by Diana Lopez
“Guitar?” his dad repeated, all confused.
“I knew you weren’t going to think of the number, that you’d try to fool me, so I used an associative technique.”
“An associative technique?”
“Let me put it this way. One eye on a Cyclops. Two ears on a head. Three wheels on a tricycle, four corners on a square, five fingers on a hand, and six strings on a guitar.”
His dad just stared at him.
“As soon as I said ‘guitar,’ your mind flashed a six.” He waved his hand over the bag. “You may now reveal the die.”
His dad opened the sack, and the die was a six as predicted. He clapped, and Dominic took a bow.
“So what did you think?” Dominic asked.
“You’re great at reading my mind. Both times you figured out the number.”
“But was I funny?”
“Well, son.” His dad leaned back and took a deep breath. “Being funny is not your thing, but that’s okay. Really. You’re a smart kid, and I’m proud to have a smart kid like you.”
“But, Dad, did it make sense at least? Not the trick, but the stuff I said?”
“I’m sure it would make sense to smart people, but your old man isn’t one of them.” He glanced back to make sure no one else was in the room. “You got that from your mother. I’m sure she’ll completely understand your trick when you show it to her later.”
Dominic dropped his head. He knew his dad was complimenting him by saying he was smart, but he was also saying that Dominic was boring, even if those weren’t the exact words he used. Why else would he compare Dominic to his mom? She had a lot of great qualities, but being interesting wasn’t one of them. And it isn’t one of my great qualities, either, Dominic thought to himself.
“Cheer up,” his dad said. “You can’t ace everything. Maybe the die trick isn’t for you.” He grabbed the mail and shuffled through the envelopes, handing one to Dominic. “Look. It’s for you,” he said.
It was from Conjuring Cats! Dominic had been waiting the whole week. “It’s my quarter shell,” he announced. He ripped open the package and pulled out the quarter shell, but it was too heavy. When he turned it around, a quarter was stuck in it. He tried to take out the coin, but it wouldn’t budge. Then he remembered his conversation with Ariel. She’d mentioned that Z was practicing with the quarter shell because he wanted to expand his repertoire. But he wasn’t expanding his repertoire…, Dominic realized.
“What’s wrong?” his father asked.
“Z glued a quarter in the shell. It’s totally useless now.”
“Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know,” Dominic said. “But as soon as I get back, I’m going to find out.”
steal—
a sleight that occurs when a magician secretly takes an object
THE NEXT DAY, Z went right to Conjuring Cats after helping a few people at the apartment complex. He hadn’t been to the store since his fight with his friends because he’d been too busy looking for work. But now that he had a job—for this week at least—he wanted to figure out his routine.
When he entered the Vault, Mr. Garza was missing, but Ariel was at a table writing in her notebook again. She hardly looked up when Z said hello.
“I need to come up with a routine,” he said. “But I don’t know where to start. It’s like I know how to dribble, pivot, and do a layup, but I still don’t know how to play basketball. What I mean is… well… what am I supposed to do with all these sleights I’ve learned?”
Ariel didn’t answer.
“Did you hear me?” Z asked, frustrated because he hated being ignored. “I really need a routine. I’ve been thinking about doing the Ambitious Card. Think I can win the contest with that?”
She put down her pen. “My father’s running errands. He’ll be back soon. Why don’t you ask him?”
“That could take hours,” Z said, remembering that when his parents ran errands, they were out for the entire day. “Why can’t you help? You know how to do card tricks. Besides, aren’t you bored doing homework all summer?”
“This is not homework,” she said, glancing at her notebook. “I’m writing my memoir, if you really have to know, but I’m never going to finish with you and your friends coming here at all hours.”
“My friends were here?”
“One of them. Loop. He was here the other day.”
“All by himself?”
“Well, if he’s not with you and he’s not with Dominic, then, yes, he’s all by himself.”
“Did he mention my Svengali deck?”
