Chapter Two

   In the hall outside John Merlin's classroom, Mr. Carter, the gym teacher, and Mr. Singh, the music teacher, gave the door a wide berth.
   "I wonder what the wizard's going to blow up today?" asked Mr. Carter.
   "I don't care," answered Mr. Singh, "so long as he doesn't blow a hole in the floor. My room's right below his."
   Inside the science lab, all eyes were trained on Mysterious Mr. M.
   "Who can tell me what is in this test tube?" Merlin asked. He started to shake it, but stopped himself, as if afraid the contents might not take kindly to the agitation. "Remember, each question counts. The last class got it in five."
   Merlin stole a glance at Michael, knowing his competitive nature. "Think," he continued. "Think hard. Phrase your question in a way that gets you the most information. Tiffany."
   Tiffany Guzzmann went pale. She stood up, cleared her throat and whispered, "Is it smelly?"
   Merlin's right eyebrow raised itself. The room grew silent.
   "Uh, I mean, how smelly is it?" Tiffany amended.
   Merlin's left eyebrow joined his right. Everyone held their breath.
   "No, wait!" Tiffany said with inspiration, "What's it smell like?"
   Merlin's eyebrows lowered themselves, and he nodded approvingly. He took the stopper out of the test tube, held the open end under Cory Buchner's nose, and waited.
   Cory saw the test tube coming and stopped breathing. He looked left; he looked right. There was no help in sight. He looked pleadingly up at Mr. M.
   Most of Merlin's compounds smelled horrible, others made you sneeze, some made you gag. Cory swallowed and took a tiny sniff: nothing. He sniffed again: again nothing. He took a deep breath, smiled and announced his discovery to the class, "Nothing! It smells like nothing!"
   A few of the students laughed. At the back of the room, Michael groaned.
   "Do you have a problem with the answer to Tiffany's question, Mr. Halsey?" asked Merlin.