OF COURSE THERE’S ONLY one person left, Z thought, after I was rudely interrupted by both of my friends. He couldn’t believe how they pushed him aside when they knew he wanted to go first. It was bad enough being last with his family. Did he have to be last with his friends, too?
“Are you ready?” Mrs. Garza asked.
Z nodded and walked to the stage. He took a deep breath, wiped his hands on his jeans as if to dry them, took another deep breath, stretched his neck with head rolls in clockwise and then counterclockwise circles, and after another deep breath, he shook out his hands and…
“Will you hurry up?” Ariel said, impatient. “We don’t have all day.”
Z continued to shake his hands, and then he cleared his throat.
“Anybody have a dollar?” he asked. Nobody moved. “It’s for my trick. I need a dollar.” He looked at his friends, his eyes begging for help. “I forgot to ask for my allowance before I came.”
“OMG!” Ariel exclaimed. “This is so ridiculous. Can I go now?”
Mrs. Garza said, “Stay right there.”
Loop sighed and reached into his pocket. “All I have is a five.”
“Thanks,” Z whispered. “I can’t believe I forgot to bring money.”
Z took a pen that was tucked behind his ear. “This is a pen,” he said. “And this is a five-dollar bill.” He showed everyone the pen and the bill. “Mrs. Garza, just to prove that there’s no monkey business, will you write your name on the bill?”
She took the pen, but when she tried to sign her name, it didn’t work.
“Wait a minute,” Z said, taking the pen back. He glanced at Dominic, who used hand gestures to explain what had gone wrong. Z nodded and said, “Just a sec.” He turned his back to the audience and fiddled with the pen. Then he gave it back to Mrs. Garza. “See if you can write your name now.” She did, and after she returned the pen and bill, Z displayed her signature to everyone, including Diamonds and Spades, who couldn’t read it because they had their eyes closed and because they were cats.
“Do you see her signature?” he asked. Everyone nodded. “Do you also see the shifty eyes of George Washington?” This time, they shook their heads. Z glanced at the bill. “I mean, do you see the shifty eyes of Abraham Lincoln?”
“This is so lame,” Ariel said.
Z sighed, all frustrated. “Sorry. I never practice with a five. The most I ever have is a one-dollar bill.”
“Whatever,” she said.
“Well,” Z went on, “I don’t know if you see Lincoln’s shifty eyes, but I sure do and they’re really creeping me out. They creep me out so much that all I want to do is poke them out!” With that, he punctured the bill with the pen, leaving the pen there and making the teenage girl flinch and the boy say, “Dude, show some respect for the prez!”
Z displayed the bill again to prove that the pen had poked through and that he was truly using the bill with Mrs. Garza’s signature.
Then he held up a finger. “Don’t worry. It’s all cool.” He did another move. It wasn’t very graceful, but he managed to pull out the pen, and—presto!—Abraham Lincoln was okay. There was no hole where the pen had stabbed his face, and since Mrs. Garza’s initials were still there, everyone knew that this was the same five-dollar bill.
“Bravo!” cheered Mrs. Garza.
But Ariel was unimpressed. “You used the gimmick pen that comes in every beginner magic set. Big deal. I could do that same trick when I was four.”
Z’s shoulders slumped. Ariel was right. He had used a gimmick pen from the beginner’s set. Luckily, Mrs. Garza gave Ariel’s comments a positive spin. “It’s true. The Pen-through-Dollar is a standard beginner’s trick. But you performed it quite well, once you fixed the setup. You also added your own flare with the shifty eyes comment. I was quite startled when you stabbed Lincoln’s face. And having me sign the bill ensured that you had a proof built into the trick. I do have one suggestion, and only because I want you to get better, okay?”
“Make sure you come prepared,” Mrs. Garza said. “Bring all the necessary supplies and complete your setup before you do the trick. It’s very distracting to watch a magician getting ready. Plus, the audience figures out that he’s using a gimmick. Make sense?” Z nodded. “Other than that,” she went on, “I believe you are ready for the more complicated tricks that are waiting in the Vault.”
“So I earned a key?” Z had to double-check, because being cursed meant he didn’t get good news very often.
“You most certainly did,” Mrs. Garza said.
Dominic, Loop, and Z cheered, and then they followed Mrs. Garza to the counter. Before giving them the keys, she had to help the teenage couple. The boy wanted to buy his own Mafia Manicure gimmick, and the girl wanted to buy a whoopee cushion so she could embarrass her friends. Meanwhile, Ariel grabbed her notebook and went to a corner to write again.
When the teens finally left the store, Mrs. Garza turned her attention to the boys. Instead of gold or silver keys, she took out three index cards, wrote “K-E-Y” on them, and stamped them with the official Conjuring Cats logo, a kitty with a top hat on its head and a wand in its mouth.
She handed them the cards. “You are official magicians,” she said. “And with the power of magic comes a code of honor. Ready?”
They nodded.
“One, a magician never reveals his secrets to spectators. Two, a magician never repeats the same trick to the same audience. Three, a magician never uses his powers to gamble, cheat, or steal. Four, a magician gives credit where credit is due. And five, a magician never seeks revenge on the hecklers.” She paused to let them absorb this. “Do you promise to uphold the magician’s code of honor?”
In unison the boys said, “We promise.”
She made a sweeping gesture toward the purple velvet curtain. “Wonderful! You may now enter the Vault.”