The Key (The Magnificent 12 3)

EIFFEL TOWER RELOCATION:

ARCHITECTURE CRITICS WEIGH IN

Le Monde:

TOURISTE AMERICAIN VOLE TOUR EIFFEL

Fox News:

ERESKIGAL WOULD RAISE

TAXES ON JOB CREATORS

High Times:

NO WAY! WAY? NO WAY!

Deadline Hollywood:

ONE PERCENTERS ON TRAIL OF MACK RIGHTS

Huffington Post:

PALE QUEEN SEEN AT REPUBLICAN RALLY

Wall Street Journal:

EXCHANGES OPEN LOWER ON APOCALYPSE FEARS

The Sun:

FROGS IN AWFUL EIFFEL MIX-UP

The clearest of the many YouTube videos had 17,903,022 hits. Most commenters believed it had been faked.

An exhausted Mack was in the very posh bathroom of a very nice room in a very nice Paris hotel. The police had decided against arresting him and his friends—for now. But they were definitely not supposed to leave the city.

Mack wasn’t too worried about that. He and the others had just flown the Eiffel Tower across Paris: they could deal with some cops.

He took a shower, toweled off, and got dressed.

Then he caught a reflection in the chrome pipe at the back of the toilet.

He sighed.

“Where have you been?” he said, and crouched down to better see the wavy, uncertain image there.

Grimluk—looking as grim as ever—said, “My time is shoooooort, Mack. I am weak … I fade....”

“Yeah, well, you know what? I feel the same exact way, dude.”

“Bad day?”

“Yes. Very bad.” But then he grinned. “On the other hand, we have seven of us now. And the whole world has been warned about what’s coming.”

“The whole world? But that would take many messengers, riding for months to the far corners of the earth to spread the word. To far-off Azkebal and frigid Gramaton, and steaming Bakersfield and—”

“Also, we have the Key,” Mack said, interrupting what sounded like a list that might go on for quite some time.