Mangus stared at the door before him and held up the paper note and picture of Vanessa, nodding to himself, seeing that he got the right address. Knocking, he patiently waited until she opened the door.
"Hello?" Vannesa calmly spoke, seeing it was a child, but couldn't help but look at his outfit strangely. It wasn't strange to see people dressed up in Newport, usually around the plaza and parks performing to make money, but them coming to your doors was. Added to that, she was a child and wondered if it was a new type of scam.
"Hi." Magnus proudly spoke and reached into the sachal, pulling out a leaflet. His eyes scanned Vannesa, burning every detail of her appearance into his mind. Once he felt it was perfect, he watched every subtle movement she made, memorised the smell of her shampoo, the look in her eyes. As a magician, he learnt to read people, to understand them. A trick could only work if you understood a person, seeing things they didn't even notice about themselves. But not wishing to waste time and make her suspiosu he carried on handing her the leaflet. "I am the Great Magician Magnus, and I formally invite you to come to my show." Tapping his chest, he lifted his chin in the air slightly.
Vanessa couldn't help but chuckle, finding Magnus adorable. Taking the leaflet, she had planned to bin it once she closed the door, but couldn't help but pause, seeing where the show would take place.
"Excuse me. Are you really performing in the Rickman Grand Hall?" Magnus chin rose slightly as he nodded. Vanessa looked back down at it and took thought. To perform in the Rickman Grand Hall wasn't something someone could do with connections or money alone. It had a reputation to uphold and only allowed those with a performance worthy of it. Seeing the boy's name plastered on the leaflet as the main performance, she changed her opinion.
"Miss. You must come and see my performance. If you don't believe me, how about I show a small trick for you, know." Magnus slowly ran his ability. Lifting his hand, he got Vanessa to focus on it. With his other he held it behind his back and let his aura flow from it, curving around. With the practise he had been doing so far, he let a small but dense amount of aura flow from his fingers, making its way up to her head.
Part of it flowed towards her mind, with a small amount landing before her eyes. 'Make a moment a lifetime. I can't do that yet, but.' Magnus closed his eyes and let stacked illusions over one another. He couldn't let them be too different and made one that tricked Vanessa into not seeing him. It was a skill he had already perfected, even able to fool the likes of Lucas.
Having that cue stuck in her mind, he left an illusion of himself for Vanessa to see. Next, he added a few tricks, drawn-out yet thrilling, so she couldn't look away. Adding that to the avatar, the final card he had to play was the one he had been practising with mixed results.
'A lifetime in a moment. No. Ten minutes in one.' Magnus let a bit more of his ability flow to make sure that his entire network of abilities didn't collapse because of a lack of power. Flooding her mind with the rest of his aura, he planted a cue to not let her see the flow of time correctly, remembering the time Alexander had used his ability on her. It wasn't real and if noticed would be broken, but with his first two tricks as a distraction, it should have been fine.
Clicking his fingers on his raised hand, he activated the illusion and stepped to the side, letting Vanessa be locked in a trance of his fake avatar. Walking past her and stepping into her house, he slowly made his way around, looking through the pictures plastered around. Most were of her alone, but his eyes caught one.
Walking over to it, he picked up a wedding photo and frowned, seeing the people in it. "Why does it have to be him? He was nice." He knew the target was the man who had bought the book about Jinxus from him, sharing the same love of myth. Shaking his head, he cleared the thought and focused on the wedding photo, from the clothes the two wore, the church, the guests.
Moving on, he looked around her bedroom. Looking through her drawers, he ignored the clothing and dug to the bottom. Finding nothing, he walked over to the nightstand and looked through it. His eyes paused on a worn journal. Opening it up, he flicked through it and saw it packed with writing that went through years of her life. It was too much to read at once.
"Should I?" Magnus rubbed his head in annoyance wondeirng if he should steal it. Sighing and looking around, he let out a loud groan and stuffed it into his satchel. "For my final trick. Lucas says it alright to do these things." Taking a deep breath, Magnus gave a quick look around the house and, without finding anything, made his way back to the front door.
Seeing Vanessa staring into empty space with an amused look, he retook his place in front of her and placed a final cue. "When I click my fingers, I will disappear. See you at my show." Walking off, Magnus clicked his fingers, activating the final cue and walked off, ignoring Vanessa's stunned look as she glanced between the leaflet and where Magnus stood.
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Sitting in the back of the Grand Hall, two days had passed, and Magnus heard the music outside as the act befor ehis was wrapping up. Reading the journal, he looked up, hearing the door open, and saw Alannah walk in with her mask on.
