Meadow's Keep (The Gatekeepers Series) (27 page)

“Could I have a doggy bag?” Jasmine
asked the waitress. She knew she couldn’t swallow another bite and not choke, and she wasn’t sure it was the food.

Chapter Twelve

“Ut-uh. No way! There is no way you are getting me into that costume.” Jasmine held the hanger away from her, eyeing the black leather-looking cat suit. Jenn had clapped her hand across her mouth, determined not to laugh and hurt Lily’s feelings. Lily’s whole expression had gone from excited expectation to letdown in light speed.

Jasmine let out a long breath. “Lily, honey. I just
don’t think—”

“You said you didn’t want to wear a costume like his assistant
’s.”

“You’re right. No fishnet stocking
s for me.”

“Well, I thought this would solve the problem.
With the right hair and make-up you’ll totally upstage him.”

Jasmine narrowed her eyes and looked over at Lily. No two ways about it, the girl had shown a real
talent for wardrobe. Maybe she wasn’t wrong here. Jasmine held up the costume again, reached out and let her fingers run down the soft fabric. She looked at Lily. “I’ll try it on.”

Lily clapped.

“
Just
try it on,” she emphasized.

An hour later, with the black suit hugging every curve, her hair gelled into cat ears, a fur tail
belted around her waist, and a green sequined collar, the exact color of Eryk’s eyes, secured around her long neck, Jasmine turned sideways and stuck one spike-heeled boot forward in a pose. “You know, this is almost obscene.”

Jenn sipped the wine she’d supplied to encourage Jasmine into the costume. “Almost?”
She choked, her blonde curls jostling, as she tried to contain her laughter.

Actually, the costume showed nothing, which was good, since the
audience was made up of women and children. The teen boys and girls would definitely appreciate the fact that their wardrobe high priestess was wearing a cat suit.

Jasmine took a generous swallow of wine and stood pondering herself in the mirror.
“Lily, would you please run downstairs and see if there’s anything to munch on. I’m starved. Nothing too filling, mind you. I want to be able to zip this tomorrow.”

“Do you want anything, Miss Jenn?”

“Sure, I think there’s a veggie tray in the main fridge. Dip’s on the shelf above it. If you want something else, go ahead and fix it.”

“Tray sounds good. But, I’ll look.” Lily opened the door and looked back. “You look
awesome,” she told Jasmine.

Jasmine smiled at her. “It’s your doing. Now, if you run into Eryk, don’t say a word. I want to surprise him.”
With the show tomorrow, Jenn had insisted he stay in one of the guest rooms on the first floor, away from the clients and away from Jasmine. Which was a good thing, especially right now.

They heard Lily giggle
as she closed the door.

Jasmine turned back to the mirror.
The tail hung down, trailing softly on the floor. With a flick of her fingers, the tail lifted off the floor and moved out in front of her toward the mirror. The movement was jerky at first, then steadied. She made it dance around until it looked alive.

Jenn watched. “That’s impressive. What are you up to?”

Jasmine turned and the tail slipped up over her shoulder and lay across it. “I need you to do me a favor. I need some thin wire and two of those flat, rollie eyes you use for the kids’ crafts.”

Jenn tilted her head. “I can see the eyes, but why the wire?”

“I can control the current better with a thin length of wire. Make it very thin, I can always double it if I need to. I hope this works.” She shot Jenn a grin.

Jenn
saluted and headed to the door. “I suppose you don’t want to show Eryk?” Jenn voice had that teasing lift Jasmine had grown to love.

“NO!” she exclaimed.
“Oh, we can’t tell Lily. She doesn’t know about the power thing.”

“So, how are you going to keep it from
her?”

“I’ll think of something,” Jasmine said, turning back to the mirror. She smiled.
Not bad
.
Not bad at all
.

****

The auditorium buzzed with voices. Although they hadn’t made the show mandatory, having a celebrity putting on a show for them had all the residents piling into the auditorium.

Eryk, doing a last minute check on the equipment with John, who’d volunteer as a
stagehand, waved at Jenn as she crossed the stage toward the curtain.

“Where’s Jasmine?”
Eryk looked beyond her toward the side entrance. They’d practiced when they’d gotten back from dinner. Jasmine knew the act but showed some nerves. Then, she disappeared upstairs and he hadn’t seen her since. He would have loved to have gone over it one more time this morning.

“She’s getting ready.” Jenn said quietly. “
She doesn’t come on until you finish the sleight-of-hand stuff. She’ll be here.” She stopped and watched him. He was dressed in tight black pants tucked into high black boots, a flowing shirt open at the neck. He looked like a buccaneer. He glanced over toward the side again. Since she’d known him, she’d never seen him nervous. He was definitely showing some nervousness now. She glanced at her watch. “Are you ready?”

With one last look around, he nodded.

Jenn stepped through the curtain and everyone applauded. She had made sure the small stand was where Jasmine wanted it, close to the split in the curtain. After her effusive introduction, Eryk stepped through the curtain.

He had geared today’s show for the kids,
making sure that there were no tricks that hinted at violence or entrapment. He started with linking rings, did a cut and restore rope illusion, and had the audience amazed at the floating light bulb. He sent the lit bulb dancing in midair above the audience. He’d let it hover over someone, had them take it, exam it, then release it into the air again. The only thing he had to be careful of was not to let the person get shocked as he controlled the current. He had the kids hooting with laughter as he had a golf ball appear and disappear under a cup. Of course, much of the fun was the speed with which it was done and the flow of dialogue, which he kept heavily accented for his performances.

