Horror House

by H. I. Larry

  Contents

  TITLE PAGE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  COPYRIGHT PAGE

  Zac Power rolled his eyes. His brother Leon was standing in the middle of the GIB hardware store, admiring a pair of standard-issue pliers.

  ‘Look at these beauties!’ exclaimed Leon.

  Sometimes, Zac found it hard to believe that Leon was his brother. It was even harder to believe that Leon was a spy, working for a top-secret spy organisation called the Government Investigation Bureau, or GIB for short.

  In fact, everyone in Zac’s family was a spy – including Zac himself. He’d been around spies all his life. And he’d never seen one get excited about pliers before.

  Still, Leon is more of a GIB inventor than a spy, Zac reminded himself. Leon was an expert in designing new spy gadgets. To him, a hardware store was better than a lolly shop. Especially an exclusive GIB hardware store like this one.

  ‘OK, let’s check out the energy-saving light bulbs,’ said Leon, reluctantly putting the pliers down. ‘Did you know that we can reduce our total annual carbon emissions by a huge amount once we’ve changed over all the light bulbs in our –’

  ‘Yes, I know,’ Zac interrupted. ‘You’ve told me about a thousand times today, Leon.’

  Zac glanced down at his watch.

  Normally, Zac would have refused to spend his Saturday afternoon with Leon in a hardware store. But today he didn’t have much choice. Tomorrow afternoon, Zac’s school friends were going to see a movie called Ghost Fighters. Zac really wanted to go. He almost never did normal stuff with his friends because he was always going on GIB missions. But his parents had said that he could only go if he helped Leon with his latest geeky project – swapping all the light bulbs in their house for special energy-saving ones.

  Trust Leon to be so boring, Zac groaned to himself. He pulled out his SpyPad, the hand-held super tablet that all GIB spies used. Wasn’t there an important mission or something that GIB could send him on?

  When Zac went to check his messages, though, there was no signal. He gave his SpyPad a shake, but nothing happened.

  Zac frowned at the screen. ‘I don’t think my SpyPad’s connected to Headquarters.’

  ‘Maybe your battery is flat,’ suggested Leon, studying a very large screwdriver. ‘That sometimes kills the signal. There’s a recharge station in the store. One of the auto-drive electric buggies will take you straight there.’

  Zac shrugged. He didn’t think the battery was flat as he’d only charged it yesterday. But it was a good excuse to get away from Leon and his energy-saving light bulbs!

  ‘Back soon, Leon!’ he said, throwing his backpack into the front seat of a nearby GIB buggy. He hopped in and selected Recharge Station on the destination panel as the buggy zoomed off.

  ‘Recharge Station selected,’ an electronic voice said. It looked like the buggy was set to Chat mode. ‘Due to unknown causes, the whole city is experiencing power surges. Please note that your SpyPad might be affected.’

  Suddenly, there was a loud buzzing noise and the entire store was plunged into total darkness. Even worse, the buggy had gone out of control!

  It raced around the pitch-black hardware store, screeching around corners and bouncing off shelves. Zac wrestled with the controls, trying to find the manual steering wheel. He had no idea why a black-out would make the buggy go crazy. And he had to figure out how to get it to stop!

  The buggy screeched wildly and pushed through what felt like heavy plastic doors.

  There’s got to be a handbrake somewhere on this thing, Zac thought. He felt beneath the seat with his hand.

  When he found the brake, he gripped it hard and wrenched it upwards. The buggy immediately braked, but instead of stopping, it started spinning wildly.

  Oh no, Zac groaned to himself, trying not to fall out of his seat. Stopping with a handbrake always causes burn-outs!

  He held onto his seat as hard as he could, but he could feel his fingers slipping. He tensed up, preparing to go flying out of the spinning buggy.

  Just as he was about to lose his grip completely, the store lights crackled back to life. The buggy did one last doughnut on the concrete floor and then pulled smoothly to a stop. Zac could smell burning rubber in the air.

