“Okay,” I said, courageously stepping closer to the open window so I could pick up the wooden banister post and drop it back into my hat. “The window was a bad idea.”
“And that breaking glass was sure to get someone’s attention,” Avery said, taking off down the hallway at a run.
“I don’t know,” I said, sprinting after her. “There doesn’t seem to be anybody else on this level.”
Just then, a classroom door flew open and a janitorial cleaning cart came sliding into the hallway. Avery was moving too quickly, and she crashed right into it. The cart went over sideways and I crashed into Avery, causing her to land spread-eagle in the hallway.
But I got the worst of it. My top hat came off, landing upside down on the floor. I fell backward, taking a hard seat directly on the magical hat.
Something sharp stabbed me and I let out a howl, hopping straight back to my feet like a cartoon character. As it turned out, that wasn’t the only cartoon thing about my injury. My top hat was smashed, but apparently, one of the boons hidden inside it was a potted cactus.
I could see the poky green plant sticking up through the hat’s flattened opening. But most of the needles were missing from the plant because they were stuck in my backside!
I wanted to scream again, but I held it back, whimpering instead. Carefully reaching back, I felt a couple of sharp points piercing through my pants. I plucked one out, but I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be an easy task.
“Is that Avery?” said an elderly voice. The custodian emerged from the classroom, grunting as he tipped his cleaning cart back onto its wheels. He had extremely thin gray hair and deep wrinkles at the corners of his mouth. He was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved Magix-gray shirt.
“What are you doing up here?” the old man asked. “Didn’t you hear the alarm? There’s a prisoner loose in headquarters.”
Avery set her top hat on her head and shot me a glance. “Hi, Mr. Albrecht. My friend and I were just delivering a message to Agent Nguyen. Have you seen her?”
“Not on this floor,” he said, picking up a pair of fallen spray bottles and a roll of paper towels. “I was just vacuuming this classroom when the alarm went off. Thought I heard some glass break out here—”
“Oh no!” Avery cried, drawing his attention to a mess on the floor in the hallway. Through my pain, I glimpsed a half-eaten milkshake spilling from a white foam cup.
“Ah, my breakfast,” he said, sounding rather devastated.
“This is breakfast?” she asked. “A little early for ice cream, isn’t it?”
He chuckled. “Never too early for my pineapple Oreo shake.”
“That sounds like an exciting flavor,” Avery said, positioning herself between the custodian and me before he got a good glimpse at my face and realized that I was the escaped prisoner. I mustered all my strength to bend down and pick up my smashed top hat.
Mr. Albrecht licked his lips. “It’s the only flavor, in my opinion.”
I tucked myself around the corner, finally examining my hat. It felt strangely heavy, with the cactus stuck in the opening. As I tried to straighten out the brim, I saw something that made my heart drop. The black ribbon hatband had separated from the silky hat, trailing off like a limp tail.
“Well, I’m sure the prisoner won’t bother us up on the ninth floor,” I heard the custodian say to Avery. “Still, you and your friend should probably close yourselves in one of the classrooms until they give the all-clear sign.”
“Good idea,” Avery said. “Sorry about your milkshake.”
“Luckily, I’ve got the supplies to clean it up,” he replied.
With the conversation over, Avery suddenly ducked around the corner. “That was close,” she whispered as we set off again. “Are you okay?”
She must have noticed me hobbling along beside her. “Not really. No.” I held out the top hat for her inspection.
“Oh, great,” she moaned, taking it from my hands. She only looked at it for a second before tossing it through the open doorway into a classroom we were passing.
“Hey!” I protested. “My hat!”
“Broken,” she said. “There’s no way to reattach the ribbon. The hat’s useless now. That cactus got stuck in the opening.”
“But, but . . . ,” I stammered.
“I get it,” she said. “Your butt.”
She kept running.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“The elevator,” she answered.
“Wait. There’s an elevator?” I grumbled. “Why’d we take the stairs all the way up here?”
