by Michael Dahl
“Of course,” Bingham said. He followed Ty with the camera. “Don’t you want to be on TV?”
“No!” Ty said, hurrying behind the wardrobe. “Especially not with Hitchcock. It’ll ruin my reputation.”
“Hitchcock? You mean like the scary movie director?” asked Bingham.
Charlie nodded. He sometimes got tired of having to explain his last name to people.
“That could be an angle for my story,” said Bingham. “It’s just like a Hitchcock film. Some unsuspecting person disappears, and then —”
“Uh, he’s a student at Blackstone Middle School,” Charlie said as the reporter pointed the camera at him. “The kid who disappeared, I mean. I don’t know him, though. Paul something.”
“Paul Juke,” Ty said, jumping out from behind the wardrobe. “His name’s Paul Juke. He’s in my technology class.”
“Great,” Bingham said. “Let’s get something out to the station. They can have an interview on the air in two minutes.”
“An interview?” Charlie said. “Just because of a magic trick?”
“Of course!” said Theopolis in his booming voice.
Everyone turned to look as the magician came into the storage room, still wearing his mysterious black robe. “Because this was no simple magic trick.”
Bingham excitedly turned the little video camera on himself. “This is Joey Bingham with an exclusive story,” he said. “We have here the magician himself, the master of demons, the man responsible for the missing boy’s magical disappearance.”
Then Bingham crouched in front of Theopolis and aimed the camera at him. “Mr. Theopolis,” the reporter said. “Tell us: where is the boy?”
Theopolis smiled. “I can produce the boy at any time,” he said. “I am in complete control of the shift that has occurred for the boy.”
“The what?” Ty said.
Theopolis fixed him with an evil glare. “The demons under my power can alter space and time,” he said in a rough whisper. “If I so desire, they will take a piece of our space and time and move it to another space and time. That is what they’ve done.”
“And you can bring him back any time?” Charlie asked.
Theopolis nodded gravely.
“Then do it,” Charlie said.
Theopolis threw his head back and laughed. Bingham was getting the whole thing on video. “I will, young man,” the magician said. “At tonight’s performance. Then the world will see that I am the greatest — and indeed, the first ever — real, true magician in history!”
“This is ridiculous,” Charlie said.
He and Ty were in the office behind the front desk of the Abracadabra Hotel with Annie Solo, the girl who often worked at the check-in desk.
Ty leaned back in the big chair in the corner. “I don’t know, Hitchcock,” he said. He put his hands behind his head. “Theopolis is pretty amazing. He proved he can do real magic.”
“He did not,” Charlie insisted.
Annie nodded. “He did,” she said, still staring at the TV. The news was showing Joey Bingham’s interview with Theopolis for the fifth time that afternoon. “He nailed the trapdoor shut. It had to be demons.”
“Shifts in space and time,” Ty said.
Charlie rolled his eyes.
“I think it’s real,” Annie said. “I think it wasn’t a trick at all. I think it was real magic. I truly believe that.”
“You’re crazy,” Charlie said.
“I’m with Annie,” Ty said. “Am I crazy too?”
Charlie swallowed. They might have been becoming friends, but Ty was still the scariest kid in eighth grade. He decided to ignore the question.
“Prove us wrong, Charlie,” Annie said.
“That’s my plan,” he said, standing up. “Come on, Ty.”
“Why should I?” Ty asked, leaning back in his chair.
“I don’t know, in the name of truth?” Charlie suggested. “Because uncovering mysteries in this hotel is what we do?”
Ty crossed his arms and stared at Charlie.
“Because I helped you solve two mysteries already, so you owe me?” Charlie said. He grinned sheepishly.
“He’s got you there,” Annie said. “If not for Charlie, you’ll never get that bike you’ve had your eye on.”
Charlie smiled at Annie. The Slamhammer, which Ty was really close to being able to buy, would convince him.
“Fine,” Ty said. “Where do we start?”
