Billy had never been inside the Hall before and was impressed by the majestic old building with its cobweb-filled nooks and crannies.
‘It’s a veritable nexus of arcane energies,’ he declared. ‘You can smell the wyrdiness in the air!’
‘I think that’s probably mothballs,’ said Fliss. Archie showed Billy the tree root in the greenhouse and he immediately started making notes and sketching in his book.
A sudden bark and a whine from Sherbet alerted them to the arrival of the magical letter, hovering overhead.
‘Here we go again,’ said Fliss. The letter flapped around a palm tree and then banked away into the depths of the greenhouse. Archie tore at the overgrown vines to clear a path as they followed. They spotted the letter resting on the handrail of a metal spiral staircase that was weighed down with moss and ivy. After a scramble to the top of the stairs, they found a door tucked behind a curtain of foliage. Archie pushed it open. In front of them a line of sweets led down a gloomy passageway. They were all different types and colours, scattered along the floor seemingly at random.
‘I think we’re meant to follow the trail,’ said Archie. Leaving the letter perched by the door, they ran along the passage and tracked the sweets as they led up another set of stairs to the next floor. Sherbet scampered ahead, sniffing the moth-eaten carpet like a bloodhound.
‘Hurry up, Billy!’ called Fliss. He was some way behind, busily stuffing his pockets with sweets.
‘My mum says it’s a crime to waste good food,’ came the reply from a mouth filled with chocolate. ‘And these are really good.’ They entered another long corridor.
‘I’ve not really explored the Hall yet,’ said Archie, glancing in the doorways of a couple of the rooms as they passed. ‘I wonder if I’ll ever find out how big it is!’
‘It doesn’t look like anyone has been this way for years, apart from the resident spiders,’ Fliss remarked. ‘Or maybe this is where Tablet stores the spare dust.’
The trail ended in front of a door. Archie carefully pushed it open. The huge room behind it was empty of furniture, but there were three doors on the opposite wall. The floor of the room was covered in thousands of sweets. It was quite a sight.
‘A veritable candy carpet!’ said Billy, practically drooling. He put a foot forward, but Archie stopped him.
‘There’s a pattern made out of the sweets,’ Archie said. ‘Look at how they are arranged in zigzagging lines.’
‘A maze!’ said Fliss, clapping her hands.
‘Calm down!’ said Billy. ‘I’m amazed too.’
‘No! It’s a maze. Like you get in a puzzle book. The sweets make up the walls of the maze. You have to follow the right route and avoid the dead ends to get to the other side.’
It was easy enough to see where the maze started: there was only one entrance. But they could see there were three exits, each leading to one of the doors on the other side of the room. The path of the maze was just wide enough for someone to tiptoe through if they were careful. Archie went first, followed by Fliss, then Billy. Sherbet watched from the edge of the room, his head tilted to one side in confusion at the humans’ strange behaviour.
Like tightrope walkers, they travelled along the maze in a wobbly line until the path divided in two.
‘We should split up and go after both trails,’ said Billy. ‘That’s what they would do on Dougie McFly, Spectre Detector. I’ve watched every episode.’
‘You both carry on,’ said Archie. ‘I’ll go down the other route.’
After a while, Billy and Fliss met another junction and each took a different way.
‘Three paths and three doors,’ said Archie. ‘Which leads where?’
But they were in for a surprise. All three paths finished in dead ends.
‘That doesn’t make sense,’ said Fliss, scratching her head. ‘One path has to go somewhere.’
‘Hang on a minute,’ said Archie. He studied the sweets that blocked the trail. ‘For each path the way is blocked by the same type of sweet. What are they? I’ve seen them before.’
‘They’re McBudge Traffic Light Chews,’ said Billy. ‘They come in three colours – red, orange and green.’
‘Look – both of your trails have a red chew blocking them. Mine has a green chew.’
‘So?’ said Fliss and Billy together.
‘They’re Traffic Light Chews,’ Archie reminded them. ‘Green for go and red for stop. What if it’s some kind of code? This is supposed to be a test, remember.’
‘So if red means stop, then perhaps we’re not supposed to follow those paths in the maze,’ Fliss suggested.
