Since you all earned it, here's the ending.
Its been fun. I'll miss you all :-(
~Mia
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"in the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take."
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THE CAR RIDE TO Central Park was silent.
Everyone was off in their own imagination, trying to figure out who the sixth horsemen was.
It's over.
No more performances.
No more heists.
"Guys," Maeve broke the silence. While Merritt was driving, Henley and Danny were looking at her with all of their attention. "Do you really mean that we're going to stay together? Did you just say that to stop my crying?"
Henley shifted in the front seat to look at her. "Even though we've all become really close, we are going to have to remain off the grid for a while. That may lead to everyone being scattered across the world."
"That doesn't mean that we're leaving you." Danny added. Merritt nodded from the driver seat. "Yeah, just because we're miles away doesn't mean that we're not family."
Maeve nodded and looked out the window.
"I can't believe we're done."
Maeve turned her head and looked over at Danny. She smiled at him. "It was like yesterday when I found you guys at the apartment: Merritt was practically groping Hensley with his eyes and you were getting jealous over it."
"I was not eye-groping her." Merritt argued at the same time that Danny argued, "I was not jealous."
Maeve shrugged and sat back into her seat. "Sure. Whatever."
After a few minutes, the black SUV pulled up to the front of Central Park. Maeve was the first to get out and jogged up to the gate.
Since she didn't have a flashlight, she turned to Henley, "Can I get some light?"
Henley took her flashlight and shined it onto the brass gate, showing a lock and chain. Maeve pulled at it; the lock didn't budge. "It's locked."
"Well no one said anything about picking a lock."
She pulled on the gates, trying to see if they would magically open. Giving up, Maeve leaned her head on the brass bars, letting her hands linger on the gate. She knew someone who could pick a lock.
They were not going to give up now.
"Haven't I ever told you that nothing is ever locked?"
That voice shocked Maeve and she backed away slowly, looking up.
She knew that voice.
There walking towards them was a hooded face that she couldn't see, but was well aware of who it was. His smirk was so familiar as he made his way towards the four horsemen.
Maeve couldn't believe what she was seeing. She couldn't believe it at all.
There in front of her was her dead boyfriend.
Jack Wilder.
Jack Wilder.
The name seemed foreign on her lips. It was like the entire world stopped around her.
"Well done, Wilder!"
"You're a big boy now!"
Everyone congratulated him as Jack took off the chains from the gate and opened up Central Park. Maeve just stood there, unable to comprehend what just happened.
She was so out of it that Maeve didn't notice that they all stopped talking. All eyes were on her now.
Jack's gaze fixated on her emotionless expression, his face mirroring what he saw.
Maeve took two steps towards the gate, not knowing what to do. Her hands were shaking and her bottom lip slightly quivered.
Jack copied her actions, taking two steps towards Maeve. He was ecstatic to see her again, but the way she was acting made him nervous.
Maeve felt her feet carry her forward again. Only this time, she didn't walk into Jack's arms.
She walked right past him.
Jack turned to look at her with confusion as he watched her silhouette become further and further away. The other horsemen exchanged knowing looks. Jack looked back at them in sheer panic before turning on his heels and following Maeve's trail.
"Maeve!" Jack called out. He ran towards her figure as Maeve continued walking, not knowing what they were looking for. He reached out and touched her hand, but she jerked it back and slapped him.
Hard.
Everyone stopped in their tracks. No one though Maeve would ever do that. Knowing this meant that she was really mad and hurt. That was something that the horsemen were apprehensive about when the plan was made.
Jack gently touched the tender side of his face. It all happened so fast that he didn't know how to react. Maeve didn't say a word; the silence was enough to understand why she did it.
"I-"
"No." Maeve snapped, cutting Jack off. "You don't get to speak." She turned to look at everyone. "Do you know how much pain you all put me through?! Including you, Jack!" Everyone stood there silent, unable to hide how guilty and horrible they all felt at that moment.
