And now, an excerpt from Animagic Mayhem: Attack of the Dorcs 🪄
Chapter 1
The Magic Show
Simon was sketching a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat on his black handheld chalkboard. It looked downright smashing. He chalked it up to having had a lot of practice—
Wham!
His chalk slashed a line across the picture.
“Ugh! They really need to fix these bloody potholes. You all right back there?” Dad asked from the driver’s seat.
Simon wiped away his ruined work with the white sleeve of his buttoned-up shirt and wrote, YEAH, I’M OKAY. He held the board up as Mum turned in the passenger seat.
“He’s okay,” she told Dad. “Got his seatbelt on like a good lad. You excited for the show, Simon?”
He erased his message and replaced it with a large YES!
For his eleventh birthday, Simon was going to see his hero: the Amazing Cardoni Corvo.
Mum smiled. “Just remember, Simon, magic isn’t real. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
His grin faltered. There was such a thing as magic. Ever since he saw his first Lucky Charms commercial, he was dead-sure of it.
“Now why would you say that to the poor lad?” Dad demanded.
“So he doesn’t get upset! So he knows it’s all fancy smoke and mirrors, and no women REALLY get sawed in half—”
“What’s next? You gonna tell him Father Christmas don't exist?”
As his parents launched into another heated argument, Simon wiped his board clean and drew a new top hat. This time, a flock of doves flew out of it.
He was just adding the last and slowest dove when Dad briskly announced, “We’re here, we are!”
Simon looked up. Twycross Theatre stood before them, its tall doors framed by carved stone. Above them, a poster of Cardoni showed him grinning suavely beneath his fancy black top hat.
Simon hung his chalkboard around his neck by its string, fumbled with his seatbelt and hopped out of the car. He hurried towards the theatre, then spun around to wait for his parents, bouncing on his toes. They chortled as they caught up.
Inside, Dad handed their tickets to an attendant, who stamped them and pointed the way.
The theatre was packed. They shuffled past knees and handbags until they reached their three empty seats. Simon plopped into the middle one, with a parent on either side.
“Great seats, huh?” Dad asked.
Simon nodded eagerly.
The lights dimmed. His heart pounded.
“And now… presenting… in person… the Amazing Cardoni Corvo!” boomed an unseen announcer.
Two spotlights swept across the grand, billowing purple curtains. They parted to reveal Cardoni at centre stage, bowing low in a swanky black suit, red bow tie and cape. He swept a white-gloved hand through the air and produced a black top hat from nowhere.
The audience gasped.
“How do you explain that one, honey?” Dad whispered.
Mum shushed him.
Simon grinned.
Cardoni held out the hat, wiggled his fingers and pulled a white rabbit from it by the ears. Starting off with a classic.
The theatre applauded. The rabbit’s feet scrabbled at the air.
Simon’s grin faded a little. That couldn’t be exactly comfortable now, could it? He had never stopped to consider the trick from the rabbit’s point of view. Seeing it in person was different.
“And now, I present my Lovely Assistant!” Cardoni announced in his theatrical Italian accent.
A beautiful woman appeared beside him in a puff of smoke. A yellow flower nestled in her long blonde hair, and her purple suit sparkled beneath the lights. She raised a matching top hat, releasing a flurry of white doves.
Applause thundered around Simon.
Cardoni flicked his wand at the birds. One by one, they burst into streams of colorful confetti.
His assistant’s smile tightened.
It was only a small change, but Simon noticed. He was good at reading faces. Hers didn’t look nearly as delighted as the audience’s.
“Now I need a volunteer!” Cardoni called.
Hands shot up throughout the theatre. Simon lifted the chalkboard’s string over his head, unclipped his chalk and scrawled ME! ME! ME! He held it as high as he could.
Cardoni shielded his eyes from the spotlights as if they were blinding him badly and scanned the seats. His gaze stopped on Simon’s waving board.
“Yes, you! Holding the sign!”
Simon forgot to breathe.
“Cor blimey. Go on!” Dad urged.
“And remember, it’s not real!” Mum added.
“For cryin' out loud…” Dad muttered.
Simon squeezed past the other spectators before his parents could start again. His chalkboard had totally helped him stand out. For once, needing it had worked in his favour.
His knees shook as he climbed the steps. Cardoni beckoned him closer with a gloved hand.
Simon couldn't believe he was actually standing in front of his hero. Close enough to step on his cape if he wanted to.
Cardoni knelt beside him.
