Deadly Magic (3 page)

“
Yes, it’s one of a kind.” Lily proudly handed it to Grace to admire.

Grace gingerly pick
ed up the solid gold pendant. A bright green stone sat in the place of the dragon’s eye. Handing it back to Lily, she asked, “Is that an emerald?”

“Yes.
My birthstone.” Shrugging, Lily stood up and thrust the pendant into her robe pocket. She looked down at her robe. Patting the other pocket, she asked, “Have you seen my phone, Belle? I can’t seem to find it.”

Belle pulled at the sequined
bow tie at her neck, revealing a long red scar. “I think Tabitha has it. She said something about finding a phone in the dressing room.”

Lily blew out a breath and shook her head.
“When she comes off the stage, do me a favor and grab it from her, please. I don’t want her to lose it.”

“
She’s not going to lose it, Lily.”

“
Please, Belle, just do as I ask without complaining, for once.” Walking over to the dressing table, she shrugged off her robe, revealing a purple sequined waistcoat, bow tie, and leotard. She threw the robe over an elaborate wood carved dressing screen and sat down at the table.

“
You’re going to be in the show?” Grace asked excitedly.

“
Don’t tell anyone,” she ordered. “Franklin still thinks I’m in Europe. I want him to be surprised.”

Grace assur
ed her that she wouldn’t tell a soul.

“
Although, I’m surprised he doesn’t already know. That secretary of his,” she said dismissively, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she hasn’t already given it away.” She opened up the end table drawer. Picking up a bottle of lotion, she began slathering it on her arms. “I know that lush of a daughter of his found out somehow.” She looked at Grace as if noticing her for the first time. “Oh well, Franklin will be happy to see me. He’s been begging me to come home for the last three months.”

Opening her mouth to ask how she enjoy
ed her trip, Grace suddenly let out a squeal when she felt something wet and cold touch her ankle.

Standing up, she bent over and look
ed under the settee. Staring back at her was a rather large white rabbit. She watched as Belle reached around the other side in an attempt to capture the bunny quickly hopping away from her hands. There was a moment of confusion as Belle and Grace danced around one another trying to trap the animal.

Finally capturing the errant bunny, Belle cuddl
ed him to her chest. “There you are. I have been looking for you all day.”

Grace
walked over to the bunny and asked if she could pet him. Instead, Belle pushed the bunny into her arms. “His name is Abry. Short for abracadabra. Don’t let him go. I keep losing him.”

“
Of course,” Grace said, desperately trying to keep the squiggling rabbit in her arms.

“
Since when does Ilya use a rabbit in his act?” Lily asked, touching up her make-up.

“
He doesn’t. He’s not a performing rabbit. He’s a pet. I’m just rabbit sitting for my brother.” Belle reached down and nuzzled the bunny’s face with her own.

“
Has your father tracked him down, yet?”

Turning to Lily, Belle said,
“Yes, but don’t bring it up to Papa. He’s not too happy right now.”

“
Why? What did he do this time?”

Belle look
ed embarrassed. “He’s sitting in a Columbian jail.”

“
Why am I not surprised?” Lily asked sarcastically.

Still holding the squirming
fifteen-pound bunny, Grace sank down to the settee. Just that second a hammering noise sounded from outside the door. Surprised, Grace loosened her grip on the bunny, giving him the chance to hop out of her hands. He raced around the settee. Not wanting him to get lost, Grace clumsily chased after him.

“
It’s not his fault,” Belle said defensively. “I’m not sure what happened, but apparently he tried to put on a show and the building accidentally caught on fire. No one got hurt,” she said quickly. “It was an accident. He tried to contain it, but the owners dragged him away and let the place burn down. Papa said the investigator he hired, told him that the owners encouraged the fire act, and then set the place up to burn on purpose. They were trying to collect the fire insurance. It was really their fault that it burnt to the ground.”

“
So, why is he in jail?” Lily asked.

Grace
was half listening to their conversation as she chased the bunny behind the dressing screen.

“
Well, by the time the investigator gave the police his findings, and they had decided to let him go, he escaped.”