Maeve threw her arms all around. "I watched you blow up. Blow up, Jack. On live television with everyone watching! This wasn't some joke. I watched you flip over and then fucking EXPLODE-"
"I know and we're sorry." Danny cut her off, walking forward. He stopped at the same distance Jack was from Maeve. "We needed him to carry out the rest of the plan-"
"What plan?!" Maeve shouted. Danny winced at how she sounded, no one ever saw her act like this before. "The one where you framed Thaddeus Bradley for taking the money? Real original. Was that for the Eye or yourself?"
Merritt looked at her. "How do you-" "It's called the Internet." Maeve spat. "I was wondering how he was framed, but now I completely understand." Venom dripped from every syllable she pronounced.
"If you knew, it wouldn't seem believable that he was dead."
"You were there, Danny!" Maeve bellowed, pointing a finger at his direction. "You saw me shivering in the shower while my lips turned blue! You held me when I cried my heart out to you!" Her voice slowly decreased as Maeve started to cry. "You were the one who told me that everything will be okay."
She pulled at her hair and screamed. "God, I'm so stupid!"
"Maeve, I'm sorry." Danny pleaded. "We all are." He motioned to the rest of the horsemen around him. Danny walked closer, arms open. Maeve moved away from him. "Don't come any closer."
Danny stopped were he was and dropped his arms to the side. He couldn't believe how badly he screwed everything up. Maeve just became his best friend and now he was a stranger to her.
Maeve bit her lip as everyone stood silent. She looks up at them, tears staining her saddened face, "Did any of those words that we said at our last performance mean anything to you? About trust? About lying?" Her voice was raised at the end.
"Maeve-"
"Don't." Maeve shot her hand up. Jack shut his mouth. "I-I can't go on like this, Jack. I trusted you!"
"I know you did." Jack slowly walked towards her. "And I'm sorry."
"That's it?"
Jack gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"
Maeve shook her head. "You faked your own death and made me want to kill myself and all you can say is 'sorry'." She didn't sound surprised to anyone.
"I hate you, Jack."
Jack flinched at those words. Coming from Maeve, they sounded cold and venomous. "We're done."
Those words hit him like a ton of bricks. We're done.
"No." Jack wouldn't listen to her. "You can't do this. You can't just...give up on us. All of us."
A tear slipped out of Maeve's eye. She lifted her shoulders in a meaningless shrug. "I just did."
"But I-"
"Don't say that you love me. If you did, you would have never done this in the first place."
Jack's bottom lip quivered. He walked towards Maeve and reached for her hands. She let him hold them because she loved the feeling of her hands inside of his. But this time Jack's hands felt cold and strange.
"Please," He begged. "Don't do this." Jack's eyes bore into the top of Maeve's head as she looked down. Maeve shook her head.
"Let's just get this over with." She muttered and pushed him away. She started wandering forward. "Hopefully, this doesn't lead us to get mugged in Central Park."
The others followed behind a mere distance away. Jack couldn't believe what was happening, but he didn't bother to speak up.
Danny cleared his throat. "Um, no I'm telling you we are right where we need to be. We just have to find-"
"That?" Henley interrupted Danny as her flashlight shined on the card encased in glass.
"The Lionel Shrike tree." Maeve breathed out and walked towards it.
"And the card encased in glass."
Everyone crowded around the tree to get a better look. "What now?" Merritt asked.
Maeve thought of something before taking out the tarot card that she was given. Her mind wandered to the first time that she got it as she looked it over.
Maeve held it out; the others did the same as well. Each of the cards, one by one, attached themselves to Maeve's card.
They all created a transparent card with the picture of the eye. It stared back at them with the same mystery that they all felt when they received them.
Maeve couldn't contain her amazement. "Wow." She whispered as she turned the card over in her hands.
Looking up at the King of Spades in the tree, Maeve held up the card and waved it in front of the one encased in glass.
The card began to shine at them, everyone awing at the sight. "Oh, nice." Merritt said as they all waited to see what would happen.
