Midnight Magic [Paperback]

Ten-year-old Fabrizio is the devoted servant of an old and
respected magician named Mangus, who was previously forced to recant his sorcery and is now living under house arrest. Summoned to the castle under dark and stormy circumstances both master and boy immediately feel dread in the presence of the King's most influential minister, Count Scarazoni. The nervous King commands Mangus to use his dark arts to free the young princess from the cursed haunting of a ghost. The midnight apearance of this wispy spectre has been seen by others as well--causing the superstitious King to demand an end to these ghostly visitations.

But Mangus has sincerely given up all dabbling in Magic,
despite the King's recent order. How can a man who does not believe in ghosts confront one and lay him to rest? What does this spectre want of the Princess anyway--this slender girl who seems to have two personalities? Should Fabrizio trust the princess or the friendly kitchen boy? Or No One, since spies are lurking everywhere? How many hoaxes are being perpetrated in the castello? A delightful Castle Who-Dunnit, MIDNIGHT MAGIC stresses the true magic of friendship and loyalty. A fun read for kids of all ages.

This is an excellent book, even though there are many twists and turns. There is a servant, who's name is Fabrizio. He likes to do magic tricks. His master's name is Mangus, who is also called Mangus the Magician. He was summoned to the castello for a consultation with the king. Fabrizio wanted to go, but Mangus told him that he wasn't allowed to go. After a lot of convincing, Mangus allowed Fabrizio to come along, but only as a servant. Mangus knew that Fabrizio would do some magic, so he told Fabrizio not to do any magic. After they got there, the count, Scarazoni, said that there is a ghost who is haunting the princess. Mangus' job was to get rid of the ghost, but the problem was that he did not believe in ghosts. No matter what, Mangus would have to accomplish this goal, or else it would lead to death. One night, Fabrizio was asked to fetch water for his master. Not knowing where the kitchen was, Fabrizio was walking along, hoping to find it. Instead of going to the kitchen, he wandered off into the niche, which was near the king and his families' rooms were. As he was looking around, he saw the princess , and she was trying to get away from the ghost! Fabrizio had to do something, or else something might happen to the princess. As he was yelling to the ghost, it started to go away. The princess, Terisina, and Fabrizio got to know each other and they became good friends, and they decided not to tell anyone about them meeting each other. The princess thought that the ghost was her brother, but she couldn't say for sure. After a while, the two met a couple of times, before Mangus saw the ghost himself. One day, Fabrizio overheard a conversation, and Scarazoni was talking about a marriage of him and Terisina, due to the disappearance of the prince. The marriage was to be held in two days, or else the they wouldn't be able to get married fro another two years. After seeing and hearing the ghost a couple of times, Mangus started to figure things out. He found out that the ghost wasn't real, and someone was after this. Scarazoni didn't think that the ghost was real. Terisina didn't want to get married to him, because he was going to bring evil to the palace once he would become king. Mangus and Fabrizio found out that the ghost was being done by the queen and the princess. All four of them together planned a way to make Scarazoni believe that there is a ghost, so they all decided to make to ghost appear in front of him, and they planned to have the ghost tell Scarazoni that it was he who mudered the prince. This was done all in the night and none of them got any sleep for a few days. It was Fabrizio's job to help with the ghost. Extremely tired, Fabrizio fell asleep, accidently. When he woke up, he didn't know what time it was, but all he new was that the candle burned out, which made it obvious that he had been sleeping for a couple of hours. As he was rushing to get to the niche, where the ghost was to be seen, he was going through the secret doors. When he figured that he was almost there, he ws going through the last door, when someone started groaning in pain, and it was the prince! He was supposed to say the part of the ghost. Prince Lorenzo couldn't do the part because of his broken leg, so Fabrizio said the part, and made Scarazoni confess that he murdered the prince. Now he was put in the dungeon, and Teresina married Prince Lorenzo. Fabrizio was asked to be the servant, and he accepted it. Now everything was fine, and all the things went the way they were supposed to go.
I really liked this book, because it was like a mystery book. The book made twists and turns in the end of the book, and all the important things happened really quickly, probably because I kept reading the book. You wouldn't want to put this book down, because it would keep you attached. That made me actually want to read the book.
"In a glance he saw who lay upon the floor: It was Mangus." This quote was important, because if Mangus was dead, then there would be no one to help with the ghost. "I did order the murder of the prince." This was said when Scarazoni was forced to confess that he murdered the prince.
My favorite part of the book was when Fabrizio and Teresina met at the niche in the night, and kept it a secret, until later. It is fun to read a book that is very different from other books. I think this book is like the "Harry Potter" books, because those have a lot of magic, and there is a lot of solving to do. I hope to read many other books, just like this.