Chapter 7: Time to Shine

The crowd had finally quieted down after applauding heavily for Laura's show. As soon as Maxine stepped onto the stage, the crowd's reaction alternated between subdued applause and even quieter conversation among themselves. Laura had done an extraordinary job getting the crowd fired up before she stepped on, so she knew she would have to work extra hard to keep them interested if she expected to win. Maxine's pulse began to quicken considerably. She felt the aura of positive energy slowly fade around her as the crowd focused intensely on the stage...analyzing her with a thousand eyes, watching for signs of weakness. She looked around the room slowly without moving her head for a sign--any sign--of reassurance. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her parents sitting near the front row with Jessie and Sandy, waving their hands wildly and cheering her on.

"Go, Maxine!" shouted the siblings. "You can do it!"

Maxine suddenly felt a bit more relaxed and calmly stepped up to the microphone to address the audience. "Good afternoon, everyone," she said. "My name is Maxine McAllister, and this is my 'lovely assistant', Violet."

Violet nodded and bowed. "How do you do?"

"I've never seen you on campus before," said Dr. Parker. "Are you new here?"

"Actually, Professor," Maxine replied, "I do most of my studying at home. I haven't been to college, but I did have a few amazing private tutors."

"I see. Well then, Miss McAllister, let us know what you plan to do today?"

"Today, I plan to educate and entertain the home crowd with a little exhibition I like to call 'Teleportation: Taking Care of Business in the Blink of an Eye'."

Maxine touched the blink stone around her neck with her thumb and rubbed on it, instantly teleporting to the front of the stage. Violet ran to her side and sat next to her on the edge. "You've probably seen it a lot in television and in cartoons," said Maxine, "and I'll bet you've asked yourself, 'How'd they do that? How did they get over that mountain range so quickly?', or, 'How did the hero cross that raging river without a rope bridge?' The answer is simple, my friends--they teleported across. It's usually accompanied by a cool pose, a few flashy special effects and a quick musical sting, but that's only something the producers put in to make it look dramatic.

"The magic of teleportation does exist in real life, but it's nowhere near as grandiose as TV likes to make it. We haven't actually reached that level of technology yet, although I'm sure someone's working on it right now. You can use it to move around a room or field in short bursts, like this."

Maxine rubbed her blink stone again and quickly zipped behind the audience, directly under the lights near the exit. "It's very easy to do once you know how it works," she continued. "Just picture a location in your head, then chant your spell or use your blink stone and--POOF! You'll be there in no time."

A third touch of her blink stone led Maxine back to the front of the stage next to Violet. She handed the microphone to the little sprite and moved a few steps away from her. "That's not all you can do with it, though," said Violet. "If you learn to react quickly enough, you can use it to dodge almost anything that gets thrown your way."

Violet reached into the orange pouch in her pocket and pulled out a trio of smoke bombs, tossing them at Maxine's feet one by one and watching each explode with puffs of multi-colored fog. Maxine dodged the first two with ease, but almost got hit by the third bomb. She stopped for a second to take a drink of water bottle to regain her energy, but then looked back with surprise as Violet wound up her pouch-holding arm and aimed toward the back of the crowd. "It's also a great way to make a heroic last-second save," said Violet as she launched the pouch into the air with all her might.

Maxine teleported to the back of the auditorium, jumping backward with her hand outstretched to catch the airborne bag. Once she caught it, she tried to hand on her back to lessen the chance of injuring herself. The crowd went wild with excitement as she stood up and triumphantly raised the bag over her head. She tried to carry on her conversation with the audience, but she was only able to get her message across to the few rows in the back. "The best part about using this spell," she tried to say, "is being able to sneak up on people, like this!"

Maxine smiled and nodded before teleporting herself directly behind Violet, surprising her by shouting "Boo!" really loudly in her hear. The stunned sprite dropped the microphone onto the ground, giving Maxine a chance to pick it up and finish her speech.

