by Michael Dahl
“But that’s when we were all upstairs,” said Annie. “Look at the time.” She pointed to a digital display on the videotape. 12:00. “We got the call from Cozette at 12:30.”
“12:30? Are you sure?” said Charlie.
Annie nodded. “I looked at the clock over the front counter when the call came. Then I told a guest who was checking in that I had an emergency and would be right back.”
Charlie was confused. “If Ty was attacked right before she called, say 12:29, that means the statue was stolen fifteen minutes before that! But that’s impossible! All twelve statues were in the room before Ty pushed us out and locked the door. I saw it!”
At least, I thought I did. I counted twelve statues. Twelve white figures in the darkness.
“I wish we could see who that guy was under all those black clothes,” said Annie, staring at the screen again while she replayed the theft. “He was smart to cover up the statue, too,” she added. “That way no one could tell what he was moving.”
They stared at the frozen image on the screen. The white statue hidden under the black cloth. That’s not a cloth, Charlie realized. It’s a cape!
“What’s up, you two?” Cozette walked in the room.
“Cozy, I thought you were with your family,” said Annie.
Cozette dismissed it with a wave. “Oh, it was a big deal about nothing. It’s fine.”
“Do you remember what time you called us about Ty?” said Annie.
Cozette pulled out her phone and checked. “It was 12:30. Why?”
“That’s what I told Charlie.”
Cozette’s expression changed. “Um, now that things are a little quieter,” she said, “do you think we could go get David Dragonstone’s autograph?”
“Oh, Cozette . . .”
“You could take a picture of me next to him,” said Cozette. She giggled.
“Oh, that reminds me,” said Annie. “I have to send out his white suit to get cleaned before tonight’s magic show.”
White? thought Charlie. White and black. Black and white. A black covering over the white statue . . . is that how it was done?
Twelve statues . . . but not really.
And there was Theopolis standing in the hall, next to Dragonstone, after Ty was attacked. And he would not meet Charlie’s gaze. Charlie knew that man would stop at nothing to get the hotel.
Aha! thought Charlie. Now I know how he did it.
It was just another magician’s trick. And some magicians had assistants.
The twelve priceless statues of Enrico Endriago had been locked in Room 1308 for fifty years. They had been prisoners of the thirteenth floor. And if Charlie was right about who attacked Tyler and why, it all made sense. It explained why, after fifty years, the statues would now be the target of a shadowy figure.
But how could Charlie get the evidence he needed? And how could he tell Annie who he suspected? She’d never believe him.
Annie shook her head at her friend. “Oh, Cozette,” she said. “I just don’t think it’s a good — Tyler!” Annie screamed.
Charlie looked up just as Tyler Yu walked through the door. He wore the same clothes he did when he was carried out on the stretcher four hours earlier. The only thing new about him was a bandage over one eye. Some of his hair was missing at the back of his head. “What are you wimps doing here?” he asked.
“Charlie found the guy who attacked you,” said Annie.
The taller boy smacked his hands together. “Yeah? Well, just give me the dude’s name. I’ll show him. That freak gave me six stitches.”
Charlie showed Ty the tape. But Ty was not happy. His spiky hair seemed to grow angrier and spikier. “You can’t see who it is!”
“But, uh, I think I might, uh —” said Charlie.
“Hitchcock!” said Ty. “You solved it again?”
“I think so,” Charlie said. “But I don’t have proof yet.”
“Do you have evidence?” asked Cozette. She looked worried.
“Forget proof,” said Ty. “Let’s go catch this guy!”
“You need evidence,” said Cozette. “Otherwise it’s just your word against his.”
“Or hers,” added Annie.
“It’s probably a guy,” said Cozette. “It usually is.”
“Maybe you’re right, Ty,” said Charlie. “Maybe we do catch him. Or her. But first, we need a trap!”
When Charlie explained his idea, Ty thought it was genius. The two girls were more skeptical, but it was the only way to get the evidence that Brack needed.
Then they started to put the plan into action. First they printed out a special message on the computer. The message read:
The second step in the trap was to give copies of the message to several people in the hotel. They waited until dinnertime, when they knew people would be busy. Charlie didn’t want to meet anyone face to face. Also, preparations for that Saturday night’s performance would be in full swing. So they slid the copies under the doors of Dottie Drake, Mr. Madagascar, and Mr. Thursday. A copy was dropped off in the dressing room backstage. They even left one at the front desk so that Rocky would see it. Then Charlie made a few phone calls from the hotel office, spent a few minutes Googling on the computer, and made sure his flashlight batteries were working.
“I think that’s everything,” said Charlie, when they all met back in the lobby.
“Now’s the fun part,” said Ty, smacking his fist into his palm.
“Do we have to do this?” asked Cozette, a nervous look on her face.
Annie patted her friend’s shoulder. “We’ll all be together,” she said. “Besides, it will be fun!”
Cozette lifted an eyebrow. “Really? Fun?”
“Thrilling?” suggested Annie.
“How about ‘terrifying’?” said Cozette.
