Magic Mansion by Jordan Price (best fiction books to read .txt) 📕

if Ricardo didn’t know what he knew, he would suspect she was reassuring herself that everything would be all right. But now he could see she was actually speaking to Monty. And not just from contestant to host, either. “I’m okay. I’m fine. And it was a privilege to be here, and to perform…and I’ve had so many phenomenal experiences, and made so many special friends, that as far as I’m concerned, I am a winner.”

She turned to Jia first, and pulled her into a hug. Jia had never struck Ricardo as the huggy type, but the two of them embraced, and whispered encouragements to one another, with a totally unscripted enthusiasm. Sue approached the male magicians next—Kevin with a perfunctory hug, John with a tender kiss on the cheek, and finally, Ricardo.

After the incident where they’d all broken down over surrendering their Gold Team medals, Ricardo had promised himself he wasn’t going to cry on camera again…and at the feel of Sue in his arms for possibly the last time, he felt that resolve disappear. “Shh,” she murmured, “it’s really all right. Ricardo, I swear. It’s fine.”

“I know,” he said. “I know you’ll be happy.”

Sue pushed him back to arms’ length, laughed tearfully, then gave him a playful shake. “But if you don’t win this thing for the Gold Team,” she teased, “I will never forgive you.”

As Sue exited the ballroom, tall and striking in her sparkly heels, John surreptitiously pressed a silk handkerchief into Ricardo’s hand. A laugh escaped Ricardo that probably looked like an embarrassed sob. He’d never been in love with another magician before. He shook out the gossamer square of red fabric and carefully blotted the corner of his eye, doing his best to seem appropriately somber.

“Magicians,” Monty said, “we’re now down…to the Final Four. And this week…is History Week. Magic is an art that’s steeped in tradition. For your first History Week challenge, each of you, with the help of a stylist, will design your own close-up act, complete with costumes, banter, and illusions—and this act will be a period piece. Choose any era you wish to represent, but choose wisely. The winner of this competition will win a strategic advantage in the final challenge. You’ll be judged not only on showmanship, skill and charisma, but on accuracy and originality.

“And not by the home viewing audience. The four of you will perform, simultaneously, for a crowd of one hundred spectators…on the historic boardwalk in Atlantic City.”

Chapter 34

DRESSING UP

Marlene flicked through the dailies, marking a shot of Jia putting on mascara, and another of Kevin pumping iron, that showed them looking focused and resolute—eyes on the prize. The other two members of the Final Four were a bit more difficult to capture in a determined frame of mind. Lately it seemed they were never without giddy grins on their faces. Or their hands roving down each others’ bodies the minute the handhelds wandered away, and there was no one there but themselves…and the wall cams.

They were wreaking havoc with the narrative. Just like Sue, who’d wept and slobbered her way through the entire series, and then faced elimination with a casual shrug. She and Monty had announced their I-love-yous mere hours before, and in the light of Monty’s dazzle, there was simply no way she could muster up the grief. She just wasn’t a good enough actor.

Iain plunked into his chair, took a long drink of his vitamin water, and raised an eyebrow at the shot of Professor Topaz pinning Ricardo to the wall. “I thought Ricardo would wear that guy out in a few days,” he said. “But I guess I underestimated the Professor’s stamina.”

“I’m sure they’re running on endorphins at this point. Did you divvy up the stylists?”

“Eventually. They all wanted Jia—just like you said. So I went by seniority and gave her to the gal who’s been here the longest. After that, they sorted themselves out. Once Jia was out of the running, everyone had their favorites.”

“And the flight?”

“All set.” Iain flicked through a few more shots, marked a nice one of Jia pounding on a temperamental heating vent, and said, “So…did you want me to mention anything to the Mansion’s Horniest Gay Couple?”

“Mention what?”

“That they’ll be on display in front of a big crowd of people. And it’s probably not going to be in their best interests to be fawning all over each other in public.”

Normally, Marlene would have assumed Iain was just looking for an opportunity to wield his power over the contestants. But it was still early in the day, and “sleep-deprived Iain” hadn’t yet reared his head. Since Iain sounded sincerely concerned, Marlene figured “Marlene the bitch” could hold off the snippy answer she was eager to give. “It’s their lives to live, Iain. Taping in public is always iffy.”

“Our hundred viewers are signing non-disclosure agreements, but….”

“Right,” Marlene said. “Have the private audience sign all the paperwork you want. The crew knows better than to go around telling tales, but the general public? Someone won’t be able to resist blabbing about what they saw on a blog somewhere. If Ricardo and the Professor want to go public now, who am I to say they can’t?”

Besides…the Magicians wouldn’t have access to online fallout until the show wrapped, and even more importantly, the general voting phase of the competition was finished. Whether Ricardo and the Professor made a big public splash with their relationship or not, Magic Mansion was still anybody’s game.

___

It was nearly midnight by the time Ricardo made it back to their room—the room he now shared with John, with its tiny bed and its falling-down appeal, off the beaten path of both the cameras and the other contestants. Not that anyone would have stopped John from moving into Ricardo’s dorm room instead, with its big bed and private bath. But the dim little room in the servants’ quarters belonged in some inexplicable way to the both of them. Everyone knew it; someone had even penned and