The Call (The Magnificent 12 1)

“Can you see me?” the ancient man asked.

“Yes, I can see you. Stefan, can you see him?”

Stefan looked over Mack’s shoulder and nodded. He seemed amazingly calm, as if this kind of thing happened all the time. “You want me to smash it?”

“No,” Mack said.

“Have you seen the golem?” the ancient creature asked in his dry-leaves voice.

“Yeah. And the snakes,” Mack snapped.

“I know not of snakes.”

“Yeah, well, I know of them,” Mack shot back. “Some old dude in green stuck ’em in my window. They bit all over the golem.”

The ancient’s eyebrows shot up. The effect was particularly odd since the round chrome surface exaggerated every expression. “This is very bad news.”

“Yeah, I thought so, too,” Mack said.

“The forces of the Dread Foe are already aware of you.”

“Okay. I don’t have any dread foes,” Mack said.

“He’s under my wing,” Stefan added belligerently.

“You have foes of which you dream not,” the old man rasped. “Foes which, if you only knew of them, your blood would freeze like a mountain stream in winter and your hands would tremble and lose their strength.”

Mack found this alarming. “Hey! I don’t have any enemies. I’m not looking for trouble. I have a math test.”

“We choose not our enemies. Your foes are the foes of your blood. For in your veins runs the blood true of the Magnifica.”

“Is that Latin?”

“You are called, young hero. Called! To save the world from the nameless evil.”

“What’s the name of this nameless evil?” Mack asked.

“The Pale Queen! But we name her not.”

“You just did.”

The old man looked irritated at being caught in a contradiction. “I am trying to move things along. I don’t have a lot of time. My magic is weak, nowhere near what it once was. I fail…I weaken…I can scarce hear you or make myself heard in return.”

“Then spit it out, grandpa,” Stefan snarled.

The ancient glanced at Stefan. “This one will be useful. You will have need for a wild dog such as this.”

Mack thought Stefan might take offense at this, but Stefan only swelled a little bit and nodded in agreement.

“I will spit it,” the ancient said. “I am called Grimluk. One of the first great band of heroes called the Magnifica. We it was who first fought the Pale Que—the Dread Foe and bound her tightly within the bowels of the earth never again to trouble poor frightened humanity. We placed spells that would keep the world safe forever!”

“Okay, then we have nothing to worry about, right?” Mack said hopefully.

“Well…,” Grimluk said.

“Uh-oh.”

“You must understand that this all happened a very long time ago. These were the days before most people knew anything of numbers. We had no algebra. Nor did we partake of geometry. Or long division. Or multiplication.”