Andy basked in the applause for a moment. Once they quieted down he knew it was time for his next trick. "Joel! Zoey! Having a great time?" Both of his volunteers nodded. "Great, because I was thinking of having a few more people join us on stage."
A flurry of hands started waving in the audience. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I was thinking someone who signed up for the show before hand." He turned and looked out into the wings. "Ladies, if you please."
Five girls that were well organized stepped out onto stage. It was the school's gymnastics team. Three of them pushed what looked like giant cups that were upside down on wheeled platforms. The other two were carrying signs. One had the words "Jackpot" while the other said "Snake Eyes". All of them were wearing the schools gymist leotards, which the audience seemed to appreciate greatly.
The cups were lined up in a row while the girls with the signs stood on either side. "Now Joel, are you familiar with the queen's gambit?" Joel shrugged. "Traditional, it's the game where there are three cards and you are trying to find the Queen of Hearts. Personally, I prefer the cup and balls but I do like the idea of looking for a queen." He gestured to the cups. "Here is where we are going to hide her, we just need a queen."
Once again Andy looked at Zoey. "Would you mind being the queen for this trick?" Zoey smiled and shook her head gently. "Well if you aren't going to be our queen, maybe you could give us some balls. Oh wait! We already took those." The audience laughed, remembering that Zoey had been a man when she first got on stage.
Zoey gave him a slightly annoyed look. "I take that as a no then." Looking out into the crowd Andy called out, "Can we give Zoey a bit of encouragement?" With the resounding cheer, she hung her head in defeat. The gymnast in the middle pulled the cup back onto its side and Zoey sat down on the platform. As she sat with her legs criss-crossed, she pushed the front of her skirt down to avoid flashing the crowd. The gymnast then lifted the cup back up, with it's mouth lowering over Zoey completely obscuring her from view.
"So rules of the game is simple. Our lovely girls here will mix up the cups. You just have to keep an eye on which one Zoey is under." He waved Joel closer and gave a mock whisper in his mike. "She's currently in the middle." The audience chuckled. "If you pick the cup with Zoey then you get the jackpot." He pointed over to the girl on stage left holding the Jackpot sign. "The jackpot of course being a super secret surprise. If you guess wrong however, you get snake eyes." He then pointed at the other assistant holding the snake eyes sign.
"Are you ready to begin?" When Joel nodded Andy waved his hands and the gymnast began pushing the cups, switching there places. "Keep your eyes on the prize!" He announced. They would circle each other, take up a new position in the line up before moving again. "Round and round she goes, where she stops nobody knows."
The gymnast moved very slowly and despite Andy's speech, it was obvious where she should be. Especially since the girls pushing the cups all looked different. There was a red head, a girl of middle-eastern decent, and of course a bottle blonde who had the cup containing Zoey. That cup ended up being on the left. "Where do you think she is Joel? Remember this is a fair game of equal chance to win." Again the crowd chuckled at the lie.
As expected Joel pointed at the one on the left. Jenny of course was using the chronovac to turn Zoey into air and move her into another cup. It was amazing with a little imagination how far the chronovac could be pushed. As the audience expected, Zoey was not there. "Sorry, you need to watch a bit closer. Kylie, if you please." The red head with the cup on the right tiled hers back to reveal Zoey sitting underneath it.
"Sitting pretty as expected." Andy announced. Despite her earlier reservations, Zoey smiled and waved at the audience. "Maybe I'm making this more difficult. I mean, you have a 1/3 chance of fighting her. Natalie, do you mind?" She walked over to the cup in the middle. "Fatima if you please." Fatima lifted her cup and Natalie sat down on the platform.
"So, the key to the trick is not watching the cups. Its watching the girls. I didn't mention this before because I figured you'd do that already." He walked over to the right cup. "The lady with red hair is Kylie. She has the cup with Zoey in it." Hearing that, she began to lower the cup. "Bye Zoey." Andy told her. As the she was once again hidden from view, she lowered her hand so the audience could see her waving goodbye.
