Free Hocus Pocus Hotel by Michael Dahl Page B

the first place. “So, what do you want me to do?” he asked.
    Ty frowned. He grabbed Charlie by his shirt and pulled him behind a pillar. They were hidden by palm branches and giant vases.
    Ty made a fist again. “Don’t tell anyone,” he ordered, “or this fist goes right through your face and out the other side.”
    â€œTell what?” asked Charlie. “About the Abracadabra guy?”
    Ty shook his head in disgust. He reached around for the chain-wallet in his back pocket and opened it. He pulled out a folded piece of paper — a picture torn from a magazine — and held it up to Charlie’s nose. “See this?” Ty said.

    â€œUh, it’s a dirt bike,” said Charlie.
    â€œNot just any dirt bike,” said Tyler. “It’s a Tezuki Slamhammer 750, Edition 6, in cherry-pop lightning red. And it’s mine. Almost. I got money saved up from working here at the hotel.”
    Ty stood back and gazed at the picture. “I’m getting it as soon as school’s out.” He paused. “But not if you can’t fix this problem.”
    â€œWhat problem?” said Charlie.
    Ty carefully folded the paper and tucked it away. He stared hard at Charlie and said, “One of the magicians has disappeared.”

“Disappeared?” Charlie repeated.
    â€œOne of the old guys wasn’t paying his bills,” said Ty. “He’s been staying here for years, but all of a sudden he stopped paying his rent. He’s one of the retired magicians. Mr. Madagascar.”
    Ty looked around quickly, as if he were afraid someone might be listening. Then he motioned for Charlie to follow him past the potted palms and into an even darker corner.
    They sat down behind a painted screen covered with dragons.
    â€œI have a lot of jobs around here,” Ty explained. “One of them is to pick up their rent once a month. If someone’s late, I go talk to them and see if they’re having a problem.”
    You probably scare them, too , thought Charlie. Ty was tall and muscular, and not someone to mess with or lie to.
    â€œSo I was supposed to go up and talk to Mr. Madagascar a few days ago,” Ty went on. “But I didn’t.”
    â€œWhy not?” Charlie asked.
    â€œI was in the middle of an epic battle in Empire of Blood, okay?” Ty said.
    That was the first thing Ty had said that really made sense to Charlie. Charlie spent a lot of time after school on his own favorite game, Sherlock Holmes Maximum Z, a detective mystery adventure. He understood how important it was to concentrate on a battle or investigation.
    â€œI was slaughtering everyone,” Ty said with a grin. “No one could beat me. There was no way I was stopping. In a few hours I finished the battle, and when it was done, I forgot about Mr. M. I didn’t remember until the next day at school. So I rushed home and ran up to Mr. M.’s room, but he was gone.”
    â€œMaybe he’ll come back,” said Charlie. “Maybe he went on a trip.”
    â€œI don’t think so,” said Ty. “Come on, I’ll show you his apartment.”
    Charlie followed Ty back into the main lobby. As they walked past the counter, the girl with the pigtails waved at Ty and said hello. Ty grumbled something and kept walking. The girl just smiled.
    â€œWho’s that?” asked Charlie.
    Ty made a face. “Her name’s Annie Solo. She works here in the afternoons,” he said.
    They stopped in front of a row of three elevators. The doors looked like they were carved from gold. Above each elevator, a gold half-circle with a golden arrow indicated what floor the elevator was on.
    A bell rang and the elevator doors on the far left slid open.
    â€œOur luck,” said Ty. “It’s Brack’s elevator.”
    The elevator was lined in faded red leather. To one side stood a thin, elderly man in a maroon and black uniform. He smiled a