Really.”
The two girls disappeared out the front door. The door slammed behind them.
“Don't you want your party bags?” I called weakly.
Too late.
“Settle down, guys,” I said, turning back to the rest of the kids. I motioned for everyone to sit down again. “Accidents happen, you know.”
“It wasn't an accident!” Billy Wilbur shouted. “You're dead meat, Max.”
“Yeah,” his brother chimed in. “Happy birthday, Dead Meat!”
Nice guys.
Of course I knew it wasn't an accident. My hands hadn't slipped while I was juggling. I knew that Nicky and Tara had sent those pins flying.
They probably didn't mean to hit anyone. They just wanted to mess up my juggling, the way they'd messed up my birthday candle blowing.
Would they try to mess up my magic, too?
I'd been looking forward to this day for so long. Looking forward to the party and to performing my tricks.
And so far, it had been a total disaster.
Quentin had disappeared. The creepy ghostboyin black was still outside, waiting for I-don't-know-what. One of the cool kids I'd wanted to impress had a major lump on her head and had to leave. Traci Wayne had never even shown up.…
The list of horrors went on and on.
And there were Nicky and Tara. So angry at me, they were trying to ruin my party.
Okay, I made a mistake. I shouldn't have told them to stay away. But I never dreamed they'd be this mean.
Well … I'm a brave guy. I stepped up to the table and started my show.
First I performed a few easy card tricks.
The tricks went well. The cards didn't fly out of my hands and hit people in the eye or anything.
I did a few tricks with the wand. Whipped the wand into the air, and it turned into a bouquet of flowers.
No problem. Worked perfectly.
A few kids clapped. I was starting to win them back. Time to do one of the harder tricks.
“Okay, everyone! Take a look inside this top hat,” I said. I held up the hat so they could see inside it.
“As you can all see, it's totally empty.”
I moved it in front of them slowly so they all could see.
Then I set the hat back down on the table.
“The eyes can be deceived!” I said. “Sometimes a great magician can make something appear where there was nothing! Watch carefully!”
Slowly, I waved my wand back and forth over the hat.
“Come to life!” I cried. “Come to life!”
I reached a hand inside the hat. I snapped open the secret compartment.
Then I lowered both hands to lift out the bunny rabbit.
My fingers curled around something thin and crackly. I heard a high screech from inside the hat. Something scratched my palm. And then fluttered up between my hands.
And I opened my mouth in a horrified scream.
21
T HE FIRST BAT FLEW out of the hat, screeching, its red eyes f laring. It soared up to the ceiling and then shot across the room.
Kids started shouting and ducking.
The second bat f luttered out silently. It hovered in front of my face for a few seconds, then turned and swooped forward —and landed on a girl's shoulder.
She screamed and slapped it away.
Flapping its wings hard, the bat hopped onto her head and let out a screech.
She slapped at it frantically, swatting it off with both hands.
The first bat came swooping down over the birthday cake in the dining room. Then it f lew back into the living room, dropping low, and shot into a boy's chest.
The boy let out a choked cry. The bat bounced off him and onto the lap of the girl beside him.
“Open the front door!” I shouted. “Somebody — open the door!”
My mom was already there. She swung the door open. Some kids ran to the front window and hoisted it up all the way.
Kids were running and screaming and ducking and covering their heads as the bats swooped down at them.
Your typical birthday party.
If you have two ghosts who want to teach you a lesson.
Finally, the two bats turned and darted out the front door, side by side. Mom slammed the door behind them.
I saw Colin on the bottom stair, leaning on the
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