by H. I. Larry
‘Cool bananas!’ grinned Leonie.
Zac choked back a laugh. He couldn’t help liking Leonie, even though she was a BIG agent and Caz’s sister. The only other person who would say something as lame as ‘cool bananas’ was his own geeky brother.
‘Let’s go, then,’ said Zac. ‘I still haven’t been up to the room at the top of the tower.’
But just then, they heard another sound.
Leonie grabbed Zac’s arm very tightly.
‘I heard that spooky laughter before,’ she whimpered. ‘That’s why I hid in the cupboard with a sheet over my head. I thought if a monster found me, they would think I was a ghost and leave me alone.’
‘I think it’s just someone trying to scare us,’ said Zac.
‘Well, it’s working,’ wailed Leonie. ‘Let’s leave!’
‘No,’ said Zac firmly. ‘Let’s go exploring.’
The sound was coming from behind a nearby door. Zac strode over.
‘Don’t open it!’ pleaded Leonie.
I’ll show her there’s nothing to be afraid of, decided Zac, pushing open the door.
It sounded like a dinner party was going on in there. Zac could hear glasses clinking and cutlery scraping across plates. There was also a lot of laughing and talking. But it was too dark to see anything.
‘Do you have a torch on you?’ Zac whispered to Leonie.
‘No, but I’ve got a Lightning Ball,’ Leonie whispered back. She handed him something small and round, about the size a gobstopper. ‘When it bounces, it makes a flash of light that lasts for about thirty seconds. But I think we should just leave now, while we still –’
‘No, let’s see what’s going on,’ replied Zac. Then he threw the Lightning Ball into the room. There was a bang, and instantly, the room lit up like someone had set off a flare.
In the middle of the room was a big table laid out for a dinner party with fine china and crystal glasses. And seated around the table were eight guests. Eight skeleton guests! They were cutting invisible food with their knives and lifting empty glasses up to their mouths as if they were drinking.
‘Aaaaah!’ shrieked Leonie.
Instantly, all the skeletons started waving their bony arms towards Zac and Leonie, laughing nastily.
‘Calm down, Leonie,’ Zac hissed. ‘It obviously can’t be real. Have you got another light source?’
‘Can’t we just go?’ whimpered Leonie.
‘No,’ said Zac firmly. ‘We’re staying.’
‘Well, that was my last Lightning Ball,’ sighed Leonie, ‘but I’ve got a Fandle.’
‘What’s a Fandle?’ asked Zac.
Leonie handed Zac what looked like a stick with a tiny, glowing light bulb on the top. On the side was a small rotor. A breeze blowing through the broken window was making it turn.
‘The spinning fan powers the light,’ explained Leonie.
‘Nice!’ said Zac, impressed.
He held the Fandle out and took a few steps towards the dinner party. The skeletons were still stretching out their arms and chortling. But Zac wasn’t worried.
He examined the skeletons carefully. ‘Just as I thought,’ he told Leonie. ‘They’re puppets.’
Zac showed Leonie the wire attached to the skeletons’ bones. ‘See? These wires are connected to pulleys hidden up in the ceiling. There’s a machine up there that’s making them rise and fall so it looks like the skeletons are moving by themselves.’
‘But what about the laughing and talking?’ whispered Leonie, still scared.
Zac shone the Fandle over one of the bowls on the table. Hidden inside was a tiny wireless speaker.
‘There you go,’ he said. ‘There’s always a logical explanation.’
Oh, no, Zac thought to himself. He was beginning to sound like Leon!
‘Um, Agent Choir Boy?’ said Leonie, raising an eyebrow. ‘What’s the logical explanation for that?’
Zac turned and found himself staring right into the glowing red eyes of a large, purple floating blob. Actually, he was staring through it, as the blob was totally transparent. Zac gulped. This thing looked exactly like a ghost. But that wasn’t possible, was it?
‘Run!’ shouted Leonie.
‘It’s probably just a hologram,’ said Zac, more confidently than he felt. If it really was a hologram, it looked very realistic.
‘It’s not a hologram,’ said Leonie. ‘Holograms can’t move through three-dimensional space like that!’