“It was too risky,” Avery said. “If someone had gotten on, they could’ve stopped us.”
“You don’t think they’ll stop us now?” I asked.
“When that alarm went off, headquarters went into lockdown mode,” she explained. “The elevator can only be operated by a specific boon.”
“Do you have something in your hat that’ll work?” I asked.
She shook her head. “It takes a special cork from a wine bottle. There are only seven of them.”
“Who has them?” I asked.
“Director Lawden has one,” she said. “And the head of each department in Magix.” She smiled and held up a cork. “And the custodian, Lionel Albrecht.”
“Did you steal that from the old man?” I cried. “You’re way more criminal than I am!”
We reached the elevator, and Avery used the cork to press the button with the down arrow. Not only did the button light up, but the cork began to glow like a little light bulb.
Avery and I looked over our shoulders nervously until the elevator doors finally opened. Once inside, I inspected the numbered buttons on the panel.
“There are sixteen stories to this place?” I asked.
“It’s a sixteen-carat diamond,” replied Avery, like that was supposed to make sense.
The elevator doors closed, and Avery pressed the glowing cork against the first-floor button. In silence, we watched the numbers on the digital display go down as we descended.
“We can expect the first floor to be crawling with agents,” Avery said as we dropped past the third level. “The moment this door opens, we run for it. Don’t stop running until we reach the end of the hallway.” I tensed as the digital display turned to number one.
But the elevator didn’t stop.
“What the . . . ?” Avery whispered.
“We’re still going down,” I said. “Is there a basement?”
“No, no, no, no, no,” Avery began to mutter, a hint of panic in her voice. She pressed the glowing wine cork against the first-floor button again, but the elevator didn’t stop. Then she began frantically jamming the cork against any other button, desperate to get the elevator to reverse direction.
“Avery!” I said, pulling her hand away from the panel of buttons. The cork was glowing brighter than ever between her fingers, and it was starting to smoke. With a yelp of surprise, she dropped it to the floor, and it exploded like a firework.
“This is bad,” Avery was mumbling. “So bad. We can’t go to the basement. Bad, bad, bad.”
“Why?” I asked. “What’s down there?”
“It’s not what,” she said. “It’s who.”
The elevator finally came to a stop, and the door rumbled open.
Chapter 9
THURSDAY, MAY 14
8:02 A.M.
BASEMENT LEVEL, MAGIX HEADQUARTERS
When the elevator doors opened, I saw a room that I wasn’t expecting. It was probably the fanciest place I’d ever laid eyes on. It looked like a millionaire’s suite that belonged on the top floor of some New York City high-rise, not in the basement of a weird diamond-ring office building.
The floor was hardwood, with massive soft rugs covering large areas. There was no shortage of comfortable places to sit, with overstuffed couches and armchairs surrounding a glass coffee table. In one corner was a grand piano, and in another was a spacious kitchen, with an island bar t
hat had a granite countertop and three barstools tucked under it.
There were no windows down here, but the entire far wall was a giant fish tank illuminated with soft blue lights. A glittery chandelier hung from a high ceiling, and a glass staircase rose to an overlooking loft area above us.
I stepped forward, but Avery caught my arm. “Maybe we should just wait in the elevator. Eventually, someone will call it back up.”
“And we’ll be sitting ducks,” I said, tugging away and moving into the suite, a few remaining cactus needles poking me with each step. “At least down here, we might have a chance to hide for a while.”
Reluctantly, Avery followed after me, the elevator doors closing behind us.
“Well, this is an unexpected visit,” a woman’s voice sounded, smooth and confident. My eyes darted around the spacious room until I spotted her descending the glass stairs.
The woman was about my mom’s age, wearing a baggy pink sweatsuit over her thin figure. Her black hair was pulled into a ponytail, and she had on a surprising amount of makeup for someone who looked like she didn’t have anywhere to go.
“I’ve either been locked up for a lot longer than I thought,” the woman said, “or the Magix guards keep getting younger.”
