The magician had been amazing, too a greater than usual extent.

He had done the headmover illusion, but instead of transferring the head box from the table where he had rested it having removed from the apparatus where the assistant's body remained to be seen, and then transferring it back, he carried the open head-box up and down the aisles and across the front row before returning it to the apparatus and reconnecting it to her body; it even answered some questions, although I did not hear what, because I was a far distance from the aisles, having booked a central seat to get a better view.

Another assistant was sawn in half using a buzzsaw in a frame arrangement. She moved forward on her elbows to open up a gap of a couple of inches in her middle.

Keighley beside me was annoying me, by commenting on how she was frustrated by watching 'trick that I know how they're done' except for the 'extra bits that make it impossible.' “If I get a chance to volunteer, I will; I want to know how it works.”

“I'll hold you to that,” I replied.

The chance to volunteer came sooner than expected. The magician was telling us that the 'assistants' union' had determined that the interval was not a long enough break, so he was going to have to pay extra to show us the next illusion, unless a member of the audience volunteered to stand in for the assistant so that the assistant could have her long enough break. I nudged Keighley, saying “Now's your chance to volunteer.” I then raised a hand, pointed at her and called out, “Keighley said that she'd do it given the chance.”

Keighley nudged me back. “You rotter!”

“If I heard that right, there's someone called Keighley who wants to try her hand at being a magician's assistant.” The magician seemed a bit surprised; I suspect the patter about union mandated breaks was an excuse to use the 'magician's assistants will do anything for money' motivation to get them into the box.

“No, I don't want to be your assistant, but I do want to know how you are doing the extra bits that I can't figure out from the middle of the audience.”

“So, it's more like a challenge? You get close to the magic and I win if you can't explain it?”

“I wasn't thinking challenge, more a better chance to see things up close.”

“How about you come up here and bring your gentleman-friend with you, and we'll see about getting you really close to the magic and maybe some kind of prize if you can tell me what happened. Are you up for it?”

Keighley stood, seeming to realise that even if she did not want to do whatever the magician had in mind. the audience wanted her to make good on being volunteered. She grabbed my hand; I was a lot more involved in this than I had hoped.

We were soon on the stage being introduced to the audience, that gave the impression that they might lynch us if we did follow through with our promise of volunteering.

“Now, as the person challenged, I get to lay out the rules. First and most obvious is that you will participate in this illusion without complaint and follow all reasonable instructions I give. Second, at some point I will blindfold you and you will remain blindfolded until the illusion is complete. Third and finally, if you can tell me afterwards what happened to you, I will declare you the winner and make things right. If you can tell me how I did it I will give you a bonus prize.”

“And if I don't know what you did to me?” Keighley asked.

“Then you'll have to wait until Eddie decides to tell you to find out and I won't repair the minor damage that will result from performing this illusion, but don't worry you will come out the other end of this experiment as good as you are now.”

“I think I can do that. Not that I feel I have got a lot of choice, having been volunteered and introduced. But the bonus prize had better be worth it.”

“Good, we had better shake on it before we start.” They shook hands. “We will start by building a box and getting you in it. So far so straight forward.”

A stagehand brought on a low platform with some stuff on if. It quickly became apparent that the items were several sheets of stuff and a box of fittings. The top sheet was thick clear plastic with hooks around the edge and some holes drilled into it in a pattern. I was told to hold this upright, but resting on the floor, which was a relief, because it was quite heavy. The magician brought the first pair of fittings which turned out to be struts with a small caster on the end. He attached one to a corner, tightening a clamp to hold it in place; He got Keighley to fit the other one, saying that she might as well be involved in as much of the set up as he allowed.

Between us we turned the sheet over and a second pair of casters on struts were clamped to the corners, then we lowered it so the sheet lay horizontal supported about a foot from the floor by the wheeled struts. The magician had Keighley step up on to the sheet to check that the struts would hold her weight and were connected with the strength required; it held.

The next panel was wood and had dowels sticking out of the bottom edge that located in holes in the back edge of the base plate. Four catches connected it firmly, but the magician pointed out that this might collapse if pressure was applied to the inside. To prevent this a pair of similar, but smaller, panels were fitted on the ends, latching to the base plate and the back panel and creating a rigid structure. The front panel was made of the same clear plastic as the base and was pegged and clipped into place in the same fashion as the previous sides.

“This is the point where I ask you to get into the box,” said the magician.

“It looks rather small,” Keighley said doubtfully.

“That is exactly the point. For starters you are a little bigger than the assistant who is on the rota to do this illusion, but that's a good thing. The point of a small seeming box is that there is very little room for manoeuvre, which in turn means that we know exactly where you are, which in the long run is safer for everyone concerned. Also because you are a volunteer (or challenger), instead of a trained assistant, it is even more important that we know where you are in the box.”

Hesitantly, Keighley stepped over the walls into the box, she had to raise her long skirt to do this with any grace. “So, I guess I have to fold myself in here somehow?”

