Girl in the Shadows Read Free Page B

asked.
    “The Miraculous Moira. I want to do close-up magic for your crowds, with an escape twist.”
    He crooked his head to where Raleigh sat. Raleigh, who didn’t bother to speak up in support. But it must not have mattered. “Since you seem to know the magician we’ve already hired, let’s see what you can do,” Thurston said.
    The tent had grown silent, more than it had for the other auditions so far, and I scanned the stands. Dez grinned at me and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. It occurred to me that I hadn’t seen him audition yet, even though I was supposed to be last.
    You came all this way. You can do this .
    “Miss Miraculous?” Thurston prompted.
    I took the handcuffs out of my pocket and held them up, dangling. I removed a deck from my pocket with my other hand. My fingers trembled, which they never did.
    I gave a stiff smile to the panel of judges. Thurston and the older woman already seemed bored, but the girl in the suit continued to smile and Jules seemed interested. I closed the cuffs around my wrists with an audible click , and that perked them up.
    “Playing cards have existed since at least the ninth century, which we know from a record set down by the writer Su E, telling of Princess Tongchang using them in imperial China. And yet the mysteries any ordinary deck of cards can present are still vast. The ability of simple cards to amaze is undimmed.” I walked toward them, shuffling the cards, handcuffs and shaky hands notwithstanding. It had taken an age to find cuffs that allowed enough movement for me to do this, and another age to learn how to work with the cards while wearing them.
    “Pick a card,” I said, holding them out. “Each of you.”
    Each of them did. I motioned for them to reinsert their cards back into the deck, looking away so I didn’t see where. Something was . . . off. The feeling could just be nerves, but I had the sensation that I was hovering outside my own body. And not only that, specifically hovering way up high in the top of the tent spire above us. Like some force was pulling me there. Was it stage fright? I could have all the skill in the world, but it wouldn’t matter if I sucked at performing.
    “Good,” I said as I backed away, trying to ground myself. “Keep the card at the forefront of your mind. Let it be the only image there.”
    I shuffled several times, cutting the deck again for good measure, but it was like a puppet was doing it for me. I controlled the movements, but I wasn’t in control of them. I almost dropped the cards when a shuffle went wide, and I had to pull against the cuffs.
    Time to wrap this up.
    I advanced a few steps closer, holding the deck flat on one palm, waving the shaky fingers of my other hand over it like a diviner. Someone in the stands laughed, but I refused to look in that direction. I picked up the card on top of the deck. “Is this your card?”
    I flipped the card to show its face and held it up at Thurston, and without waiting, flipped the next, showing it to the older lady. “And yours?” Then the third to the nice girl. “And yours?” And then to Jules.
    There was dead silence.
    Thurston exchanged a look with his fellow judges. “I’m afraid not. Thank you for your—”
    It was like I’d plunged from above back into my body. I gave a flourish and was out of the handcuffs, had them stashed back in my pocket.
    “Not yet!” I raised my hands.
    I’d come so far. Failing would mean Dad was right and I couldn’t be a magician.
    I steeled myself, pretending it was only these four judges and me. But I didn’t believe it. I refused to look over and see Raleigh’s no-doubt-disappointed face. What if he told my dad about this? He’d think I was an amateur, overpromising; no one did card tricks in handcuffs.
    “One more chance?” I asked.
    “Wow us,” Thurston said. “The cuff trick was good. The card trick was amateur hour. We’re here to be wowed, just like the patrons of our shows.”
    I