by Michael Dahl
The audience grew still. People who were standing sat back down.
“This is but the first half of the finale,” said DeVille. “I now need a volunteer from the audience.”
A young man stood up near the front of the stage.
“I know that guy,” said Tyler, peering out the light booth window.
“That’s Joey Bingham,” said Charlie. “The news reporter. What’s he up to?”
DeVille motioned for the reporter to join him onstage. “This young man shall be my witness,” said DeVille. “And he will be your eyes.” DeVille waved his hands again and a large screen was lowered onto the stage.
“Tyler!” yelled Annie. “The projector button.”
“Oh yeah, right,” said Ty. He quickly scanned the control panel and pressed a button. A flash of blue light hit the screen.
DeVille presented a small object to Joey Bingham. “Take this camera, young man,” said the wizard. “And follow me.” He turned to the audience. “Now, you shall see the amazing Dragonstone reappear in a completely different part of the hotel. Watch the screen.”
Charlie and the others saw shapes and movement on the stage screen. They saw DeVille as he walked off the stage and through a door, into a hallway, and through the hotel lobby. DeVille stopped at the elevators and faced Joey’s camera. “We shall now go up to the twelfth floor,” said DeVille. “There, we will witness an even more incredible illusion.”
Charlie turned to Ty, who was staring intently at the screen. “I’m going up there,” Charlie said.
“Me too,” said Tyler.
“But what about the booth?” said Annie.
“Nothing to it,” said Ty. “Light on, lights off. Besides, the projector button will stay on through the rest of the trick.”
“But what if —”
“I’ve got to make sure Hitchcock doesn’t get into any trouble,” said Ty. “He’s too puny to take care of himself.” The two boys rushed out of the light booth and reached the lobby elevators.
DeVille and Joey were already gone.
“Puny, huh?” asked Charlie.
“Get in the elevator,” said Ty.
Ping! When the elevator doors slid open on the twelfth floor, the boys slipped out.
“Down there,” said Tyler.
At the end of the hall, DeVille and Joey were turning a corner.
The boys rushed up to join them. Joey, hearing their footsteps, turned around, his camera facing them.
Great, thought Charlie. Now the whole audience can see us.
DeVille stopped when he saw the newcomers. He drew up his shoulders and addressed the camera, with great dignity, “Excellent. We have been joined by two new witnesses. Complete strangers, I assure you. They shall convince you, ladies and gentlemen of the audience, that what they see, what you see from your seats, is absolutely real!”
After a few more turns through the maze-like hallways, DeVille came to a sudden stop. “This is it,” he said, and gestured to Joey. “Take a picture of that doorway.”
“What the heck is that?” asked Joey.
“Have you seen that before?” Charlie whispered to Ty.
The taller boy nodded. “I avoid it when I come up here,” he said. “There’s no way to get through it.”
The door was something that could only be seen in a hotel built by magicians. It was made of glass and led into another dim hallway that could be clearly seen on the other side. But no one could enter the hallway, because the door was more of a window than a door. It did not open. There were no hinges. In the exact center of the glass door was a small opening shaped like a keyhole.
DeVille’s gleaming eyes shot at Tyler. “Since you work here, young man, then you must know that there is no way through this glass door.”
Joey swung the camera up at the tall boy.
“Yeah, that’s right,” answered Ty. “It’s just for fun. This is a trick door made by Abracadabra when he built the hotel. It’s just sort of a joke.”
“Or perhaps a challenge to other magicians,” said DeVille. “And what is at the end of this hallway on the other side of the glass?”
“It connects to the other hallways,” said Ty. “But you have to walk all the way around to reach it.”
DeVille nodded. “Would you be so kind as to stand at the other end of that hallway?” he said. “You shall be our guard. Make sure no one gets in or out of the hallway.”
Tyler looked at Charlie and shrugged. “Okay, fine,” he said. Then he took off.
DeVille spoke to the camera.
“There is no one up here except myself and these three witnesses, ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “I checked with the hotel staff, and no one is in any of the rooms on this floor. All the doors are locked. But —” He pulled a long, yellow ribbon from his coat. “Someone invisible is with us.”
A ghost? thought Charlie.
“The spirit of Dragonstone,” said DeVille, as if answering the boy’s thought. “He is in that mysterious hallway. Unable to reach us through the solid glass door. But, by using this ribbon which I obtained from my brother wizards in Katmandu, I shall open a mystic wormhole and rescue the invisible Dragonstone.”
DeVille rolled up a piece of the ribbon and then stuffed it through the tiny keyhole, where it cascaded in a long strand down the other side.
“I shall hold this end,” said the magician, keeping a firm hold on the ribbon.
Next, DeVille rolled a metal frame in front of the glass door. The magician pulled down black curtains on the frame, effectively screening the glass door from the viewers’ eyes. But the ribbon passed through the curtains. DeVille stood just outside the frame, where Joey’s camera could still see him, one end of the ribbon still in his hand.
“Watch the ribbon,” said DeVille. “I shall pull it back through the keyhole and onto this side of the solid glass door.”
