Night of the New Magicians Read Online Free

sorcerer disappear.”
    “Yes,” breathed Annie.
    “Okay, here’s the plan,” said Jack. “Let’s memorize the rhyme now. Then as soon as we see the sorcerer, we can say it without having to look in the book.”
    “Great,” said Annie.
    Jack turned to a page in the rhyme book. “I’ll memorize the line that Teddy wrote. You memorize the line in Kathleen’s language,” he said.
    “Got it,” said Annie. She looked at the rhyme and started to say her line,
“Thee-be-wan—”
    “No, don’t!” yelped Jack, putting his hand over her mouth. “Don’t say it out loud until we need it! You might accidentally make one of us or something really important disappear!”
    “Sorry,” said Annie.
    “We’ll practice silently,” said Jack. “And we’ll each only learn our own line. So neither of us can say the whole rhyme at the wrong time.”
    “Good plan,” said Annie.
    Annie studied her line silently while Jack studied his. As Jack repeated his line in his head, the carriage rolled down a busy street. Thestreet was filled with more carriages and many bicycles. Some of the bikes were built for two people. Couples dressed in fancy evening clothes pedaled together.
    Other Parisians ate by candlelight in outdoor cafés. Waiters in white aprons carried trays high in the air. Everyone seemed relaxed and cheerful. As the carriage turned onto a quiet tree-lined street, Jack wished that he and Annie could just have fun in Paris like everyone else and not be worrying about an evil sorcerer.
    “Here we are!” said the driver, interrupting Jack’s thoughts. He brought the carriage to a stop. “The Pasteur Institute.”
    “This is it?” said Jack. The Pasteur Institutelooked like a spooky mansion. Its huge front doors were closed. Its tall windows were dark.

    “Are you sure we’ve come to the right place?” Annie asked in a small voice.
    “But of course I am sure,” said the coachman. “The institute appears to be closed. Would you like me to take you somewhere else?”
    “No thanks,” said Jack. “We’ll get out here.”
    Annie gave the coachman a few coins. Then she and Jack climbed out of the carriage.
    “Thanks,” said Annie.
    The coachman flicked his reins, and the white horse trotted away down the street.
    Jack and Annie stared at the dark, silent building.
    “I guess we should go up and knock,” said Annie. She and Jack climbed the stone steps to the gigantic front doors.
    “We’ve come to the right place,” said Jack. A gas lamp lit a small metal sign that said:
    Louis Pasteur Institute
    Jack knocked on the door three times.
    No one answered.
    Annie turned the huge handle and pushed. The door was locked.
    “Maybe there’s another door somewhere,” said Annie.
    Jack and Annie walked around the institute. They knocked at a back door and a side door, but no one answered.
    When they got back to the front of the building, Jack heaved a sigh. “It’s no use,” he said. “We’ve come to a complete dead end.”
    “We can’t give up,” said Annie.
    “I know,” said Jack. They both stood looking at the street. All was quiet, except for a few bikes rattling by.
    Suddenly a whispery voice came from behind them.
“Hellooo?”

J ack and Annie whirled around. A dark figure was standing at a side door of the institute.
The sorcerer!
Jack thought. He frantically tried to remember his line of the rhyme.
    “Can I help you?” the figure said. He stepped forward into the light of a gas lamp. He was an old man with stooped shoulders. His hair was white and he had a friendly smile.
    “Hi! Who are you?” asked Annie.
    “I am the night watchman,” the man said. “The institute is closed for the night. Have youbeen bitten by a dog? Have you come for the rabies treatment?”
    “No, we’re fine,” said Annie.
    “Is that what you do here?” asked Jack. “You treat people for rabies?”
    “Yes. Not I, of course, but Dr. Pasteur. He treats other diseases as well,” said the old man. “He is