Foz started laughing. “These tricks are totally out of control!”
“This is no joke, Foz!” I snapped.
“We’re going to be in major trouble,” Ginny warned. “We’ve got to find a way to get rid of these birds!”
The attic was quickly filling up with flapping, fluttering doves—and they kept coming. I knew we had to get rid of them—but how?
“Maybe there’s something in here that will help.” I ripped open the magic case. Kaboom! It made that stupid exploding sound again. Dozens of little red balls flew into my face.
“I’m really getting sick of this,” I muttered.
I brushed away piles of balls. I pulled out a long black stick with a white tip. A magic wand!
“Maybe this will help!” I cried. I hoped it would. The attic was a total mess—white doves and red balls everywhere.
“This is the answer,” I declared. “Amaz-O probably uses this wand to make the magic stop.”
“I hope you’re right,” Ginny said. “If that doesn’t work, you and I are going to have to run away from home.”
“It’ll work,” I insisted. “It’s got to.”
I waved the wand in the air. “Stop!” I shouted. “Everything stop!”
22
Did it work?
No.
More doves flew out of the hat. More red balls bubbled out of the black sack.
“That magic wand is the only thing in there that doesn’t work!” Foz joked.
“Be quiet!” I snapped. “I’ve got to think!”
“Yikes!” Ginny screamed. “A snake!”
She pointed at the magic case. A snake slithered out of it. Then a second, a third.
The mechanical snakes had come back to life!
Hissing snakes soon covered the floor, wriggling over the bouncing red balls. Dove feathers fell from the ceiling. The attic was so crowded I could hardly see across the room.
Ginny yelped as a snake began to crawl up her leg. “Let’s get out of here!” she cried.
She yanked open the attic door. She and Foz hurried downstairs. I grabbed the magic case and followed them. A snake slithered after me.
“Get back in there!” I yelled. I picked up the snake and threw it into the attic room. I shut the door. I pushed on it to make sure it was closed. Then I ran downstairs and out to the backyard.
A gust of March wind slapped my face. Ginny’s long hair flew out behind her.
“Snakes—ick!” she squealed. “Tim—what are we going to do? When Mom and Dad see the attic, we’re dead meat!”
Foz stared at the magic case. “What did you bring that out for? It’s dangerous!”
“It’s okay if we stay outside,” I told him. “So what if a bunch of birds comes out? They’ll fly away.”
I wasn’t as sure about that as I sounded. But I couldn’t give Amaz-O’s case back without seeing everything in it first. I just couldn’t.
“Hurry up, Tim,” Ginny whined. “I’m starving. It’s lunchtime!”
“Wait. Wait.” I opened the magic case. Ka-boom! It didn’t sound so loud outside—especially with the wind blowing as hard as it was.
I held the magic wand poised between my fingers. What does this thing do? I wondered.
I waved it around, trying out new magician names. “The Great Incredible-O. Mister Terrifico—that’s not bad. Get out of there, Ginny!” She was rummaging through the magic kit.
“You promised we’d share it, remember?” she snapped. Then her face brightened. “Hey! Great!”
She pulled a carrot out of Amaz-O’s bag. “Just what I needed—something to eat.”
“Put that back!” I ordered.
“It’s still fresh,” she said. “Yum!”
She opened her mouth, ready to bite the carrot.
“Ginny—no!” I cried. “Maybe you shouldn’t eat that. Maybe—”
Ginny never listens to me.
She crunched down on the carrot.
A flash of white light blinded me for a moment.
When my eyes focused, I saw the most amazing thing I’d ever seen in my life!
23
The carrot dropped to the grass. Ginny’s nose twitched. Then she began to shrink.
As she shrank, her hair turned from blond to white. Her nose turned pink. White fur and whiskers sprouted from her face. She grew smaller, furrier, whiter….
“I don’t believe it!” Foz gasped. “Your sister—she’s a rabbit!”
Ginny sat on the grass, twitching her little pink nose. She stared at me with her rabbity eyes. She waved her little paws and made angry, rabbity noises.
“Man, she is steamed!” Foz cried.
