THE EMPRESS | NYSM

ACT SIX.

JUST TRICKS, HUH?
—♤—

THE view from Arthur's private jet was so devine, Elizabeth was never going to get a view like this ever again. It did put the biggest smile on her. After finally taking Advil, her headache that was the cause of drinking subsided.

"So I saw you come out of Danny's room. What happened?" Henley asks, the question that snaps Elizabeth out of her peaceful silence. "Uh?"

"Danny? What happened with him in his room? I saw you guys come out together with big grins on your faces."

Elizabeth rolls her eyes at the red-head who always seemed to be interested in Elizabeth's non-existential love life. "We played with Agent Rhodes and Alma. That's all." She was quick to answer that question. Henley hums as an answer.

"Um... Allow me to make plain what we've both thinking." Merritt fakes a cough to gain the two ladies attention.

"And what's that?" Henley answers.

"Well, obviously you feelings of affection for Daniel. Unrequited and misguided, owing to his lack of availability. Consequentially, you're very tightly. How should I put it? Um... Corked."

"Oh, am I?"

Elizabeth awkwardly giggles at the conversation she's hearing between the two.

"Now, recognizing that you have physical needs not being met, strictly in the vein of helping a sister out. I invite you to think of me as your own personal corkscrew"

"Wow, thanks. Let me mull over that offer of cheap and meaningless sex. Maybe Beth over here would like that offer, how 'bout it?" Henley turns to Elizabeth who's grin vanished. Elizabeth rolls her eyes in response.

"Cheap and meaningless, maybe, but, uh, not time-consuming."

Henley laughs before speaking up again. "Thanks for the offer but no thank you. You are true about one thing though and it's not about my feelings of affection. Although, lack of availability is something that describes Danny very well. He already has his heart set out for Beth."

Elizabeth snaps her head to look at the red-head. "No, he doesn't. Well, God, I hope not." She stutters and all Henley and Merritt could do was laugh. It was clear to the whole group that there was some tension between the two, it was a mixed of both sexual and convulsed. The pair would snap at each other for a moment but then would make up with nauseating flirting.

"Are you serious?" Henley starts. "You two have been at it for a year now. The little gestures you give each other, the smiles you exchange. You can't say that there's nothing between you two."

Merritt nods and speaks to add on to what Henley started. "In addition to what Henley said. You two stare at each other for too long to be just friends. And I don't need to be a mentalist to figure that out."

Elizabeth shakes her before answer at the two. "Even if I did have feelings of affections for Danny, which I don't. He clearly wants Henley over here. They have a past in which I can't really beat. Plus, if you think Danny and I have tension, then why'd you pick on Henley?"

"It was fun to see the jealousy come out of you, a sophisticated, really down to Earth girl, who does antiquing for a hobby, see jealousy take over."

"What do I have to be jealous about?" She asks, her voice getting higher.

Henley and Merritt look at each other for a brief moment and bursts into laughter. "Hardy har har, guys. Very funny."

As the laughter continues, it gains someone else's attention. Specifically the man that Merritt and Henley claims has feelings for Elizabeth.

"Hey guys. We have a show to prepare for." Daniel says as he peers over the seat Elizabeth was in. "Oh." Henley says. "Do we now." Merritt adds in as he stands up from his seat.

"No, no, no, no. You're not doing that thing to me." Daniel says as he turns to walk away from the mentalist. As Merritt stands, so does Henley and Elizabeth.

"What thing? I'm just looking at you."

"No you're not. I've been watching you for a year. I know all of your little tricks." Daniel waves his fingers in the air, trying to prove a point.

"Oh, like the way you've been watching Beth? Uh? And that's what they are to you? Tricks?"

Elizabeth blushes a little and hides her face in embarrassment. "What, no. It's gimmicks. They're not tricks. It's Barnum statements. It's reading the eyes. Body language. I get it."

Merritt raises an eyebrow at the brunette, ready to challenge him. "If it's such an easy thing, why don't you do Henley?" He turns to face the red-head behind him.

"No, better yet, do Beth." Henley says, turning to her friend beside who's been hiding the whole time every since her name was mention.

"No, she's too easy. I'll do Jasmine."

"Ouch." Merritt whispers to Elizabeth.

"No." Arthur says, Daniel turns around. "Do me."

"Oh. Yeah, yeah. Do Art." Merritt tells him, in which he agrees to. Elizabeth whispers to herself a "Thank God", knowing that she doesn't have to be embarrassed in front of the whole group. "Even better."

Merritt sits in the chair beside the old man, whilst Elizabeth, Jack, and Henley peers over the two. Daniel stands up to his own personal preference and pulls up his sleeve. "But I warn you, I can be difficult to read, when I want to be." Arthur says.

"Just stay with me, okay?" Daniel prepares himself before speaking up again. "So, Art, you were a tough kid. You know, kind of a real rapscallion. You had a dog. A real tough dog. A brutish breed. Like a real... I want to say, Ben the bulldog."

Elizabeth tries to repress a laugh, knowing that Daniel was far off from Arthur's backstory. She had some background knowledge on mentalism, she did take psychology as a major in university. She understood the way Merritt did his tricks.

"Actually, I was a prissy little tot. I had a fluffy white cat called Snuffles." With that Elizabeth lets out the laugh that she's been trying to hold. "Wow." Merritt says looking up at Daniel with a smug grin on his face.

"Ah. Sorry." Daniel says as he hits the ceiling of the plane but he quickly pats it as if he was scared to break the fragile plane. Elizabeth let's out a small giggle that catches his attention.

"Okay, okay. Let me try one. I can do way better than that." Jack speaks up and Arthur lets him. "Let him do it." But Daniel doesn't give up just yet, he decides to give it one more go despite the chances of him getting it right are very slim to none.

"Come on. One more. Let me do it."

"He can do way better than that." Elizabeth says with a smile on her face, referring to Jack. But Daniel chooses to ignore whatever Elizabeth and the rest of the Horsemen were saying. "Let's do family." He says with such confidence.

He peers over Arthur with one hand on the wall supporting him. "You had an uncle on your mother's side. He had a real, kind of... A real masculine name. A real, kind of, salt-of-the-earth. You know, a real stick-it-to-you... Like it was some kind of Paul. Thompson? Was it a Paul? You know what I've got nothing." He sighs as he gives up.

"Nearly though."

"Oh was I?" Daniel raises a brow.

"Yeah. My uncles name was Cushman Armitage." Arthur bursts into a chain of laughter.

"Really? Snuffles and Cushman Armitage? That was your childhood?"

"I certainly hope tonight's show is gonna he better than this."

Oh did that make Elizabeth laugh. All she could say was, "Oh. Just you wait." Knowing what was next in their plan.