Lily groan
ed.

Finally corn
ering the bunny, Grace carefully reached over and picked him up, only to have him squirm out of her arms again and hop under the dressing room table.

“
That brought new charges. They caught him and he escaped again. Which brought more charges. Anyway, they have him under lock and key, and Papa said he is leaving him there. You know his temper. Papa told him not to leave, but . . .”

Angrily
Lily said, “They’re just alike. Bull headed. He can’t seriously leave his only son to rot in jail.”

Her anger scar
ed the bunny into hopping out of his hiding place. Grace bent forward as Abry raced straight toward her. Just as her fingers grazed soft fur, her Stetson fell to the floor, scaring the poor rabbit into changing directions and hopping as fast as his large bunny feet could towards the settee.

“
He’s not rotting in jail. I spoke to him last week. He sounded fine.”

“
Absolutely ridiculous.” Lily picked up the hairbrush and pointed it at Belle. “Don’t worry. I’ll have a talk with Ilya.”

Picking up her hat and securely
fastening it to her head, Grace got on her hands and knees and looked under the settee. Reaching out she made a grab for the rabbit. Instead, her hand connected with a piece of satin cloth. Bringing her hand out from underneath the furniture, she inspected the item she found. Women’s pink satin panties. “Bleeck,” she muttered disgustedly before throwing them back on the floor. Giving up on catching the rabbit, she got off her knees, and wiped her hands on her cowgirl skirt.

Still angry, Lily pac
ed the length of the room. “I can’t believe Ilya would do that. No. I’m going to have a talk with him as soon as the show is over. There’s no reason—”

“
No. Please don’t,” Belle begged. “Everything will work out. Just stay out of it, Lily.”

Trying to ignore what appear
ed to be nothing more than family drama, Grace walked over to admire the pictures on the wall. There were thirty or forty pictures of past performances lined up in a nice grouping. The vast majority of them were black and white photos of Ilya Dragovich on stage performing. A couple of Belle. A few others of people she didn’t recognize. In the center was a large color picture of Dragovich on the stage with four women, in different colored costumes, suspended in midair over his head. “Lily, is that you?” Grace asked, pointing to the woman in the red sequin costume, directly over Ilya’s head.

Momentarily stopping her frantic pacing, Lily walk
ed over to Grace and looked at the picture Grace was pointing to. “Yes, that’s me. That was about twelve years ago. Right before I retired. That was one of our best performances.”

Belle
walked up behind them. “My mother is the one on the right.”

Grace felt Lily stiffen next to her.
Lily pointed toward the woman at the far end of the photo, wearing a purple costume, similar to the ones Lily and Belle were now wearing. “Yes. There’s Juliet.”

“
That was her last performance.”

“
No, Belle. This was taken a month before. While we were in Italy.” Moving to another picture, Lily tapped the frame and smiled. “Now, this is a good one of me.”

The picture featured Lily, suspended upside down, and holding onto a silken scarf.

“I was a bit of an acrobat in my younger days.”

Hearing the door open, all three women turn
ed around. Ilya was standing in the doorway. “Belle, I just saw Michael Talon.”

“
Papa, I didn’t invite him,” Belle whined.

“
He was hanging around the costume room, so I had security throw him out.”

Belle groan
ed. “What do you want me to do about it? He’s not here to see me.”

Shaking her head, Lily grabb
ed her robe off the screen. “How are all of these people getting back here, anyway? Your security used to be better than this, Ilya.”

Instead of answering,
Ilya turned his attention to Grace. Smiling he presented his hands for inspection. Turning them over, he showed her that they were empty. “Thank you so much for your cooperation. I hope you will join us again,” he said seductively, while two tickets magically appeared in one hand, and a red rose appeared in the other.”

Happily, Grace took the tickets and rose.

Taking her elbow, Ilya steered her to the door. “My daughter will walk you to your seat now.”

Lily stepp
ed in front of her and reached for the door.

“
Where are you going?” Ilya grabbed her wrist and pulled it away from the door. “I need to speak to you.”

Prying his fingers away from her wrist, Lily said icily.
“I’m going to get into place.”

