Love Is Only an Illusion

“Hen, did you fix it?” Sutton asked her as she and Danny raced backstage after dismissing the crowd for the intermission, reminding them to fill out their bank balances and seal them in the envelope.

“Oh, um, yeah,” Henley smirked. “I see you didn’t pay close enough attention to mine and Danny’s act during practice, huh?”

Sutton laughed. “Yeah, yeah. It’s funny now that I’m not dead.”

“I wouldn’t have let you fall,” Danny reassured her, placing his hand on the small of her back. Sutton’s smile faded, the touch reminding her of their night together.

“Anyway,” Jack said, noticing Sutton uncomfortably shrinking away from Danny’s touch, “we just need Sutton to press the button on the remote control to activate the change on Tressler’s check.”

Sutton nodded. “It’s foolproof, if you really appreciate the knowledge and skill that went into this whole thing.”

“You kids and your technology today,” Merritt shook his head. “It’s ridiculous what you can do!”

The group laughed as the lights flicked on stage. “Showtime!” Henley smirked.

“At the intermission,” Sutton began as she and Merritt took center stage, “we asked you to write down your current bank balance, seal it in an envelope. Now, it’s time to take those envelopes out. Everyone, take ‘em out.”

“Now, everybody, shout out your name,” Merritt instructed. “All at once. Go.” The audience began shouting, hundreds of names filling the theatre. “Shout ‘em out.”

“Hold it,” Sutton silenced the crowd. “Clement? Frannick?”

“Yeah! Up here!” a man’s voice answered.

“Oh. Way up there!” Merritt confirmed. “Okay. Dina? Robertson?”

“That’s me!” a woman called.

“Okay. Names. Names. Let’s go,” the mentalists ordered in unison.

“Josepha Hickey?” Sutton dramatically questioned.

“That’s me!” a woman answered.

“Josepha, I want you to focus on your balance, and count from one to ten out loud,” Sutton instructed her.

“One, two, three, four, five…”

“Stop,” Merritt spoke. “Is the first digit five?” Josepha confirmed his answer. “Do it again. This time, faster.”

“One, two, three, four, five, six…”

“Stop. Six. Again.”

“One, two…”

“Josepha, is your bank balance $562 as of today?”

“Yeah, that’s what I got,” Josepha embarrassingly said.

“Unfortunately, you’re wrong,” Sutton smiled. “Okay, Dina, um, one, four, seven, seven.”

“Yeah,” Dina nodded.

“You think it is,” Sutton told her, “but in fact, you, too, are wrong.”

“Uh, Clement. You do not have $6,500 in your account,” Merritt told the man in the balcony seats. “In fact, everybody stand up. Everybody. Yeah. Put your envelopes to your forehead. Focus on your number.” The audience did as told.

“Oh, wow,” Sutton cried, rubbing her temples.

“What’s wrong, Sut- Oh, oh,” Merritt whined, rubbing his forehead. “This is… Oh, dear. Just as I feared. Oh, this is strange.”

“You know, I hate to say this, but they’re all wrong, Merritt. You’re all wrong,” Sutton addressed the audience as Danny and Henley took the stage.

“Every last one of you is dead wrong about what you think is in your account. Okay, you can sit down now,” Merritt explained as Danny whispered in his ear. “Oh, oh, yeah. I almost forgot. This evening would not be possible if it weren’t for our great benefactor Arthur Tressler.” The audience and The Horsemen clapped.

“Big applause! Big applause!” Danny said. “Art, actually, why don’t you come up on stage for the finale?”

“Come on down, Art!” the other three magicians on stage ordered.

“There he goes. Okay, good,” Danny admired. “There he goes.”

“Now, Art, did you fill out your envelope?” Henley asked as she pulled Tressler to the center of the stage. Tressler shook his head.

“Well, no need,” Sutton smiled as she wrapped her arm around Tressler’s other arm. “We’ve done it for you.” Jack walked onto the stage with a large envelope.

“Now, Art, I took a guess,” Merritt explained. “North of 140. Am I right?” Tressler smiled a confirmation. “That’s 140 million, by the way.” Merritt chuckled as the audience gasped.

