Zigzag Effect

by Lili Wilkinson

  Herb thought about it. ‘Well, there’re plenty of spectacle magicians who do things like being buried alive or escapism underwater. One guy had himself entirely encased in ice. But they’re all under extremely controlled conditions. Often the tricks that look the most dangerous are actually entirely safe. Like sawing a lady in half.’

  ‘So what’s the most dangerous magic trick?’

  ‘The bullet catch.’

  Sage knew this one. ‘The magician gets shot, and catches the bullet in his teeth?’

  Herb nodded.

  ‘But surely that’s all faked.’

  ‘Most of the time. There are plenty of illusory effects that go with it – people use wax bullets, or blanks. There’s one guy who used to do it for real, wearing a steel mouthguard.’

  ‘And it worked?’

  ‘Yep, although I’d hate to be his dentist. Plenty of people have died trying to do even the trick version.’

  Sage blinked. ‘Really? Died?’

  ‘Yep. The first recorded performance of the bullet catch was in the 1600s, by a magician called Coullew.’

  ‘And it failed? The bullet killed him?’

  Herb let out a short bark of laughter. ‘No. He pulled the trick off perfectly. But an angry spectator thought he must be some kind of demon, and beat him to death with his own gun.’

  ‘That’s terrible.’

  Herb nodded. ‘It’s a bit of a cursed trick. In the nineteenth century a magician called Torrini de Grisy accidentally shot his own son. Another guy around that time shot his wife – a real bullet was accidentally loaded into the gun. A few times, a member of the audience has sabotaged it – putting shrapnel in the gun, or just standing up and shooting the magician from the audience.’

  Sage shook her head. ‘Why do they do it? If it’s so dangerous?’

  ‘It’s a challenge. Probably the most famous bullet-catch disaster is Chung Ling Soo. He was this mystical Chinese magician early last century. Always worked with an interpreter. Nobody ever heard him speak. He did the bullet catch one night, and it went wrong. The audience saw sprays of blood coming from his chest, but they thought it was all part of the act, and applauded wildly. Then his crew ran onstage to help him, and the cheering turned to screaming. But then something strange happened. Soo spoke. He said, in perfect English, My feet are cold. He died a few minutes later, and when an ambulance came to cart him away, they realised Soo’s greatest trick of all.’

  ‘He could speak English?’

  Herb grinned. ‘He was an American. He wasn’t Asian at all. It was just makeup and trickery.’

  ‘Wow.’

  Sage woke to the sound of her mother screaming. Hurrying downstairs, she stopped in the kitchen doorway and stared at her mum, who was capering around like a lunatic while Zacky jumped and wriggled around beside her.

  ‘Mum?’

  Sage was thrown against the wall as her mother barrelled into her with a fierce, lung-squeezing hug. ‘Oh, Sage!’

  ‘Did we win the lottery?’

  ‘Better. I got a job. A really good one at a design firm. I start on Monday!’

  Sage felt a rush of emotions and questions whirl around her. ‘A job?’ she said. ‘Here?’

  ‘It’s in the city.’ Mum did a little dance.

  ‘Does this mean we’re not moving back home?’

  Mum frowned. ‘What? We were never moving back. Your father’s job—’

  ‘But I heard you,’ said Sage, and glanced at Zacky. She lowered her voice. ‘I heard you and Dad the other night. Talking about … splitting up.’

  Mum stared blankly at her. ‘You mean … splitting up our family contract?’

  Sage felt panic rise up inside her. ‘What does that mean?’ she almost wailed.

  Mum started to laugh. ‘For our phones,’ she said. ‘You, your father and I are on a family mobile phone plan. But your dad can’t get a decent signal at his new office. So we’re splitting up the family plan so he can go to a different provider.’

  Sage felt as if she was about to burst into tears. Her parents weren’t splitting up. That was a good thing. But she wasn’t moving home. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She was in the stupid Zigzag cabinet again, being pulled in different directions.

  ‘You should be more explicit when you have these conversations,’ she growled, feeling embarrassed and confused and exhausted from having spent all week worrying about it.

  ‘You shouldn’t eavesdrop on private conversations,’ said Mum, still chuckling. ‘But seriously, darling, your father and I are definitely not splitting up. I know this move has been hard, but now I’ve got this job, things are going to get much easier. We’ll have more money again, and we can fix up this old house. I know it’s weird adjusting to a new place, but I promise that within six months, you’ll love it here. Okay?’