“
You have plenty of time. The second intermission just started. I need—”

“
It’s getting awfully crowded here, Ilya. I don’t want to be seen. I told you, I want Franklin to be surprised.”

“
Stay in here. No one will see you back here.”

“
I want to check the supports.”

“
I thought you already did that.”

“I want to check them again.”

“Tabitha can—”

“
Tabitha is a silly, irresponsible, nitwit, who can barely tie her own shoes.” She tilted her head to the side as she looked at him thoughtfully. “Why don’t you want me to check the supports?”

“
Why are you acting like this?” he hissed. Realizing Grace and Belle were still standing behind them, he lowered his voice and moved to the side. “I’m not trying to stop you, Lily. I just want five minutes of your time.”

“
Later. After the show.” Her voice softened as she reached up to pat his face. “I have a few things I want to say to you, too.” Lily turned the doorknob and walked out into the hallway.

There w
ere a few seconds of awkward silence before Belle stepped in front of Grace and motioned her to follow. Nodding, Grace walked through the door. As she did, she noticed a man in a black cape quickly step into another dressing room. His arm wrapped around the waist of a pretty magician’s assistant. She was just about to say something when she caught a glimpse of his profile as he silently shut the door. Daniel Burns.

CHAPTER
THREE

Ignoring the dirty
looks she was receiving from her coworkers, Grace carefully made her way down the aisle toward her seat. She was relieved to see Ethan back in place at his seat. He threw her a confused glance as she sat down. Taking off her hat and placing it into her lap, she smiled and mouthed “sorry” to him. Disappointed that he didn’t return her smile, she turned around and looked for Valerie. She found her seated a row away to the right, sitting next to Straker, rhythmically nodding her head at whatever Straker was whispering into her ear.

Poor Val.

She noticed, somewhat irritated, that Louisa was sitting next to her father, sound asleep.

She
glanced back at Ethan. Leaning over, she quietly asked what she had missed.

“
Not much. A few levitation tricks, some comedian, a couple of card tricks. You know the usual.”

“
Dragovich hasn’t performed yet, has he?”

“
Um, yeah, he’s pretty amazing, actually. Too bad you missed it. The best part was when he hypnotized . . .” Ethan leaned his head forward and nodded to the right, “that guy dressed as a weird looking . . .,” his eyebrows drew down in thought, “raisin type of thing.”

Grace look
ed down the end of the aisle. “Allen?”

Ethan
grinned. “Dragovich put him under. It was pretty funny. Had him hopping around the stage, saying the most ridiculous things. I wish I knew how to hypnotize people. He did it quickly, too. One second he was saying he couldn’t be hypnotized and the next he was completely under Dragovich’s control. It was amazing.”

“
Oh, I wish I had been here to see that.” Grace looked around the audience wondering if anyone was videotaping the show. She’d pay anything to get a copy of Allen hopping around the stage.

She
looked up toward the ceiling, as a white mist appeared over the audiences’ heads and floated toward the stage. She watched mystified as the mist formed into the shape of a man and began walking around the stage. Ilya Dragovich appeared translucent. Grace could see the red velvet curtains in the background through his body. He walked toward the edge of the stage eventually solidifying to rapturous applause.

Happy that she hadn’t miss
ed the entire show, Grace felt that silly grin return.

“
Once upon a time,” the magician began in a melodious voice, “there was a very beautiful young maiden who lived in an enchanted land. And like many beautiful young maidens, who live in enchanted lands, she had her share of suitors. Mere mortal men lined the countryside in the hopes of just catching a glimpse of her. Her fame spread across the countryside, eventually reaching a very famous and powerful magician who upon hearing of our maiden’s famed beauty, set out to see her for himself. He came to her little enchanted village and so great was her beauty and charm he was immediately captivated. That night he asked her guardian permission to lodge in his castle in the hopes of romance. Permission was granted, but with one caveat. The magician must entertain the family. So, entertain he did, in the hopes of winning the hand of the fair maiden. Now legend has it the maiden was not impressed. She refused every offer of marriage. She heartlessly returned every gift. Naturally, left with no recourse, the magician turned her guardian into a stag and imprisoned the fair maiden in a crystal chest. I’m sure everyone here would have done the same.”