Slowly, ever so slowly, the dark haired magician pulled the yellow ribbon through the black curtains. It kept coming.
What’s the big deal? thought Charlie. He’s just pulling the ribbon back through the keyhole. Why won’t he let us watch it happen?
“Hey!” shouted Joey.
The ribbon stopped. DeVille held it in both hands now, and Charlie could see that the ribbon wasn’t coming any farther. It must have caught on something.
“How could it be stuck?” asked DeVille. “The keyhole is smooth, and there is nothing between it and the curtains. Perhaps it has found something in the wormhole.”
Charlie felt a growing coldness along his spine. “Mr. Hitchcock,” said DeVille. “Would you be so kind as to pull the curtains open for our audience?”
Charlie walked over, grabbed a curtain, and yanked it aside. Joey almost dropped his camera. In front of them, on the same side of the glass door as them and DeVille, stood the redheaded Dragonstone, with the yellow silk ribbon tied around his waist.
David Dragonstone bowed to the camera. “Thank you, Monsieur DeVille,” he said, smiling, “for rescuing me from the Beyond. And thank you, everyone, for coming to this afternoon’s premiere.”
DeVille reached over and snapped off the camera. “Magnificent,” said DeVille, clapping the other magician on the back.
“What’s going on?” came a voice.
Tyler ran up to the glass door from the other side. His eyes grew wide as he saw Dragonstone. “Hey, how did he get over there?”
“Through a wormhole,” said Joey.
Charlie noticed a worried look on the redheaded man’s face. But DeVille gave him a reassuring look. “Don’t worry,” said DeVille. “That young man in the elegant T-shirt and jeans is another volunteer. He was making sure no one could enter from the far end.”
“Ah, thank you for your assistance,” Dragonstone said to Tyler. Turning to DeVille, he added, “We should return to the stage.”
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br /> “But how did you get here?” asked Joey. “You weren’t inside that flimsy frame. You couldn’t hide inside a curtain.”
“There was no one in the hallway when I got to the other side,” said Tyler.
“Wizardry,” said DeVille with a wave of his hand.
The magicians walked off, followed by a chattering Joey, trying to get a scoop for his paper.
“I can see the headline now,” said Joey. “The Hair-Raising Houdini of the Hocus Pocus Hotel!”
“Young man!” came the dwindling voice of the retreating wizard. “It’s the Abracadabra, if you don’t mind.”
Tyler and Charlie stared at one another through the solid glass door.
“How’d he do it, Hitch?” asked Tyler. Both boys felt the smooth glass. It was solid. And the keyhole was clearly too small for anyone to pass through.
“You didn’t see anything over there?” asked Charlie.
“Nothing,” said Ty. “And that hall is long. I could barely see the black curtain come down over the door. But I did hear a funny noise.”
“Funny?”
“Like a thump. Or someone jumping.”
Tyler shook his head as if to clear it. “I’m just glad this stupid show is over. Meet me at the elevators and we’ll head up to Brack’s.”
Charlie ran back to the elevators. On the way he glanced at the wallpaper in the hall. It was covered with prints of fancy-looking flowers. Tiger lilies? No, they looked more like roses.
The hall with the elevators was quiet. The two magicians and Joey must have already gone back to the theater.
As Charlie stood and waited for Ty, he thought back to the amazing illusion he had just witnessed. How did Dragonstone appear? Had he been hiding somewhere in that hallway? Even if he was, how did he pass through the solid glass door? Joey had been right; no one could have hidden in that frame or curtains. Dragonstone must have come from the other side of the glass. But how?
And what was taking Tyler so long?
“Ty,” shouted Charlie. He felt as if he were standing inside Brack’s empty house again.
No answer. Charlie listened but didn’t hear any approaching footsteps. “Ty!” he called.
Charlie ran down several halls, hoping he was going in the direction of the blocked hallway.
He could just make out the curtains that had been left on the other side of the glass door. This was the place.
So where was Tyler? They should have run into each other.
Charlie called a few more times, but heard nothing. He started to sweat. Something was wrong.
Charlie ran back to the elevators. Still no Ty.
He waited a few more minutes. He shouted one last time. Then he pushed the button to call an elevator and descended to the main floor, alone.
Charlie pushed through crowds of people streaming through the lobby as they exited the theater. They were heading toward the front doors, where they opened umbrellas to face the pouring rain, or waved their arms for honking taxicabs.
When Charlie reached the front desk he was disappointed to not see Tyler. He was surprised to see Annie, though. Her familiar smile was twisted into a frown.
“Where have you been?” she said. “Where’s Tyler?”
“I don’t know,” said Charlie. “I thought he was down here.”
“Well, he’s not!” she said. “And I had to figure out those lights all by myself. The audience was in the dark for ten minutes!”
“He told me to meet him at the elevators, but he never showed up,” said Charlie.
Wait a minute. Tyler said something else before I left him, thought Charlie. Something that didn’t make sense at the time.
“Typical,” said Annie, folding her arms. She looked back at the front desk, where another young woman with thick dark hair was frantically helping five customers at the same time. “I have to get to work,” she said.
