“That’s amazing! Will you show me sometime?”
He lifts his chin, blinking slowly. “I’ll do one now, but only for you,” he says hesitantly.
Reaching into his pocket, he removes a deck, and a moment later, he’s shuffling the cards with the skill of a seasoned Las Vegas blackjack dealer.
“Pick a card, any card.” He fans out the deck in front of me.
I reach for one at the end. I force myself not to react when I’m greeted by the queen of hearts. I can’t help but feel as if the universe is again playing a joke on me.
“Once you’ve memorized it, go ahead and place it backin the deck at random.” He turns his head, and I put the card back.
“Now, pick one more card, and do the same thing.”
This time, I pull the nine of clubs.
“Think long and hard about the cards you’ve just chosen.” Sam shuffles the cards a couple more times, then searches through the deck until he locates the queen of hearts and the nine of clubs. “Were these the ones you had on your mind?”
“Yes.” I look up at him. “I think I’ve seen this trick before. Is this the one where just have to make sure you know what the cards on the ends were when you asked me to?—”
Sam places a finger to my lips. “A magicianalwayskeeps their secrets.”
I shiver as a jolt shoots through my body. His touch is electric, which makes sense considering we’re underwater, and water conducts electricity. I internally laugh to myself.
“Do you have any other tricks you could show me?”
“I do.” Sam performs two more tricks, both of which leave me stumped.
“Do you do other magic tracks besides things with cards?”
Slowly, he brushes a wisp of hair out of my face. Reaching behind my ear, Sam plucks a fifty-pence coin out of thin air. “I haven’t had as much practice with trickier illusions. Everything I do is simple.”
“I’m still impressed. How did you get into magic?”
He absently shuffles the cards in his hands. “When I was in sixth form, my school used to have a yearly talent show. I wanted to find a talent that was different from what all my other mates were doing. I scoured the internet for ideas and stumbled upon a video on simple card tricks.”
“Simple doesn’t always mean it’s easy.”
“No. Definitely not.” The folds of his eyes crinkle. “It took me days of practice to be able to master my first couple tricks.”
I cock my head to the side. “I think the other guys and gals in your regiment might like seeing your tricks. Is there a reason you don’t want to share it with them?”
“I’m not that good at it, and they’ll just make fun of me for it.” He shrugs. “I’d rather keep it to myself.”
I wish he’d give himself more credit. I think he’s talented with his card tricks, but it’s his decision what he does with them.
“Well, thank you for sharing it with me.” I smile and decide to press my luck. “Even though you said a magician never reveals their secrets, can you teach me how to do the coin trick?”
“Sorry, but no.” He takes another fifty-pence coin, tosses it into the air, and makes it disappear. “That’s something we’ll have to do on a future date.”
I extend my lower lip. “What if I volunteer to be a magician’s assistant?”
He zips his mouth closed and shakes his head. I sigh. It looks like I won’t be learning any tricks tonight.
Around nine, Miller comes to finds us. “So? What’s the verdict?”
“This place is brilliant, Miller,” Sam tells her.
“You’re going to be the new ‘it’ hangout place in London,” I add. “I bet once word gets out about you and pictures pop up on social media, you’ll have a waiting list a mile or two long.”
