Zach King- The Magical Mix-Up Read online

  ZACH KING: THE MAGICAL MIX-UP. Text copyright © 2018 by Zach King.

  Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Beverly Arce. All rights reserved under Inter-

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  The artist used Adobe Photoshop to create the digital illustrations for this book.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

  EPUB Edition © 2018

  ISBN: 9780062677235

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  FIRST EDITION

  ZACH’S

  King-dom

  the adventure begins. . . .

  Chapter 1

  “Go!” Rachel shouted. “I can’t hold him much longer!”

  She rode the giant alligator like a wild horse that

  had to be broken. Jawzilla, an enormous, slimy,

  scaly, mean-faced gator, had

  been magically trans-

  ported into the

  principal’s

  office from the

  zoo by Zach

  King’s magic snapbacks—and it was about to get

  loose. Three other kids, including Zach, scrambled to

  keep away from the gator’s snapping jaws.

  Zach knew what he had to do. Rachel couldn’t

  hold Jawzilla forever. He grabbed his magical snap-

  backs, which operated like portals from one cap to

  the other, and tricked the gator into jumping into one

  cap. Then, Zach spun around and flushed the other

  cap down the toilet in the principal’s private bath-

  room. The gator vanished down the toilet, which gur-

  gled briefly and then exploded spectacularly, spraying

  water all over the trashed office. . . .

  “Those were the days.” Aaron sighed as he watched the

  alligator video on his phone for what must have been the

  hundredth time. “Man, I wish you still had your magic.”

  “Tell me about it,” Zach agreed as the two boys

  walked across the parking lot toward the front entrance

  of the mall. He yanked his distracted friend out of the

  way of an oncoming car. “It’s like I’m right back where

  I started—nowhere.”

  It had actually been only a few weeks since Zach’s

  magic snapbacks had been wrecked, but he was already

  tired of being an ordinary kid. Zach came from a whole

  family of modern-day magicians. All the Kings had a

  unique object that enabled them to use magic—and

  Zach was all too aware that to save his friends, he might

  have flushed his magic powers away forever.

  Or had he?

  The clear glass doors of the mall entrance tempted

  Zach. Once, not too long ago, he had somehow passed

  through a similar door like a ghost. Maybe he could still

  pull off that trick, even without his snapbacks?

  It was worth a try.

  “Get your phone camera ready,” he told Aaron, who was

  all about capturing cool stuff on video. “I’m going for it!”

  “Again?”

  Zach had been trying to restart his magic for weeks

  without success, but this time would be different . . . just

  because. Taking a deep breath, he backed up to get a

  running start, then sprinted straight toward the closed

  door. In his head, he imagined himself passing through

  the solid glass as though it wasn’t there.

  I can do this, he thought. I have to do this.

  WHAM!

  His face collided with the door. Instead of passing

  through it, he bounced off it, stumbling backward into

  Aaron, who yelped in protest. Puzzled shoppers stopped

  to stare at Zach, who felt like a total dork. His nose

  didn’t feel too great either.

  “Ouch,” he said, clutching his bruised beak.

  Aaron checked his phone. “I’m guessing that’s not

  what you wanted me to film.”

  “Not exactly.” Zach sighed and shook his head. “I

  was sure I could do it again.”

  “There’s got to be a trick to it. We just need to work

  together to figure it out,” Aaron offered helpfully as

  the friends entered the mall and made their way to the

  food court. Zach’s nose was still smarting as they settled

  into a booth at a diner-style fast food place and treated

  themselves to milk shakes and a big plate of fries.

  The mall diner was one of Zach and Aaron’s favorite

  spots. The fries were crispy, the burgers were cheap, no

  one rushed them out, and there was always a buzz of

  activity around.

  Hungry shoppers streamed past them as Aaron couldn’t

  resist playing the alligator video again. Zach noted that

  the video, their most popular ever, had just rolled past

  fifty thousand views. He wondered how many of those

  were just from his friend watching it again and again and

  again.

  “Seriously, dude, we gotta do something,” Aaron in-

  sisted, nervously tugging on the collar of his shirt, like

  he was trying to escape from it. “No magic means no

  more cool YouTube videos, which means we’re going to

  start losing subscribers quick, which means we’re going

  to be yesterday’s news. We have to find a way to get you

  your mojo back.”

  Aaron’s videos of Zach’s magic tricks had helped them

  both become a little more popular at school and online,

  so Zach couldn’t blame his friend for wanting to keep

  the videos coming after being picked on for years. As

  for Zach, he was still new to public school, having been

  homeschooled for most of his life, and the online magic

  tricks had made fitting in a whole lot easier. Neither of

  the boys was exactly part of the in crowd these days, like

  Tricia, or considered as cool as Rachel, but they weren’t

  at the bottom of the food chain anymore either.