“Okay, kid,” he muttered. “When I tell you, say the magic word. Abracadabra. Got it?”
Simon’s stomach dropped.
He reached for his chalk, but Cardoni had already straightened and turned to the audience.
“And now, gaze in wonder as I saw my Lovely Assistant in half!”
A long box appeared in a puff of smoke. The assistant waved to the crowd and climbed inside. Cardoni spun it around three times, produced a saw and set to work across the middle.
Simon gulped. He clutched his board, watching the blade bite into the wood like the teeth of a busy beaver.
When the box was cut in two, Cardoni glanced at him.
“Okay, kid. Now. As loud as you can, so the morons can hear you.”
Simon stared back, frozen.
“Come on!" Cardoni cried urgently. "The only way she’ll get out in one piece is if you say the magic word!”
Simon would have screamed if he could. Instead, he bent over his board and wrote with a trembling hand.
I CAN’T TALK. I’M MUTE.
He held it up.
Cardoni leaned forward and squinted.
“Oh, thaaat’s why you have that thing.” His mouth twisted and his thin, curled moustache twitched. “Look, I don’t have time for this, kid. I’ve got a show to do.”
He tossed something to the floor. Dark smoke billowed between them, then cleared to reveal a lever.
“Turns out our volunteer can’t say the magic word!” he announced. “Looks like we've got a dud!”
Laughter broke out in the audience. It was like they always reacted the way he wanted them to.
Simon’s face burned.
“Oi!” Dad’s voice rang out. “That's me son you're talking about, mate! Come n' have a go, go on then!”
Cardoni ignored him and flicked his wand. Smoke curled around Simon’s head, and something furry landed on his neatly combed brown hair. The rabbit.
“Put that stupid rabbit back in its cage while you’re down there, will ya?” Cardoni muttered.
He pulled the lever.
The floor opened beneath Simon.
He heard Mum cry his name. Next thing he knew, he was falling into darkness.
The rabbit slipped from his head. Simon caught it against his chest and curled around it to protect it.
Down they went.
But when would they land?
Before he could so much as theorize on the matter, he hit something mercifully soft with a thump.
Cushions. A whole pile of purple cushions.
Simon lay still for a moment, his heart hammering. The rabbit wriggled against him. He loosened his grip and stroked its back until it settled down.
Above him, the trapdoor snapped shut. The applause sounded far away now.
He sat up. Shelves of hats, wands and other props crowded the room around him. A cage stood on a nearby table, beside a television angled towards it. There was a stack of books, too, and an old record player.
It looked as though someone had arranged them for the rabbit.
But that was just silly.
Simon climbed off the cushions and approached the table. He opened the cage, then hesitated.
He looked down at the bunny. Its pink nose twitched beneath its whiskers. It had already been dangled by the ears and dropped through a hole. Now he was supposed to shut it away until that jerk needed it again?
Simon picked up a carrot from the table and offered it to the rabbit. It munched hungrily.
He smiled. Animals were easy to be around. They didn’t expect a conversation.
When the carrot was gone, he held the rabbit close and searched for an exit. Stairs rose along the far wall. His parents would be looking for him.
He hurried towards them.
Suddenly, a puff of smoke blossomed in his path.
Simon stopped short.
Thankfully, it wasn’t Cardoni.
The Lovely Assistant stood before him, whole and not sawed in half. Which he was also quite thankful for.
Up close, she was even prettier. Simon felt his cheeks warm.
“Oh, hello.” She looked from him to the rabbit. “I’m sorry about Cardoni. He's a disaster. Are you hurt?”
Simon shook his head.
“Good. I’ll take him off your hands," she said, her clear blue eyes flickering toward the rabbit. "Then we’ll get you back to your parents.”
She held out her arms.
Simon stepped back.
Her smile faltered. He darted around her and ran towards the table, but another puff of smoke appeared ahead of him.
Before he could turn, she scooped the rabbit from his arms.
“Now, now, stealing is wrong, young man.”
Simon grabbed his chalk and wrote furiously. He thrust the board towards her, right in her face.
WHAT’S WRONG IS KEEPING HIM IN THAT CAGE JUST TO GET PULLED OUT OF A HAT BY THAT JERKWAD MAGICIAN.
“A jerkwad, is he?” She gave a short, melodic laugh. “That’s putting it lightly.” Her amusement faded. “Cardoni is worse than you know.”
Simon pointed at the rabbit, then held out his hands.
She studied him. “Do you know sign language?” she signed with her hands.