  Six months seemed like an awfully long time. ‘Okay,’ said Sage without much conviction.

  ‘Now be excited about my job.’

  ‘Hurrah,’ said Sage. ‘Congratulations.’

  ‘What about me?’ Zacky tugged on Mum’s sleeve. ‘What will I do when you’re at work?’

  Mum ruffled Zacky’s hair. ‘Well, Sage can look after you on Mondays and Tuesdays because she’s not at the theatre. And I’ll be home on Fridays. I’ve asked Kate next door if you can go and play with Roman on Wednesdays and Thursdays until school starts.’

  Zacky’s eyes went wide. ‘All day with Roman?’

  Mum nodded. ‘If that’s okay with you.’

  Zacky’s face split open in a toothy grin. ‘We’re training to be wizards,’ he told Sage importantly. ‘We’re going to learn how to limitate.’

  Sage laughed. ‘Don’t you mean levitate?’

  ‘No-o,’ scoffed Zacky, giving her a superior look. ‘Obviously you don’t know about magic, even though you work for a magician.’

  Herb summoned Sage to the theatre that afternoon. A spark of hope in Sage’s heart suggested that maybe it was so he could get her alone, but that spark was quickly doused when she walked into the auditorium to find Bianca there as well. Of course he didn’t want to get her alone. All the kissing and flirting had meant nothing to him.

  Bianca looked wan and limp, as if she was a flower that someone kept forgetting to water. She’s just putting on a brave face, thought Sage. She’s more worried about Armand than she’s letting on.

  ‘I’m taking over,’ Herb announced.

  Bianca’s mouth fell open. ‘What?’

  ‘The show. We can’t just keep cancelling it. I know Armand’s whole routine. We’ll spend tonight going over it, and reopen tomorrow night.’

  Bianca looked doubtful. ‘I–I don’t know,’ she said.

  Sage felt her face pulling into a scowl. ‘Why can’t Bianca take over?’ she asked. ‘Surely she knows Armand’s routine even better than you.’

  ‘Sure,’ said Herb, barely looking at her. ‘But she can’t do Armand’s routine.’

  Sage looked indignantly at Bianca, who shrugged.

  ‘You think she can’t do it because she’s a girl?’ said Sage, as a dangerous feeling started to swell inside her.

  ‘Precisely,’ said Herb, still looking totally unconcerned. ‘She can’t fit an orange in her pocket, and she certainly can’t hide Warren anywhere on her person. Not in that spangly little number.’

  ‘What if she wore a suit?’

  Herb shook his head. ‘When an audience sees a beautiful girl in a loose-fitting suit, they immediately get suspicious. It just doesn’t work. And anyway, if Bianca were the magician, who would be the fabulous beautiful assistant?’

  Sage’s mouth fell open.

  ‘Sage, just leave it,’ said Bianca softly. ‘He’s not totally wrong.’

  ‘He’s a misogynist!’

  ‘I’m a realist,’ said Herb. ‘Look, I’m not denying that the assistant is a vital part of a magic routine. The assistant has to be much, much more skilled than people think she does. She ends up carrying many effects all on
her own – effects like Zigzag and Impaled rely solely on the skills of the assistant. And Bianca is an extremely good assistant.’

  ‘But?’

  ‘But she’s not a magician. She hasn’t trained as a magician. I’m sure she could if she wanted to – she’s very talented.’ He turned to Bianca. ‘But I don’t think you do want to. You’re more interested in women’s magic.’

  ‘Women’s magic?’ spluttered Sage.

  ‘Just ignore him,’ said Bianca. ‘You’ll only encourage him.’

  ‘Women’s magic?’

  Herb shrugged. ‘You know, all that Tarot, crystal-ball bullshit.’

  Sage wanted to break something over his head. ‘So you’re saying women can’t be traditional magicians?’

  ‘I’m not saying that at all. There are plenty of great female magicians.’

  ‘Name one,’ said Sage.

  ‘Dorothy Dietrich,’ Herb responded immediately. ‘One of the greatest magicians alive or dead, as well as being a notable historian, collector and debunker of spiritualism.’

