DOMINIC WAS EMBARRASSED AGAIN. Why did his friends turn everything into a joke? Couldn’t they be serious for once? Mr. Garza was sharing some very important information, but Loop and Z were only half listening. I guess it’s up to me to pay attention and explain things later, Dominic thought with a sigh.

Mr. Garza went on to discuss how magic isn’t just gimmicks and tricks but a real art that requires a lot of thinking. First, you have to figure out which sleights to use and then how to perform them, keeping in mind that everyone has limitations. The magician with one hand was a good example. He couldn’t do sleights like everyone else. He had to change them to fit his body. That’s why the chapter mentioned a fidgety magician, too. Being fidgety was normal for him, so he worked it into his routine. Mr. Garza said that when you learned a sleight, you made it fit you, not the other way around. This was what the famous magician Dai Vernon, also known as the Professor, meant when he said, “Be natural.”

After explaining this, Mr. Garza got quiet for a few moments. Then he asked each of the boys a lot of questions: What do you think about when you daydream? What interests you? Are you shy or daring or a snob? But also, what size are your hands? Are they relaxed or stiff? When you stand, do you move around a lot or mostly stay still?

Loop and Z managed to answer the questions without being silly, so Dominic relaxed a bit.

Then Mr. Garza went to a shelf and grabbed a handful of DVDs. He didn’t play them or even open them. He showed Dominic and his friends the covers and talked about the magicians who were featured—how Max Maven has a deep, hypnotic voice that goes well with his mind-reading tricks and how Jay Sankey is a prankster who loves to perform tricks that make people laugh. And even though Mr. Garza was acting like a schoolteacher and the Vault had suddenly become a classroom, Dominic didn’t mind, because this kind of learning was fun.

“So now for your homework,” Mr. Garza said, and no one complained. “First, think about your interests. Second, observe yourself to see how you move. Third, learn the French drop.”

“Like on the handout?” Loop asked.

“Exactly.”

Everyone flipped to the page that demonstrated the French drop. They studied the pictures while Mr. Garza grabbed four small balls from a bin. Before returning to the table, he took off his baseball cap and grabbed a large red sombrero that hung on the wall. It was very fancy, with gold trim on the edges and golden starbursts stitched into the brim.

“When I wear this hat,” he said, “I am no longer Mr. Garza. I am Señor Surprise, magician and former president of the Texas Association of Magicians, and a member of the Royal Order of Willard, which grants me the privilege of free breakfast during the convention. I am, in short, an award-winning performer in the United States… and beyond.” Here he paused, and even though he was looking at the ceiling, Dominic could tell he was really looking at the entire sky.

He gave each of the boys a little red ball and kept one for himself. “Observe carefully,” he said. He held the ball between his thumb and forefinger and made a big deal of showing it to the boys. He brought the ball to his nose and sniffed it, his mustache twitching like rabbit whiskers. He put it in his mouth. Dominic could see the bulge on Señor Surprise’s cheek as he moved the ball around. Then he swallowed it, choking a bit because it was so large. When he finally got it down, he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue to prove that the ball had disappeared. Then his mustache started to twitch again, this time in a way that pointed at Señor Surprise’s left ear. That’s when Dominic understood his name, because Señor Surprise got a very surprised expression on his face. He started shaking his head like people do when water gets in their ears. Then he tugged at his earlobe, and guess what rolled out—the little red ball! The boys couldn’t help but clap. They were impressed.

“Now for the French drop,” Señor Surprise said.

“You mean that wasn’t the French drop?” Z asked.

“No, that was me being silly.” The boys laughed. With his Meathead baseball cap, Mr. Garza was all business, but with his sombrero, he was all fun.

He showed them the French drop. His technique looked exactly like the pictures in the handout. He held the ball in one hand and grabbed it with the other. Then the ball disappeared. Of course, it didn’t really disappear. The sleight was supposed to let you hide the ball in your hands so that you could pretend it was gone.

It looked easy, but when the boys tried, they all messed up. Z dropped the ball every time, and he had to chase it as it rolled across the floor. Loop’s hands were too stiff, so even though he could do the move, he had trouble hiding the ball. Dominic was the only one who could perform the sleight, but it took him a whole minute instead of a few seconds because he thought about every single part of the move.

Mr. Garza nodded thoughtfully. Then he took off his sombrero and put his baseball cap back on. “Let me show you how,” he said. He worked with them, one by one, demonstrating the sleight and positioning their hands. Dominic understood what to do, but it was tough. When Mr. Garza did the French drop, it looked like magic. When Dominic did it, you could tell he was trying to hide something because he moved so slowly.

“You’re not being natural,” Mr. Garza said to the boys. “Remember, you have to be natural.” He gave them more pointers, and then he said, “Now it’s just a matter of practice. You must keep doing this until it’s perfect and you can do it without thinking.”

“But that’s impossible,” Z cried. “I have to think. I’m thinking really hard right now.”

“It is possible,” Dominic said. “Remember when we were learning how to ride our bikes? How hard it was, but how easy it is now?”

“That’s right,” Loop said. “I never think when I ride my bike. I just do it.”

“I guess,” Z agreed. “Like when I couldn’t tie my shoelaces.”

“Or write your name,” Dominic added.

“Or escape from the Temple of No Return on the Monument Maze video game,” Z said.

Dominic’s shoulders dropped. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t escape the Temple of No Return, and it really bugged him that he hadn’t solved the puzzles. It didn’t seem possible for Z to figure them out first, not when Dominic was the smart one. That’s why he felt certain that Z had help from one of his older brothers, which was the same thing as cheating as far as Dominic was concerned.

“It’s supereasy to escape, so maybe it’ll be supereasy to do the French drop after a while,” Z said.

Dominic and Loop just rolled their eyes. It was rude for Z to rub his Monument Maze success in their faces.

Mr. Garza had more work to do, so he returned to his computer, but the boys kept practicing, trying to help one another. Dominic told his friends that it was easier if they started with their palms facing up. Loop told them that closing the gaps between their fingers helped hide the ball, and Z mentioned that it’s more natural to look at the empty hand, and not at the hand that’s secretly hiding the ball.

Once in a while, one of them did an excellent French drop, and the others cheered. But it was hard to get it right every single time. “We can’t give up,” they told one another. “We have to keep trying.” Dominic mentally listed all the people who didn’t give up when things got tough: Batman, Iron Man, Wolverine, Navy SEALs, UFC fighters, ninjas, Harry Potter, and Abraham Lincoln.

Meanwhile, Ariel had stepped into the Vault. She had stealth abilities just like her father, so Dominic didn’t see her at first. But eventually he noticed her. She stood at the curtained doorway with her notebook. And as she watched and listened to everything Dominic and his friends said, she scribbled down notes.

She did not look happy.