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

the feeling he was about to nominate himself as the second performer anyway.”

“Not Jia,” Faye said. “She can change in two seconds flat, and she’s the smallest one on the team.”

“Professor Topaz is really tall,” Sue said. “Would he have trouble changing in there?”

Muriel glanced up from their huddle, looked over at the Red Team and said, “I doubt it. Sure, he’s got a little snow on the roof, but have you noticed how limber he is?” Limber? “I’m sure he knows all those classic cabinet tricks like the back of his hand.”

“Then we pick Fabian,” Sue said. “He’s old, he’s not in great shape…and he had the same awful massage I did.” Her voice petered out toward the end, and Ricardo wondered if she was going to start crying. Again.

“It’s a competition, kiddo,” Muriel said. “Don’t think for a second they’ll take any pity on you.”

They finished their decision with five seconds to spare, then looked over at the Red Team. Jia and Kevin were fighting in heated whispers, while John, Fabian and Ken watched in resignation.

Sue leaned in to Ricardo and said, “What if they pick me? My muscles are all seizing up. What if I lose the challenge for the whole team?”

Ricardo knew a thing or two about working through pain…though with his True magic, he possessed an unfair advantage over most figure skaters in terms of recovery time. “If you do get picked,” he whispered, “do a gentle stretch before you get in the cabinet. Not now—just watch me.” He folded down into a hamstring stretch. “Imagine your muscle fibers relaxing. Imagine the toxins flowing out. Do both legs. And remember to breathe.”

_____

John had always considered himself a patient man. Fabian, probably not. Lately, every time Kevin spoke, Fabian’s eye twitched.

“Ain’t no way that Math Wizard gonna get in and out of that box faster than any one of us,” Kevin said. “And you can tell by the look in her eye. She’s scared.”

Jia said, “But the deep-tissue massage—”

“Miz Blondie over there can ignore her pain. Don’t let her fool you. I seen it in the challenge. That girl held her breath almost as long as I did. And that ol’ gray-haired bag nearly did, too.”

“Muriel,” John said. He almost didn’t—they only had a minute, after all, and it would be counterproductive to spend it arguing—but he couldn’t let it pass.

“Do you realize what an asshole you’re going to look like if you pick Bev?” Jia said. “Use your head. It’s not only about winning the challenge. It’s about making sure you don’t get voted off fast ’cos everyone hates you.”

“Does it look like I care?” Kevin said. “I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to win.”

Ken cracked his knuckles.

Jia said, “You will make us all look bad.”

“Don’t worry, pretty lady. Lots of people root for the bad guys. ’Sides, alls I gotta do is keep coming in first. You wanna make sure you stay in the game, then you got to bring it.”

Fabian made the grumble deep in his throat he’d been making ever since his spa treatment. It sounded vaguely like some unseen part of the mansion, off in the distance, had finally decayed to the point of collapse.

John looked at Fabian to see if he was okay, then noticed the Gold Team, beyond him, in their huddle—more specifically, he noticed Ricardo bending over and stretching in a gorgeously form-fitting pair of jeans…and it put him in a happy enough place that he could forget about Kevin, if only for a moment.

Until Kevin spoke directly to him, at least. “That seaweed-shit you did at the spa. Did it hurt?”

What? John turned and looked down his nose at Kevin, wavering between giving him a straight answer and asking him what business it was of his, when Monty called out, “Time’s up! Team leaders, step away from your groups.”

Once Kevin swaggered out of earshot, Fabian said, “So help me, I wanna wring that thick, white neck of his.”

Jia said, “Make sure I get a front row seat.”

“He’s a jerk,” Ken said, “but maybe he has a point. If Red Team wins the early challenges, chances are, more of us will make it through to the later rounds.”

John, who had been told flat out by Marlene that he was not expected to win Magic Mansion, found it difficult to muster up any concern over which team won the Metamorphosis challenge. Not only that, but he envied the camaraderie on the Gold Team…and not just because Ricardo was on it.

Once Sue and Kevin were standing on their marks, Iain gave the go-ahead, and Monty said, “Gold Team, who did you select to perform Metamorphosis for the Red Team?”

“Monty, we chose…Fabian Swan.”

“I knew it,” he muttered. “I just knew—”

“Fabian Swan,” Monty said, “you will join Ken Barron in representing the Red Team.”

Cameras swung toward the cluster of magicians in which John stood. Fabian stopped muttering and nodded grimly.

“Red Team, who did you pick from the Gold Team to compete in the Metamorphosis Challenge?”

John wanted to turn away when Kevin announced Bev. Although the Gold Team had chosen the weakest member of the Red Team (in John’s opinion, at least taking into consideration the deep tissue massage) at least they looked a bit chagrined about it. He yearned to find something else to focus on, but he forced himself to watch. He felt he owed it to his fellow magicians—Gold or Red.

Kevin somehow managed to swagger in place by shifting his stance. He smiled, and he said, “Red Team picks…Ricardo.”

What?

What about Bev?

The baffled expressions on the Red Team’s faces were not lost on the cameras, who panned frantically between them. The Gold Team, too, looked surprised. And relieved.

“Interesting choice, Red Team,” Monty said. “We’ll see how it plays out. It’s Ricardo the Magnificent representing the Gold Team with Amazing Faye. Now it’s off to wardrobe with the four performers, while the rest of you settle in and prepare to enjoy the show!”

When Kevin swaggered back to his team, three