Charlie agreed. He wasn’t looking forward to this part of the plan. And less than twenty minutes later, as he stood in Room 1308 in pitch darkness, he had to force down panic. It bubbled up inside his chest and into his throat. I am not going to scream, he told himself.
Charlie was standing behind the statue of Hades, lord of the dead. The other three kids were hidden behind various statues.
Charlie felt dizzy. He leaned against the statue.
“I hear something,” whispered Annie.
They all froze. “I think that’s my heart pounding,” said Cozette. “I have something I need to confess.”
Charlie’s mind rapidly pieced new clues together. Had he been wrong all this time? Was the criminal Cozette? She carried keys to the old rooms of the thirteenth floor. She had recently started working at the hotel, right before Brack disappeared. When she came out of Room 1308 when Tyler was hurt, she could easily had locked the room behind her. After she had knocked him out!
And when Charlie tried to unlock it, and the key wouldn’t work, there was only one explanation. She had given him the wrong key on purpose.
Cozette could have moved that statue by herself, too. She could have used the trolley. And when the thief was caught on videotape, where was she?
But why would she do it?
Charlie heard Cozette gasp. A flashlight beam, from outside the room, was traveling along the bottom edge of the door. Someone was standing just outside.
Someone gripped the doorknob. Charlie heard a scrape, then a rustle. The lock was being fiddled with. Then — click!
Charlie took a deep breath. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickling up like ant feelers.
“Lights!” Charlie shouted. The four of them switched on their flashlights as one, aiming at the intruder.
The figure lifted its arms. It tried to hide, but they could see exactly who it was.
“David Dragonstone!”
The young magician lowered his arms and squinted into their flashlights
. “What — what’s going on?”
Tyler stepped out from behind a statue that held twin thunderbolts.
Charlie thought his friend looked angry enough to start throwing thunderbolts of his own.
“You’re the jerk who hit me!” Ty said.
“It was an accident,” cried Dragonstone. “An accident!”
“It was no accident when you stole that statue of Aphrodite,” said Annie.
“You kids are nuts,” said Dragonstone. He quickly turned to exit the room, but the door was locked. He rattled the knob, but it still wouldn’t open.
“How do you like our magic trick, Dragonstone?” said Ty.
Dragonstone turned to face them. His eyes gleamed angrily. “What are you doing in here, anyway?” he demanded.
“What are you doing here?” asked Annie.
“He’s looking for that clue I supposedly remembered that would point to his guilt,” said Ty. “But there is no clue, Dragonstone. We just made that up.”
“It’s a trap,” said Charlie.
A feeling of relief hit him like sunshine through an open door. He was glad his first hunch was right. Cozette was innocent. But then, what had she been close to confessing before Dragonstone arrived?
Dragonstone laughed. “A trap? Don’t be stupid. I just came in here to take a look at these incredible sculptures.”
“But you’ve seen them before,” said Charlie. “Plenty of times. Probably in old photographs that belonged to your grandfather. Or was it your uncle?”
Dragonstone was silent.
“I looked him up on the computer,” said Charlie. “Ernesto Endriago. Endriago means ‘dragon’ in Spanish. And that’s where you’re from. Spain.”
“Anyone could have known about these statues,” said the magician.
“Only Brack and Ernesto knew about them,” said Charlie. “They got delivered to the wrong floor and ended up locked in this room for years. Only those two men knew about them. Or whoever they told. And I thought it was weird that in all this time, after fifty years, that now is when someone tried to steal them. The first time you ever performed at the Abracadabra.”
“Pure coincidence,” said Dragonstone, folding his arms. “I have nothing to do with this.”
“You just said it was an accident that you hit Tyler!” Annie pointed out.
“Did I?” said Dragonstone. “I must have been shocked by the flashlights. I didn’t know what I was saying. Besides,” he added, leaning against the wall, “it’s my word against yours. You have no proof.”
“Think again. We got plenty of proof, you creep,” said Ty.
Charlie noticed a bead of sweat forming on Dragonstone’s pale forehead. “We have a videotape,” Charlie said. “It shows a man carrying a statue into an SUV.”
“Does it?” said Dragonstone. “Does it show a man, or does it show me? Can you see my face?”
“You know we can’t,” said Charlie. “Because you were wearing a mask. But we did see something. We saw the SUV. And we saw the license plate. And we can give that number to the police and find out who owns it.”
Suddenly, the door swung open. “We already have,” said Brack. Behind him stood three police officers.
The men crowded into the room. The police also carried flashlights, and Dragonstone was snared in the web of their beams. “We also found a pair of keys belonging to the SUV in your room, Mr. Dragonstone,” said one of the officers. “And right now we’re examining the SUV. We found it parked a few blocks away from the hotel.”
“This is ridiculous,” said Dragonstone. “First of all, how could I possibly have been in this room, when your friend here got injured, when I was outside all the time?”
Charlie smiled. “Because you weren’t outside. You were inside all the time!”
Then he explained how the magician had managed his trick.