The audience’s laughter turn
ed to gasps when a sparkling crystal chest appeared over their heads and floated to the stage. Reaching out an elegant hand, he magically brought the chest down until it was hovering just a few inches off the floor.

“
Now the Grimm brothers in their retelling of this fairy tale would have you believe that the hero of the piece, the poor magician, was defeated by the fickle lady’s guardian and then her heart was won by a mere tailor.” With the flick of his wrist, the chest rose up six feet and swiveled around before gently floating back down and hovered a foot from the stage. “I’m sure as everyone has already guessed, that is not actually what happened. It was the cruel and wicked guardian who locked away our maiden and the wonderfully understanding, kind-hearted magician who released her. Our maiden was dramatically transformed by her captivity and once released she happily accepted the magician’s proposal.”

Grace watch
ed as one of the assistants left the stage and walked up the center aisle.

“
But to reenact our tale I need a beautiful maiden. Who should play the part of the beautiful maiden?”

Several female hands went up in the audience
, which was just as well with Grace. As excited as Grace was about coming to the Dragon’s Lair, she much preferred to be an observer rather than a participant. She also had no desire to trip over a dozen people on her way to the aisle. Unfortunately, Ethan had other ideas. He held up his hand and pointed down at Grace. To her relief the assistant ignored all to stand by Franklin Straker’s row.

Straker looked at the magician’s assistant expectantly. “I ain’t no beautiful maiden!”

Everyone laughed; even his employees.

Ignoring him, the assistant motioned to Valerie, who was sitting next to Straker. Valerie, who looked like she was going to be sick, shook her head.

Grace looked at her friend sympathetically, knowing her fear of enclosed spaces would prevent her from participating.

Determined, the assistant continued to hold out her hand to Valerie, who still refused to take it.

“Ah, if it isn’t Marilyn Monroe. Is she our fair maiden?” Ilya asked from the stage.

Reluctantly, Valerie reach
ed out her hand.

“
Holliday!” Straker yelled out.

Grace groan
ed.

“
Get up there!” Straker pointed to Grace. “She’s your fair maiden.”

Before the newly dubb
ed fair maiden had a chance to react, Ethan was already pushing her into a standing position and down the aisle. In her hurry to reach the aisle, Grace fumbled past her coworkers, unfortunately eliciting more than a few groans as she accidentally stomped on a few feet with her cowboy boots on the way. Allen, in a desperate attempt to get out of the way stood up at the wrong time, causing Grace to trip over his webbed blue feet. They both tumbled to the floor. Quickly righting herself, she used Allen as a springboard and jumped to her feet. With as much dignity she could muster, she gracefully made her way to the stage.

“
Ah, if it isn’t our fair maiden, better known as Calamity Jane.” The magician held his hand out to Grace, who was just making it down the aisle.

Heart beating fast, hands sweating and breath coming in short, Grace took the magician’s hand and allowed herself to be led to the center of the stage.
Once there, Grace turned around and faced the crowd.

Big mistake.

There was a sudden loss of sound as the blood drained from her face. She locked her knees to keep herself from falling to the floor. She didn’t realize how many people were actually in the audience. Hundreds. She glanced at Belle, who was smiling at her and nodding her head encouragingly. She turned to Dragovich. A mocking smile lit up his all too handsome face. She suddenly realized he had been speaking to her. Sound came back in a rush.

“
What?” she asked loudly, trying to regain some semblance of control.

The audience laugh
ed.

His smile grew wider.
“What is your name?” he asked slowly.

Grace stood there for a few seconds
staring into the dark abyss of the audience, not quite comprehending the question. “I don’t know.”

“
You don’t know your name?”

“
Calamity—” She stood in confusion, staring at the crowd as all those eyes stared back at her. She screwed her eyes shut. Better. Smiling, she said, “Grace Holliday.”

She felt
strong fingers turn her head to the side. Opening her eyes, she found herself staring up into the smiling eyes of Ilya Dragovich. “Why don’t you just concentrate on me? Don’t look at the crowd.”

