Jim’s dad was a magic man but he was gone because a car crashed into him. Jim wanted to do magic but his dad never taught him. Jim started to cry. He lived in an alley and slept in a box. A boy said, “Why are you crying?”

“Because I do not have a mom and dad.”

“Do not cry,” said the boy. “My name is Fox and I am like you. I have no mom and dad.”

“Watch out!” Jim said. “There’s X-Boy. One time he gave me a bloody nose.”

X-boy said, “Jim, I’m going to tell you something. I will hit you with a bat.”

“Let’s run,” Fox said.

Fox and Jim ran fast. X-boy could not catch them.

“Let’s hide in the grass,” Jim said.

“When I find you,” X-boy said, “I will hit you with a pizza and with a bat.”

“Go away X-Boy,” Fox said.

“Let’s get food,” Jim said.

“How?” Fox said.

“We can steal it.”

“No we can’t.”

“Yes we can. We can take the bus.”

The bus stopped but they did not have money. They tried to get on.

“Get out,” said the bus driver. “You need to pay.”

“We need food,” Fox said.

“Help me clean the bus and I will give you food,” the bus driver said.

Ok,” said Fox and Jim. “When?”

“Now, I don’t have any passengers.”

Jim and Fox started to clean the bus with mops. Under a seat Jim saw a book. “What is this book?”

“Don’t open that book,” the driver said. “It will give you magic if you read the words right.”

“But I want magic!” Jim said.

“Then open it.”

Jim tried to open the book. It was stuck.

“You need to say the magic word,” the driver said. “The wizard in the sky has the magic word. You have to get it from him.” The bus driver handed them two plane tickets. “Use these to take a plane to the sky.”

They got on the plane. The plane took off. Jim and Fox saw X-Boy. He was hiding in someone’s suitcase and jumped out of the overhead compartment. Jim and Fox ran as fast as they could.

“No running in the plane,” the flight attendant said.

“I found you kids,” X-Boy said. “Now go back to your side.”

Jim and Fox went back to their seats. X-Boy tried to hit them. Jim and Fox started to run again and found a place to hide. X-Boy could not find them.

Jim and Fox looked out the window. The Sky Wizard slept on a cloud. They broke the window with their suitcase. They jumped through the window and landed on some grass. They climbed the Hill of the Dead. They climbed for twenty-four hours without rest. At the very top of the mountain, they saw an old man with white hair and white clothes. He said, “Do you boys want the magic word?”

“Okay,” said Jim.

“I will tell you after you give me some M&Ms.”

Jim and Fox hiked down from the mountain. “We have no money,” Fox said.

They went into Walgreens and asked a man there for money. The man gave them some and they bought the M&Ms and went back up the mountain. They gave the M&Ms to the wizard.

“The magic word is mountain,” the wizard said.

Jim and Fox bounced down the mountain and went to the bus driver. They found him at a pizza shop, buying pizza at the counter. Jim and Fox ran up to him. “Mountain,” they said.

The bus driver took the magic book out of his bag and opened it. Yellow light floated from the book into Jim’s mouth and he said, “Magic, come out.” He pointed at a chair and the chair moved. “Thank you,” Jim said.

About the Author

My name is Tai. I am nine years old. I live in San Francisco with my mom and dad. I like to eat hotdogs. I am good at building toys out of paper. Some day I want to win a lot of eating contests. I will be famous for eating pizzas. I drink a lot of water. I would like to be a robot because robots don’t get bloody noses. My favorite author is Dr. Seuss and my favorite book is Hop on Pop. It is easy to read. If I could have any super power, I would choose the power to freeze people. If I could go back in time, I would go to the year 2010 because that year I ate a really good cupcake. I am also the author of Todd and Ben.