“Um, I’m sorry, Merritt,” Henley apologized as she held the large sheet. “How can he be right about his balance and everyone else be wrong?”

“I think possibly because he, too, is wrong,” Sutton explained as she followed Jack backstage for the remote control and the flashlight.

“Now, everybody, take out your paper,” Merritt instructed the audience. “Using the flashlight under your seat, start to warm up that paper. I think your correct balance begins to appear.”

“Now, Art, don’t worry,” Sutton reassured him as she and Jack came back to the stage, “we have a flashlight for you.”

Jack lifted the flashlight slightly to draw the audience’s attention toward it. As soon as Jack flipped the switch, Sutton pressed the button on the remote control, changing Tressler’s balance.

“Woah!” Danny exclaimed. “Look.”

“What’s going on there, Daniel?” Merritt asked the illusionist.

“Wait. This is weird. A second ago, it said $144,579,651. But now. Now it says $70,000 less.”

“Now, Josepha, can you stand up?” Sutton asked the woman as she took her place beside Danny. “Now, what is your new number?”

“$70,562 now in my account!” the woman exclaimed.

“Is it possible that Josepha’s balance went up the exact amount that Art’s went down?” Henley questioned the mentalists.

“Hey. Check it out,” Jack told the team. “It’s happening again.”

“Is it?” Danny questioned, bending down slightly to look at the balance. In his movement, his hand knocked against Sutton’s, causing the young mentalist to travel back toward Jack

“Wow. It is!” Henley exclaimed as Danny looked back at Sutton who helped Jack with the flashlight, their hands wrapped around one another’s. A lump formed in the illusionist’s throat as the escape artist continued. “Art’s balance has gone down another 280K.”

“Dina Robertson? What did yours say?” Merritt asked.

The woman gasped. “$281,477.”

Sutton and Jack set the flashlight down, walking to the front of the stage with the others as Henley announced, “We have a confession to make.”

“She’s right,” Jack confirmed. “We lied about something.”

“Yes, none of you were chosen at random,” Danny admitted.

“All of you have one thing in common,” Sutton stated.

“Everyone in this room was a victim of the hard times that hit one of America’s most treasured cities,” Henley explained.

“Some of you lost your houses, your cars,” Merritt reminded them.

“Your businesses,” Jack added.

“Your loved ones,” Danny pressed further, glancing over at Sutton as she stood next to her cousin. For a brief moment, their eyes met.

“But all of you were insured by the same company,” Sutton told the audience.

“Tressler Insurance!” The Horsemen blurted in unison, pointing accusingly at their benefactor. The audience members gasped.

“You were abandoned.”

“You were loopholed…”

“…out of your settlements.”

“This is all for show. Correct?” Tressler confronted the girls.

“”All” meaning we’re doing it onstage in front of a paying audience?” Henley whispered.

“Then yes, it’s for show,” Sutton finished with a smile.

“Whoa! Whoa!” a man’s voice echoed. “I’ve got $82,000 in my bank account! It says it right here on my cell phone! Everybody, look at your cell phones right now! Everybody!” The audience cheered in excitement as they did as the man instructed.

“Hey! Did you do this?” Tressler accused Merritt.

“How could we, Art?” Jack asked. “We don’t have your password.”

“We’d need access to information we could never get our hands on,” Henley winked.

Danny smirked. “Ah, yes, security questions, for instance, like, I don’t know, your mother’s maiden name or-“

“Or the name of your first pet,” Sutton popped in.

“Where would we get that information, Art?” Merritt smiled. “You certainly would never tell us.” Tressler lunged for Merritt, only to find that he was frozen in place by a chain wrapped around his ankle. “Hey, we left you the jet and the Rolls.”

Shouts erupted from the audience as Merritt high fived the girls, taking his spot on the rope.

“Stop! Stop! Nobody move!” Agent Rhodes yelled. Danny waved at him as the agent fell into Merritt’s trap. “Freeze!”

“Quarterback!” the 12 courageous volunteers roared.

“We are The Horsemen!” The Horsemen called to the audience. “Goodnight!” As they were lifted to safety, Agent Rhodes was swallowed up by the hypnotized football players.