"Like any good spell, you need to be careful how much energy you put into teleporting. For instance, you can jump from one end of this room to the other without any problem, but you couldn't use it to go from here to, say, the mayor's house in one move. You might compare it to running really, really fast You burn a little energy through teleporting the same way you would through running. After all, you wouldn't try to run at full speed down a highway for ten miles, would you?"

A majority of the audience members shook their heads in the negative.

"Of course not," said Maxine. "You'd collapse trying to keep it up after just two, and you'd also get incredibly thirsty. So, my last bit of advice to you is this: go short, have fun with it, and keep a bottle of water handy. You never know when you might need the extra energy."

Maxine and Violet returned to the center of the stage, bowing and curtsying to everyone amid a shower of applause. The McAllisters were the only ones to give a standing ovation, but it still pleased Maxine to get that kind of reception from anyone. The judges provided their assessment of the show fairly quickly--a trio of eights, followed by a seven from Huey and a ten from Professor Solis. "Very well done, Miss McAllister," she said. "You did an excellent job in keeping the audience's attention. It's good to see an interactive deconstruction of a magic spell where nobody gets hurt...for a change. Have you considered becoming a teacher?"

Maxine chuckled. "A teacher? I haven't really thought about it. I like doing magic so much that I wouldn't dream of giving it up."

"That's not quite what I meant, but--"

She was interrupted by Dr. Parker, who tapped on his wristwatch and whispered something into her ear. "Never mind. Thank you again, Maxine and...what was your little friend's name again?"

"Violet, madam," Maxine replied.

"Violet! Yes, of course. Thank you both for being here today."

---

Maxine felt tired. She sighed heavily and walked slowly behind the curtain to look for a place to rest. The chairs were occupied by Clark and his gang, so she and Violet searched for a nearby spot on the floor to rest their bodies. The floor was unusually cold and felt harder than the chairs, but they decided to cope with it anyway. Carlos spotted Maxine sitting directly behind him and offered to shake her hand.

"Hey," he said. "Great job out there, Max."

"Yeah," said Clark. "That divine catch you made was spectacular! It was like watching a baseball game."

Maxine was flattered. "Thanks, guys," she said. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"I knew you could do it, Max," said Bob.

"Huh? How did you know? I don't think I've even seen you before until today."

"Well, I've watched a couple of your shows in White Pine before. I didn't have any idea that I'd be competing with the Maxine McAllister."

"Look at that, big sis," said Violet. "The show's not even over yet, and you already have fans."

"I'm a little surprised myself," she whispered back.

"Why don't you come and sit with us?" asked Bob, picking himself up from his chair.

Maxine happily obliged. "Why thank you, Robert."

Clark glanced at Bob, snickering. "She called you 'Robert', man!" he whispered. "I think she likes you!"

"Cut it out!" said Bob, unable to hide his own laughter. "She's sitting right next to you."

"Uh, I don't mean to interrupt anything," said Maxine, "but have any of you guys seen Laura around?"

"I saw her," said Clark. "She left about a minute ago to get some snacks."

Laura and Lilly came back in through one of the side doors, walking toward the television holding bags of brownies. Laura took a bite from one of hers and looked at Maxine and the boys. "Wow, Maxie. It looks like you have yourself a nice little fan club here," she said.

"Oh, it's not like that," said Carlos. "We were just giving the young lady a chair to sit in, because we thought she might get cold sitting on the floor."

"Really?" asked Lilly, squinting at the group with her good eye.

Clark whispered into Carlos' ear this time. "Don't answer that. Do you want her to get away from us?"

Laura shook her head, taking another bite from the brownie.

"What?"

"Nothing. Anyway, I came over here to see what Eddie was up to. I haven't heard him say anything since Maxine's act started. Do you think he chickened out?"

"Not likely." Carlos pointed to the television screen, where Eddie has already gone out to the stage, still holding on to his personal spell book. He adjusted his glasses and then picked up the microphone with his free hand.

