The Magnificent 12 by Michael Grant Page A

Francisco!”
    â€œBut a bunch of nerds and weirdos will show up,” Charlie argued.
    â€œHe’s right,” Dietmar said. “How do we make sure only the right people, the four who possess the enlightened puissance , show up?”
    â€œSimple,” Valin said, speaking up for the first time. He was not the least abashed about having practically tortured and nearly killed Mack. He seemed to think all was right with the world now. “If I understand Mack, he’s suggesting we make a YouTube appeal. Well then, we give them a Vargran spell that will transport them to San Francisco. It will only work for those who have the true enlightened puissance .”
    Everyone nodded. Mack was even less happy about Valin coming up with a smart solution than he was when Dietmar did it. Dietmar was annoying, but he had never tried to get ants to bite Mack to death.
    â€œYes,” Mack said. “We put out a video. Like I said.” Then added, “It was my idea.”
    â€œIt will need to attract attention,” Rodrigo argued. “It will have to be something people want to watch.”
    â€œHuh,” Stefan said, and snapped his fingers. What he meant was, “We get Taylor Swift to slap Mack!”
    â€œUm . . . maybe not that,” Mack said. “We need to figure out the Vargran we need to transport ourselves to San Francisco. And then? We just keep the video rolling.”
    â€œWho has the longest arms?” Jarrah asked.
    That turned out to be Stefan. So Stefan held the phone out at arm’s length, and the nine of them crammed close together to all get into the picture. And once the video was rolling, Mack looked at the camera and began to speak.
    â€œWe are the Magnifica. Well, plus Stefan here. You may remember us from such videos as ‘Flying Eiffel Tower’ and ‘Loch Ness Duck’ and, especially, ‘The Cheese-filled Lepercons of Beijing.’ Well, now we have a great opportunity for you. There are four more of us out there, somewhere. Four twelve-year-olds with the enlightened puissance . We need you to join us in a final battle with the terrifying forces of evil that will almost certainly kill us all. So if that sounds like a good time . . .”
    This was not coming out quite the way he had planned.
    â€œBut we also have some fun together,” he added lamely. “It’s not all danger and death. Anyway, look, unless you want to spend the rest of your life being dominated by the Pale Queen and her evil—attractive, sure, but evil—daughter, Risky, you have to come and help us.”
    At this point Xiao took pity on Mack’s rambling and laid it out. “We will give you words of the Vargran tongue. If you speak them, and if you have the enlightened puissance , they will be a magical spell that will transport you instantly to San Francisco.”
    â€œJust like we’re about to do,” Dietmar said. “If you don’t believe us, just watch.”
    At that point Stefan shifted the camera because his arm was getting tired. The Magnifica formed up again, and Rodrigo did a countdown. “Tres . . . dos . . . uno!”
    Eight voices chanted the words as one: “Fla-ma ik ag San Francisco!”
    And just like that—as the soon-to-be-famous video showed—they were in San Francisco. In fact, they were in Golden Gate Park, where a thrown Frisbee hit Mack in the back of his head.
    â€œWe could have spared ourselves a lot of airline miles if we’d thought of that earlier,” Jarrah pointed out.
    â€œUpload that video,” Mack instructed Stefan. “Then let’s find some food.”
    Lingering in the restaurant after a massive lunch of sourdough pizza, sourdough soup, sourdough cioppino, and sourdough bread pudding—they’d been through a lot, so they were entitled—they checked the YouTube video. It already had tens of thousands of hits. And many