A Strange Case of Magic

by Kenneth Oppel

  “Who’s there?” he demanded, his voice trembling a little.

  “Nobody!” came the startled reply.

  “It’s a ghost!” said Kevin.

  “Are you a ghost?” Tina asked in a calm voice.

  “No,” came the mournful reply. “I’m not a ghost. I’m just…invisible.”

  “Why are you invisible?” Giles asked, peering out from around the trolley.

  “It’s magic,” said the man. “A very strange case of magic.”

  “Someone made you invisible?” Giles asked.

  “It’s too humiliating,” said the man. “I was hoping no one would ever have to know. But what’s the use trying to hide it now. I made myself invisible. I’m a magician.”

  “A magician!” said Kevin, beaming. “Wow! I’ve never met a magician before!”

  “Well, the thing is, I’m not a very good magician,” the man went on. “I’m really more of an apprentice.”

  “Oh, you mean you’re just learning,” Kevin said.

  “Kevin,” said Tina with a sigh, “that’s what apprentice means.”

  “Sorry.”

  “So you made yourself invisible on purpose?” Giles inquired, still confused.

  “It’s not a happy story,” said the mournful magician. “I was doing a small magic show at a birthday party. It was actually my first magic show ever. And they were tough, these kids. They were not easily impressed. They got impatient. They hooted. They hollered. I began to make mistakes! I tried to pull a rabbit out of my hat, but I got a cucumber instead! It was all downhill from there.”

  Giles waited for the invisible magician to continue.

  “Well, I thought I would try one last trick. I wasn’t even planning on it, but what choice did I have? I had to do something pretty spectacular or I was finished! I tried the Disappearing Act! It worked!”

  “You must have been pleased,” said Kevin.

  “Oh, I was—for about thirty seconds!” said the invisible magician. “Then I discovered I couldn’t make myself come back. So here I am…or here I’m not. It all gets a little confusing when you’re invisible! My name’s Vikram Kapoor, by the way.”

  “I’m Giles Barnes,” said Giles. Without thinking, he extended his hand, and immediately felt foolish. But before he could jam his hand back into his pocket, he felt the grip of cool, invisible fingers around his. His whole body went tingly, and he watched in amazement as his arm pumped up and down in the air. He was getting an invisible handshake.

  “I’m pleased to meet you, Giles,” said the magician. “I’m pleased to meet all of you. It’s terribly lonely being invisible.”

  “Is this why you’ve been taking out the magic books?” said Giles. “To figure out how to come back?”

  “Yes. But none of the spells seem to work.”

  “We can help you out!” Kevin blurted enthusiastically. “We’re geniuses!”

  Tina shot her brother an incinerating glare. “Mr Kapoor,” she said, “you may not have heard of us, but we operate a small business specializing in just about everything. Kevin, give him one of our cards.”

  Kevin rummaged through his trouser pockets and produced a dog-eared rectangle of paper. He blew the dust off and held it out into the air, where it gently drifted away from his fingers.

  “Ah,” said Mr Kapoor, reading the business card. “You’re local geniuses I see.”

  “That’s right. Mr Kapoor, let me be frank. I’d be very interested in taking on your case. It just so happens that I myself have been experimenting with an energy ray that might very well solve your invisibility problem.”

  “So that’s what we’ve been working on!” Kevin said. “An energy ray!” He looked at Giles, shaking his head. “She doesn’t tell me anything.”

  “You really think you could cure my invisibility?” Mr Kapoor said excitedly.

  “I can’t promise anything right now,” Tina said, “but based on our numerous successes in the past, I think it’s highly likely.”

  “Well, this is fantastic!” said the invisible magician.

  “Shall we meet back here in a few days?” Tina said. “I want to get to work immediately.”

  Chapter 6

  The Energy Ray

  “I’ve always wanted to learn magic,” said Giles.

  “So have I,” said Kevin.

  “No you haven’t,” said Tina, rummaging around in her toolbox.

  “I have,” Kevin insisted hotly. “You don’t know everything about me! I’ve often considered becoming a magician!”