“We’re not guards,” I replied. “The elevator malfunctioned and brought us down here. Do you have a key—or a cork, I guess—that could help us go up?”
Avery smacked me across the arm with the back of her hand as though I’d requested something highly inappropriate.
“Why don’t you have a seat?” asked the woman, reaching the bottom of the stairs.
“No,” Avery said flatly. But I thought it seemed like a good idea to take advantage of this woman’s hospitality. Magix might not expect Avery and me to be down here, but if they did send someone to check the basement, we didn’t want to be standing right next to the elevator doors.
Besides, I really needed a mirror so I could pluck out the rest of the cactus needles in my rear end. I stepped forward.
“Mason,” hissed Avery. “We shouldn’t be down here. This is . . . She’s Lina Lutzdorf!”
“Who?” I asked.
“Lina Lutzdorf.” The woman introduced herself, moving toward the kitchen. “Magix’s most wanted criminal.”
“Wait,” I said. “I thought I—”
“Well, I was,” she corrected. “I suppose I’m Magix’s least wanted criminal now. Can I get you some breakfast? Coffee?” Lina held up a pot.
“We’re not staying,” Avery announced.
“And where are you planning to go?” she asked with a patronizing tone as she poured herself a mug and added some sugar and cream from fancy little china dishes. “Your friend just explained that the elevator won’t go up. I’m guessing that’s due to the lockdown. Oh, don’t look so surprised. I may be shut away down here, but I know enough to realize that something tripped the alarm.” She sipped her coffee. “Magix believes there’s a prisoner loose, and the agents probably think it’s me.”
“You’re a prisoner down here?” I asked in disbelief, still staring around the huge suite.
“Going on two years now,” she said. “I had committed an array of magical crimes—illegal boon manipulation, intentionally exposing Igs to magic, using boons with malicious intent, theft . . . I was creating quite a name for myself in the magical community.”
“You were creating a lot of problems!” Avery snapped. She turned to me. “She was building a network of criminals who were willing to do all kinds of crazy things for her. Because they believed her. They really thought she was a . . . a . . .” Avery didn’t seem to be able to bring herself to say it.
“A human boon,” finished Lina Lutzdorf.
“Wait. What do you mean?” I asked.
Lina spread out her arms, a smile on her face. “I am a magical human being.”
“It’s a lie,” Avery cut in. “No living creature can become a boon.”
“Why not?” asked Lina. “When someone does an act of pure goodness, the magic core boils over and infuses certain items with magical abilities. Why couldn’t one of those items be me? Plenty of people have touched me, and it would only require one of them to do something great with their life.”
“That’s not how it works!” Avery said. “There has never been a living boon. Never an animal, and definitely never a human being!”
“There’s a first time for everything, dear.” Lina took another sip.
“What can you do?” I asked. “What’s your magical ability?”
“I’m a living immunity boon,” she said. “No one can use magic on me, or against me.”
“It’s a scam,” Avery said. “She figured out some way to trick our boon detectors. Maybe it’s her perfume. Or the shampoo she uses . . . But it isn’t her.”
“Why would I do that?” she asked. “You think I like being imprisoned down here?”
“Well, it is pretty nice,” I said, glancing around.
“Magix is an organization that believes in goodness,” Lina said, copying almost the exact same phrase I’d heard from Frank Lawden. “When they discovered that they couldn’t do a full memory wipe on me, they had to figure out something else to do. They made me this suite and locked me up down here. Sure, it’s nice. I don’t have any boons, of course. This place is so covered in magical sensors that activating the tiniest boon would bring a host of Magix agents through the elevator doors in the blink of an eye. But Magix treats me fairly. To support their cause of goodness, they bring me almost anything I ask for. But what I really want is my freedom.”
“Then let us do a memory wipe!” said Avery.
“I would if I could,” she said. “But you can’t take the magic out of a person.”
Avery shook her head, muttering something under her breath as Lina Lutzdorf set down her coffee and crossed the room to the grand piano. Standing behind the padded bench, she lifted the cover to expose the black-and-white keys.
