Let me start by saying, I absolutely hated my situation in the normal world before I accepted that invitation to a magic school from a shady man saying he was a wizard. Also to be completely fair, he’d just saved my life. I was 19 years old, working a job I hated, living on my best friend’s couch in a city I could barely afford. My parents, rest their souls, were great to me. They supported me most of my life and but when they passed away they left me nothing. In fact, worse than that. They left me with their debts. At 17 I had to leave school and focus on making enough money to avoid unpleasant visits from loan sharks. I’d taken up the tried and true method, scamming the shit out of people with more money than sense.

To save as money as possible my best friend, Cooper and I had piled into a single bedroom apartment uptown. She and I were a great team. Our best racket was 3 card monty. We’d take turns being the dealer and the other would come in and show the game could be won to sucker in potential marks. Most people think there’s a bit of luck at play and they’d win by chance. The reality is if you’re playing against a really talented dealer, you actually don’t stand a chance. Cooper and I never lost unless on purpose.

Sorry, let me get back to the day I met my first wizard. I was riding the final train home after a late shift at work. I had my headphones on looking like I was listening to a podcast. I was doing that on purpose. I was actually waiting for something to happen. The only other person in the train car was a homeless looking man. I was looking down at my phone attempting to not make eye contact with him.

Now, do you ever have that moment where you look up at someone and for some reason they’re staring at you too. It’s awkward right? This homeless man hadn’t taken his eyes off me and we’d shared that awkward moment at least 3 times now. He looked like he was definitely on something and I was way too tired to deal with it. That didn’t stop them. The homeless man stood and moved to sit next to me. He stared directly at me. I could see the grim beneath his fingernails, smell the alcohol on his breath and what looked like crumbs in beard. He tapped my knee with his gnarled finger. I tried to shift away and ignore him, but he persisted.

“Sorry, I don’t have any money man. I’m just trying to get home for the night.” I said sheepishly and trying to force a smile.

“No money.” The Vagrant said. “Just a little game.” He reached behind him and swung a small table out infront of him. It hung around his neck like one of those people who sold food at a football game. He placed three white playing cards down.

This was the moment I’d been waiting for. I tried to hide my smile.

He flipped each one up revealing that two were pure white cards and one had a solid black side. “All you need to do is follow the shadow.” He tapped the black card. “Find him and reveal him three times in a row and you win.”

“Those are the rules? Just flip over the card with the black side three times and I win?”

He smiled, “Of course. I’m a man bound to my word.”

Then he flipped them over and shuffled them. I followed the card with my eyes. He stopped after about 30 seconds of shuffling. “Where is the shadow?” He asked. I leaned forward getting really close to his face to look him in the eye.

“Is this a trick so you can distract me and steal my wallet? Because I really don’t have the patience for this right now. I’d rather you just mug me without the theatrics.” I said sighing.

“JUST PICK!” The Vagrant yelled louder than I expected. I jolted in my seat. “Okay, okay. Chill.” I said. I reluctantly tapped the card on the right. “This one?” He flipped it showing the black card.

“Well done.” He smiled with a gap tooth smile. “Now, a little faster.” He flipped it over and shuffled again. It was definitely harder for me to follow, but I tapped the left card and found the black card again.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Very good.” He flipped the cards again. “But, now’s the real test.” He removed the the left card. “A real test of luck.” He began to shuffle the two cards unbelievably fast. Faster than any card shark I’d seen in the city. Honestly, if I was following the cars by eye I would have had no idea where the black card was. But luckily I didn’t need to. This had gone exactly like I’d wanted.

“Where’s the shadow?” He asked. I reached down and tapped the card in the middle. He caught my hand after I did. I looked at him. Did he know?

“Are you sure?” He said. “You can only choose one.” I peeled my hand from his grip. I tapped the right card. “I’m sure.”

He looked down. There laying on the table was the black card. Slowly he looked up at me. His eyes were unbelievably wide and a smile began to creep along his face. I saw his yellowed teeth peaking out beneath his matted gray beard.

“Was that just luck?” He asked. I tried to lean down and touch the other card, but he flipped it over before I could touch it. This revealed another black card. I sucked in a breath.

Had he noticed the switch?

He looked at me and his face with contorted with anger. I was about to speak and try and apologize. And then he laughed. He laughed loudly and for a good minute or so straight. He laughed so hard he was out of breath we he began to speak again. “Well played. Very well played indeed!” He clapped me on the shoulder. “You understood the first lesson. Luck is what you make it.” I was confused, he wasn’t mad that I had cheated? “And the second lesson too, always clarify the rules.” He chuckled again. “Show me, show me how you did it.” He made eye contact with me and his eyes were sparkingling with joy. I could see the tell tale sign of wrinkles at the edges of his eyes from years of smiling. This cemented this for me.

This guy is absolutely crazy.

“Go on, you won by sticking to the rules. You’ll still get your prize!” He prodded me playfully and placed the two black card back down. He was practically giddy.

“It’s not that impressive. I just switched it and palmed it when I distracted you in the first round asking if you were mugging me.” I did a small flourish with my right hand and produced the white card I’d had palmed from the first round. It was then that I noticed it wasn’t the white card, it was the black one.

“What the?” I looked at it slack jawed. The Vagrant smiled and flipped the cards back over and they were both white again. I looked at him and he continued to smile. “When did you…?” He giggled.

“A Magician never reveals his secret.” He made a gesture of him zipping his mouth closed. He was even better than I’d been told. I laughed as well.

“So, my prize?” I asked.

“Ah yes of course.” He said and rummaged through his coat pockets. He pulled a hand out and showed me his palm. It contained a small dog biscuit in the shape of a bone. I picked it up cautiously.

“A biscuit? For… me?” I asked. He chuckled again.

“No, no. For the dog.” He said matter of factly. He stood and patted me on the shoulder. This was not what I was promised.

“Really? This is it?” I said to myself as I sighed again. Maybe this wasn’t the right guy? I forced a smile.

“Thanks… But I don’t have a dog.” I said. He didn’t stop or look back at me. I realized I still had his black card. “You forgot this!” I called after him.

“That’s for you to keep.” He called back. “A Keepsake of our meeting. Don’t lose it. I’m betting on you, August.” I stared down at it and spun the card over. It had changed again. The front was still black, but the back of it was a design that seemed to move and undulate.

Wait.

“How did you know my name?!” I called.

Vagrant didn’t stop. He just walked out the door at the other end of the card chuckling and muttering to himself. I watched him as the door behind him closed and I was left alone in the car. I sat there holding the biscuit completely dumbfounded. I had no idea what had just happened. I sighed and pocketed the biscuit. I’d throw it out later when I reached my stop. I examined the card again, but the back of it wasn’t moving anymore. Was this some kind of optical illusion? I shook my head and pocketed that card too. I must have been exhausted. I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text message to Cooper.

‘Hey Coop, Just met ‘The Vagrant’. I beat him, but he gave me a dog biscuit. I thought you said the other guys that won got a huge wad of cash. What gives?’

I hit send. I saw the three little dots pop up like she was typing a reply. She sent a single reply.

An Emoji of a dog…

I was going to kill her when I got back to the apartment. I’d needed that money to keep me above water and it was her information that I pointed towards to this being an easy score.

I leaned back, queued up a bunch of music to relax and closed my eyes. It was a long ride home.