Terror of the Nightwatchman Read online

  Previously on Scream Street…

  Mr and Mrs Watson were terrified when their son, Luke, first transformed into a werewolf. But that was nothing compared to their terror at being forcibly moved to Scream Street – and discovering there was no going back.

  Determined to take his parents home, Luke enlisted the help of his new friends, Resus Negative, a wannabe vampire, and Cleo Farr, an Egyptian mummy, to find six relics left behind by the community’s founding fathers. Only by collecting these magical artefacts would he be able to open a doorway back to his own world.

  Just as Luke and his friends finally succeeded in their quest, Mr and Mrs Watson realized how happy Luke had become in his new home and decided to stay on in Scream Street. But the newly opened doorway was becoming a problem – Sir Otto Sneer, the street’s wicked landlord, was charging “normals” from Luke’s world to visit what he called “the world’s greatest freak show”.

  To protect Scream Street, Luke must try to close the doorway by returning the relics to their original owners – although he and Resus will have to embark on a terrifying rescue mission first…

  Chapter One

  The Awakening

  The vampire ran as fast as he could. He could see the house up ahead, dawn sunlight shimmering off the roof tiles. Gritting his teeth, he leapt into the air and twirled his cape. In a burst of black smoke, the vampire changed into a small bat.

  The bat pumped its wings and sped on, screeching, catching the high-pitched echoes with its sensitive ears and using them to navigate the dead trees that lined the road.

  When it reached the house, the bat perched on a branch that overlooked a bedroom window. Although it was blind in this form, the creature knew that inside a boy lay asleep, blood pumping through his veins. The bat licked its tiny fangs and launched itself from the tree … straight into the window.

  Smack!

  With a screech, the bat bounced off the window pane and in another cloud of smoke involuntarily transformed back into a vampire. Stretching up, he just managed to grasp the brickwork under the window. Then he hung there by his fingertips, not daring to look down.

  Luke Watson jumped out of bed at the noise. He’d been dreaming he was at some kind of bizarre circus, complete with tap-dancing crows. His friends, Resus and Cleo, had been performing too, their hilarious antics causing tears of laughter to pour down his face—

  “Help!”

  Luke dashed to the window. He slid it up and peered out. “Hello?”

  “Hello!” answered a voice.

  Luke looked down to see a familiar figure grinning up at him. “Kian!” he exclaimed. “What are you doing there?”

  “I’m a vampire!” declared his young neighbour.

  Luke grabbed Kian by his wrists and dragged him into the bedroom. “I know you’re a vampire – but they don’t usually throw themselves at first-floor windows.”

  “I didn’t throw myself at it,” protested Kian, brushing brick dust from his cloak. “I was a bat. I flew into it.”

  “I thought bats had that sonar thing to stop them doing that?”

  Kian nodded. “They do, but I’m not very good at it yet.”

  “It’s not a problem,” smiled Luke. “I like waking up to the soothing sound of something slamming against a pane of glass.” He picked up his watch from his bedside table and peered at it. “Kian – it’s four-thirty in the morning! What’s going on?”

  “Resus sent me to get you as soon as I could,” explained the vampire. “There’s a problem.”

  Luke yawned. “What kind of problem can’t wait until a more reasonable hour of the day?”

  “Cleo is missing.”

  Luke raced across Scream Street’s central square, pulling on a T-shirt. Kian followed. Cleo’s house was in one of the roads on the far side of the square and Luke skidded to a halt as he reached the garden gate. He saw that the front door had been smashed in.

  Dashing inside, Luke found the house beginning to fill with residents. Cleo’s father, Niles Farr, was deep in conversation with Resus. Luke hurried over. “Thank you for coming,” said the giant mummy.

  “No problem,” Luke assured him. “My mum and dad are just getting dressed; they’ll be here soon. What happened?”

  “I do not know,” explained Niles. “I woke to hear a smash, and when I went to investigate, Cleo was no longer in her sarcophagus.”

  “The smash must have been the front door,” said Luke.

