The Key Read Online Free PDF

and huffing and puffing, so they plopped down on stone benches, cupped water with their hands and drank, and gazed out across the landscape below: the road, Urquhart Castle, and the loch beyond.
    Mack caught Stefan’s eye, and the two of them went to take a look up at MacGuffin’s castle. Darkness was falling fast. It was autumn in Scotland, when days are short and nights are long.
    The castle was in perfect repair, not a ruin like Urquhart, which looked as ancient as it was. This castle looked as if it had just been built last week. The stone was clean and lichen-free. The mortar was all fresh. Even the grass below the walls looked green and new-mown.
    Also, the row of skulls used to outline the massive timber door was impeccable. They stood out white against dark stone.
    â€œAny way we can sneak in?” Mack wondered aloud.
    â€œI can’t see anything,” Stefan pointed out. “It’s like I’m standing in the air looking at a cloud.”
    â€œAh. Right. Well, it’s got high walls, a couple of giant towers, and a massive wooden gate.”
    â€œHuman pyramid?” Stefan said, and for a moment Mack wasn’t entirely sure it was stupid.
    â€œThe walls are too high,” Mack said regretfully. “We need him to open the door. We need a diversion. We need him to come out after some of us while the rest sneak in and find the Key.”
    Then, suddenly, without warning, came a sound so terrible Mack felt as if his blood had frozen solid in his veins.
    Bleeeeeaaaat-skurrrreeeeeeeeee-waaahhhhhh!
    â€œOh my God, what is that?” Xiao cried. She had come running. “It sounds as if a goat is being tortured!”
    â€œIt sounds like all the pain in existence since the dawn of time!” Jarrah said.
    â€œIt sounds like the cry of a newborn demon ready to destroy all peace and love!” Dietmar said. “But I believe it is merely a bagpipe.”
    â€œOh, yeah,” Mack said. “A bagpipe. I was going to guess that.”
    â€œSo, who is going to be the diversion?” Jarrah asked after Mack described his plan, which wasn’t really much of a plan.
    â€œYou know …,” Mack said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “Something just occurred to me: maybe the door isn’t locked. I mean, it’s not like he gets many visitors up here. Why would he lock a door no one has come to in a thousand years?”
    So they crept forward in single file with Mack in the lead. The bagpipe did not play again. There was a deep silence everywhere and the stars were beginning to blink on in the dark blue sky overhead.
    The door was about ten feet tall, maybe eight feet wide, and made of wood that looked like it could be two feet thick. It was the kind of door Mack wished he had on his room. Maybe without the skulls grinning down. That was a little too much.
    There wasn’t a handle, really, or a knocker or a bell. So Mack simply pushed on the wood where a handle might have been.
    Instantly the bagpipe screeched, and this time that horrifying sound was joined by a chorus of shrill, high-pitched voices. It sounded like a church choir of toddlers cranked up on soda and Smarties trying to sing along with a howling devil.
    â€œInteresting doorbell, eh?” Jarrah said. She was acting tough, but the noise had scared them all. All except Stefan, who yelled, “Hey, shut up!”
    The chorus was instantly silenced. The door moved on its own, slowly widening the gap.
    Mack was pretty sure duty required him to be the first one through, but fortunately Stefan pushed ahead. Stefan wasn’t good at fear. He just didn’t seem to get it. Even when he couldn’t see anything but the night sky.
    Mack was right behind him, shoulder to shoulder with Jarrah, with Dietmar and Xiao following closely. They formed a little knot of scared kids.
    The door slammed behind them.
    They found themselves in a dark courtyard. Only the faint starlight revealed tall,