Torn and Restored

Chapter 16 - Ten of Diamonds

The man with the burnt face waited for The Master's order patiently. He had no interest in exploring the house even after The Master left him alone. He had a feeling that he wasn't alone in the house.

He was focussed on his goal – Revenge. Will had taken his life from him. He had never failed before but Will had made him look like a petty loser. All he wanted was revenge. He wanted to see Will suffer badly and he waited for The Master to give him his chance.

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Olivia wanted to do something to help Will get in but she had no idea. She was still thinking when Will caught her by hand and pulled her away from the security.

"I have a plan. I'm not sure if it'll work but it's worth a try", he said.

"Tell me the plan. We'll try it out", she replied, clearly animated.

Misdirection. That was the great secret to almost every magic trick. People believe that they know what the magician is doing. They follow each of his moves. They anticipate that something's going to happen but when it finally happens, they're left clueless.

"Come with me", he said.

She followed him as he went to a stall and bought a pack of cards. He turned around and searched for something. She had no clue what he was doing. She followed him, nevertheless.

Will knew exactly what he needed to do. He opened the new deck of cards. He loved breaking the seal open. He gave the deck a fake shuffle followed by a few cuts and then another fake shuffle. He ran through the deck to see if any card had changed its position. None had. That was the greatest illusion of the fake shuffle. He took three cards. The jack of clubs, jack of spades and then the Joker. The Joker was one of his favourite cards. Usually, people performed The Three Card Monte, with two jacks and a queen. Will always preferred the Joker. It was a simple trick were the three cards are shown to the spectator and turned face down and placed at a well-spaced manner. Then the magician changes the position of the cards a few times and the spectator had to guess the location of the Joker.

Will waited for someone to approach him. Luckily a man, who just finished shopping, came by.

"Sir, Do you have a minute?" Will called.

"Yes", he replied. He was a bit shocked but came forward.

Will showed him the three cards.

"Follow the Joker", he said and put all three cards on the table, face down. He began changing their position slowly. The man was following the card that he assumed to be the Joker.

After a few seconds, Will asked," which of these is the Joker?"

The man pointed at the second card. Will overturned the card. It was the Joker.

"You have great vision", Will said and he asked him if they could do it another time. The man found the Joker, yet again.

Will was enjoying the moment. He was losing, yeah, but little did the man know that Will was doing it on purpose. Three Card Monte was one of those tricks where the magician was in complete control of what's happening. They bait the people in and make them win the first few games. When the people started betting money, the magician would start their real game. All it took them was a little sleight of hand to fool the people.

Money wasn't Will's motive. He wanted a huge diversion. As planned, the man asked if he could bet money.

"Perfect!" thought Will.

Will let him win another few games and after a few minutes, a lot of people had gathered around to watch the game. Will won a few games to make it more interesting. In no time, few of the guards came around to see what was happening. It was betting, but the game got them interested and they joined Will for a few games. Will turned at Olivia. He had a hard time finding her in the crowd. He knew that he couldn't leave the table, but Olivia could.

Olivia was caught in the crowd. She knew that Will's plan was succeeding as she could see it in his face. For a moment their eyes met. She couldn't hear him in the crowd and that was when it happened again. Will's voice in her head.

"You know what to do. Go ahead", it said.

She wrestled her way out of the crowd and walked towards the museum. She saw that many guards had left their positions to watch the show there. She also noticed that the third door was left completely unguarded and was hidden from the view of the guards at the proximity.

She calmly went in without anyone noticing her and immediately found that it was dark inside. The darkness did not trouble her but it completely cut her vision out. She had to search the place well. She switched on the flashlight in her phone and dived in deeper into the shadows. She was so engrossed in her search that she was unaware of the person entering the room.

Half an hour later, Will had ended the show. Few of the officers walked towards Will.

"Good show", they said.

"Thank you", Will replied.

"We still do not know what you want with the museum", they laughed.

"I'm from another town. I'm leaving today. John Waters is a great magician. I thought I'd have a look before I leave. But it's fine", Will remarked.

The guards looked at each other before telling him," I think it's okay if you do not take much time."

"Does that mean I can go", Will asked.

"Yeah", they replied.

Will darted in before the guards could change their mind. He stopped immediately after entering the museum. It was pitch dark. If there was something that haunted him, it was darkness. He took his phone from his pocket but the battery had run out of charge. He had no choice but to call out for Olivia.

There was no reply. He kept calling when he suddenly heard a cry. It sounded like Olivia. He did not have any other option. He gathered all his strength and ran into the darkness.

He knew the museum too well to get lost. He ran towards the direction where he had heard the sound. He stopped suddenly as he saw light filtering through the hallway. He walked towards it. It was Olivia's phone. He searched the entire room. Olivia was nowhere to be found.