time.â
âI keep my ears and eyes open,â said Brack.
âSomeone is putting on a show,â said Charlie. âLike the shows in the olden days.â
âIs that so?â Brack said, a twinkle in his eye.
âYes,â Charlie said. âYou know all about it. Thursday was invited to be part of it. Mr. Madagascar, up on the thirteenth floor, is planning on his comeback.â
âSo Iâve heard,â Brack said.
âIâm guessing Mr. Madagascar is probably going to be in the magic show too,â Charlie said.
âPerhaps he is,â Brack said.
âAnd who better to plan a magic show like the old days than a magician from the old days? And who better from the old days than the greatest magician of them all?â
âWho indeed,â Brack said.
âAbracadabra,â Charlie said.
Brack smiled. âYou would make a good magician yourself, Master Hitchcock,â he said. âHow did you solve this mystery?â
âLots of little things,â said Charlie. âBut I really started thinking about it when you told us you saw the ghost here in your elevator. You pointed, and I looked at where you pointed, at the shiny doors.â
âAha,â said Brack. He smiled.
âI saw my reflection in the doors,â Charlie explained, âand thatâs when I started to put the pieces together.â
âOf course,â said Brack. âI am impressed, Master Hitchcock.â
âWhen you look at your reflection, you see a ghost from the past,â Charlie said gently. âYou see Abracadabra.â
âYes, yes,â said Brack. âItâs the eyes. Hair turns gray and falls out, ears grow bigger, wrinkles attack your skin. But a personâs eyes stay the same.â
âJust like the painting in the lobby,â said Charlie. âThat was my final clue.â
âI could never leave the hotel,â said Brack. âItâs my home. And I feel protective of the other magicians here. We donât have many places left, magicians. Not the ones from the old days, anyway. So I decided on this new disguise, this new identity.â
âAnd a new name,â Charlie said.
Brack smiled. âYes,â he said. âAnd a new name.â
âBrack is short for Abracadabra,â said Charlie. âI guessed that, too.â
âYou guessed very well,â said the magician. âAnd you seemed to have solved all the puzzles. Well done. So I guess this is for you.â
Brack pulled a gold card from his uniform pocket and handed it to Charlie. Charlie looked down at it.
âThank you, Mr. Abracadabra,â said Charlie, holding the golden ticket.
âMy pleasure, Master Hitchcock,â said Brack.
The elevator stopped.
The doors slid open.
Beyond, Charlie saw the roof of the hotel. Trees bloomed in concrete planters. Flowers were planted in careful paths. There was a stone walkway that led to a stone house, with small, warm windows and odd-shaped towers.
Charlie knew without being told that it was Brackâs house.
âWould you care for a cup of hot cocoa?â asked the magician.
âBut whoâll operate the elevators?â asked Charlie.
âItâs all automatic,â said Brack, smiling. âI donât think anyone will mind if the hotelâs two puzzle masters take a short break.â
Charlie opened his umbrella, and the magician and the boy walked toward the house.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MICHAEL DAHL grew up reading everything he could find about his hero Harry Houdini, and worked as a magicianâs assistant when he was a teenager. Even though he cannot disappear, he is very good at escaping things. Dahl has written the popular Library of Doom series, the Dragonblood books, and the Finnegan Zwake series. He currently lives in the Midwest in a haunted house.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
LISA K. WEBER is an illustrator currently living in Oakland, California. She
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