"That's funny," said Maxine. "I don't remember hearing the stage hand call out his number."

"He didn't," said Laura. "That fool Eddie never cared much for following directions. I guess he wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to get this done as quickly as possible."

They all watched the screen carefully as Eddie began his act. He pointed out toward the audience and beckoned for someone to join him. An elderly man in a green sweater-vest walked up to Eddie and shook his hand. "What's your name, sir?" he asked.

"Hansel Gabler," replied the elderly gentleman.

"And how old are you?"

"Seventy-two and still kicking."

"Glad to hear that. Now, is there anyone with whom you'd like me to communicate today?"

"My son, Gerald. He died in a plane crash six months ago."

"Okay, Mr. Gabler. I'll see if I can contact your late son."

Eddie closed his eyes, grasped the elderly man's hands and began to recite a prayer in the Old Tongue. A faint white glow radiated from Eddie's body as he concluded his chant. His body jerked forward, almost knocking Hansel down. He stood up and tried to right himself before letting go of Hansel's hands. "Whoa!" he exclaimed in a raspy baritone. "Where am I? And who are all of these people?"

Hansel looked sideways at Eddie with a hint of concern. "Are you all right there, kid?"

Eddie shook his head and looked at Hansel again. "Dad?"

"Gerald?"

"Dad! You're still alive!" Eddie clutched onto Hansel with a grip tight enough to squeeze the life out of a small child. Hansel squirmed for a few seconds before finally prying himself free.

"Well, of course I am, son. Did you think this old man would kick the bucket so soon? I still have a few years of living to do!"

"Heh...that's just like you, Dad...never one to stop for anyone."

"That's right. Now, I need to ask you something, Gerald...why did you have to go on that plane trip? I kept warning you that something bad was going to happen."

"It was a freak accident, Dad. No one could have predicted it. Besides, I had to take that flight. It was too late to cancel, and I didn't want you and Mom to worry."

"I'd normally say 'be more careful next time', but it's too late for that now." Hansel sighed and bowed his head in disbelief.

"It doesn't have to be that way, Dad. I can still come back. I can still see you and Mom again, right?"

Hansel sighed again, this time saying nothing.

"What?" Eddie placed his hands on Hansel's shoulders, trying to look directly at him face-to-face. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Son...I'm afraid your mother is...no longer with us."

Eddie's face became blue with shock. "She's dead?"

"Three weeks ago. Heart failure."

"Why didn't you tell me about this?!"

Hansel clutched onto Eddie's collar and yanked him up. "Because you're dead, too, you idiot!" he shouted.

Eddie opened his mouth and prepared to yell at Hansel, but quickly relented as he came to the realization that the old man was right. "Oh...I'm sorry."

"It wasn't about you, really."

"No...I understand."

"She was feeling sick for quite a while, even before your accident. The doctors tried their best, but there was nothing they could do to save her."

"Mom..."

"Don't worry, son. You'll be able to see her again soon."

"And what about you?"

Hansel merely shrugged. "Eh...I'll deal. After all, I am getting up there in the years. What smart woman would want to handle used goods?"

They both shared a laugh on stage, and then an embrace. Eddie pushed up his glasses and then held tightly onto Hansel's hands once again. "Dad," he said. "It was good to see you again. Thank you."

"Thank me?" Hansel asked. "For what? I didn't do anything. The one you ought to thank is this kid here. I asked him to summon you so I could get a chance to say goodbye."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Look down."

Eddie did as the old man told him, and looked at himself in absolute horror. Gerald's spirit had realized that he unwittingly possessed Eddie, and started freaking out. Eddie's body started glowing white again for a few seconds, and he dropped to the ground on his hands and knees. He slowly regained his own consciousness and was able to stand upright on his own after getting Hansel to pull him up. "That took a lot out of me," he said in his normal voice.

"It's all over now, kid," said Hansel. "You did a good job."

"Thanks. I'm glad I was able to help."

