Otto grabbed Olivia’s camera, aimed at the rug, and flashed.
“They’re gone,” said Olivia.
“No,” said Otto. “They’re in the rug—see? Only they aren’t real. They’re just sewn in the design.”
“Tricks again,” said Olivia. She took her camera back. “I would have figured that out myself. You didn’t have to go wasting film.”
“I was just trying to help,” said Otto. “Some thanks I get! From now on, you’re on your own!” He stomped up some stairs.
Olivia stayed behind. She spied a door across the room that she wanted to check out.
Meanwhile, Uncle Tooth had got in easily through the mansion’s front door. He stood in the main hall. There wasn’t even a zombie on guard. “The Queen’s got them all working,” he thought.
He saw someone and jumped!
It was only his reflection in a large mirror.
In the mirror, he saw the front door opening. One-Eyed Eddy came in.
Uncle Tooth ducked behind a pipe organ.
One-Eyed Eddy looked around the room. Then he headed for a swinging door.
Uncle Tooth slipped from his hiding place and followed. The door led to a long hallway lined with old oil paintings. Uncle Tooth saw Eddy slip behind a curtain.
The moment Uncle Tooth went through the swinging door, Otto came up from the basement.
He also jumped when he saw himself reflected in the large mirror. He jumped again when he saw Clegg peering at him through a window.
Backing up against the mirror, Otto tried to summon his courage. In an instant, the mirror swung around, like a door at the Fun House!
Otto found himself in another room. “Whew—that was close!” he thought.
In front of him, a staircase wound up into the darkness. Taking a breath, Otto mounted the stairs, slingshot at the ready.
Meanwhile, Olivia had opened the door in the basement and discovered Auntie Hick. She was bound to a chair and gagged. Olivia untied her.
“Olivia!” Auntie Hick said. “I knew you’d come. That evil witch tried to make me drink some of her wretched tea. I refused … and you know what a tea lover I am!”
Auntie Hick was trembling.
“Get a grip on yourself, Auntie Hick. Do you know where Ducky Doodle is?”
“No,” said Auntie Hick, getting slowly to her feet. “But we’ll find him.”
Uncle Tooth was hiding behind a curtain, listening to Eddy and the Cobweb Queen.
The Queen lay on a sofa. Sedley Mether stood a few feet away, painting her picture.
“Eddy, tell me. Does it look like me?”
Eddy leaned over to peer at the picture. Sedley Mether hadn’t painted the Queen. He had painted a large sunflower instead.
“It’s you, all right,” said Eddy. “Listen, about the zombies …”
“They haven’t stopped working, have they?”
“No, it’s just that one of ’em was moving so fast I couldn’t catch him.”
“You’re not supposed to catch them,” answered the Queen. “You’re supposed to make them work. Have you been telling them to work faster?”
“Well, yes … but …”
“That’s the beauty of zombies. They always do exactly what you tell them. Paint faster!” she commanded Sedley.
The Queen rose and began pacing. “At this rate, they’ll uncover the Silver Skull in no time. Then all the Zombie Priestess’s power will be mine! With that skull and an army of zombies, I’ll be unstoppable!”
Uncle Tooth burst through the curtain, waving his wooden sword.
“So that’s your game plan!” he shouted.
“Tooth!” shrieked the Queen. “Typical of you to drop by without an invitation. Can I offer you some tea?”
“I don’t want your tea! I want my friends returned to normal!”
“Can’t do that,” said the Queen. “I need them to help me rule the world. Cheap labor is so hard to come by these days.”
Eddy laughed. “I’ve got a whip here,” he told Uncle Tooth, “so lower your sword.”
“Wait a minute!” cried the Queen. “Tooth, surely you didn’t come here alone. Where’s that pesky nephew of yours?”
“They could have a whole army, for all we know,” added Eddy.
“No matter,” the Queen laughed. “We have an army. An army of zombies!”
Otto reached the top of the winding staircase. He found himself in a laboratory. A big pot of Zombie Tea was bubbling. On one shelf were bottles of dried leaves in all colors and sizes. On another shelf were some jars with stoppers.
Each jar had a label with the name of a person written on it. What could that mean? The first one Otto picked up said LITTLE EFFIE.
Otto heard a noise behind him. He spun around.
There stood a freaky-looking girl with dark eyes and blue skin. A zombie!
Otto dropped the jar. It smashed on the tile floor. From the broken bits arose a green mist. It drifted into the zombie’s eyes.
The next instant, the zombie was gone!
Standing in its place was a little girl with a confused expression. “What happened?” she asked. “Who are you?”
“I-I’m Otto. Who are you?”
“My name is Little Effie,” the girl said. “The last thing I remember is some old woman forcing me to drink some yucky-tasting tea.”
“You’re Little Effie?” cried Otto. “This is wonderful! Do you know what this means? When I dropped that jar with your name on it, the zombie spell was broken.”
He led her to the shelf and showed her the other jars. “These jars must contain all the zombies’ spirits. Little Effie, peek out that door and see where it leads.” Otto pointed to a door opposite the stairs.
“It leads to a hallway with a balcony at the end,” Little Effie said.
“Perfect,” said Otto. “If you want to get out of this spooky place, I need your help.”
Olivia and Auntie Hick came up from the basement just in time to see the Cobweb Queen and One-Eyed Eddy leading Uncle Tooth into the main hall.
“Aha!” cried the Queen. “Thought you could escape, huh? I’m way ahead of you.”
