41 - Bad Hare Day (4 page)

“Excellent!” I said to Ginny as we sat down. “The best seats in the whole
place!”

“This is so exciting!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe we’re in a real, grown-up nightclub. By ourselves!”

The eerie-looking host stood by the red curtain, watching us. “We may not be
here long,” I warned her. “That skeleton guy’s got his eye on us. When he
realizes we’re not here with our parents—”

“Shh! The show’s starting.”

A voice came over a loudspeaker. “Ladies and gentlemen! Midnight Mansion is
proud to present the most famous magician in America. The fabulous, the
incredible, the mind-boggling Amaz-O!”

A drum roll, and then horns bleating “Ta da!” The audience clapped and
cheered. The curtain rose.

I gasped when I saw the stage. It was filled with wonderful equipment—a
tall, shiny black box with a door in the front, a platform suspended from the
ceiling, a glittering box with holes in it for a head, arms, and legs to stick
out of. And a big white rabbit sitting beside a vase of blue flowers on a table
covered with a red scarf.

The rabbit wasn’t tied up or caged or anything. “I wonder how he keeps that
rabbit from running away,” Ginny whispered. “That’s a trick
you
need to
learn.”

“You’re so funny, Ginny,” I said, rolling my eyes. “My sides are splitting
with laughter.”

“You have no sense of humor,” Ginny jeered. “That’s your problem.”

“No.
You’re
my problem,” I snapped.

Amaz-O strode onstage. He was tall and slim, and his top hat made him seem
even taller. He had long black hair and wore a black cape lined with red satin
over a black tuxedo.

He tossed the cape over his shoulders and bowed.

I can’t believe I’m seeing Amaz-O in person! I thought, my heart pounding
with excitement. And so close—I could almost touch him!

Maybe I’ll even see how some of his tricks are done, I thought. Maybe,
sitting so close, I’ll catch some of his secrets!

Without saying a word, Amaz-O scanned the audience. He trained his eyes on
me.

My whole body shook. He’s staring right at me! I gasped.

Amaz-O took a step forward and leaned toward me.

What’s he doing? I thought. Is he going to talk to me?

Amaz-O leaned closer. His face was right next to mine! I cowered in my seat.

He scowled and whispered in a deep, menacing voice, “Disappear! Disappear!”

I shrank back.

“Disappear!” he growled again.

“Excuse me?” I gasped. I stared up at him. On TV he seemed friendly. But in
person he was definitely frightening.

“Disappear!” he whispered. “I’m going to make you disappear at the end of the
show. I will ask for volunteers—and I will choose you.”

He didn’t want me to disappear for real. He wanted me to be part of his act!
I couldn’t believe it!

I’ll find out how he does his famous disappearing trick! I thought. Maybe
I’ll get to meet him after the show. Maybe he’ll even tell me some of his
secrets!

Ginny leaned across the table. “He’s going to make you disappear forever!”
she teased. “What will I tell Mom and Dad?”

I paid no attention to her. Nothing Ginny did or said could bother me now.

This was too cool! Just seeing Amaz-O was exciting enough. But he chose
me
to be in his show!

Maybe he could tell that I’m a magician, too, I thought.

Amaz-O began his act. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” he crooned.
“Tonight you will see some amazing feats. You will see me do things you always
thought were impossible. Are these feats real—or are they illusions? It’s up
to you to decide.”

He waved his hands, and a wand appeared out of thin air. The audience
clapped.

Then Amaz-O began to fidget with his hat, as if it felt uncomfortable on his
head. “Something is wrong with my hat,” he said. “It feels strange—almost as
if…”

He lifted the hat off his head and peered into it. He showed us the inside of
it. It looked perfectly normal. There was nothing inside it.

He placed it back on his head. “It’s funny,” he chuckled. “I thought for a
minute there might be something inside my hat. I thought I felt—oh, I don’t
know—a flock of birds fluttering around in there.”

The hat jiggled. Amaz-O appeared annoyed. “There it goes again!”

He whipped the hat off his head and stared into it. On top of his head sat a
large white feather. People in the audience giggled.

“What’s so funny?” Amaz-O asked. He felt the top of his head and found the feather. “Where did that come from?” he gasped,
acting amazed. Everyone laughed.

