Imperfect Magic (Dancing Moon Ranch Book 11)

by Patricia Watters

  Yet, there was nothing noble about being an illusionist. Over the years he'd convinced himself what he did was an outlet for peoples' stress, that people left a show feeling better than when they arrived. But after a successful performance, he was the one on top of the world because what he did made him feel good, and he gave little thought to those he'd held in the palm of his hands for the duration of a show.

  His musings were interrupted when Adam rode up to the riverbank on the opposite shore and called over to them, "You three can cross now, one at a time, Jesse first."

  Jesse urged his horse toward the riverbank, and the horse took to the water and seemed to be going in a straight line with his nose pointed forward, but just before he reached the opposite bank, something floated by, and instead of continuing toward the riverbank, the horse swung around and started back. Jesse attempted to turn him, but midway in the river the horse floundered in the water, rolled on its side and started thrashing around.

  Adam sent his horse charging into the river, and working off the back side of Jesse's horse, grabbed his bridle to pull the horse out of the way of Jesse, who was off the horse and struggling against the rush of water churning from the horse's frantic thrashing. But while Adam was tugging the horse away from Jesse, Jesse disappeared below the surface and was gone.

  Dimitri, seeing what happened, quickly dismounted and made his way, chest-deep in water, to where he last saw Jesse, figuring he must be trapped in debris in the vicinity where the horse rolled. But as he approached, the river bottom suddenly dropped off and he found himself in water over his head. Still, he located Jesse, whose head was barely above the surface of the water. While Jesse was trying to tell him his foot was stuck, Jesse's mouth filled with water and he started choking.

  By then, Adam had Jesse's horse out of the water, and dismounting, rushed to where Dimitri was standing on a deeply-submerged log while holding Jesse's head tipped back, to keep his nose above water. "I can't pull him out," Dimitri said to Adam. "His boot's caught between two logs and it's deep. Hang onto Jesse and I'll go down and work his foot loose."

  Adam switched places with Dimitri, and wrapping himself around Jesse, continued to hold Jesse's head back, while saying, "Look at the sky, son. We'll get you out in no time."

  Sucking in a deep breath, Dimitri went down, but the water was so murky from the horse thrashing around he had to feel his way along Jesse's leg and try to maneuver the boot loose, but the boot stuck fast and the river bottom was deep enough that he couldn't get any footing for leverage. Rising to the surface, he said, "I can't budge his foot. I need something like a crowbar to wedge the logs apart."

  Adam yelled at Tom, who was off his horse and standing on the riverbank, "Get my rifle off my saddle and empty it and bring it here. And hurry!"

  Tom fetched the rifle and rushed into the water and handed it to Dimitri. With the rifle clutched in his hand, Dimitri took another breath and went back down. Padding his way along Jesse's leg, he located the boot, and going strictly by feel, wedged the muzzle of the rifle between the logs trapping the boot and tried to force them apart. He could feel the logs move, but when he tried to pull the boot loose, it remained stuck.

  Not wanting to lose what he'd gained in prying the logs apart by pulling the rifle out and starting over, Dimitri shoved the muzzle deeper between the logs and again attempted to wedge them apart. But he found himself fighting against a whirlpool below where Jesse's foot was trapped, which he figured was the current from the stream butting up against the rock dam, which was probably what sucked Jesse down in the first place.

  With all the exertion of fighting the current while jabbing the rifle between the logs and trying to move them apart, and tugging on a boot that refused to come loose, Dimitri found himself getting lightheaded and in urgent need of air. Giving one final thrust with the rifle, knowing it was all the strength he had, the logs moved apart. Then his head felt frothy and light, water that had been murky brown went yellow, and there was no sound, no sensation. All he was aware of was a sort of yellow glow. He thought about the Water Torture tank and wondered at the irony. When closed in the tank his only goal was to be out where he could fill his lungs with air, yet all the while he'd been missing the yellow glow. Here, the need to breathe was gone and he had no desire to struggle, so he remained where he was, surrounded by the yellow glow while experiencing a kind of sublime relaxation he'd never felt…

  Until he was dragged by one arm out of the water.