“Theopolis’s room,” Charlie said. “Come on. Let’s go.”
* * *
“Why, hello, Master Hitchcock, and Master Yu. Where are you two headed?” Brack asked as Charlie and Ty stepped into his elevator.
“To see Mr. Theopolis,” Charlie said.
“Thirteenth floor,” Brack said. “Yes.”
“It’s so weird that he’s on the thirteenth floor,” Ty said. “No one stays on the thirteenth floor!”
“Why not?” Charlie asked as the elevator started its slow climb.
Brack shrugged. “It’s an old tradition, and lots of old-time magicians are very superstitious,” he said. “They believe the number thirteen is bad luck.”
“It is,” Ty said.
“They say the number itself has bad magic in it,” Brack went on. He pulled out his watch again. “I always thought it had something to do with time.”
He popped open the watch. “The last hour of the day is twelve,” he explained, pointing at the watch face. “Perhaps a thirteenth hour seems unnatural, and so the number seems unnatural.”
The old man turned to face Ty. “Have a close look,” he said. He held out the watch to Ty, and Ty leaned close.
“Yup,” he said. “Just like every other watch. It goes up to tw—”
But he was cut off, because suddenly a fine stream of water squirted from the center of the watch face, soaking Ty’s face.
“Hey!” Ty said, covering his face. “What gives?”
Charlie couldn’t help laughing. “Good trick, Brack,” he said. “But — I looked closely at your watch earlier today. It was definitely not a joke watch. I could tell from the shine that it was real old metal.”
“Indeed,” Brack said.
He reached into the pocket of his coat and produced the real watch. The two were nearly identical. Anyone would have been fooled. “I had this one made special,” Brack said, “just so my two watches — the real antique one and the other fake, practical-joke one — would look almost exactly alike. Only an expert — or you, Mr. Hitchcock — would be able to tell them apart.”
The old man giggled as the door opened on the thirteenth floor. “In fact, I’ve squirted my own face more than once by accident,” he said. “Anyway, here you are.”
“Thanks a lot, Brack,” Ty said, wiping his face.
“Yeah, thanks,” said Charlie, and the boys stepped out.
The hallway was completely dark. “Hey, is this right?” Charlie asked. “The lights are all off!” He turned back to the elevator, but the doors were closed, and the elevator was already heading back down to the lobby.
“Let’s go,” Ty said. “Theopolis is in room 1305, I think.”
“Isn’t it weird that it’s so dark here?” Charlie asked.
Ty shrugged. “Not really,” he said. “I mean, no one but Theopolis is staying here.”
“No one else is staying on the floor?” Charlie asked. They walked slowly down the dark hall. Only some sunlight, coming in the windows at the far ends of the hall, offered any light at all.
“Theopolis requested this floor,” said Ty. ”Otherwise we’d never even bother offering it. Everyone insists on staying somewhere else. I told you. Magicians are superstitious.”
“Why would he ask for it?” Charlie said.
“According to Annie, he said the floor has a lot of power,”
Ty said. “Power he would harness for his magic.”
Charlie rolled his eyes. “Oh, that makes sense,” he muttered.
“Here we are,” Ty said. “Room 1305.”
Room 1305 was a corner room. Some light showed under the door. Charlie knocked. “Mr. Theopolis?” he said.
The door swung open.
“It is I!” Theopolis declared grandly. “The Great and Powerful Theopolis!” He raised his arms toward the ceiling.
Ty and Charlie looked at each other. Abruptly, Theopolis lowered his arms and looked behind them.
“Mr. Bingham, from the news show, isn’t with you?” he asked. The boys shook their heads.
“Oh,” said the magician. Then he went to the couch and sat down.
He grabbed the remote for the TV and starting clicking through the channels. “Come on in, then. Did you need something?” he asked.
“We were, uh, hoping to look around,” Charlie said. “We, uh —”
“We work here,” Ty chimed in. “So, you know, we need to make sure everything’s going all right. You know, with the hotel stay.”