  He carefully climbed out of the buggy and looked around. It seemed that he was in a storage area out the back of the hardware store.

  I wonder if my SpyPad’s working yet? Zac thought.

  He reached into his pocket and took it out. The SpyPad screen flickered to life. He still didn’t have a signal. But there was something very strange on the screen. Very strange indeed.

  Zac had received a mission on his SpyPad. But it wasn’t from GIB!

  Zac knew that GIB usually sent out their missions on special coded disks. It was very risky to send a mission directly to a SpyPad because it might be hacked.

  But Zac also knew that other spy agencies weren’t so careful.

  He quickly scanned the message on his SpyPad.

  Zac’s mouth dropped open. This message was meant for a BIG agent! But how did it get on his SpyPad? And why did BIG think that GIB were controlling the weather? It didn’t seem like a very GIB thing to do.

  I guess the power surges must have made my SpyPad pick up a transmission, he thought.

  But his SpyPad still didn’t have a signal, and Zac’s spy senses were tingling. Something wasn’t right.

  He decided to go straight to 13 Grande Street and check it out. When his SpyPad had a stronger signal, he would call HQ for back-up.

  Zac wondered briefly if he should tell Leon where he was going.

  No, he thought, rolling his eyes. Leon is happy looking at light bulbs. I’ll call him later.

  First of all, Zac had to figure out how to get to 13 Grande Street.

  I suppose I could take that crazy GIB hardware store buggy, but…

  Then he had a brainwave. He could take a GIB Commuter-Scooter! These were small, zippy scooters that GIB parked at various handy points around the city. They were for emergency spy travel.

  Zac looked around. There was bound to be a Commuter-Scooter near the GIB hardware store.

  Sure enough, parked across the street was a shiny green scooter with the word Dragonfly painted on the side. It wasn’t exactly the sort of super-fast, high-tech vehicle that Zac was used to driving. But it would do.

  Zac hopped on and swiped the scooter’s controls with his GIB ID card.

  Not bad! Zac grinned. The machine actually had some grunt! He flicked the scooter into gear and took off.

  He sped down the city streets. He was pretty sure he knew the way to Grande Street, but he decided to enter the co-ordinates into the GPS anyway.

  After a bit of expert driving, Zac noticed that the Dragonfly’s left handlebar was suddenly glowing bright green.

  I guess that means I should turn left, Zac thought, pressing hard on the accelerator.

  The Dragonfly skimmed the road lightly and barely tilted as Zac took the corner at full speed.

  The scooter kept telling him when to turn left and right, and pretty soon Zac arrived at the mansion.

  Zac parked the Dragonfly on the kerb, looking around as he climbed off. The other houses in the street looked perfectly normal. But the house at 13 Grande Street was totally different.

  For one thing, it was a huge mansion. It also looked really old and dirty. Zac couldn’t imagine anyone ever living there.

  ‘Creepy, isn’t it?’ said a voice behind him.

  Zac jumped. But it was just a swee
t old lady, smiling at him. She reminded Zac of his granny, especially because she smelt so strongly of lavender. The only thing slightly weird about her was that she had lots of purple hair. It looked like a wig!

  Thinking quickly, Zac pretended to look upset. ‘My football went over the fence,’ he said. ‘I have to get it.’

  ‘You can’t go in there, sonny!’ exclaimed the old lady, looking horrified. ‘It’s haunted! Stay well away.’

  Then she patted him on the arm and hurried off.

  Zac waited until she was out of sight. Then he slipped through the front gate, smirking. Haunted – as if!

  That was where this old lady and his granny were different. Zac’s granny was a top GIB spy. She would never believe some stupid haunted-house story.

  The same went for Zac. And the more he was told to stay out of somewhere, the more determined he was to go in.

  I just don’t know why BIG want their agent to wait around at this mansion until tomorrow morning, Zac thought, shaking his head. What am I supposed to do until then?

  Even Zac had to admit that the yard of 13 Grande Street was pretty creepy. Everything was completely still.

