3 months later

It was October 11th, and our flight to Paris was the next day at noon, where we would rob a bank and set up our target. We were going to take Art's plane so we could haul the money back to the states without any security problems. Merritt convinced Art that we had a few magician friends in Paris who were going to teach us some new tricks for the show. Art, being clueless like he is, suspected nothing, and let us use his plane. 

The afternoon before, I packed for the city. We all made sure to pack a little light, so we could smuggle the money in our suitcases. We each brought a suitcase, and the 2 boxes from The Eye that had the counterfeit money in them. Merritt would hypnotize the flight assistant and pilot into sleeping and we'd hide the boxes in the luggage area. 

I packed a black lace dress that I got from Hot Topic, a pair of my usual sleeping attire(Slytherin sweatpants and a black t-shirt), black Lace Up Barely There Heeled Sandals, black converse, super-short black Spandex shorts, black stockings, a black leather topshop backpack, a black and white polka-dot swinger dress(also from Hot Topic), a black leather cropped-jacket, and some underwear, along with a small toiletry bag and makeup bag and my drawing stuff.

I put my suitcases by the front door. Jack's bags and Daniel's were there too. Merritt and Henley were still packing, and Daniel had gone out to get 10 baggage locks, so that if an assistant wanted to snoop around, they wouldn't be able to. Jack was out having lunch with Courtney. 

Over the last few months, they had been dating a lot, about once every week or so. There was the Phantom show, in which we made Jack look like a fucking model, with a black suit and all-black Vans; there were a few dinner dates, a Nirvana concert, a few Netflix and sweatpants dates, and a few night-time walks in Central Park. But about a month in, we suddenly asked ourselves "What're we gonna do when Jack fakes his death?" After a few days, we decided that he'd fake his death, it'd come up on the news, and he'd call her and explain everything, and hope to God it'll all be okay.  

Once Daniel returned, Merritt and Henley were packed, and we locked the bags. It was around 3 when Jack came back, he was all smiley and happy(I love seeing him like that, it gives me life). We all hung around the house and did some final minute preparations for Paris. Merritt would hypnotize Etienne Forcier on his way to work, we'd all drill Las Vegas into his head, then we'd have about 10 free hours before we had to get ready for the next part of the Paris phase; stealing and replacing the money.

 At around 7, we ate in front of the TV, turned on a 60s film entitled The Magician(huh, how fitting), and ate Chinese food. I sat a couch with Daniel, and Jack, and Henley, Jack, and Merritt sat on the other. Merritt picked the movie, because he and his mom would watch this movie when he was a kid, it's actually what got him in the business. The rest of us had never seen it, so it was a good opportunity for us.

After the movie, we cleaned up the kitchen and changed into pjs, while Jack made some nightcaps. God bless that man, he makes the best before-bed beverages. Oof, try saying that 10 times fast. We drank the drinks around the bar, as we finalized the plans. Personally, I don't think we needed the finalization, we'd finalized the plans 10 times already today, but Daniel insisted, and I reluctantly backed him up by saying that we couldn't let anything go long. But then we demanded him that we don't discuss the plan on the plane, which he agreed with. 

Then we started conversing about what we were going to do in our freetime after hypnotizing Etienne. Jack said he was going to pick up Courtney a bottle or 2 of red wine(because she hates white) then just wander, Merritt said he was going to go to a museum(he's actually a bit of a history nerd), Daniel was going to sight-see, Henley was going to shop(no surprise there), and I said I was going to walk around until I decided. Once we started getting deeper into conversation, Daniel cut himself out, and quietly watched me and Jack throw cards at one another. 

Once we finished, we looked over at Daniel, to find him passed out. Jack must've seen the devious grin spreading across my face, because he asked "Lana, what're you thinking?"

I looked at him. "Evil things. But I'm feeling nice today so I won't do anything. But I have to ask, does anyone know if he's ticklish?"

I got no response.

"Hm. Experiment time," I said, and I attacked the sleeping man with tickles. He jolted awake, and pushed me away. "You're ticklish?!"

He glared at me. "Shut up, Jackson."

"Ooooo, pulling out my last name? You haven't done that since April," I teased.