“Just kneel down and scoot back as far as your feet and bottom allow, which will give you the space to tuck your head in at the other end. But not before I put the blindfold on you.” Something resembling a sleep-mask dangled from his fingers.

Keighley tucked her skirt into the back of her knees as she shuffled into a kneeling position, supporting some of her weight on the panel that would be the head end. “This box seems a bit narrow; like barely shoulder width.”

“Like I said, small box, less room to be in the wrong place. You'll find it less of a tight squeeze if you put your arms behind your back. And of course it is time to put on the blindfold.” He helped put on the sleep-mask and allowed Keighley to adjust it to be comfortable. “Ok, arms back and it's time to tuck your head into the box. Eddie would you help Keighley to get her head in, without banging it on the end of the box.”

It was relatively simple to get her head inside the box once I realised that she need to tuck her chin towards her neck, which, once she she was in left the base of her ponytail pressed against the end of the box and her shoulders slightly compressed by the front and back sides of the box.

The magician brought over a perforated wooden panel with catches and gently placed it on the backs of Keighley's arms. He gave the lid an experimental push, but did not close the inch gap between it and the rest of the box. “I was afraid of that. We'll have to move on to plan B.”

A stagehand brought out a replacement panel. It had the same perforations, but also had a pair of holes in the middle. The stagehand returned the original lid to the low platform and took it away.

The magician rested the new lid on the foot end and asked me to guide Keighley's hands to the holes. When I had her hands through the holes, he pushed the lid forward allowing me to continue guiding Keighley's forearms through the holes. When the lid dropped into place, Keighley's elbows had just emerged through the holes.

“Not too uncomfortable?” The magician asked as he clipped the fittings to hold the lid into place.

“Not great, but it's bearable. So, I've been stuffed in a box; what happens next?”

“Nice try, but that's for us to know and you to work out; that's how this challenge works. But I shall now show everyone what fate awaits you. And please, Eddie, don't give Keighley any hints; this is between me and her; you're here to help out and see fair play.”

From the wings was wheeled something about the same size as the box, but a little taller by a couple of inches. We discovered that it was a bed of tall spikes, when the magician whipped away the cloth that had covered it, and draped it over his shoulder.

The audience gasped when the saw the spikes and what the magician was planning. Keighley tried to turn her head towards the sound, but could not move enough.

“Let's move Keighley to the rest of the apparatus. You'll find a couple of flip-up handles on the end of the box there; I'll get this end.”

I found the handles and got ready to lift. The magician coordinated our lift and carry to the spikes. Defying my expectations he had us place the box with Keighley inside at an angle on top of the spikes. “Eddie, can confirm that Keighley is still in the box?”

I looked into the box through the front and then took hold of a hand and gave it a squeeze that I hope she would find reassuring. “Yes, she's still inside and that's definitely Keighley.”

“Good, now we cover the box, because what happens next might be considered too gruesome for an audience.” I helped drape that cloth over the box; it did not reach the floor, but dangled a couple of inches below that bottom edge of the box. “OK, Keighley, we're about to do the magical part of this illusion, so keep your wits about you, because this is the bit you'll need to tell me about to be declared the winner, and if you can add any other details, you'll get the extra prize.”

The cloth moved on top of the box, which I think was Keighley doing a thumbs-up.

“Eddie, grab the handles again and we'll line this up.”

It took surprisingly little time, before the tips of the spikes located in the holes in the bottom of the box and the box sank about half an inch, then stopped. He lifted the cloth to show that audience and me that Keighley was still inside. I was close enough to see the tips of some of the spikes that were poking through the base of the box.

The magician dropped the cloth back into place and said, “I think we'll need to apply some pressure to get this to work.” He placed his hands at the corners of the box and I mirrored him. “Go steady, because we don't want anything to jam on the way down.” He tensed and I felt the box move slightly so I pressed on the nearest corners.

It took about thirty seconds for the box to descend enough that the tips of spikes coming through the lid became visible under the cloth and then the wheels touched down on the floor.

“It's time to see what we've done.” The Magician took hold of the cloth to reveal what I and most of the audience expected to be a box containing nothing but spikes.

There was a full second of silence followed by applause, after the reveal. Keighley was still in the box seemingly impaled by most of the spikes. I wondered, due to her stillness, whether she had somehow been replaced by a dummy. I reached over and took hold of a hand; it was warm and when I squeezed it, it squeezed back.

“So, Keighley, how are you feeling?” asked the magician.

Keighley seemed to make an attempt to speak, but found that she could not. Closer inspection showed that there was a spike that went up in the middle a little in front of her knees, this went into her nearly inverted mouth and seemed to pin her chin to her neck before exiting the back of her neck and leaving the box by its intended hole. She gave a thumbs-up, followed by spreading her hand and rocking it side to side.

“She seems ok, but not really comfortable,” I tried to interpret.

“I'm sorry that it isn't particularly comfortable, but I'm sure Eddie will vouch that without the magic it would be a lot more uncomfortable.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I confirmed lamely.

