Chapter One: Calling Card

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A/N I HAVE DEEPLY EDITED THIS!! Originally I wrote this when I was 16, but now I'm 23 and a MUCH better writer! So please, keep that mind when reading. Like if comments don't match what's happening in the story it's because it's a whole new story basically. Biggest change is a character name (Carly was called Ayla) ~DropsOfJupitr (June 2023)

"Where the fuck is my leather jacket?!" Carly's shouts can be heard throughout the entire apartment. Walking out of her room, she finds her roommate and best friend in the kitchen sporting her favorite jacket. "Jae..."

"I have a date!" Jaelyn whines back. "Plus I look super cute!"

Jaelyn gives a twirl, her teal dress fluttering around her. The black leather jacket matched her black converse. She did look very cute, especially with her hair tied up in a ponytail with a bow.

"You'd look cuter in my jean jacket," Carly tells her and hands the brunette her jean jacket filled with brooches and pins. Jaelyn gives it a good once over before taking off the leather jacket and trading coats with the blonde.

Opposite to her roommates bubbly personality and poodle-girl outfit, Carly wore a maroon fitted long sleeve tucked into her black high waisted jeans. She also wore thigh high boots with no heels and her hair was pulled into two low buns to keep out of her face. The leather jacket topped off the look.

As the two roommates touched up their makeup in the bathroom mirror, a knock at the door makes Jaelyn's face burst with a smile. She does another twirl for Carly who gives her a thumbs up.

"Okay, so I won't be home until late, since the movie starts at seven," Jaelyn explains and grabs her purse.

"Fine by me, I'll be out late too," Carly informs. "Have fun!"

"Bye!" Jaelyn shouts before skipping out the door. Carly laughs at her giddiness before touching up her eyeliner. Jaelyn had been dating her boyfriend for over five years now, but have known each other forever. When Jaelyn and Carly moved to New York, he followed, finding himself a job so he could stay near Jae. It was sickly sweet.

Grabbing her over the shoulder bag, Carly leaves the apartment and locks the door. Right now it was 5:32, 13 minutes to get to Main Street when rush hour would hit and she'd get to earn a little extra cash. Running down the steps, Carly leaves the building and runs all the way to Main where she takes a moment to catch her breath. Carly makes it to Main Street just in time to catch her breath and get started. She grabs her deck of cards, before dropping her bag to the ground at her feet.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Carly's voice booms over the people. Some grimace at her boldness, others take time to stop and listen to her. "Come one, come all! For I am Carly Contrary, and this fine evening, I'll be doing my very best illusions for you!"

Throwing some confetti flash paper, the crowd all stares in awe, more and more people stopping to gather around the lady magician.

"This trick is what I like to call The Four Burglars." Carly throws the deck between her hands, grabbing four cards in the process. "And their names are Jack." She holds up the four jacks she gabbed. That gets a small clap from the crown.

"Now the decided one day to rob a bank," Carly puts the jacks on top of the deck facing up. She then pick them back up one by one flipping them over. "Here we have Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and lastly Spades. He's going to sit her for a little while. So Clubs is going to go and clean out the cash register, Diamonds is going to clean out the vault, and Hearts is going to take care of the safe deposit boxes."

As she tells the story, she grabs each card and puts them in the deck somewhere random. "Spades here is going to sit on the roof and be lookout." She puts the card face down on top. "So they start to hear sirens in the distance and panic. The cops bust through the door hoping to find the four jacks, but they all made it to the roof safely and got away on a helicopter." She explains and flips over the top four cards revealing the four jacks that she just stuffed into the deck.

Applause roars through the crowd and people start putting change and bills in her open bag on the ground. After hours of doing tricks and illusions, Carly finally wishes everyone goodnight and starts to pack up. She grabs her bag and decides to go grab a coffee. As she's waiting for her vanilla latte, she sees a gathering of people much larger than her own was. After grabbing her drink, she walks outside to see what was going on.

A man with shaggy brown hair was performing magic just like she was. She couldn't hear that well from where she was standing, but she could see him interacting with a very beautiful, very provocatively dressed, brunette. All of a sudden he throws the cards in the air and points to a tall building and within the windows the 7 of diamonds appeared, the crowd went crazy.

When everyone started to leave, Carly started to walk over towards him to ask how he did that since she was also a street magician, but he started to leave with the brunette he was with earlier. He turns around and looks right at Carly giving her a flirtacious wink. Deciding he probably was a jerk, Carly rolls her eyes and walks the opposite way back to her apartment.

The walk was a little longer than usual because she was taking her time. Opening the door and heading straight for her bedroom, Carly puts her bag on her bed and strips of her clothes to put on some shorts and a tank top. Once she's all cleaned up, she dumps the money out of her bag and starts to thumb through it. $152.36. She gathers it all and puts it in her savings jar. While she's putting the rest of her contents back into her bag, she notices a tarot card, not one of the cards she uses or own. Picking it up, it read "The Fool". Flipping the card over and, Carly sees the eye of Horus and clear instructions.

March 29th, 4:44pm, 45 East Evans Street NY, NY.

After checking the date, Carly shoves the card back into her bag and lays down on her bed. What could that card possibly be hinting at? Either way, she'd find out the answer in two days.

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