Henley, God bless her, could tell that Daniel was going to say something he'd probably regret, and she spoke up. "We should get to bed, guys."

The others nodded. 

"Well, g'night," Merritt said, and he retired to his bedroom. Henley waved us goodnight, and she too walked into her room. 

I looked over at Jack and Daniel. "I'm going to bed. Good night."

"We'll be right up," Jack said.

"No tickling Daniel," I told Jack. "We use it only in extreme circumstances."

"You're no fun."

"I know. Daniel, I recommend you go to bed now for your safety."

He nodded, and followed me up the stairs. Once we reached the split, I turned to him. "Well, Daniel, I guess this is good night," I said.

I turned towards my room, but he grabbed my arm. "Waitwaitwaitwaitwait."

I looked at him. "What?"

"You know I'm ticklish. Now I deserve to know if you are."

Sounded fair. "Only my feet. Good night, Daniel."

My eyelids snapped open at 1 a.m. My hands were shaking, I could barely breathe, my eyes were watery,  my heart was racing, and my vision was going in and out of focus. No, no not now! I screamed in my head. I tried to get up, but my body became weak and uncooperative. I haven't had a panic attack like this in years.

After a minute or so, I was able to reach over to my side table, and grab my special inhaler. It's medicated with an anti-anxiety to calm me down. I also came up with the best method to use it. Using the small amount of light from the moon, I got out of bed, and laid down on my back on the cold wood floor. I pulsed the air from the inhaler into my lungs, and tried to breathe. It wasn't working to help me breathe, so I sat up and leaned on my hands. I looked up at the ceiling and closed my eyes. I inhaled deeply, and I realized it was actually very loud. I didn't think anyone heard me, it was early and everyone was asleep.

I got onto my knees, and leaned on the side of my bed, my sweatpants helped me glide next to it. I let the tears flow, and let out a loud, dry sob. I pulsed the inhaler again, and I could feel my throat expand for the air, then close off again. Ugh, this is gonna last 'til dawn, shit!

I heard a light knock at my door. Shit, I thought. I woke someone up. When I said nothing, I heard an ever so soft voice. "Lana? You okay?"

I could tell it wasn't Henley, the voice was too deep. It was probably Jack. "I'm fine," I said. The words were dry and barely came out.

"You don't sound okay. What's going on?"

I sighed. "It's just a panic attack. Nothing I haven't had before."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"I don't want to waste your time. You should go to bed."

"I mean, i-i-if you want to talk," I heard a quiet noise on the other side of the door, then an equally quiet thud, suggesting that someone had sat down on the floor. And suggesting by the stutter, it was either Daniel or Jack. I couldn't tell which, the muffled voice could've been either of the boys. "I'm right here."

Using my hands, I slid over to the door, and leaned on the wall, my hand slid partially under the door. "Well, it's not really much to talk about. I guess I'm just nervous about Paris," I explained, as I pulsed the inhaler again.

"Can I ask when and why you started having them?"

"I was 16. I lived in an orphanage my whole life. My mom couldn't afford me and my dad was never in the picture, so I went to an orphanage, with nothing but my birth date, my name, a letter, and a key on a chain."

"Why a key on a chain?"

"I dunno to be honest. Anyways, I was the only orphan in my school, so I was teased about it, tormented really. I was an underdog in school. No friends, no family, just the others at the orphanage. And they were all shit, so I had basically no one. When I was 14, I went to my first homecoming, and I was actually seen by somebody. I had made a friend, or so I thought. But then once I told her who I had a crush on, she told the whole school and I was tormented for it, and then they called me every name in the book."

"That's awful."

"I'm not done. When I turned 16, this one guy I liked asked me to prom, and of course I said yes. We dated for a little while, but then he asked me to do something I wasn't comfortable doing, then he forced it upon me."

"Why'd he do that to you?"

