The Magician's Lie

Tonight, I will do the impossible.

The impossible is nothing new to me. As I do every night, I will make people believe things that aren’t true. I will show them worlds that never existed, events that never happened. I will weave a web of beautiful illusion to snare them, a glittering trap that drags them willingly with me into the magical, false, spellbinding world.

We always have a choice. Sometimes it’s just the will we lack.

The impossible is nothing new to me

Thank you. Now, due respect, Officer Holt

“There is no trick…you simply lie down in a coffin and breathe quietly.”

CHAPTER
ONE
Waterloo, Iowa

July 23, 1905

Six o’clock in the evening

Tonight, I will do the impossible.

The impossible is nothing new to me. As I do every night, I will make people believe things that aren’t true. I will show them worlds that never existed, events that never happened. I will weave a web of beautiful illusion to snare them, a glittering trap that drags them willingly with me into the magical, false, spellbinding world.

Before that, I will gather my strength. I will remain motionless, barely even breathing, here in this chair, while preparations happen around me, to me. I feel the feathery touch of brushes on my cheeks, on my chin, as my face is

I will make people believe things that aren’t true.

impossible is nothing new to me

since everything in the world depended on everything being all right.