  “Kevin, remember what I said about your brain,” Tina reminded him.

  “I know, I know,” Kevin grumbled. “Very tiny.”

  “Very, very, tiny.”

  Giles shook his head. Tina was being awfully hard on Kevin lately. She was already at work on her energy ray in the Quarks’ basement workshop. Giles sat beside Kevin on a wooden crate, turning through the pages of one of the magic books they’d brought home from the library.

  “This is a good one,” he said to Kevin. “It has all kinds of lessons for beginners.”

  “It’s all junk,” said Tina disdainfully, plugging in her soldering iron, “all trickery and sleight of hand. It’s completely unscientific. Don’t you think you’re wasting your time?”

  “No,” said Giles, “I don’t. If we know more about it, maybe we’ll be able to help Mr Kapoor better.”

  “Let me take care of that,” said Tina, melting globs of lead onto electrical wires.

  Giles inspected the large machine on Tina’s workbench.

  “It looks like a film projector,” he said.

  “It used to be a film projector,” Kevin pointed out, “before Tina got her hands on it. What if Mom and Dad want to watch some home movies?”

  “Spare me,” said Tina. “I think this is a bit more important, don’t you? Besides, I’ve been telling them to buy a video camera for ages. They’re so old-fashioned.”

  Kevin grunted. He was reading the magic book again. “Hey, I think I can do this one.” He reached for the deck of cards. “Let’s give it a try. Pick a card, Barnes. Any card.”

  Giles picked a card.

  “Um, maybe not that one,” said Kevin, glancing back down at the instructions in the book. “Here, try…this one.”

  Smiling, Giles took the card Kevin handed him.

  “All right!” said Kevin, “Here we go!”

  He reshuffled the deck of cards, divided them into several piles, swirled them round on the table, piled them up again, glanced at a few of the cards, shuffled them for a second and then a third time, tapped them with his knuckles, then pressed his fingers to his temples.

  “Barnes,” he said, “the card you chose was the ace of spades.”

  Giles checked his card. “No.”

  “No?”

  Kevin collected up all his cards and began riffling through them. “All right, what about the three of diamonds.”

  “Wrong again.”

  Tina looked up from her gadget with a sigh. “This is very sad to see, you two. You can’t actually believe this is going to help us.”

  “The twelve of diamonds!” Kevin exclaimed.

  “Kevin,” said Giles, “there’s no such thing as a twelve of diamonds.”

  “Your card is the four of clubs, Barnes,” Tina said.

  “How did you know?” Giles demanded.

  “I looked at your card,” Tina replied. “It’s the simplest, and therefore most logical, method.”

  “Well, this isn’t real magic anyway,” said Kevin huffily. “This is just beginner’s stuff. I need something more challenging.”

  “Put the cards away,” Tina instructed. “It’s now time to test the energy ray. Kevin, go stand over there.” She waved her hand imperiously to the other side of the room.

  “What for?” Kevin asked, wary.

  “We need to test the energy ray.”

  “Not on me!” said Kevin.

  “Maybe you should test it on something else first
,” Giles suggested. “Something that isn’t alive.”

  “Use my shoe,” Kevin said, wrenching off one of his red sneakers and placing it on top of a crate.

  “All right,” Tina sighed. “Stand back, everyone.” She flipped a switch. The machine rattled and hummed for a few moments before sending out a narrow beam of light. The beam hit Kevin’s sneaker. It glowed brightly for a moment and then vanished.

  “Amazing!” gasped Kevin.

  “I think that was a success,” said Tina primly.

  “Can you get it back?” Giles asked. He was impressed, too, but he’d learned from experience that Tina’s inventions didn’t always do what they were supposed to.

  “Of course,” said the tiny girl. “It’s a simple matter of reversing the ray’s energy.” She twiddled with the machine for a few seconds. “Watch.”

  The ray of light shot out again. Slowly, an object began to appear on top of the crate. It was certainly a shoe, but it was definitely not the same shoe Kevin had taken off his foot. This shoe was black, and about half the size of the original. The shoelaces looked singed, and smoke was curling up from the rubber soles.

