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

been set up against one of the more attractive walls, and a single camera was planted in front of it. Iain gave the signal, and Monty said, “Remember, magicians, whichever team located the longest wand in the shortest amount of time will win an advantage in the next elimination challenge. And, if any magician has located the single twelve-inch wand, that magician will be immune. In addition, the winning team will be having dinner tomorrow…with David Blaine.”

Kevin Kazan made a startled noise that sounded like a cross between a screech owl and a whoopee cushion.

“That’s right. The winning team will get to pick the brain of the world’s most cunning street magic performer…while the losers clean up the mess left behind from the building of the Zig Zag cabinets.”

Iain shoved a PA into the frame, and Monty paused in his reading while the awkward kid with the clipboard whispered in his ear, then scuttled away. Monty appeared to assimilate the “new” information (though Ricardo suspected it had been on his teleprompter all along) and said, “And I’ve just learned that someone may have found the twelve-inch wand. Let’s find out.”

“Monty?” Iain said. “Marlene doesn’t like the way you just said ‘learned.’ Try it again, a little less Aussie.”

“Learned,” Monty murmured. “Learned. Learrrrned. Okay. Got it.”

“Go ahead.”

Ricardo hardly noticed the line being repeated, because seriously? He dry-swallowed around the taste of copper that lingered in his mouth. All that pointing and screaming Bev had done…could she have actually spotted the single twelve-inch wand out of nine hundred and ninety-nine others? And if she did, who had ended up with it? Ricardo? Or Bev? Or that asshole, Kevin?

“Close-up on Faye,” Iain called out, and a pair of handhelds and a jib swung their focus to her.

“Amazing Faye,” Monty said, “you were the first out of the pool. And the length of your wand was…ten inches. That’s the shortest length. If everyone else also finished with a short wand, Red Team will win this challenge.”

Faye shrugged as if she wished she’d randomly grabbed something in the longer ten percent, but she was satisfied enough that she’d at least been the quickest. Her name appeared at the top of the lit scoreboard with a 10 beside it.

Close-ups were directed toward Sue, and Monty said, “Sue, Gold Team leader, you were second out of the pool. Your wand was also ten inches, which means Red Team is still in the lead.”

Ricardo patted Sue on the shoulder as her score was put up. “Good try.” She sighed, and he whispered, “At least you stuck to the plan.” Though they all knew she would have been faster if someone had thought to help her in or out of the pool. But Gold Team had been working with only their own strategy; thanks to Faye, Red Team had had access to both.

Cameras turned to Jia. “Jia Lee, you might have been the third magician out of the pool, but you were the first magician to find a ten and a half inch wand, thereby cementing your team’s lead so far.”

Jia nodded with satisfaction when she saw her score. Iain told Monty, “Put a long pause before the next number. We’ll break for a commercial there.” Cameras moved on to Muriel.

“Muriel Broom, Magic Mansion’s oldest female contestant, was the next out of the pool. Muriel, do you have any idea how long your wand was?”

“Last time I checked, I was more of an innie than an outie.”

Once the crew stopped laughing, Iain said, “Could you give him a more conventional response in case we need to edit that out?”

“What for? It wasn’t explicit.”

Iain sighed.

“Oh, all right,” Muriel said. She looked at Monty, and said with false brightness, “Why no, Monty, I haven’t a clue how long my wand was. But I sure hope I grabbed a nice big one.”

Monty looked like it was paining him to keep a straight face. “Well, Muriel, you’re in for a treat. Because the wand you found measures…eleven inches.”

The startled silence that followed Muriel’s score didn’t even need to be orchestrated by Iain. Once the shock wore off, Gold Team huddled, and Sue said, “Can you believe how lucky that was?”

“What’s that,” Muriel said, “Like one in a hundred odds?”

Bev said, “No, it depends on how many wands you picked up and compared to—”

“Hello!” Iain shouted. “Did I tell you to talk amongst yourselves? Pipe down and get with the program.”

Gold Team sorted themselves back out according to height. Ricardo observed the Red Team from over the top of Bev’s head. They did not look amused. Cameras backed up to include entire teams in their shots. Monty said, “That puts the Gold Team in the lead. The other four contestants were still in the pool when time ran out, and so none of them has a time advantage. The only way another player can take the lead from Muriel is if he, or she, has indeed found the single twelve-inch wand. Any magician who’s done that will also get immunity in the next elimination round.”

Ricardo’s heart began pounding. The way Bev had been screaming in the pool for him to pick up a particular wand, he’d had himself convinced that she’d spotted the immunity-wand. But in his haste to grab it before time ran out, his jaw collided with Kevin’s head so hard, it was a wonder he’d ended up with a wand in his hand at all.

“Kevin Kazan,” Monty said, “you were one of the magicians with no time advantage. The length of the last wand you discovered was…ten and one-half inches. I’m sorry. You are not the winner of this challenge.”

Kevin glared at Ricardo.

Monty said, “It appeared that both you and Ricardo the Magnificent were after the same wand,” he turned to face Gold Team, “and that the Math Wizard was the one who pointed it out. Bev, is that true?”

“I believe I saw the twelve-inch wand, Monty. But it’s hard to say. My glasses were wet from all the splashing.”

“Ricardo,” Monty