“But we're not done yet. Keighley, is it getting a bit stuffy inside the box?” She signalled that it was, as best I could interpret. “In that case, we had better improve the ventilation.”

In a matter of seconds, the wall at the head end had been unclipped and removed. “Better?” the magician enquired.

“Yes,” I translated.

“Ok, Eddie, why don't you undo that end, then there can be a proper flow of air. I'll open up the back.”

While I unhooked the catches from the foot end of the box, then magician had removed the back and the front of the box. Keighley had not moved as she seemed comprehensively skewered by all the spikes, except a couple that missed her knees and her head. She was also still sandwiched between the base and the lid of the box, which were still in place.

Using the wheels on the base and the spikes, the magician had me turn Keighley so that she could be seen from all sides.

“Now that we've done the main part of the trick, I guess we had better get Keighley back out of there and see if she can tell us what happened to her and whether she wins the bonus by telling us how.”

He picked up the cloth and draped it over the lid and down the bare sides. “Alright Eddie, We'll grab the legs of the box and lift Keighley out of her predicament.” He squatted to take hold of the box legs that showed below the cloth. I followed suit. We were soon lifting the base of the box.

It took me a while to notice that despite us lifting the base of the box the top was not rising. Judging by the murmuring in the audience, they noticed at about the same time that I did. By this time I was stood up high enough to see the magician over the unraised lid of the box. He made what I took to be a conspiratorial wink and I heard a 'sh' sound. I had to assume that everything was going to plan, even if I could see the raised areas where Keighley's arms were.

As we got to the point that the base touched the lid, continuing to lift the base raised the lid too and the places where the spikes had shown flattened and the areas where Keighley's arms should have been.

We carried the collapsed box forward and a stagehand took the spikes away. I assumed this was so that when Keighley reappeared there would be no obvious clues about what had happened. We lowered the legs to the floor and he whipped the cloth away again. Between us was the base of the box and at an angle was the lid resting on the base; the angle was due to the magician catching the corner of the lid as he removed the cloth.

“No Keighley. Eddie, would you check that she isn't hiding in the lid.”

I lifted the lid until there was only one corner standing on the stage and then, while holding the opposite corner, I gave it a push so that it turned, showing both sides to be plain and the same as it had been when it arrived on the stage.

“I think we had better get her back from wherever she's gone; I wouldn't want her to miss the second half of the show.” He picked up a corner of the cloth and handed it to me, while holding another corner himself, then he stepped away until the cloth was mostly taut between us. “Now, I want you to turn around a couple of times until you are completely wrapped in the cloth.”

Not having any better ideas, I turned and side-stepped to wrap myself in the cloth. Nothing seemed to happen. So, he asked me to unwind myself. I was about to ask what the point of that was, when a hand appeared at the top of the cloth and pushed it down. Keighley asked, “Why am I standing behind a cloth instead of still in a box?”

“I'm sure Eddie will explain that later,” the magician said dropping his end of the cloth and nodding to me that I should too. “But first, we need to resolve the matter of the challenge between us. To go home as you arrived, you need to tell me what happened to you while you were blindfolded. For the bonus prize, you need to explain how. If you can't tell us what we have just done to you you go home as you are now.”

I looked at Keighley to see what the magician meant by distinguishing between how she was now and how she was when she arrived. It took me a second or two to spotted that her blouse and skirt had many round holes that I had to assume corresponded to where the spikes had passed through; nothing indecent, but small circles of her skin showing through missing circles in her clothes.

“Blindfolded in a box is not the best way to determine what magic is being done to you,” protested Keighley.

“I can assure you, Keighley, that you were about as close to the magic as it is possible to get; and I'm sure that Eddie will back me up on this.”

Keighley looked in my direction and I nodded my agreement with the magician's previous statement. She looked around at the evidence that lay about; the base of the box still on its wheeled struts and the lid with the arm-holes that she had never seen before. She noted that the sides of the box she had stepped into were no longer there. I could see that she was not putting the clues together, especially as the biggest, the bed of spikes, had been taken away, and the second biggest clue, the holes in her clothes, had not been noticed.

“I don't know, but maybe if I guess, I'll get it right. Erm, did you saw through the box while I was in it or maybe make me vanish from the box.”

“That's two guesses, but the first was completely off the mark and the second one was a side-effect of the extra bit of the illusion so that you could be appeared behind the cloth, it isn't the main illusion.” Keighley turned to me to see if I agreed with the magician's assessment of her guesses. “I'm feeling generous, you can have another guess.”

“Thank you,” she said in a mildly sarcastic tone. “Did you turn me into an animal; something interesting, but small enough to fit in that box; like a dog or a pig.” I had to suppress a smile at the thought of a pig wearing her outfit.

“That is not correct, either so I shall say 'thank you', you have been a wonderful volunteer. Please enjoy the interval and come back to be further mystified by the second half.”

The magician picked up the cloth and took two steps back, before raising it in front of him, then moments later it dropped, leaving the stage empty except for Keighley and me.