Eddie shook Hansel's hand and walked with him to his seat. The crowd applauded Eddie as he returned to the stage to face the judges.

"Eddie," said Professor Hayden. "Your shows usually astound and dazzle me, but this time around, I get the feeling that you aren't really challenging yourself enough. I expected to see a little more out of you today."

The mayor looked at him with her hands folded over her score cards. "Now wait a minute, Professor," she said. "I thought it was a good performance. A rare, touching display of affection between a father and his departed son. You just don't see anything like that anymore."

"Well, I suppose it was decent...for what it was. He finished the act in time, and nobody got hurt, so I guess I should commend him on that."

The judges held up their score cards one at a time, starting with Professor Solis--a seven, an eight, a six, and two nines. Eddie smiled and thanked the judges, and then passed the microphone to Professor Julian before making his exit.

"Eddie Sykes, ladies and gentlemen," said the professor. "We've seen what all of our contestants had to offer today, so all that's left is to award the prizes. Let's all take one last break for a minute or two to give our judges some time to get their score cards in order. We'll announce the winners after this musical number from the Kingfisher band. Hit it!"

Julian walked over to the judges' table and huddled together with them while the band played the school's fight song. Only a few people left the audience, as everyone else wanted to keep their seats for the eventual award ceremony.

---

With nothing left to do for the next few minutes, and nothing on television that everyone could agree on watching to kill time, Maxine turned it off and sought someone to chat with until she was called out again. Trent and Bianca were deeply engaged in conversation with one another, and nobody dared disturb the lovebirds for fear of getting yelled at or punched out. Laura and Eddie appeared to be arguing with each other again, and Maxine had no intention of stepping in the middle of that. Clark and his friends decided to amuse themselves by playing cards. She wanted to join in, but they had already formed a foursome. The only one not occupied at the moment was Lilly, who was sitting by herself near one of the exits. She was reading a book through a magnifier when she heard Maxine approaching. "Oh, hello there, Maxine," she said. "You did a great job out there earlier."

"Thanks," said Maxine. "You weren't too bad yourself, even if Eddie disagrees with you."

"I don't let it bother me."

"That's good." Maxine took a peek at the book that Lilly was reading. "Hey, that looks interesting. What are you reading there?"

"It's a romance novel. My literature professor wanted me to read it so that I would be able to discuss it with him for next Friday's lecture."

"You're doing homework on a weekend? At a time like this?"

"Don't get me wrong...I'm not doing it because I want to. I want to get this out of the way because I have to go to the hospital later on to get my eye checked out."

"I see. What happened to that eye of yours, anyway?"

"I lost it in a fencing accident."

"Oh, my!" said Violet. "That sounds painful. What happened?"

Lilly bowed her head. "I'd rather not talk about it. It's pretty embarrassing."

"Okay then," said Maxine, pulling herself away from the book. "Let's talk about something el--"

Before she could ask her next question, the stage hand called everybody out one last time.

"Never mind. Let's get going."

Lilly stashed her magnifier and book into her purse and took Maxine's hand, allowing Maxine to guide her to the stage. They gathered in line next to the other contestants and stood behind Professor Julian as he made his announcement.

"Thank you," he said. "I hope you all had a good time at today's show. It's now time for us to announce the winners of our competition."

Julian tore open a small red envelope and removed a sheet of parchment from it, reading each of the names aloud. "Our third place winner, with a score of forty-one points...Miss Maxine McAllister!"

Maxine smiled and jumped for joy as she walked up to the professor to accept her prize money. The dean came out a few seconds later to present her with a third-place bronze trophy. She stopped to post with Julian and the dean for a few photo opportunities and then took her place on the victory podium behind the line.

"In second place, our judges gave a score of forty-two points to Mr. Robert Terry!"

The professor handed Bob a check and a silver trophy to commemorate his second-place finish. Bob took the prizes and walked up to Maxine to shake her hand. The band started up a slow drum roll as Julian read the last name on the list. "And now, you winner, and two-time defending local champion is...Miss Laura Morgan, with forty-three points!"