  “Or the door to Cleo’s room,” added Resus. “That’s been kicked in too.”

  “You didn’t see anything?” Luke asked Niles.

  “As I ran down the stairs I thought I saw movement,” replied the mummy solemnly. “But it was only shadows.”

  “It must have been the normals!” cried a phantom. “They’ve taken her!”

  “There’s been nothing but trouble since that doorway was opened,” added a gargoyle. Several residents turned to fix Luke with accusing stares.

  “We don’t know who took Cleo,” said Dr Skully, the children’s skeletal teacher. “And until we do, let’s keep an open mind. Now, I shall team up with Twinkle to search house numbers 1–10 for any sign of her.”

  As the skeleton continued, Scream Street’s three resident zombies arrived. “Bella will assist Doug and Berry in searching 11–20; Eefa, Turf and Alston will take 21–30; and 31–40 will be handled by the Crudleys and the Watsons.”

  “Who’s searching Sneer Hall?” enquired Alston Negative.

  “I’ve sent the Movers there to rouse Sir Otto,” Dr Skully replied. “That way, we have the whole street covered.”

  “Who should Resus and I go with?” Luke asked.

  The skeleton frowned at him. “You two are going straight back to bed,” he ordered. “Kian too. We don’t want any more missing children tonight.”

  “But Cleo’s our friend!” protested Luke.

  “And the grown-ups will find her,” said the teacher firmly.

  “I’ll stay here with Niles,” offered Tibia Skully. “I think he could do with a nice cup of lotus-flower tea.”

  “That would be very kind of you, my dear,” said Dr Skully, smiling at his wife. He turned back to the others. “And, finally, if anyone finds the girl they should immediately send word to Miss Everwell.”

  The witch nodded. “I’ve got a spell ready that will light a beacon on the roof of the emporium as soon as we know she’s safe.”

  “And if no light appears?” asked Alston.

  “We meet back here in two hours,” said Dr Skully. “Now, let’s get out there and find Cleo.”

  The room quickly emptied as the residents set off to search.

  Luke turned and headed for the stairs. “Come on,” he hissed to Resus.

  “Where are you going?” asked the vampire.

  “Cleo’s room,” replied Luke.

  “But Dr Skully told us to go back to bed.”

  “And you’re going to listen to him? We might find some clues up there to tell us who’s taken her.”

  “So you think she’s been kidnapped?” said Resus.

  Luke shrugged. “Cleo can be strong-minded sometimes, but it’s not like her to disappear of her own accord.”

  The boys crept up the stairs and climbed over the splintered remains of the bedroom door. “That’s made from Transylvanian oak,” said Resus. “Just about the strongest wood there is. It will have taken something with a fair few muscles to smash up a door like that.”

  They began to search the room. “Doesn’t it strike you as odd that Cleo’s dad was woken up by a crash, but by the time he’d crossed the landing from his room, Cleo – and whoever had taken her – had gone?” said Luke.

  “No more odd than Cleo go
ing quietly,” grinned Resus.

  “So, whoever took Cleo was fast and had a way to keep her quiet,” said Luke thoughtfully, sitting on the golden sarcophagus that the young mummy used as a bed.

  “But why smash the doors?” asked Resus. “I can understand they’d have to break in downstairs, but I doubt the bedroom door was locked.”

  Luke knelt down beside the broken door and began to rummage through the debris. “Maybe something here will tell us,” he said. He picked up the golden doorknob and gave a yelp before dropping it again and rubbing his hands furiously on his jeans.

  “What’s the matter?” asked Resus. “Is it hot? Cold?”

  Luke shook his head. “No, it’s… I don’t know. As soon as I touched it, I felt as though I was going to cry!”

  “Cry?” scoffed Resus. “How can a doorknob make you cry?” He snatched up the handle and held it for a moment before hurling it across the room with a shudder. “What’s wrong with that thing?” he demanded.

  “I’m not sure it’s the doorknob itself,” said Luke. “It felt as if there was some kind of slimy stuff on it – although I can’t see anything on my hands.”