  He struggled to get back to the yellow glow but had no strength. Then he felt pressure on his chest, and he was hit with a fit of coughing, great spasms that sent water gushing, in spurts, out of his mouth. Gradually the coughing subsided and things around him began to swim into view. His gaze moved across the people hovering over him. Focusing on a face that was still a blur, he said what first came to mind, "Jesse? Is he okay?"

  Adam's voice came from behind. "He's fine." He placed his hand on Dimitri's shoulder. "I'll never be able to repay you for what you did. You saved my boy and almost drowned doing it."

  It was several minutes before Dimitri's mind cleared, but then it all came back. "There's some kind of undertow down there and it was working against me," he said. "Who pulled me out?"

  "Maddy," Adam said. "We were busy with Jesse and no one noticed you hadn't come up until she saw you below the surface."

  Dimitri dragged himself to a sitting position, and looking at Maddy's distraught face, he gave her a little smile to break her somber mood, and said, "If I mess up during the water torture escape, drowning's the way to go. Before you pulled me out I was in this pleasant yellow mist."

  "Which could have faded into eternal darkness," Maddy said, in an irritated voice. "This is not something to joke about. By the time I got to you it was almost too late. If it happened during the water torture escape, you'd be behind curtains, so no one would see you sitting at the bottom of your tank, enjoying your yellow mist while thinking you'd like to stay there!"

  Resisting the urge to pull Maddy into his arms and kiss away her worries, Dimitri said, "When you learn the secret to Metamorphosis tomorrow, you'll understand why I'm never in any real danger when I'm in the tank."

  It took some moments before Maddy said, "Metamorphosis… tomorrow?"

  "If you're up to it."

  As Maddy looked at him, her expression gradually changed from worry, to anticipation, and ultimately to a smile he could look at forever…

  She's the kind of woman who can take a man away from his dreams…

  His father was dead wrong. Maddy couldn't take him away from his dreams because she was his dream. His challenge now would be to convince her he was her dream too, and that Las Vegas was the place where they could build their castle in the sky. Maybe it wouldn't be Camelot, but they'd be together while he built a name for himself, so ultimately they could return to the place she loved and raise their family.

  CHAPTER 15

  The next afternoon, when Dimitri and Maddy were about to get in the limo to go to the Coyote to rehearse Metamorphosis, Jayne came rushing over to them, and said, "Sharon just called. They're moving Katy to the regular cardiac unit because she's doing so well. The doctors believe it's a placebo effect because Katy went into her surgery convinced that magic brought her the best heart and that's why she's healing so fast."

  "I'm glad she doing so well," Dimitri said, "but now she believes in magic, and magic's all stage lies."

  "It's also about believing," Jayne replied, "and for now, believing in magic seems to have a place in Katy's life. Sharon also said Katy wants you to teach her more magic so by the time she leaves the hospital she'll be a magician like you."

  Dimitri let out a cynical laugh. "I'll teach her some magic, mainly to convince her it's exactly what it is, all smoke and mirrors. I could probably have her doing some basic sleight of hand in a couple of weeks."

  "Your contract runs out at the end of this week," Maddy reminded him.

  Maddy's comment caught Dimitri off
guard. He hadn't intended on telling her about the new contract offer because he didn't want pressure from her to accept something that would mean turning his back on the Las Vegas proposal.

  "Were you planning on staying longer?" Maddy asked, when he didn't respond.

  After a long pause, Dimitri said, "They offered to extend my contract another month, but I haven't committed to it."

  When Maddy said nothing, Dimitri hoped she'd let the issue pass. However, when they were in the limo on the way to the Coyote, Maddy, who was sitting stiffly in the curve of his arm instead of cuddling against him, said in a tone that told him she was miffed, "Why didn't you tell me about your contract at the Coyote?"

  Dimitri looked at her stony profile. "I didn't want to be influenced."

  "Influenced in what way?" Maddy asked. "My getting it in my head that you could extend your contract indefinitely and not go back to Las Vegas?"