  Zac touched one of the plants and realised why. It was completely hard – almost like it was made out of stone. And if that wasn’t creepy enough, the yard also had a cemetery in it.

  The house itself wasn’t any nicer. The paint was peeling and the eaves were covered with cobwebs. Right at the top of the house was a tower with a spooky-looking window.

  That must be the room that BIG meant, realised Zac, glancing down at his watch.

  It was only late afternoon, but already the garden seemed very dark. Thick storm clouds were blocking out the sun. And they seemed particularly thick around the tower at the top of the mansion.

  There was a sudden crash of lightning, and rain started drizzling down. Zac raced for the porch.

  As he ran, Zac saw two things that would’ve been enough to make any normal kid turn and run straight home. First, all the lights in the house flashed on. And then, Zac saw the outline of a figure standing at the top window!

  Then the lights flickered off and the figure disappeared.

  Zac reached the steps leading up to the porch. His heart was pounding. Not because I’m scared, though, he told himself. It’s just because I had to run. He took a deep breath and started walking quietly up the stairs towards the front door.

  Lucky I wore my new sound-absorbing Sneaky Sneakers today, he thought.

  He knew he had to be extra careful on this mission. His SpyPad still didn’t have any signal to HQ, and GIB had no idea where he was.

  It was really important that BIG didn’t know he was here, either. He was crashing a top-secret BIG mission!

  So I guess I’m hiding here for the next 17 hours, Zac thought to himself.

  He put his head against the front door and listened. He thought he could hear something moving inside. It was a sort of rustling sound. Was it the figure he’d seen in the tower? Or was it a BIG agent who had received the same mission Zac’s SpyPad had?

  Suddenly, something hairy brushed against Zac’s neck. He spun around. There was an enormous spider web! And right in the middle of the web was a massive spider with two nasty-looking fangs.

  Zac shrugged. It was just a huntsman spider, and he wasn’t scared of them. Sure, it was huge, but Zac knew it wouldn’t bite him.

  ‘Sorry, little fella,’ grinned Zac, stepping around the web.

  Then Zac remembered something about huntsman spiders that he’d seen on Leon’s favourite TV show, Creepy Creatures.

  This spider has a web, thought Zac, so it must be a fake! He reached carefully into the web and grabbed the spider. Sure enough, it was made of latex.

  It’s very realistic, thought Zac, impressed. Whoever made it must have REALLY wanted to scare people away. He dropped it into his backpack. It would come in handy the next time he wanted to play a joke on Leon.

  Then Zac grabbed hold of the door handle. Time to start investigating. But the moment he began turning the handle, Zac heard a loud, spooky voice.

  What IS that? thought Zac. He took his hand off the handle and the voice stopped.

  Someone is up to something here, thought Zac, checking the door. Sure enough, he saw a wire running from the handle of the door, up along the doorframe and disappearing into the walls.

  Zac shook his head and pushed open the door. The voice spoke again.

  Yeah, whatever! Zac thought, stepping inside. He wasn’t scared, but he was on full alert. Whoever was in here would definitely know that Zac was inside the mansion, after all the noise that door had made.

  Inside the mansion it was completely dark. But Zac could clearly make out that strange rustling sound he’d heard through the door before. Now he could hear squeaking, too.

  As Zac’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw some strange shapes hanging from the roof beams.

  Oh, gross, thought Zac. I hate bats!

  He tip-toed quietly across the room, trying not to disturb them. But then he tripped over on the edge of a carpet.

  Suddenly, the squeaking got incredibly loud. A moment later, Zac was mobbed by hundreds of cold, furious bats, flapping their wings in his face and screeching so loudly that he thought his eardrums would burst.

  Zac tried to push his way through the angry bats. But then they swarmed together and linked up all their claws. Zac found himself facing one enormous super-bat!

  There’s no way I’m fighting that thing! thought Zac. There had to be a way to escape!

