Witnesses

Chapter 7

"That one." Miles pointed at a large black building with a large silver crow above the entrance. "Let's go."

"Alright." Sam replied, and they began to make their way over to the palace. However, as they neared the establishment, they were stopped by a magician.

"Hello, friends! Do you want to see a magic trick?" The man was wearing gaudy colors, and he smiled widely at the two.

Hawthorne grinned at Miles. "I don't see why not."

"I do, but I'm not gonna stop you. Just meet me at the club." Miles replied. "And don't get carried away."

"Don't worry, I won't." Hawthorne said quickly, before turning back to the magician. "Now, show me what you can do."

"Gladly." The man said, before taking out a cup and a wine bottle. He slammed the cup down on the top of the bottle and made it swallow it whole. He then looked up and reached into his throat, before pulling out the aforementioned wine bottle with no damage or spit on it.

"Brilliant, my friend." Hawthorne replied, then rubbed his hands. "Now, do you want to see a real magic trick?"

"What, you mean you're Grisha?" The other magician laughed, before waving it off. "Sure."

"Perfect." Hawthorne smirked, before taking out a revolver that he'd nicked off a passerby. "Now, I want you to shoot this right at me."

The man flipped open the chamber, and upon seeing it was loaded, looked back at Hawthorne hesitantly. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Hawthorne said, before stepping back a few paces. A small following had gathered around them. "Now, fire once, and only once."

"Alright then," The magician said, then lined up the shot and fired.

The results were instantaneous. Hawthorne's head snapped back, and he stumbled back as the magician dropped the gun in horror. "Oh, Ghezen. I've killed him, haven't I?"

"No, you haven't." Hawthorne spat out the bullet, then coughed as the onlookers moved to drop money into the man's hat. "That, my friend, is called the bullet catch."

"But...how?" The man faltered, but Hawthorne only gave him a cryptic smile.

"A magician never reveals his secrets." He said, before turning away from the man. "Now, I have places to be and things to do. Best of luck to you."

With that, he made his way to the obsidian palace, the doors swinging open easily for him. There, he found Miles drinking at the bar.

"How did it go?" The gunslinger said as he took a seat beside him.

"Pretty good." Hawthorne replied as he got a drink of his own. "Caught a bullet with my teeth after I showed him what he could do. Pretty fun time, in all."

"Good," Miles said after they had both taken a swig. "Let's continue to enjoy ourselves, while we're here."

"Right," Hawthorne said, and they both continued to drink, before a thought occurred to the magician. "Say, what was life like before joining the Witnesses?"

The gunslinger was silent for a moment before he responded. "Life was...good, before I became a Witness. But it was also tough."

At that, Hawthorne frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I was in a gang." The gunslinger explained, before taking out a photograph depicting several men and women together, all dressed in clothes befitting the old west. "We scraped by on jobs. Some were good, others we botched. There were a few we definitely got lucky on, but we got by."