The castle was still and silent. No candles burned inits windows. No guards stood at its gatehouse. Noarchers patrolled the tops of its walls.
"Hello!" Teddy shouted. No one answered.
"Not very well protected, eh?" said Teddy. "Ourmission should be easy.""Yeah,"said Annie.
Jack didn't say anything. He would have felthappier if guards had been protecting the castle. Thatwould have seemed more normal.
33Teddy held up his lantern before the arched doubledoors. Cobwebs sparkled in the misty light.
"Hello! May we enter?" he called.
Silence. They all stared at the heavy wooden doors.
"Never fear, I shall get us in," said Teddy. The boysorcerer put down his lantern. He took a deep breath.
He rubbed his hands together. Then he stretched outhis an-ns and shouted:
"Open, ye two oaken doors. .
. . "He looked at Jack and Annie. "Quick, what rhymeswith doors?""Uh-floors?" said Jack.
"Good, " said Teddy. He opened his arms again andyelled:
"Open,ye two oaken doors!
Or we willnot mop up your floors!" Nothing happened.
Teddy looked at Jack and Annie. "Bad rhyme," hesaid.
34Annie frowned and nodded.
"Are you sure they're even locked?" said Jack. "Let'ssee, " said Annie. She pushed on one door. Jackpushed on the other.
Slowly the doors creaked open.
"Ah, brilliant!" said Teddy with a laugh. "Shall we?"He held out his hand and wavedJack and Annie through the open doorway.
The castle gatehouse was cold and empty. Jackcould see his breath in the sharp air. He heard a creak.
They all turned to look. The heavy doors moved bythemselves and closed with athump.
They all stared at the doors for a moment. ThenTeddy broke the silence. "Interesting," he saidcheerfully.
Jack tried to smile. "Indeed. Interesting," he said. Heshivered. He couldn't tell if it was fromcold or from fright.
Now?
he wondered.
Now are we entering the tunnel of fear?
"Onward!" said Teddy. He led them through35the empty gatehouse onto the shadowy castlegrounds.
There were no signs of life anywhere. Jack thoughtof the old woman's rhyme:
Where is the girlwho spins wool into thread? Where are the boyswho play chess before bed? Where is the houndwho waits to be fed?
Jack wondered what the rhyme could mean.
What girl? What boys? What hound?
Teddy crossed the courtyard to the entrance of alarge building. Jack and Annie quickly followed him.
Teddy held up his lantern so they could see inside.
There were rows of clean, empty stalls. Saddles andbridles hung from pegs on the walls. Hay was piled inthe corners.
"Must be the stables, " said Jack. "But no horses, ysaid Annie.
"No matter, us orderly," said Teddy. "Onward!" Heled them to the open doorway of another building.
Teddy's lantern shone on a brick oven, a stone hearth,baskets of apples, and strings of onions hanging fromthe rafters.
"The kitchen,9said Jack.
"But no cooks or servants, 19 said Annie.
"No matter, 'tis orderly here, too," said Teddy.
"Onward!"As they wandered through the moonlit courtyard,Jack looked to his right and his left. He glancedbehind them.
If there are ghosts, hethought,what do they look like? Halloween ghosts insheets? See-through people like in the movies?
He stopped. "Hey, guys!" he whispered loudly.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute!""What is it?" said Annie.
Jack pushed his glasses into place. "Are we justgoing to keep wandering from building to building?"he said. "What's our strategy here?"37"Strategy?" asked Teddy.
"Jack means we should make a plan," said Annie.
"Ah, indeed, " said Teddy. "Excellent idea. A plan,yes." He grinned. "How do we do that?" "Well, firstwe ask ourselves: Where exactly* 9" said Jack. are we going.
Teddy looked about. He pointed to a tower risingabove the courtyard. "There," he said, "the keep. 'Tiswhere the family lives, the duke and duchess.""Great, " said Jack. "Now, what will we do when weget there?""Climb the stairs to each floor," said Teddy. "Have alook around.""And if we see anything that's not orderly, we'lltidy it up!" said Annie.
"Excellent,91said Teddy. "And then?" asked Jack.
"We leave!" said Teddy. "Our mission done." Jacknodded. This wasn't much of a plan-or38a mission, he thought. But he liked the "leaving"part. He hoped that happened before any ghostsshowed up. "Okay," he said.
Holding his lantern to light their way, Teddy ledthem to the entrance of the castle keep. He pushedopen a wooden door, and they all stepped inside.
Dark figures loomed against the stone walls. "Ah!"Jack cried. He jumped back, bumping into Annie.
Annie laughed. "It's only our shadows," she said.
Jack felt silly. "Right. Sorry, sorry," he said. He tooka deep breath. "Okay, let's find the stairway.""Aye," said Teddy. He started walking slowly downa dark passageway. Jack and Annie followed closebehind.
The air was heavy and damp. Jack's heart waspounding.
Now?
he wondered.
Now are weinthe tunnelof fear?
39A moaning sound came through the passageway.
Then a loud bang!
"Yikes!" said Annie. She and Jack grabbed eachother.
Teddy laughed. "'Twas only the shutters banging,"he said.
"What about that moaning?" asked Jack. "'Twasonly the wind blowing through the crannies, " saidTeddy.
Jack took another deep breath and kept going. Soonthey came to a twisting stairway. "The stairs!" saidAnnie.
Good, thought Jack. Climbing the stairway was asolid part of their plan.
"Shall we?" said Teddy.
"Indeed. Upward!" said Jack, trying to sound likeTeddy.
Teddy held up his lantern and started up the steepstone stairs. Jack and Annie followed. They climbedaround and around the twisting stairway.
40When they came to the first landing, Teddy ledthem to the doorway of a room. They peeked in. Theysaw rows of helmets, breastplates, gauntlets, shields,spears, and swords.
"The armor room, " said Jack. "Aye," said Teddy.
"Everything seems in order here,'9 said Annie. Jacknodded. He liked the order in the room.
It made him feel safer.
"Shall we keep going?" said Teddy.
"Of course, " said Jack. He was starting to feel a lotbraver now.
They returned to the stairs and began climbingagain. On the third floor, they peered through anarched entrance into a huge room.
Teddy used the candlefrom his lantern to light torches on either side ofthe doorway. In the flickering light, Jack saw a highceiling and walls hung with tapestries.
"It's the great hall," he said, "where they have feastsand stuff."41"Let's look around, " said Annie. "See if anythingseems out of order."As the three of them slowly walked forward, Jackkept an eye out for ghosts.
Teddy held up his lantern. It shone on a longbanquet table.
"Aha!" he said. The table was littered with breadcrumbs, candle wax, and the petals of dead flowers.
The floor near the table was messy, too, with bits offood and meat bones.
"Finally we've found something to put in order,"said Teddy. "Shall we?"Jack caught sight of a straw broom in the corner.
"Sure, I'll sweep," he said.
"I'll clear the table, " said Annie.
"I will scrape the wax," said Teddy.
Jack grabbed the straw broom and began sweepingthe floor around the table. He swept up applepeelings, fish bones, bits of eggshells, and old cheese.
As he swept everything into a neat pile, he42felt good. They were finally carrying out theirmission.
We're bringing order to the castle, just like Merlintold us to,he thought.
Soon we can leave.
Suddenly Annie screamed.
Jack dropped his broom and whirled around.
"Look!" Annie cried, her eyes wide. She pointedtoward a stone hearth at the other end of the greathall.
In front of the hearth, a large white bone hoveredin the air. It bobbed up and down. Then it beganfloating straight toward them! |