The five horsemen could hear the sound of a carousel playing in the distance. Maeve turned around and saw lights flashing in the directing that the music was coming from.
Maeve was the first to walk over to see what it was. Turning the corner, she saw the carousel in Central Park with a familiar figure standing in front of it.
Maeve's mouth dropped. "Holy shit."
When the other caught up, they were just as shocked as she was.
"Whoa."
"That's impossible!"
"No way."
"That was actually pretty good." Danny admitted as they all settled around him. Jack stood on Maeve's right side, not knowing how to talk to her or if he should talk to her.
Dylan took a small bow. "Thank you."
"When I said, 'always be the smartest guy in the room'..." Danny started.
"We were in agreement."
"Okay, right."
Dylan turned to Henley. "Henley." He acknowledged.
Henley couldn't say a world. "I've never seen her so speechless." Danny commented.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Dylan shook Henley's hand. Henley looked like she was bowing down to him and lowered her head in respect.
"I'm so so sorry for kicking your ass." Jack apologized to him once it was his turn to talk to Dylan. "Really."
Dylan chucked at his apology.
"For the record, I have always been a 100% believer." Merritt shot his hands up. "And the amount of energy I have expended to keep these infidels on point-" Henley playfully smacked him.
"Merritt, you're in."
"God bless."
Finally, Dylan turned to the horsemen who remained quiet for the entire introduction. "Maeve." He acknowledged.
Maeve looked up and gave him a small smile. Dylan knew what she went through so he nodded his head to the side, asking her if she wanted to talk alone.
Maeve nodded and walked with him a little further away from everyone else.
Jack watched as Dylan and Maeve conversed with each other. He leaned over to Danny. "What do you think they're talking about?"
"I hope she isn't leaving." Henley looked at Danny nervously. He gave her a reassuring smile, grabbing her hand in the process.
Merritt picked up his hat and ran his hand along his hairless head before placing it back down. "It's up to her now, whether we like it or not. We played our piece. It's her turn."
Jack fiddled with the strings attached to his hood, the goggles hanging a round his neck.
The four horsemen all turned their heads to the two talking a couple yards away.
"I appreciate the offer." Maeve gave Dylan a grateful smile. He noticed the small raspiness in her voice. "But, um, I am going to decline."
"So, you don't want to be in the Eye." Dylan restated, he didn't understand why. Maeve nodded. "I can't join the Eye or be a horsemen."
"Why not?"
Maeve let out a shaky breath and wrapped her arms around herself. "I can't be a part of a group who will keep things from me and of that means being rejected by the Eye then so be it."
Dylan understood where she was coming from, seeing the news and being there to experience it. "Are you sure? It'll be hard recovering from losing a special talent."
"I picked each of you for a reason." Dylan explained. "Each person contributed something to the group of magicians. For you it was your imagination, creativity, and passion. No one else is as passionate about magic as you are."
Maeve's lips curved up into a small smile. "There are a lot of young magicians out there. I'm sure you'll find another person whose just as passionate or creative as me."
"There is no one like you, Maeve."
Maeve nodded, slipping out the 5 attached tarot cards from her pocket. She turned it over in her hands, watching as the translucent card shined and stood out against the dark.
Maeve held it out, handing it over to Dylan, and turned to walk back to the others, who were waiting patiently by the entrance to the carousel. They all looked at her intently as she stood by them to see what Dylan was going to do next.
Dylan gave Maeve a sad smile. He leaned in and whispered. "Never give upon magic." He moved back and looked at the other horsemen.
"Come." Dylan motioned for them to follow him inside the carousel. "The real magic is taking five strong solo acts and making them all work together." He moved across the barrier of the carousel. "And that's exactly what you did."
Dylan turned to look at the five horsemen standing in front of him. "So welcome - Welcome to the Eye."
He grabbed onto the carousel and held on, disappearing from sight. As the others awed at how cool that was, Maeve was slowly walking backwards to avoid any conflict.
Turning around on her heel, she walked away from her old life, the life filled with magic.
And at that moment, she disappeared from their views.