“You mean the missing boy?” Theopolis asked, grinning a little. “Look all you want. You won’t find anything. But keep it down. I’m trying to watch bowling in here.”
He picked up a bowl of chips from the table and started munching away.
It didn’t take long to search the room. Charlie and Ty went over every floorboard and wall panel, looking for hidden switches and doors. They found nothing.
They met in the bedroom. “There’s only one bedroom,” Ty said. “That’s funny.”
“Why?” Charlie said quietly, so the magician in the living room wouldn’t overhear.
“Well, the hotel has normal rooms, and it has suites,” Ty said. “This is a suite. It has a living room, and it has a separate bedroom. But all the suites I’ve ever seen have two bedrooms at least.”
“Hmm,” Charlie said. “Maybe the thirteenth floor is different, and you never knew because you hardly ever come to the thirteenth floor. Since no one stays here, I mean.”
“Maybe,” Ty said.
Charlie and Ty headed back to the living room. “So, it seems like everything is on the up-and-up,” Charlie said.
“If you mean you didn’t find the boy, I know,” said the magician, munching away at his chips. He had his feet up on the coffee table now, so his robe was a little open at the ankles. Charlie noticed he had on a pair of jeans underneath.
The Great and Powerful Theopolis didn’t look so powerful now, lounging on his couch with potato chip crumbs on his chin.
The boys headed back toward the elevator. “Well, I guess that was a waste of time,” Ty said. “We didn’t find any clues.”
“Maybe not,” Charlie said, “but it’s never a waste of time to investigate every possibility.”
“Wait a second,” Ty said, grabbing Charlie’s shirt. “Listen.”
Charlie held his breath. “I don’t hear anything,” he whispered.
“I do,” Ty said. He put his ear to the wall. “It sounds like a TV is on.”
Charlie listened at the wall too. “Now I hear it,” he said. “But it’s probably just Theopolis. Remember? He was watching TV.”
“He was watching bowling,” Ty pointed out. “This sounds like… yup, it’s Alien Cyborg Attack Part 7. I’ve seen it a hundred times. This is the part right before the Cyborgs disembark from —”
“I believe you,” Charlie said. He glanced up ahead, at the door to room 1307. “It must be in there,” he said. Then he knocked on the door. “Hello?”
“There’s no way any guests are staying in this room,” Ty said. “Annie would have told me. Theopolis is the only guy on the floor.”
“Is anyone in there?” Charlie called again. There was no reply.
Ty and Charlie looked at each other and said at the same time, “Pass key!”
“It’s in the office,” Ty said as he stabbed the elevator-call button. “Come on.”
Ty twirled the key chain and whistled as the elevator climbed back up to the thirteenth floor. There were three of them in the elevator, but this time the third person wasn’t Brack.
“Thanks for letting me tag along,” said Joey Bingham. “This will be quite a scoop if the missing boy is in room 1307. The whole city is talking about Theopolis’s performance.”
Ty tapped the golden railing inside the elevator. “I don’t understand why Brack isn’t in the elevator,” he said. “He’s always in this elevator.”
On the thirteenth floor, there was a ding, and the doors opened. The three of them stepped off the elevator. “Hello!” a voice said. Charlie spun around and there was Brack, standing in the open doors of another elevator.
“Hello,” he said, smiling. “I guess I’m not quite where you expected me to be, huh?”
“What are you up to, Brack?” Charlie asked.
“Nothing, nothing,” said Brack. “There’s more than one elevator in this hotel. Sometimes I like to check out the others. Get a different view on things. Good luck with your case.” He slipped back into his usual elevator, closed the doors, and was off.
The boys and the reporter rushed to room 1307. The sound of the movie was gone. “Totally quiet now,” Ty said as he fumbled with the pass key. He opened the door and the three of them rushed in . . .
…and tripped over the coffee table in the total darkness.
“Watch it!” Ty said.