Eryk had asked for a dollar from someone in the audience and had
her come on stage to sign the bill in bold letters with a heavy black marker. He had just made it disappear when giggles erupted from the front. He could tell by the current teasing the hairs on his arm that Jasmine was somewhere nearby. He pulled a lemon out of his pocket and the audience erupted in laughter. Then he felt it. Something on his shoulder. He turned. Nothing.

Pretending ignorance, he
set the lemon on the small table, snapped his fingers and a small knife appeared in his hand. Again, laughter from the audience followed the slight tickle he felt on his other shoulder. What was she up to? Ignoring it, he cut the lemon and pulled out the dollar, the signature clearly visible. This time the whole auditorium erupted. He lifted his hands in confusion.

“Over your head,” children called.

He looked up quickly. “Nothing.”

“Behind you,” they shouted.

He swung around and came face to face with what appeared to be a furry snake with two large bug eyes. He reached out and grabbed it, stepped to the side and let the audience see that it disappeared through the curtain.

Two can play this game.
He lifted his hand and, with an illusionist flourish, pointed at the curtain. It eased apart to reveal Jasmine, her side to the audience and away from him, her hand to her mouth in a stage giggle. Dressed like a black cat from head to foot, every luscious curve of her body enhanced by the shiny black, his breath caught. He was holding the end of her tail. Posed in her stage stance, she turned her head toward the audience. Looking at the audience, she pointed over her shoulder.

The kids shouted. “He’s behind you.”

Eryk held the tail and, with an exaggerated motion, he pulled her toward him. She slowly stepped right into him and jumped, startled. She turned, looked at him, giving a loud purr into his hidden microphone, and rubbed up against his arm like a cat. He let his hand stroke down her back before he even realized what he was doing. Sparks flew from his fingers and the fur on the fake tail bristled to twice its size.

They performed
the skit as though it was a part of the act and their antics had the whole auditorium filled with laughter. Finally, he took her hand and held it up.

“My lovely assistant, Jasmine Monroe.”

She bowed.

The room burst into applause. He took th
is time to regain his composure. Jasmine turned and smiled at him and he almost lost it all over again.

The curtains
slid opened to reveal the stage. John came on stage and took away the table, replacing it with two high black chairs. He positioned a black board between the two chairs.

Eryk led Jasmine to the chairs and helped her lie down atop the board
, her tail draping over the side toward the audience.

“I’m going to need some help.” He pointed
to a young girl, a young boy about the same size, and a larger teenage boy. “You three.” He motioned for them to come on stage.

They
walked up the steps and Eryk positioned the two younger kids at Jasmine’s head and feet and had the teenager stand to the side.

In practice, Eryk and Jasmine had made sure they were in close contact before the illusion.
Just seeing her in that costume had already heightened his awareness of her. Her rubbing up against him has done the rest. Now, as he stood behind her, he let his hand run down her side from her hair to her foot. He could feel the moment when their hearts beat as one. In rehearsal, this had eased the stinging feeling she complained about when he levitated her. With their hearts in sync, she said it felt more of a warmth than a thousand fire-ants biting at her. Eryk explained to the audience that this illusion was like the floating light bulb, only bigger—to which Jasmine raised her head.

He pushed it back down. Her tail twitched. The audience laughed.

“Relax.” He made a pretense of calming her, waving his hand over her face, as if to hypnotize her. The tail drooped and hung limply to the floor.

“Now,” he said to the young boy,
“remove the chair.” He could see the child’s eyes widen. “It’s okay,” he encouraged. The boy pulled the chair back.

He nodded to the young girl. She eased her chair
as well.

Eryk turned to
the teenager. “What’s your name?”

“Allen.”

“Allen, come stand in front of my assistant.” As soon as the young man did so, he said, “Oh, would you please hand her tail to me.” The audience laughed. When Allen lifted the tail, the tip twitched. He almost dropped it, but managed to hold it up so Eryk could take it and lay it on her legs.

“Now Allen,” he said so everyone could hear him. “Do you see those handles on the side of the board?” When Allen nodded, he continued. “
Grab them and, together, we’re going to ease the board down slightly and then walk to your left.

The
y both took hold and when Allen started to move, Eryk said, “Your other left.”

The audience roared.
They pulled the board down and moved away from Jasmine, leaving her floating in the air—no board, no drape, just Jasmine. John appeared, took the board, and walked off stage.

The audience clapped. Eryk raised his finger to his lips. “We really don’t want to wake her right now, do we
?” The room fell silent.

He moved his hands and
her body slowly drifted above his head. Concentrating, he pushed energy up and around her.

“I’d like you three to walk over here. Make sure there are no wires.”

The three from the audience moved under Jasmine, walked around, and stepped back, nodding.

“Anything?”

“No,” all three whispered, shaking their heads.

Making sure they were out of the way, he positioned himself
under her, snapped his fingers, and caught Jasmine as she fell into his arms, setting her upright. She and Eryk took hold of the small children’s hands. Jasmine smiled at Allen, who blushed, but took hold of the young girl’s other hand and they all bowed. The audience went wild!

For the
final illusion, Eryk walked to the back of the stage and pushed a long table forward, on top of which sat a long mirrored, topless box. He undid the hinges so the sides hung down over the sides of the table, and he had Jasmine lie down on top of the table. Eryk raised the sides, hooking them together, encircling Jasmine, hiding her from the view of the audience. The tail managed to pop out over the top several times, sending peals of laughter through the crowd. Once all the sides were up, he pushed the table around, showing all sides, with the tail peeking out one last time. As soon as he’d pushed the tail back in, he clapped his hands and the sides fell away. Jasmine was gone, only the tail remained. He picked it up and draped it around his neck. Applause erupted as Jasmine rose from a seat midway up the aisle. She came on stage and, holding hands, they took their bows.