  Dimitri caught himself from saying that was exactly why he hadn't mentioned it, and said instead, "My father's like your father in that the sooner there's a thousand miles between us, the happier they'll both be."

  "Maybe they're right," Maddy said, while continuing to look straight ahead. "If you're as serious about me as you claim, you would have included me in a decision that would allow us to be together."

  "I didn't intend for us to be apart," Dimitri said. "If I stay longer it would be to convince you to return to Las Vegas with me and give us a try. If things worked out we could come back here regularly, maybe buy a bus and hire a driver like my dad does. It's not such a bad life."

  "Maybe not now, but I refuse to raise a family on a bus," Maddy replied.

  "Honey, lighten up a little," Dimitri said. "I'm trying to work out a solution for us, but I have to be able to make a living as an illusionist because that's what I'm best at doing, which means making a name for myself, and I can't do it at the Coyote Lounge. That's not the way this profession works. Besides, the bus would only be used during the summer when the kids could be with us, which would give them a chance to see the country. The rest of the time we'd be where you could have your riding arena and I could have a workshop."

  "You have a degree in mechanical engineering," Maddy said.

  "Which I got so I could design and build my own illusions for when I have my own show."

  "So then, if you manage the disappearing horse illusion and get your own show in Las Vegas, will that be tantamount to making it, or would you have to start adding death-defying escapes and bigger stage productions until you steal the spotlight from David Copperfield?"

  Dimitri let out a cynical huff. "No one can steal the spotlight from Copperfield. He's a legend, the most commercially successful magician in history, but I wouldn't complain if I could have his following and perform to sold-out audiences at the MGM Grand."

  When Maddy said nothing, just continued looking straight ahead, Dimitri kissed her on the side of the face, and said, "Don't worry, honey, I'm not out to become a legend. But I would like to have my own show in Vegas for a few years. By then, coming back here and putting on chaps and being a sidewalker for the prettiest equine therapist in the country will sound pretty good." He turned Maddy's face so she'd have to look at him, and said, "I love you, and I'm trying to make things work, but you have to meet me half way."

  Maddy's eyes held confusion, and concern, as she said, "But your means of my meeting you half way is for me to move to Las Vegas and be your assistant. What about my dream? Am I supposed to abandon Healing Hooves until you're ready to move here?"

  "Of course not," Dimitri said. "We can find a piece of land near Vegas that would work."

  "It's all desert," Maddy replied. "I went online last night and looked up land for sale, and for about a half-million dollars you can get five acres of scrub land that wouldn't support one small goat. I have sixty acres of pasture and woods on the ranch, and thousands of acres where I can ride, and my family's ready to help me build an arena."

  "How about this," Dimitri said. "We'll pick up a small acreage and build a saleable house and an arena, and bring in hay for the horses, and after I'm established we'll move back here and I'll work the lounges in the area. I'm just asking you to give me a chance to get established so I'd be able to support a family. In about five years we'd come back here and focus on your dreams. I'll have the money to do whatever you want by then. In the meantime we'd start your horse camp in Las Vegas, but on a small scale."

  The discussion was cut short when the limo pulled up to the lounge.

  Maddy moved out of the curve of Dimitri's arm and peered through the window. "I can't believe this," she said. "There's already a crowd, and it's at least three hours before show time. Will it be like this wherever you go?"

  "It will if I plan things right," Dimitri replied. "Word of the water torture cell has people coming with hopes that if I'm on the ten o'clock news again it will be for a very different reason, and they can say they saw the failed escape."

  "You say that lightly like nothing will happen, when in fact any number of things could go wrong, just as they could with your burning box escape," Maddy clipped.

  "We've been through this," Dimitri said. "I always check the rigging right before."

  The door to the limo opened and Maddy took Chris's extended hand to get out, but while she was walking with Dimitri to the lounge, she said, "During the cattle drive you nearly drowned. The same thing could happen in the water torture cell."

  "Okay. Maybe I did come close to drowning, but it's different with the water tank escape."

