Lee turned his attention to me, no doubt noticing how I was glancing between him and Ben curiously. A fresh smile lit up his face—one that looked like nothing but trouble.
“Hey, has Benny told you about the Quiet Acquisition?”
“The what?” My frown deepened with confusion when I saw that Ben looked exasperated at the suggestion.
“Just a little card trick,” Lee said. He pulled a deck of cards from his pocket as easily as someone would a handkerchief. He began to shuffle, and I stared, mesmerized, as his fingers moved through the cards like butter. Then he fanned them out elegantly before me. “Pick one. Maybe you’ll get lucky.” He winked.
I narrowed my eyes at Ben. “I’m assuming there’s glamour involved?”
“It’s light,” Ben said at once, unable to hold my stare. “Harmless. You’ll hardly notice.”
That didn’t bring me the comfort he assumed it would. Still, he surely wouldn’t attempt anything insane while Jon and Cliff were in shouting distance. Delilah stood to the side, giving me a small assuring nod as she folded her arms to watch.
“Alright.” I forced a smile. “Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to practice overcoming glamour.”
Ben winced as though that wasn’t likely.
After pondering the spread of cards, I pulled one carefully and held it before me with both hands, cumbersome as it was being over half my height.
“Got it memorized?” Lee asked.
Queen of diamonds. Nodding, I carefully slid the card back into a different part of the deck and pulled back to watch. A slight shiver of magic entered the air, barely noticeable as Ben had promised. I observed in quiet amazement as Lee shuffled the cards once more, mine getting lost in the mix. My jaw dropped as Lee pulled his hands apart mid-shuffle and stillseemed to have complete control over the deck. Several cards popped out and slid back in neatly amongst the others.
Pausing, Lee held the deck in one palm. With a quick movement of his hand, a single card jumped from the deck. He snatched it from the air between his fingers and turned it toward me with a flourish.
I gasped in amazement at the queen of diamonds.
Eyes alight with mischief, Lee tucked the card back into the deck. “How’d you do fighting off that glamour?”
Blinking, I shook my head. “All of that was amazing, but it looked natural. I can’t see how glamour affected the trick.”
He smirked, jutting his chin for me to look down. “You sure?”
Glancing at my hand, I yelped. I was holding out the necklace with my snowflake and constellation charms,offeringit to him. Flinching, I dropped the chain, and Ben hurriedly swooped down to catch it.
“H-how—” I took the offered chain back, my mind racing. I must have unclasped and unwound it at some point during Lee’s dazzling card shuffle, all without noticing.
Pocketing the cards, Lee shrugged. “The trick itself has been in my arsenal for years since I was a teen conning people on the streets of the Windy City. But the spell Ben casts on the deck to hypnotize people into handing over their personal items? Nowthatwas game-changing.”
“We made a killing in Vegas,” Ben said, brightening as he rubbed the back of his neck, exchanging a boyish grin with Lee. “And Reno.”
Lee chuckled, something vaguely wicked surfacing at the back of his gaze. “We practically cleaned those cities dry. You know, in a few months, we could go back for another extended vacation. You loved those cranberry-vodkas at the Bellagio.”
Ben groaned through a laugh, looking embarrassed as he glanced my way. “Probably too much. I still remember that hangover.”
“And I still have the videos,” Lee said, patting the cell phone in his pants pocket. “I had no idea you were such amusicaldrunk.”
Although the ethics of their combined efforts were dubious at best, I cracked a smile. “That was a pretty good trick,” I admitted. “Even without the glamour.”
Delilah scoffed. “You’re a real sweetheart for letting them get away with that.Iset the deck on fire when they tried it on me.”
Wearing a thoroughly enamored grin, Lee kissed the crown of Delilah’s head before striding for the bedroom suite. “I should make sure Everett hasn’t turned that designer suit to ribbons. They’ve been too quiet.”
Ben flew in a quick arc across the room to follow him out. Distantly, I could hear male voices muffled in the next room. Meanwhile, Delilah took a seat on the bench tucked by the hallway table, analyzing her reflection in the mirror.
“You ready?” she asked me.
“Much as I can be,” I said, pushing a hand back through my hair. My fingers caught on tangles. Despite having had time to rest, my belongings were packed with the rest of the hunters’ things in the Challenger. A hot soak with floral oils sounded like adream.