The crowd roared with applause as Laura walked up to center stage to accept her winnings--a gold first-place trophy, a large check for three thousand dollars, and a gold star badge emblazoned with the letters "NMO", affirming her spot in next week's finals. Laura curtsied to the others, smiling and complimenting each of them for their own performances. The auditorium lit up with intermittent flashes of white light as intrepid photographers snapped pictures of the winning trio.

They were joined on stage by Thora Stark, who was anxious to get interviews from the three magicians. She walked over to Maxine first, as she was the closest one to her reporter's chair. "Maxine," she said, trying to raise her voice loud enough to hear herself over the crowd noise, "you've been to a lot of magic shows before, but this is your first Trials attempt. Did this feel any different for you going in?"

"No, not very much," said Maxine. "I prepared for this one just like I would with any show. Of course, seeing my family in the front row did help ease the tension a little. Thanks, guys!"

Thora slowly walked over to Bob on the opposite side of the podium. "Bob, how did it feel to have all of that fire surrounding you during your performance? Were you scared at all?"

"I felt a little worried," he said. "I've had to practice that several times, but I'm used to it."

Finally, she turned to Laura, who was standing behind her on the top level of the podium. "Congratulations, Laura. You managed to defeat all comers and keep your crown this year. What are your thoughts?"

"It feels great," Laura said with a smile. "I had a lot of fun on stage, and I liked getting a chance to see some of the newcomers show their stuff. I'm really looking forward to going to White Pine, though."

"And do you plan on coming back next year to try for three wins in a row?"

"I'm thinking about it. But I suppose I could do this one more time."

Thora thanked all three of them for their interviews and then left the stage to continue her report with the camera crew on the side. Julian returned to the microphone to make one final speech, not bothering to wait for the crowd to quiet down. "This concludes the National Magic Olympic Trials at Sandoval for this year. Once again, I'd like to thank everybody for coming out here today, and I hope that you'll come down to White Pine next week to see the finals. Good day to all of you, and have a safe trip home!"

The show concluded with a slow rendition of the school's anthem, and the crowd dispersed. While a majority of the crowd promptly left to the parking lot to head for their respective homes, the families of the contestants came to the stage to see their sons and daughters.

Sandy came rushing toward Maxine with her arms wide open, clutching her older sister with an unusually tight grip that bound Maxine's arms. "Maxine!" she said. "You were great out there, just like I thought you would be. Could you do another trick like that one for us? Please?"

"Thanks," said Maxine, struggling and squirming against Sandy's iron grip, "but I'm tired."

"Boo. I should have brought my sketch book with me. I could probably have gotten a few good pictures from the whole show."

"If you were going to go to that much trouble, why didn't you just bring a camera?"

"Because Mom and Dad already brought their own."

Violet waved her arms frantically while hopping up and down, begging for attention from Sandy.

"You did a pretty good job, too," Sandy said dismissively.

"I thought I had a pretty good shot at winning the whole thing," said Maxine. "That girl Laura...she's got quite a gift. I wonder if I'll ever be able to beat her."

"Don't feel bad, Max," said Jesse. "You still gave it your best. Even a third-place finish at a high-profile event like this is good enough to get you your own trading card."

"I never really cared much for trading cards," said Maxine. "To be honest, I'd prefer having my picture on one of those roll-out posters. You know...something that'll last."

Pauline giggled. "I'm sure your fans would appreciate having any kind of Maxine merchandise they could get their hands on."

"Thanks, Mom. By the way, what did you think of the show?"

"Your father and I enjoyed it immensely. Even though you didn't win the big prize, we're still proud of you."

"That's right," said Heath. "It's not often that we get to see a McAllister perform at such a high level. For that alone, you ought to give yourself a pat on the back."

Maxine removed her hat and started brushing her hair. "Yeah, I know."

"Of course, it would also be nice if you gave your old man a little monetary help once in a while," he said with a wink.