I was stunned. “I wished it,” I murmured. “And now it’s come true.”
“What are you talking about?” Foz demanded. He grabbed me by the shoulders. “Get it together, Tim. We’ve got to do something! What’s going to happen when your parents get home?”
“I told Ginny I’d turn her into a rabbit,” I explained, still dazed. “To get back at her for ruining all my magic shows. And now she is a rabbit!”
Ginny the rabbit rose on her hind legs, gesturing angrily at me. Then she bounced up and thumped my shin with one of her big rabbit feet.
“Ow!” I cried. “That hurts as much as one of her karate kicks!”
“Look in the kit, Tim,” Foz urged me. “There’s got to be some way to change her back.”
“You’re right. There’s got to be!” My eyes fell on the carrot in the grass. “The carrot,” I said. “When Ginny bit it, she turned into a rabbit. But maybe if a rabbit bites it, it turns into a girl!”
Foz shook his head. “Huh?”
I snatched up the carrot. “We’ve got to try it. There’s nothing to lose, right? She’s already a rabbit. What else could happen to her?”
I shoved the end of the carrot toward Ginny’s mouth. “Come on, Ginny. Take another bite.”
She stared at the carrot suspiciously. She clamped her mouth shut and turned her face away.
“You little brat!” I shouted. “You want me to get in trouble, don’t you! You want to stay a rabbit just to get me in trouble!”
Foz grabbed the carrot out of my hand. “Calm down, Tim. You’re scaring her!”
Ginny’s long rabbit ears perked up—she heard something. I heard it, too. A car coming. Pulling into the driveway!
“Hurry, Ginny!” I cried. “I think Mom and Dad are home. Take a bite of the carrot. It’ll turn you back into a girl. I know it will!”
Ginny eyed me suspiciously. She sniffed the carrot with her twitchy pink nose.
“Hurry!” I shouted again.
She opened her mouth and took a nibble of carrot.
Foz and I watched her in a panic. “Please let it work,” I prayed. “Please let it work!”
24
Ginny’s rabbit nose twitched. Her ears stood straight up. Then they flopped down.
Nothing happened. She was still a rabbit.
“Mom and Dad!” I cried. “They’re here! Foz—stay with Ginny. If Mom and Dad ask, say she’s your sister’s rabbit!”
I ran to the driveway. A car was backing out—not Mom and Dad. Just somebody turning around in our driveway.
Whew. Close one.
The wind gusted as I ran back to Foz and Ginny. Foz was on his knees, digging through the magic kit. Ginny hopped up and down impatiently.
The magic wand lay in the grass. Maybe this will work now, I hoped, picking it up. I’ve got to change her back!
I waved the wand over Ginny. “Turn my sister back into a girl!” I cried.
Nothing.
“Maybe you need to say the spell in a rhyme,” Foz suggested. “Magicians always do that.”
“Okay.” I waved the wand again. “Let me think…. Magic wand, winds that whirl, turn Ginny back into a girl!”
The wand began to shake. “Something’s happening!” I shouted.
The white tip of the wand broke open. Out popped a white silk handkerchi
ef.
“Wow!” Foz gasped. A blue one flew out, then a red one, then a yellow one. The wind blew them away before I could catch them.
I turned back to Ginny. Still a rabbit.
“It didn’t work,” I said unhappily. I tossed the wand into the grass. “It only makes stupid handkerchiefs.”
I crossed over to the magic case. Ginny leaped at me, trying to bite my leg.
“Watch out!” I warned her. “I’m trying to help you!”
She twitched her nose in disgust.
Foz moved aside as I dove into the magic kit. I dumped everything out. A slip of paper tumbled out of a pocket in the case.
I snatched it up. At the top of the paper I saw the word INSTRUCTIONS.
“Look!” I cried. “Instructions!” I patted Ginny between the ears. “I’ll have you back to normal in a second.”
I raised the paper to read what it said. “‘Instructions. To use the magic top hat…’ No. That’s not what I need right now….”
“Hurry, Tim!” Foz said.
