Jo was bored.
After the excitement of the previous night, she was now virtually in hiding. Steve and Tara were off (probably still in bed, she thought) and she was stuck in a small hidden flat attached to the main house. From outside she could hear laughter and the occasional splash as the guys lounged by the pool. By the sounds of it, they were bored too.
Still bored, Jo moved to the window so she could listen more clearly.
"Sex?" a voice exclaimed. She recognised it as Dave's from the show. "Fuck that!" There was laughter.
"What would you do?" asked another voice.
"Magic." was the simple answer. Someone asked something Jo couldn't hear. "What couldn't you do? I'd like to start with something simple - maybe a zig-zag to start with, then move up."
Jo continued to listen with increasing excitement as a plan formed.
Half an hour later, Jo hammered on Tara & Steve's door. "Wake up guys!"
Steve opened it, looking bleary eyed and wearing a toweling robe. "What do you want?" he asked tiredly.
"How hard is it to learn to use those illusions?" Jo asked.
Steve looked at her, frowning. He seemed to think for a few moments, then shrugged. "There are instructions attached to each illusion, underneath normally. Just get whoever is doing the illusion to read them as they go...".
Jo grinned. "Thanks." Steve shut the door, shaking his head.
Fifteen minutes later the lounging men were astonished to see Jo, dressed in a little black tie-side thong and triangle top, walk out of the house. "Hi guys!" she said perkily, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach. She grinned at the 8 men who stared at her with expressions ranging from surprise to frank lust. "Thought you might want some more magic?" she said, and without waiting for an answer turned and, beckoning over her shoulder, walked into the house.
Jo grinned as she heard the rush of bodies through the door behind her. Ignoring the guys' questions, she quickly led the way back down to the site of the previous night's performance.
The room had been cleared, leaving just some chairs aranged around in an arc. Jo stood in front of the closed curtains and told them all to sit down. "I suppose you all think you saw real magic last night?" she asked them.
The guys agreed, Dave most vigorously.
"Why?" Jo asked. "There wasn't anything you saw yesterday that couldn't be done with a few standard magic props, a couple of quick costume changes or a couple of maniquins."
The guys looked wide-eyed at her. "It's true." she insisted. "So, to give you another, more convincing, demonstration, I've decided to let some of you try some tricks on me."
There was silence as the men stared at her. Then they started talk excitedly. "To start with," Jo said loudly over their chatter, "I thought we could do a sawing in half.". Jo turned and climbed lithly up onto the stage and walked off stage left.
The curtains opened, and behind them was a stainless steel table on a wheeled framework. Beside it stood another smaller table, on which was a hand saw and some metal blades. On top of the saw was some lengths of chain. Stacked on the other side of the table were two boxes.
Jo walked on stage. She held a sheet of paper. "I need a volunteer to play magician." she said, grinning. Everyone present volunteered. Jo pointed at a tall, thin dark-haired man at random. "You. What's your name?" she asked as he climbed up onto the stage.
"Tim." he said, looking nervous.
"OK, Tim, here are your instructions," Jo said, handing him the paper and sitting up on the table, facing the audience.
Tim admired her bikini-clad body for a few seconds then started to read the instructions. "Step 1 - attach chains to assistant's neck and wrists.". Licking his lips he picked up a set of chains from the table with a large collar and two smaller manacles. The manacles were attached to the collar by 1' long chains, and the collar had a 6' long chain attached to it.
Tim fastened the collar around Jo's neck, turning the key and removing it. She smiled at him and held her hands up near her neck so he could similarly secure her hands.
"Step 2", Tim read, "attach manacles to assistant's ankles.". He picked up the second chain and knelt in front of Jo, quickly closing the thick steel manacles around her ankles. Jo smiled calmly at the audience as she was secured.
"Step 3, assistant sits on table with feet on the table.". Jo turned obediently so her feet were now sitting on the table and she was side on to the audience. The chains rattled against the table as she moved.
"Step 4. Choose two volunteers to help from the audience." Tim stopped reading and called for volunteers. He chose two of his friends, Peter and Jim to come up on the stage. "The volunteers should stand at either end of the table.". Peter moved to the head end, and Jim the foot end.
"Step 5," Tim went on, looking more excited as he read. "Place the chains through the holes in the table, then pull them tight." The two men complied, quickly pulling the chains until Jo's body was pinned tightly at her neck and ankles to the table.
"Step 6." Tim read silently for a moment. He looked at Jo, held to the table by chains and muscle, her chest rising and falling quickly beneith her skimpy bikini top. Jo bit her lip as she felt his gaze run over her body. Smiling slightly, Tim went on. "Place the two cabinets over the assistant."
Jo shivered as Tim placed the first cabinet over her legs and clipped it onto the table. "Any last requests?" Tim asked, as he lifted the top cabinet. Jo shook her head. Tim placed the top cabinet over her top half. As he clipped it into place, Tim realised there was a narrow gap between the two cabinets, just above Jo's bikini pants.
"Step 7 - take saw and saw through assistant.". Tim looked startled. "Well, I guess it had to come to this," he said, grinning. He read on "Ignore any screaming.". Tim picked up the saw and moved to the cabinet.
Inside the cabinet, Jo was having second thoughts. It was one thing to be in these "illusions" when an experienced magician was performing - it was quite another to be Tim's first magical experience. Her breathing was fast now, as she heard Tim read out the instructions and the sound of him picking up the saw. As she heard him walk toward her waist, she wondered why she had let them do this to her.
Tim placed the saw into the slot between the cabinets, noting as he did the large sharp teeth. He let the saw slide down into the box until he felt resistance. Jo let out a short shriek as she felt the teeth settle on her bare belly.
"Here goes!" Tim muttered, and he pulled the saw toward him, feeling it sink and bite as he did so. Jo let out a shuddering moan as she felt the saw start to cut its' way through her unprotected body.
Tim continued to saw, listening to the cries from within the cabinet, and feeling Jo's body writhing beneath the saw.
Finally, the saw dropped free. Jo squeeked in surprise as she felt the saw cut through her spine and back and fall through her. She shivered in anticipation as she thought of what was to come.
Tim put the saw back onto the table. He was breathing loudly in the silent room. "Step 8 - place blades through incision in assistant, and divide.". Tim picked up the two blades from the table and moved back to the sawing table.
He placed both blades into the slot in the centre of the two cabinets, then quickly pushed them down. Jo shivered as she felt the cold metal blades slide through her body, and she let out another quiet shriek.
Tim undid two clips, one on either side of the cabinet, and immediately the two halves moved about a foot apart, pulled by the chains around Jo's extremeties.
Tim pushed the two halves further apart and stood between them. The audience appluaded.
"Step 9. Reassemble table and remove blades. Hmm, looks like we don't see much in this one," Tim noted. He pushed the table back together and did up the clips. He then quickly removed the two blades and placed them back on the small table, before removing the box over Jo's head.
Jo's body, as Tim revealed the bottom half, was shown to be covered in a thin layer of sweat, glistening under the stage lights. "Finally, have the volunteers check the restraints are still attached before removing them and taking a bow." Tim read.
Peter and Jim examined the collars and cuffs and nodded. Tim undid them and helped Jo to her feet. They took a bow to the appluase of the assembled men and his volunteers.
Jo took Peter's hand, stopping him returning to the audience. "Peter, how would you like to help with the next illusion?" she asked. Peter just nodded dumbly, looking at her with a wondering grin. They walked off stage together.
End of Part 9