There was nothing better, Gary decided, than owning a magic shop. He had just finished stringing up a row of red lanterns, setting out bowls of snake bile soup specially ordered from Chinatown, and tacking up a banner that proclaimed the "Year of the Fire Snake" over the sales counter. The red and gold decorations made an eye-catching contrast to the bleak British Columbia winter night outside. It was the Magic Manor's first Chinese New Year celebration, and it looked as if it was going to be a huge success.
The Magic Manor had had its first Midnight Sale three years earlier, when Gary's father decided it would be a good idea to stay open on Halloween. It had been such a popular move among the local clientele that it soon became a regular event every Halloween . . . Yule . . . Beltane . . . Litha . . . Canada Day . . . and now, Chinese New Year. The latest addition had been Gary's idea.
His friend David had started helping out at Midnight Sales since they met six months ago, but David had been busy for days with a school project and couldn't make it that night. And although Gary's younger brother Tucker had talked their parents into letting him stay up past midnight, too - New Year's Eve being New Year's Eve, Chinese or otherwise - he had nodded off at 10:00 and had to be carried to bed by their father. Alone with his parents, working as both a family and a team, Gary suddenly saw himself as a full partner in the business . . . and it felt amazing.
He wondered what other magic the night would bring.
"I thought being grounded meant having to stay home all day andall night. No exceptions."
"Being grounded means whatever I damn well say it means."
Kiki slouched in the passenger seat of her mother's used Volkswagen, arms crossed tightly over her puffy jacket.
"And if you thought for one second," her mother continued, "that I would leave you home alone at night so that you could sneak out the window . . ."
Kiki tuned out the rest of the lecture. It was nothing she hadn't heard before. Besides, her mother was right: left to her own devices, she would have braved the late winter night, climbed out her window, and escaped to a friend's house until the morning. She had been grounded for the past six days, which had already been enough to drive her nuts, and there was still the rest of the month to endure. Her spirits had actually lifted at the news that she would get to leave the house that night, even if it was to go to the dorky Magic Manor. But it wouldn't pay to seem toohappy, she thought.
"I still don't see why we need to be there that long," she grumbled. "Since when does it take you an hour to get your shopping done?"
"It's not just shopping. The Magic Manor is going to have a Chinese face reader tonight, so there will be a line - "
"Chinese face reader?"
" - but I'm sure the owners' boy will be there to keep you company," her mother continued as she pulled up in front of the Magic Manor. "He's your age, I think."
Suddenly it was worse than being grounded. "If you think that I'm going to spend the night talking to some weirdo from the Waldorfschool-"
Kiki's mother leaned over to check her lipstick in the mirror of the passenger sun visor, and Kiki had to stop in mid-sentence so she wouldn't get a mouth full of hair.
But through gritted teeth, she managed to say, "How is anyone going to read your face if there's all that makeup on it?"
Her mother looked startled. "I didn't think of that. Do you think I should take it off?"
Kiki rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Mom."