Roman Emperor seemed to have no code.

“I hear his live shows are thrillers,” Mr. Bench said.

Pete nodded enthusiastically. “Me, too. People have passed out.”

“Is that right?”

Pete nodded. Then he checked his watch. How much time did he have to reread everything he’d ever read about Emperor? A week?

“I gotta go,” he suddenly said. “Thank you, Mr. Bench.”

Then he was out the front door of Goblin’s Magic and up on his bike, pedaling home.

He had a lot of homework to do.

Roman Emperor was coming to Goblin.

Pete cocked his head back and howled delight into the early-evening Goblin sky.

3

Pete was a good kid, but he also did know where his mom kept her money. And it could hardly be considered stealing in this case. He simply had to see this show. He was one of only nine hundred people in the country with a subscription to Presto. To have one of the magazine’s “Top 40 Active Magicians” coming to his hometown was the biggest news of his life (Emperor came in at number thirty-eight, but the blurb about him said he could be in the top fifteen if he ever learned to play nice with the others.) So…

So Mom left Pete alone on Wednesday afternoons. Though it was difficult to swallow, he’d have to wait a few days. He couldn’t do it when she was home. Just could not risk putting himself in a position to explain what he needed the money for. He hadn’t worked out yet how he was going to tell her or even if he was going to at all. But come Wednesday, he’d sneak into her dresser, take the eight dollars, ride his bike downtown, and get back before she got home. The articles in the magazine, Emperor’s meager recorded history, would have to suffice for now.

But reading about Roman drove Pete only crazier.

With his bedroom door locked, he studied. And with every article he read he was aware of a new sensation: the personal touch of reading up on a man who was coming to Goblin.

One Presto review of a live Emperor show was three years old. There was no photo, but the write-up was fascinating:

SPRAGUEVILLE, RHODE ISLAND—

WADE “MAGIC FINGERS” McGOWAN WASN’T ON THE STAGE BUT HE TURNED SOME HEADS ALL THE SAME WHEN HE ENTERED THE HARDY HAR HAR CLUB IN DOWNTOWN SPRAGUEVILLE. SEEMS McGOWAN WAS AS INTERESTED IN THE LOCAL DEBUT OF ROMAN EMPEROR AS THE TEN OTHER MEN AND WOMEN IN THE AREA WHO WERE IN ATTENDANCE. EMPEROR, A UNIQUE AND EXCITING FACE ON THE SPELL CIRCUIT, WOWED THE SMALL CROWD WITH DANGEROUS TRICKS THAT INCLUDED TOSSED SABERS AND AN ESCAPE FROM A BEAR TRAP. AFTER WARMING UP THE AUDIENCE WITH THE HELP OF AN ALLURING BLOND ASSISTANT (WHO, IN SOME RESPECTS, STOLE THE SHOW), EMPEROR WASTED NO TIME GETTING TO THE THEATRICS. THOUGH NOT ONE MUCH FOR GAB, EMPEROR IS A VERY EXCITING MAGICIAN WITH A HEADY RESPECT FOR THE CRAFT. McGOWAN HAD THIS TO SAY AFTER,