But finally he spotted what he was looking for, Tik-Tok was still frozen as they had left him. Mac hurried over to him, and whispered. "Tik-Tok. Don't talk. This is Jack, he's going to take you upstairs and tell you what has to be done." he said this whilst he wound up his actions again.
Tik-Tok blinked and looked over at Jack, with a look of bewilderment but did as Mac said. It was a fete of prowess for Tik-Tok to make it back across the foyer to the hidden door without making much noise, but he managed and the two vanished back up the stairs, leaving Mac to his mission. He swallowed bravely, and began his quest down one of the hallways, luckily labelled with a sign reading "PRINCESS SLEEPING - SILENCE!" He snuck around hallways, until finally he found the bedroom. He guessed that at some point it had been the Rabbits, and then the Scarecrows; evident from pieces of straw still on the floor here and there. Mac looked to the bed, where the form of the sleeping princess resided. She slept quietly. This would make things more difficult.
He tip toed up to the bed, and saw one of her arms were stuck out from beneath the large blanket. It was the hand with the key tied to it. Reaching over, and holding his breath as he did, Mac began untying the ribbon that held the key in place. It was extremely difficult since the bow was tied very tightly.
Mean whilst upstairs, Tik-Tok, Jack and Billina were at work. The two had already pushed two couches together to meet, and Billina was collecting rope and cords to tie them together. Tik-Tok was doing the knot tying and ordering Jack to collect various things they'd need. They had to work fast.
Finally the ribbon was untied, and Mac pulled the key into his hands. This opened all the display cases. Now he could get to 32 and get the powder. He crept as quietly as before from the room directly into the display hallway. They were connected to make life easier, he guessed. All of the heads were asleep, snoring or whimpering in their sleep. After counting them, he finally reached 32. His own image stared back. Taking a deep breath he put the key into the lock and turned it, then slowly pulled the door open, afraid it would squeak.
It didn't.
But what he saw wasn't what he expected. Another head was sat in the corner of the cabinet. This one had red hair, cropped around where the base of her neck would be. Freckles splashed her cheeks and nose. It must be her original head, surely! He made a face. No wonder she wanted so many other pretty heads instead of that one. But then he spotted it, on a small rack of shelves besides the head, was a canister that read 'Powder of Life'. Mac took another deep breath and reached out, and picked up the powder. But just as he was pulling his hand away, the real Mombi's eyes suddenly opened.
The two stared at the other in silence. Mac in fear, Mombi in hate. Then she screamed. "MAC OF FOSTERS!" she shrieked, "MAC OF FOSTERS!!!!"
He slammed the door shut and locked it, but already it was too late. All the heads around him were awake, eyes all on him and all screaming as one filling the air with the shrieks of over 40 young girls. Then Mac saw the bedroom, and the figure on the bed was standing up. She was headless. Knowing he had a chance to get past the headless body he made a run for it, the heads screams ringing in his ears as he avoided the grasping hands of the body, and away down the hallways. The screams echoed throughout the palace, and finally Mac found the foyer again.
But where was the door way? Tik-Tok and Jack had shut the door, and now he couldn't tell which way was wich in the room of mirrors. Looking frantic now, Mac began banging on the glass walls hoping to find the entrance. Then something caught his eye, in the far corner a blurry shape drifted on a sheet of glass before vanishing. Having no other choice, Mac ran to it and pushed on the glass, it popped open and Mac rushed in and ran up the stairs as fast as he could.
What he found he wasn't expecting.
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