The second the sun was up, I was dressed and rattling down through the floor of my bedroom in my BRILLIANT chair-lift quicker than I’d ever done before.
Grogbah had kept true to his word and had sat spinning on my model-globe, singing at the top of his voice all night, so morning couldn’t have come fast enough.
Today was Abe’s actual one hundred and seventy-fifth birthday and I couldn’t wait to spend the day with him. There was SO much I wanted to know his travels and adventures.
Whatever doubts I’d had yesterday were gone and a buzz of excitement fizzed in my brain. I couldn’t believe I’d let stupid Prince Grogbah make me feel nervous!
I reached the library floor with a BUMP and darted over to the doors that led through to reception.
‘Grandad Abe!’ I shouted as I flung the doors wide, then nearly fell over backwards when I saw the foyer was already filled with hundreds of guests. I guess I wasn’t that much of an early bird, after all.
‘Frankie, my dear!’ Nancy called from the stone counter. ‘Over here!’
I glanced across the enormous room and saw my family gathered there, and they too were gawping at my great-great-great-grandad.
‘It was right here!’ I heard Abe say as he was floating in circles around the stone reception desk, with a look of frustration on his face.
‘There are only three keyholes, Abe,’ Mum said. She reached inside her top and pulled out the brass key that hung around her neck on a chain. ‘See? I should know – I’m in charge of them.’
‘No, no, no – there definitely used to be four!’ Abe said. ‘Fish, snake, bumblebee, octopus!’
‘Morning, boy!’ Maudlin grumbled when she spotted me. ‘What time do you call this?’
Abe looked up and smiled.
‘Good day to you, young chap!’ he beamed, grinning a mischievous grin. ‘You’ve arrived at precisely the right moment!’
‘What’s going on?’ I asked, pushing my way to the front of the crowd.
‘Well,’ Mum interrupted. She stepped forward and raised her hands like she was about to deliver a speech. ‘Last night, after you’d all gone to bed, Bargeous and I had a chat and we decided that we’d be bonkers not to throw our usual party for Abe’s one hundred and seventy-fifth birthday. Especially now that he’d actually be attending this one.’
‘And when we woke this morning and let Abe know about our idea…’ Dad looked at Abe with glee. ‘You tell them! Tell everyone what you told us!’
‘Oh, righty ho,’ Abe chuckled. He floated slightly higher so everyone could see him clearly. ‘I said we simply must throw a big bash in the ballroom.’
I stopped and thought for a moment.
‘But … we haven’t got a ballroom,’ I mumbled, wondering if being kept up all night by Grogbah had affected my concentration.
‘THAT’S WHAT I SAID!’ Dad blurted excitedly.
‘Ah, well, I’m afraid you’re both wrong,’ Abe smiled. ‘I think you’ll find we do. It’s SPLENDIFEROUS!’
‘Where is it, my wee lamb?’ Nancy asked. ‘I’ve never heard of it.’
‘Ha ha! You’ll see, Nancy,’ Abe laughed. ‘I just need to locate this elusive octopus lock. I know it’s on the reception counter somewhere!’
Octopus lock? I’d never seen that one before and I knew the desk like the back of my hand.
I looked at the keyholes on the front of the stone block and checked them for myself. Everything was just like it had always been. The three slots were encircled by different gold symbols and each one worked an entrance to the hotel.
If you turned the key in the fish lock, Aunt Zennifer’s fountain at the centre of the room slid away to reveal the sea door, a deep well that stretched below the building and out to the ocean. That entrance was mostly used by mermaids, anemenonks, swelkies and kulpies.
The snake keyhole opened and closed the front door to the street.
The bumblebee unlocked the sky door, high up in the dome of reception.
I’d seen Mum operate them a squillion times, and I knew for certain that she was right. There was definitely no octopus symbol.
‘Are you sure you’re not just a bit hazy, deary?’ said Nancy.
‘Not at all! I remember it perfectly!’ Abe glared at the stone desk and stroked his moustache. ‘We used it all the time. It operated the elevator to…’
The ghost’s voice hushed to an almost silent muttering.
‘I think it might be time to get you back to a staircase for more rest. Ooof’s cellar steps are free, I’m sure he won’t mind,’ Nancy continued. ‘You must still be exhausted from your journey, Abe. Does that sound goo—’
‘I’VE GOT IT!’ Abe blurted, stopping Nancy in her tracks.
‘What? What have you got?’ Maudlin asked.
‘Water! We need sea water!’ Grandad Abe clapped his ghostly hands together and wisped quickly around the corner of the desk towards us. ‘It’s all coming back! We had to put an enchantment on the keyhole after an infestation of rumpuswumps got in and practically wrecked the ballroom with their wild partying’
We all looked at each other, not quite sure what to do.
‘I haven’t finished my tea. Will this do?’ Dad said, holding up his mug.
‘No good!’ Grandad Abe replied. ‘It needs to be salt water.’
‘But I’m drinking shrimp-scale tea,’ Dad said. ‘It’s salty as a sardine’s spittle!’
‘MARVELLOUS!’ Grandad Abe barked. ‘In that case… Here, Bargeous – pour it over the top of the desk.’
I glanced at Mum, who was busily nodding her approval at Dad. She looked so excited, I half-expected to see her head floating off her shoulders.
‘You watch this,’ Abe beamed. ‘It’s terrific! Quickly, now!’
Dad lifted his mug above the counter and poured what was left of the shrimp-scale tea over its surface. Then we waited as the pinky-red drink spread over the cold grey block, and…
‘LOOK!’ Mum gasped.
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled and my pointy ears twitched, as the top of the desk rippled and swirled like the stone itself had turned to liquid. From a point right in the middle of the countertop, eight gold tentacles emerged from the rock and spread outwards, wriggling and flexing their suckers until they reached its edges and started squirming down the sides towards the ground.
‘It’s unbelievable!’ Dad wheezed. ‘Tell me you’re all seeing this!’
‘We’re seeing it all right, Bargeous!’ Nancy said, blinking her many eyes in amazement. ‘Och, it’s beautiful!’
Finally, just as the golden octopus tentacles reached the floor, there was a small creak of metal and a keyhole appeared right at their centre.
Nobody spoke.
We all stared with pounding hearts and gaping mouths.
‘Well?’ Grandad Abe finally said, breaking the silence. ‘What are you waiting for, Rani? Give the key a try.’
‘Go on,’ said Dad, patting Mum on the shoulder.
‘Here goes,’ Mum said. ‘Hold onto your bumly-bits.’ She slowly lifted her trembling hand and inserted the key into the octopus lock. Then, with one swift movement, she turned it.
CLUNK!