Z AND DOMINIC SPENT the rest of the afternoon writing clever patter for the mentalism trick, but every time Dominic said the words, he sounded like someone reading the ingredients on a Froot Loops box.

Z could only shake his head. “You sound like a robot. Put some feeling into it.”

“I’ll try,” Dominic said. “But doing the routine while saying the words is hard. It’s like trying to sync two separate parts of my brain.”

Z nodded even though he had no idea what his friend was talking about.

After a few more rehearsals, the boys decided to leave. On their way out, Ariel asked if they were coming by tomorrow. They said maybe, even though they planned to come every day till the convention.

And the convention was all they talked about during their walk home. It was only ten days away! Dominic had printed out the program, so he showed Z the lectures being offered and the list of magicians who were going to be in the stage show. These guys could levitate, perform telekinesis, and make tigers disappear.

“I can’t wait!” Dominic said, all excited.

Z felt excited, too, but when Dominic turned in to his apartment complex and left Z alone, reality hit. Z did not have enough money, and even if he worked 24-7, he wouldn’t earn enough to register for the convention and the competition. At this point, he didn’t care if he won or lost. He just wanted to compete. Even if he came in last, he’d still be ahead of the person who didn’t try, but right now, he was that person. “Last again!” he shouted to the sky.

As soon as he reached his house and stepped inside, his brothers looked up from their video game. “Hey, zillionaire,” they teased. So that was the new z-word. If only it were true.

As usual, the house was full of people. Z’s father and brother-in-law inspected a ceiling fan that rattled too much. Copycat set the table, and Smiley chopped veggies for a salad. Meanwhile, his oldest sister and his mom made french fries and catfish. He spotted Bossy in the kitchen, too, but she wasn’t cooking or mixing or chopping anything. Instead, she was shouting orders that everyone ignored. Z’s cousin stood in a corner and practiced the trombone. He was going to be in the high school marching band, and since he’d be playing at football games, he practiced as loudly as he could. His trombone was louder than the sound effects from Z’s brothers’ Need for Speed video games, louder than the crackling grease in the kitchen, louder than the dog barking for scraps, and louder than the five or six conversations happening at once. All this noise was giving Z a headache, so he went to his room.

Z knew he was supposed to love his brothers and sisters, but part of him wished he was an illusionist who could make them disappear so he could have the house and everything in it—the food, the space, but mostly his parents’ (and the dog’s) attention—all to himself.

He shut the door to his room, plopped on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. Then he took his cards from his pocket and mindlessly practiced a sleight called “the pass.” It let him secretly move a card to the top or bottom of the deck. Z practiced passes the way some people popped their knuckles or doodled. One pass, two passes, three. It calmed him down. He loved the feel of the cards, the slight breeze as he riffled them, the sweeping sound they made as they slid against one another.

Z studied the cards, did one more pass, and then rolled over and stuck them under his pillow. This whole summer was just a silly dream, and he was stupid to think that he’d have a chance to compete at the convention.

After a while, he heard his mom calling. Dinner was ready. He headed to the main room, expecting a long line for food. But when he got there, everyone was already sitting down, even his mom! Then he noticed other weird things, too.

•  Weird thing #1: When the whole family gathered—like on July Fourth—there wasn’t enough room, so he had to sit at the “baby table” with Boxer Boy and Copycat because they were the youngest. And it was a lousy fold-up table with fold-up chairs that gave you a numb butt if you sat in them too long. This time, however, Smiley was sitting in the uncomfortable chair.

•  Weird thing #2: When the whole family gathered—like on Thanksgiving—his dad sat at the head of the table and Z’s brother-in-law sat at the other head of the table. This time, however, his brother-in-law sat off to the side. That meant that his normal seat was available, and since it was a place of honor, it couldn’t possibly be for Z—yet it was.