  “This is getting weirder!” exclaimed Resus, looking down at his own hands. “First Cleo goes missing, and now we’ve got a doorknob that makes you depressed.”

  “There must be something else here to help us,” sighed Luke in frustration.

  Resus shrugged. “Smashed door, sad handle… I can’t see anything else.”

  Luke looked thoughtful. “Then maybe we’re just not looking at it in the right way…” Sitting back on his heels, he concentrated on feeling angry over Cleo’s disappearance.

  Since he had arrived in Scream Street, Luke had learned how to trigger his werewolf transformations, and had developed the ability to transform just one part of his body at a time. Now he focused the anger on the upper part of his face. Slowly, his eyes began to change from their usual brown to a bright, vivid yellow and his nose stretched to form a snout.

  Once the partial transformation was complete, Luke turned back to the broken door and looked down at it through his werewolf eyes. He gasped.

  “What is it?” asked Resus. “What can you see?”

  “The door handle’s covered in some sort of green goo!” Luke exclaimed. “That must be what made us feel sad when we touched it!” He stared at the emerald substance he could now also see smeared over his hands and splashed across Cleo’s bedroom walls and furniture. “But something bothers me about the smell…”

  Resus sniffed at the air. “I can’t smell anything,” he said, “but then I haven’t got your werewolf nostrils.”

  Luke swallowed hard. “I can taste copper at the back of my throat,” he said, his snout twitching. “This stuff smells like blood.”

  Chapter Two

  The Rip

  It was almost light by the time the boys emerged from Cleo’s house.

  “What kind of creature has invisible sadness blood?” asked the vampire as they began to follow the trail of emerald goo down the street and into the central square.

  “I’ve no idea,” admitted Luke, “but if it’s bleeding, that probably means Cleo fought back and hurt it.”

  Resus smiled despite himself. “That sounds more like her!”

  “Look – the trail heads right past the doorway,” said Luke. The boys glanced over at the rainbow-coloured portal to Luke’s old world, which they had opened by collecting together six relics left behind by Scream Street’s founding fathers.

  “We’d better keep a low profile,” suggested Resus. “Dr Skully thinks we’ve gone back to bed. He won’t be too happy if he spots us out here.”

  “Everyone’s out searching for Cleo,” said Luke. “No one will see us—”

  “Except me,” growled a deep voice. A hand gripped Luke by the hair and jerked his head back. Scream Street’s landlord, Sir Otto Sneer, was glaring down at him, a pungent cigar clamped between his teeth. “Oh my, Grandma,” he snarled. “What big eyes you’ve got!”

  Luke pulled away. “Isn’t it a bit early for you to be out of your pit?”

  “Dixon and a family of extremely noisy banshees are searching my mansion for your mummy friend,” snarled the landlord. “So I took the opportunity to welcome today’s curious normals into Scream Street myself…”

  “Welcome their money into your pockets, more like,” muttered Resus.

  “What do you want, Sneer?” said Luke.

  “You know exactly what I want,” rumbled Sir Otto. “Give me the remaining relics before you get it into your freakish head to return any more of them!”

  Luke stared angrily at the landlord through his werewolf eyes. Sir Otto had pounced upon the open doorway as a money-making opportunity, charging outsiders to visit what he called “the world’s greatest freak show”.

  Luke, Resus and Cleo had decided to return the relics to their original donors in the hope that this would close the doorway and put a stop to the tide of normals touring the street. Giving back the first relic – a vampire’s fang – had already caused the doorway to shrink a little. Sir Otto was beginning to realize that the children were intent on spoiling his lucrative scheme.

  “You can’t stop us,” snapped Luke. “We’ll close the doorway and stop you making everyone’s lives a misery!”

  “Yeah,” agreed Resus. “We’re going to give back the bottle of witch’s blood just as soon as we find Cleo.”

  Luke sighed. In one breath, Resus had given away the identity of the relic they planned to return next and the fact that they were on Cleo’s trail!

  Sir Otto’s face split into a wide grin. “So, it’s the bottle of blood next?” he beamed, blowing cigar smoke over the boys. “That’s very interesting to hear…” The smile quickly vanished. “Hand it over!”

