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Auggie applauded—and he lowered the volume when Emery glared at him—and everyone else joined in. Jem bowed from where he sat on the coffee table and then knelt on the rug, and Tean scooted back to give him room to work. In one broad sweep of his arm, Jem spread the cards in a perfect semicircle. Then, without missing a beat, he brought one finger back, flipping the cards face up in a single, smooth movement. Auggie couldn’t help himself; he applauded again.
“That one’s actually easier than the first one,” Jem said with a grin that exposed the slight crookedness of his front teeth. “But people love it.”
“He’s teaching Colt,” Emery said.
“Colt’s got good hands,” Jem said as he gathered the cards again.
Emery looked unbearably proud of that, and Auggie noticed John-Henry was careful to hide a smile.
“He’s already pretty good at lifting wallets,” Jem said absently. The expression on Emery’s face didn’t look quite as pleased, but before he had a chance to respond, Jem held out the deck of cards, spread open now in his hands. “For my last trick, I’ll need a volunteer.”
It was Shaw, of course. Not that anybody had any question about that. He knelt in front of Jem, and as the crochet shorts stretched in the new position, Auggie found himself seeing a whole new side of Shaw.
Until, that was, Theo put a hand over his eyes.
Auggie laughed, and when Theo let him pull his hand down, he saw that Theo was smiling—a big, real smile, the first one Auggie had seen from him in what felt like weeks. Auggie kept hold of his hand, pulling it to bring Theo’s arm around him.
“Now, I’m not a psychic,” Jem said, “but I do know a tiny bit of magic.”
“Is it apportation?” Shaw asked. “The puppy apports into our bed sometimes, but it only happens when I go to sleep first and North and the puppy stay up to watch TV together.”
“I want you to pick a card,” Jem said.
“The queen of spades.”
Laughing, Jem shook his head. “Draw a card and don’t show me. You can show everybody else.”
“You’re going to look in a reflective surface,” Emery said.
“I’ll keep my head down,” Jem said.
“Your peripheral vision—”
John-Henry shushed him, and Emery fell silent.
Shaw drew a card and showed it around—somehow, he had gotten the queen of spades. After everyone had seen it, he said, “Ok.”
“Go ahead and put it back in the deck. Perfect, thank you.” Jem shuffled the deck a few times and then he repeated his move from before, spreading the cards in that broad semicircle. This time, however, they were face up, and Auggie’s eyes went immediately to the queen of spades. Jem studied the cards for a moment, and then he said, “I’m going to need some help. Do we have anybody here born in February?”
Shaw’s hand shot up, but Jem looked at Auggie. Auggie grinned in spite of himself and raised his hand.
“You’re already doing such a good job helping me,” Jem told Shaw. “I’m going to need a little more help, though. You, sir. Could you come over here?”
“You’re going to watch for a reaction,” Emery said. “You’re going to point to cards and judge by his expression—”
“For Christ’s sake,” North said, “be quiet.” After the flash of annoyance on North’s face, Auggie was surprised to see childlike wonder spreading across his features as he turned his attention to the cards again. But maybe not so surprised, Auggie thought as he knelt next to Shaw on the rug. Because he felt it too. The anticipation. The thrill that was building slowly.
“You don’t have to do anything,” Jem said, “except picture the card in your mind.”
He leaned forward, and he ran his finger along the edge of the semicircle—not touching the cards, but moving his finger back and forth, a slow, almost hypnotic pendulum, like he was waiting for the charge.
“One last thing,” Jem said, his face screwed up with concentration or frustration or effort—maybe all three, and Auggie realized, suddenly, how good Jem was at this, how remarkable, and how he had hidden it from all of them. Then he noticed Tean watching, and the glow on Tean’s face, and he thought, Not all of us. “I need you to say alakazam. At the same time, all right?”
Auggie met Shaw’s eyes. Shaw’s mouth was trembling, and Auggie realized he felt it too—the urge to laugh—the silliness, yes, but also the excitement of it all.
“Alakazam,” they said, and they were a little off.
“You can do better than that,” Jem said.
