Prince of Air Read Online Free PDF

were practically interchangeable.
    â€œSure,” Felix said. “Every magician needs an assistant, right?”
    â€œAre you going to saw her in half?” either Bitsy or Avery said.
    Everyone laughed at that brilliant idea.
    â€œOr maybe make her disappear?” the other one said.
    Maisie tried hard not to cry.
    Even when Felix said, “Knock it off, guys,” Maisie still sat there on the window seat, the image of Pickworth peonies and peacocks blurring from holding the tears back, not moving.

    â€œAll right,” their mother announced when she came home from work and into the Library, “the three of us are going to That’s Amore for pizza tonight. No maids. No butlers. No Great-Aunt-Maisie and Great-Uncle-Thorne.”
    At the end of the day, their mother always looked so tired that everything about her seemed to droop. Her wrinkled, copper linen suit hung crookedly. Her hair fell flat around her face. And the small lines around her eyes suddenly appeared deeper and more plentiful.
    â€œYay!” Felix said.
    He was practicing the disappearing handkerchief trick, which involved wearing a fake, hollow thumb over his real thumb, pretending to stuff the red silk into his hand while really shoving it into the fake thumb, then opening his hand and saying something like “Voilà! Vanished!” To Maisie, it looked like he was shoving that red cloth into a fake thumb. No one would fall for this trick.
    â€œI thought Great-Aunt Maisie forbade magic tricks,” their mother said. She fished a tube of lipstick out of her purse and, without looking in a mirror, slid it across her mouth, leaving a red slash.
    â€œShe doesn’t know,” Felix admitted.
    â€œJust make sure she doesn’t find out,” their mother said wearily. Great-Aunt Maisie and Great-Uncle Thorne were wearing her out with their fighting and their various eccentricities.
    Felix opened his hand, the tip of the red handkerchief poking out from the fake thumb.
    â€œVoilà!” he said. “Vanished!”
    â€œHey,” their mother said, impressed, “you’re getting good at this magic stuff.”
    â€œI can see the handkerchief,” Maisie said, pointing. “I can tell that’s a fake thumb.”
    Felix’s face fell.
    â€œRemember what Great-Uncle Thorne said?” their mother said, shooting an angry look at Maisie. “Good magicians get better by practicing.”
    â€œHow about crummy magicians?” Maisie muttered.
    â€œMaisie!” their mother scolded.
    â€œIt’s okay, Mom,” Felix said. “She’s had a bad day.”
    Maisie looked at him, surprised.
    â€œI’m sorry Bitsy and Libby were such jerks,” he added.
    â€œI don’t care,” Maisie said, feeling her bottom lip start to tremble.
    â€œWell I care,” Felix said. “I told them so, too.”
    â€œI don’t need you to defend me,” Maisie said, even though she felt grateful to her brother. “I mean, you’re my
little
brother after all.”
    They smiled at each other. She loved reminding him that she was seven whole minutes older than him.
    â€œIs anyone going to fill me in here?” their mother said.
    Neither Felix nor Maisie answered her.
    â€œOkay then,” their mother said, “I’m thinking Hawaiian?”
    â€œYuck,” Felix said. “I cannot eat pineapple on a pizza.”
    â€œHow about anchovies?” Maisie teased.
    â€œHow about
extra
anchovies?” their mother said, dropping an arm around each of their shoulders.

    At That’s Amore, after they’d eaten their pizza and the salads their mother insisted they have to counter the pizza, their mother cleared her throat in a way that made Maisie and Felix know they were either in trouble or about to hear something they did not want to hear.
    â€œSo,” their mother began, “there have been some interesting changes in our lives since