“And how do you propose I do that?”
“Use your cigar!” said Luke.
Sir Otto dipped his head so that the glowing end of his cigar reached the web around his chest. The silky threads shrivelled away, and before long he was able to tear himself free. Turning to Dixon, he released him too.
“Now free us,” said Luke.
The landlord waddled over to him, puffing at his cigar. “Do you really think I would help you freaks?” he growled.
“You have to let us out!” shouted Luke.
“I don’t have to do anything,” grinned Sir Otto. “In fact, from where I’m standing, everything seems to be going my way. I have the heart and I have the book.”
“By the vampire lords, I will make you pay for this,” yelled Resus.
Sir Otto snatched up the silver sword. “I’m sick of you and your freaky friends,” he said and plunged it into the webbing around the vampire’s stomach.
“No!” Cleo screamed in terror as the blade sank deep into the gossamer cocoon. Resus doubled over to the sound of breaking glass.
“I’m OK,” he breathed. “The sword hit something in my cape.”
Sir Otto watched as broken pieces of the spider snow globe fell to the ground. “I won’t miss this time,” he said, taking aim once more.
“That’s Scream Street!” exclaimed Dixon, pointing at the smashed ornament. “There’s the central square, and the legs are the side roads.”
Sir Otto paused to prod the broken globe with the tip of his sword, dislodging a piece of glass that glistened brightly. Instantly a shaft of piercing light shot up from the model of Scream Street into the landlord’s eyes.
“What’s going on?” demanded Cleo as Sir Otto fell to the ground, his hand clamped over his face. The light continued to stream from the damaged globe, shooting into the sky and spreading like a blanket over Scream Street.
“It’s the sunlight!” said Luke. “Mr Skipstone said the light was trapped. It must have been in the snow globe, and breaking the glass has released it!”
The webbing around the trio began to melt as it was warmed by the sun. Luke, Resus and Cleo fell to the ground as their bonds faded away. “Look!” said Resus, pointing as the thick grey webbing that coated Scream Street’s houses and trees began to shrivel up.
Luke grabbed the sword as Sir Otto clambered slowly to his feet, blinking to try and restore his eyesight. He pointed it at the landlord’s chest. “Cleo,” he said. “I think Sir Otto has something for us.”
Cleo reached into the landlord’s jacket pocket to retrieve the mummy’s heart and Skipstone’s Tales of Scream Street. The author blinked in the bright sunlight. “I can’t leave you three alone for a minute, can I?” he grinned.
“You won’t get away with this,” barked Sir Otto as his vision returned. “Dixon, change into something that can really hurt them.” The landlord’s nephew didn’t reply. “Dixon!”
There was a soft whimpering. Dixon was staring up at the walls of Sneer Hall as the patter of tiny feet and the clicking of beaks rang out. The black spiders were returning. “They’re coming,” he squeaked. “What do we do now, Sir Uncle Otto?”
“We won’t have to do anything,” beamed Sir Otto, gesturing towards the jukebox. “Once this is switched back on, those things will leave us well alone.”
As the landlord reached for the ON button, dozens of smaller silver spiders scuttled over the back of the jukebox, covering the switches. “It’s the cleaning spiders!” said Cleo in surprise.
“I guess they do like finding rubbish, after all,” grinned Resus.
“Dixon,” bellowed Sir Otto. “Get rid of them!”
Dixon reached a trembling hand out towards the jukebox, quickly pulling it back as the cleaning spiders clicked at him. “I can’t,” he wailed. “I’m scared!”
“Here’s something to cheer you up,” said Resus as he reached inside his cloak and produced a toy monkey identical to the one he had left at the Movers’ house. “I told you I had another one of these.”
“What are you going to do with that?” sneered Sir Otto as the army of spiders appeared at the edge of the roof and began to scuttle down the walls.
Resus turned the key on the monkey’s back a few times, then dipped the toy in the sludgy remains of the spiders’ webbing. “I’m going to wind you up!”
Luke kept Sir Otto at sword point while Resus stepped behind the landlord and pressed the monkey onto the back of his neck. It began to clash its tiny cymbals together, causing the black spiders to race down the walls of Sneer Hall and crowd around Sir Otto’s feet.
“You idiots,” grinned the landlord. “That ridiculous toy will just keep the spiders under my control! They won’t harm me.”
“That’s true,” said Luke. “Until it runs down and stops, of course …”
Sir Otto’s eyes widened in terror. “Dixon!” he screamed, trying to reach the monkey on his back. “Get this thing off me!”
“I can’t reach,” whined his nephew, terrified to go too near the swaying black spiders.
Sir Otto turned and ran out into Scream Street, flapping his arms wildly to try and dislodge the toy. The spiders raced after him, clicking their beaks happily. Dixon followed at a safe distance.
“I think these are yours,” said Cleo, handing Skipstone’s Tales of Scream Street and the mummy’s relic to Luke.
Resus produced a pair of sunglasses from his cape and slipped them on, smiling up at the bright sun that now hung over Scream Street for the first time in decades. “Think we should tease Sir Otto some more?” he asked.
“Nah,” said Luke, tucking the book and relic into the pockets of his jeans. “I haven’t got the heart for it!”
Tommy Donbavand was born and brought up in Liverpool and has worked at numerous careers that have included clown, actor, theatre producer, children’s entertainer, drama teacher, storyteller and writer. His non-fiction books for children and their parents, Boredom Busters and Quick Fixes for Bored Kids, have helped him to become a regular guest on radio stations around the UK and he also writes for a number of magazines, including Creative Steps and Scholastic’s Junior Education.
Tommy sees his new comedy-horror series as what might have resulted had Stephen King been the author of Scooby Doo. “Writing Scream Street is fangtastic fun,” he says. “I just have to be careful not to scare myself too much!” Tommy lives in Northumberland with his family and sees sleep as a waste of good writing time.
You can find out more about Tommy and his books at his website: www.tommydonbavand.com
Other Scream Street titles:
Fang of the Vampire
Blood of the Witch
Flesh of the Zombie
Coming soon:
Skull of the Skeleton
Claw of the Werewolf
For Sam, whose constant curiosity was the
inspiration for Samuel Skipstone
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.
First published 2008 by Walker Books Ltd
87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Text © 2008 Tommy Donbavand
Illustrations © 2008 Cartoon Saloon Ltd
The right of Tommy Donbavand to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This book has been typeset in Bembo Educational
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9
78-1-4063-1426-7
www.walker.co.uk
Heart of the Mummy Page 6