THE EMPRESS | NYSM

ACT ONE.

THE TAROT CARD
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THE cards twined to Elizabeth's control, practice was all she was doing. She's in the mirror spectating every move she's making, it's got to be flawless, perfect even. Deep in concentration, everything was going smoothly until a sudden ring of her phone throws her off. She mumbles a string of curse words as she strides over to her bedside table. There her phone sat vibrating and ringing with the contact Megan Lecker.

She groaned in annoyance since she was disturbed from her practice session. Picking up the phone she hears the voice of the blonde. "Meet me at the deli." Was all she said before the brunette could answer back. She scoffs in return after the call was ended.

She places the now blank slates of cards on to the bedside table where her phone was once. Quickly grabbing her jacket she exits her New York apartment, now out in the hall, she was not alone. Her  neighbour, who's name she doesn't bother remember, was with her. But she knows he's weird and sketchy most of the time, he barely comes out and a lot of moaning could be heard from his side. She gives him a sly smile in which he return back.

The smile fades away from Elizabeth's face the moment she turns around, she starts to walk away and in to the elevator.

It wasn't long until she arrived at the deli where Megan and her would meet up. She was her closest friend and co-worker, closest friend was all she was. Elizabeth had trouble trusting people, being a magician taught her this. Everything is not what it seems, they were right. Not everyone was trust worthy and that's why Elizabeth had trouble trusting people.

She could see the floral print on the dress Megan wore, it was flowing due to the wind the fast cars caused. On her phone, Megan didn't see Elizabeth walking towards her until a shadow casts over her. "What does Mitcher want this time?" Since Megan was another employee for the journalist Elizabeth worked for, Mitcher, he would ask Megan to tell Elizabeth to do stuff for her since Elizabeth was Mitcher's personal assistant.

It wasn't a hard job, it was just very time consuming. Meaning every time Mitcher would call, Elizabeth would be needed to come ASAP. It took time away from her personal life and her magician life. Yes, she got paid well due to Mitcher's profitable reputation but it just didn't balance well with her double life.

Megan looks up at the unknown shadow that covered her but only to see her co-worker. Her sunglasses reflected the figure of Elizabeth and her frown. "Hello? What does Mitcher need that he had to ask you to drag me out of my apartment?" She asked once again but extending her question.

"You know most people say hello when they see each other." Megan says, sass dripping from her voice.

Elizabeth rolls her eyes at the blonde and sits down beside her. Her hand motion her to continue since she needed her here so bad. "Ah, yes." Megan says as her hand dips inside her tote bag which was filled with many newly bought necessities. She pulls out a brown folder that wrote the name Marigold in a such pleasant handwriting. Megan slides the brown folder to Elizabeth.

"What's this?" She asks, her brows furrowed together in curiosity. As she's opening the folder, Megan is practically narrating the whole thing. "Mitcher is going on a month long vacation and since she won't be here, you won't be either. To her offer, you can take a month long vacation as well. The only downside is you don't get paid." Megan says, happy with her explanation.

Elizabeth skims over the very first page in hopes to see the words vacation and to her surprise she does. One month! She thought. One month of no work. One month free of stress. Although she's not getting paid, she is allowed to find a temporary job for the time being. This whole month could give her the time to finally practice more of her magic, a much more bigger act.

"Well, this is new. But I'm happy to sign this." A smile creeps up on Megan's face before she pulls out another item from her black tote bag. "A pen?" Elizabeth asks, already having a pen in her hand knowing exactly what Megan was going to offer. The signing part wasn't long, Elizabeth was quick to sign. She needed that vacation ASAP, she needed to get back home and spend sometime alone.

"I better be going. Start enjoying my vacation." Elizabeth says with a wink before standing.

"Enjoy the rest of the show." Megan says.

The way back home was more happier than before. Elizabeth felt more free from her tedious job and could focus more on other things. She could redecorate her place or practice a much more challenging trick. There was so much things she could do, but after receiving these good news, a nap felt like the right thing to do.

It was only a few hours Elizabeth was down for, now that it was way past 7, she definitely needed to make dinner and grab the mail due to forgetting this morning.

Getting up from her bed, she makes a mental note to grab the mail. After quickly grabbing her slippers and the key to her mailbox, she exits her apartment once again.

Now at the mailroom with day old mail in her hands, she goes through her mail to see if she has anyone else's mail. Since the mailman has a habit of putting other people's mail in hers, it was just her mailbox. Why her? Without any surprise there was only one, this time it was to 508, the place next to Elizabeth's. Her sketchy, sex obsessed of a neighbour.

This made Elizabeth groan in annoyance, out of all the mail she could've got she gets her weird neighbour.

Taking her and her neighbour's mail back up, the elevator door opens and as she was about to come out a woman, who looks younger than her, slammed his door as she exits out. She's muttering a string of curses as she enters the elevator, Elizabeth exits out and heads for his door. Wondering what he did to piss of this needy girl.

She knocks a famously known beat to the door, tapping her foot as she waits for an answer. She could hear footsteps get more intense as he closer to the door, the lock switches and with one motion it swings open. "Your mail was in my box, so I decided to spare you the trouble and hand it to you." Elizabeth explains.

"Uh, oh yes. Thank you. Thanks." He stutters as he quickly reaches out for his mail and closes the door. Elizabeth awkwardly stands in front of the door for a few seconds before heading towards her place. Her door is locked the way she left it, she enters and since her apartment is one open place, she has her bed near the couch. She still has her blank deck of cards on top of her bedside table.

Sitting on her bed, she opens one of the mail she received and inside was nothing but a piece of card. Taking it out, she was able to see the card in detail. Thing was, this wasn't a normal playing card, no it was a tarot card. These were reading cards, cards that didn't read your fortune or future but said something about you.

The one Elizabeth had in her hands was The Empress card. She flipped the card around for any other information about this mysterious card. To her surprise there was something written on the back, a location.

March 29, 4:44 PM.

45 East Evan Street.

She turns the card around once again, checking for anymore clues but to her disappointment that was it. There was no more information and curiosity took over Elizabeth. She would have five days to make up her mind, in whether she should go to this mysterious location.

It was possible that this was another performance she was invited to. Only the well known magicians with a good reputation were invited into these secret shows, and well lucky Elizabeth was one of them.

But for sure it was more than that.