Zac glanced over his shoulder. Sure enough, the ghost had started gliding towards them!
Leonie took off down the dark corridor, and Zac followed. He wasn’t scared, because he was pretty sure this thing was another trick. But he couldn’t risk losing sight of Leonie. She had the gadgets, after all. And the map.
‘Dead end,’ called Leonie, stopping suddenly. ‘We’re doomed!’
Up ahead, the corridor was completely blocked by a floor-to-ceiling bookcase.
Zac stopped and looked around. The ghost hovered in front of them. Then Zac noticed something weird. The ghost was flickering, like it was being turned on and off.
Hang on, thought Zac, shining the Fandle around the corridor.
‘Leonie, look!’ he said, pointing.
There were rows of tiny lights in the floor. And there were heaps more in the ceiling and along the walls.
Leonie looked carefully at the lights. ‘Wow,’ she said, suddenly completely unafraid. ‘This ghost is a volumetric display! You know, a hologram projected from six different directions.’
‘Are you sure?’ asked Zac. He could remember Leon once telling him something about this. ‘I thought volumetric displays were only in the early stages of development.’
‘Yeah, this is cutting-edge stuff,’ said Leonie. ‘And dangerous. So, what do we do now? I think we’re stuck.’
Zac had to agree that things looked bad. On one side of them was the bookcase. On the other was the volumetric display ghost. There was no way Zac was pushing through that thing. The way it was buzzing and sparking told him that it was electrified.
He checked his watch.
There were still four hours until the storm was due to strike and he had to be up in the tower.
What are we supposed to do until then? thought Zac, leaning heavily against the bookcase. Just wait around until the ghost leaves us alone?
The bookcase begin to shift, and before Zac could move, it had spun around like a revolving door. Then the ground gave way beneath his feet, and Zac fell heavily into the darkness.
Zac blinked in the darkness and sat up woozily. His head felt sore. He must have bumped it on the way down. He guessed he’d been passed out for an hour or two.
‘Stupid revolving bookshelf!’ he muttered to himself. ‘I should have seen that coming.’
Zac looked around. The room was very dark because there weren’t any windows. The only light was coming from a vent near the ceiling.
I’m in the cellar, he realised.
Nearby was a stack of boxes. Instantly, Zac’s spy senses started tingling. The boxes looked brand new – not like things that had been stored in a cellar for years and years. Zac inspected one of the box labels.
Zac got up and opened the box. It was filled with a greyish, chalky powder. It looked exactly like real dust, but for some reason it smelt like flowers.
He read the label on the next box.
There were lots of bottles inside. When Zac took one and squeezed it, strings of clear glue shot out and attached themselves to the wall. They looked like the webs he’d fought through while climbing the stairs.
Hmmm, fake dust and fake spider webs, thought Zac. Looks like someone’s been trying really hard to make this place seem like an old haunted house.
Nearby he could hear a low, humming noise. Zac tracked the sound to a large metal machine. Every now and then a little puff of steam came out of it and then disappeared through the ceiling vent.
It’s some kind of generator, realised Zac. But what is it for?
Then he saw a little label on the side of the machine. He crouched down to read it. It said: StormGenerator BIG-prototype DC76/14. Zac’s skin crawled. BIG were making the storms! So why would they send their own agent to investigate?
Just then, a trapdoor in the ceiling burst open and a figure dropped through.
‘Agent Choir Boy?’ whispered a familiar voice. ‘Are you in here?’
‘Over here, Leonie,’ Zac called out.
Leonie rushed over. ‘I’ve been searching for you everywhere!’ she exclaimed. ‘One minute you were standing right beside me and then suddenly you’d disappeared. It’s taken me ages to find you.’
Then there was a rumble of thunder and a crash of lightning.
‘There’s a big storm coming,’ Leonie said nervously. ‘We should probably stay down here till it passes.’
Zac glanced at his watch. He had to be in the room at the top of the tower when the storm hit!
‘Leonie, we have to get up to the tower room,’ said Zac urgently. ‘Remember the mission? We’re supposed to be up there when the storm breaks. And it sounds like the storm’s coming now!’
