cordy had done her makeup to include black eyeliner and red rouge and lipstick, giving her the appearance of an exotic princess.
A princess who looked deceptively elegant, but underneath her skirts, she had an assortment of weapons that might be needed.
And though she knew Thomas would know she’d have some hidden on her, hopefully he wouldn’t find all of the items. Items that might potentially save her life.
“And without further ado, let me present to you all the daughter of the late and great Magnificent Maguire. Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you, the Jack of Hearts!”
Hearing her cue, she took a deep breath, pulled her shoulders back, and glided onto the center of the stage to thunderous applause. Her father’s reputation was enough to carry the crowd’s expectations of what she was to deliver them. An expectation she hoped she could live up to.
She thanked Mr. Finnegan, who then left the stage, leaving her alone as she turned to face the audience. Instead of the fear she’d expected, she felt emboldened. This was her legacy. This was where she was at home. The stage was her birthright.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for braving this reverent place tonight. A place of magic. A place of mystery. A place of murder… You have come for the wonder and spectacle of it all, which you shall have, I promise, but I…I have come for justice. Justice because some imposter, this so-called ‘Coffin Conjurer,’ skulks in the shadows and fog of our fair city, desecrating my father’s masterpieces into nothing more than a butcher’s blunder, unable to carry out the true magic of any illusion.
Perhaps he’s even here tonight, hidden amongst you all.
Why, he could be sitting right next to you… ”
The audience gasped at her words, turning from side to side and glancing at their neighbors seated next to them in suspicion.
“And if this fiend, this Conjurer is here, I say to him: you are a coward cloaked in borrowed glory. You think you’ve stolen my father’s fire?
That butchering his illusions makes you a master?
Come closer, then. Watch as I reclaim what’s mine.
Tonight, I perform not for applause, but to show everyone how illusions are done properly by someone who is a master, not a madman.
Tonight, you will gaze upon the Mystery of Maguire, where the body parts and the spirit endures, unbroken by the death you so effortlessly offer.
Then, you will witness the Burning Lady, who will rise not in agony, but in triumph from the pyre you want so desperately to light.
So, Conjurer—lurker in the dark, pretender to my father’s throne—do you dare emerge?
Or will you cower as I prove my father’s legacy lives on, untouchable, while yours crumbles to ash?
Ladies and gentlemen—let the magic begin! ”
With a snap of Jack’s fingers, small firecracker bursts erupted on the floor around her, an illusion itself, created by releasing some magnesium flash powder, hidden up her sleeves, that when dropped to the floor, landed on a pre-applied invisible film of diethyl ether.
The powders contacted with the residual liquid, creating small, flash bursts and sparks, without visible flames or residue.
The audience gasped and started to clap wildly, an electric tension all but thrumming in the air as the curtain parted behind her, revealing the stage for the first act.
Now all Jack had to do was see it through and hope the Conjurer would take her up on her challenge.
*
Thomas stood silently watching in the shadows while the crowd burst into thunderous applause all around him. They were mesmerized by the Jack of Hearts as she strode across the stage almost like she owned the very air around her while she wove her magic and dazzled them all.
There was an effortless grace to every move she made. A flow and a rhythm, making it impossible to detect any of her sleight-of-hand tricks as she deftly destroyed the line between reality and illusion.
She’d been foolish to think she could draw him out and catch him, like he were some alley rat she could corner, instead of the master of death that he was. But she would soon learn that all her illusions and skills couldn’t save her from the fate that he was shortly going to bestow upon her.
His eyes followed her on the stage as she finished the Mystery of Maguire Illusion with a flourish, the audience coming to their feet in applause once again. Even he had to admit he was impressed. She’d flawlessly executed the entire routine.
He wouldn’t have thought it possible for the Magnificent Maguire’s daughter to be as good as her father, but she wasn’t just as good, she was better than him.
Better in her patter. Better in her actions.
Better in her very presence up on the stage.
Everything about her was captivating: her auburn locks cascading down to her waist, her bright-blue eyes sparkling under the stage lights, and the gold silk of her gown perfectly complementing her divine figure.
She had been born to perform up there above them all, like some sort of goddess, sent down for a brief interlude with mere mortals.
Awe and envy sparkled in the eyes of the audience; all the women wanted to be her, and all the men wanted to possess her. Exactly as he wanted to possess her as well. And he would possess her. First in life and then lastly in death.
The very thought of filling her with himself and finally possessing her soul sent waves of ecstasy through his body. Ripples of delight and satisfaction that he knew would pale in comparison to finally feeling her blood on his hands.
Her death would be his ultimate victory.
A symbol that he was the true master and had avenged his family against the family who had destroyed his own. Then perhaps, finally, his father could be proud of him, and his mother would be avenged.
The Jack of Hearts waved her hands in the air with a flourish and small flashes of light seemed to burst from her hands onto the stage floor.
The audience gasped, then a second curtain pulled back to reveal a lone wooden table standing in the middle of the stage, with four large candles burning brightly, all positioned in a circle on the floor around the table.
“Behold the Burning Lady,” she purred to the crowd below, her gaze sweeping the hall searching him out, he could tell. “The Conjurer’s kiss only seeks to extinguish, but I will show you all the power of magic, and from flame to rebirth, I will reappear. I will be the Burning Lady!”
That was his cue. Soon she would step onto the table and have her assistant cover her in a silk cloth before setting fire to it.
She would disappear, of course, from the perfectly hidden trapdoor built into the top of the table, but she thought she would be falling onto the sandbag in the room below.
She had no idea that there was a second trapdoor, underneath the sandbag, leading to a hidden subbasement.
It was a trap and secret passage none of them knew existed. A trap below which he would be waiting for her. A trap that led to another exit, where no police were watching, and that he would effortlessly escape through with his prize.
Thomas laughed to himself. They thought he’d be arriving via the wardrobe passage instead. Wouldn’t they all get a shock and really see the magic unfolding when the Jack of Hearts disappeared forever?