  Sage glanced at Bianca, who nodded. ‘Everyone knows Dorothy Dietrich,’ she said. ‘She’s one of the best.’

  ‘Fine,’ said Sage. ‘Name me another.’

  ‘Princess Tenko. Melinda Saxe. Dell O’Dell. Madame Hermann. Eusapia Palladino. Talma. Iona.’

  Sage had no idea if he were making the names up, but his smug look of satisfaction filled her with rage.

  ‘But apparently you don’t think Bianca …’ Sage trailed off as she realised she didn’t actually know Bianca’s surname.

  ‘Bareldo,’ supplied Bianca helpfully.

  ‘You don’t think Bianca Bareldo can be on that list.’

  Herb threw his hands up in the air. ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘Bianca Bareldo can be the greatest magician of all time. Hell, so can Sage Kealley. Is that what you want? You want to run the show? Go right ahead. Good luck designing all the effects.’

  Sage stared at him, for a long, cold moment.

  ‘Um,’ said Bianca awkwardly. ‘I’ll be in my dressing-room. Try not to kill each other.’

  She slipped away. Herb sighed. Sage stared at him, shaking her head slowly from side to side.

  ‘What?’ Herb glared at her.

  ‘Women’s magic?’

  ‘Okay, that was a dumb thing to say. But it’s still true,’ said Herb. ‘The vast majority of those TV psychics and palm readers are women. Fact.’

  ‘What about John Edward? Or Uri Geller?’

  ‘There are always exceptions. There are some amazing female magicians too – specifically the ones I just mentioned. But there aren’t many of them. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m not saying the industry isn’t sexist. But that’s just the way things are.’

  Sage made a face. ‘I bet that’s what a whole bunch of guys said when women wanted to vote.’

  Herb made an exasperated noise. ‘I’m not trying to prevent anyone from becoming a magician! I just think that in terms of who takes over while Armand is away … I designed half the effects, I know how they run – it makes sense. I can do Armand’s job. I’m sure Bianca can as well, but the fact is I can’t do her job. I can’t fit in half those boxes, and I’m not sure I can pull off the sparkly leotard look.’

  ‘Why didn’t you say any of that before?’

  ‘I was trying to,’ he ground out. ‘Except you kept interrupting to call me a misogynist.’

  Sage shook her head. ‘I’m going to see Bianca.’

  Herb waved a hand. ‘Give her my best regards,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you have a seance or something while you’re in there?’

  Sage ignored him.

  Bianca was sitting at her dressing table. She’d cleaned the writing off the mirror, but there were still reddish smudges where she hadn’t quite managed to get rid of all the lipstick.

  ‘Sorry about that,’ said Sage, taking a tentative step into the room. ‘I got a bit carried away.’

  Bianca turned to face her. ‘Don’t apologise,’ she said. ‘We’re all a bit on edge.’ She stared at her reflection through the red smudges. ‘I’m not crazy. There’s something going on here. Something weird.’

  Sage nodded slowly. ‘I think you might be right,’ she said. ‘I can’t think of any other explanation for what’s going on. I wish there was something concrete.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I keep thinking about what Herb would say. He’d demand evidence. All we have are hunches and weird feelings.’

  ‘What about the noises you heard? And Armand’s disappearance? And the message on my mirror? And you and Herb getting locked in the storeroom? How much evidence do you want?’

  Sage frowned. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I just wish there was something more tangible.’

  She wanted a photo. She didn’t want to admit it, but she wanted a photo of the ghost. And she didn’t want it for any high-and-mighty mystery-solving reason, she wanted it to impress Yoshi Lear. And also to prove Herb wrong. If he were here, he’d say there was always another explanation, and just because people couldn’t figure out what it was, it didn’t automatically make it supernatural. He’d put on his smug face and talk about how primitive people didn’t understand what made it rain, so they assumed that a spirit or a god did it when they performed a certain ritual and a sacrifice. And Sage would admit that everything he said made sense.

  But if she had a photo. Then everything would change.

  Bianca sighed loudly, jerking Sage from her reverie.

  ‘Are you okay?’ she asked.

  Bianca smiled a wan smile. ‘Sure,’ she said halfheartedly.

  Sage immediately felt guilty. Here she was, wanting a photo to show off, and poor Bianca was suffering. It was her mirror, after all. And Armand’s disappearance was worrying her.