"Are you ready?" Magnus pitifully frowned and carefully put the journal down.
"Are the rest not coming? I wanted to show them my show." Alannah frowned and walked to Magnus. Taking his hat off, she rubbed his head, messing his hair up.
"Lucas is having a few troubles right now in Maryland. Adrian is not allowed in because of how he dresses, and Maria is working. As for Alexander and Freya, they do what they want." Alannah saw that Magnus mood didn't improve much and sighed. Taking her mask off, she knelt before him and smiled, "I'm here. I'll be in the crowd and make sure to tell them all how great you perfromances is. Okay."
Nodding, Magnus grabbed his hat and put it on. Taking a deep breath, Alannah stepped back as Magnus jumped up with a wide grin and spread his arms, picking up his staff. "The show must go on." Pointing towards the door after hearing the applause outside, he marched forward, as if his previous sadness never existed. Alannah sighed again and followed behind, cutting off before she walked on the stage and sitting in the front row.
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Rose sat in the crowd and, seeing Magnus, her eyes hardened. It was rare for a performance to be shown at the Grand Hall, and even rarer that it was a short notice without much advertising. Even still, they did enough, as evidenced by the packed audience.
She had no desire at first to go, but seeing who the headline performer was, she begged the captain for funding to go and see it. It was a chance to finally get a look at the people they were chasing, but more importantly, the child on the stage was the main suspect behind her informant's death.
Seeing Magnus, she couldn't help but be shocked that he was the suspect. Even from the distance she was at, she could see the innocence that radiated from his eyes, a whimsy in them that no killer could have. She would have already brushed off the claim he was the killer if the fact that they knew he was close to the Gentleman didn't exist.
Leaning back, she saw Magnus fix his mic and grab the top of his hat. The lights dimmed as he tipped it towards the crowd and spread his arms.
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Magnus looked out at the adoring gazes and couldn't help but grin. Such a large crowd to fool was something he had never done. It was time to put his training into practice. He couldn't let his power run free; if he did, he would pass out with exhaustion before he even started. "Welcome, everyone." Slowly spreading his power, he let it blanket the audience, using the staff to help. He could already feel the sweat on his forehead, but ignored it, knowing he couldn't do anything to ruin his show.
Slowly, he infiltrated people's minds, using as minimal an amount of power as necessary. His eyes saw everything. Casitng his favourite power of making himself vanish from people's gazes, he slowly walked forward into the path between the crowd and clicked his fingers. There were stunned gaps from everyone as they saw the boy disappear.
Feeling pain in his head, Magnus knew that it took a lot for such a simple trick and pulled back some of his aura, thinning the cloud he had hovering over everyone. The spotlight moved, finding Magnus as he spoke again, "Magic is an art." Casting the same spell, he walked back onto the stage, when all eyes were focused on where he stood. Clicking his fingers, he added the effect of his body blowing up in confetti. The spotlight moved in time with the gasps again. "An art that no one has perfected."
'They already expect me to vanish again.' There were rules Magnus knew he had to follow. One of them was creating an expectation and shattering it. To make an illusion work, he had to change things up. Once someone expected him to do something too many times, it would no longer work, the brain being able to see through his tricks. His head pounded as sweat poured over his back.
"Today." Magnus activated another spell. They had already expected him to disappear, so the opposite would be to multiply. Putting the cue that everyone would see, he clicked and waved his staff. People no longer gasped, instead staring at him with wonder as they saw a line of identical Magi before them all in a line, "I will show you why I am the Great Magician and make you realise the beauty of magic."
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Rose stayed silent, her body tense. She already knew what the boy's ability was, what he did to people. Yet even when she knew, even with the countermeasures she had learnt, the boys' tricks still worked on her. Only once did it not, being the second trick. But after a while, she was getting lost in his act, as he fooled them all. From making it so he could take his limbs off and reattach them. Making animals and objects appear out of thin air. Creating scenes with a flick of the wrist without a greenscreen.
His act had no rhythm, always subverting the watchers' expectations, yet that randomness seemed to flow smoothly, creating a performance that stuck in a person's mind. She could see that over time, he was getting tired. Magnus no longer spoke and solely focused on his spells. The ground was wet with sweat as he tried to hide his deep breaths.
When it ended, and he bowed, the crowd rose, applauding him. Rose stood up and walked out of the Grand Hall. Taking a breath, she didn't realise when she was so on edge, not understanding how she could even fight against a person who could act against her, even when she knew what his ability did.