The Magician
                "An Unfortunate Twist" part 1

     As Cosmo ran down the deserted alley to meet his
girlfriend, Yeline, he found his legs tired. He was late.
Again. Yeline was going to kill him, and he knew it. He then
heard someone in high-heels coming out of the shadows that
hid her.

     A teenager, about Cosmo's age, came out of the
darkness.  Cosmo tried to get a good look at the mysterious
girl, but her face was hidden by the shadows. She handed him
an envelope.  "Give this to Ace. Tell him that I'm all right
and not to worry," the mysterious girl said. She started to
leave.
     
     "Wait!" Cosmo said, still confused, "Who are you and
how do you know Ace?" Cosmo was concerned about his friend
and partner, Ace Cooper.
     
     "Trust me." she said as she was leaving, "I'm a friend.
Ace will explain it to you. Now, I must go before Blackjack
finds me. Goodbye, for now, Cosmo!" She then stopped. "Meet
me here tomorrow night at eight.  Don't let Ace know."
     
     And she was then gone.
     
     "Oh, man!" Cosmo thought out loud," How am I supposed
to explain this to Yeline? If she finds out, I'm dead!"
     
     When Cosmo got home, Ace was already asleep. He decided
to give the envelope to him tomorrow. Right now, he just
wanted to go to bed.  But when he got there, he couldn't
sleep. His mind was on the girl, the envelope, and how he
was going to explain this to Ace and Yeline. But he finally
drifted off to sleep. He had a feeling it was going to be a
long day tomorrow.
     
     Bright and sunny the next morning, Cosmo awoke to Zena
sleeping on his legs. He slowly pulled them out without
waking her. He found Ace sitting in the living room drinking
coffee.  Huh, thought Cosmo, Ace never drinks coffee in the
morning.  He said to Ace, "Hi, Ace. Is there something
wrong?" He saw how pale and sickly his friend was. "Are you
okay? You're not sick, Are you?" Cosmo was concerned for his
friend. His voice was now quivering with fear that Ace was
badly ill. He sat next to him.
     
     "I don't know, Cosmo. I'm waiting for the doctor to
call back. I can't tell how sick I really am." He saw
Cosmo's hand shaking. He put his own hand over it. "Don't
worry. I'll be all right."
     
     But Cosmo was still very worried. Ace had never been
this sick before and Cosmo didn't know what to do. Ace had a
show that night, but if he was sick, he couldn't go on, of
course.
     
     The phone rang{?}. Startled by the sound that broke the
silence, Cosmo jumped. Ace answered it, as Cosmo quietly
listened in, "Hi, Mr. Cooper? I'm Dr. Julia Darlock. I'm
afraid I have some bad news."
     
     There was an awkward pause, "I'm afraid you have the
disease Barisia. You need an operation to get rid of it."
Now Cosmo was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The
doctor went on, "It's a very simple and inexpensive
procedure. It will take about a half an hour. You will spend
about two days in the hospital and about a day in bed after
that. And we have to set a date for the operation. Do you
have any
suggestions?"
     "Actually, I do." Ace said."how about Saturday?" his
voice was very calm, considering what was going on.

     "How about you come in on Saturday and have the
operation on Sunday?" the doctor said.

     "That'll be fine." Ace said, practically whispering. He
now seemed very nervous. It was his voice, Cosmo noticed, it
was all of a sudden very different. Almost a scared voice.
Cosmo suddenly remembered the note.

     "Oh, Ace!" Cosmo said. "I have something for you. This
girl gave it to me." Cosmo gave him the envelope. Ace slowly
opened it. This is what it said:

Dear Ace,
It's me, Acila. I know this is all of a sudden, but I'm
alright. Please don't be mad at me for waiting so long.
You're my big brother, and I love you. You must help me.
Meet me tomorrow at 5:00. I'll tell you about it then. Oh,
and by the way, cute assistant!!!!!!!!!!

-Acila

     A smile suddenly glowed upon Ace's face. Cosmo was
shocked. He went to his room and thought about what had just
happened.

     "Okay." Cosmo thought out loud. "I'm going out with
Ace's sister, Ace has a disease, he's leaving on Saturday,
and I think I'm going out of my mind! What else can go
wrong?!" Soon after he said that, a large explosion rocked
Cosmo's room. With the explosion, a vase fell and hit him on
the head.