The dazzle show

Verilan and his assistant proceeded to work wonders. Juggled swords turned into clouds of butterflies. Water leaped from one container to another until bucket by bucket and barrel by barrel Verilan created an elaborate fountain. On a huge canvas, Verilan painted birds that came to life and swooped around the performance hall. Madeline and Verilan danced together above a sea of flame. Cole was pretty sure Chelsea would have been on the edge of her seat. Too bad he didn’t have a phone to take some videos for her!

At one point, Verilan called for volunteers. It took a hard scowl from Joe to make Twitch lower his hand. The chosen man was placed inside of a cabinet. Verilan proceeded to fold the cabinet into a tiny cube and swallow it. Later in the show, Verilan carved a huge block of wood until it came to life as the missing audience member. The confused man returned to his seat.

Cole was delighted by the quality and variety of illusions. He could see why Twitch loved dazzle shows. No show on Earth could compare.

After countless marvels, Verilan announced his most dangerous trick. The lighting dimmed. Three empty cages were wheeled onto the stage and spaced with a good distance between each of them. Verilan escorted Madeline into one of the cages. After a blinding flash, a huge leopard replaced Madeline in her cage, and she now occupied a different one. Another flash, and Madeline moved to the final cage, leaving behind another leopard. A third flash removed Madeline from the stage, leaving only Verilan and three caged leopards.

The applause broke up as one of the leopards began heaving against the side of the cage. Verilan tried to keep smiling, but he looked distressed. White foam dripped from the leopard’s jaws. Fluid muscles heaving, the leopard burst from the cage and rushed Verilan, biting his chest and shaking him violently.

Cole tried to jump to his feet, but Joe’s extended arm held him down. “Wait,” Joe ordered.

Trailing horrible amounts of blood, Verilan tore away from the ferocious leopard. The other two leopards burst from their cages as well. Verilan collapsed, and the leopards pounced, viciously tearing into him until nothing remained but his ruined vest.

Madeline rushed onto the stage carrying the hoop from the beginning of the show. A leopard charged her, and she held up the hoop like a shield. When the leopard sprang through the hoop, it disappeared. Madeline used the same technique to dispose of the other two leopards.

Setting the hoop aside, Madeline crouched over the bloody remnants of Verilan’s vest. Scooping the tattered material together, she molded the rags into a small cube. Then she unfolded the cube into the cabinet from earlier, opened it, and out came Verilan, shirtless but otherwise unscathed.

The crowd went wild. Cole clapped and whistled along with them. Illusion or not, it was the coolest trick he had ever seen.

Verilan reached into the hoop and pulled out a leopard-print vest. After putting it on, he passed the hoop over Madeline, and she disappeared. Waving good-bye, he raised the hoop over his head like an oversized halo and dropped it. As the hoop fell, Verilan vanished.

The cages exploded into flocks of origami birds. As the paper swans, sparrows, owls, and eagles soared overhead, they burst into colorful flames and disappeared. A rotund announcer came onto the stage, thanked everyone for coming, and asked for the crowd to exit in an orderly fashion.

Chapter 10