“I know something we can do with the theater curtains,” Leila said, grabbing a pencil and paper and marking down notes.
“What we need to do next,” Carter said, “is share our ideas and then put it all together. Build a great big trap for the reigning heavyweight clown kingpin. And we need to act fast. We’re running out of time.”
SIXTEEN BILLION
Gotcha again!
I’m sure you knew this was coming, right? You read the Table of Contents at the beginning of the book very, very carefully, didn’t you?
You did? Oh good. That’s all I needed to hear. Paying close attention to details is very important for a young magician.
But let’s hurry and check out the Grand Oak Resort with the rest of our group. Quickly now! We don’t want to keep anyone waiting.…
SEVENTEEN
The Grand Oak was bustling with action when the misfits arrived. Hundreds of people had descended on the resort to see Bosso’s big final show. Maybe they’d been drawn by talk of his big-top show, or maybe they were curious about the Star of Africa. The crowd was overwhelming, and the lines were long.
“This way,” Leila said, heaving her giant backpack higher on her shoulders. All of the kids had a large pack filled with everything they needed. “We can get in using the service doors in the back.”
“Nothing but the best for the Grand Oak’s brightest upcoming stars,” Olly said sarcastically.
“At least our fans won’t attack us for autographs,” Izzy joked.
“Plus, we can drop by the kitchen to pick up some of the goods for our show,” Ridley added.
The six misfits made their way through the resort to the Grand Oak’s Grand Theater. As they approached, Theo was the first to notice the ticket takers. “Oh no,” he said. “We don’t have tickets.”
“Tickets, schmickets,” Olly said. “You have something better than tickets—you have us.”
“We know this theater like the back of our hands,” Izzy said. “Follow us.”
As they passed through the corridors, Carter noticed police officers at every exit. Seeing so many of them made Carter want to vanish all over again.
Inside the auditorium, the seats and curtains were all red velvet, and the walls were trimmed in gold. In the left rear corner, behind a thick column, the twins led the misfits through a hidden door behind wallpaper and wood paneling. Inside the small room was a ladder leading into the ceiling, and a long, narrow hallway, wide enough for one person, that seemed to spiral downward into darkness. “Up goes to the catwalk,” Izzy noted.
“A catwalk?” Carter asked, wondering why a theater would need a place for cats to walk.
“It’s a series of platforms that hang by cables over the stage where the crew arranges the lights and directs special effects for the performance.”
“Oh, right,” Carter answered, nodding slowing, pretending to understand. “A cat… walk.”
“Down leads to the orchestra pit and under the backstage,” Olly went on with a grin.
“Divide and conquer again,” Ridley said. “Theo and I will head down to survey under the stage. Izzy, Olly, you take Carter and Leila and head up. We’ll meet you on the other side.”
As Carter followed Leila and the twins up the ladder, his palms began to sweat. He’d never been up so high. “If you’re afraid of heights, don’t look down,” Leila said back to Carter as she crawled out onto the thin, hanging platform.
Of course, Carter immediately looked down.
Beneath them, the venue had a large balcony and seating for almost a thousand people. From eighty feet up, all the preshow workers below looked like miniature dolls walking about.
Keep crawling forward, Carter told himself.
When they got to the other side, Carter, Leila, and the Golden siblings began to remove some of the surprises they had in store for Bosso from their backpacks. “We’ll take it from here,” Izzy said. “You two go ahead. We’ll catch up.”
Leila and Carter nodded. They crawled across the upper skeleton of the great theater. Way down in the pit, the orchestra tuned their instruments with bursts of noise. Carefully, they passed over the wires and ropes holding up the red curtain dividing the audience from the stage. Then they crawled above the Sideshowers and clowns, who were setting up for Bosso’s big show directly below.
Quietly, Leila and Carter moved toward the rear of the catwalk maze. They were about to climb down the back ladder when they heard familiar voices below.
“Bobby, listen to reason,” Mr. Vernon said. He was speaking in a more serious tone than Carter had ever heard. “If you do this and get caught, you’ll go to jail. And not just for a few years this time… for the rest of your life.”
Carter and Leila leaned forward, just able to see Vernon and who he was talking to—B. B. Bosso.
“What’s going on?” Leila whispered. “How does my dad know Bosso?!”
Carter had no idea, but a sinking feeling gripped his stomach.
“Don’t act like you care about me,” Bosso said scathingly to Vernon. “We haven’t been friends in thirty years.”
“I disagree,” Mr. Vernon said. “Don’t you remember the old pledge? I still believe every word. As we said in the Emerald Ring: ‘The magic of true friends is that even apart, they can’t long be cut off from what lives in the heart.’”
“Don’t spout that nonsense at me. That was a lifetime ago!” Bosso growled.
“I still consider you a friend, Bobby, even if an estranged one.”
“It wasn’t just years that separated us,” Bosso chuckled. “You always were a sentimental fool. No wonder you stayed in this wretched town.”
“If it’s so terrible, then why return?”
“Isn’t it obvious? The Star of Africa was en route to New York City as part of its multicity tour. I could never have stolen the diamond there. But in this half-wit town, paying off all the right people was easy. As soon as I have that diamond, I’ll retire. It’s worth millions. I’ll never have to work again.”
“Don’t do it, Bobby,” Mr. Vernon pleaded. “Cancel the show. We’ll go get a sundae at the ice-cream parlor like we did when we were kids. It’s not too late. You haven’t done anything wrong yet.”
“No, not yet,” Bosso said with a cruel smile. He snapped his fingers. “But I’m about to.”
The Walrus and the Spider-Lady jumped out from behind the curtain. The six-armed woman hit Vernon on the head with a slim silver baton, and the Walrus threw a giant canvas sack over him. “Get him ready,” Bosso said. “He can take the fall for us.”
Leila grabbed her mouth to stop herself from screaming. Carter reached over, took her other hand, and squeezed. He wanted to say, Everything’s going to be okay, but he didn’t want to lie.
EIGHTEEN
Carter and Leila scrambled down the ladder backstage. They met the others in an old prop room that Bosso and his carnival crew weren’t using. “What’s wrong?” Ridley asked as soon as she saw the tears in Leila’s eyes.
“Bosso has Mr. Vernon,” Carter said.
“What?!” Olly and Izzy said at the same time.
“I think Bosso is going to frame him,” Leila guessed, hugging Ridley. “They’re going to make it look like my dad stole the diamond.”