Zack attack! , livre ebook

Zack
Attack!
Jaco Jacobs
Illustrations by
Alex van Houwelingen
Pan Macmillan Children’s Books
www.panmacmillan.co.za



The Magnificent Magic Trick



CHAPTER 1
A Boring Afternoon
Zucchini Street is a street just like any other street.
Okay, maybe not quite. Not many streets have such a funny name.
Number 10 Zucchini Street is a house just like any other house.
Okay, maybe not quite. Not many houses are painted such a shocking shade of yellow.
Today is a day just like any other day.
Or that’s what Zack thinks ...
Zack’s been bored all afternoon. There is nothing interesting to watch on TV. He is bored with his PlayStation game. Frankenstein, his dog, is tired of playing with the ball. His best friend, Vincent, has gone to the dentist. His sister, Kate, is at school for hockey practice. If she was home, he could have pestered her. That’s always a fantastic way to spend a boring afternoon.
There is absolutely nothing to do in the yellow house on Zucchini Street.
Zack Berry hates being bored – almost as much as he hates fish fingers and broccoli.
That’s why he decides to go and look around in the storeroom.
His skateboard must be in there somewhere. He’s sure his mom put it in the storeroom. Maybe he can practise doing some cool new skateboard tricks to show Vincent when he gets back from the dentist.
Zack loves the storeroom. It’s very dusty and very cluttered. Everywhere you look, there are stacks of old magazines and boxes filled with all sorts of stuff. Next to the door is an old wardrobe with a broken mirror. Against the wall there’s a shelf with his dad’s tools. In the one corner he can see a part of his mom’s old exercise bike under a pile of dirty blankets.
‘Are you going to help me find my skateboard, Frankie?’ asks Zack.
Frankenstein barks excitedly. He also loves the storeroom. He likes sniffing in every nook and cranny, like a police dog searching for clues.
Zack’s skateboard is nowhere to be found. He looks through all the big boxes. He rummages through the messy old wardrobe. At the bottom of the wardrobe he finds his soccer ball, but it’s flat. Now he will have to look for the pump too.
But then Zack sees something that makes him forget about the soccer ball and the skateboard.

Right at the bottom of the old wardrobe, behind some empty glass bottles, he sees a box. A big, black box, decorated with gold stars. And it looks ancient.
Zack smiles broadly when he reads the words on the box:



CHAPTER 2
A Magician’s Secrets
Zack glances at himself in the mirror. His rumpled blond hair curls around the rim of the black top hat. A cloak covered in stars is draped over his shoulders. With a dramatic swish he waves the magic wand through the air.
He found the hat, cloak and the magic wand in the box full of magic tricks.
‘What are you waiting for, Zack? Do a magic trick!’ says Vincent. He is sitting on Zack’s bed, watching him impatiently.
‘All right,’ Zack says in a deep voice. ‘For my first trick, I am going to make a marble magically disappear.’
Zack holds a marble up in the air. In his other hand is a paper cup. ‘Watch carefully,’ he says. ‘I pick up the marble ... and put it in the cup.’ He shows Vincent the marble in the cup. ‘Now I cover it with my handkerchief ...’ Zack grabs the magic wand and waves it over the cup.
In a loud whisper, he says,
‘‘ABRA ... CA ... DABRA!’
Zack whisks the handkerchief off the cup. Then he tilts the cup towards Vincent.
‘It’s gone!’ says Vincent, sounding very surprised.
Zack smiles. ‘No, it’s not,’ he says. He sticks his hand in his pocket. ‘Here it is!’
Vincent’s jaw drops. He stares at the marble Zack took out of his pocket. ‘Cool! Where did you learn that trick?’
Zack takes the box with the magic tricks out from under his desk. ‘My dad told me it was my grandpa’s,’ he says proudly.
Vincent is mesmerised by the contents of the box. There are playing cards, handkerchiefs and rings and balls in different colours – everything you need to do loads of magic tricks.
‘How does the trick work?’ Vincent asks. ‘How did you make the marble disappear?’
Zack shakes his head and the top hat falls to the ground. ‘The magic book says a magician should never tell anyone how his tricks work. It’s his secret.’
‘What magic book?’
‘The book that I found in the box,’ Zack says. ‘It explains how the magic tricks work.’
Vincent frowns. It looks as if his brain is working overtime. ‘But what if I become your assistant?’ he asks. ‘Every good magician should have an assistant.’
‘The book didn’t mention anything about assistants. What does an assistant do?’
‘The assistant must pass the magician all the stuff he needs to do the tricks,’ Vincent explains. ‘And he helps with the tricks.’
‘You’re right!’ says Zack. ‘I’ve seen that on TV. The assistant is the one that gets sawn in half ...’
‘You’re definitely not going to try and saw me in half!’ Vincent interrupts him.
Zack chews his bottom lip. ‘Okay,’ he says. ‘If you are going to be my assistant, I suppose I can show you how the trick works.’
He puts the paper cup down. Then he opens his hand. In his hand, there is ANOTHER marble.
‘Were there TWO marbles all along?’ Vincent sounds very surprised.
Zack nods. Then he passes the paper cup to Vincent.
‘Look, the cup has a small hole in the bottom. The marble fell out when I threw it into the cup, and the other marble was in my pocket all the time.’
‘Obviously,’ says Vincent excitedly. ‘I should’ve guessed!’
Vincent takes a small book from his trouser pocket. Zack has seen the book many times before. It is Vincent’s book of Freaky Fantastic Facts .
Vincent pages through it quickly. Then he smiles.
‘Did you know that David Copperfield once made the Statue of Liberty disappear?’
Zack frowns. ‘Who’s David Copperfield?’
‘He’s a famous magician,’ explains Vincent.