“As you can imagine, I have unlimited free time,” she said. “I’ve learned Italian and Spanish, mastered origami and yo-yo. A few months ago, I asked Magix to bring me a piano. I’m self-taught, but it’s coming along nicely.” She turned to Avery and me. “Do either of you play?”
“Nope,” I said. “But according to what they told my mom, I’ve been taking nonstop piano lessons since yesterday.”
Lina chuckled. “Then you better have something to show for it. Come have a seat. I’ll teach you a simple song that will truly wow your mother.”
I winced at the thought of sitting on my cactus-studded pants. “I don’t think I’ll be having a seat anywhere for a while. In fact, do you have a bathroom I could use?”
“Come on!” she pressed. “Let’s see what kind of natural talent you’ve got.”
“I really need to take care of something before I sit anywhere,” I said.
“All right.” She pointed up the glass staircase. “Bathroom’s the first door on your right, through the walk-in closet.” She smiled warmly. “We can work on the solo when you get back.”
I began moving for the stairs, but Avery caught my arm. “Be careful up there, Mason,” she said quietly.
“You too,” I replied. “You know, down here.”
Lina Lutzdorf didn’t seem particularly dangerous, but she’d already admitted to being a criminal, and Avery obviously had concerns about being here.
I made my way up the stairs and into the most amazing bathroom I’d ever seen. There was a large mirror that went all the way to the floor, which made it quick and easy to pull out the few remaining cactus needles.
Ah . . . sweet relief! My rear end was finally starting to feel better. At this rate, I’d be back to sitting in no time.
I dropped the dangerous bits of cactus into the toilet and flushed them down. Wow. Even the toilet seemed to flush in a fancy way! I wondered what a person like this would keep in her closet?
Quietly, I cracked the closet door beside the sink. There were a few folded towels
and toiletries on an upper shelf, and at least a dozen outfits hanging from a rod. They were organized by color, with a handful of long dresses hanging almost to the floor. Reds, greens, blues . . . What were these gray clothes? They didn’t match the rest of Lina’s colorful wardrobe.
I pushed aside some purple clothes to get a better look. Gray suits! Three of them. These looked just like the ones worn by everyone I’d seen working at Magix. What was Lina Lutzdorf doing with these?
Hmm. Maybe she’d stolen them. It would be hard to know who they really belonged to, since all the suits looked so much alike. . . .
I suddenly had such a good idea that I gasped out loud. I snatched two of the suits off the hangers—just the jackets, leaving the pants behind. Then I dashed out of the bathroom, calling to Avery from the top of the stairs.
“Use your top hat!” I shouted. “Pull something out. Anything!”
“What?” Avery said, watching me come down the stairs, trailing the gray suit jackets.
“Activating a boon in my suite will bring the Magix agents straight to you,” said Lina, turning away from the piano.
“That’s what I’m counting on!” I said. “Trust me, Avery. Just do it!”
Lina Lutzdorf lunged at Avery as she pulled the hat off her head. The two of them tumbled sideways, crashing into the back of the couch, the top hat flying across the room.
“You’re trying to get me in trouble!” Lina cried.
Picking up Avery’s fallen top hat, I plunged my hand through the opening, feeling around all the way up to my armpit. I grabbed onto something that felt like a water bottle and yanked it out of the hat. I had no idea what this new bottle boon would do, but I didn’t actually need to use it. Reaching into the magical top hat had already tripped a new set of alarms that instantly started blaring through Lina’s suite.
The woman abandoned her wrestling match with Avery and turned to me. “Magix will think it’s my fault that you’re down here,” she said, slowly walking forward. “They’ll blame me and take away my privileges!”
“Magix won’t even know we were here.” I dropped the water bottle into the hat and donned one of the gray suit jackets. “We’ll slip back into the elevator disguised to look just like every other agent in this weird building.” I turned to Lina. “And if you’re smart, you won’t say anything to incriminate yourself.” I tossed the second jacket to Avery.
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