Audrey Shrike stood before the daytime crowd of Central Park, near the tree with the card encased in glass that was a trick of her grandfather's, Lionel Shrike. She stood up on top of a park bench so the crowd starting to gather around her could see what she was going to do, including a man in a blue hoodie that she couldn't see the face of.

"I'm sure a lot of you here think that I'm your ordinary kind of magician," Audrey called, looking over the crowd with bright hazel eyes as she brushed her black hair from her face. "That I'm only here to do your classic mumbo-jumbo card tricks. Well, that's not completely wrong, but I've put my own little spin on it. But first I'll need some help from one of you."

She slipped an ordinary deck of cards from her pocket and hopped off of the park bench. She stepped up to a young boy, no older than ten or eleven years old, and knelt in front of him, with the card deck spread so he could pick any of the fifty-two cards that he wanted.

"What's your name?" She asked the kid softly.

"Jake," he said quietly, impressing Audrey by not backing into his mother's side as she watched beside him.

"Ooh, I like that name. Alright, Jake, pick any card you want," Audrey said with a smile, waiting for the boy to pluck a card from the stack.

He pulled one after a moment of hesitation.

"Okay," she said with a smile, "look at the card, and do your best to remember what it is. Think on it really, really hard."

He nodded after a moment of seriously focusing on the single card he had pulled before putting it down a moment later and looking up at Audrey again.

"You got it?" She asked him, and Jake nodded quickly.

"Alright," Audrey said, clapping once. "Now, tear that card to pieces, okay?"

Jake hesitated. "Are you sure?"

She laughed. "Of course I'm sure. It's my trick, isn't it?"

He nodded slowly.

She winked and urged him on.

Jake tore up the card.

"Do you still remember what it is?" Audrey asked, and Jake nodded again.

Audrey bounced back up to the park bench to stand above the crowd again, and she tossed her deck into the air. The crowd backed up so the cards could flutter downward in a seemingly random array, at least until they landed in the shape of the two of clubs.

She looked back at Jake and smiled. "Was that your card?"

Jake nodded slowly, in shock.

She hopped off the bench and picked up the torn pieces of the card, cupping both of her hands around them before blowing on it, and pulling free an intact two of clubs card.

She handed it toward Jake in between two of her fingers. "Keep that one if you want it."

Jake snatched it quickly, joining in on the loud applause that was starting to get louder and louder.

Audrey smiled and bowed as people dropped spare change and dollar bills into a hat nearby. "Thank you, guys. Tips are welcome if you're willing, and if you weren't impressed by that or you want to see more, come back here tonight to watch a completely different kind of magic trick—but you might want to leave the kids at home for this one."

Audrey stood before the crowd that had gathered a second time to watch her performance, including the man in the blue hoodie.

"I'm going to start with a simpler kind of escape trick," Audrey said, smiling slightly.

She pulled handcuffs out of her back pocket. "A girl's gotta have her toys, right?"

There were loud catcalls from the back of the crowd, and she pointed to a young man standing in the front with brown hair that looked slightly Bieber-esque. "You, come up here and lock me in."

There were more whistles from the crowd.

He stepped forward and took the cuffs from her, holding them in long fingers.

"What's your name?" Audrey asked him, looking up.

"Daniel," he said, looking up from the cuffs so his blue eyes met Audrey's deep hazel ones.

"Alright, Daniel," she said, motioning back toward the rest of the crowd. "Care to be my assistant for the time being?"

Daniel snorted. "Sure."

"Alright, can you prove to them that these are in fact real handcuffs?"

Daniel turned to the crowd and tugged on the locked sides of the cuffs, announcing they were very much real.

Audrey handed him the key, and he locked the cuff firmly around her tan wrist and backed away slightly.

"Now, just because this is one of my simple tricks doesn't mean everyone else can do it." She snapped her arm, and her wrist pulled free from the cuff. "See?"

There was applause from the crowd, including Daniel.

"Cool, right? And, no, you guys can't know." She pulled a second pair of cuffs from her things behind the bench, and motioned Danny back over.

"Now things are going to get a little more interesting." Audrey tugged free two more pairs of handcuffs, and she had Daniel restrain her ankles too.

He strapped them on quite tight.

"Oh," she said in surprise. "I think someone's done this before."

The crowd laughed, but Daniel turned slightly pink across his cheekbones.

"Someone time me," she called, "if it takes me more than thirty seconds to free myself, you guys get to learn the trick."

Multiple people pulled out the stopwatches on their phones.

"Tell me when to start," Audrey said, practically bending completely over the arm of the bench to look at the crowd.

"Go!" Multiple people called at the same time.

It took a little wiggling to get her first hand free, but after that, it took her almost no time to free her feet. On the last cuff, she tossed her hand up and hooked the cuff onto the branches of the Shrike Tree she was beside, no longer attached. "Time?"

"Twenty-three seconds," Daniel told her, sounding like he was trying to hide how impressed he was.

Audrey bowed. "And thank you, all of you lovely people!"

They all applauded.

After the crowd dissipated, she slipped the money she had earned into her wallet, pausing when she found a tarot card mixed in. She picked it up, looking at the symbol. Balance, with the picture of the tipping scales.

She flipped the card over, reading on the back.

March 29

4:44 pm

45 East Evan St.

NY, NY

She looked at it closely. She knew exactly what it was for—it was an invitation to join the Eye.