Hallowe’en 2016: The Package

I hurried across the Foyer and swiftly grabbed the small parcel, which was wrapped in plain brown paper. There was a wax seal holding everything together, with the initials EE clearly embossed.

Carefully, I opened the parcel, after checking there weren’t any instructions I needed to follow before doing so… well, you can never be too careful, can you?

Inside the brown paper, was a box? And a card attached, which read ‘Magically sealed and protected by a MagiCapturIt (R) image to ensure only the designated individual can open it’. I turned the card over to see three images, with the instruction to say aloud the number they were referring to.

I looked at the images and pondered for a while. How on Earth could they represent a number?

A wine glass.

A teapot.

And a key.

I said ‘ten’ off the cuff, and the image sparkled slightly but the box did not open. Instead, it shook in my hand, and a disembodied voice announced ‘ninety-nine more attempts remaining’.

I knew I had to be very careful in selecting this number… I also knew that I didn’t want to know what would happen if I said the incorrect number every time.