The Magic Misfits: The Fifth Story

Chapter Six: It All Makes Sense

The item that Ridley had picked up was a pack of cards. On the box, there was a hastily drawn emblem:  a ring with a green stone.

"Fifteen's the magic number, five rows of three, from left to right, and then you will see," quoted Ridley. "Olly and Izzy lined the cards up in order from ace to jokers in five rows of three, then flipped each of them over!"

"But what about that part about birth and death and all that?" Theo asked.

"It's saying that five out of fifteen are regular humans, but five out of fifteen are don't really exist. Sound familiar?"

"A deck of cards! Five of them-jack, queen, king, and the two jokers-are humans, while ten of them-the numbers-are ideas: they don't actually exist. The first four lines say that each box has fifteen cards!"

"So that's cleared up. But what about the 'door without a lock'?" Leila asked.

"What was the serial number of that lock?" Ridley prompted.

"N-O-0-1-1-3-4" Leila recited.

"So, I guess you could call it 'NO lock'?" Ridley asked with a smile.

"So they didn't mean it literally has no lock. They were referring to the lock with the NO serial number."

"Right. But what I don't get is that the serial number isn't something you can just draw on. How did they change it to start with NO?"

"I can answer that!" supplied Leila. "Guess what Sandra's dad did?"

Ridley remembered that Sandra's father was the town locksmith.

"So what does this all boil down to?" asked Theo, the practical one.

It was Olly who answered.

"I think we have to collect four packs of cards, each with a different suit with the Emerald Ring insignia."

Ridley thought of one kink.

"How do we know what order the suits are in?"

Izzy knew the answer to that.

"Carter, what was that book called?"

"The Warrior, The Merchant..." Carter started to answer.

"And what do those people represent?" Izzy cued.

"Clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades!"

"All right!" Said Ridley, taking charge as usual. "Now, we just have to track down the other two packs."

"Wait." said Carter. "Can't Leila just pick the lock?"

"No can do," she said. "It's virtually uncrackable, and I don't think Sandra's skeleton key will work on it."

"Okay, be on the lookout for those card packs!" Ridley dismissed.

"Keep your eyes peeled like a banana!" Olly added.

"But bananas are supposed to be unpeeled!" Izzy quipped.

"Hold up! Peel and unpeel sound like antonyms, but they're actually synonyms!" Carter said.

Ridley was still jostling for the last word.

"Want to meet up for a search on Sunday?"

"I'm up for that," said Izzy.

"I'm down for that," said Olly.

"Hold it! Another pair of synonyms disguised as antonyms!"

Ridley glared.

"We're already confused enough!"