Grace breath
ed a sigh of relief. It was much easier staring at him than at the crowd. She noticed a small scar on his temple and briefly wondered where that came from, before moving her gaze to his lips. Oh no, what is he saying now, she thought worriedly, as she tried to reconstruct his last words. Failing, she muttered “what” as the crowd broke into laughter again.

“
I think it was better when you were looking at the crowd,” he said smiling.

“
I don’t know,” she repeated, which judging by the noise the crowd was making was even funnier than when she said it the first time.

The magician nodd
ed his head sympathetically as he lightly massaged her arms. “Don’t worry, this won’t take long. I’m going to put you out of your misery, very soon.”

“
Thank you,” she breathed out, relieved. That ridiculously happy grin that had been on her face earlier the night had returned, but by now, she was beyond caring, she just wanted to get away from all of those eyes.

“
Now, I have a few questions to ask you. This is very important. Have you ever heard of Amelia Dale?”

Grace want
ed to say that she could barely remember her own name right now, so how could she be counted on remembering anyone else’s, but that would require forming an actual sentence which was simply beyond her abilities at the moment. She just shook her head instead.

“
What I am about to do has been done before. On this very stage. On this very night in 1919, a young woman, by the name of Amelia Dale, climbed into this same chest, and tragically died.”

Grace glanc
ed at the crystal chest hovering to her right. To her eye, it looked more like a coffin than a chest. A small pit of dread began building in her stomach as she looked at the simple three by seven foot glass box. Except for a small hole in the center, most of the glass was covered with ice crystals. A fog surrounded the box. Just looking at it caused her body to shiver uncontrollably.

“
Okay,” she said, nodding her head, hoping to move him along.

“
This stage, this night, this very act is considered cursed. Other magicians are afraid to try this.”

“
Okay,” Grace glanced over to the chest. The only thing preventing her from climbing into the chest and putting an end to her agony was the magician’s strong hands gripping her arms.

“You must do exactly as I tell you. One mistake could mean the difference of life or death for you.” A scarf appeared in his hands.

“
Okay.”

“
Do you understand?” He took her hat off and passed it to one of his assistants. Turning her around, he covered her eyes with the scarf. “You must do exactly as I say.”

“
Yeah, yeah. Sure,” she said, as her body began leaning towards the chest.

♣ ♦ ♥ ♠

Grace lifted the edge of her blindfold and peeked up at the glass above her head. Once hidden away from the audience she felt calmer. She was able to think. To relax. Which is odd considering she was blindfolded and locked into a chest. Still anything was better than being on that stage.

Flexing her fingers
, she gripped the flashlight tightly. She ran through his instructions in her mind. It seemed pretty simple. Just lie still. Keep the blindfold on. And every time he asks if she’s okay, she was to move the flashlight around. Despite her performance fright, she was excited to see what would happen next.

She didn’t have to wait long.
Dragovich finally called her name. Remembering his instructions, she waved the flashlight around. Suddenly the floor beneath her began to move. She could feel herself being gently raised and then lowered. She felt as though she was being swallowed whole. The sounds of the audience and the magician faded away until there was only silence. Before she could worry about missing her cue, she heard his voice asking her if she was okay. Every minute or so she would suddenly hear his voice asking her if she was okay. Nothing else. Not a sound. It was eerie.

S
he cocked her head to the side. She could hear movement. Someone was opening the top of the chest.

It’s over
? she thought disappointed. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was more than a short trip and waving around a flashlight.

Curiosity
was killing her, but she had been forbidden from taking the blindfold off. Apparently, that was one of Amelia Dale’s mistakes.

“
It’s okay,” Belle said from above her. “It’s just me. I’m going to just move you out.” Strong hands helped her roll out of the chest and then helped her sit up and stand. Walking a few feet on what felt like scaffolding, they finally reached firmer ground. Belle turned her around and began working at the knot at the back of her head. Once the scarf was off, Grace was surprised to find herself in a staircase with Belle Dragovich standing in front of her.