DOMINIC WANTED TO SHARE his insights about the Malone routine, how his trick seemed to use a combination of mentalism and sleights, and how well Malone interacted with the audience, something Dominic was still trying to figure out. But now Ariel was challenging her father again, and all because of Z’s dumb comment.

“Is this what you do all day?” she asked her dad. “Show them videos—sound off, sound on?”

Luckily, Mr. Garza ignored her and went on with his lesson. “Let’s talk about patter,” he said. Dominic wrote “patter” in a spiral notebook he carried around. He wanted to remember everything he learned in the Vault.

Patter, Mr. Garza explained, was what a magician said while performing a trick. Sometimes, he told a story. Sometimes, he told jokes. Sometimes, he just told you what he was going to do. But, no matter what kind of patter the magician used, he had a certain attitude. Maybe he acted like a wise man or a clown. Maybe he poked fun at himself or maybe he poked fun at the audience. Most important, however, was that what the magician said had to match what he did.

“You can have a hundred versions of the same routine,” Mr. Garza said, “if you change the patter.” He looked at Ariel. “My daughter, for example, is very good at taking common tricks and making them her own.”

“I do not rip people off,” Ariel insisted. “I come up with my own stuff.”

“That’s exactly what I said,” her father answered. Dominic had to agree. Why couldn’t Ariel see the compliment?

“No, you didn’t,” she said. “You accused me of common tricks, but I’m not using cheap, plastic props from beginner magic kits.” She glanced at Dominic and his friends—that’s what they did to get the keys for the Vault. “Anybody can learn the Hot Rod or Pen-through-Dollar tricks. What I do is unique—and a lot more advanced.”

“You’re missing my point,” Mr. Garza said.

“Oh yeah? Well, you’re missing mine!”

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. Ariel just huffed, all annoyed.

Mr. Garza turned back to the boys. “Good patter,” he continued, “can take a simple trick and turn it into art. ¿Entiendes?”

Dominic nodded as he wrote “trick w/ good patter = art.”

“So this week,” Mr. Garza said, “I want you to study how the magicians handle props and what they say while they’re doing their tricks. Then I want you to go back to the French drop and add patter. Any questions?” The boys didn’t ask anything, so Mr. Garza shooed them away from his desk. “Go, go. Practice. And feel free to read any of the books or view any of the DVDs. I recommend Eugene Burger. He makes excellent use of patter.”

The boys went to his shelves to browse through the collection, while Mr. Garza got back to work.

Since there were so many books and DVDs, Dominic didn’t know where to start. “What do you recommend?” he asked Ariel. Nearly every day, he asked for her opinion. She never offered it, but that didn’t stop him from trying.

This time, however, she did answer. She stopped swinging her legs and began to speak. “Well, personally, I don’t think patter is necessary. I managed to win the competition without saying a single word. There’s patter and there’s performance, and in my mind, they are two separate things.”

“She makes a good point,” her father said. He still faced his computer, and once again, Dominic realized that he could work while listening to everything they said.

Ariel actually smiled a little. She was a lot prettier with a smile than with a smirk.

“I’m most inspired by the Japanese magicians,” she went on. “Yumi Nakajima and Hiroki Hara. They travel all over the world to perform. Imagine visiting so many countries. You can’t possibly learn the languages, and having an interpreter is just awkward. So you have to do a routine without patter. That way, no matter where you are, the audience will follow. If your trick relies on patter and your audience doesn’t know the language, then they’re going to be confused, like you guys when you were watching that video with Bill Malone.” Dominic nodded, and he and his friends waited as she thought more about this topic. “Having a routine without patter is like telling a story without words,” she concluded. “It’s… it’s… pure.”

The boys were silent for a while. Then Loop said, “That’s deep.” He sounded all impressed.

Mr. Garza had swiveled around while she spoke. Now he was smiling, and when Ariel noticed, she smiled back. Dominic had no idea why they fought all the time, since they both loved magic. For a moment, he thought that Ariel and her father had finally settled their differences—that they’d stop bickering and work as a team. He even dared to hope that she’d hang out in the Vault and help them, too, because—well—she was pretty.

But then Mr. Garza said, “Why don’t you show them videos of magicians you admire? Then you can explain why.”

And at this, Ariel’s pleasant smile morphed into a cranky scowl. “Why don’t you show them?” she said. “I’ve got work to do.”

Mr. Garza could only sigh. He seemed supremely disappointed, but he didn’t scold her. Instead, he just swiveled back to his computer.

Dominic thought Ariel would leave for sure now, but she didn’t. Still, she made a big show of pretending they were not there as she grabbed her cane and faced the mirror to practice again.

So he and his friends returned to the shelves and took a bunch of videos to the table. As they scanned the covers, they talked a little more about the contest awards.

“I bet we don’t get a ribbon, a trophy, or a certificate,” Dominic said. “I bet we get money.”

Loop cheered. “That’s even better! I can finally get surround sound in my room. It will totally optimize our video game experience.”

“And I can get us tickets to Schlitterbahn so we can try out the Boogie Bahn,” Dominic said.

Z looked at his faded Tony Hawk T-shirt. “I just want new clothes. I’m tired of wearing hand-me-downs.”

Dominic didn’t know what to say about that. Sometimes, he felt sorry for Z, but then again, Z’s parents weren’t divorced. He had an entire family to hang out with, and they were a lot more fun than Dominic’s mom.

“So how much do you think we’ll win?” Loop asked. “A million bucks?”

“No,” Dominic answered. “They probably won’t give a million bucks to a bunch of kids. We’ll probably get a thousand dollars or something like that.”

“We can do a lot with a thousand dollars,” Z said.

In addition to new clothes, he suggested tablets and Google Play cards. He also suggested getting a German shepherd, one of the ones that had worked for the police because they were trained and wouldn’t pee on their shoes. At the mention of police, Loop said they should get a police scanner so they could hear about the crimes around town, especially ones with lots of blood and guts, and Dominic suggested they set up a fund to help the victims. They were on a roll, listing ways to spend the prize money. Meanwhile, Ariel gave up on her cane and approached the table, and when Loop mentioned hiring a private jet to fly them to Disney World, she said, “Oh, please! That’s ridiculous.”

“So what would you do with the money?” Dominic asked.

“It’s irrelevant, since you don’t get any money. You get a trophy if you really have to know, and it’s in the shape of a giant cup.”

Dominic knew it! Oh well, at least it was better than a ribbon or a certificate.

Loop said, “One of you can keep the trophy. I don’t think a big cup is going to look good in my room.”

“I don’t have a place to store it,” Z said. “Not with all my brothers’ junk around.”

Dominic sighed. “I guess I can take it to Corpus,” he said. “My little sister is always asking for stuff. Besides, it’s not about the trophy. It’s about winning.”

At that, the boys gave one another fist bumps.

“OMG!” Ariel exclaimed. “You guys are clueless.”

“What do you mean?” Z wanted to know.

“You guys are not a team of magicians like Penn and Teller. You’re competing against one another, and guess what!” She smiled—not a proud or happy smile but a mean one. “Only one of you gets to win.”

Dominic and his friends were speechless. They loved to compete, especially against one another, but video games, races, and silly challenges didn’t matter. Those were just games, while this contest was for real. They wanted to be a team. How could they possibly compete against one another? And how could Dominic compete all alone? He had stage fright. He’d throw up on the judges for sure!