  “Oh dear,” said Tina. “Something seems to be a little off.”

  “A little off!” Kevin cried. “That could have been me!”

  “I don’t think it’s quite ready yet,” Giles said. “It’s not safe for people.”

  “That was my best pair of sneakers,” Kevin muttered, gingerly picking up his smouldering shoe.

  Chapter 7

  Being Invisible

  “It’s not easy being invisible,” said Vikram Kapoor the next day in the library. “The bus won’t stop for you. It’s impossible to get service in shops, and just try walking down the street without someone bumping into you! Invisible people don’t have any rights!”

  “It must be really hard,” Giles said. “I’m sorry we don’t have better news for you. But the energy ray isn’t ready yet.”

  “I’m sure it’s a simple matter of minor readjustments,” Tina added.

  “Well, I’m very grateful for all your help,” said the invisible magician. “I spent most of yesterday trying to make myself reappear, but it’s just not working. I was a fool to try to become a magician. I’m really not very good at things.”

  “I know how you feel,” Kevin said. “I’m a genius, but my sister’s an even bigger genius. Sometimes it can get you down.”

  “I’ve been learning some magic tricks,” said Giles shyly. “And I was wondering if you’d give me a few tips on the billiard ball trick.”

  “Why ask me?” said the magician sadly. “I’m hopeless.”

  “I bet you could show me how,” said Giles. “Look, I brought all the stuff.”

  From his knapsack, he produced a bright red billiard ball, a small wooden box, and a large silk handkerchief. His Aunt Lillian, years ago, had given him a magic kit for his birthday, and he had recently rummaged through the closet for it.

  “Well…” said Mr Kapoor.

  “Please,” said Giles.

  “All right. I was pretty good at this one, actually. Now let me see.”

  The magician’s invisible hands lifted the red ball and handkerchief into the air, holding them out for everyone to see. Then he swirled the handkerchief dramatically around the ball, wrapping it out of sight.

  “Observe, now, as I put the ball into the box.”

  Giles watched attentively as Mr Kapoor opened the box and placed the ball inside. He then shut the lid and handed it to Tina.

  “You may now open the box,” he said.

  Tina rattled the box suspiciously, checking to make sure the ball was inside. She opened the lid, and grabbed hold of the handkerchief. But there was no billiard ball to be seen.

  “Amazing!” said Kevin. “Where is it?”

  “It’s in the box, where I put it,” said Mr Kapoor. He picked up the box and lifted out the billiard ball.

  “There’s obviously some elementary trick to this,” grumbled Tina.

  “No tricks,” said Mr Kapoor. “Only magic. Now I’ll show you, Giles.”

  With Mr Kapoor’s invisible hands guiding his, Giles went through the trick. His hands felt graceful and deft; he could feel the magic of the trick flowing from Mr Kapoor into his own fingers, and then into the billiard ball, the handkerchief, and the wooden box.

  For the second time, Tina opened the box, and found the ball missing. And then Giles made it magically reappear. He couldn’t help smiling at the grumpy look on Tina’s face.

  “Silly tricks,” she grumbled. “All of it.”

  “You’re a good teacher!” Giles said to Mr Kapoor.

  “You really think so?” said the invisible magician.

  For a moment, Giles was certain he could see a flickering shape in the air. He watched expectantly. It was almost as if Mr Kapoor was faintly reappearing for a second, but then the shadowy image faded quickly away.

  “I’m not a good magician though,” said Mr Kapoor, sounding very sad again. “Tina’s right. This is all just silly tricks. It’s not going to help bring me back. I’m just not good enough. There’s not much time left either. If you stay in the disappearing act for too long, there’s a chance you might really disappear.”

  “But that’s terrible!” Giles cried. “There’s got to be other magic books—other tricks and spells that might help! I’ll start looking right away!”

  “Don’t worry, Mr Kapoor,” said Kevin confidently. “We’ll have the energy ray working in no time. After all, we are geniuses.”

  Chapter 8

  Magic Tricks

  “Hey, you’re getting good!” Mr Barnes said.