“Wait,” said Charlie. “I think Tyler disappeared.”
“Of course he did,” said Annie, walking away.
“I mean — disappeared!”
Annie stopped in midstride. She turned to look at Charlie. “You mean like Brack?”
“I’m worried,” said Charlie. “After everything happened, Ty and I were supposed to meet back at the elevators. Like I said, he never showed up. Then I ran around all the halls but didn’t see him.”
“I hope he’s not hurt,” Annie said.
“Was DeVille right?” asked Charlie. “There’s no one on that floor?”
Annie nodded. “And all the doors are locked.” She shook her head. “Poor, poor Tyler.”
“Annie!” The girl at the desk looked upset.
“I’ll be right there, Cozette,” called Annie.
“But we need to find Ty,” said Charlie. “And Brack.”
Annie stepped toward Charlie and grabbed his hand. Suddenly, she looked very serious. Annie spoke in a low tone. Her lips moved close to his ear. She whispered, “Meet me on the twelfth floor in ten minutes. We’ll look for them together.” Then she stood up and hurried back to the desk.
As she walked away, Charlie noticed that he was holding something in his hand. She was just giving me a key. It was a passkey to all the rooms in the hotel.
Instead of going to the twelfth floor, Charlie headed backstage. He remembered the hunk of red hair from Brack’s carpet. He was sure it had something to do with the redheaded David Dragonstone.
In the theater, men and women were moving props, sweeping the stage, and guiding racks of costumes through the workspace. All the lights were on.
“Excuse me,” said Charlie to a woman walking past with a case full of snakes. “Can you tell me where the magicians are?”
The woman used the case to point. “The dressing room’s over that way,” she said.
“Thanks,” Charlie said. “Hey, are those snakes real?”
“Maybe,” the woman said, smiling.
Charlie rushed over to the dressing room. It was locked. He put his ear to the door and heard nothing inside.
Making sure no one was watching him, he used the passkey and let himself in. Then he groped for a light switch near the door.
When the lights came on, Charlie found himself in a long narrow room with a row of mirrors along one wall. In front of the mirrors ran a low counter and several chairs. Plastic containers sat on the counter. Opening them, Charlie saw pencils, brushes, sponges, and tubes of different colors of makeup.
Turbans and top hats hung from hooks on the walls, along with capes, several straitjackets, and an undersea diver’s outfit. Closets stood at each end of the room. Charlie searched through those as well. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for, but he knew he had to start somewhere. I found the red hair when I wasn’t expecting it, he thought, so if I just keep looking, maybe —
Then he saw it, hanging on a hook at the back of one of the closets. A fake beard and mustache, both made of red hair. A section of hair on one side of the beard was missing.
Charlie pulled the red hair from his pocket and held it up to the beard.
A perfect match.
So Dragonstone had been upstairs talking to Brack. But how did the hair end up on the floor? Did Brack pull it off the man’s face? Was there a struggle?
Charlie grew more worried about the missing magician. And Ty.
I’ve got to find them, he thought.
Charlie stuffed the beard into his backpack. He was backing out of the closet, when he heard a noise. Someone was unlocking the door.
He pushed through the costumes toward the back of the closet. He flattened against the wall and slid behind a dark furry robe that looked like a bearskin. Something scraped at his side, and he almost gasped.
In the dim light that filtered into the closet from the dressing room, he saw what had made the scraping sound. A rol
led-up piece of blue paper leaned against the wall. On the upper edge he saw an official looking stamp. LAND REGISTRAR, BLACKSTONE COUNTY
Like the one in Brack’s house, thought Charlie. It was too much of a coincidence that the young magician’s closet held two items from the home of the missing Abracadabra. As quietly and quickly as he could, Charlie slipped the paper roll inside his backpack.
The door to the dressing room was opening. Charlie heard footsteps. A small thud. Someone breathing. Then everything went black. The lights had snapped off. Slowly, the door squeaked shut, and he heard the lock click.
Charlie hated the dark. It was the one thing that truly frightened him. He wasn’t bothered by heights, spiders, snakes, or even tight spaces. In the light, at least, you could see those things. But in the dark, you were never sure what was there.
Was someone still in the room with him?
Charlie held his breath. Then he counted to a hundred. When he still heard nothing from the dressing room, he silently shuffled out of the closet. Moving through the hanging clothes in the darkness felt like walking through a crowd of people. Or through thick black curtains.
Black curtains! That’s what Ty had said upstairs. Something about DeVille’s curtains that didn’t sound right.
Charlie slid his hands gently along the wall. He felt the doorframe and then the knob.
He turned the knob, and then pulled the door open. The lights from the stage were almost blinding.
Then he saw, on the counter by the mirror, a huge vase that hadn’t been there before. It held a dozen roses and a small card. He reached over and read the card.
Charlie sighed, relieved. The unseen footsteps hadn’t been looking for him. They had simply dropped off the flowers. But what an odd way to sign your name. “The DeV.?”
Charlie replaced the card, closed the door, and hurried back to the elevators to show Annie what he had found.
“When was Brack supposed to meet Dragonstone last night?” asked Charlie.