“She can’t.” Aristelle appears on my other side, sliding between me and Willow. “She’ll look like a coward.”

Xander and Aristelle glare at each other around me.

She’s right, though. The crowd already murmurs with excitement at Ethan’s new twist. They watch me now, not him. He’s managed to turn me into the one being judged, probably hoping I’ll say no and weaken my own position before I can ever get on the stage myself. Clever bastard.

He knows it too. It’s all over his face. His raised, mocking eyebrows. His smug smirk. Every second I stand and think about it, I lose the crowd around me.

My only option is to steal his show.

I break away from Xander and head toward the center of the stage, not the stairs on either side. I need to gain back some of what I lost to hesitation.

Ethan moves to meet me there, squatting down to offer his hand.

Ignoring it, I brace my arms on the side of the stage and swing my legs up and over, springing to my feet with a grace I have all my running and training to thank for. Ethan doesn’t have time to spring from his own squat before I offer him my hand.

He scowls as the crowd erupts in laughter. They are mine. I allow myself the smallest smirk.

And then he pulls out the gun at his side, spinning it between his fingers until the pearl handle flashes like a star dancing in his hands.

The crowd claps for his party trick. He gets them back. For now.

My fingers itch for the knives I always wear on my wrists and ankles now. I keep my hands calmly at my sides. It won’t do for me to start acting twitchy. I will play assistant to him and be done with this. If I can steal the crowd for a moment again, all the better.

“Fellow magicians,” he crows, keeping his gun spinning from hand to hand as he speaks, “tonight you’ll be in for a real treat. Tonight I will catch a bullet with my bare hands.”

I almost snort. It’s a used-up trick. Penn and Teller mastered it already. They pull it off beautifully, too. It’s enough to make your heart stop for that one glorious moment as you try to figure out how it’s done. I’ve watched the video online nearly thirty times, picking apart the smallest details and moves of their hands before finally searching out how they do it: a sleight-of-hand trick and wax bullets to shatter the glass panes they shoot through. The glass is a nice touch. Ethan can’t possibly add anything new to it.