Now You Don't

Chapter 6: Smartest Guy in the Room

I guess it was okay to say, that Daniel had laid off Jack. He didn't like it if Jack was extremely close to me all the time, but he didn't mind us hanging out.

I was getting stressed out at the moment, and not even Jack could calm me down. It had been 3 months since we had been at that apartment, surveying blueprints.

Now, we were going through this for real. Mr Tressler seemed to really like our acts, and decided to sponsor us.

I couldn't wait to get to the theatre and start getting ready for our first show. As we got out of the car, my heart started pounding again. What if the show didn't work? What if it went horribly wrong?

I shook my head, disposing of the thought and walked inside the tall black theatre. The show was only in an hour.

After we had made our way backstage the others got changed and I made sure everything was set.

"It's not too late to change your mind about coming on stage." Jack had sat down a seat away from me.

I shook my head. "I have already organised a four person act. It won't work if I'm on stage." I said, pointing my head towards the laptop screen.

Jack was about to move closer when Daniel came and sat in the middle. Jack chuckled, and gave me a smile before standing up. "I'm gonna go make sure I'm ready." He said, before walking over to Henley and Merritt.

I turned to Daniel. My heart started pounding furiously again. "What if it doesn't work? What if the FBI get ahead of us? What if something bad happens? What if the audience doesn't like it? What if Merritt can't hypnotise Etienne-" I started spitting out question after question until Daniel interrupted me.

"Woah Emma! It's gonna be fine!" Daniel said.

"You know why?" Henley asked, walking over to the couch.

"Because your the one you planned it." Jack said, walking over as well.

Merritt pushed through them. "Also, we are pretty awesome. We can handle this." He said.

We all laughed. There was a knock on the door and a stage hand walked in, carrying a clip board. "You guys are on in 5." He said, before walking out.

We all stood up and walked out of the backstage dressing room and the others filed onto the stage in the darkness. I stayed behind the stage so I could watch them on the screen.

Spotlights came on and focused on the gang. At this point, I was very excited. I sat back and watched them unfurl their tricks. Then the time came for the final trick. I was a little nervous. This has taken months to plan.

They made it look so easy, but it was extremely difficult. I watched the screen as Henley reached into her jacket pocket and flicked out a silky violet scarf, which grew in size as it flew around in circles and revealed a large metal machine underneath.

The audience was gonna love this.

* * *
"Oh my gosh, guys, that was amazing!" I ran over to them and hugged Daniel.

"We gotta be quick." Daniel noted. "We have to get back to the apartment and pack for tomorrow. The FBI will be there in the morning." He said.

"Just saying Lex, I don't really WANT to go to jail.." I said.

"We only just stole 3.2 million euros and gave it to an audience of about 300." Jack said.

I laughed as we walked out of the theatre and filed into the car. I sat in between Jack and Daniel, while Merritt sat on the other side of Jack and Henley next to Daniel.