‘Exactly!’ said Archie. ‘This green chew isn’t blocking the way, it’s telling me to carry on.’ He stepped over the chew and continued along the sweet-lined path. Eventually Archie made it all the way to the other side of the maze, to the third door in the wall. Fliss, Billy and Sherbet joined him as he opened the door. Behind it was a narrow, winding staircase.
‘We’re in one of the towers,’ guessed Archie, as they clambered upwards.
At the top of the stairs was another door. They were puffing and panting from the climb, with Billy in particular weighed down by a bag now crammed with sweets he’d collected along the way. It took all their efforts to push the door open, its long-unused hinges grinding with splintered rust. They entered a small, round, dark room, empty except for a table. It was very cold, the winter wind piercing the cracks in the crumbling stone wall. Billy rubbed the dirty glass of one of the three windows, letting in light that painted the cobwebs silver.
‘We’re quite high up,’ he said, peering out. ‘You can see right over the loch.’
‘That’s Pookiecrag Castle in the distance,’ said Fliss, looking over his shoulder. Grey, ruined towers peeked over the tops of the dark forest which grew on the island at the far end of the lake. The tiny, fluttering shapes of crows circled the castle. It did look like the perfect location for a bit of haunting.
But Archie was more interested in what was on the table: a triangular wooden box. What could be inside it? There was no lid, but the surface was carved with three little dragons arranged around a star. There were three sweets in front of the box, little jelly animals of different colours – gold, green and white.
‘Dragums!’ said Billy. ‘Gummy dragons. McBudge don’t make many of those. They’re very rare.’ Dragons again, thought Archie. They seemed to be everywhere.
‘Is it another colour-code puzzle?’ said Fliss.
‘I think so,’ said Archie. ‘But not traffic lights this time. The shape of the carvings and the shape of the sweets match. Maybe we place a Dragum on each dragon. But which one goes where?’
‘We need to crack the code!’ said Fliss. What could the colours mean? Archie and Fliss sat in silent thought whilst Billy paced the room, passing in front of the window he had cleaned earlier. Every time he passed it, he blocked the beam of sunlight, casting a Billy-shaped shadow over one corner of the box.
‘Keep still, Billy!’ scolded Fliss. ‘We can’t see the clues without the light.’
Archie smacked his fist into his hand.
‘I think I’ve got it!’ he said. ‘The sunlight from that window points straight to one of the dragons. What I mean is, the dragon is pointing towards the window.’
Fliss and Billy gathered round the table.
‘So?’ said Fliss.
‘Each of the dragons is pointing towards a different window. What if the colours relate to something we can see from each window?’
Billy and Fliss ran to the other windows, hastily clearing away the dirt with their sleeves.
‘I can see Ben Doodle,’ said Fliss. ‘The top is covered with snow already.’
‘And I can see the old forest,’ said Billy. ‘The Wyrdie Tree is in there somewhere.’
‘I’ll put the white Dragum on the dragon facing the white mountain,’ said Archie, chewing his lip thoughtfully. ‘The green Dragum on the dragon facing the green forest. That leave
s the gold Dragum facing Pookiecrag Castle, though I’m not sure why.’
He positioned the sweets on the carvings. As soon as the gold Dragum was in place, there was a click from inside the box. The star at the centre opened as a little trapdoor drew back, and a golden egg emerged from inside, pushed up by some unseen clockwork mechanism.
‘The golden dragon has given you a golden dragon’s egg!’ said Billy. ‘Awesome!’
‘A golden sugar egg,’ said Archie, picking it up and giving it a sniff. He gently tapped it with a finger. The sugar crumbled in his hand, turning to glittering dust. A small metal object was all that remained.
‘It’s a ring.’ He passed it to Fliss.
‘It looks like gold,’ she said, turning it over. ‘And there’s a picture on it – a shield with a castle tower. Isn’t that on the McBudge Fudge labels?’
Before anyone could answer, there came a CRASH! and an ‘OUCH!’ from the stairs. Someone was outside the door.
‘Who left all these gob-bothering sweets lying around?’ said a crotchety voice.
Sherbet yapped in recognition. The children peered out into the stairwell.
‘Tablet!’ said Archie. ‘What are you doing here?’ The old butler was lying in a heap on the steps, rubbing his bottom miserably. He had a feather duster in his other hand.