"Oh, right! The money. I haven't forgotten about that. I'll give it to you when I deposit this check in the bank. I promise."

Vanessa joined the McAllisters a few seconds later, carrying a handful of miniature Sandoval University pennants. She handed one to each member of the family, and kept a pair for herself to take home. "Congratulations, Maxine," she said. "It seems all of those years of training have paid off. Placing third in a national competition is quite an achievement for someone who's only tried out for the first time."

Maxine wanted to show her happiness, but her smile quickly faded after a few seconds. "What do you mean?"

"Well, your profile is now higher than it's ever been. A lot of people enjoyed watching you today, so you can probably expect to see them at future shows."

"I like the sound of that. There's one question I have to ask you, though...what about Bob and Laura? They both placed higher than me. Didn't you congratulate them on their performances, too?"

"Absolutely. It would be wrong for me to do otherwise. In fact, I spoke with Bob's parents during the award ceremony. When I introduced myself to them, they were very eager to ask me to hire their son. Laura's parents, on the other hand, wanted her to focus on her school work and next week's competition, but they said they'd consider it after the finals took place."

Great, Maxine thought. Now I have to worry about not one, but two rivalries when I go back to work. It might not be all bad, though. This could be a great chance for the three of us to learn more about each other.

"The year's almost over, and we don't have any big shows for a while, so you can relax if you want. I'm planning on taking a break myself. Tonight, I'm going to treat my family to dinner. Maxine, Heath, Pauline...take care of yourselves."

"Okay, Madam Lindsay. See you later!" Maxine waved to Vanessa as she made her exit from the auditorium.

"Great. Is everyone ready?" asked Heath. "We ought to get out of her now so that we can get a smooth ride home."

"Just a minute, Father. There's one last thing I have to do."

Maxine saw Bob and Laura getting ready to leave, so she tried to chase after them before they walked through the door. "Wait!" she called. "Don't go yet! I want to tell you guys something."

"Oh? What might that be?" asked Laura.

"I wanted to congratulate you on your win today. I hope you do well in the finals next week, too. Good luck."

Laura put down her trophy and gave Maxine a firm handshake with her right hand, and ruffled Violet's hair with her left. "Thanks, Maxie. You and your little sprite friend make a good team."

Violet smiled. "Oh...I'm sorry about making faces at you earlier. I didn't mean to be mean."

"It's okay. I think I may have made a bad first impression by zapping you. No hard feelings, I hope."

"No hard feelings."

"Good. In that case, I hope we meet again. So long!" Laura picked up her belongings and pushed against the exit door with her back. She held her head up high as she walked out the door, smiling and giggling to herself.

Maxine walked over to Bob as he placed his hand on the doorknob. "It was, uh, nice to meet you, Bob."

"Thanks," he said. "I can't wait for us to start working together." Bob shook Maxine's hand vigorously.

"Whoa...not so fast," she said. "We haven't started working together yet. The new season doesn't start for another couple of months."

"I know, but I'm still excited about it. I'm going to work extra hard so that I can be a good partner for you."

"I'm fine with that. Just try not to overwork yourself."

"No problem. If you do need anything, though...just let me know."

Bob smiled and waved to Maxine before leaving with his father. Maxine quickly ran in the other direction to get back with her family. "Who were you just talking to?" asked Pauline.

"Some friends of mine," Maxine replied.

"I see. Well, we should probably get out of here now. There isn't anything left for us to do here."

As the Trials drew to a close, the McAllisters left the auditorium and headed back to their home. Maxine was relieved that she could allow herself to take a breather from practicing and studying. As the cars and buildings zoomed past them, she sat and stared out the window, thinking about what she planned to do with her free time. She was somewhat disappointed that she didn't win the event outright, but one good look at the bronze trophy in her lap reminded her that she still did a good enough job to win something. She smiled at Violet, sighed, and then stared out the window again as the family car pulled into the parking lot.