WHEN MRS. GARZA ASKED if they were ready, Dominic’s stomach got twisted up. A few minutes ago, he was all pumped about performing, but now he just felt deflated. He couldn’t explain it, since he’d practiced his trick a zillion times.

“Maybe you can go over your routines while I get the stage ready,” Mrs. Garza said, and that made him even more nervous. Then Mrs. Garza turned to Ariel, who was writing in a little notebook. “Gather the cats,” she told her.

After Ariel finished scribbling in the notebook, she placed Spades, the black cat, and Diamonds, the white one, on the benches by the stage. They stretched out and closed their eyes for a nap. Then Ariel went into the Vault, and Dominic wondered if she was going to be in the audience, too. He had mixed feelings about that, because he wanted to show off his skills, but since she was the reigning champion, he didn’t want to embarrass himself.

“Okay,” Dominic whispered to his friends, “any questions about how to do the tricks?”

“It’s all under control,” Z said.

“Because I can explain things if I need to,” Dominic went on.

“I got it, okay?” Z said. Dominic was just trying to help, so he wasn’t sure why Z was getting so defensive.

“My trick’s a piece of cake,” Loop added, “or a piece of flesh.” The boys giggled.

At that moment, a teenage couple stepped into the store. “Welcome to Conjuring Cats!” Mrs. Garza said, waving them over. “Want to see a magic show?”

They glanced at each other and shrugged. “Why not?” they said as they headed to the benches.

Mrs. Garza went to the purple curtain, poked her head through, and called Ariel. Nothing. So Mrs. Garza slipped into the Vault, and a moment later, she came out, Ariel following with her arms crossed and her whole face a giant scowl. She grabbed Diamonds to take his spot. He hardly noticed—all he did was get comfy on her lap.

With the audience seated and paying attention, Dominic, Loop, and Z went to the stage, but then they just stood there, not sure how to begin.

“One at a time,” Mrs. Garza said. “Who’s going first?”

Z immediately raised his hand. “I—”

“Me!” Dominic rushed to say. He didn’t mean to push his friend aside, but he was going to be sick if he didn’t get this over with.

“Okay, then,” Mrs. Garza said, and to Loop and Z, “You two take a seat.”

So now Dominic was alone on the stage. He reached into his pocket and took out a prop called a Hot Rod. It was a little stick with different colored gems. “Look at this,” he said to the audience. “Both sides of the stick have the same color gems.” He flipped the stick to show both sides, and sure enough, each side had the same colors. “Purple, white, blue, red, green, and yellow,” he pointed out. “Now, what’s your favorite color?” he asked Ariel.

She looked at Diamonds on her lap. “White, I guess.”

Dominic didn’t seem satisfied, so he asked the teenage boy what his favorite color was. “Black, definitely black,” he said.

“But I don’t have a black gem,” Dominic said.

“You didn’t say it had to be a color from the stick.”

Dominic frowned. “Hmmm,” he mumbled.

“Can you get on with it?” Ariel complained. “This is taking way too long.”

“Why don’t you use your psychic abilities?” Z suggested, and Dominic perked up, as if remembering something.

“You,” he said, pointing to the teenage girl. “I’m sensing you like the color red.”

She shrugged. “It’s okay. I mean, my favorite color is really blue.”

“No, it’s red,” Dominic said.

“I think I know what my favorite color is.”

Dominic ignored her. “Let me prove it to you. Why don’t you give me a number between one and six?”

She thought a moment. “Three.”

“Good. Three. Now watch this.” He held up the stick and pointed at the gems as he counted. “One, two, three,” he said, his finger landing on blue.

Ariel shook her head as if she was watching the lamest trick in the world.

“I told you,” the girl said. “I like blue.”

“Wait a minute.” Dominic scratched his head. “I was supposed to count from the bottom up.” He repeated himself, this time starting with the gems at the bottom of the stick and landing on the red. “Abracadabra,” he said, waving his hand over the stick. “I will now change all the gems to red.” He flipped the stick again, and the gems turned red. In fact, they were now red on both sides!

