2015
Jeremiah couldn’t sleep that night. He wanted to kick himself for pushing Alannah about whatever secrets she might be keeping to herself. She needed to tell him in her own way, at her own pace. He knew she was gentle and sweet and easily hurt, but he’d gone ahead and pushed anyhow.
That morning he called to apologize. She made it sound like it was no big deal, but he knew better. He vowed to never do that again.
Unless I lose my temper.
It was always there, just below the surface, the fear that somebody would say the wrong thing and he would blow. He remembered losing his temper completely, the time he tossed his little brother’s games down the stairs. And the time he had killed the cat.
That must never ever happen with Alannah.
She was sensitive, so very sensitive, and he knew if he lost his temper, he’d also lose her. Probably forever. And he would deserve it. He simply couldn’t let that happen, no matter what.
In his e-mail that morning, he had received a general schematic of the new theater from the design team at Caesar’s. He printed the fifteen-page PDF and spent an hour poring through the details. In the end, he didn’t have much to suggest. They’d included several trap doors in the stage that would be invisible to the audience and a couple of catwalks running from the stage into the audience, so he could greet more people.
They had also planned equipment to allow him or his assistants to fly above the crowd, held up by nearly invisible wiring. The one addition he wanted to include related to that. He wanted the assistants to start the show by flying from the back of the theater to the stage. He’d seen that done by Cirque du Soleil once, and it had caught everyone off guard. He wanted that effect.
He didn’t have much to say about the seating. The areas up close would be arranged as a dinner theater, with round tables of eight seats each. Each seat would cost $200, which included a basic dinner. Booze was extra, of course. A lot extra.
The rest of the theater used standard stadium seating so there would be no bad seats anywhere—no seats blocked by pillars or anything else.
The plans were amazing, and he had to keep himself from shaking his head and convincing himself it was all just a dream.
* * *
Construction of the new theater began almost immediately after the contracts were signed. Jeremiah visited the site monthly to check on progress and was amazed at how fast it developed.
There were no indications on the site as to what the new theater would be used for. Caesar’s wanted to surprise everyone when everything was in place.
He loved it.
Although he performed a few shows while waiting for his theater to be complete, he instructed his agent not to book anything new. Jeremiah wanted the time free to plan the new spectacle.
Alannah helped with organizing. She set up a system on her iPad that kept track of the thirty standard tricks he would perform for any given show. Some of them were “small” magic, work that needed a camera to show the audience what was going on. He only included his favorite card tricks and mind-reading. These always went over well, but the audience didn’t go to see him for those.
They wanted the big shots.
They wanted levitation, disappearing girls, danger, thrills, and surprises.
They wanted to believe.
Alannah kept track of the major tricks in her iPad, along with substitutions. Jeremiah didn’t want to perform the same set of tricks every night, although he was known for a few spectacular ones that he would repeat over and over, so the audience didn’t feel cheated.
However, there were a half dozen different levitation tricks and several ways to make his assistant disappear; on top that, in addition, he had way too many tricks in his bag to perform them all. If he tried to include every trick he knew, his show would last all night long.
One thing nagged at him as they planned.
Every time he had ever asked his audiences for feedback, they always overwhelmingly responded by asking about the one trick missing from his act: cutting a girl in half.
The contract with Caesar’s had an appendix that listed eight major tricks that he was obligated to perform in each show. After all, they were putting up a shitload of money to build the stage, and they needed the audiences to come.
Number three on that list was cutting a girl in half.
Jeremiah knew that, of course, and now he was committed. It was time to bury the past.
* * *
On December 10, Jeremiah and Alannah boarded an Alaska Airlines flight for Las Vegas, three weeks before the first show, but there had been little point going earlier because the stage hadn’t been finished. Now, they could practice all they wanted with no fear of construction workers interrupting them.
The Jeremiah Moore Stage. It still sounded surreal to them.
The plane was a 737, three seats on each side with an aisle down the middle. Alannah took the window seat and Jeremiah the middle. The aisle seat was empty, which they were both happy with.
The flight was only two hours and fifteen minutes, and as they lifted into the air, Alannah leaned over to kiss Jeremiah and said, “Onward to our new life.”
“Yes. I can’t wait to get it started!”
She grabbed his arm when the plane rumbled through a spot of turbulence. She wasn’t afraid of flying, not exactly, but she felt the adrenaline flooding her when things got a little bumpy.
He’d hired three additional assistants from the local temp agency. Although he hadn’t met them yet, he’d interviewed them on Skype, and they seemed to be good fits. Really all they needed was to seem excited to be part of the show and be attractive and reliable. If any of the three impressed him over the first month, he’d hire her full time. This was a long gig.
“Are you going to miss Seattle?” he asked.
“No, I don’t think so. It’s been my home for a long time, now, but it’s not like I have any actual roots there. I grew up in a small town in upstate New York. Even there, I didn’t feel any loss when we left. I just needed to leave.