Andy moved to the center. "This is Fatima. She has Natalie." Again the cup was lowered as he said it. He then moved to the left cup. "This is Alexis. She has 'naturally' blonde hair." Alexis seemed offended as he did the air quotes around naturally. "Let's try this again. Ladies if you would please."
As the ladies moved around Andy explained the new rules. "This time we will reveal each cup one at a time. You tell me who is where. You can only say Natalie, Zoey, and nothing once each. If you find Zoey you get the jackpot. If you find Natalie, you get to take her on a date." There were a lot of wolf whistles at that. "If nothing, well..." he looked at the girl holding the snake eyes sign. She gave a mock frown and gave Joel a thumbs down.
"Ready for round 2?" Joel nodded. This time Kylie was in the middle. "Who does Kylie have?"
Joel used the microphone he had been handed. "I know this trick. Nothing."
Andy smiled, stalling for time. Jenny knew the contingency for when he guessed right. "Really? Let's see." Kylie lifted up showing that Zoey was still there. "Sorry, but I did say Kylie had Zoey." He moved over to the right where Fatima was. "So you can't say nothing anymore and we know where Zoey is. What do you want to guess Fatima has."
Joel thought about it. "Natalie?" He asked guessing what Fatime had before they mixed up the cups.
Andy shook his head as Fatima revealed that her cup was empty. "Sorry, and I'm afraid with two wrongs you won't get Alexis right." Alexis revealed that her cup held Natalie. "That's two snake eyes in a row, but I'm a nice guy. I'll give you one more chance."
The girls lowered the the cups and began to mix up the cups once again while Andy walked over to Joel and put an arm around him. "Look, I like you. You really helped me out during the last trick. I couldn't design a tattoo like that, and maybe I did make the last round too complicated. So, I'm going to help you out. Lower the difficulty level as much as I can."
Kylie now stood on the left. "First, we are going to take away this cup." Kylie laid her cup on the side showing it was empty. "Kylie has nothing. You probably think I'm trying to trick you but we are going to leave this cup down so you know I am honest."
Andy then passed Fatime who stood in the center and went to Alexis on the left. "I feel so bad about the last one, we aren't going to even look for Natalie. In fact, she isn't even here." Alexis laid her cup down showing it too was empty. The audience started to applaud. "Sorry, that was a dirty trick to play but I'm trying to be honest now."
He then moved to stand next to Fatima. The unnamed girls with the posters closed in on either side of the cup. "Fatima is the only one left. Process of elimination says she should have Zoey." Joel gave him a look. "Now, don't be that way. Fatima, let's show him." She tilted the cup back to reveal Zoey still sitting there. "See! I never understand why no one trusts magicians. Fatima, be a dear and lower it. Zoey, don't more!"
Zoey's response as she was once again hidden from view was faintly picked up by Andy's mic. "No promises." Andy rolled his eyes.
Fatima stayed next to the cup smiling, waiting to reveal it once again. The girls with the posters folder them. "You just saw her. You have one option. I can't think of anyway to make this any easier. Last chance Joel." He pause. "Please....please don't get snake eyes. Now, where is Zoey?"
Joel held the microphone to his lips and paused, still uncertain. "She's in the cup that Fatima has."
Andy's head drooped. "Joel." He sighed. Fatima tilted her cup to reveal Natalie crouching down. She stood up quickly and gave everyone a view of the large snake that rested across her shoulders. It was long enough that the head and tail rested on her outstretched hands. "Snake eyes!" Andy shouted and the two girls reopened their signs. One said snake while the other said eyes.
"I am sorry, but that was your last chance to play. Thank you, you have been a wonderful aid and contestant but as you lost its time for you to take your seat."
Kylie and Alexis escorted Joel off the stage while Natalie joined Andy at the front of the stage with her new snake. Zoey flicked her tongue, surprisingly relaxed in her new form. Andy planned for her to return to her tattooed goth girl form before the show was done but for now she was a great accessory.
Andy took in a deep breath as he prepared himself for the next trick.