I noticed the magician when he slipped in behind the last person to enter the golden-walled elevator, and I sucked in a breath.  I held it, half-subconsciously, as if it would make me invisible to him.  It did not.  I started feeling thudding of my heart as soon as he started turning to people, one at a time, handing them scraps of paper, touching their hands.  I exhaled when he turned to me and handed me a scrap of paper too.  He grinned and told me what I was supposed to do the next time he called upon me. 

When he turned away, my gaze began to dart around the tiny box in which we were all trapped, looking for a way, any way, out.  I glanced up.  I glanced at the large tall man whom I could easily hide behind, if he weren’t so far away.  I saw no way out, and so I took a deep breath and braced myself for when the magician’s attention would once again return to me.

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