  “Magical objects just don’t grow on trees, you know,”

  Zach said. “Well, except for my uncle Elvis’s object. He

  has a magical leaf. Dude gets super nervous every fall.

  It’s not easy to find one lost leaf if it’s been swept up in

  a huge pile. . . .”

  “I’m serious,” Aaron continued. “We can’t start coast-

  ing on reruns. We need new content to protect our brand.”

  “Our brand?”

  “Sure.” Aaron explained, “we’re the magic trick guys.

  We gotta keep doing bigger and more eye-popping magic

  tricks or our audience will go somewhere else.”

  “If you say so,” Zach said.

  To be honest, Zach was less wo
rried about their

  “brand” than about Rachel, whom he’d had a crush on

  ever since the minute he’d met her. And it was his magic

  videos that had first gotten her attention. Would she still

  like him if he couldn’t do magic anymore?

  He glanced down at the clock on his phone. Rachel was

  supposed to have joined them by now. Was he just being

  paranoid, or was she late more and more often lately?

  “I don’t know what to tell you, man,” he said to Aar-

  on. “The snapbacks are gone. My magic is gone. We’re

  going to have rely on your cat, Michael, being cute to

  get views.”

  “Michael is on hiatus.”

  “Hiatus? How can a cat be on hiatus?”

  “Creative differences.” Aaron glanced around, then

  lowered his voice. “Between you and me, Michael has

  become a bit of a diva. He won’t even purr for the cam-

  era without a bonus tuna treat.” He let out a weary sigh.

  “Actors.”

  “Well, then, we’re toast. You only get one magical

  item,” Zach told his friend. “That’s just how it works.”

  “But what if it isn’t?” Aaron called up another video

  on his phone. “Watch this one again.”

  The video, which Aaron had recorded just days after

  the alligator incident, showed Zach suffering a serious

  brain freeze after sucking down an ice-cream soda too

  fast. He smacked one side of his head and ice cubes

  tumbled out of his ear, clattering onto the table. “See—

  magic!” Aaron pointed at the screen. “And you did that

  without the snapbacks.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” Zach said. “But I have no idea how.”

  “That’s what we have to figure out.” Aaron shoved

  a metal mixing cup full of ice-cold chocolate shake to-

  ward Zach.

  “Seriously?” Zach protested. “But I’m stuffed!”

  “It’s science, dude. We have to keep experimenting un-

  til we figure it out.”

  “It’s not science. It’s magic. And seriously?”

  “Seriously,” Aaron said. He called the waitress over and

  asked her to bring one of every flavor shake they had.

  “No way,” Zach protested. “More brain freeze isn’t

  going to prove anything.”

  “Well, then, you tell me how we’re going to get your

  magic back,” Aaron said. “What else did you have with

  you right before your head turned into an ice-cube mak-

  er?”

  Zach searched his memory. “A Popsicle, I think. And

  before that, some fries with ketchup.”

  “Ketchup, you say?” Aaron’s eyes lit up. “Just like the

  first time, the day we met, with the snack machine!”

  Zack knew exactly what Aaron was talking about. On

  his very first day at Horace Greeley, Zach had fallen into

  a cafeteria snack machine, passing like a ghost through

  the clear glass front of the machine, and it’d happened

  right after being “ketchupped” by Tricia Stands and her

  mean-girl friends. He never had figured out how or why

  he’d pulled off that trick. Or why he’d never been able

  to duplicate it.

  “What?” he asked. “You think the ketchup triggered

  the magic?”

  “Why not?” Aaron said. “It seems like the common

  element both times you did magic without the snap-

  backs!”

  Excited, Aaron reached across the table and grabbed

  the red plastic ketchup bottle.

  “Wait! What are you—” Zach complained, but too

  late! Aaron pointed the bottle at Zach, squeezed hard,

  and squirted ketchup all over Zach’s favorite hoodie.

  “Is it working?” Aaron asked. “Do you feel anything?”

  “Besides annoyed?” Zach tried to wipe off the ketchup

  with a napkin, but he just ended up smearing the bright-

  red goo all over the place. He looked like the victim in

  a slasher movie. The more he dabbed at it, the worse it

  got. “Have you lost your marbles?”

  “Never mind that. Try the ice cube trick again,” Aar-

  on urged. “Let’s see if the ketchup makes a difference!”

  “I’m not hungry!”

  “Just go with it.”