‘Just doing a bit of dusting, Master Archie,’ he explained. ‘It’s been a while since I’ve been up in the north tower. But I slipped on one of these sweets that seem to be everywhere – very dangerous, I must say.’
‘Sorry,’ said Billy guiltily. ‘I think my bag has a hole in it.’
They helped the butler to his feet. There didn’t seem to be any harm done, apart from a bruised backside. Tablet noticed the gold ring in Archie’s hand.
‘Why, Master Archie, you’ve found the Ring of the McBudges!’ he said in surprise. ‘It’s been passed down from one chief of the Clan McBudge to the next for centuries. I’ve not seen it since your great-uncle died.’
‘What’s so special about it?’ said Archie.
‘Maybe it’s cursed by an ancient dwarf ring-maker to crush your finger every time you pick your nose,’ said Billy. ‘Or possessed by an undead spirit that will freeze your finger until it goes blue and drops off.’
‘Nonsense!’ gurgled Tablet in amusement. ‘Only a McBudge is allowed to wear it. It’s proof that you’re a member of the family.’ He pointed towards the window. ‘The tower on the shield represents Pookiecrag Castle.’ The butler made his wobbling way back to the door. ‘I’m sure you’ll find out more about it in the library,’ he said. ‘There are lots of books on the family’s history there.’ He disappeared back down the stairs. There was a distant CRASH! followed by a number of thuds as he found some more of the gob-bothering sweets on his way.
‘Was he keeping an eye on us?’ said Fliss. ‘It’s funny how he happened to be in this part of the Hall at the same time. And he didn’t even stay to do any dusting!’
‘I don’t believe that story about doing housework,’ said Billy. ‘Unless he was just rearranging the dust.’
Archie put the ring into his pocket.
‘Maybe he was being helpful,’ he said. ‘Either way, it’s one more puzzle solved. Three more to go!’
A shadow passed in front of one of the windows. They turned, hearing a dull scraping sound of leather wings against the glass pane.
‘It’s that thing again,’ Archie cried, springing over to the window and forcing its ancient metal frame open. He winced as he felt a blast of cold against his face. ‘The mobgoblin!’
Billy and Fliss crowded around his shoulders to watch the strange creature flapping about the tower. It scowled at them, its weaselly face full of nasty-looking teeth. Archie leaned dangerously out of the window to grab at it, but the little demon squawked angrily and lurched out of reach. It sped away, soon lost amongst the rickety rooftops of the neighbouring town.
‘A mobgoblin – finally I’ve seen one!’ said Billy in delight. ‘I’m going to change my rating to at least six point five out of ten on the Macabre Creepy Scale. Did you see its yellow beady eyes? Fantastic!’ He tugged his book out of his bag and began scribbling furiously.
‘We’re not birdwatching!’ said Archie in frustration. ‘Someone is using that thing to spy on us! As if I didn’t have enough to worry about.’
Billy looked taken aback. Fliss frowned.
‘Who yanked your gold chain?’ she scolded. ‘What exactly have you got to worry about, Moneybags McBudge?’
Archie sighed.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. From inheriting the factory to the magical Quest, from the mysterious mobgoblin to the villainous Puddingham-Pyes – he hadn’t realised just how much it had all weighed down on him. And then there was the missing secret ingredient! He told Billy and Fliss all about it. ‘I know there are people far worse off than me. And I am really glad you’re helping me. But I’ve hardly stopped for breath since I arrived in Dundoodle yesterday.’ Fliss smiled kindly.
‘You’ve got us to help you!’ she said. ‘My brains, Billy’s knowledge and Sherbet’s nose. The P-Ps are just a bunch of bullies, all flashy wrapper but hollow inside, like a cheap Easter egg. And the secret ingredient will turn up somewhere, I’m sure of it.’
‘It’s probably in an old sock,’ suggested Billy. ‘That’s where I seem to find things. I blame the Dundoodle dust-buggits, they’re always moving things around. They’ve a one out of ten rating on the Macabre Creepy Scale.’ Fliss gave Billy a you-are-not-helping look.