  Luke glared at the landlord, bathed yellow in his werewolf vision. “Unless you want to see some big teeth to match these big eyes, I’d leave us alone.”

  Sir Otto flushed, but he decided against pressing the matter further. “I’ll be watching you!” he growled before spinning on his heels and stomping back towards his stool.

  “You don’t think Sneer himself took Cleo, do you?” said Resus. “You know – to try to stop us giving back any more relics.”

  Luke shook his head. “He couldn’t risk her being found by one of the adults,” he said. “He’s just trying to wind us up. Come on…”

  They followed the blood around the side of Everwell’s Emporium to a spot near the stockroom door, where the trail abruptly ended. “That’s it,” said Luke, his eyes shrinking as they returned to normal. “No more blood.”

  “What now?” asked Resus, looking around. “They can’t have just vanished!”

  Luke sighed. “I’ve no idea,” he admitted.

  “Right,” said Resus, “let’s think… We know that whatever took Cleo was— Aargh!” With a cry of surprise, the vampire disappeared into thin air.

  Luke spun round. “Resus!” he yelled. “Where are you?”

  Resus’s head reappeared, looking as though it was hanging in the air. “There’s no need to shout!” said the vampire. “I’m only here.”

  Luke stared. “But where,” he asked, “is here?” He reached out towards the space below Resus’s neck. There was a rip in the air, as though someone had cut a slit into a curtain in front of him.

  “It’s a Hex Hatch!” he breathed.

  Resus examined the rip. The Hex Hatches they had encountered in the past had all been tidy, square openings that led from one G.H.O.U.L. community to another. This was similar, yet different. “I thought only Trackers could open Hex Hatches,” he said.

  “I doubt Zeal Chillchase had anything to do with this one,” said Luke, running his fingers along the rough edge of the invisible tear.

  “Where does it lead?” asked Resus.

  “You’re the one who just fell through,” said Luke. “You tell me!” He pushed his head through the rip and found himself in another world altoget
her. A dense jungle stretched away from them as far as the eye could see. Hot, bright sunlight filtered down through the lush green vegetation and the cries of unfamiliar birds filled the air.

  Resus rested his hand on a patch of dense undergrowth. Suddenly, he sobbed and began to rub at his palm. “The sad blood stuff!” he cried. “I’ve just put my hand in some more of it!”

  “Then whatever it was definitely took Cleo through here,” said Luke, stepping all the way through the tear and into the jungle. “We have to follow.”

  “By ourselves?” exclaimed Resus. “That thing can smash through Transylvanian oak and it bleeds pure unhappiness! I say we go back and get reinforcements.”

  “You saw the way Dr Skully was with us,” said Luke. “He wouldn’t believe us.”

  “OK, not Dr Skully, then,” said Resus. “Your parents – or mine!”

  Luke shook his head. “There isn’t time,” he said. “Whatever took Cleo is getting further away by the second. We have to follow its tracks now, before they start to disappear. And you know that Cleo would drop everything to set off and rescue one of us.”

  Resus sighed. “Why did you have to bring that up? Come on, then – before I change my mind.”

  Together the boys set off into the jungle. Luke transformed his eyes and nose once more so that he could see the trail, although it was now much harder to spot splashes of the creature’s blood on the leaves and tree roots at their feet.

  Unfamiliar sounds echoed through the jungle, and the sun, although masked by the tree canopy above, was strong enough to cause the pair to sweat profusely.

  The foliage seemed to be closing in around them, and the further they walked, the harder it became to push their way through the thick vegetation. “The kidnapper didn’t leave much of a path,” Luke pointed out. “Have you got anything we can use to cut through this?”

  “Sure have!” Resus grinned and pulled a chainsaw from his cloak. He poised his finger over the starter button.

  Luke quickly pulled the vampire’s hand away. “Use that thing and we’ll be heard for miles!” he hissed. “We might as well use a megaphone to announce that we’re on our way to rescue Cleo!”