Out of Bounds (6 page)

Charlotte lay down her pen and leaned back on the big stuffed pillows, her face creased with worry. Marty leaped on the bed and laid his head on her stomach.

“Hey, pumpkin, what's the long face for?”

Charlotte started and sat up straight. Her father's friendly, concerned face undid her.

“Oh, Dad, I am in big, huge trouble,” Charlotte said in one of those voices that meant she was almost ready to cry.

“Wow! That sounds serious, sweetheart. Good thing I just brought you some tea and cinnamon toast.” He walked across the room and set the snacks down on her nightstand.

“Oh, Daddy. That's so nice, but I am really serious. I think I signed up for something I can't do.”

“Well, I think we better talk this one through,” he said as he popped a piece of the toast that was supposed to be hers into his mouth.

“Hey,” Charlotte protested with a big smile on her face.

“I need sugar if I'm going to rescue my desperate daughter,” and he popped another piece in his mouth.

Charlotte threw one of her pillows at her dad, and he threw one back at her. The pillow fight was on. Marty got so excited he jumped off the bed and ran for Happy Lucky Thingy, his favorite chew toy. Marty raced around like an animaltronix robot, shaking his toy and growling furiously until Charlotte collapsed onto her bed, laughing hysterically.

“Now, I think we should talk about this
Very Serious Thing
that is happening with you,” her dad said as he plopped down on the bed beside her. Marty jumped up between them, Happy Lucky Thingy still in his mouth. He was quite a happy pooch, now that Charlotte
and
her father started to pet him. Charlotte plowed through the whole thing from start to finish, including her promise of the magic act. When Charlotte finished her story, her father fell silent for a minute, rubbing his chin as if he were deep in philosophical thought.

“Daddy,” Charlotte poked him in the ribs. “So what am I going to do?”

“How does moving to Fiji sound?”

“That's not funny…I don't think I can pull this off without some help. And you don't know magic…who can I get to help me?” Charlotte asked, desperation in her voice. “I don't want to disappoint my friends. They were all really excited about this. And Maeve told Anna and Joline that I was a real magician.”

“I've got it, by Jove, I've got it,” her dad answered in his best British accent.

Guys, even when they are your dad, just love to joke around, thought Charlotte.

“Well,” Charlotte said impatiently.

“Jacques!”

“Omigosh, Dad! Why didn't I think of that…do you think…do you think…” Charlotte sputtered in her excitement. “Do you think he would help us…me?”

“Let's go find out.”

Charlotte and her dad phoned Jacques and woke him up, because it was six hours later in Paris, but he was so excited to find out what Charlotte was doing that he didn't care. Jacques spent an hour giving her all sorts of magician secrets. And he made her promise that she would never reveal them. It was the “Magician's Code of Honor” that you never reveal how a trick is done except to another magician. His advice was so helpful that Charlotte began to think that they were really going to pull it off.

M
AGIC
, C
HOCOLATE, AND
D
OG
T
RICKS

When they met at Maeve's house the next day, Charlotte explained the code to everyone, and Avery and Maeve immediately fell in love with the whole secret magic society thing. They both said it made them feel very honored to be part of such an old tradition. Katani was a little suspicious and wanted to know if there was any money involved. Charlotte assured her that Jacques was not charging them at all. Isabel was so excited—she couldn't wait to find out how real magicians managed to do some of the things they did.

Charlotte loved the idea of the BSG all working together. Everyone could take part, and they would have a super amount of fun. Charlotte was making a list of everyone's talents. “I'm listing everything I can think of,” she said. “You never know which one may come in handy.” The list sounded impressive, even if some of the girls' talents could be hard to put on stage.

 

Charlotte's list of the amazing talents of the BSG:

• 1. Charlotte: Reading, writing, traveling, magic tricks, klutz factor which could provide comic relief.
  
• 2. Maeve: Singing, dancing, anything on stage, Hollywood-style glamour, impressions, acting very grown-up…mastery of high heels.
  
• 3. Isabel: Art, computer art and animation, cartoons.
  
• 4. Katani: Costumes, business, math.
  
• 5. Avery: Sports, politics, team building, animal training.
  
• 6. Marty: Official mascot of the Beacon Street Girls, major cuteness factor.
  

The animal training part was something Avery had just scribbled on the list herself. She had spent all yesterday afternoon teaching Marty to jump through a hoop. Bribed by various treats, Marty learned the trick quickly. Then, just as quickly, he learned that it was easier to just walk around the back of the hoop and pick up the treat himself.

“Is swimming a talent?” Isabel asked, munching on a BSG favorite—Chocolate Gag brownies that Maeve had baked for their planning meeting.

“Yeah,” Katani said, “but I'm not sure it's something you can do onstage.”

“Don't you do ballet?” Avery asked.

“I do water ballet sometimes,” Isabel said.

“But you used to do ballet.” Avery was sure she'd heard that somewhere.

“Yes, but that was a really long time ago,” Isabel said. “And I don't think they put ballerinas in magic acts.”

“Isabel, you have to do the scenery,” Katani said. “You are such a good artist, I'll bet you could do something really cool.”

“Okay,” Isabel happily agreed. Scenery she could do.

“I planned on that already,” Charlotte laughed. “We'll need a box big enough to crawl into. Something very colorful, with sliding panels and mirrors.”

“That sounds kinda complicated. When I did Marty's doghouse, I just bought a doghouse and painted it,” Isabel said.

“My dad can help us with that. He's really good at building things,” offered Charlotte.

“Perfecto,” answered Isabel. “But, I'll do all the painting. He doesn't have to worry about that.”

“But we need you to be on stage, too,” Avery said.

“We all don't have to be on stage,” Isabel said.

