The theater was filled with the energy of performers and audience alike. It was the night of one of my many performances, and like all the times I performed I was simply ecstatic. Sometimes, to embarrassing levels, I tended to give a good squeal or two in the dressing rooms just to show my excitement. It also has a lot to do with confidence too though, my lovely assistants always had everything prepared a long time in advance and the stagehands always obeyed them so earnestly.

Shows were always fantastic - all parts of them really. The preparing, the intro, the many tricks, the greatest was the finale. Sometimes the after party was absolutely wonderful too. . .

Money, fans, success, all from doing something I loved. Life was all so very nice.

"Hey Lynn, are you going to be ready in five?"

Even after a year on the road with the twins, it was still so hard to tell them apart at just a glance. Thankfully, hearing them was a dead give away. Charlotte was always the one who came to the dressing room to make sure I was ready. Her trying-to-be-perfect way of speaking felt like part of getting dressed by then, and without it I think I might have suddenly gotten stage fright. They might look and sound identical, but they speak and act so differently that there is no way one could have replaced the other. If Charlotte made a slip and said "good" instead of "well", it may have taken me some time to believe she wasn't Bridget pretending to be her. Bridget spoke very oddly, I could never quite place the accent, but it was sorta cute in its own way.

She was already dressed in her deliciously sparkling black leotard that gave her bare, giving her legs the impression of being much longer than they actually were. In fact, if she hadn't been in her sexy assistant's outfit, I probably would have made her change right in front of me. The black haired beauty never gave me that opportunity though.

"You're staring again." Charlotte spoke with a small laugh. I had a bad habit of doing that, to both of them really. They should blame their parents and not me though, it's their fault they're so attractive.

"Oh...uhm..." I smiled brightly and gave a big wink as a small blush spread over my cheeks. It's not that I was shy, it was just how casually she said it. "I'll be ready, you don't have to worry about that." I grumbled to myself, not for staring, but for getting caught; I needed to learn how to do that a little more discretely.

Being around the twins made my inferiority complex flare up at first. I think I was eye level with their lips. No, not that pair, I'm not that short! For a while, I even tried to do my hair differently until Bridget pointed out that I looked more like a yellow tulip than a stage magician. When I finally looked in the mirror I had to agree with her. There have also been the occasions where I was carded for buying a ticket for a movie because when they were near me, I looked like I was thirteen or something (in all respects, sadly). Thankfully, on stage even I got to look a little showy with a mix of a tight shirt that made my breasts look a size bigger and a long coat that I could hide things in.

What, you didn't think what stage magicians do was real magic did you?

I gave an anticipating filled sigh as I left the room and walked onto the stage very quietly. The curtains were still drawn closed and Charlotte was at one side of the stage, with Bridget at the other. They both nodded to me as I looked at them and as I prepared myself for the most difficult part of the entire performance. It required concentration and quick thinking. I mean, I didn't want to make a bad choice after all! I took a deep breath as the curtains glided apart and everyone in the theater focused on me.

Those who had been to one of my shows were always very excited - eyes wide open and trying to take in every detail. Those who haven't always just sort of stared at me, wondering what kind of intro this was. I scanned the audience, but didn't move my head or eyes at all, trying to keep everything in my peripheral vision. I always tried to look like I was in deep concentration or a trance, all just to improve the atmosphere.

There was a bit of a silence for ten or so seconds until Bridget walked out on stage with a microphone in one hand and a long piece of silk cloth held lightly in the other. "Good evenin' everyone, and welcome to Lynn the Magnificent's Amazing Magic Show!" She spoke so candidly and with such a smile on her face that a few people couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous name, especially because it was advertised as "The Magical Trio". The majority of the audience's attention had shifted away from me onto Bridget, who looked particularly stunning that night. A few never looked away from me though; they were too eager trying to figure out how I managed to perform my opening trick.