“Here, I don’t feel the need to leave. I’m moving on with you, and there’s nothing that could make me happier.”
“I’m glad.”
She smiled broadly for him.
“And you’re sure your sister really wants to move, too?”
“Yup. She’ll come a bit later, but she would never live in a different place from me.”
“I still have to meet her.”
Alannah leaned onto his arm. “You will. It’s a bit complicated right now, so don’t worry.”
Jeremiah wanted to ask what was complicated, but he knew she’d tell him when she was ready.
“You know, Vegas is known for a lot of things,” he said. “Music, the shows, of course, gambling, the heat.”
“Yes. I’m looking forward to seeing it all!”
“And one other thing.”
“What?”
“Weddings.”
“Oh, like that chapel where somebody dressed as Elvis Presley can marry people?”
“That, and of course slightly more respectable places.”
“I guess.”
“How would you feel about us getting married? I mean, now, not some indeterminate point in the future, but . . . well, now?”
She turned and stared at him.
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
She pursed her lips and kissed his cheek.
“That would be amazing . . . to be married to you right away. I’d love that . . . .”
“But?”
“It’s just . . . complicated. I’m not sure I can do it that fast.”
“Oh, okay.”
Jeremiah looked into her eyes and tried to hide the sadness that rushed through him. He wanted this girl to be joined to his heart forever. Not that a cheap ceremony would change anything if their relationship went sour, but the symbol felt important to him.
“Soon,” she whispered. “I promise.”
She grabbed his thigh and squeezed it. He tried to believe that everything would be perfect for them.
It has to be, he knew.
* * *
The plane landed five minutes ahead of schedule and they found their way through the labyrinthine terminal, grabbed their bags, and hired a taxi.
“Caesar’s Palace,” Jeremiah told the driver.
“Sure thing.”
The cabbie stared at him using the rear-view mirror, possibly trying to figure out if he was a big tipper. Or maybe trying to see how a guy his age had somehow attracted a beautiful girl half his age.
Surely that’s not unusual in Vegas, thought Jeremiah. And who gives a shit anyway?
The hotel expected them. As they climbed out of the cab and paid the driver, a woman walked out and said, “Mr. Moore. Ms. Clarke. My name is Amanda Smythe, and I’ll be responsible for getting you both settled today.”
They said “Hi” at the same time and shook hands. The woman looked to be about fifty with short curly gray hair. She wore a tan, knee-length dress that must have been hot, but she didn’t show it.
“Your rooms are ready. You have connecting suites on the twentieth floor. I trust they will be appropriate until you find permanent arrangements.”
She smiled at Alannah and nodded at Jeremiah.
“Well, that’ll come with time,” he answered.
“Of course.”
She called to a bellboy and told him to take their luggage to their rooms.
“I’m sure you’d like to see the theater first,” she said.
“You bet.”
She walked them through the tourists that flooded the main floor. The farther they walked, the more slot machines surrounded them, and the more people crowded around them. None of them recognized Jeremiah, but he hadn’t expected them to.
It was only two o’clock in the afternoon, but the casino was packed. Several times they had to detour around intoxicated guests.
Jeremiah had performed in Las Vegas at least a dozen times, but only once at Caesar’s Palace, about five years earlier. He wasn’t fazed at all by the crowds, the drinks, the noise, the gambling, but he could tell that Alannah was soaking it all in, never having seen anything like this before.
There’s no place in the world like Vegas. He promised himself to find time over the next month to show her the wonders of the city. Even a month would only make a small dent in the sights to be seen, but it was a start.
We have our entire lives to appreciate the rest.
And then, they were there.
Their walk ended in a hallway with a sign above the entrance, but it was draped so nobody could read it.
“Here is the entrance to your stage,” said Amanda Smythe.
They stopped and Jeremiah felt his heart beating. It was one thing to see blueprints but quite another to see that somebody had invested millions of dollars to build a stage just for him.
The walkway was blocked by two security guards, but they didn’t budge when the trio walked past. The walkway was at least fifteen feet wide and snaked in a curving pattern. The walls were mirrored, as was the ceiling. There was no obvious lighting, but there was enough ambient light somehow.
Sound filtered from all around them, dark moody music, perfect for magic.
“Oh God, this is amazing,” said Alannah.
“I know,” he answered. “I can’t believe it.”
They walked slowly, dazzled by the mirrors, and noticed that the mirrors had shadows that appeared every once in a while. Shadows of magic being performed. They only appeared for a second, just long enough to register and make them wonder if they’d really seen anything.
After a few minutes, they entered an atrium with a half dozen doors that looked like they guarded an ancient dungeon: oak, heavy, scratched, like they’d seen a thousand wars.
“The lighting will be up, so you can inspect anything you wish, but of course that’s way brighter than it will normally appear.”
They both nodded, both speechless.
The dungeon-like doors swung open and they went inside.