DeVille, his eyes flashing above his dark mustache, raised his gloved hands to the audience.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “you have witnessed the power of Monsieur Dragonstone to disappear in midair. But where, I ask you, has he gone?”

The audience grew still. People who were standing sat back down.

“This is but the first half of the finale,” said DeVille. “I now need a volunteer from the audience.”

A young man stood up near the front of the stage.

“I know that guy,” said Tyler, peering out the light booth window.

“That’s Joey Bingham,” said Charlie. “The news reporter. What’s he up to?”

DeVille motioned for the reporter to join him onstage. “This young man shall be my witness,” said DeVille. “And he will be your eyes.” DeVille waved his hands again and a large screen was lowered onto the stage.

“Tyler!” yelled Annie. “The projector button.”

“Oh yeah, right,” said Ty. He quickly scanned the control panel and pressed a button. A flash of blue light hit the screen.

DeVille presented a small object to Joey Bingham. “Take this camera, young man,” said the wizard. “And follow me.” He turned to the audience. “Now, you shall see the amazing Dragonstone reappear in a completely different part of the hotel. Watch the screen.”

Charlie and the others saw shapes and movement on the stage screen. They saw DeVille as he walked off the stage and through a door, into a hallway, and through the hotel lobby. DeVille stopped at the elevators and faced Joey’s camera. “We shall now go up to the twelfth floor,” said DeVille. “There, we will witness an even more incredible illusion.”

Charlie turned to Ty, who was staring intently at the screen. “I’m going up there,” Charlie said.

“Me too,” said Tyler.

“But what about the booth?” said Annie.

“Nothing to it,” said Ty. “Light on, lights off. Besides, the projector button will stay on through the rest of the trick.”

“But what if —”

“I’ve got to make sure Hitchcock doesn’t get into any trouble,” said Ty. “He’s too puny to take care of himself.” The two boys rushed out of the light booth and reached the lobby elevators.

DeVille and Joey were already gone.

“Puny, huh?” asked Charlie.

“Get in the elevator,” said Ty.

Ping! When the elevator doors slid open on the twelfth floor, the boys slipped out.

“Down there,” said Tyler.

At the end of the hall, DeVille and Joey were turning a corner.

The boys rushed up to join them. Joey, hearing their footsteps, turned around, his camera facing them.

Great, thought Charlie. Now the whole audience can see us.

DeVille stopped when he saw the newcomers. He drew up his shoulders and addressed the camera, with great dignity, “Excellent. We have been joined by two new witnesses. Complete strangers, I assure you. They shall convince you, ladies and gentlemen of the audience, that what they see, what you see from your seats, is absolutely real!”

After a few more turns through the maze-like hallways, DeVille came to a sudden stop. “This is it,” he said, and gestured to Joey. “Take a picture of that doorway.”

“What the heck is that?” asked Joey.

“Have you seen that before?” Charlie whispered to Ty.

The taller boy nodded. “I avoid it when I come up here,” he said. “There’s no way to get through it.”

The door was something that could only be seen in a hotel built by magicians. It was made of glass and led into another dim hallway that could be clearly seen on the other side. But no one could enter the hallway, because the door was more of a window than a door. It did not open. There were no hinges. In the exact center of the glass door was a small opening shaped like a keyhole.

DeVille’s gleaming eyes shot at Tyler. “Since you work here, young man, then you must know that there is no way through this glass door.”

Joey swung the camera up at the tall boy.

“Yeah, that’s right,” answered Ty. “It’s just for fun. This is a trick door made by Abracadabra when he built the hotel. It’s just sort of a joke.”

“Or perhaps a challenge to other magicians,” said DeVille. “And what is at the end of this hallway on the other side of the glass?”

“It connects to the other hallways,” said Ty. “But you have to walk all the way around to reach it.”

DeVille nodded. “Would you be so kind as to stand at the other end of that hallway?” he said. “You shall be our guard. Make sure no one gets in or out of the hallway.”

Tyler looked at Charlie and shrugged. “Okay, fine,” he said. Then he took off.

DeVille spoke to the camera.

“There is no one up here except myself and these three witnesses, ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “I checked with the hotel staff, and no one is in any of the rooms on this floor. All the doors are locked. But —” He pulled a long, yellow ribbon from his coat. “Someone invisible is with us.”

A ghost? thought Charlie.

“The spirit of Dragonstone,” said DeVille, as if answering the boy’s thought. “He is in that mysterious hallway. Unable to reach us through the solid glass door. But, by using this ribbon which I obtained from my brother wizards in Katmandu, I shall open a mystic wormhole and rescue the invisible Dragonstone.”

DeVille rolled up a piece of the ribbon and then stuffed it through the tiny keyhole, where it cascaded in a long strand down the other side.

“I shall hold this end,” said the magician, keeping a firm hold on the ribbon.

Next, DeVille rolled a metal frame in front of the glass door. The magician pulled down black curtains on the frame, effectively screening the glass door from the viewers’ eyes. But the ribbon passed through the curtains. DeVille stood just outside the frame, where Joey’s camera could still see him, one end of the ribbon still in his hand.

“Watch the ribbon,” said DeVille. “I shall pull it back through the keyhole and onto this side of the solid glass door.”

Slowly, ever so slowly, the dark haired magician pulled the yellow ribbon through the black curtains. It kept coming.

What’s the big deal? thought Charlie. He’s just pulling the ribbon back through the keyhole. Why won’t he let us watch it happen?

“Hey!” shouted Joey.

The ribbon stopped. DeVille held it in both hands now, and Charlie could see that the ribbon wasn’t coming any farther. It must have caught on something.

“How could it be stuck?” asked DeVille. “The keyhole is smooth, and there is nothing between it and the curtains. Perhaps it has found something in the wormhole.”

Charlie felt a growing coldness along his spine. “Mr. Hitchcock,” said DeVille. “Would you be so kind as to pull the curtains open for our audience?”

Charlie walked over, grabbed a curtain, and yanked it aside. Joey almost dropped his camera. In front of them, on the same side of the glass door as them and DeVille, stood the redheaded Dragonstone, with the yellow silk ribbon tied around his waist.