Charlotte then started to walk into view, also holding a piece of long silk cloth in one hand with a microphone in the other. "We promise every night that everyone will have the best time they ever had at a magic show, but tonight will be a bit better than if you were at any of our previous ones, making liars out of us." There was a bit more laughter as they walked across the stage and intersected in front of me. In perfect unison they tossed their pieces of silk up into the air, obscuring me from the audience's view.

"I'm Bridget!" She said quite happily as the cloth fluttered slowly down, seemingly unaffected by gravity.

"And I'm Charlotte!" She sang as her silk cloth also fluttered downward, in much the same way, until it fell enough so that my head should be visible.

Except it wasn't. I wasn't on the stage anymore.

Everyone looked around trying to figure out where I had vanished to. A few caught on quite quickly and their jaws dropped as they realized what had just happened. In a split second I had moved from the stage all the way to the second level of the theater, right onto the balcony. It was a perfect spot too, right behind a lovely looking woman with gorgeous brown wavy hair. A smirk spread across my face; she was much cuter up close than I had dared to hope.

"And that is our Lynn!" The twins cheered out as they pointed up to where I was with over exaggerated movement. The lovely woman turned to look where they were pointing and her jaw dropped as she realized I was right behind her. Many people were captivated in silent awe, but some reacted much quicker and started to clap and cheer. My brown-haired volunteer was still a bit surprised, so I leaned down and closed her mouth for her and even graciously added a light peck to her cheek. By this point everyone had started applauding and for I moment I felt on top of the world.

That feeling was one of the best things about being a performer.

With a quick gesture, I took out a microphone from the pocket of my coat and started to walk back toward the stage. "Yes, my dear audience! It is going to be a wonderful night, one that might impress even me!" I stopped and gave a big wink and an overly deep bow before continuing down the stairs from the balcony. A waitress (not much is better than alcohol at a theater) had frozen in her tracks to see what I was going to do next. Being the overly-confident flirt I am, I had to give her a wink and blow a kiss. The blush I got from her as a reward was well worth it.

After a short walk of giving a random viewer on an aisle seat a high five, I stepped back on stage as the applause died down. The twins knew what to do next, and it was something they always did with such confidence it almost made me a little jealous. "So Lynn, how come ya’ always make us do the grunt work and ya’ get to have all the cheerin'?" The grin on Bridget's face would make the Cheshire Cat nervous. She really loved this part of the act.

Charlotte brought a finger up to tap her chin as if she was considering what her sister had said. "That is true, we know all of your tricks, so why don't you at least let us have the opener?"

With a shrug of my shoulders and a bit of a sigh I turned my head away from them. "Well, that's because you're eye candy, and good eye candy knows how to be just distracting enough yet never take away from the star." Even if the glares were only there for the act, it still made me nervous knowing how indignant they looked. Of course showing that nervousness would be a mistake; bravado was the much better choice. "The twins? Ha! More like the quadruplets!" My head turned back to them and I gestured at their breasts with a big smile and a wink.

"Well..." They spoke in perfect unison as they both slapped a hand out of the air. "The 'four' of us think the 'two' of you are a bit too small and should really learn to respect your betters." They each grabbed me by an arm and forced me back toward a large black box that was quite obviously not designed for me.

My face turned pale as I started to protest this turn of events. "Hey! Wait! No! Stop, this trick is dangerous! HEY! LET GO OF MEEEE!!!" Kicking and screaming didn't really help much (well, besides making the act better) as they simply over-powered me and heaved me into the box, slamming it shut.

It was like putting on headphones as every sound was muffled, but I did manage to hear another joke at my expense ("It's a bit like trying on mommy's bra, isn't it?") and the accompanying laughter. Quickly I moved to the back of the box and waited in position. There was plenty of room to stand. It was a trick of perception more than anything else, but as they say, an overconfident magician ends up drowning. A dull sword pierced through the box in front of me, followed by seven others. To make the illusion have anything resembling a real threat, a sword was pushed from behind the box, right through my coat, between my legs.

