The Riveras, excluding Alessandra, never liked to travel. Since the man of the house, Diego Carlos Rivera, was elected mayor, the family left Windsor a total of seven times. Whatever they needed was right within the limits of the town, and anything else could be ordered and shipped to their doorstep.
Alessandra wanted to describe her parents as understanding people, but sadly, that was not the case. If she wanted to get to New York, she could not tell her parents. That night, after she received her tarot card, she packed a bag and left her parents a note on the kitchen counter.
On the drive to the bank, she couldn't shake the guilty feeling of disappearing on her family. Her mind was on the letter:
Mom and Dad,
I know that I have disappeared before, but I am not sure that I am returning this time. I found an incredible job opportunity that I just could not pass up. I can't tell you where, and I feel that I also cannot include any other details. I'm sorry, but I need to do this for myself. I have to get out of Windsor, it's not for me. I love you both so much, take care of Sofia. Tell her what you have to, but please let her know that I love her with all of my heart.
Love,
Lessie
Alessandra felt tears prick her eyes but blinked them away with the thoughts of what her future may hold. She pulled into the bank drive-thru and quickly drained her account of any balances, stuffing the cash into her bag and speeding away from the drive-thru. After her stop at her storage unit to pack her "emergency runaway kit" - a kit she had made once she turned seventeen with the idea of taking it and leaving Windsor for good as soon as she graduated - she took off on the highway around midnight.
Running on the drive of joining The Eye and energy drinks, Alessandra arrived in New York with having driven twenty-six hours and only stopping six times. She had found a reasonable motel a few blocks from the address on her tarot card. Now, with two days alone in New York, what was she supposed to do?
Well, if you're Alessandra Rivera, you take the ferry to Brooklyn and brush up on common cardistry and pick-pocketing. The entirety of her first day was spent on the top decks of ferries. When it was nearing five, she decided to call it quits and find a place to eat and count her earnings. She pushed her way towards the dock but was shoved back by a man in a leather jacket.
"Watch where you're going, will you?" She hissed, grabbing his wrist before he could get any further from her. He yanked it out her grasp and shoved his way through the small crowd without a second glance. Alice let out an agitated groan before following him back onto the ferry. He launched himself up onto the upper deck and introduced himself. As he did so, Alessandra moved to sit on the bench nearest to him. She felt the need to find out who that guy thought he was.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am the next great magician, and I will give one hundred dollars to anyone who can tell me how this trick is done." He paused and held up a spoon. Alessandra held back a mixture of a groan and laugh; it was one of the easiest tricks in the book.
The man continued, "I have an ordinary spoon from Mel's Deli, right here in Brooklyn. Check it out," He tapped it on the railing next to Alessandra. He caught her eye, sending her a wink as he did. Despite feeling a blush rise to her cheeks, she scoffed and rolled her own eyes. "Now, everyone please pay very, very close attention. Because I'm about to bend this spoon with my mind."
Alessandra stood with her arms crossed as the man made it look like he bent the spoon. A smirk toyed on her lips as he spoke again, "Thank you. Thank you. Pass that around."
As he gave the spoon to a random passenger, Alessandra stepped up to him. "What's this?" She asked, reaching around him and pulling a perfectly straight spoon from his back pocket. When he reached back to stop her, she gripped his wrist and turned it over. "Look at this! We've got a spoon and a stem."
Alessandra showed the crowd the trick, turning back and sending a smirk to the man. He chuckled, easily catching onto her as he felt that his watch was missing from his wrist as well as the spoon stem.
"I've got other tricks." He said.
"Or you could give me my hundred bucks." Alessandra taunted, holding her hand out flat towards him.
The crowd started defending Alessandra, and the man reluctantly pulled out his own wallet. He held out the money for her to take. "You have a very good eye, ma'am."
"That I do, sir." Alessandra giggled, taking the money and returning the wink he sent her before his trick. She lowered her voice as she moved past him to go back down the stairs, "From one street magician to another, try some of the easier tricks and bet less money. People always look for hard ways to solve simple tricks."
With those last whispered words, Alessandra was down the stairs and quickly moving towards the back of the boat. She heard the man call after her as she jumped over to the dock, his hard steps immediately following.
"Hey, leather jacket!" He yelled as he chased her down the pier. "You just cheated me out of a hundred bucks!"
Keeping a fast pace, Alessandra turned and started walking backward. "And a watch!"
She grinned as he picked up his own pace and quickly caught up to her, seizing her elbow in his hand and moving them into an alleyway between two shops. He looked down to her, and she let herself quickly examine his face before she spoke.
His amber brown eyes were hooded under thick, defined eyebrows and framed with long eyelashes. His jawline matched up almost perfectly, making the rest of his face nearly symmetrical. His lips were full and pink, and suddenly Alessandra felt extremely jealous; she thought her own lips were too thin.
"He's one lucky bastard to have a face like that." Alessandra thought with a smug look. She licked her red coated lips and opened her mouth to speak. "You can have your watch and money back. I don't steal from fellow magicians if they catch me doing it." She simply stated, pulling the cash and watch from her leather jacket and offering them to him. He stared at her in disbelief.
"You're serious?"
Alessandra offered a shrug in response as if doing something nice was the normal thing to do in New York and she was confused by his reaction. When he didn't move to grab his belongings, she sighed and pulled him to her by his own leather jacket. She moved to shove the money and watch into a pocket but felt a playing card instead of an empty pocket.
She pulled it out, thinking that he had somehow stolen her tarot card when he pulled her into the alleyway. But, upon further examination in the fading light, she found that this card, though the same size and shape as her card, had a picture of a skull instead of a woman. Death was scribbled across the bottom.
Alessandra's eyes flickered up to the man's, shock completely evident in their chocolaty brown color. "You were chosen too?"
"What are you talking about? That's just from my own -- " Alessandra held up the card, watching as his face fell into disbelief. " -- deck." She flipped the card around to show him the date, address, and time before fishing her own card out of her jacket.
