John accepted the shell, blew into it gently, and whispered, “John Dart, in person and in truth.”
The novel begins with an extended Prologue which introduces John Dart as a character of some clear significance. Afterwards, John Dart will then disappear for the first fifteen chapters. So who is this John Dart and what is so great important about him showing up in person and in truth? For that matter, what’s the deal with the shell? The Prologue, and John Dart’s appearance in it, sets the stage for the story as one of magic and mystical occurrences. The imagery is bizarre, perhaps confusing and certainly extraordinary.
Nate sat at the end of a sheetless mattress, bouncing a small rubber ball off the bare wall, keeping count of how many consecutive times he caught it.
The story proper begins with this opening line of Chapter One: “The Blue Falcons.” Forget about John Dart for the next 200 pages or so. Nate is the central protagonist of the tale. He is its hero and it is significant that his introduction is completely at odds to those of the mysterious Mr. Dart. In contrast to the imagery of the Prologue (“Samson stumbled out of the front door of the bus followed by a cloud of caustic fumes”), the imagery introducing Nate is almost too normal. What kid hasn’t done some sort of version of exactly what Nate is doing? By slicing off the weirdness and diving into normalcy, the author is telegraphing that his setting is going to be a place where magic occurs, but not within the realm of real life.
“You say you are aware of a plot by Belinda White?”
If just one quote could be extricated from the novel to encapsulate its plot, it might well be this one. Sebastian Stott—typically referred to simply as Mr. Stott—is, like Belinda White, a practitioner of magic. One must always keep in mind that the underlying truth of magic as a performance is that it is really the art of misdirection and distraction. Appearances can be deceiving and this is especially so when the appearance is reflected in the mirrors that are so integral to the plot. Is Mr. Stott a good guy targeted by Belinda White? Or is that good guy image merely a mirror image? And when magicians are employing their talents, how many mirrors might be involved; reflecting a reflection of a reflection of an image of reality?
“My dad says people who insist that you trust them usually don’t deserve it. You don’t need to give me more candy, but I earned the candy that I have. Everything you’ve had us do so far has seemed shady, and this new assignment is the shadiest yet. I just don’t trust you.”
Summer Atler is Nate’s very active young female friend. In another time she would have been described as a tomboy, but what she really is confident and forthright. The raising of her suspicions toward Belinda White expressed here (it is Mrs. White to whom she is talking) is not just important narratively, but thematically as well. Lying beneath the displays of otherworldly magic and the friendship between four young friends grounded firmly in the real world is the ever-present issue of who to trust, how to trust, when to mistrust and what stimulates distrust.