“Cool,” the girl said, “but my favorite color is still blue. Can you make them turn blue?”

Dominic stuttered. “Um, well, um, it only works with red.”

He glanced at his friends for help, so they started clapping, Mrs. Garza joining in. After a moment, the teenage couple clapped, too, and the noise startled the cats. Diamonds meowed, and Spades opened his eyes but quickly shut them again.

“Are you kidding?” Ariel said to the whole audience. “He totally messed up.”

“It’s true,” Mrs. Garza said to Dominic. “You had a little trouble remembering whether to count from the top or from the bottom, but your paddle move was perfectly executed. You did an excellent job of changing all the multicolored gems to red. I am more than happy to grant you a key to the Vault.”

Dominic breathed a sigh of relief. He could feel the knot in his stomach starting to untie itself.

“Who’s next?” Mrs. Garza asked.

Loop stood, even though Z’s hand shot up again. “I guess I am,” Loop said. He grabbed a little table, placed it in the center of the stage, and put a wooden block on it. The block had two holes and looked like a miniature guillotine. Once he finished setting up, Loop faced the audience. “Before I begin, I want to say that for my trick, viewer discretion is advised.” He glanced at the teenagers, but they didn’t budge. “Okay, then. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He paused a moment. “For this, I need a volunteer.” Z’s hand went up yet again. “I need a brave volunteer,” Loop said, making everyone laugh. He pointed to Ariel. “How about you?”

“No,” she said. “I already know what you’re going to do.”

He smiled. “Admit it. It scares you to death, doesn’t it?”

“Bores me to death would be more accurate.”

“Ariel,” her mother warned.

“Mom, he’s got the prop for the Mafia Manicure. You know I’ve seen this a million times.”

Dominic had seen it a million times, too, and it still amazed him.

“That’s right!” Loop interrupted. “And when the Mafia gives you a manicure, they don’t cut your nails—they cut off your whole finger.”

“Sounds cool!” the teenage boy said. “I’d like to see you try to chop off my finger.”

“Then step right up,” Loop said.

The boy walked to the stage. First Loop showed everyone the wooden block. It had two parts, the block with a hole for the finger and a “blade” that you could slide in and out. He told the boy to put his finger through one of the holes, and then he gently pressed down the sliding blade.

“Do you feel pressure on your finger?” Loop asked.

“Yeah, dude, I do.”

Then—BAM!—Loop punched the blade all the way through. There was a scream, not from the boy, who was laughing, but from the girl.

“Check it out,” the boy said. “I can still wiggle my finger.” He wiggled his finger.

“Now,” Loop said, “very slowly take your finger out of the guillotine.”

The teenager did as he was asked. His finger was fine. “Oh, man,” he said. “You sliced and reattached it all in the same moment.”

Loop nodded, took a bow, and the audience clapped. Everyone except Ariel.

“That’s it?” she said. “Your whole routine was, like, ten seconds.”

“More important than the length of your performance,” Mrs. Garza said to Loop, “was your composure. You had a heckler in the audience”—she glanced at Ariel—“but you managed to keep control and move on. That said, I have to agree that your trick could use a little more development. Next time, consider a series of tricks, or spend more time building the suspense. There has to be a bigger payoff for the audience.”

Even though she was speaking to Loop, Dominic nodded as he made a mental note—audience control, suspense, and payoff. These were definitely important concepts. He was quickly realizing that the magic instructions told you what to do but not how to do it. For example, where were you supposed to look? How were you supposed to stand? And what were you supposed to say? He didn’t have to worry about this when he practiced alone, but in a room full of people, audience control, suspense, and payoff were 90 percent of the performance.

“Yeah,” Loop said. “I guess I could have drawn it out a little longer.”

Mrs. Garza smiled. “Excellent! And now, I’m pleased to announce that you have earned a key to the Vault.”

Loop punched the air. “Yes!”

“Okay, one more to go,” Mrs. Garza said, glancing at Z.