‘I’m not going anywhere,’ Leonie whispered, terrified.
Zac sighed. If only Leonie were a bit braver, he thought. Then he remembered something. At Agent Hammer’s birthday party last week, Zac had got a packet of fake No-Fear Gum in the lollybag.
Of course there was no such thing as real No-Fear Gum, but the idea was that whoever chewed the gum instantly looked tougher. And if they looked tougher, they felt tougher.
It’s just what Leonie needs, thought Zac.
He looked through his backpack to find the lollybag.
‘Hey, Leonie,’ said Zac, taking out the gum and offering her a piece. ‘Do you want some No-Fear Gum? It’s special, er, BIG-issue. It’s supposed to stop you feeling scared.’
Leonie looked doubtful, but took a piece anyway.
‘Hey, I think it’s working,’ she said as she started chewing. ‘Maybe we should go up to the tower after all.’ She jumped to her feet. ‘Come on, I’ll use my DOLL to find out if there’s a secret passage in here.’
‘Your doll?’ said Zac. ‘Aren’t you a bit old for dolls?’
‘DOLL is short for Door Or Lock Locator,’ said Leonie, opening her bag and taking out what looked like a creepy doll. ‘If it’s pointed at a secret passage or concealed entrance, the eyes light up. Watch.’
Leonie swung the DOLL around the room. Sure enough, after a few moments, the eyes started flashing.
Zac shuddered. ‘That’s the scariest thing I’ve seen all day,’ he said under his breath.
Leonie raced over to one of the walls and gave it a whack with the DOLL. Instantly, a panel slid back, revealing a narrow entrance with steps leading up.
Leonie pulled out her SpyDevice and checked the map. ‘These steps lead right up to the tower room,’ she said, putting her SpyDevice away. ‘Are you ready, Agent Choir Boy?’
‘Let’s do it,’ said Zac firmly.
Leonie bounced up the stairs, still chewing on the fake No-Fear Gum. ‘Hurry up!’ she barked over her shoulder.
Zac rolled his eyes. The new, super-brave Leonie was also super bossy!
Then Zac spotted something that froze him to the spot. Up ahead was a figure, lurking in the shadows.
‘Wait, Leonie,’ he warned. ‘It could be an ambush.’
But Leonie laughed and kept going. ‘It’s just an old suit of armour!’ she said, shining the Fandle on the figure.
But Zac’s spy senses were still on full alert. ‘Don’t touch it,’ he told her.
‘I can’t believe that this time you’re scared and I’m not!’ giggled Leonie, knocking on the suit with her knuckles.
Then the knight raised one arm and pushed Leonie over.
‘Aaah!’ squealed Leonie, tumbling backwards.
Zac leapt forwards and caught her.
In one hand, the knight held a gleaming sword. In the other was a spiky ball and chain, which it was whizzing around over its head. The knight took a threatening step towards them.
‘Got anything that might help us out here, Leonie?’ muttered Zac.
‘Just this,’ said Leonie, pulling out her hairclip. ‘It’s a super-strong magnet.’
‘Great!’ said Zac, impressed.
‘On the count of three,’ said Leonie. ‘One, two … three!’
Zac ran up and grabbed the knight’s legs, while Leonie slipped the magnet onto one of its knees. The magnet instantly stuck the knight’s legs together.
‘Run!’ yelled Leonie, heading up the stairs.
Zac wasn’t far behind. But a moment later…
Leonie and Zac leapt up the stairs two at a time. But the knight was dragging itself up the stairs behind them.
There was a door at the top of the stairs. That must be the door to the tower room, thought Zac. He rattled the handle, but it was locked.
‘What do we do now?’ asked Leonie.
Thinking quickly, Zac fished around in his pocket and pulled out his keys.
Door key, bike key, locker key, thought Zac, flipping through them.
Finally, he found what he was looking for – a skeleton key. It was meant to open almost any door in the world. Leon had given it to him ages ago, but Zac had never tried it out before.
‘Hurry!’ warned Leonie. ‘The knight’s coming closer!’
Zac could still hear the clanking sound of the knight dragging itself up the stairs. He stuck the skeleton key into the lock. It turned, but then got stuck and refused to budge.