“Well, I’ll try not to let this bother me,” he went on, replacing his hat.
“Back to the show. For my first trick—”

The hat began to shake again—slightly at first, then harder. It practically
jumped off his head. The audience cracked up. Amaz-O pretended to be horrified.

He yanked the hat off his head—and out flew a whole flock of doves! They
swooped over the audience and flew up to the rafters.

“I
knew
something was going on in there!” Amaz-O joked. Loud laughter
and clapping.

He’s the greatest, I thought, clapping along. How did he get all those birds
inside his hat?

I glanced at the rabbit on stage. It sat calmly on the table, staring at
Amaz-O. It almost seemed to be watching the act.

I can’t wait to see his rabbit trick, I thought. Will he make the rabbit
disappear? Or pull off some kind of twist?

“For my next trick I need a needle and thread,” Amaz-O announced. He produced
a packet of needles and a long, thick thread from one of his pockets. He picked
out a needle and squinted, trying to push the thread through the eye.

“I always have trouble threading a needle,” he said. He licked the end of the thread and tried again. He couldn’t get the
thread to go through.

He threw up his hands in frustration. “It’s impossible!” he cried. “How do
tailors do it?”

The audience chuckled. I waited to see what would come next. I knew all this
needle-and-thread business was a buildup to something incredible.

“So much for the
hard
way to thread a needle,” Amaz-O said. “I’ll show
you a better way.”

He snatched up the packet of needles. There must have been at least twenty
needles stuck into a piece of cardboard. He popped the whole thing into his
mouth. Then he dangled the long string over his mouth like a piece of spaghetti.

He slowly drew the string into his mouth, chewing. It looked as if he were
eating a piece of spaghetti—with a packet of needles in his mouth, too.

“Don’t you think that hurts?” Ginny whispered. “Chewing up all those
needles?”

I barely nodded. I watched Amaz-O, spellbound.

Amaz-O nearly swallowed the whole string. About an inch of string stuck out
between his lips. The audience waited, hushed.

He paused. Then he opened his mouth and tugged at the string. Slowly, slowly,
he pulled it out of his mouth.

One by one the needles appeared—dangling from the string! Somehow he had
threaded twenty needles with his tongue!

The audience gasped, then applauded. The needles flashed as Amaz-O held up
the string.

“Threading needles the easy way!” he cried as he took another bow.

I’ve got to find out how he did that, I thought. Maybe I’ll ask him after the
show.

“How’s the show going?” Amaz-O asked the audience. We all cheered. “I wonder
how much time we have left?” He strode across the stage to the table where the
rabbit and the blue flowers sat on top of the red scarf.

With a flick of his wrist, he yanked the scarf out from under the rabbit.

The rabbit didn’t move. Neither did the vase of flowers. The table was now
bare.

The rabbit blinked calmly. Amaz-O waved the scarf over his left hand. He let
it drop—and a big red alarm clock appeared in his hand!

He glanced at the clock. “I suppose we have time for a few more tricks.” He
covered the clock with the scarf—and the clock disappeared.

A loud ringing suddenly erupted from the other side of the stage. I turned
toward it.

The red alarm clock—floating in midair! It seemed to have flown across the
stage by itself.

Amaz-O crossed the stage, grabbed the clock, and shut off the alarm.

“My clock is a little fast,” he joked. “It’s not time for the show to end.
Not yet.”

I hope not, I thought. This is the greatest magic act I’ve ever seen in my
life!

The rest of the show was fantastic, too. Amaz-O escaped from a locked safe.
He walked through a brick wall. He tapped his hat with his magic wand—and in a
puff of smoke his tuxedo changed from black to yellow!

“And now for my big finale,” Amaz-O announced. “I am going to make a member
of the audience disappear. Are there any volunteers?”

He gazed out over the audience. No one said a word. Ginny kicked me under the
table.

“Ow!” I whispered, rubbing my skin. “What did you do that for?”

“He asked for
volunteers,
you moron,” she said. “That means you.”

I’d been so caught up in the show, I almost forgot. I stood up. “I’d like to
volunteer.”