•  Weird thing #3: When the whole family gathered—like for the Super Bowl—everybody stood in line for food, oldest to youngest, which meant Z got the skinniest cut of meat and the hardest crust of bread. But this time, a giant plate of food waited for him. And not only did the plate have a lot of food, but it also had the most golden french fries, the thickest fish fillet, and the moistest square of corn bread. Everyone knew his mother always burned the edges, but this slice came from the middle of the pan.

Z expected a prank to reveal itself, but nothing happened. His whole family just smiled at him. So he got all self-conscious. He double-checked his zipper in case his fly was open, and then he wiped his nose in case he had boogers. But everything was fine, so what was his crazy family up to?

“What are y’all looking at?” he asked.

“You are so cute,” Smiley said. “I have a friend who said that if you were a puppy, she’d totally adopt you.”

“Woof, woof,” Z said with no enthusiasm, but everyone laughed as if he’d told the funniest joke. “Okay, this is weird. What’s going on?”

“Sientate,” his father said, still giggling.

Z went to the head of the table, and when he pushed back the chair, he saw an envelope on the cushion. His family always dumped mail on the table, so he expected an electric bill or an advertisement, but this envelope had “For Ezio (the zillionaire)” written on it.

“What’s this?” he said, picking it up. It was thick. Maybe the prank was in the envelope. Maybe his brothers had stuffed one of those springs in there, the kind shaped like snakes. They sold them at Conjuring Cats. Like a jack-in-the-box, the coiled snake jumped out when you opened the container.

“Hurry! Open it,” Bossy said.

Z carefully opened the envelope, tilting it away in case a snake jumped out. But when he broke the seal, nothing happened. He peeked inside, shaking his head because he couldn’t believe what he saw. There were twenties, tens, and lots of fives and ones. The envelope was full of money! He started to count. With the money he’d saved on his own, he had almost $500, and since his friends had already offered to share a room, the money was enough for the convention!

He looked at his family. They still had goofy smiles on their faces.

His dad said, “It’s a gift from all of us. Everybody pitched in.”

“Even me,” his cousin said.

“Your brothers and sisters came up with the idea,” his mom explained.

“Yeah,” Copycat said. “We came up with the idea after we saw how hard you were working. You haven’t played at all this summer. Work, work, work. That’s all you do.”

“But where did you get the money?” Z looked at Boxer Boy, Copycat, and his cousin because they didn’t have jobs.

“We collected cans,” Boxer Boy said. “Every day, we rode our bikes around the neighborhood and picked up cans. Then we took them to the recycling plant, and they paid us.”

“This town is full of litterbugs,” Copycat said. “So we made lots of money.”

“The rest of us saved money from our jobs,” Toenail said.

“We got something else for you,” Z’s oldest sister added. She reached under the table and pulled out a large bag from JCPenney. Because she was at the other end of the table, nearly everyone touched it as they passed it along to Z, so it truly felt like a gift from all of them. Z couldn’t wait to peek inside, and when he did, he discovered black slacks, a black dress shirt, a red tie, and a new leather belt.

“No more hand-me-downs,” his mother said. “If you’re going to compete, you need to look like a professional.”

Z’s heart raced with excitement. This extra money meant he could go to the convention. He could do the Ambitious Card in front of a real audience. Ten minutes ago, he was broke, but now he was rich! He thought about a popular magic trick called Coins Across, how quarters magically traveled from one hand to the other. That’s exactly what was happening here, with money moving from his family’s hands to his. Then he remembered the day Señor Surprise showed him the Miser’s Dream. It made total sense now. Sometimes the empty can was actually full. Sometimes money did appear out of nowhere!

“I don’t know what to say,” Z admitted.

“Try ‘thank you,’” Bossy suggested.

But Z didn’t say thanks. Instead, he showed his gratitude by going around to hug everyone. It took a long time, since there were so many people. When he had finished, he took his seat at the head of the table and began eating from the heaping plate of food. That’s when he realized that for once, he was first—and he was first where it really mattered: his home.