  “Okay, fine. Whatever.”

  Zach sucked down a big slurp of ice-cold ice cream

  shake as quickly as he could. The freeze went straight to

  his brain. He winced in pain.

  Aaron held up his phone to record the results of the test.

  “Anything? Shake your head. Like you did last time.”

  Zach shook his head.

  “Harder,” Aaron urged.

  He shook hard—but not a single ice cube tumbled out.

  “Nothing.” Zach shrugged. “Maybe I just had some

  leftover magic that one time.”

  “I don’t know.” Aaron looked reluctant to give up on

  his theory. He scratched his chin like a scientist ponder-

  ing a difficult equation. “Perhaps we just need to find

  the right kind of ketchup . . . or maybe some mustard or

  mayonnaise?”

  Zach groaned.

  There had to be a better way to get his magic back!

  Chapter 2

  Zach came back from the bathroom with a huge, wet

  patch on his hoodie. He’d done his best to wipe off the

  ketchup, but it’d been impossible to get it completely

  clean with just hot water and hand soap. He settled back

  into the booth across from Aaron and noticed that all

  the shakes his friend had ordered had arrived. And that

  Aaron actually had done a pretty good job finishing off

  a few on his own.

  “Hey, you going to the school dance on Friday?” Zach

  asked as casually as he could.

  “I suppose,” Aaron said. “Wanna go over together?”

  “Well, actually, I’m thinking of inviting Rachel.”

  Aaron put down his phone. “Rachel? Well, you bet-

  ter hurry. She’s a superstar now, thanks to our alliga-

  tor-wrestling video, which everybody at school has

  seen.” Aaron was understandably proud of capturing

  Rachel’s exploits on camera while the rest of them were

  just trying to avoid being gobbled. “Heck, she’s even

  running for class president now.”

  “I know,” Zach said. “That’s why I have to wow her

  with the coolest invite ever. . . . I’m thinking about de-

  livering the invitation by drone.”

  “Do you even have a drone?” Aaron asked.

  “Well, not exactly.”

  “And if you got one, you sure you could pilot it?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “And you’re still completely out of magic, right?”

  “That’s not the point,” Zach complained. “The point

  is to wow her, and dropping in with a drone-powered

  invite—she can’t say no to that.”

  “True dat,” Aaron said, offering Zach a fist bump.

  “So how—”

  Aaron shut up abruptly—mostly because Zach had

  reached across the table and clamped a hand over his

  mouth.

  “Hey, Zach,” Rachel called from across the restau-

  rant. “Hey, Aaron.”

  “Hey,” Zach said back.

  “Mmrrph,” Aaron said, since Zach’s hand was still


  over his mouth.

  Every time Zach saw Rachel, it was like the first time

  again. Zach was convinced that she was the prettiest girl

  he’d ever seen. Her long, brown hair and amazing brown

  eyes took his breath away. Today, she was dressed super

  casually—a T-shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots. Fashion

  was the least of her interests, but she somehow always

  managed to look a hundred times better than all the

  girls wearing the latest designer duds.

  “Sssh!” Zach whispered to Aaron. “Not a word about

  the dance or the drone to Rachel. I want to surprise her.”

  “Mrow wips wre swerealed,” he said.

  “What?” Zach asked, and Aaron lowered his glance

  toward Zach’s hand still clamped over his mouth. “Oh,

  sorry.”

  “My lips are sealed.”

  Rachel waved to the boys again as she headed over to

  say hi, but before she got to their table, a younger kid,

  who looked like he was nine or so, rushed toward her.

  “You’re her, aren’t you?” he exclaimed. “The girl who

  wrestled that alligator in the video? That was just sav-

  age . . . and brave! I’ve watched that video a zillion times

  already, and so have all my friends!”

  “It’s not a zillion,” Aaron whispered to Zach. “We

  only have 50,201 total views.”

  “Thanks,” Rachel told the kid. “It was no big deal. I

  grew up on a farm. To me, that gator was just another

  critter to wrangle.”

  Like Zach, Rachel was new to Horace Greeley Middle

  School. Her family had only recently moved to the area

  from Wyoming.

  The star-struck kid held out a napkin and a felt-tip

  pen. “Could . . . could I have your autograph?”

  “You bet.” Rachel gave Zach and Aaron an apologet-

  ic look as she graciously took the time to sign the nap-

  kin. Grinning from ear to ear, the kid wandered away to

  show off the autograph to his parents, who seemed utterly

  dumbfounded, and Rachel headed toward Zach and Aar-

  on. “Sorry I’m late, guys. Hope I didn’t keep you waiting.”