I scanned the paper, searching for anything about rabbits. “Here’s something!” I announced. “‘The magic carrot…’”
Just then a strong gust of wind blasted across the yard. The paper flew out of my hands.
“No!” I shouted, grasping for the paper. “I need that!” I watched helplessly as it flew out of my reach—high up into the sky.
25
“Get that paper!” I screamed. The wind blew it across the yard. I darted after it.
Foz zoomed ahead of me, yelling, “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” The paper floated within his reach. He dove for it.
Whoosh! Another strong gust of wind. The paper fluttered away. Foz fell flat on his face.
I ran past him, following the paper. It blew across my neighbor’s yard.
“Get it!” Foz shouted, racing after me. “It’s headed for the woods!”
The wind died for a minute. The paper settled on the grass.
I pounced on it. But the wind picked up before I landed. The paper blew away again.
“Rats!” I cried.
“There it goes!” Foz shouted. The paper drifted toward the stream.
The paper floated above the stream, then landed in the water. Foz zipped across the yard to grab it.
“Don’t let it get wet!” I screamed.
Too late. The paper was soaked.
“I’ve got it!” Foz shouted. He leaned over the stream and snatched at the paper. But the current carried it away.
Foz and I chased it down the stream, panting. But we couldn’t run as fast as the current.
“It’s getting away,” I huffed. A few seconds later we lost sight of it.
Foz and I collapsed on the ground.
“That’s it,” I groaned. “We’ll never get it back now. So how do I turn Ginny back into a girl?”
Foz heaved himself to his feet and pulled me up by the hand. “Don’t panic, Tim. Panicking isn’t going to help.”
Great advice.
We hurried back to Ginny. I hoped maybe she’d magically turned back into a girl while we were gone. No such luck.
Ginny knew we hadn’t found the instructions. She bounced around the yard, squealing angry rabbit squeals.
Foz rubbed his short hair as he watched her. “Boy, she’s really stressed,” he said.
I fell to my knees to talk to her. “Don’t worry, Ginny,” I soothed. “I’ve got an idea. I’m going to take you to Amaz-O right now. He’ll turn you back into a girl. I’m sure he will.”
With one of her long rabbit ears, Ginny flicked my nose. She couldn’t say “Boi-oi-oing.” She didn’t have to. I knew what she meant.
“Let’s pick this stuff up,” I said to Foz. We began to gather all the tricks off the grass and pile them into Amaz-O’s magic case. “Amaz-O won’t want to help us if I don’t give him back his magic kit.”
Foz took my bike, balancing the magic kit on the handlebars. I picked up Ginny. “Come on, little rabbit sister,” I cooed. She let me pull her up by the back—then nipped me on the wrist!
“Ow!” I dropped her. “Do you want me to help you or not?”
She hopped up and down angrily. I knew what she was thinking. If I didn’t change her back into a girl, I’d be in as much trouble as she was. I had no choice.
I reached for her again. “Don’t bite me this time,” I warned her. “Or I’ll put a muzzle over that little snout of yours.”
She squirmed in my arms but didn’t bite. I set her in the basket on her bike.
“To Midnight Mansion,” I told Foz. We set off, pedaling hard against the strong wind.
I rode through town in a daze. Ginny’s long white ears waved in my face.
Amaz-O’s words rang in my ears. “Beat it, punk!” he’d said. I wondered if he’d really help me.
He’s got to, I told myself. He’ll be glad to get his magic kit back.
I’ll make him help, I decided. I won’t give him the kit until he turns Ginny back into a girl.
We pulled into the parking lot in front of Midnight Mansion. The old castle looked just as scary in the daytime as it did at night. There were no floodlights casting shadows on the stone towers. But the gray, vine-covered walls gave the place a spooky, abandoned feeling.
I skidded to a stop in front of the mansion. Foz carried the magic kit. I grabbed Ginny out of the bike basket.
“Behave,” I warned her as we climbed the front steps to the mansion. “Remember, I’m trying to help you. Don’t go biting me or anything.”
She twitched her nose at me. She lifted her little rabbit lips and bared her tiny rabbit teeth.