  "And still, you refuse to tell me the secret," Maddy said, as they started up the stairs to the dressing room. "I'm worried that something unexpected could happen and you wouldn't be able to do whatever you do to get out."

  Just outside the dressing room door, Dimitri pulled Maddy around so she was facing him, kissed her lightly, and said, "You'll learn half the secret when we rehearse Metamorphosis."

  "And the other half?"

  "You'll learn that when you marry me." Dimitri opened the door to the dressing room.

  Maddy remained where she was and stared at him. "I didn't yet agree to marry you. You're the one jumping to that conclusion."

  "Do you want to marry me?" Dimitri asked.

  "Well, yes."

  "Then we need to get on with rehearsing Metamorphosis. After you marry me you'll learn the rest of the secret to the torture tank and all your worries will be over." Dimitri nudged her into the dressing room.

  While Maddy stood with a brooding look on her face, two of Dimitri's stage men approached, one pushing the Metamorphosis trunk which was riding on a dolly, the other carrying a storage container, which he set down.

  Ray, the taller of the two, said to Dimitri, "Do you want us to hang around?"

  "Not now but I'll want you back here in an hour or so," Dimitri replied.

  "Just give us a call," Ray said. "We'll be in the casino with Chris."

  "Fine, but if you lose your money don't expect an advance," Dimitri said. "As it is, you guys are getting a paid vacation."

  "Yeah, we're not minding it so much now."

  After the men left, Dimitri said to Maddy, "Check the trunk thoroughly inside and out. It's made of solid wood, and the padlocks used will be certified locks from a local lock shop."

  Maddy was still in the process of digesting Dimitri's marriage proposition and the fact that she wanted to tell him both yes, and no. Yes, because she loved him, and no, because she couldn't imagine living in Las Vegas, except that she'd have Dimitri in her life every day and night, and she loved being a part of his performances, and he was rearranging his life to include her and her dream. How could she say, no?

  She put that decision on hold because, for now, her curiosity about the trunk caught her attention. It had been almost four months since she'd seen Dimitri do the impossible—escape from shackles while sealed inside a postal bag and somehow emerge from inside a roped, chained, and padlocked trunk, to be replaced by a woman who, in turn,
ended up in shackles inside the trunk. Yet the trunk was never opened because it remained in plain view of the audience the entire time, and the switch took place in less than five seconds.

  Seeing the trunk up close, it looked even more formidable. It was not only covered with a crisscross of heavy straps, but there were metal brackets where each leather strap met the edge of the trunk before turning and continuing. The body of the trunk was painted green, but the paint was scarred and scraped, like the trunk was old. In fact, it appeared to be a very old trunk, yet she knew Dimitri constructed it based on photographs of Houdini's Metamorphosis trunk. She was more than a little amazed at how authentic the trunk looked, right down to the four, ornate, antique brass hasps across the front of the lid.

  She ran her hand over the solid wood top, which was so thick her knuckles felt the impact when she knocked on it, then she opened the trunk and saw that the inside was also scarred and scuffed, as if very old. Scanning the interior with a questioning eye, while padding her hand inside the trunk, she said in a perplexed voice, "It's impossible. There's no way out."

  Dimitri ran a finger down the length of her spine and gave her a little nudge. "Go ahead. Climb in and see how it is in there, keeping in mind that you'll be chained inside a trunk that will also be chained, roped and padlocked. You don't have a problem with tight spaces do you?"

  Maddy never gave tight spaces a thought because it had never been an issue, but when she visualized being cuffed and chained inside a closed trunk secured with a crisscross of ropes, chains and padlocks, a feeling of claustrophobia began to build. "What if there's an earthquake while I'm in there?" she asked, while staring at the trunk.

  "Trust me, you'll get out."

  Unable to suppress what she knew to be an irrational fear, but deciding she just needed more time to get adjusted to the idea, she said, "I think I should rehearse in my costume, so if you'll get it out, I'll go put it on."

  Dimitri eyed her skeptically, then opened the storage container and lifted out a jumpsuit made of iridescent bluish-green spandex. "You'll be able to move around inside the trunk in this."