Magic Mansion by Jordan Price (best fiction books to read .txt) 📕

say you chose to put your best foot forward by sticking with a street routine you were familiar with?”

Kevin considered the question for such a long moment, John wondered if he was going to answer at all. But finally, he gathered his thoughts and said, “When I hit dat boardwalk, I wasn’t thinking ’bout tricks, or acts, or costumes, or none of that. I went out there living inside the skin of dis character I been creating all week, my original badass gangsta, and I done him proud. I can’t say I even remember which tricks I showed.”

John suspected Kevin’s explanation was more than just hollow words. The way Kevin handled the boardwalk crowd had been eerily riveting.

“With one hundred points to distribute for magicianship,” Monty said, “the scores in this category were incredibly close. But don’t take my word for it. Who better to reveal how you scored in this challenge…than Bev Austin, the Math Wizard!”

The curtain at the far end of the room rippled, and out from behind it stepped Bev. In a purple wizard costume. Covered in silver mathematical symbols. And a conical wizard’s hat. John did his best not to cringe. Ricardo shot up out of his seat clapping his hands, so John stood as well, so as not to leave Ricardo looking like the odd man out, and then Kevin and Jia grudgingly stood, too.

“Hi guys,” Bev said. She stepped up beside Monty and unrolled a rather silly-looking scroll she’d been carrying. “Are you ready to hear some numbers?”

The Final Four said they were, and sat back down to hear their scores.

“As Monty said, this category was the closest. With one hundred votes at stake, an average score would be twenty-five.” John tried to read Bev’s expression. Whereas Monty never gave any hint as to who had won or lost, Bev might not be quite so inscrutable. If Ricardo had won, would she be able to resist sharing a secret smile with him? Or what about Kevin? Would she be able to hide her disappointment? John couldn’t tell. She was focused on her scroll.

“One of you did receive exactly a quarter of the votes. Twenty-five points for magicianship go to…Profesor Topaz.”

John inclined his head. His heart was pounding. He supposed he should feel pleased about being found completely average among all the performers present, given their skill. But he’d be lying if he told himself he hadn’t been hoping to rank a cut above.

“Close on Professor Topaz’ heels, with a magicianship score of twenty-three: Ricardo the Magnificent.” Which meant someone scored higher. Bev gave Ricardo a quick, encouraging smile, though not a triumphant one. John’s heart sank. “And within a point of Ricardo, Jia Lee with a magicianship of twenty-four.” Which meant… “Kevin Kazan edges out the others in the magicianship category with twenty-eight points.”

“Well done, magicians,” Monty said. “So close.” Close? Hardly. Kevin was ahead of John by three. “What did the viewers have to say about the historical aspects of the boardwalk acts?”

Bev consulted her scroll. “The historical category contained the highest single score in any one category.”

“Fascinating. Would the recipient of that high score happen to be…Jia?”

“No, Monty. It isn’t. For the historical aspect of her act, Jia scored seventeen points.”

Seventeen? John’s heart started pounding. If Jia had only received seventeen points, that meant the spread was much wider for this aspect of the performance. Ricardo’s fingers squeezed his, and hard, but he scarcely felt it. His own hand was numb.

“Too bad,” Monty said. “How did our 1950’s magician do?”

“Ricardo…” Bev’s voice lagged. She was nowhere near as smooth as Monty, “had the lowest score in the history category. Sixteen.”

John’s heart sank for Ricardo. Whoever the crowd chose would be ahead now by several—

“That leaves quite a few points in play,” Monty said, drumming up the drama that Bev didn’t seem to have the heart to. “Tell me, Math Wizard, what did people think of the Original Gangsta?”

“Kevin did very well, Monty. He received thirty-two points for his take on magic history.”

Thirty-two? Thirty-two? That was it, then. Why bother reading any farther? Kevin would no doubt take the whole—

“But the big scorer,” Bev said, smiling now, “was Professor Topaz, with a huge thirty-five points. Congratulations, John.”

“Thank you,” he heard himself say. “I have a great respect for the traditions of the craft.”

If thirty-five was the single highest score in the whole competition, did that mean the scores in the last category were closer to one another? If so, Jia and Ricardo would never catch up, even if they pulled a high score. However, if those final numbers were close…it would also mean John could potentially beat Kevin.

“Right now there’s only one point separating our top two competitors,” Monty said, as if he’d been privy to John’s very thoughts. “But there’s one more category to consider, and it’s anyone’s game. What do the remainder of the scores say to you, Math Wizard?”

“What’s interesting is that a majority of the viewers awarded points to multiple magicians. I see here, though, that there’s one magician who had the most unanimous votes. One magician who completely won over the audience members they connected with in all three categories.”

“Fascinating, Bev. Which Magician are you referring to?”

“That Magician is…Ricardo the Magnificent.” Bev looked up and met Ricardo’s eye with a look of such compassion, John wanted to gather Ricardo in his arms and hold him, because clearly, Bev’s expression conveyed that Ricardo hadn’t won. “Fourteen of your audience members voted for you in all three categories, Ricardo. The closest anyone else came to that was ten.”

Ricardo smiled as if he knew that being referred to first must mean he had not won the competition, and likely even come in last, but that still, he took heart in the fact that he had truly connected with those fourteen people. “That’s great. They were a great audience.”

“Ricardo,” Bev said, “Twenty-one people picked you as having the best performance, which means you have a total of sixty points.”

Ricardo nodded, not pleased