The Key (The Magnificent 12 3)

“Huh,” Stefan replied.

“Where are you from, Sylvie?” Mack asked.

“A tiny little town in France, called Fouras. It is nowhere special.”

She pronounced special as spess-ee-al. Mack liked that. He liked it a lot.

“Okay, life stories later. Right now we need to go get that Key from MacGuffin,” Mack said. (Give the boy credit: he recovered quickly.) “Who are all these people?”

“Tourists,” Xiao said.

“They can see the castle?”

“Most of them appear to be aware of the castle,” Dietmar said.

“Okay, then,” Mack said. Then he raised his voice to be heard by all. You might wonder why a bunch of tourists would listen to Mack. After all, he was just a kid. But it’s a fact: if you want to get people’s attention, being catapulted through the air and then turning into a sort of goofy bird is a pretty good way to do it.

“Listen to me,” Mack said. “No one has seen that castle in a thousand years. A thousand years! Plus there are walking skeletons in there. Can you imagine the YouTube possibilities? The person who gets the best video online will get millions of hits. Millions!”

“And don’t forget Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter,” Jarrah pointed out.

“You’ll be more important in the Twitterverse than Ashton Kutcher,” Mack said.

After that, nothing was going to stop the horde. Roughly sixty-five people and approximately a hundred cameras began to march to the castle.

The rough climb over the rocks thinned the herd a bit, but in the end the Magnificent Five were accompanied to MacGuffin’s gate by about forty hardy men and women.

“William Blisterthöng MacGuffin!” Mack yelled at the closed door. “You have visitors!”

There was a long silence. Then, “Go away!”

“No,” Mack said.

Another long silence. Then, “Gang awa’, ye interlopers. Ah demand mah privacy. Ah huv rights!”

“You lost your rights when you tried to kill me!” Mack shouted back.

Stefan used a big rock to bang on the door. BANG BANG BANG.

“Stop banging, ye’ll ruin mah door. That’s hert o’ oak, ye can

nae buy wood lik’ that anymair!”

MacGuffin was concerned about the woodwork.

“Then open the door and give me the Key!” Mack yelled. “And our phones!”

This time the silence dragged on and on. But Mack made a “stay put” gesture at his posse and they waited.

Then, with a clattering of chains and locks, the door opened a crack. Bristly beard and a single eye came into view. Every camera was rolling.

MacGuffin thrust out a hairy hand holding a stone circle perhaps seven inches across, with a hole in the middle.

Mack did not want to get near enough to that beard to take the stone. He nodded at Stefan, who stepped forward.

“Grrrr,” MacGuffin said furiously at Stefan.

“Grrrr back at you,” Stefan snarled.