Ariel shut her journal and folded her hands on top of it. “As a matter of fact, he did call about it, and according to him, it’s not yours but his.” Then she looked at the lockers. If her eyes were signs, they’d be flashing arrows.
Z rushed to his locker, where he had stored the Svengali deck. He had a hoodie in there from the one time it had rained. He also had a bag of potato chips, an empty water bottle, a few gaff cards, some sponge bunnies, random coupons, and a gaming magazine. But the Svengali deck? It was gone!
He took everything out of his locker. He checked and double-checked the pockets of his hoodie. He looked at the floor in case the deck had fallen out. But it was 100 percent gone!
Z slammed the locker door. He couldn’t believe it. Loop had stolen the Svengali deck!
In magic, a steal was when you secretly took an object. You could steal a ball when doing a cups-and-balls routine, or you could do a side steal for certain card tricks, or if you were Apollo Robbins, you could steal watches right off your spectators’ wrists. But you were not supposed to steal from your friends!
“Lose something?” Ariel asked.
“Was Loop at my locker? Did you actually see him take my Svengali deck?”
She shrugged. “I wasn’t here earlier, so I didn’t see him take anything. You’ll have to ask my father. But…”
“But what?”
“Well… I hate to suggest this, but maybe you should look in his locker.”
Z stared at Loop’s locker. He didn’t want to open it. After all, the reason he and his friends had not bought locks was because they trusted one another. But his deck of cards didn’t have legs. It couldn’t walk away by itself. Somebody had taken it. If he peeked in Loop’s locker and did not see the deck, then he’d know Loop was innocent. This was called “eliminating a suspect” on the crime shows. But if he peeked in the locker and saw the deck, then he’d know that Loop had betrayed him. The suspense was killing him.
“Go on,” Ariel said. “I won’t tell him you peeked.”
Z took a deep breath, and then he opened Loop’s locker. There it was—the box for his Svengali deck! Then he noticed something else, too—scissors and…
“Oh no!” Z cried.
Ariel approached the locker. “What is it?” she asked.
“Loop cut up the cards! He totally ruined my Svengali deck!”
transformation—
in magic, to change the appearance or identity of a person or object
LOOP HAD BEEN STUCK at home for a whole week with his boring GloFish because his mother wouldn’t let him go to Conjuring Cats until he finished Frankenstein.
“That’s going to take forever!” he complained. He wanted to punch, rip, and burn the book. It was ruining his entire summer. “Who cares if I got a few Cs? I aced all my standardized tests, didn’t I?”
“You sure did,” his mom said. “That’s why finishing the book should be easy.”
“But I’ve been reading it all week.” She didn’t respond. This was one of her tactics when she wanted him to settle down. Loop huffed for a few moments. Then he said, “Where’s Rubén?”
His mom looked at him suspiciously. “Don’t go thinking he’s going to change my mind. We discussed this. You need to spend less time with magic and more time with books so you can appreciate your education. Besides, he’s helping Grandma, so it’s just you and me right now.”
Loop k
new he had lost this battle, so he stomped to his room. He plopped on the bed, put in earbuds, and turned on a sound track of traffic noise. He closed his eyes and imagined living in a giant city with six-lane freeways and skyscrapers, where no one cared about your grades or made you read books. He hoped the honking cars and revving engines would help him forget his frustration, but no luck. When he opened his eyes, the book was still there, waiting.
He sighed, opened it, and started to read again. That’s when something interesting happened. In magic, a transformation is when you change something into something else—like turning a golf ball into a soccer ball. As Loop read, he started to experience a transformation in himself because he was changing from someone who hated the book into someone who liked it, all because he was getting the monster’s point of view and, believe it or not, the monster wasn’t scary. Sure, he looked hideous, but he was exactly like a kid trying to figure out the world. He wanted friends, just like Loop wanted friends. He wanted to learn how to read, just like Loop wanted to learn about magic. He wanted to go out and have fun—just like Loop! But no one gave the monster a chance because of how ugly he was. Every time he showed himself, people screamed and ran. They judged him, and Loop could totally relate because he got judged, too.
Loop decided to draw the monster, but he didn’t want his version to look like everybody else’s. They always drew a large body with a square green head and a zigzag of stitches on the face. But Loop remembered what Mr. Garza said about taking information from different places and creating something new, so he thought about the Frankenstein movies and the descriptions in the book and started sketching. He drew about a dozen versions of the monster but was unhappy with all of them. Then he had an aha moment. The monster was made from different body parts. So he gave the monster one eye that was wide and round and another that was almond shaped. Then he gave him one ear with a giant lobe, and another that was normal size but pierced. He also gave the monster one muscular, hairy arm and another flabby, hairless arm. Finally, he gave him two left hands and two right feet.
“You sure are ugly,” he said to the picture, but he was pleased. It had taken several tries to get the drawing just right, and the extra time was totally worth it.
He thought about reading some more, but after two hours in his room, he was truly going stir-crazy. It was almost three o’clock. He’d been stuck at home all day. He had to get out of there. Then he heard Rubén’s voice. Finally, the guy was home, so Loop gathered up his drawings and took them to the kitchen.
allied arts—
performance arts closely associated with magic
ONCE AGAIN, DOMINIC’S PARENTS met at the Burger King in Refugio. They just waved at each other, both of them staying in their cars. Dominic didn’t even try to make them talk.
“How was your trip?” his mom asked as he fastened his seat belt.
“It was great!” he answered. While she drove, he told her about the meals his stepmom cooked, the silly games Maria Elena played, and how he and his dad fished at Mustang Island, watched the Corpus Christi Hooks play baseball, and swam at Hurricane Alley, a water park with a wave pool, a lazy river, and lots of water slides. He was so excited by his own story that he hardly noticed the drive. He couldn’t believe how quickly they reached the Victoria city limits sign. “And the best part,” Dominic said, “is that Dad totally gave me permission for the magic competition. The whole gang from Corpus is going.”
His mom smiled, but she rubbed her temple, too. “That’s great,” she said. “I’m sure y’all are going to have a wonderful time in Houston.”
They finally got home. Even though Dominic was glad to be back, he also dreaded the chores waiting for him. He’d been gone two weeks, which meant lots of dust on the furniture, leaves on the balcony, and towels in the hamper, but when he walked into the apartment, it was surprisingly clean. In fact, it was more than clean—it was organized. He immediately noticed that his mom’s self-help books on the shelf had been placed in alphabetical order according to the author’s last name. Just like in a library! When he went to the pantry for a snack, all the boxes were on one shelf, the cans on another shelf, and the jars on their own shelf, too. The items were even categorized—a neat row of canned soups, a second row of canned vegetables, then canned beans, the cereal boxes grouped together and the pasta boxes grouped together, not to mention the orderly arrangement of jars. He peeked into the junk drawer where they threw random things like pencils, business cards, coupons, paper clips, coins, and glue sticks. Usually, when you needed something, you had to dig around, but not anymore. It was too neat to be a junk drawer. It looked like a tiny museum instead.
His poor mom! She must have been so bored while he was gone, because this was some intense cleaning.
He glanced at her. She was on the sofa, flipping through TV channels.
“Do you need me to do anything?” he asked. He couldn’t believe he actually wanted a chore, but he felt guilty about leaving her alone.
“No,” she said. “It’s all taken care of.”
“I could wash the car,” he suggested.
“It’s washed,” she said. She put down the remote, propped her feet on the coffee table, and leaned back to watch HGTV. “It’s vacuumed, too,” she added. “Even the windows are clean. Didn’t you notice?”
Dominic shrugged. He’d been too busy rambling about his trip to notice the car.
