“You are an impertinent child!” She zapped Brianna with a buzzing hum of her own. And while it was directed at his sister, he also felt the sting of her power.

Brianna pushed her back against the chair, squirming into the same rigid posture as Billy and going just as quiet.

“Perhaps you have an interruption for me as well?” Zeppo asked Henry in a gentler way.

He tried several times to say no, but the word stuck in his throat. He panicked, wondering if she had hypnotized him into never speaking again, and vigorously shook his head no.

“Good. Then let us begin.”

The Amazing Zeppo lived up to her hype. One after another, the adults submitted themselves to her power. One recited Shakespeare the way Yoda would say it. One thought the floor was molten lava and ran around looking for a fire hose. And one stomped on mints from his pocket, thinking they were giant cockroaches. She received a standing ovation at the end of the evening, accepting the praise with a humble, modest bow.

Before she left, she turned to Henry, Brianna, and Billy. With a simple hand motion she had them sit and wait while the adults filed out. Henry could hear them questioning one another—“What did I do?”—unable to recall their own silliness. When everyone, including Mrs. Verrity, had left the room, she shifted a chair to sit facing them.

She addressed Billy first. “The next time you think about doing something to harm Henry, you will cluck like a chicken and scratch your behind.” She snapped her fingers close to his face and he immediately relaxed, though he also seemed dazed and confused. “Why are you still here? Go!” Billy hurried from the room.

“The simple minds are easiest to work with.” She smiled for the first time. It transformed her face, and she no longer looked so terrifying. Henry smiled back.

“And now this one.” She addressed Brianna. Henry noticed that while Brianna was quiet and attentive, her head shook with the slightest of quivers. “She is strong-willed, this one. You see how she fights me.”

The Amazing Zeppo snapped her fingers. The effect was completely the opposite of what it had been on Billy. Brianna lunged forward as if she had been trying to get up all along. She caught herself and gulped down a big breath, ready to unleash her pent-up anger at having been restrained for so long—but was stopped by the raised palm of the Amazing Zeppo.

“Think about what you are about to say,” she said sternly. “You are young and strong, but you are no match for me.” Brianna clenched her fists but held her tongue.

“That is better.” She smoothed the wrinkles of her skirt. “I am here because of you, you know, Henry.” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.