Requested by Carol J.
* * *
Caleb fidgeted with his tie as he waited in line for his ticket.
Damn things always feel so tight...
he thought to himself. He tapped his foot and checked his watch.
They better hurry this up, or they're gonna have to start the show late.
If he wanted to, he could just step out of the line and take a seat wherever he pleased. But he needed to save his energy. Tonight was important, and it was crucial to him to make sure it went off without a hitch. Which meant he couldn't use his power just yet.
Finally, he made it to the ticket booth.
"I'm sorry, sir," the girl behind the counter said. "We just sold our last ticket."
Caleb blinked. "Are you serious? But we've been waiting in line for so long!"
The ticket girl shrugged. "I really am sorry, sir. There'll be another show tomorrow, if you-"
"No, that's alright." Caleb walked away from the booth and sighed.
So much for conserving my energy...
He sent out the signal and made his way inside the theater. He'd done it a thousand times before, but it always made Caleb feel great when he was able to sneak around like this. It wasn't "proper" invisibility; rather, it basically masked his presence to other people. Everyone around him just assumes he's where he's supposed to be. His teammate Kim always said he was like a "walking SEP field," but he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.
Probably something from one of her sci-fi novels.
He poured a little more energy into it as he walked up to the ushers showing people to their assigned seats. Sure enough, they didn't so much as glance at him as he passed by. He took an empty seat towards the right side of the stage and relaxed, letting his power dissipate.
No use blowing all my energy before anything's started yet.
He checked his watch again. The show started in half an hour, but Caleb was already jittery with anticipation. Not necessarily for the show itself, though. He hadn't cared about stage magic since he was nine.
What he was most interested in was the performer herself. She called herself "The Amazing Amethyst," but Caleb suspected she had another name she liked to go by. There had been reports from cities all across the country about a mysterious supervillain who went by the name "Hypnotica." Wherever she went, there was a spike in robberies. Anything from pawn shops to jewelers, always high-ticket items. But the curious thing was that the people committing these crimes were just ordinary people, largely middle- to upper-class, with nothing else on their record. Even more mysteriously, none of them ever remembered doing anything out of the ordinary. Someone could be shown surveillance video of themselves robbing a pawn shop, for example, but they'd swear they'd never even stepped foot in that store, much less robbed it.
The only thing connecting all these crimes was a business card each suspect carried. They never remembered where they got it, of course, but invariably, whenever one of them went through their pockets, there it was. The cards were all identical; a deep violet piece of cardstock, with a white spiral pattern on one side and the words "Hypnotica sends her regards" on the other.
But Caleb knew there was another connection. Every city that had reports of Hypnotica also had appearances by The Amazing Amethyst at the exact same time.
His teammates all thought it was a stretch. "Correlation doesn't mean causation," they told him. But he'd had enough of being ignored by everyone else. They were all supposed to be equals, but they were always the ones who hogged the spotlight. Singularity was a superhero team with six members, but from how the media covered them, you'd think there were only five. And really, between Maria's legion of horny fanboys and Kyle playing himself off as the a good-hearted, all-American goody-two-shoes, it usually felt like there were only two.
God, Kyle's such a jerk. He acts like a nice guy in front of the cameras, but back at HQ he just has a massive ego. Always shoots down everyone else's ideas.
Caleb always felt like his talents were being overlooked. But after tonight, that would all change. He'd sneak out of the theater during the show, get into Amethyst's dressing room, find evidence that connected her to Hypnotica, and apprehend her all on his own. Then no one would ever ignore him again.
The lights in the theater dimmed, pulling Caleb out of his musings.
Alright, Hypnotica. Let's see what makes you tick.
The curtain rose as the lights faded to black. A bright purple light illuminated the empty stage as a thick mist rolled over it and into the auditorium. Music started to play, sounding like a crackly old record. Slowly, the fog began to swirl around, eventually forming a small cylinder in the center of the stage as the music swelled.
Then there was a flash, and the purple lights turned off. A single spotlight appeared behind the pillar of mist, revealing a figure in the center. As the music reached its crescendo, the figure reached out with both their hands, and the mist blew outwards into the audience.
When it cleared, another spotlight joined the one behind the stage, revealing a tall woman in a black leotard, with sheer sleeves and fishnet tights. Her long black hair spilled outwards from her matching witch hat; the only splash of color in her ensemble was her bright purple lipstick. She placed one hand on her hip and smiled dazzlingly.
The crowd erupted in applause. Even Caleb found himself clapping along.
Gotta admit, that's a pretty cool entrance.
"Welcome!" the woman said, her voice booming out of the theater's speaker system. "I am The Amazing Amethyst! Tonight, I shall be performing for you a selection - a mere sample - of my arcane abilities. You may consider these mere parlor tricks, but I can assure you, they are nothing like the simple slight of hand you may encounter by other so-called magicians. I am a true practitioner of the dark arts, and I will prove this to you tonight!"
* * *
Caleb sighed and tapped his foot. So far, The Amazing Amethyst had proven to be anything
but
amazing. Caleb was far from an expert on stage magic, but her work definitely seemed to be pretty close to the "mere parlor tricks" and "simple slight of hand" that she claimed to be against, like card tricks and making objects disappear. Sure, they were maybe a little more impressive than what you'd find from a street magician, but it wasn't mindblowing by any means.
"Now," she exclaimed, "I would like to switch gears for a moment and demonstrate how one of the common magician's tricks works." She clapped her hands twice, and a stagehand brought out a top hat and a small table. "Yes, it's time for that old chestnut, the 'pull a rabbit out of a hat' trick!"
Really? I mean, I
guess
this is kinda interesting, but there's gotta be something more here.
"First, I'd like you to all examine this hat." Amethyst picked up the top hat and held it up. "As you can see, there is nothing in it at this time. It appears to be a normal, ordinary top hat." She placed it back on the table with the brim pointed towards the ceiling. "Now I need to say some magic word like 'alakazam,' or 'raeppa tibbar,' or maybe just 'get in the hat, you stupid rabbit.'"
A few polite chuckles could be heard from the audience. Amethyst waved her hands lackadaisically around the top hat, and after a moment, reached in and pulled out a white rabbit. "Now the secret to this trick is twofold. First, there's this table here." She spun it around, revealing a hidden door on the back of the table. "The rabbit goes in here, and there's another hidden door on the top of the table. Next, there's the hat itself." She holds it up and sticks her hand straight through the top of it. "As you can plainly see, the hat is far from ordinary. The top can be reached through, allowing me to pull the rabbit up and out of the table." She tossed the hat into the audience, where it was caught by an excited teenage girl. "Of course,
I
have no need for such trickery. If I wanted to make a rabbit appear out of thin air, I would simply conjure one with my magic arts!"
Caleb checked his watch.
Alright, it's been half an hour. Time to take my leave and head backstage.
"In fact," Amethyst continued, "why don't I do that right now?"
She snapped her fingers, and Caleb felt something move against his leg.
What the hell?
He looked down and saw a dark shape on the floor. "Gah!" he yelped as he pulled his legs up and onto the seat.
Amethyst chuckled. "I believe we've found our rabbit!" She pointed straight at Caleb, and a spotlight turned and aimed at him. The crowd erupted in laughter when they saw his frightened reaction. He looked down and saw that the shape was in fact another white rabbit, looking up at him with dark eyes.
"God dammit..." He sighed, admonishing himself for getting startled so easily.
