The Magic Misfits - Neil Patrick Harris Page 0,7

Mineral Wells!”

Theo held his light under his head. He did not dress in his trademark tuxedo any longer. Since the Misfits were supposed to have disbanded, he’d decided to make his look less formal, less like a performer. Today he wore high-waisted beige slacks and a black turtleneck sweater. “Everyone knew you would do well at the fair,” he said, “and since our magic club is together again, the rest of us have prepared a show in your honor!”

The others clapped and cheered, and Ridley felt her face start to warm. “But I—”

“Shh!” said Carter, winking. He wore a brown corduroy coat, and even in the dim room, his blond hair practically shone and his blue eyes twinkled.

Ridley rubbed at her temples. Her friends had done something nice for her. Couldn’t she just enjoy it?

Inside the circle, Leila brought an intricately knotted net from behind her back and laid it on the ground. Stepping into its center, she gathered up the corners over her head. “Olly! Izzy! Your assistance, please.”

The twins cartwheeled between the chairs. They tied the top of Leila’s net tightly, so that it appeared as though she had been captured in a forest trap. “Oh no! Whatever shall I do?” Leila crooned from inside the net.

Ridley let herself chuckle.

Olly and Izzy then brought out an enormous pink silk kerchief and held it before Leila like a curtain. Hidden, she shouted out, “One… Two…” On “Three!” the twins dropped the silk to reveal that the intricately knotted net containing Leila had transformed. Now she was no longer caught inside but was tied up from neck to ankles in the same white rope instead.

“Oops!” Leila cried out.

Ridley let out a loud chortle.

But all was not lost! Leila bent at the waist, rolled forward, and by the time she stood up again, the rope had loosened, falling to the ground in a neat coil. Leila stepped over it and took a bow as the others applauded loudly.

Ridley fully gave in and let out a whoop.

(Doesn’t it feel nice to let yourself be caught up sometimes? I try to whoop at least three times a day myself.)

Leila leapfrogged over the back of a chair as Theo took her place inside the ring. The twins stayed where they were, raising the piece of pink silk between them again. Theo stood before it and began, “As you know, I have spent much time dedicated to the art of levitation. Almost as much time as I’ve spent dedicated to playing my music!” He moved his arm from his side, and his violin appeared in his hand. He twirled the violin, and his bow appeared in the other. “In this trick, I shall combine the two arts and make them more than they could ever be on their own.” He raised the violin to his chin and began to play. The tune started off slow and quiet, and as Theo continued, he walked around the cloth curtain that Olly and Izzy were holding up for him. His music bounced around the old movie theater, growing louder, the melody moving quickly.

To Ridley’s surprise, Theo’s head appeared at the top of the silk cloth. His eyes were closed, and he fluttered his bow across the strings as if the tune itself were lifting him up and up and up. Soon, his entire body was revealed, as if he were floating over the space behind the pink cloth. He opened his eyes and looked down at the twins. They took that as their cue to lower the cloth slowly down—so too came Theo, playing all the while. When the top hem of the cloth was a foot off the ground, Theo stepped forward, his feet landing firmly on the floor. With a final trill, he bowed quickly as the twins whipped the cloth aside, revealing the nothingness that had been holding Theo aloft.

The trick was too good for Ridley to not honk the horn hidden under the seat of her chair. Theo grinned back at her.

Carter stepped forward. He placed one hand behind his back. Raising the other over his head, he snapped his fingers. When he brought the first hand out again, a small cake was balanced on his palm, a single sparkler spitting glints and gleams into the darkness.

Ridley’s eyes began to sting with emotion.

“Congratulations, Ridley!” Carter said.

“Congratulations, Ridley!” the other Misfits echoed.

The sparkler fizzled out. In the sudden dark, Ridley wiped at her cheeks. “I—I don’t know what to say.”

Carter handed the cake to Theo.

“You