Clive Cussler Read Free Page A

for good and it will last you a lifetime. But if you use it for bad, it will vanish in a puff of red smoke."
    "No, no," the children cried in unison. "We will never use it for wicked things."
    "And remember, when you are finished with whatever toy you alter, you can make it small again."
    "And if we don't, will it last forever and ever?" asked Lacey.
    "Then it will remain real," Sucop assured her. "And one other thing. This is our secret. No one else must ever learn the magic."
    "Not even our mother and father?"
    Sucop ran his hand through her golden hair. "Not even your mother and father, or the spell will disappear, never to return. Love and cherish the secret and it will last until you're both grown up."
    "Not after?" asked Casey.
    Sucop slowly shook his head. "Then your dreams will take new directions, and the secret will fade in your mind and heart."
    With that, he spun on his heels and walked from the barn. He never turned and looked back as he and Mr. Periwinkle set off down the road.
    Lacey and Casey watched with tears of sadness in their eyes until their friend passed through the fields and became lost to their sight.
    Finally, Lacey turned to Casey. "What should we do now?" she asked, wiping away her tears.
    Casey thought a moment, then his eyes brightened and a wide grin spread across his face. "Let's see if we can make the magic work. I have an idea. You wait here."
    Casey ran off to the house. A few minutes later, he returned. In one hand he held a small red toy tractor that he had played with in a sandbox behind the back porch. "We'll make a real tractor for Father and tell him it came from Mr. Sucop."
    Lacey clapped her hands. "How wonderful. Father will be so pleased, and he'll have something to remember Mr. Sucop by."
    "It's the least we can do," said Casey.
    Quickly, they placed the little tractor, with its little yellow wheels on the front and big wheels on the back, on the magical mat. There was a tiny steering wheel and a little seat for the driver. The engine that could be seen under the open hood was painted silver.
    Casey took the copper box and stared at Lacey. "You ready?"
    "Yes, yes. Are you sure you know which lever to push?"
    "He said the left one."
    Nervous and gripped by suspense, Casey pushed the lever and held his breath. As with the cart, the tiny tractor glimmered and sparkled, followed by the thick, swirling, whirling purple mist.
    But nothing happened. The toy tractor was still a toy tractor.
    "You must have pushed the wrong lever," said Lacey.
    Casey shook his head. "No, something doesn't work. Maybe it was a trick."
    "Mr. Sucop said we must believe with all our hearts. That has to be it. We didn't believe. Let's try again, but this time we must have faith that the tractor will grow into a real one."
    They closed their eyes and wished and wished and wished with all their hearts that the little tractor would grow into a big one. They did not see the mist or the miniature burst of stars or hear anything but a cooing dove nesting in the rafters far above them. After a full minute, they slowly opened their eyes.
    There in the middle of the barn on the magical mat sat a life-size red tractor with yellow wheels.
    Lacey and Casey gazed with joy and rapture at the vehicle. As if in a trance, they walked around it, studying every bolt, every nut and screw, feeling the brown leather on the seat and the gleaming radiator cap with its round thermometer behind a small glass viewing window.
    "We did it!" Lacey exclaimed. "The magical box works just as Mr. Sucop said it would."
    Casey climbed onto the tractor and settled in the brown leather seat and gripped the big steering wheel. "I wonder if it really runs."
    "Do you know how to start it?"
    Casey nodded as if the question irritated him. "Of course. It's simple. You turn on the ignition switch, pull out the choke and press the starter button." He did all three and the starter motor whirred as it turned over the big four-cylinder engine. And then there