The clanking sound grew louder and louder. Then suddenly Leonie leapt down a few steps towards the knight and karate-kicked it away.
‘Heee-YA!’ she yelled.
The knight fell back down the stairs with a huge crash.
‘I didn’t know you knew karate!’ said Zac, raising an eyebrow.
‘I don’t,’ grinned Leonie.
Zac shook his head and laughed. Maybe that No-Fear Gum was real, after all!
He forced the skeleton key to twist in the lock, and finally the door opened. Zac and Leonie flung themselves into the room and banged the door shut behind them.
The room was dark and smelt strongly of flowers. In fact, it smelt like lavender.
Just like that fake dust, realised Zac. And that little old lady who told me not to come in here!
Leonie nudged him. ‘Um, Agent Choir Boy?’ she muttered. ‘We’re not alone.’
She pointed to a big chair in the middle of the room. It was rocking backwards and forwards.
Slowly, the chair swung around.
‘Welcome, agents,’ said the person in the chair. ‘Congratulations on passing the test.’
It was the sweet old lady he’d met the day before. But her weird purple hair was gone, and she was wearing a BIG uniform!
Zac shot a look at Leonie. Did she know who this BIG person was?
Leonie was standing to attention. ‘Agent Gadget Girl at your service, Commander Big Wig!’ she said excitedly. ‘What’s the test?’
‘This whole mansion is one big test,’ replied Commander Big Wig smoothly. ‘It was created to trial BIG’s top-secret new scaring technology.’
Zac’s mind was ticking over. Of course my SpyPad didn’t intercept that BIG mission – it didn’t even have a signal! He realised that BIG must have scrambled his reception and then planted the message.
‘You wanted us to come here as guinea pigs,’ said Zac, shaking his head.
‘Exactly, Agent Rock Star,’ smiled Big Wig. ‘But you and Gadget Girl are the first agents to actually make it to the top.’
‘Hang on,’ frowned Leonie. ‘This is Agent Choir Boy, not Agent Rock Star.’
‘Wrong,’ said Big Wig. ‘Obviously, the ultimate test of our scaring technology would be if it worked on GIB agents. That’s why we sent the mission to Agent Rock Star, the most fearless spy in the business.’
Leonie stared at Zac. ‘You’re a GIB agent?’
‘You lied to me!’ yelled Leonie.
‘Enough bickering,’ growled the Commander. ‘I haven’t finished telling you about this place!’
Zac’s mind was going a million miles an hour. Why was Big Wig so keen to tell them about the mansion if it was secret technology? And how was he going to get out of there?
‘The whole place is powered by storm energy,’ explained the Commander proudly. ‘That storm generator in the cellar creates the storm clouds over the mansion, which then makes thunder and lightning. The lightning zaps a power-grid on the roof and sends electricity surging through the entire building.’
Then Zac realised something. ‘Is that why all the city’s appliances have been on the blink recently?’ he asked. ‘Because you’re generating so much electricity here?’
‘Correct,’ grinned Big Wig nastily. ‘And we’ve been able to use it to manipulate your private mobile networks, Rock Star. Tell me, does your SpyPad have a signal yet?’
Zac said nothing. He knew it didn’t.
Commander Big Wig turned to Leonie. ‘Agent Gadget Girl, as you’ve passed the test, you will now be made a BIG field agent.’
Leonie looked proud. She won’t be a fearless field agent once she stops chewing that fake No-Fear Gum, thought Zac, annoyed.
‘What about you, Rock Star?’ smirked Big Wig. ‘I can make you an official BIG field agent too, if you want.’
‘No way!’ snapped Zac. ‘Firstly, I’m not a girl like your other agents. And secondly, I’m not evil.’
‘Your stupidity is disappointing,’ snarled Big Wig, ‘but predictable. Which is why I installed this.’
She pointed at the ceiling. There was a clear sheet of glass, and through that, Zac could see what looked like a telescope on a mechanical arm. It was mounted on the roof.
‘What is it?’ asked Leonie.
‘It’s called the Statue-Maker,’ replied Big Wig. ‘Did you notice our sculpture garden out the front?’