Dragonstone had stolen the statue of Aphrodite, loading it off the dock and into his SUV. That was around 12:15.
Then he returned to the hotel. He planned to steal a second statue. Dragonstone was inside Room 1308 when Charlie, Ty, and Cozette entered.
It was too late to find a hiding place, so Dragonstone stood off in a corner, frozen. In the dim light of a flashlight, and wearing his trademark white suit, he blended in with the statues. Charlie had seen him out of the corner of his eyes, but had mistaken him for a statue. That’s why Charlie had thought all twelve of them were in the room.
Then, after Ty pushed Cozette and Charlie into the hall and locked the door, Dragonstone tried to find a better hiding place. But he was afraid Ty might see him. So he knocked him out.
“I would never be so brutal,” cried Dragonstone.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” came a voice from the doorway.
“Theopolis!” cried Charlie.
The evil magician, wearing his dark cape, looked angry and sad at the same time. He starred at his young partner. “You and I had coffee with Brack in his home the other night,” he said. “I was in disguise, because I know how Brack feels about me.”
Brack was silent.
“And then when he unmasked me,” continued Theopolis, “I left and returned to my room. But you stayed behind.” He pointed to Dragonstone. “I found out that Brack had vanished the next day. I decided to use it to my advantage and finally take over this hotel. But I did not realize who had kidnapped Brack, until I saw this room today. Then I knew. You are the grandson of the famous Ernesto Endriago, and I knew he had sent the statues here. Brack had told me about them, many years ago. But I had forgotten all about them. Until today.”
Theopolis turned to Brack. “I am sorry about all this,” he said in a low voice. “I had no idea to what depths Ernesto’s grandson would sink!”
“That still doesn’t explain how we saw Mr. Dragonstone come in from the hall after Tyler was attacked,” said Cozette. “How could he get out of the room?”
“He never did!” said Charlie. “After hitting Ty, he hid beside the door, in the dark. He used the black cape that he covered up the statues with, to hide himself. To melt into the shadows, unseen. Then when Rocky broke down the door, everyone started crowding into the room. Dragonstone just joined the crowd. No one noticed how he got there. We were all too busy looking at Ty.”
“Look!” shouted Annie. She aimed her flashlight at a dark corner of the room near the door. “There’s the cape! It’s proof!”
Then the room burst into chaos. Dragonstone waved his hand and an explosion lit up the room like a firework. People shouted and screamed and ran toward the door. And after all the pushing and shoving and jostling, a police officer cried, “Dragonstone! He’s gone!”
The officers split up and ran down several hallways, searching for the magician.
“It was flashpowder,” said Theopolis grimly. “An old trick.”
“The old tricks are the best tricks,” said Brack.
Annie turned to her friend. “Cozy,” she said. “Remember earlier, when you said you had something to confess?”
Cozette blushed. “I couldn’t take being in the room any longer. I had to tell you guys that I’m afraid of the dark!”
“Just like brainiac here,” said Tyler, nodding toward Charlie.
Theopolis cleared his throat loudly and then said, “I shall go and tell our audience there’s been a change of plans.”
“Wait!” said Brack, holding up a hand. “A change, yes. But not a cancellation.”
Theopolis stared at his former partner and frowned. “You mean —?”
“We’ll go on instead,” said Brack. “You and I. I’m sure we can improvise a show. A good show, too.”
“But what about Dragonstone?” asked Charlie.
“Oh, I doubt if the police will find him this time,” said Brack. “He’s far too clever. But at least you and your friends foiled his plans. And
saved the hotel from losing millions of dollars worth of art!”
“What do we do now?” asked Tyler.
Brack bowed to him over his cane. “You run downstairs and grab the best seat in the house, young man. For the show must go on!”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MICHAEL DAHL grew up reading everything he could find about his hero Harry Houdini, and worked as a magician’s assistant when he was a teenager. Even though he cannot disappear, he is very good at escaping things. Dahl has written the popular Library of Doom series, the Dragonblood books, and the Finnegan Zwake series. He currently lives in the Midwest in a haunted house.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
LISA K. WEBER is an illustrator currently living in Oakland, California. She graduated from Parsons School of Design in 2000 and then began freelancing. Since then, she has completed many print, animation, and design projects, including graphic novelizations of classic literature, character and background designs for children’s cartoons, and textiles for dog clothing.
Hocus Pocus Hotel is published by Capstone
1710 Roe Crest Drive
North Mankato, Minnesota 56003
www.capstoneyoungreaders.com
Copyright © 2014 by Capstone. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available at the Library of Congress website.
ISBN: 978-1-4342-6509-8 (paper-over-board)
ISBN: 978-1-4342-9626-9 (ebook)
Summary: Abracadabra, the founder of the Hocus Pocus Hotel, has vanished! Charlie Hitchcock and Tyler Yu team up again to solve this mystery and find their friend. Then Tyler vanishes. But Charlie has reason to believe that a mysterious thirteenth floor exists in the old hotel . . .
This book is also available in two library-bound editions: