Nothing Up My Sleeve

by Diana Lopez

  LOOP WAS HAVING A great time. One guy did a chop cup routine that ended with an amazing load—a giant eyeball! Loop cracked up when the guy said, “Don’t forget to keep your eye on the ball.” And then a girl did a card-to-impossible-location routine. She had a spectator sign a card, did a sequence of card tricks, and in the end, took out a lemon and cut it open to reveal the signed card inside! Loop’s trick required a load, too, so he paid special attention to this sleight. He used to think that knowing the secrets of magic would ruin the fun, but it wasn’t true. When you knew the secrets, you could appreciate magicians on a whole new level. It was like viewing magic from the inside looking out instead of the outside looking in.

  Of course, a few kids made mistakes. They flashed or stuttered or forgot what they were doing. It was bound to happen. But most of them did a great job, including Loop’s friends. Dominic and Z hadn’t messed up at all, which had to mean that O.G. had answered Loop’s petition. And that meant he was going to perform without messing up, too—at least that’s what he believed. So he relaxed and enjoyed himself. He wasn’t anxious at all. Not one tiny bit! At least, not until the emcee announced that it was Stewart’s turn.

  When he heard his name, Stewart went to the front, placed a red cylinder and a magic wand on the table, straightened his rec specs, and then repeated one of the most important rules of the Magician’s Code. “A magician gives credit where credit is due,” he said, “so I would like to acknowledge Mariano Goni’s ‘Nut Waltz’ for inspiring this routine and Johann Strauss for writing The Blue Danube, which will be my musical accompaniment.” He nodded to the contest director, who flipped a switch on the sound system in the back corner of the room.

  As a classical waltz started to play, Stewart picked up the wand and twirled it. Then he lifted the cylinder to reveal that a clear glass with three walnuts was hidden inside. He peeked through the cylinder like a pirate with a telescope in order to prove it was hollow, and he tapped the glass and walnuts in order to prove they were solid. He did all these actions expressively and in perfect time with the music. Then he placed the empty glass upside down and covered it with the cylinder. He did a brief French drop routine with one of the walnuts, making it disappear and reappear. Then, he closed his hand over it, waved the magic wand, and made it vanish completely. He pretended to be confused, but of course the walnut was under the glass, which was under the cylinder. And that was his routine. First, one walnut appeared under the glass and cylinder, then two walnuts, and finally three. It wasn’t a complicated act, but Stewart’s performance was mesmerizing. He added flourishes. He used meaningful expressions and body language. And he kept every move, even the tiniest ones, in sync with the music.

  Loop was beginning to understand what Ariel meant by performance. It meant doing the moves of a magic trick without a hitch and doing them with style. Stewart, Loop realized, was a genius when it came to style. No other competitor had captured the audience’s attention as well as he was doing right now, and he was doing it without speaking a word, which was exactly what Loop had planned!

  Suddenly, Z elbowed him. “Do you have to go to the bathroom?” he asked.

  That’s when Loop realized his leg was shaking. Why was it shaking so much? Was he nervous? He was about to perform, and all of a sudden, he was nervous!

  He glanced back at the audience and searched for his parents. His mom and grandma were whispering to each other during the final stages of Stewart’s act, but Rubén turned to Loop, as if he could sense that Loop needed him. When they caught each other’s glance, Rubén pretended to tip the baseball cap and gave Loop a wink. That small gesture said, “You got this” and “I’m here for you.”

  Loop thought about the book he had read over the summer. Dr. Frankenstein was like a dad. He was supposed to take care of the monster because all kids—even those who were not human—needed someone to make them feel safe, just like Rubén had made Loop feel safe when he winked at him. That’s when Loop got the real message of Mr. Garza’s trick, the Homing Card—because no matter how hard Loop pushed Rubén away, he’d always come back around.

  Loop’s thoughts were interrupted because the audience clapped. Stewart had finished his routine, which meant it was almost time for Loop’s performance. He waited. A couple of minutes later, the emcee called his name. When Loop stood, he was back to his old self. He was there to have fun, so instead of walking to the front of the room, he did the moonwalk, and everybody cracked up.

  The only thing his horror-film voice said before he signaled for the sound track was “Viewer discretion advised.”

  When the contest director pressed “play,” a bunch of industrial sounds came out of the speakers—cranks, hammers, and screeching metal. It’s showtime! Loop thought to himself as he did a few robot moves to warm up.

  Then he held out his right hand and showed it to the audience, first the back of the hand and then the palm. It was empty. He made a fist, shook it a bit, and when he reopened his hand, a quarter appeared. Loop took it with his left hand, and again revealed that his right hand was empty. This time, he did a coins-across move by making two fists and pretending to toss the quarter from left to right. He even moved his eyes as if he could see an invisible quarter flying through the air. Sure enough, when he opened his hands, the coin had moved.

  Now he tapped the quarter against the table and bit on it, all to prove it was solid. Then he robo-walked to a teenager in the front row, handing him the quarter and a Sharpie. Loop mimed scribbling, and the guy got the message. He wrote his initials on the coin.

  Loop retrieved it and moonwalked a few steps back. Before moving on, he glanced at Mr. Garza, because the next phase was completely inspired by Señor Surprise. Loop opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue like when the doctor wants to peer down your throat. He put the quarter on his tongue and made a big show of swallowing it, nearly gagging a few times, and finally gulping loudly. Once he got the quarter down, he opened his mouth to reveal that it was empty.

  After a few more dance moves, Loop started rubbing his neck with a slightly freaked-out expression on his face. He rubbed his shoulder as if it ached, and then he showed his arm to the audience. Nothing was there, but he still had this freaked-out expression. So he reached into his jeans, took out his Terror Blade, and at the moment his sound track made a slicing noise, Loop cut open his arm!

  Ariel shrieked, even though she knew how the trick worked, that he wasn’t really hurting himself. Loop gave her a look that said “I warned you,” but inside, he was thanking her for adding to the suspense.

  Some blood trickled down his arm as he put the Terror Blade away, and then he reached into his wound, making a few people cringe. He winced with pain as he dug into his arm until finally, a quarter, the quarter, emerged. It had traveled from his mouth, down his throat, through his shoulder and bicep, all the way to his forearm! The quarter was bloody, so he wiped it on his jeans before offering it to the teenage boy to examine.

  “No way!” the guy said. “It has my initials!”

  He was the first one to clap, and since that was the end of the routine, Loop bowed. The whole audience applauded, so he bowed a second time and even blew kisses at the crowd. He totally hammed it up. Who cared if the emcee was ready to take over again? Everyone was there—his family and friends—his dad! And Loop was having the time of his life.

  finish clean—

  when a magician completes a routine and hands the spectators his props to prove that they are not gimmicks

  AFTER THE COMPETITION, DOMINIC, Loop, and Z sat by the pool and talked about the routines they’d seen. They went over every detail, comparing similar acts and judging who messed up and who totally aced it. Some of the kids were as good as professionals, but others were noobs. The boys knew they weren’t pros, but they didn’t feel like noobs, either. They guessed that they were somewhere in the middle, but that didn’t stop them from wanting to win.

  “Wouldn’t it be cool if we got first, second, and third place?”
Dominic said.

  “Yeah,” Loop replied, “as long as I get first.”

  “Why should you win?” Z asked.

  “Because my trick’s the most visual. I’m the only one who used blood, remember?”

  “Well, my trick had more sleights,” Z argued.

  Dominic pointed at himself. “Don’t forget about me. I’m the one who had the most obstacles to overcome.”

  “Why’s that?” Z asked. “You didn’t have to search for jobs this summer.”

  “Maybe not, but I did have severe stage fright. Talk about wanting to throw up.”

  “That’s nothing,” Loop said. “I had to learn a magic routine and read a superlong book with a bunch of old-fashioned words and draw pictures about it. Plus, my mom made me clean up my room three times this summer!”

  Dominic and Z glanced at each other because they had to clean their rooms every day.

  “Hi, guys.” The boys turned and spotted Ariel heading toward them. “What are you talking about?”

  Loop answered her question with another question. “Who do you think’s going to win? Me, Dominic, or Z?”

  She sat on the edge of a nearby chaise longue. “Are you serious? The contest is over, so quit arguing about who’s going to win and just relax. How often do you get to hang out in a fancy hotel?”

  “But we need to know,” Z said. “The suspense is killing us!”

  “I’m sure the judges have already made their decision,” Ariel said. “Your fates are sealed.” With that, she stretched out on the chaise longue, clasped her hands behind her head, and closed her eyes like someone getting a tan. “If it helps,” she added, her eyes still closed, “I no longer consider you noobs. From now on, you’re the Cool-Cat Conjurers in my book.”

  “You mean your memoir?” Z asked.

  She smiled. “Exactly.” Then she blinked open one eye to take a peek at them. “Besides,” she added, “winning’s not as great as you think.”

  “Why not?” Dominic said.

  “Because it disqualifies you from future competitions. Trust me, I’d rather be performing than watching everybody else have all the fun.” She yawned, and when a few moments passed in silence, the boys figured Ariel had fallen asleep.

  “She makes a good point,” Dominic said. “Next year’s the stage contest. We can be like Criss Angel and do something really impressive.” He thought for a second. “Maybe I can take Diamonds and Spades and turn them into tigers!”

  “Quit dreaming!” Loop laughed. “Where are you going to get tigers? You’re better off turning them into rabbits.”

  “Or iguanas,” Z suggested. “It’s easy to get iguanas.”

  “I’m not using animals in my routine,” Loop said. “I’m doing the Zigzag Illusion. I’ve been dying to use a saw and cut somebody up. Either that, or I’m going to escape from a sealed tank of water that’s hanging over a pit of fire.”

  “How are you going to get a fire on the stage without burning the whole place down?” Z asked. “You should do something simple, like levitating. That’s what I’m going to do. Maybe I can do the dancing cane while floating in the air.”

  “No way!” Loop said.

  “It’s possible.”

  “Only if you don’t win,” Dominic reminded them. “You can’t compete next year if you win. That’s why I hope I come in last. I really want to try turning cats into iguanas.”

  “No,” Z said. “I’m going to come in last. I don’t think the people in the back rows could see my routine. I’m sure I lost points for that.”

  “They totally saw my routine,” Loop said, “and they were freaked out by the blood. I saw a lady gag. So the judges probably took off points for the gross-out factor. I lost for sure.”

  “You’re not last,” Dominic said, “not when you were totally in sync with your sound track.”

  “Well, you can’t come in last because you had the most audience participation.” Loop looked at Z. “And you had the best patter.”

  “I did not,” Z insisted. “My jokes were lame.”

  “At least you had jokes,” Loop said.

  “At least you weren’t throwing up in your mouth,” Dominic replied.

  Ariel sat up. “Guys!” she said. “Can’t a girl take a nap?” She stretched just like her cats when they were disturbed. “At first,” she went on, “you were arguing about who’s going to win and now you’re arguing about who’s going to lose. Does everything have to turn into a competition?”

  The boys were silent for a while, and then they decided that, yes, life was more interesting with competitions, even silly ones. And then they invented a whole bunch of games like who was best at winning rock, paper, scissors (Loop), who was best at finding shapes in the clouds (Dominic), who was fastest at guzzling tall glasses of lemonade (Z), and who could stand longest with bare feet on the hot concrete (Ariel).

  They were still inventing games when Ariel told them it was time to get ready for the awards ceremony. And, later, they were still debating about who’d come in first and who last when they took their seats in the auditorium, and even at the moment Ariel stepped onto the stage, opened an envelope, and announced, “The winner of this year’s TAOM teen close-up contest is…”

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  FROM ARIEL’S NOTEBOOK

  As the reigning champion of last year’s TAOM teen stage contest, it was my honor to announce this year’s results. Stewart was runner-up yet again. And it serves him right! He strongly implied that he’d be performing a center deal during his performance, but he didn’t even use cards! Surely, he was bluffing in an attempt to throw off our composure with a cheap psych-out move.

  The winner was a guy who did a classic cups-and-balls routine, much like the routine of Dai Vernon, the Professor, whose act has remained a staple of magic for more than seventy years. Perhaps my father is correct in his belief that the classic acts never go out of style, or perhaps he secretly influenced one of the judges during the convention’s free breakfast for magicians formally inducted into the Order of Willard.

  I will never know.

  At the end of the day, however, I’m the one who remains the true winner this year, even though I did not compete. How can anyone disagree? After all, I got a prize better than a giant trophy because I won three new friends—the Cool-Cat Conjurers, AKA Dominic, Loop, and Z.

  THE VAULT

  Magicians never reveal their secrets, but with a little bit of research and a lot of practice, you can do any of the tricks featured in this book.

  Five Books on Mr. Garza’s Shelves

  1. Tarbell Course in Magic, Volumes 1–8, by Dr. Harlan Tarbell and Ralph W. Read

  2. Card College, Volumes 1–5, by Robert Giobbi

  3. The Dai Vernon Book of Magic by Lewis Ganson

  4. Modern Coin Magic by J. B. Bobo

  5. The Books of Wonder, Volumes 1–2, by Tommy Wonder and Stephen Minch

  Ten Props in Mr. Garza’s Bins

  1. Chop cups

  2. Cups and balls

  3. Decks of cards

  4. Coin shells

  5. Ropes

  6. Sponge balls

  7. Thumb tips

  8. Silks

  9. Gaff cards

  10. Invisible thread loops

  Ten Sleights Every Magician Should Learn

  1. Double lift

  2. Elmsley count or false count

  3. Classic palm or finger palm

  4. Holding a break

  5. French drop

  6. Crisscross force or Hindu force

  7. Double undercut

  8. False cut

  9. False transfer of objects


  10. Houdini color change

  BEHIND THE MAGIC

  A magician gives credit where credit is due. Here are the names of tricks performed in Nothing Up My Sleeve. Many are featured in books or videos online. Others are gimmicks that you can buy.

  Stewart’s Trick

  • Nut Waltz by Mariano Goni

  Ariel’s Tricks

  • Thread magic

  • Silk Cascade

  • Blooming Blossom by Mission Magic

  • Dancing Cane

  Mr. Garza’s Tricks

  • Billiard ball manipulation

  • Miser’s Dream by T. Nelson Downs

  • Homing Card by Francis Carlyle

  • Oil and Water by Juan Tamariz

  Dominic’s Tricks

  • Hot Rod

  • Die-ception by Ed Marlo

  • Word in a Million by Nicholas Einhorn

  Loop’s Tricks

  • Mafia Manicure by Giovanni Livera

  • Coins Across by Jonathan Townsend

  • Sick by Sean Fields

  Z’s Tricks

  • Pen-through-Dollar

  • Cut-and-Restored Rope

  • Ambitious Card

  • Ultimate Ambition by Daryl “the Magician’s Magician”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  A big thank-you to Stefanie von Borstel at Full Circle Literary for being my agent and friend. Also thanks to the wonderful editors, Alvina Ling and Allison Moore, whose suggestions and insights did much to help me improve this novel, and to the entire team at Little, Brown for their encouragement and support.

  I want to give a special acknowledgment to my nephews, the Martinez boys—Steban, Seth, Deven, and Zachary. They are the ones who asked me to write a book for boys and who answered the call when I needed help with dialogue or scenes. They have also brought much love and joy to my life.