  She stood up and gave Bianca a swift hug. ‘Everything will be fine. You’ll see.’

  Bianca swallowed and nodded, but her expression faltered. Sage felt uneasiness creep into the pit of her belly. Something was very, very wrong at the Lyric Theatre.

  10. Steal: to secretly obtain a required object.

  The uneasiness got worse. Bianca came out of her dressing-room, and they all sat down to discuss their next move. Sage’s toes grew stiff with cold, and the back of her neck prickled. She kept feeling like there was someone behind her, but every time she turned around, the theatre was empty.

  ‘So how’s this going to work?’ asked Bianca. ‘Who’s going to do the sound and lights if you’re on the stage?’

  ‘Sage.’

  Sage blinked. ‘Really?’

  ‘It’s not that hard,’ he said, obviously trying to sound reassuring. ‘I can teach you.’

  Sage’s lips stretched in a smile. She knew she should be flattered to be entrusted with such an important job. Herb thought she was capable. That was a good thing. But something just didn’t feel right. Herb seemed too eager to take over from Armand. It was as if he’d already planned out his steps beforehand, of how he’d take over the show and slot her and Bianca into their assigned roles.

  He hadn’t even asked her if she wanted to do the lights.

  Bianca frowned. ‘Can anyone else smell … flowers?’

  ‘No,’ said Herb. ‘You’re probably just having a stroke. Can we run through Zigzag? I’ve never done it before. I know there’s not actually much for me to do, but I’d like to get the timing right.’

  Sage closed her eyes and saw Armand slide the wide metal blade into the Zigzag trunk. She shuddered. ‘I thought you said that Zigzag was overkill,’ she heard herself say. ‘That it’s too similar to the sword cabinet at the end.’

  She opened her eyes and looked at Bianca, who was staring at her with a strange expression on her face.

  ‘Did I say that?’ said Herb, chewing on his bottom lip. ‘Well, I’m usually right.’

  ‘So pick another trick,’ said Sage. ‘One that doesn’t involve cutting Bianca into bits.’

  Herb glanced at Bianca. ‘Any thou
ghts?’

  Bianca tipped her head onto one side. The corners of her mouth twitched in a smile. ‘How about Assistant’s Revenge?’

  Herb snorted. ‘You’d love that.’

  ‘No, seriously,’ said Bianca. ‘It’s a good trick. Everyone likes seeing the magician vanish.’

  Herb narrowed his eyes, considering it. ‘We’ll have to go over it a few times tonight,’ he said. ‘I know the routine, but I’ve never done it onstage before.’

  ‘I can help you.’ Bianca looked pleased. ‘I think it’ll be … seriously, can’t you smell that?’

  ‘Smell what?’

  Bianca looked around. ‘The flowers,’ she said.

  And then suddenly Sage could smell it. The scent was overpowering, like being drowned in flowers. It choked her nose and throat, and for a moment she thought she might be sick.

  ‘Did you spill something?’ Herb asked Bianca. ‘A bottle of perfume?’

  Bianca shook her head. ‘No, I’ve been smelling it on and off all day. Ever since I arrived at the theatre.’ Her eyes grew wide.

  ‘Don’t say it,’ said Herb. ‘I’m sure it’s coming from outside. Someone’s giving away free perfume samples or something, and the smell is coming in through the air-conditioning vents.’

  Bianca opened her mouth to protest, but Herb silenced her with a glare. ‘Now,’ he said. ‘Assistant’s Revenge. Do we have enough chains?’

  Sage felt as though a rubber band was stretching inside her, getting tighter and tighter as she listened to Herb and Bianca bicker over the set-up of the trick. The smell was making her head ache. She knew she wasn’t beautiful like Bianca. She knew she didn’t have that glimmering something that made people flock to girls like Bianca adoringly. She knew she wasn’t the kind of girl that boys wrote poetry about. But that didn’t mean she was entirely devoid of worth or feelings. Herb had kissed her, and she hadn’t imagined it. He’d kissed her and it had meant something. People didn’t just kiss other people like that because they were bored – she knew this for a fact, because her ex-boyfriend Daniel had often kissed her because he was bored, and it hadn’t been anything like the kiss with Herb.