The door of the box flew open and the crowd looked at my rather pathetic condition. I had a panicked look of fear on my face and wiggle a little to show how little I could move unless I wanted to touch one of the swords. "Uhm... hey weren't-cha like... supposed to vanish?" Bridget wore a grin on her face proudly.

"Haha...ha..." Charlotte gave an empty, nervous laugh as I glared at the two of them. They gave each other a look and laughed heartily before turning to the crowd and bowing. "Well, we didn't kill her at least!"

"Just get me out of here!" I yelled at the two of them, cutting off the applause and laughter from the audience. They both turned to me and grinned. They were having a lot of fun with it that night. Generally, all of the performances are more fun than stressful to do, even if the acts were generally similar, often repeating the same tricks and the same jokes.

That’s probably why I didn't have a TV show.

After a long night of many gags and tricks, including my own version of sawing someone in half (just to give a few of the older audience members a blast of nostalgia), the finale was quickly approaching.

"Now if one volunteer, chosen completely by random mind you..." I purposefully spoke as if I were in denial about it, "would like to join us up here on stage, we can get along with our greatest and grandest trick!" My finger was pointed straight up at a spot light. The spot light came alive in response and started to circle around the crowd before focusing on a certain brown haired beauty in the balcony. There were a few cheers and some applause as the woman courageously started her walk toward the stage.

A very smug and self-satisfied grin spread across my face (they were always so brave). Looking back on it, no one with stage fright was ever picked. She stepped on stage with that same confidence, looking directly at me with a smile on her face, genuinely eager. Apparently, I made a good impression over the course of the act. As she approached I dug a business card out of my coat pocket and held it up. "So, we've shared a kiss, but I don't believe we've been introduced on a personal level." With a small laugh she took the business card from my hand. "Mind if I ask your name?"

Courteously, I held the microphone to her mouth and waited for her response. What came next was a bit of a surprise. "That peck was hardly a kiss, but my name is Astrid." I faked a bit of hurt and looked at her like she just said something mean. She didn't even flinch. Tough! Just how I like them.

I sighed into the microphone and took a step toward the end of the stage. "Now audience, I'm going to need a bit of help with this trick. I need you all to close your eyes and turn around..." No one ever did, even though I always waited for a few seconds, and sometimes up to a minute trying to convince them to really do it. "Fine, I'll just have to do this the hard way!"

Spinning on my heel, I turned back to Astrid and took a bow as fireworks exploded around me, shooting streams of pyrotechnic fire into the air. This was where the act really got fun. I suddenly snapped my head up and pointed to a burning rope holding the curtain up. The twins looked up and faked panic while the audience caught on just as the curtain fell. A bit of fear twinkled into Astrid's eye for just a split second, part of me relished that raw uncertainty so damn much.

When the curtain hit the floor Astrid was gone - most would assume a trap door, but constantly going from theater to theater made a trap door a very hard thing to do properly without being discovered. This was a much simpler secret, but no one would dare accuse me of it. My head shook side to side, looking for any sign of Astrid, fake panic washing over my face.

"So... I didn't just do that." I looked around more, forcing myself to be wide eyed at Astrid's sudden and mysterious disappearance. Charlotte and Bridget looked at me, looked at each other and ran off stage. "...but apparently I'm to blame." The audience looked a little unsettled. They would assure each other it was a trick of course - that something bad didn't actually happen. The entire show was set up to make them believe that all of this was an act, absolutely everything.

"Ok... well then... I'm going to leave now...and uh...have fun!" The audience didn't know whether to clap or not for some time. This kind of finale was something no one really ever got until they got home, and I was used to having a show end with almost no applause and lots of confusion. After a few too many poor reviews though, I figured out how to spice it up a bit. So I walked out on stage and spoke very cheerfully, "And you know, you could be nice enough to give our volunteer a big round of applause for staying in that cramped back room."

I shook my hair and laughed as everyone started to applaud and cheer, finally overcoming their confusion about the entire situation. My lips couldn't stop themselves from curving into a smile as I walked backstage to my dressing room. The door opened effortlessly and I was given a sight that made my blood burn with such anticipation.

