The next day of school was the longest Charlie had ever experienced. As soon as the last bell rang, he hurried to the hotel.

Ty was already there. “Finally,” said the bigger boy when Charlie ran into the lobby, out of breath. “What took you so long?”

“How . . . how did you get here so fast?” Charlie said.

Ty laughed. “Take a guess,” he said. “What’s quicker than walking? In fact, what’s as fast as . . . lightning?”

Charlie gasped. “You got it?” he said. “You got your bike?”

Grinning, Ty pulled it out from behind the front desk: the Tezuki Slamhammer 750, Edition 6, in cherry-pop lightning red.

“That’s amazing,” Charlie said, staring at the beautiful bike. “Nice work.”

“Okay,” said Ty. “Enough ogling. Let’s get started.”

Mr. Madagascar frowned when he opened the door. “What do you two want?” he said. He was in a nice emerald-green suit, but his room was a complete mess. There were at least a dozen mirrors of all sizes leaning against the walls and furniture.

“Were you at the party the other night?” Ty asked. “The one at Brack’s rooftop estate, upstairs.”

“Of course I was,” Mr. M. said. “Every magician in the city was there.”

“Did you see the trick?” Charlie asked.

“Theopolis’s magic?” Mr. Madagascar said. He leaned on the open doorway.

He hasn’t invited us in, Charlie thought.

“Yes, I saw it,” Mr. M. said. “It was very impressive, wasn’t it? The levitation was very good. Over water? Difficult business. But you two wouldn’t understand.”

“That good, huh?” Charlie said. “I didn’t know Theopolis was an expert in levitation.”

Mr. Madagascar squinted at the boy. “Yes,” he said slowly, in a very rough voice. “I didn’t know either.”

“But you were impressed?” Charlie asked.

“Quite,” said Mr. Madagascar.

Just then, someone cleared their throat behind the boys, and Charlie spun to see. It was Dotty Drake, Mr. Madagascar’s assistant.

Mr. Madagascar looked at the boys. “Now you’ll have to excuse us. Dotty and I are about to rehearse our act.”

“Do you have a show soon?” Charlie asked.

“Ah, nothing scheduled yet, exactly,” Madagascar said. “But we’re very hopeful.”

Then Dotty closed the door in their faces.