Hocus Pocus Hotel (6 page)

“Just like Brack's trick in the elevator,” said Ty, nodding.

“Brack said the hotel's walls were full of magic,” said Charlie. “And I believe it. If a magician built this place, why wouldn't he put in all kinds of tricks and illusions, for the fun of the guests? Over all the years, I'm sure many of them were forgotten. But Mr. M. is a magician himself. He'd know what to look for.”

Charlie led them back to the intersection of the two hallways. He carefully examined one of the corners. “Look!” he said triumphantly. “This pulls out!”

Ty gripped a small handle hidden in the wooden molding of the corner's edge. Out came a panel as tall as the wall itself. Smoothly, it glided over to the opposite corner, forming an angle in the hallway. The secret panel was a single, huge mirror.

“Another magic trick,” said Ty.

From where the two boys had stood at Miss Drake's apartment, it looked as if they were staring straight down the hall. But instead, the mirror was reflecting the side hall, the real hallway that Mr. Madagascar had run down. He had thrown himself out the side window and safely landed on the ledge. But the mirror had tricked his small audience into believing he had jumped out the other window and disappeared.

“It's still a good trick,” said Dotty Drake, sadly.

“A magnificent trick!” boomed a voice behind them.

Mr. Madagascar stepped out from Miss Drake's apartment.

Mr. Madagascar walked up to Ty and Charlie. “A man jumps out a window and disappears fourteen floors above the ground. Good one, huh?” said the magician.

“Uh, yeah,” Charlie said.

“This was supposed to be the beginning of my comeback,” Mr. Madagascar said. “I wanted to perform one last show, one astounding trick that would go down in the history books.”

“So you planned all of this?” asked Ty.

“Of course I did,” said Mr. Madagascar. “I waited for you to come up to my apartment, and I wanted you to follow me. I had everything all set up. And the lovely Miss Drake here helped by providing some misdirection.” He winked at Dotty, who blushed.

Misdirection like Brack performed earlier
, thought Charlie.
When he pointed toward the lobby and said, “Now you see him, now you don't.” He made us turn around so he could close the two fake mirror walls in the elevator.

“Your scream was the misdirection,” said Ty.

“I always had a good voice for that,” Miss Drake said proudly, putting her hand to her throat. “And while I screamed and fainted, the mirror wall slid back into the corner. It's on a timer.”

Ty laughed. “So the guy who knocked me down was me!” he said. “My own reflection.” He flexed his muscles and added, “I knew he looked tough.”

A low hum rumbled in the hall. The mirror glided back into the corner and snapped into place. And outside the building, a siren wailed.

“I didn't break any law,” said Mr. Madagascar.

“But the police will want to know what —,” began Ty.

“Do they have to know tonight?” asked the magician. “Give me twenty-four hours. Give me time to have the headlines proclaim my trick to the world. Then I will reappear, and make a statement to the press.”

“And you'll have the best publicity in the world,” said Charlie, smiling.

“Exactly,” said Mr. Madagascar. “Publicity. And then I can plan my final performance and end with the window trick.”

The magician and the former assistant looked at the boys. “My fate — our fate — is in your hands,” said Mr. Madagascar.

Ty glanced over at Charlie, and then back at the magician.

“As long as I get this month's rent,” Ty said.

“Deal!” exclaimed Mr. Madagascar. “Now come to my room and I will give you your cash.”

Ty pumped his fist in the air. “Yeah,” he said. “Slamhammer!”

Mr. Madagascar looked confused, but he put his fist in the air too. “Indeed, Slamhammer!” he said.

The next morning proved Mr. Madagascar and Miss Drake right.

Newspapers, TV stations, and online channels were full of the mysterious disappearance of the magician from the Abracadabra Hotel's fourteenth floor.

Everyone was talking about it, trying to solve the puzzle. There was even a new website — How Did He Do It? — where people posted their own solutions to the mystery.

True to his word, Mr. Madagascar reappeared at the hotel later that day. He gave a press conference that afternoon, and explained that he would soon perform the trick before the eyes of the public, in one last final show of magic.

Of course, everyone at Blackstone Middle School was talking about it. But they were more interested in an even more amazing event.

That morning, when Tyler Yu and Charlie Hitchcock returned to school, it was Tyler who was covered with bruises and cuts. Charlie, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine.

“Unbelievable,” said Charlie's best friend, Andrew, as they sat down to lunch. Everyone in the cafeteria was staring at Charlie. “You are the only person to beat up Tyler Yu!”

Charlie looked up from his lunch. “Who said I beat him up?”

“But just look at him,” said Andrew. “You obviously won the fight.”

“Don't always trust what you can see,” said Charlie.

* * *

That day, two secret notes changed hands.

In the break between English and American History, Charlie and Ty each shoved a note in the other's hand.

No one saw.

Ty read his note in his seat at the back of the classroom.

At his own desk, Charlie unfolded his note.

A few days later, Charlie and Ty stood once more in the vast, shadowy lobby of the Abracadabra Hotel.

Outside the building, an October thunderstorm crashed and boomed. Lighting flashed, lighting up the giant painting that hung on the lobby wall. The lightning reflected off Abracadabra's dark shiny eyes.

Zombie eyes
, thought Charlie.

Tyler glanced over and asked, “You're not spooked, are you, Hitch?”

Charlie put his hands in his pockets. “Oh, no,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I'm standing in an empty lobby in a creepy hotel in the middle of a thunderstorm, and you just told me that there's a ghost floating around here. Why should I be spooked?”