"I think it was to feel powerful over someone. I didn't say anything, though. I felt like I wouldn't be taken seriously. But, in the end, he raped another girl and she was brave enough to report it. Then he gave a list of names of the girls he used to shorten his sentence, and mine was on there. Then about 6 months later he escaped from jail and came after me. He stalked me, and that's when the panic attacks started happening. He's still on the run, and he haunts me, but he knows not to come near me after I shot him in the knee." I found that talking to someone about this was actually helping, because the tears were almost completely gone, I could almost breathe regularly again, and I wasn't shaking nearly as bad. 

I heard a quiet laugh, which sounded an awful lot like Daniel's. "That doesn't surprise me."

I smiled at the comment. "I'm flattered." 

I felt a light touch on my pinkie. It had vanished from underneath the door, and whoever was on the other side of the door had linked it with theirs. I felt my heart flutter. I haven't felt this way since my last boyfriend when he was still good. 

"So, how's your love life been since then?" the voice asked.

"Pretty shitty. All assholes. No one's ever really cared about me romantically before."

"You'll find someone. I promise."

"You sure about that?"

"Absolutely. I mean, you're funny, you're talented, you're strong-willed, you're not that bad-looking either. Tell me how you won't find someone."

I couldn't answer. He was right. It's just my judgement that's extremely bad. "You should, probably go back to bed. We've got a long day later, you need your sleep."

"Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine."

"Okay. I'll see you in the morning. Good night."

"Good night." I heard footsteps, and they started to get quieter, suggesting that he had indeed gone back to bed. I smiled, and went back to sleep.

I woke up again at 7 a.m. I got up, and got dressed for the day. Something nice for when we checked into the hotel I had reserved, but comfortable for the plane. I got a pair of yoga pants, a t-shirt, and a denim jacket. I brushed out my bleached blonde hair, washed my face free of the tear stains from the night, and put on some concealer and mascara.

I left my bedroom, and walked into the kitchen. No one was up yet. This sent a wave of relief through my body. I didn't want to talk to anyone just yet. I started the coffee maker, and looked out the window. There was a family of deer outside, eating my grass. I watched them until heard the coffee maker ding, and I poured some of the black liquid into a coffee cup, and turned around to see Daniel standing in the entryway, leaning on the wall. I gave him a small smile, which he returned. "Morning."

He nodded. "Morning."

"Ready for today?"

"Yeah. You?"

I nodded, and drank some of the coffee. I set it on the counter behind me, and turned back around to see Daniel had come up to me, his face about 8" away from mine. 

He pushed a small strand of hair out of my face. "You okay after last night? You had me a little worried."

So it was him last night, I thought. I smiled and nodded. "I'm fine, Daniel. I promise."

"Good."

I searched his face for any sign of what he was thinking or feeling. Anything, really. But all I saw on his face was slight worry. He was actually worried about me. Maybe he actually has feelings to some degree. Good God I'm staring! Abort mission! "Coffee?"

"Yes, coffee."

Boarding the plane was too easy. There was only one flight assistant and the pilot, so Merritt put them to sleep and we put the boxes with our luggage. Once Merritt woke the pilot and flight assistant, the plane took off. Merritt and Henley talked in the back of the plane, Jack read my copy of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief(he'd never read the series), and I listened to music and browsed Pinterest while sitting next to Daniel, who was having a Criminal Minds marathon.

I felt someone shake me awake(hey that rhymed!). The plane landed in Paris at 12 a.m., and I had been asleep for about 2 hours. Daniel had woken me up, and he looked insanely tired. We were all exhausted and couldn't wait to get to the hotel. A large van was waiting for us, the keys in the ignition. The others put the suitcases and the boxes in the back while I distracted the pilot and the flight assistant with a few card tricks. Then I drove the van to the hotel, which overlooked the Seine River, where we would hypnotize Etienne. Me and Daniel checked in while the others got the suitcases out of the van.

The hotel room was on the top floor of the hotel(floor 16), other than the staircase to the roof, and was the size of my first apartment. It had 2 bedrooms, each had 2 beds; a large bathroom, and a living room with 2 couches. Me and Henley claimed one of the rooms, Jack and Merritt took the other room, leaving Daniel on the couch. I got into the bedroom first, and when Henley went to the bathroom to change into pjs, I put my suitcase next to my bed, changed into my pjs too, laid down on the bed, and unintentionally fell asleep.

Oops.