“Go ahead—bite me,” I whispered. “See how you like spending the rest of your life as a rabbit. You don’t even like lettuce!”
She closed her mouth and twitched her nose again. It doesn’t matter whether she’s a girl or a rabbit, I thought. Either way she’s a pain in the neck.
We stopped at the top of the steps.
“Oh, no!” I gasped. “I don’t believe it!”
The sign on the front door read SORRY, WE’RE CLOSED.
26
“No!” I cried. I banged my forehead against the door.
Foz said, “This place gives me the creeps. It looks like Count Dracula’s castle.” He shivered. “Let’s get out of here.”
He set the magic case down. “Amaz-O’s magic kit is so heavy. Do you think we can leave it by the door?”
I glared at him. “No, we can’t leave it by the door. And we’re not going home. Not yet.”
I squeezed Ginny in my arms, thinking. “Okay, so the place is closed. But Amaz-O could be in there, rehearsing or something. Right?”
“He could be, I guess,” Foz said. “But chances are—”
“We’ve got to take that chance,” I insisted. I tried the front door. Locked. Of course.
“There must be another way in,” I said. “A back door or something.” I dashed down the steps and around the side of the club.
“Bring the case, Foz!” I ordered.
He followed me, lugging the kit. I kept my eyes peeled for guards.
At the back of the mansion we found a door. I tried it. It opened easily!
We crept inside. We found ourselves in the club’s kitchen. It was long, narrow, and shiny clean. The lights were off, but we could see by the light from a window at one end.
Foz paused in front of a huge, stainless steel refrigerator. “I’ll bet they’ve got some great food in here,” he whispered. “Lemon meringue pie or something.”
I tugged at his arm. “This is no time for a snack!” I snapped. “Come on!”
We left the kitchen and entered a long, dark hallway. I recognized that hall. It was the same hallway I’d walked down after my escape from the basement—the first time Amaz-O let me down.
“There’d better not be a second time,” I muttered under my breath.
We tiptoed down the dark hall. Up ahead I saw the door to Amaz-O’s dressing room. It w
as half-open. A dim light spilled out into the hallway.
Yes! I thought to myself. That’s a good sign.
With Ginny in my arms, I crept up to the door. Please, please let him be in there, I prayed. Please be here, Amaz-O. Please help us.
I stopped in front of the door. I took a deep breath.
“Mr. Amaz-O? Are you here?”
27
No reply.
I tried again. “Mr. Amaz-O? Hello?”
“He’s not here,” Foz said. “Let’s go.”
“Shhh!” I pushed the door open and crept into the dressing room. One small lamp cast a dim pool of light on the dressing table. The great Amaz-O sat on the couch, his left side facing the door. He was staring at the wall. He didn’t seem to notice us.
“Mr. Amaz-O?” I said politely. “It’s me again. The kid you made disappear in your magic show.”
I thought Amaz-O would turn his head to face us now, but he didn’t. He didn’t do anything. He just sat there.
Man, I thought. He really hates kids. Or he hates his fans. Or he hates all people. Or something.
When I become a great magician, I vowed, I won’t be like Amaz-O. I won’t let my fame go to my head. I’ll be nice to people. This is ridiculous.
I didn’t care what Amaz-O’s problem was. I needed his help—badly. And I wouldn’t give up until I got it.
I stepped farther into the dressing room. “Mr. Amaz-O, I’m sorry to bother you. But I really need your help. It’s important.”
Amaz-O didn’t move. He stared at the wall. Silent.
“Do you think he’s asleep?” Foz whispered.
I shrugged. I took another breath and crept closer to the couch.
“I know you told me to beat it,” I said. “I wouldn’t bother you if it wasn’t a matter of life and death—I swear.”
Still no response. I turned back to Foz, who cowered in the doorway. He looked as if he were ready to run for it. I waved him into the room.
Foz stepped in. He set the magic kit on the floor, shaking.
I stared at Amaz-O. He ignored me. Who does he think he is? I thought angrily. He can’t treat me this way! I’m not leaving until he helps me turn Ginny back into a girl.