  Giles smiled. He’d been practising magic tricks in the garage while his father worked on the bookshelves, hammering and sanding. By now Giles had perfected the billiard ball trick, and had polished off several others, too.

  “It’s all pretty easy stuff,” he told his father, making a green handkerchief turn yellow.

  “It doesn’t look easy,” said Mr Barnes. “I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t have the confidence.”

  Giles couldn’t help feeling pleased. For the first time, he felt like he was really good at something. “Well, Tina thinks it’s all a waste of time,” he said. “She’s not impressed.”

  “I’m impressed.”

  “Yeah, but you’re my Dad!”

  “Can’t argue with you there,” said Mr Barnes. “How’s Mr Kapoor doing?”

  “I’m really worried about him,” Giles said, setting down his magic equipment. “Kevin and I have been looking around for more magic books, but we haven’t found anything new. And Miss Hibbins said she’d look, too. But I think we’re running out of time.”

  “What about Tina’s energy ray?”

  Giles shrugged. “Maybe, if it’s working in time. But I’ve got the feeling it’s going to take something more powerful than that to bring back Mr Kapoor.”

  “You may be right,” said Mr Barnes. “There’s more in heaven and earth than is dreamt of in Tina’s philosophy.”

  “Wow!” said Giles. “What does that mean?”

  “It means,” said Mr Barnes, “that Tina might be headed for a few surprises.”

  Giles looked at his watch and jumped. “I’ve got to go,” he said. “Tina and Kevin are testing the energy ray again.”

  “Kevin, I don’t suppose you’d care to volunteer a part of your body for this test,” said Tina. “A leg, or a hand, perhaps?”

  “Not a chance!”

  “I thought not. Well, I brought another test subject.”

  Tina opened an old trunk and pulled out a stuffed giraffe. She placed it on the cardboard crate at the far end of the room and then retreated behind the energy ray.

  “Let’s see how it works now,” she said.

  The beam of violet light shot out from the machine and the stuffed giraffe immediately disappeared.

  “So far so good,” said Giles hopefully. “Now bring it back.”

  Tina fiddl
ed with the machine, then switched it on again. The beam of light shot out, and slowly, the giraffe reappeared. There were no singed bits this time, no smoke, no blackened fur.

  The only problem was, the stuffed giraffe was at least twice its original size.

  Tina looked at it thoughtfully for a few moments.

  “Well,” she said, “it’s pretty close.”

  “Absolutely not!” said Giles. “We can’t use that thing on Mr Kapoor! He’d come back the size of a giant!”

  “Hmmm,” said Tina. “I must say, I think you’re being a little picky.”

  “Look,” said Giles firmly. “There’s only one way to bring Mr Kapoor back, and that’s the same way he got there! Magic!”

  Chapter 9

  A New Spell

  “I found it in the basement of the rare book library,” said Miss Hibbins excitedly. “It took me hours to track down!”

  She handed Giles a thick leather-bound volume. The thin pages crinkled as he turned them. It was an ancient book of magic, written in faded, flowing script and filled with strange diagrams and symbols.

  “Thank you very much,” said Giles gratefully.

  He searched hurriedly through the book until he found what he was looking for. On the very last pages was a description of the Disappearing Act, with instructions on how to reappear at the end.

  “This might just do the trick,” Giles mumbled. “I don’t think I’ve seen this one before. Maybe it’s powerful enough to bring Mr Kapoor back!”

  “I think we’re wasting our time,” said Tina.

  “You don’t know that yet,” said Giles firmly.

  “It’s at least worth a try,” piped in Kevin.

  Tina glared at him.

  “Well, our energy ray’s broken, isn’t it!”

  “Broken is a little harsh, Kevin,” said Tina primly. “Unperfected is perhaps a more accurate description.”

  “I’d just like to say that this is the most thrilling thing that’s ever happened to me!” said Miss Hibbins, glowing with excitement.

  “Well, I’m glad to hear it,” said Giles with a smile. He turned back to Tina and Kevin. “Come on, Mr Kapoor will be here soon.”