There they were, Charlotte and Bridget on either side of a very passive looking Astrid. Her eyes were still moving, bright and sharp, but her body was docile and weak. She couldn't move if she tried. Her jaw was slack and her mouth was open, most likely against her will, but I knew better than to stick a finger in there to tease, I did that once and almost lost it. "Soooo Astrid, we're going to have lots of good fun, but don't worry..." I stroked along her chin teasingly and couldn't help but to lick my lips as my touch made her quiver. "...I know better than to keep my 'volunteers' too long."

Bridget laughed, she really loved this part. She leaned down to whisper intoxicating words into Astrid's ear. Even with that hick accent something about her voice penetrated into a mind so deeply with such a smooth effect. A bit jealously sparked; I usually had to use drugs to do this, but Bridget's voice was special. Her slightly older sister wasn't just standing around though, she leaned down and started to nibble and whisper into Astrid's other ear; though similar in method the effect each of the twins produced were greatly different.

While Bridget's voice could penetrate and give commands, forcing the mind to do precisely what she wanted, Charlotte's controlled their range of emotions, especially lust. On their own they could disable someone or throw them for a very big loop, even completely control them if the person wasn't focused enough or wanted it, but together is where they shined.

Together though, they could wrap someone around their fingers, a slave to commands and a slave to their emotions. Astrid was quickly becoming aware of this as her eyes started to glass over, her mind slowing down and doing only as it was told. Her body started to shake and tremble as they kept whispering. Even though they didn't really need to, I knew they were whispering the hottest things they could think of, things they would do to Astrid, things she would do for us and how happy she would be doing it. Anything to set the stage for their own arousal.

They didn't need that though, they could whisper the ABCs and by the time they got to "L", anyone would be too pacified to not just sit still and keep those supple lips against their ears, tongues almost dancing into them. It was nearly impossible to resist even watching them do it. I didn't want to meet the person that would want to get away from them at this point.

A moan escaped Astrid's lips as she looked into my eyes. Her eyes were so glassy now, so clouded, and I could feel that grin on my face. Nothing ever went wrong. The stage team knew to stay out of our way after a show because of how we liked to celebrate. We even hired hookers so they wouldn't be surprised about a new sounding moan. No one could possi--

There was a knock on the door and it came open before anyone could react, I turned around instantly to look on a figure I hadn't seen in a long time. Charlotte and Bridget stopped whispering, they really didn't need to keep going anymore anyway though. Astrid was plenty out of it.

"How have you been Lynn?" The woman said very politely, her voice echoed even though the acoustics for the dressing room certainly couldn't provide that effect. She wasn't quite as tall as the twins, but certainly taller than me, clothed in gray wraps with a large gray coat. Even her face was hidden and only bright, yet somehow cold, eyes looked through the slits in those wraps.

I shivered a bit. "And who are you?" Bridget said, stepping away from Astrid and behind me. Her sister wasn't far behind, though she stayed silent and just put a hand on my shoulder.

"Relax you two...it's an old uh...friend." I was nervous, I wish I didn't feel so small, but she always did this to me. Anyone who really knew her would feel like this. It was always hard to look her in the eyes, afraid of what laid behind them. A shiver ran through my body involuntarily and Charlotte squeezed my shoulder.

"If you do not mind, can we take this conversation to a more private place?" She was always so polite, so proper (it probably made Charlotte a little jealous) but there was no warmth in her voice, it was hollow and oppressive. Emotionless, cold, and so very scary for anyone that knew anything about her.

"Ye-yeah. All right Doe, it has been a while." I turned back to the two twins, a lot more confident now that I wasn't looking at our uninvited guest. "Have fun you two, you know where to drop her off, I'll be back to the hotel tonight... don't worry too much Charlotte, and Bridget, don't try and follow me."

I turned back and Doe had already left the room and was walking down the hall. I chased after her against my better judgment.