“Isabel and I can work behind the scenes. Right, Isabel?” Katani asked.

“Sounds good to me,” Isabel replied, looking over Katani's shoulder at the elaborate black-and-gold sequined outfit Katani was sketching for Maeve to wear.

“And Maeve, you will be the magician's assistant. We'll just put you in the box and…” Charlotte said.

“Excuse me?” Maeve interrupted, dropping her brownie on the floor. “Can't we just do a card trick or something?” she asked.

“No way,” Avery said.

“How about that coin trick? That coin thing you did the other day was really good,” Maeve suggested hopefully.

“I'm afraid it wouldn't show from the stage,” Charlotte said. “Only the front rows could see it.”

“We need something mega,” Avery said. “Really MEGA!”

“Can we at least go downstairs and check it out?” Maeve pointed in the direction of the movie theater, which had a stage. “I mean, before I volunteer?”

“It's just magic, you know,” Avery said.

“I'm sooo relieved,” Maeve said with a grin.

“Tell her how it's done,” Avery said to Charlotte. Since Charlotte suggested the magic show, Avery had read every one of Charlotte's books on illusionists and magic.

“Relax, it's all done with mirrors,” Charlotte said to Maeve as they started down the stairs to the theater in a dash.

The theater was really dark. They all stood in eerie silence as Maeve walked back to flip on the stage lights. Just like in a real performance theater, there was one single bulb, burning center stage. In fact, the Brookline Movie House had been a live theater at one point a long time ago. Maeve swore to her friends
that sometimes when she was alone she could practically hear clapping and singing. None of the BSG believed her.

Charlotte stepped on stage and immediately tripped over something. So Charlotte. Avery grabbed her arm and caught her just in time.

“What was that?” Charlotte asked. The klutz of the group, her friends almost expected her to trip for no reason at all, but this time there was something there.

“Orchestra pit,” Maeve said. “This used to be a live theater,” she said. “Stay put until I get some more lights on.”

The group stood still. As the house lights came up, Charlotte saw what she had tripped over. The orchestra pit had been filled in. You could see the platform they built over it. In the top of the platform was a small trapdoor with a ring handle lock that was sticking up slightly.

“I never knew this used to be a live theater,” Katani said. She had lived here all her life, but she had never heard anything about it.

“Most people have no idea,” Maeve said. “In the beginning, it was a vaudeville house. During the Great Depression, when people were really poor and stuff, they used to do comedy acts here so everyone would feel better. They gave away door prizes, sometimes even food. Then, during World War II, people used to come here to see the newsreels of the troops overseas. Later it was owned by a big Hollywood studio. I heard they even held a premiere here once…I think it was with Doris Day—remember I showed you that movie with Cary Grant?” The girls nodded, but none of them ever remembered the names of the old movie actors. Maeve did. She never forgot one. It was like the stars were her friends. Yup, Hollywood was Maeve's destiny…someday. The lights, the action, the applause…Maeve was ready for all of it.

The girls looked around. Usually, the place was dark, so none of the girls had ever noticed what a beautiful building it was. Only from the stage could you see some of the fancy detail…Beaux Arts, Maeve called it. It was really majestic. It wasn't hard to picture what it must have looked like back in the day. You could almost see the old-time stars walking down the red carpet to their seats with their fur coats draped around them and the flashbulbs blinking at every turn.

M
AEVE IN
J
EOPARDY

It was time to get down to magic show business. The girls sat in the audience while Charlotte tried her coin trick. Everyone agreed it wasn't visible from the stage.

“I still don't want to be put in a box—even if it's only with mirrors,” Maeve whined.

“Maybe we can just use her hands,” Charlotte said to Avery, who was the only one who knew what she was talking about. “That way the box can be smaller, and there'll be less work for Isabel.”

“Let me see your hands,” Charlotte said to Maeve.

Maeve reluctantly held them out. Her nails were painted with bright pink polish. Maeve had even glued a rhinestone to every nail, very Hollywood glam, except the polish was chipping around the edges. It was hard to maintain her beauty regime and do her homework, too.

“Now I need to see everyone else's hands,” Charlotte said, carefully examining each pair, turning them over.

“Avery, you're the best match for her,” Charlotte said. “Your hands are the same size.”

Avery pulled back her hands in horror. “I have no nails,” she said.

“Fixable,” Charlotte said. “Nail polish will do the trick.”

“What are you up to?” Katani asked.

“I'll tell you what she's not up to,” Avery said. “She's not painting my nails!”

“I don't understand,” Isabel said to Charlotte. “What kind of trick is this? It sounds creepy!”

“Oh,” Charlotte said gleefully. “We build this little thing. Separate the box into two pieces, and voilà, it looks as if Maeve has been separated from her hands. A few dramatic noises, Maeve's Academy Award performance, and the audience will believe it.”

Now that it involved acting ability, Maeve was starting to get interested. “I can scream really well,” she said, and she proceeded to give them a preview.

“Fabulous,” Katani added with sarcasm. “I don't think you have to do that again until the talent show.”

Maeve stuck her tongue out playfully at Katani.

“What about you?” Charlotte turned to Avery.

“Do I have a choice?” Avery asked.

“Not really,” Charlotte laughed.

“Is the Marty trick still in the show?” Avery asked.

“Yes,” Charlotte said.

“And I want to do a trick with the guinea pigs, too,” Avery said, realizing she had some leverage.

“What trick?” This was the first Charlotte had heard of any guinea pig trick.

“I don't know yet. I'll think of something,” Avery said.

“Now you're pushing it,” Charlotte said.

“That's my final offer,” Avery said, putting her hands on her hips. “It's either the guinea pigs or…”