Ghoul Trip (3 page)

“Yes,” said Miss Gargoyle, as she handed out the work sheets. “The castle's last owner was Peg Leg Pete, the famous pirate. He had fifty pet parrots whose squawking made such a terrible racket, no one could hear the ghosts wailing and screeching. So they all moved out and never came back. See, I've told you one thing about the castle already. Okay, now off you go. Enjoy yourselves.” She smiled. “Make sure you're back at the bus by midnight. Don't get lost, and don't go flashing your fangs or turning into bats in front of Fangless folk. The school will get complaints!”

The young vampires all ran gleefully into the fair.

“Wow!” said Lee. “What should we ride on first?”

“How about the Ferris wheel?” said Bella.

“I don't know,” said Billy. “I'm not crazy about heights.”

“Oh, come on,” said Lee. “I'll pay for this one.”

They joined the line for the Ferris wheel.

“Three rides please,” said Lee, handing over some coins to a man with shifty eyes and a thin mustache. The man took Lee's money and quickly pushed the children into car number eight.

“Hey,” said Lee. “You didn't give me any change!”

“Nonsense,” sneered the man, locking them in. “Pesky kids. Have a nice ride!” He laughed nastily, and before Lee could say anything else, the Ferris wheel whisked them up into the air.

“What a cheat!” fumed Lee, glaring down at the man. “I want my money!”

“Yeah,” agreed Bella. “He was
horrible
.”

Just then Billy grabbed Bella's arm. They were high above the crowds now and Billy was terrified.

“Oh, dear,” he quavered, shutting his eyes tight. “I can't bear to look!”

“Why don't you turn into a bat?” said Bella kindly. “You're not scared of heights when you're a bat.”

“But Miss Gargoyle said we shouldn't!” said Billy.

Suddenly Lee sat up.

“Only in front of Fangless folk,” he said brightly. “But when we get to the top, no one will see us.”

“
Us
?” said Bella. “What do you mean,
us
?”

“I've just had an idea,” grinned Lee. “Listen …”

Chapter 3

Bat Trick

Ten minutes later, car number seven came to a halt at the bottom of the Ferris wheel. The man with the thin mustache unlocked the door and a Fangless boy and girl got out. The wheel moved on and car number eight swung down.

“Hur-hur,” sneered the man. “Here come those three weird-looking kids I cheated.” He unlocked the car. It was empty. “What? Hang on a minute,” he gasped. “Where'd they go?”

He looked in, under, and on top of the car. Nothing. He was baffled. Those kids had definitely got into car number eight, he was sure of it.

Or had they?

Maybe he'd got the number wrong. He waited while all the other cars came down and checked inside every one. But there was no sign of the children. He scratched his mustache, puzzled.