Chapter two. The First Cut.
Daniel guided the blade into the first slot, the one that would separate Elizabeth’s legs from the rest of her body. The metal slid smoothly into place, passing through the narrow gap designed for it. The book had mentioned resistance, a need for precision, but as Daniel pushed the blade inward, there was no force pressing back—just the smooth glide of steel against wood.
Then, the moment the blade settled into place; Elizabeth gasped.
A rush of cold spread through her body, radiating outward from the point where the blade had passed through. It wasn’t pain—not exactly—but a deep, buzzing sensation that ran through her nerves, as if her body had just been gently untethered from itself.
“Whoa,” she whispered, blinking rapidly.
“What?” Daniel asked, suddenly tense.
Elizabeth tried to move her legs... but couldn’t feel them. Not in the way she was used to. It wasn’t numbness—she was still aware of them, but they felt distant, as if they no longer belonged to her entirely.
She wiggled her toes, or at least she thought she did. She wasn’t sure if they had actually moved.
“I think… I think I’m cut in half,” she said, a breathless laugh escaping her lips.
Veronica’s scepticism faltered as she leaned in. “What do you mean, you think?”
“I mean, I should be able to feel my legs properly, but it’s like… they’re just not connected anymore.” Elizabeth let out another soft laugh, though there was an edge of exhilaration—and maybe fear—beneath it. “This is insane. I can still feel them, but not from here.” She tapped her stomach.
Daniel and Veronica exchanged a look.
“Okay,” Daniel said, gripping the edge of the book tighter. His eyes flicked back down to the instructions. The next step was clear.
He was supposed to insert the second blade.
And something deep in his gut told him that if he did, there was no turning back.
Daniel swallowed hard, his fingers tightening around the book’s spine. His eyes flicked to Elizabeth, who was still grinning, though there was an edge to it now—a mix of thrill and nerves. Her hands rested at her sides, one of them gripping the inner edge of the cabinet.
“Alright,” he murmured. “Next step.”
He reached for the second blade. It was identical to the first—long, polished, and unnervingly solid. Not some cheap stage prop. Not a collapsible trick.
Veronica was watching closely now, arms folded, but her usual scepticism had softened. She wasn’t rolling her eyes anymore. Instead, she was tense, lips slightly parted.
Daniel found the next groove in the cabinet—the slot that would divide Elizabeth’s head and upper body from her torso. He hesitated.
“You sure?” he asked, looking up at her.
Elizabeth exhaled, but she nodded. “I mean, I’m already halfway there.” She gave a playful little wave with her right hand, the one sticking out of the top section of the cabinet. “Let’s see what happens.”
Daniel pushed the blade forward.
The moment it slid into place, Elizabeth’s entire body shuddered. A sharp, electric sensation rippled through her—not painful, but overwhelming, like stepping into icy water. For a moment, her vision blurred, and she felt weightless—unmoored.
Then—stillness.
She blinked. She could still see, still hear. She was fine.
No, more than fine.
She could feel her hand, the one that had been waving from the top of the cabinet. It was still moving, fingers flexing. But her chest—her lungs—felt separate.
“I… I think it worked?” she said hesitantly.
Daniel and Veronica were staring at her.
“Try moving your hand again,” Daniel said.
Elizabeth lifted her right hand and gave a little wave.
From the top box.
Daniel let out a low whistle. “That is so weird.”
Elizabeth’s heart pounded as she turned her attention downward. She couldn’t see her lower half past the cabinet’s dividers, but she could feel it—sort of. It was as though her body had been split into three distinct sections, each existing separately yet still undeniably hers.
She wiggled her toes.
“Okay,” she said, her breath coming fast. “This is officially the strangest thing I’ve ever done.”
Veronica took a step closer. “Alright, I’ll admit it. That’s not how this trick is supposed to work.” She narrowed her eyes, scanning the cabinet’s construction. “There should be false compartments, mirrors—something—but you’re actually—” She gestured vaguely. “In pieces.”
Daniel ran a hand through his hair. “Okay. So, uh… what now?”
Elizabeth’s grin widened. “I don’t know.” She turned her head toward her still-waving hand, her voice filled with breathless excitement. “But I kind of want to find out.”
Daniel’s eyes darted back to the book, his pulse quickening as he read the next instruction.
“With both blades securely in place, slide the central compartment aside, revealing the illusion in full.”
His hands hesitated over the edges of the middle box. It looked seamless, locked into the cabinet like any ordinary stage trick. But nothing about this felt ordinary anymore.
Elizabeth was still grinning, her head steady in the top compartment, while her hand continued to wiggle playfully from the opening. “Go on, then,” she teased. “Let’s see what happens.”
Veronica let out an uneasy breath. “I swear, if you mess this up and she actually falls apart…”
Daniel wasn’t sure if she was joking. He wasn’t sure what to think anymore.
With a firm grip, he slid the middle box to the side.
For a moment, he expected resistance, some hidden mechanism to click or jam. But the box moved smoothly, gliding out of place as if it had been waiting for this moment. The separation was clean—unnaturally so. No wires, no hinges, no explanation.
And then, it was apart.
Daniel took a step back, his breath catching in his throat.
The middle box—containing Elizabeth’s torso—was no longer connected to the rest of the cabinet. It stood entirely on its own, a perfect cube removed from the rest of her body. And yet…
Her right hand still waved from the hole.
Daniel felt his stomach twist. That hand shouldn’t be able to move. The nerves, the muscles—none of it should still be connected. But Elizabeth was still flexing her fingers, still moving as though nothing had changed.
“Uh,” Veronica muttered. “Elizabeth, are you… okay?”
Elizabeth blinked. “I mean… yeah?”
She tilted her head slightly, the movement contained entirely within the top box, as if trying to process the strangeness of her own situation.
“I should be freaking out, right?” she said. “But… I don’t feel bad. I feel fine. Just… different.”
Her fingers wiggled again from the middle box, as if testing the limits of her control.
“This is so weird,” she murmured. “I can feel my hands. But it’s like…” She hesitated, searching for the words. “Like I’m floating. Like my body isn’t really… connected anymore, but I know it’s still me.”
Daniel’s grip tightened on the edges of the cabinet. “Elizabeth,” he said slowly, “you’re in three separate pieces.”
Elizabeth let out a small laugh, full of disbelief but also exhilaration. “Yeah,” she said. “I know.”
Veronica rubbed her temples. “Okay, I refuse to believe this is real. There’s got to be a trick—some hidden mechanism—”
“There isn’t,” Daniel interrupted, his voice quieter now. His fingers brushed along the cabinet’s smooth edges. There were no false panels, no levers or secret compartments.
No tricks.
Just magic.