  Then Zac remembered something Leon had said about a new feature on the SpyPad called the Sonic Scrambler.

  ‘Bats have super-sensitive hearing,’ Leon had explained. ‘And they rely on sound to navigate. If you turn on the Sonic Scrambler, they’ll go nuts!’

  With one hand shielding his face from the super-bat’s sharp claws, Zac quickly selected the Sonic Scrambler on his Spypad and pushed the button.

  Nothing happened. Nothing that Zac could hear, anyway. It was a different story for the bats. They instantly stopped squeaking and dropped out of the super-bat formation.

  Then the bats started doing somersaults in the air at top speed, and crashing through a window to get outside. They moved so fast that they were nothing but a big, batty blur.

  No real bat could move that fast, thought Zac, suspicious.

  He reached out and grabbed one. It felt cold and hard – not like a living creature at all.

  Sure enough, when Zac flipped the bat over, he saw ‘AcroBat’ stamped on the back. It was just a robot.

  He let go of it and the AcroBat whizzed out the window with the others.

  Right, thought Zac, checking the time on his watch. What should I do now?

  He decided to kill time by playing a few games on his SpyPad.

  There’s plenty of time to check out the mansion later, he figured, picking a dark corner and sitting down against the wall.

  Zac yawned and opened his eyes. For a moment, he had no idea where he was. Then he remembered that he was crashing a BIG mission in a supposedly haunted mansion.

  I must have fallen asleep, he thought, stretching. He stood up and checked the time on his watch.

  When Zac looked around, he saw a dusty wooden staircase leading upstairs.

  I guess I’d better do some investigating, he thought. I bet that staircase leads to the tower.

  Zac started climbing the stairs. He had to push his way through giant spider webs, which were thick and stickier than superglue.

  He had only just reached the first floor when he heard something that made him freeze.

  The noise was coming from the cupboard on the landing. Someone – or something – was in there, banging loudly.

  The banging was getting louder. Then another sound joined in.

  Zac gulped. There’s no such thing as ghosts, he reminded himself. I’ll just open the cupboard and everything will be explained. It’s not like a ghost is going to come floating out.r />
  Zac reached over and flung the cupboard door open.

  Instantly, a white shape rushed out of the cupboard. And it headed straight for Zac!

  Quickly, Zac grabbed hold of the white shape and yanked hard. It was just a sheet, and underneath was someone with a very familiar face.

  ‘Caz?’ Zac gasped.

  Caz Rewop was the last person Zac ever wanted to run into on a mission. She was the sneakiest, meanest BIG agent Zac had ever met. But hang on, thought Zac, confused. If this is Caz, why is she suddenly taller?

  ‘I’m not Caz,’ said the girl, looking frightened. ‘I’m her big sister. Who are you? What are you doing here?’

  ‘Er, I’m here because I was sent a BIG mission,’ said Zac.

  ‘Oh, so you work for BIG, too!’ said the girl, looking relieved. ‘I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve just joined BIG and this is my first solo mission. Everyone thinks that I’m going to be just as brilliant as Caz. But I’m not. I’m good at inventing gadgets, but I’m hopeless at dealing with haunted houses. It’s way too scary!’

  Then she smiled and stuck out her hand for Zac to shake. ‘I’m Agent Gadget Girl,’ she said, ‘but just call me Leonie.’

  She has no idea who I am, thought Zac. Perfect! Leonie could be a useful source of information for this mission.

  ‘I’m, er, Agent Choir Boy,’ said Zac, thinking fast. Zac’s real code name was Agent Rock Star.

  ‘Maybe we can work together?’ suggested Leonie hopefully. ‘I’ve got heaps of my own cool gadgets we can use. And the mansion’s floor plans are on my SpyDevice – want to see?’

  She stuck out her SpyDevice for Zac to have a look.

  ‘Sure, let’s work together. I was scared, too,’ lied Zac as he checked out the floor plans. It seemed like the SpyDevice was the BIG version of a SpyPad.