“Who’s on my head?” Charlie squealed.
“Get off my camera!” shouted Bingham.
Ty managed to reach a lamp and switch it on. “I’d say there’s no one staying in this room,” he said.
It was completely clean. No one’s bags were there, no towels had been used, and the beds were made. Charlie noticed there were two bedrooms in this suite, unlike Theopolis’s.
Ty picked up the room phone and waited a moment. “Annie,” he said. “Has anyone checked into room 1307 recently?” He didn’t have to wait long for a reply. “Thanks,” he said, and hung up. “Like I said. No one. She didn’t even have to look it up. No one ever stays on this floor.”
“Besides Theopolis,” Charlie said. “But why him?”
“Because of the power,” Ty said. “Like I told you.”
“Okay, okay, the power of the thirteenth floor,” Charlie said, trying not to roll his eyes, “but what other normal human reason might he have?”
The reporter snapped his fingers. “No prying eyes!” he said. “And no eavesdroppers.”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” Charlie said. “It would be easy to hide the boy on this floor, but on another floor someone might notice.”
“So let’s look around,” Ty said. “Maybe he moved him, and the TV will be on in some other room.”
But the three didn’t make it more than a few feet from room 1307 before there was a great flash of light, a booming crash like thunder, and the deep evil cackle they had begun to associate with Theopolis’s magic.
At the end of the hall, in front of the door to the emergency stairs and the ice machine, there appeared — in a billowing cloud of smoke — a demon.
The demon was huge and purple and muscular, with great twirling horns on its head, and huge claws and cloven feet. Its tail swung violently behind it.
“Who dares disturb Theopolis?” the demon bellowed, its voice echoing through the dark halls of the thirteenth floor.
“We’re sorry!” Bingham said. He dropped to his knees and covered his face. “Please don’t hurt us!”
“You must stay off this floor!” the demon shouted. The walls seemed to shake. “The thirteenth floor is rich with power, but it can destroy simple mortals like you!”
Ty, Charlie, and Bingham sprinted for the elevators. They stabbed at the call button. “Come on, come on!” Ty said. “Hurry, Bra
ck!”
But Charlie stopped. “Wait a second,” he said. “What are we, little kids?”
He turned and looked at the demon. It hadn’t moved. It still roared and cackled. Thunder still clapped and lightning still crashed across the ceiling. “These are the same special effects Theopolis used on stage,” Charlie said. “Are we going to let him scare us away so easily?”
He stomped back up the hall toward the demon. Ty and Bingham stayed behind him.
“Who dares disturb Theopolis?” the demon growled.
“That’s the same thing it said before,” Charlie said. “It’s on a loop, I bet. If I can find the projector, I can just switch it off.”
A hand clamped on his shoulder.
“Do not approach the demon!” a deep voice said.
Charlie spun around and was faced by Theopolis himself.
“Didn’t you hear the great beast’s warning?” the magician roared. “He protects me at all costs. He is far more powerful than you could possibly imagine! You must run from this place and never come back!”
Charlie smirked at him and shrugged. Then he walked right up to the demon. He reached around in the smoke until he found a rectangular device. He found a power cord and followed it to the wall. Then he unplugged it.
The demon vanished. The smoke settled and began to disappear. The thunder was silenced, and the lightning flashes stopped.
Charlie turned back to the hallway, holding the end of the power cord in his hand. “How do you explain this, Theopolis?” he asked.
But there was no reply. The magician had vanished.
“I’m certain Paul is on the thirteenth floor someplace,” Charlie said, back in the lobby. “It’s the quietest floor in the hotel, and we heard someone watching that movie. Space Mutants Invade Part Ten, or whatever.”
“Ooh, I love that movie,” Annie Solo said. She took a bite of her cherry licorice whip. “Remember that part when the alien with five tentacles bit the head off the —”
“Kind of getting off track here,” Charlie said. “We have a mystery to solve, remember?”
