The SVE Club

3. Card Trick

    Midas glanced at his class schedule. His first class for the day was algebra. He scowled in frustration. At ISH, the classes were useful, exciting. But here he was going to learn different ways to solve for x.

    Lost in thought, Midas accidentally ran into someone as he walked.

    "Hey!" the girl exclaimed. "Watch it, Batman."

    Midas glanced down at her. Their height difference was astonishing, the girl being very short and Midas being on the tall side. Despite her height, the girl was powerfully built and her glare could match Midas' easily.

The girl looked Midas up and down. "Nice cosplay. Where you going, a costume party?"

"No. Algebra."

The girl looked at him doubtfully. "You're going the wrong way. Mrs. Ortiz is down there." She pointed down the hall. "That's where I'm headed. Follow me if you want. Or just get lost. Your choice."

She walked off. After a moment's hesitation, Midas decided to follow her.

The girl saw him out of the corner of her eye. "Decided to stick around, huh?"

Midas said nothing.

"Name's Rachel Patterson. Who're you?"

"Dynamidas."

"Dynami... Dyna..." Rachel stopped walking. She sputtered and then burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Midas asked.

"That's... That's just the most ridiculous name I've ever heard," Rachel managed to say before bursting into laughter again. "Gol-ly, they put that on your birth certificate?"

Midas silently fumed.

"Come on, Dino," Rachel said, still chuckling as she walked. Midas reluctantly followed her.

Mrs. Ortiz's first period algebra class was filling up with students. All the back desks were taken, but there was a seat in the middle row, which is where Midas decided to sit. The boy in front of him turned around and grinned.

"Sweet," he said. "New guy." Midas watched with sudden dread as the boy whipped out a deck of cards.

"Torturing the newbie already, Nate?" Rachel asked, taking the desk next to Midas. "You're a cruel man."

"Prepare to be amazed," the boy called Nate said as he began to shuffle the cards on Midas' desk. Midas glanced at Rachel.

"He does this to all the new students," Rachel explained. "We get sick of him practicing the same tricks on us over and over."

"Hey, this is a new trick!" Nate protested.

    "Doubt it," Rachel said under her breath.

    Nate finished shuffling the cards. He handed the deck to Midas. "Okay. First I want you to check the deck. Make sure all the cards are there and nothing seems out of the ordinary."

Midas took the deck and quickly flipped through them before handing them back to Nate. "All good."

"Thanks," Nate said. "Now, I want you to take a random card, any card. Then I want you to memorize the card."

Midas selected a card and studied it for a moment. Jack of spades.

"Okay, now put it back in. Rachel, would you like to shuffle the deck?"

"Heh, sure." Rachel took the deck and spread the cards out all over her desk. Nate sighed.

"Did nobody ever teach you how to shuffle?" he asked.

"I'm getting them all mixed up so you can't cheat," Rachel laughed. Finally, all the cards were back in a neat pile. Nate took the deck back.

"Now tell me, um... what's your name by the way?"

"It's Dy-" Midas trailed off, glancing at Rachel. "Midas," he stated.

"Now tell me, Midas, is this your card?" With that, Nate pulled a card from the deck and flung it as hard as he could towards the front of the room, where it landed with a thunk in the Sheetrock. The card was stuck in the wall.

    What kind of cards are those? Midas wondered in astonishment.

"Go check it out," Nate said anxiously.

His curiosity getting the best of him, Midas stood from his chair and walked to the front of the room to inspect the card. He pulled it gingerly from the wall. His glare softened for a moment.

Handing the card back to Nate, he said, "Not my card."

"What?!" Nate exclaimed. He looked at Midas suspiciously. "Are you just messing with me?"

"No. My card was spades; you threw the eight of diamonds."

"Hm... Well, was this your card?" Nate flung another card. By chance, it landed in the same spot as the other card had... right as Mrs. Ortiz walked in. Nate inhaled deeply.

"Heh. You're toast," Rachel said to Nate.

"Shut up, shut up," Nate hissed.

"Have fun in detention," Rachel said.

"Maybe if I throw another card it'll knock it loose," Nate mused.

"Your aim sucks," Rachel said. "Besides, Mrs. Ortiz would see you and fly off the handle again."

"She's gonna fly off the handle anyway when she sees that card," Nate whined. "It's only a matter of time until she notices it, it's right by her head!"

Midas leaned back and stared at the card. The teacher was turning her head now, it was only a matter of seconds until she figured out what had happened. On a whim, Midas decided to help.

He let go. His glare disappeared. He focused on the card. The school was gone, so were the students. There was nothing but him and that card. And soon, there would only be him.

Just as the teacher turned, the card disintegrated; it turned into dust and dissipated into the air. The card was gone.

Rachel and Nate stared with concern at the place where the card used to be.

"How... how did you do that?" Rachel asked Nate.

Nate laughed nervously. "Um. Magic?"

You wish it was magic, Midas thought, leaning back in his chair.