Free Prince of Air by Ann Hood Page B

faster.”
    Harry sighed and shook his head. “The last time we tried to improve it, he forgot to take the . . .”
    â€œForgot to take what?” Felix asked eagerly.
    As if he just remembered Maisie and Felix were standing there, Harry cleared his throat.
    â€œNever mind about that,” he said dismissively.
    â€œYou almost told us a trade secret,” Maisie said.
    Harry frowned at her. “Did you say you wanted something?”
    â€œUh, yes,” Maisie began.
    But Felix stepped forward, whipping the jacket from her shoulders as he did.
    â€œWe have something for you, Harry,” he said.
    â€œWe do?” Maisie asked.
    Felix reached into the jacket pocket and pulled out the handcuffs.
    â€œYou have them?” Maisie said, surprised.
    â€œThey’re yours, I think,” Felix said, handing them to Harry.
    Harry took them and held them up to better examine them, nodding as he did.
    â€œI’ve studied locks all my life,” he said as he opened and closed the cuffs. “It’s an obsession of mine.”
    He turned those light eyes on Maisie and Felix again. “I have photographic eyes,” he said. “That’s how I can remember how each type of handcuff works. And that’s how I know how they can be opened.”
    â€œWe want you to have these,” Felix said. “For your act.”
    â€œAnd what’s in it for you?” Harry said.
    â€œFor me? Nothing,” Felix said, surprised.
    Maisie said. “Actually, we could use a place to stay.”
    Harry narrowed his eyes. “Tonight?”
    Felix nodded.
    â€œNo,” Maisie said. “For maybe a few nights.”
    â€œImpossible,” Harry said. “We got a job with a circus. In Ohio. We leave the day after tomorrow.”
    He handed the handcuffs back to Felix.
    â€œThat’s okay,” Felix said. “You can keep them.”
    Harry shrugged and put the handcuffs in his pocket. “Thank you,” he said, almost reluctantly.
    The three of them stood in awkward silence.
    â€œYou can come home with me,” Harry finally said. “For tonight.”
    â€œThank you,” Felix said.
    â€œPerhaps you can tell me more about The Metamorphosis,” he said, his head bent as he began to walk toward the runway. “Why didn’t the audience love it?”
    Maisie and Felix fell in behind him.
    â€œWe’ve got to figure out a way to go to Ohio with him,” Maisie said in a low voice.
    â€œRight,” Felix said, feeling that feeling he got when he didn’t like the way things were going. One minute he was happily riding a carousel, and all of a sudden it looked like he was about to join the circus.

    Maisie woke up early the next morning, just as the sun came through the slats of the Venetian blinds on the living room windows. She stretched and wrinkled her nose. The Weisses’ apartment smelled like the cabbage Mrs. Weiss had given them for dinner the night before. The cabbage tasted bitter, and the meat stuffed inside it didn’t help any. Even though Harry claimed to be from Appleton, Wisconsin, his whole family had those accents like the people in that Polish deli.
    After dinner, Harry had done magic tricks for everyone. Maisie winced remembering the sight of him swallowing a handful of needles and some bright-red thread, then pulling it all out of his mouth with every needle threaded. He’d stood there looking like he’d really accomplished something, but Maisie thought it was gross.
    On the other hand, Felix looked like his eyes might literally pop out of his head. He’d stammered and stuttered praise, which Harry gobbled up. Harry Houdini was a total show-off, and even though Felix couldn’t get enough of him and his gross tricks, Maisie was already completely sick of him.
    That was why she had to figure out how to get back. Soon. But how could she make Harry give them a lesson?
    She stared up at the cracks