“What have you done with Ducky Doodle?” demanded Auntie Hick.
Copper Bill appeared through another door. “What have you done with Little Effie?”
“See for yourselves,” the Queen answered.
With a swish of her cape, she seated herself at the organ and began to play an eerie tune. “Ah, who can resist my zombie music? I found this sheet music in the basement. It’s quite charming, really.”
Auntie Hick rushed forward, snatched the sheet music, and tore it to shreds.
“Now you’ve really irritated me!” hissed the Queen. “But it doesn’t matter … see?”
From all around, doors were opening and zombies were entering the room.
Among the zombies was Ducky Doodle.
“My poor Doodle! This is hideous!” cried Auntie Hick.
“I’m afraid he can’t hear you,” said the Queen. “I should be so lucky.”
The zombies moved closer and closer.
Soon, they had Uncle Tooth, Copper Bill, Olivia, and Auntie Hick surrounded. Auntie Hick started trembling again.
Uncle Tooth stepped forward and led them in the zombie chant:
“We will face the fearful zombies.
We will look them in the eye.
We won’t let the evil scare us.
We are strong enough to try!”
SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! Olivia spun about and flashed the zombies with her camera.
The zombies blinked their eyes. They began to totter about.
“Hey! No funny stuff!” cried One-Eyed Eddy. “I’ve got a whip here!”
Uncle Tooth snatched the whip from Eddy. “No, you don’t,” he said.
Otto and Little Effie began tossing the jars over the balcony. The jars smashed on the carpet. For every one that broke, a zombie snapped out of his or her spell.
The former zombies stood about shaking their
heads.
“Your little game is over,” Uncle Tooth told the Queen. “You are the worst kind of thief. Most thieves steal only money or jewels. But you stole these people’s spirits. Well, we don’t believe in your power anymore.”
The Cobweb Queen backed toward the organ. She pulled Eddy along with her.
“If there’s one thing I hate worse than paying for labor, it’s losing to cheaters!” she hissed. “This game may be over, but you’ll find I have more up my sleeve than just my arm!”
She pressed a key on the organ. There was a puff of blue smoke. When it cleared, Eddy and the Cobweb Queen were gone!
“They’ve escaped through a trapdoor,” said Uncle Tooth, bending down.
Suddenly, they heard the Queen’s voice echoing through the walls: “I’ll get you when you’re not looking, Tooth!”
“Not if I see you first,” Uncle Tooth shot back.
Little Effie ran into Copper Bill’s arms.
Auntie Hick grabbed Ducky Doodle and gave him a good squeeze.
Even Otto and Olivia hugged each other.
Sedley Mether walked into the room. He was holding up his sunflower painting.
“I must say, I think it’s one of my better efforts. Only, I can’t remember painting it. Say … how did we all get here?”
Uncle Tooth laughed. “We’ll explain on the way back,” he said.
A few days later, Ducky Doodle, Olivia, and Auntie Hick were over at Otto and Uncle Tooth’s house.
Uncle Tooth roasted some corn on the cob. Otto mixed up a big batch of lemonade, and Auntie Hick brought her famous rhubarb pie.
They sat outside and listened to the June bugs in the reeds. Boogle Bay was peaceful once again.
“I wonder where that Silver Skull the Cobweb Queen wanted is hidden,” said Otto.
“I wonder if there even is such a thing,” said Uncle Tooth. “Copper Bill promised to let me know if the Queen and Eddy come snooping around again. But if I know her, she’s lost interest in the skull and is busy with some new scheme.”
“I can’t believe how brave you all were to come into the swamp,” said Ducky Doodle.
“When you love someone, it’s easy to be brave,” Auntie Hick said.
“I was surprised I could still be brave, even without my Good-Luck Pebble,” said Otto.
“I loved the part when you threw all the jars off the balcony,” Olivia told him.
“Thanks,” said Otto. “Your camera sure came in handy! That was fancy shooting!”
“You discovered how to stop the zombie curse,” said Olivia. “I wanted to do that.”
“I’m proud of all of you,” Uncle Tooth said. “Things turn out better when everyone works together, don’t you agree?”
“Yes … except one thing didn’t turn out right,” said Olivia. “My photos.”
“Why not?” the others asked.
Olivia spread the photos. “See?” she said. “The bats look like leaves, the snakes look like vines, and the zombies look like people.”
Uncle Tooth leaned back in his rocker, lit his pipe, and laughed. “Well, of course! In the light, the Cobweb Queen’s magic just looks like stupid tricks!”
So everyone worked together to stop the zombies.
I tell you, it’s enough to make me sick!
Fortunately, Otto and Olivia are fighting again. I like that in children.
They get lost in the deserted Fun House and discover that it’s the home of ghosts. And not just any ghosts. These ghosts were once a band of cutthroats and thieves!
Now the ghosts are chasing our heroes past mazes, mirrors, and moving floors.
Will Otto and Olivia discover the secret of the Fun House in time?
Or will the horrible ghosts keep them trapped inside forever?
I’m not telling.
Read my next Creeper Mystery and find out for yourselves!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Geoffrey Hayes grew up in San Francisco, where he still lives. When he was a boy, Geoffrey and his brother Rory made up stories about their collection of stuffed animals.
When Geoffrey got older, he put some of these stories into books, like the one you’ve just read.
So far, he has written over thirty books for young readers.
When he isn’t writing, Geoffrey likes to dance, go to movies, and play games on his computer.
Swamp of the Hideous Zombies Page 3