He nodded.
Simon let the board hang against his chest and signed, “I’m not leaving him here. All signs point to me taking him with me.”
The assistant glanced down at the rabbit.
“Bundini is no mere pet.”
“Then I’ll release him into the wild.”
“To get scooped up by, like, a hawk? Or, like, a fox?”
Simon lowered his hands. He hadn’t thought of that. Pretty much everything that could eat rabbits ate rabbits.
“He won’t be staying here forever,” she said gently. “I’m sending him somewhere. A world where magic and adventure await.”
Simon stared at her, then glanced at the television and books.
“Is that why you’ve got all this entertainment around his cage? You think he can watch some telly and take anything in?”
She laughed. “Stories teach us many things. Right and wrong. Courage. Kindness."
She picked up a book called Basic Decency for Dummies and flicked through it fondly. "He’ll need those lessons where he’s going.”
“But he’s just a bunny. He can’t understand this crap.”
“Not yet.” She stroked Bundini between the ears. “But he’ll remember. And he won’t be an ordinary rabbit anymore.”
Simon looked at Bundini. The rabbit’s nose twitched.
“Where are you sending him?”
She raised an eyebrow. “I think I’ve said enough.”
Mum’s words came back to him. Magic isn't real. Perhaps the assistant was making up a story just so he’d leave Bundini without a fuss. Or to teach him some lesson like she was saying. That would make him even more ticked off.
But then, he had just seen her appear out of thin air. Twice. Simon frowned. There had to be some way to tell a trick from the real thing.
“Send him, then,” he signed. “Show me.”
She raised both her eyebrows and looked down at the rabbit.
“Perhaps it was destiny that brought you here today,” she murmured. “Perhaps it really is time.”
She set Bundini gently in Simon’s arms, took off her top hat and placed it upside down on the table.
For a moment, she simply looked into it.
Then she turned back to Simon and held out her hands. He hesitated before returning the rabbit.
She cradled Bundini and fed him another carrot. Her eyes shone.
“I must confess, I have been putting this off. It’s hard to let him go.”
Simon stroked Bundini’s soft head. One white ear perked up beneath his hand.
“I had a German shepherd,” he signed. “He was completely out of control. Tore everything to pieces. My folks couldn’t handle him, and I was too little to help, so he went to live with my Grandad. Miles away.”
The assistant watched as he signed animatedly.
“I missed him,” Simon continued. “But he’s happy there. Grandad takes him on long walks. And he gets to tear everyone's stuff up at the old folks' home. They think it's a ghost doing it. It made the news, it did. But Grandad says he only tears up the newspapers now. Usually after he’s finished reading them.”
She grinned warmly. “Thank you for encouraging me to do what must be done. What is your name, child?”
“Simon.”
“You have been a wonderful volunteer, Simon. You have a part in this tale, and it won’t be forgotten.”
She tousled his hair. He blushed, then glanced at the hat.
“Will he be safe?”
“The world I’m sending him to needs him. There will be danger.” She looked Simon in the eye. “But the Chosen Bun will have a chance to become much more than Cardoni’s trick rabbit. And if he succeeds, "The Amazing" Cardoni will be very sorry indeed.”
Simon quite liked that idea.
He studied the purple, orange-brimmed hat again. It didn’t look deep enough to hold a few bunnies, let alone an entire world.
“Could I go there?”
“Surely you wouldn’t want to leave your—”
“Please, just tell me if it’s possible.”
She paused. “It’s... possible.”
Simon’s hands hovered in front of him.
Then he asked, “Would I be able to talk there?”
“That’s also possible,” she said softly. “But Simon, your parents are upstairs. They’ll be worried about you.”
He thought of how Mum had shrieked his name, and to try to land on all fours, when he had fallen through the floor.
“I guess you’re right,” he signed with a silent sigh.
Still, his eyes returned to the hat.
Maybe someday.
But he kept that thought to himself.
The assistant hugged Bundini one last time.
“Farewell, my baby bunny,” she whispered, her voice catching.
She lowered him into the hat. His white paws disappeared, then his twitching nose. For an instant, only the tips of his ears remained. Then those vanished too.
Simon leaned forward.
A brilliant white light shone from the hat. Simon shielded his eyes just as Cardoni had beneath the spotlights, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away.
End of excerpt. 🐇
Thanks for reading, aspirants! 😌 This sneak preview is a work in progress and shall surely differ from the final version. Follow The Daily Honker for future Animagic Mayhem updates. 📰
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