on a flirtatious note, and Daron rolled his eyes when the sparkly assistant giggled in reply. Especially when the man on stage tripped over his own feet.
“Oh, terribly sorry!” He was even clumsier in his process of straightening back up. “It’s … all part of the illusion, you see.”
Daron sighed, waiting for the man to do more than let his assistant guide him. He had inspected the prop box himself, to make sure no tricks had been planted in the basic medium-sized wooden crate. Some contestants had attempted to pull out objects and animals from within as if they’d been in there the whole time. Predictable, but with a few mystifying results. A feather preceding a flock of birds taking flight, a stack of hats taller than the box itself. Several tried inserting themselves or their assistants inside to make them disappear. All but a few failing to impress.
“No, I’m the one who’s terribly sorry.”
Ice brushed up Daron’s spine at a bold new drawl—the assistant, taking center stage. Seizing it, like it was her right. She curled her satin gloved fingers, and the lights around them began to dim.
“My assistant is not what he used to be, it seems.”
All part of the illusion. Daron’s mouth fell as the man tore off his hat and gave a flourishing bow toward the girl. The dusty old curtains of the high windows around them lowered into place until all hints of the bleak morning vanished. The darkness sent the other judges stirring in their seats, and even Daron felt a reel of unease and excitement tightening his core.
Looking down at them, the girl smiled. Satisfied.
“I won’t be needing this, either.” With a snap of her fingers, all sides of the wooden box broke apart with a slam. Mayor Eilin jumped back, but Daron leaned forward. His ears perked at the slow click of her heels on stage, deliberate and unhurried.
Shadows bathed the room entirely, until a bright glow revealed itself in the palm of her hands, illuminating her face. The amused purse of her lips, hiding a secret.
Without warning, she raised the fire in her hands until the flames stood like globes, which she tossed into the air. They hovered above her head as she conjured two more orbs, and another—tossing them up in a row of spiraling flames.
Daron watched as she sent the fire spinning fast, traveling around her assistant in all manner of patterns. Not once did the assistant flinch, but he bore a raw look of awe as the flames circled him like sparrows dancing in flight. His fellow judges were just as mesmerized by the display.
Zarose. This girl had power.
And yet, Daron could tell she was holding back. As if she held all the cards in her hands, and had only decided to indulge them with a brief flash of one. She narrowed her eyes on each judge all the way to the end, and met Daron’s stare with a wink.
He recoiled and looked away, jaw tense. With a sudden intensity, he focused back on the spinning fires. They spiraled and speared out of pattern as they dipped and made way for the table.
Judges Bouquet, Armandos, and Silu all cowered back. The mayor edged lower in his seat. Only Erasmus’s excited yowl sounded when a flame brushed too close. Daron felt the heat by his cheeks, and the hairs on his arm stood on end. It truly was fire. Not merely an illusion, but actual flames she’d pulled out of thin air.
A true show magician, at last.
After circling the judges’ table, the fire arched high above the girl’s head where the flames collided and burst in a shower of sparks over the stage. They fizzled fast, leaving nothing but the dark. Light gradually filtered in as the curtains of the high windows were slowly drawn open.
The silence afterward stretched on, long enough that the performer crossed her arms with a relaxed smirk that appeared more wicked than it had any right to be.
Mayor Eilin stood from his seat first, his hands balled into fists against the table. “Young miss, just who do you think you are?”
“Number twenty-four.”
“Absolutely not! After a display like that?” Judge Silu shot straight up from a few seats down, staggering a bit. “Is that what they’re teaching the ladies at Queen Casine’s nowadays?”
A few men chortled, but the magician’s brow rose. “I’m relieved you all know how to laugh. I wasn’t so sure when you were cowering in your seats.”