‘As for the mobgoblin,’ she said, ‘if it is spying on us, then it’ll be back’ – there was a glint in her eye – ‘and the next time it appears we’ll be ready …’
They made their way back downstairs, Billy collecting the trail of sweets in his bag (‘For closer study later on,’ he said), and eventually they found a corridor that Archie recognised as the one leading to his bedroom. There, he put the Ring of the McBudges alongside the bell in his dad’s wooden box, that he had hidden at the back of his wardrobe. Sherbet decided it was time for a nap, yawning and snuggling into the covers on Archie’s bed. Billy yawned too.
‘I didn’t realise hunting for treasure could be so exhausting,’ he said. ‘We must have walked miles up and down all your stairs. And I seem to have a tummyache for some reason.’
‘Let’s call it a day,’ said Archie, grinning. ‘Will you be back tomorrow?’
‘Tomorrow is Monday,’ called Fliss. ‘So we won’t be able to come over until after school. Try and do something normal and non-magical in the meantime.’
Archie smiled gratefully. He wasn’t due to start at the school until after the Christmas holidays, so he would have to get used to spending the days by himself. At least he had Sherbet for company, when the dog wasn’t snoozing.
Archie showed the others out. He was halfway back up the stairs when he heard a car draw up outside. Thinking it was Mum returning from the shops, he ran down to open the door for her. His heart sank. Instead of their little beige car, there was a gleaming silver limousine with Mrs Puddingham-Pye at the wheel. Sitting on the back seat were Georgie and Portia. They grinned evilly at him.
‘I met your mother out shopping, Urchin,’ said Mrs Puddingham-Pye, her long, thin neck oozing out of the car window like a snake.
‘My name’s Archie,’ said Archie.
‘Ha ha! Of course it is. I felt I should apologise about our meeting the other day. So inconsiderate and insensitive of me! I thought it would be lovely if the twins came around to play, to get to know you better.’
‘Great,’ said Archie miserably. Mrs Puddingham-Pye wasn’t the type to be sorry about anything and Archie could think of nothing worse than spending time with the Piglets. He didn’t want to get to know them better than he already did, and he certainly couldn’t trust them.
‘What do you like to play?’ he said, as the twins rolled out of the car.
‘Hide-and-seek,’ said Georgie immediately. Portia snorted.
With a screech, the limousine drove off, leaving Archie to follow the twins inside.
‘Fine,’ he said as they stood in the hallway. ‘Hide-and-seek it is. You hide, I’ll seek.’ The twins scampered off in different directions whilst he counted down from one hundred. If he was lucky they’d find an old dungeon and lock themselves in it.
‘… Two … one – ready or not, here I come!’ he called. He opened the first door in the hallway. Behind it was a room that was more of a wide passageway, its walls covered in paintings and lined with suits of armour, tapestries and statues. There was no sign of a Piglet. A draught made the cobwebs hanging from the chandelier overhead tremble and Archie saw a familiar piece of paper gently sail into the room, coming to rest on the top of a statue. The magic letter! The next clue was here already – and he would have to solve it by himself!
Archie tiptoed into the room, scared he might disturb the people whose portraits hung on the walls around him. They must be the McBudge ancestors, he thought, studying the faces of the men and women from years gone by. They were all very grand in their fine clothes. Had they had to prove themselves worthy of the family name? One painting of a gruff-looking man with a magnificent beard caught his eye in particular. It was labelled Gregor McBudge, Clan Chief.
‘Maybe one day I’ll have a portrait of my own to sit alongside you,’ he whispered. Gregor McBudge stared back silently.
Hanging on the wall in the centre of the room was a picture with the title The Coat of Arms of the Clan Chief of the McBudges. There was the shield with the castle tower on it, just like on the ring, flanked on either side by the now familiar dragons. Above the shield curled a motto with the words DE ORE DRACONIS written on it. What did that mean?
Archie glanced at the magic letter in the hope it might provide a clue. It still sat on top of the statue, another dragon whose face was frozen into a snarl. There was something strange about the little metal statue standing on its pedestal, but Archie couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Anyway, the letter wasn’t telling, and he had neither Fliss’s cleverness nor Billy’s wyrdie-facts to help him, just his own brain cells.
The Chocolate Factory Ghost Page 4