He didn’t know what to do, so he put away his duffel bag and headed to Conjuring Cats. When he got there, it seemed as if the entire city had decided to buy magic. Ariel and Mr. Garza weren’t around, and Mrs. Garza was all flustered as she tried to answer questions, point out merchandise, and ring up orders.
When she saw Dominic, she waved him in. “Thank goodness you’re here. I’m all by myself today. Can you show these nice people the Allied Arts section while I work the cash register?”
“Sure thing,” Dominic said.
The items sold in Allied Arts weren’t for magic. They were for acts that involved juggling, fire breathing, clowns, or balloon artists. One afternoon, Dominic had tried balloon art because he thought his little sister might enjoy a long, skinny balloon twisted into a poodle, heart, or funny hat, but he gave up because the balloons kept popping. Dominic helped a man who wanted plastic bowling pins for a juggling act, and after he showed him the options, he helped a lady who asked for tarot cards. These were cards with cool pictures on them like a sad moon crying over a dog, a wolf, and a lobster; a woman petting a lion as if it were a kitten and not a ferocious beast; or a magician wearing a wizard cap and holding up a wand. Even though he liked the pictures, Dominic usually left the tarot cards alone. They were for fortune-tellers, not magicians. The lady who bought them looked like a gypsy with her giant hoop earrings, flowing skirt, and shawl. She knew the juggler, and they shared information about an upcoming fair.
As they chatted, Dominic considered how jugglers, clowns, and fortune-tellers were allies of magicians, and he wondered if they ever betrayed one another the way his allies, Loop and Z, had betrayed him.
It took thirty minutes for the store to clear out, and that’s when Dominic asked about Ariel and Mr. Garza. “Where are they?”
“They’re working,” Mrs. Garza explained. “Once in a while, Señor Surprise performs at birthday parties. He makes Ariel go, even though she complains about it.” She lowered her voice. “I think she’s jealous because he’s a lot better at magic.”
Dominic smiled. He couldn’t imagine Ariel being jealous of anyone, because she always thought she was the best.
“Are they coming back soon?” he asked. “I was hoping they could give me advice for my routine.”
“They’ll be gone awhile,” she said. “But you’re welcome to wait in the Vault. Maybe you can find some inspiration there.”
Dominic nodded and stepped through the purple velvet curtain.
force—
occurs when a magician gives the spectator the illusion of free choice
&nb
sp; WITHOUT BOTHERING TO SAY hello to Rubén and his mom, Loop spread the pictures on the table. “Look. Here’s proof that I’m totally reading Frankenstein.” And then he explained why the monster had mismatched body parts and how he had created a unique version because instead of copying, an artist takes bits and pieces from different places to create something new. “Just like Dr. Frankenstein created something new,” he found himself saying. “Only my ‘new’ thing isn’t ugly like his.” He looked at his own pictures. “Well, maybe it is ugly, but I made it like that on purpose.”
This made his mom and Rubén laugh.
“You have all these rough drafts and put a lot of work into this,” Rubén said. “That’s good.”
His comment gave Loop hope. “That’s why I deserve a little break now. Don’t you think?”
Rubén nodded.
“So I can go to Conjuring Cats?” Loop asked, all excited.
“Sure, why not?”
He was about to head out when his mom jumped in. “Wait a minute. We’ve discussed this. You are not finished with the book, and—”
“Let him go,” Rubén insisted. “He’s been working all day.”
“Yeah,” Loop said. “It can’t be ‘all work, no play’ all the time.”
“It certainly can,” his mother said.
Rubén took her hand and kissed it. “Por favor, mi amor.”
She always gave in when Rubén flirted with her. “Fine,” she said. “Since you guys are ganging up on me, what choice do I have? It’s two against one.”
In magic, a skilled card handler will ask the spectator to choose a random card, but it’s never truly random, since the card that gets picked is the one the magician wants. It’s called a force. It worked for magicians, and it worked for Loop, too, because he’d forced his mom to give him the answer he was looking for—a giant yes for Conjuring Cats.
