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

Closer, she stepped. One pace. And another. And just as Ricardo realized, numbly, that she might keep on walking—she drew abreast of him, and Monty said, “Stop.”

“Okay, kids,” Iain called out, “stand still. We’ll have the official counters in and out before you know it.”

Ricardo listened to his pulse pounding in his ears as the chains were counted and then double-checked. If they were being that careful…the score must be close. Horribly close.

After approximately forever, Iain called out, “Got your numbers, Monty? Okay, go ahead.”

“Jia Lee. In three minutes, you’ve managed to link thirty-eight rings. Unfortunately, four of those rings slipped off the end of your chain as you walked out of the linking area, which leaves you with thirty-four. Will that be enough to clinch this part of the challenge for the Red Team?

“Ricardo the Magnificent, you lost a few rings early on in the challenge. Did you manage to keep enough together to beat Jia’s score?

“The tally is in. Ricardo, your final score is…thirty-six rings. Gold Team has won the linking ring phase of the Four Props Challenge!”

Ricardo was aware, numbly, of cameras scrambling and his teammates cheering as he rejoined his team. He wanted to be happy. But mostly he was so overwhelmed, he just wanted to vomit.

___

“You know you got to win this one,” Kevin told John, “if you want to stay on the show.”

John sat on the red sofa, back straight, legs crossed. He kept his eyes on the assistants clearing the rings, and didn’t respond. After Kevin’s middle-of-the-night accusation following the Wand Pond, whether he realized John had heard it or not, it seemed silly to reward him with anything more than the most minimal civility. It felt liberating, in a way, to be able to stop pretending he thought Kevin was anything more than an odious little punk.

“’Cuz if Red Team loses this challenge,” Kevin went on, “and the home audience gotta vote someone off it, and I’m immune ’cuz I won my round…who you think they gonna pick? One of them foxy babes? Or you?”

John kept looking straight ahead. If there’s anything that makes a heckler crazy, Casey used to say, it’s when you don’t even notice they exist. While John wasn’t exactly shocked that a member of his own team had turned on him, he was a bit surprised it had happened so soon.

Crew swept the rings away, then the burliest grips brought out a table-shaped item draped in cloth. A pair of chairs were placed on each side of it, facing one another, as if they were setting up a tea party for John and Muriel rather than a challenge. Once the props were in place, Monty read, “Last but not least, we have the magic silks portion of the Four Prop Challenge. Gold Team, you selected Muriel Broom to perform. What was your reasoning behind that?”

“Isn’t it obvious, Monty?” Muriel smiled and patted down her peasant blouse. Tiny bells jingled from her bracelets as she shook out her flouncy skirt. “I’m the one who’s best at accessorizing.”

“Very good, Muriel. And joining you in this challenge is the last randomly-selected Red Team member, Professor Topaz. Magicians, have a look at what’s in store for you this final round.”

Grips whisked off the covering and revealed a table constructed of plexi. Its top was a deep box, filled entirely with colored scarves. John craned his neck to see the upper surface of the tabletop. It was opaque, with two holes cut through it, one on each end.

“Magicians have long been known for producing silk scarves from a number of unlikely places,” Monty said. “The fabric is durable enough to make parachutes from, yet it’s whisper-thin, and can easily be packed into a ball, palmed and concealed. Tonight you won’t be concealing a silk, though. This challenge is about finding one.

“This specially-constructed table holds over three thousand squares of silk—and while the contents are visible to both your teammates and the cameras, you’ll only be able to touch the silks, not see them.”

“Get a jib shot of the black tabletop,” Iain directed, and the jib camera rolled in and swooped over the table, while a few handhelds circled it.

Once the cameras backed up, Monty added, “Here’s how it works, magicians. You’ll place one hand into the box and draw out a silk. You must remain seated at all times, and you may only pull out one silk at a time. If two or more silks stick together and you pull out more than one square, you will earn points in the amount of the total number of silks in your hand. In other words, two silks, two points, and so on. You will continue drawing silks for three minutes. At the end of that time, whichever magician has the least amount of points—the lowest score—will be the winner.”

Iain said, “Let’s get a shot of the magicians behind the table, looking down at it.”

John and Muriel stepped over to the table. John nodded at Muriel. She smiled at him, eyebrows high, as if she’d just asked him a question and was waiting for the answer. Although…maybe that was just the way her eyebrows looked.

With John and Muriel in position, Monty continued. “This might lead you to play slow and careful. After all, if you don’t draw as many silks, you won’t have as many chances of incurring a penalty. However, there are several white silks scattered throughout the table. If one of you pulls a white silk, and only a white silk, you will be the immediate winner of this portion of the challenge, regardless of how many points you’ve racked up. In addition, you’ll win a week-long stay valued at five thousand dollars in a luxurious terrace suite at the Las Vegas MGM Grand, and a special guest appearance in the show of the legendary David Copperfield.”

“Well, that’d be fun,” Muriel said, “wouldn’t it? Maybe they’ll give us a comp to the