Ridley turned to Carter and asked pointedly, “Do you have a skill?”
“I don’t know,” Carter said, blood rushing to his face. He thought of his parents disappearing. He thought of running away from Uncle Sly. “I guess you could say I make things vanish.”
“I could say that?” Ridley asked with a smirk.
“We should say that,” Theo finished, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Making things vanish is a fantastic skill for a magician,” Mr. Vernon interjected. “Using a similar technique in reverse is called production. I suspect you’re quite good at both. After all, many magical routines use a combination of those very ideas. A great magician learns to master not one but many of the various effects. For example, the classic cup and balls uses vanishes, productions, penetrations, transformations, and transportations.”
(Friends, this is very good information to know when learning about magic. I hope you are writing it all down.)
“How long have you been practicing magic?” Carter asked.
“Since I was about your age,” Mr. Vernon said. “Back then, I had a group of friends who would get together, just like these three do now.”
“When I grow up, I want to be known as the first female Houdini!” Leila said.
“I will take after Harry Kellar and levitate a princess,” Theo noted. “Or maybe even a queen… if I can find one.”
“No one is as great as John Nevil Maskelyne,” commented Ridley. “He was not only a stage magician but an inventor and a writer as well.”
The three began to argue. Clearly this was an argument they had had many times before, and there would be no winner. Carter and Mr. Vernon exchanged an amused glance.
“Opinions are like hearts,” Mr. Vernon said. “Everybody’s got one.”
“Not everybody,” Carter answered. “I know some people who seem pretty heartless.”
“Still full of doubt, I see.” Vernon squinted at him. “No matter. A healthy amount of skepticism is not a bad thing. Especially when trying to make new friends.”
“Friends?” Carter echoed.
“Isn’t that why you’re here?” Vernon asked.
Carter set his jaw. “I’m here because you told me to come back at four o’clock.”
“Is that so? You were a little late.” Up went that pointy white eyebrow. “You probably didn’t notice, though, because you were so busy strolling down Main Street with this trio, who definitely do not want to be your new friends.”
Leila, Theo, and Ridley emerged from a huddle. They were all staring at Carter. “What is it?” he asked, his voice cracking. “What did I say?”
“My vote is yes,” said Theo. “He saved me.”
“My vote is no,” said Ridley. “He’s too green.”
“My vote is yes too.” Leila smiled. “And my reasons are my own. Carter, we’ve just voted and would like to invite you to our secret hideout. Are you in?”
Carter had to hold back from shouting YES; instead he smiled and then gave a little nod.
Leila put on an upper-crusty tone and said, “Father, if you wouldn’t mind turning away?”
“Of course.” Mr. Vernon grinned, adding with a dramatic whisper, “One of these days I will find that secret hideout, and then it’ll all be over for you rascally kids.”
Leila chuckled as she walked toward a bookshelf at the rear of the store and pulled on a thick volume entitled Secret Passages. The bookshelf made a clicking sound and then moved outward to reveal a doorway to a darkened, windowless room.
“This is where Dad hides the good stuff that’s not for sale,” Leila said, flicking a light switch on the wall. “But we adopted it as our secret HQ.”
Carter was so shocked, all words flew from his head.
Inside this new, secret room were antique reading chairs, lamps, more shelves adorned with pieces of knotted rope, elaborate heart-shaped locks with matching keys, and countless old photos of smiling people covering the walls. There was even a framed portrait of Houdini with his wrists shackled together. This was clearly Leila’s space. Next to a pile of leather trunks, a tiny woodstove warmed the room. Nearby, the wall was hung with a framed picture of Leila being hugged by her two dads.
When Uncle Sly did a trick, Carter thought, it was to gain something. But here, behind the secret door, there were no tricks. It was an invitation to be part of a group, a team, a crew. Whether that included new friends, Carter wasn’t yet sure. Instinctively, his hand trailed down to his satchel. He touched the wooden box and a warm, welcoming feeling of home flooded over him. Or at least it was what Carter imagined a home to feel like. He only had vague memories of that little red cottage with white trim where he’d once lived with his parents.
“Pretty awesome, huh?” Leila asked.
“It’s perfect,” Carter whispered.
Leila raced up to the apartment above the shop and fetched the linzer tarts from the kitchen. When she returned, she blew a kiss to Mr. Vernon, then closed the door to the secret room. She and the others began to pore over the books and discuss future plans.
Carter simply couldn’t believe it. This morning, he had woken up alone on a park bench. And now these strangers had invited him into their home and, further, into their secret place. It was amazing how a chance meeting and a few laughs could bring such different people together—it was almost like…
Carter didn’t have another word for it.
It was like magic.
NINE
After what seemed like an eternity and yet no time at all, Ridley looked at her watch and said, “We should go.”
The four had spent the last few hours in the secret room in Vernon’s Magic Shop, and it was the most fun he’d ever had. Theo showed Carter how he pulled the bow from his pocket (a wire mechanism that allowed the bow to fold in half). Leila showed Carter how she escaped from handcuffs (a key hidden under a square inch of fake skin on her wrist). And Ridley showed him a secret code she had been working on, using actual cards from a playing deck.
In exchange, Carter showed them some of his card and coin tricks. Ridley kept rolling her eyes until she looked in her pockets to find an entire deck of cards stuffed inside. Then she quieted down. The Other Mr. Vernon brought them a platter of tiny cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches with all the crusts cut off. Carter wanted to shove the last few into his bag, but he knew that would look strange. He began to worry about what he’d do when Leila kicked everyone out. There was no way he could sleep on the park bench again now that he knew how close it was to the magic shop. But where else could he go? If Uncle Sly were here, they would have already worked several shell games and made at least enough to get through a couple of days in a boardinghouse. That, however, was all in the past.
“Come on,” Theo said, waving for Carter to follow.
“Where?” Carter asked.
“To the carnival, silly,” Leila said. “We’ve been looking forward to it all week.”
“Oh,” Carter said, feeling his stomach drop at the thought of Bosso and his goons. “I think I’m going to pass.”