Amaz-O smiled. “Excellent, young man. Please step up on stage.”

My stomach suddenly jolted with terror. I stumbled up to the stage.

Here I go, I thought nervously. Amaz-O is going to make me disappear.

I hope nothing goes wrong.

Amaz-O towered over me on stage. This is unbelievable, I thought. I’m on
stage with the great Amaz-O. I’m about to be part of one of his famous tricks.

He’s going to make me disappear!

I clutched my stomach, wondering, Why do I feel so scared?

“Thanks for volunteering, young man,” Amaz-O said to me. “You must be very
brave. Are your parents here tonight?”

My parents? Uh-oh. “Um—they’re here. Sure they’re here,” I stammered. “But—uh—they had to make a phone call.”

Amaz-O frowned. “A phone call? In the middle of my show?”

“Well—it was an emergency,” I explained.

“Never mind. I’m glad they’ve stepped away. If they knew what was about to
happen to you, they might try to stop me.”

“Stop you?” My heart skittered nervously. But I heard the audience laughing.

Don’t let him scare you, I told myself. This is just part of the act. He’s
joking.

I faked a laugh. “What—um—exactly—is about to happen to me?”

“I’m going to make you disappear,” Amaz-O replied. “You will be transported
into another dimension. I will try my best to bring you back, of course—but it
doesn’t
always
work.”

“It doesn’t?” I gulped.

He patted me on the back. “Don’t worry. I’ve done this hundreds of times.
I’ve only missed once or twice.”

The audience chuckled. They figured he was kidding. I hoped they were right.

“Is that your sister sitting at the front table?” Amaz-O asked.

I nodded.

“Better wave good-bye to her, just in case,” he warned me.

Ginny smiled and waved at me.

She can’t
wait
for me to disappear! I thought bitterly. She hopes I’ll
never come back.

“Go on,” Amaz-O urged. “Wave to her.”

I smiled weakly and waved at Ginny. The audience laughed. Then Amaz-O led me
to a tall black box in the center of the stage. He threw open the door. It
looked like a closet inside.

“Step inside here if you would, please,” he said.

I stepped inside the box. Amaz-O shut the door firmly.

It was pitch-black inside that box. I stood still, waiting for something to
happen. I could hear Amaz-O talking to the audience.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this box is my own invention—the Fifth Dimension
Spin-o-Rama.” I heard him slap his hand against the side of the box.

“Here’s how it works: my brave volunteer steps inside the box. I lock him in.
I spin the box ten times—
very
fast.

“A magical force inside the box will send the boy into another dimension. He
will disappear!

“I must ask for absolute silence while I do this trick. I need complete
concentration.”

For several seconds I heard nothing.

Then the box began to spin. “Whoa!” I cried. My body slammed against the back
of the box.

It whirled around faster than any ride in an amusement park. I shut my eyes.
I felt so dizzy.

I hope I don’t puke, I thought. That would spoil everything.

The box kept spinning, spinning. How will the trick work? I wondered. How
will I disappear?

What if he really sends me into another dimension?

But that’s just talk, I told myself. Magician talk—to entertain the
audience.

Isn’t it?

The box spun faster and faster. I clutched my stomach. I saw stars dancing
before my eyes.

When is it going to stop? I thought. I’m really going to be sick.

Then, suddenly, the bottom of the box dropped out from under me.

“Help!” I cried as I fell down, down, down.

“Whoa!”

I slid down a long wooden chute and landed—
thunk!
—on some kind of
mattress.

I lay on my back in a daze. I heard water dripping somewhere. A dim yellow
light flickered from a bare bulb on the ceiling.

I sat up, gazing around me. The room was nearly empty, dark and damp, with a
cement floor. I spotted a furnace in the corner.

I’m in the basement of Midnight Mansion, I realized.

I stood up and examined the chute. So that’s how the trick works, I thought.
Amaz-O sets up his spinning box over a trap door in the floor of the stage. The bottom of
the box drops out, and the volunteer slides down the chute and out of sight.
When Amaz-O opens the door of the box—
presto!
—the volunteer has
disappeared. It’s so simple.

But how do I get back upstairs? I wondered. How will Amaz-O make me reappear?