‘And what’s the Statue of Liberty?’
‘It’s a huge statue in the USA,’ Vincent replies. ‘Do you want to hear more Freaky Fantastic Facts about magicians?’
Zack nods. Vincent’s Freaky Fantastic Facts are actually dreadfully dreary sometimes. But he’ll never tell Vincent that.
Vincent reads from his book again. ‘Harry Houdini – he was also a magician – had his hands handcuffed with special locks. Then he had to try and free himself. Thousands of people came to see if he could do it. He struggled for a long time. Later his wife came onto the stage and kissed him ...’
‘Ewww!’ says Zack. ‘In front of thousands of people?’
Vincent smiles. ‘Just after that, Houdini unlocked the handcuffs. Lots of people suspected his wife had the key in her mouth! She gave it to him when she kissed him.’
Zack groans. ‘Gross!’
‘Maybe you will also be a famous magician one day,’ Vincent says. ‘Then people will pay loads of money to see your tricks!’
‘Really?’ says Zack.
He wouldn’t mind having loads of money.
Or even just enough money to buy a new PlayStation game.
Suddenly he has an idea ...
‘But why wait until then? Maybe I can charge people money to watch my tricks NOW!’
Vincent’s eyes twinkle. ‘You’re right! I can be your assistant. And then people pay to watch our magic tricks.’ He pauses dramatically. ‘We must find you a name.’
‘But I’ve got a name,’ Zack says.
Everyone calls him Zack. Well, everyone except Mrs Longbottom from next door and his dad, who sometimes call him Zachary Barnaby Berry when he’s in trouble.
Vincent shakes his head. ‘No, I mean a name fit for a magician. One that you can use when you do your shows!’



CHAPTER 3
The Great Zackofski
‘Ladies and gentlemen!’ Vincent shouts loudly. ‘We proudly present ... the Great Zackofski!’
With a dramatic swish of his cloak, Zack walks into the living room. Kate snorts.
‘The Great Zackofski will now perform his breathtaking magic tricks!’ Vincent announces.
‘Just hurry up,’ grumbles Kate. ‘I have to do my homework.’

Zack glares at Kate. Sometimes, he suspects his sister is from another planet. A strange planet where everyone actually ENJOYS doing homework. If he had to choose between doing his homework and watching a magic show – well, that’s definitely a no-brainer!
His mom, dad and Kate are sitting on the couch. None of them wanted to pay to watch the show. But his mom did say all three of them would love to watch the Great Zackofski show for FREE. Zack can’t believe his family is so stingy, but at least he has an audience for his very first magic show.
He shifts his hat into place.
‘Now, for my first trick,’ he says, ‘I need a brave volunteer from the audience.’
Vincent once saw a real magician’s performance. He told Zack magicians always ask for a ‘brave volunteer from the audience’.
Mom puts up her hand.
‘Thank you, Madam,’ says Zack. ‘I love that flower behind your ear!’
‘What flower?’ Mom asks with a frown.
Zack sticks out his hand and plucks a flower from behind his mom’s ear.
According to the instructions in the magic book, it should have been a red rose. But Zack couldn’t find a red rose anywhere, so he picked a daisy in the garden instead.
It works. His mom and dad look at each other in astonishment and then start clapping.
Kate rolls her eyes. ‘He slipped it from his sleeve,’ she says, sounding bored.
Zack pretends not to hear and bows deeply.
‘Now I will roll up my sleeves ,’ he says and shoots Kate a dirty look. ‘Just to show you I don’t have anything hidden up there.’ He shows the audience his empty hands. ‘Vincenzi, where is Frankenstein?’
Vincent whistles loudly.
Frankenstein comes running towards him with his tail wagging.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, meet Frankenstein the Wonder Dog!’
Frankenstein gives a big, whiskery smile. It looks