The Secret Of Cacklefur Castle

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by Geronimo Stilton


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  THE VALLEY OF THE VAIN VAMPIRES

  THE VALLEY OF THE

  VAIN VAMPIRES

  We drove all through the night. By the time

  dawn came, we had reached a

  gloom

  y

  valley. Thick trees with twisted branches

  grew all around.

  I looked away from the trees into the valley.

  The mountainside was shaped like a giant

  skull. A creepy castle with lots of towers sat

  on top of it. It looked so spooky, I knew it

  had to be

  THE V

  ALLEY OF THE VAIN VAMPIRES

  1. Shrieking Peak

  2

  . Screaming Peak

  3. Scaredycat Mountain

  4. Mangymouse

  Mountain

  5. Cacklefur Castle

  6. Rancidrat River

  7. Nightmare Woods

  8. Sleazysnot Stream

  9. Toad Spit Brook

  10. Putrid Pond

  11. Ghoul’s Gully

  12. Dangerous Dale

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  18

  A muddy moat surrounded the castle.

  Creepella stopped the car in front of a

  drawbridge blocked by a gate. The gate was

  marked with a carved wooden sign:

  Creepella leaned out of the car and rang a

  bell on the gate.

  I nea

  rly jumped out of my fur.

  “What

  was t

  hat? I want to go

  HOME

  !” I

  squea

  ked.

  Creepella laughed. “Calm down, my little

  cheesecake. It’s only the

  DOORBELL

  !

  ”

  Someone inside the castle lowered the

  drawbridge. As we drove across the moat,

  I thought I saw two eyes gleaming from the

  depths of the murky water. But it must have

  been my imagination. Right?

  C

  AC

  KLEFUR

  C

  A S TLE

  M

  e

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  e

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  o

  o

  o

  o

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  w

  !

  A creepy castle sat on top of the skull-shaped mountain.

  Welcome to

  cacklefur castle!

  “Welcome to Cacklefur Castle!” Creepella

  shrieked.

  She parked the car, and we walked up to

  the front door. I could make out a plant next

  to the doorway. A big plant. It had a thorny

  stem. It had

  spiky

  leaves. And when I

  looked closer, I saw the plant had white,

  sharp, shiny . . .TEETH!

  “Rat-munching rattlesnakes!” I cried.

  The plant leaned over and

  sniffed me. Then it bit off

  one of my buttons!

  “Geronimo, meet Chompers,

  our watch plant,”

  Creepella said.

  THE VON CACKLEFUR

  CREST

  Who Is She? Her scientifi

  c name is Horrifica

  dentibula. Her nickname is Chompers. She has

  very sharp teeth at the end of her flower.

  Her Secret: She owns a collection of toothbrushes

  that she guards ferociously.

  TH

  E CACKLEFUR

  W

  ATCH PLANT

  22

  I quickly turned on my cell phone. “I’m

  just going to call my sister,” I said casually. “I

  want to tell her I’ve been mousenapped — I

  mean, that I’ll be away for a while.”

  Creepella’s green eyes fla

  shed. She

  snatched the phone away. “No phone calls!”

  she snapped. “They are forbidden here!”

  She threw my cell

  phone to the plant. “Here,

  Chompers,” she said. “A little snack for you.”

  The plant gulped down my phone in one

  mouthful! I began to lose hope. I was going

  to be trapped in Cacklefur Castle forever!

  Creepella stepped up to the door. I

  followed her. I set my paw on the doormat,

  and it cried out, “

  Ouch

  !

  ”

  I jumped back. What kind of a place was

  this?

  Creepella opened the door. We stepped

  into an enormouse hall with marble flo

  ors.

  Tall windows let in the morning sunlight.

  Paintings of the Cacklefur family’s ancestors

  lined the walls.

  Creepella turned her snout to mine. “It’

  s

  so good to be home,” she said with a sigh.

  “How about a kiss, my little zombie-

  wombie?”

  THE CACKLEFUR ANCESTORS

  1. Abracadabra von Cacklefur, a medieval magician

  famouse for his love potions.

  2. Swashbuckler von Cacklefur, a knight who fought

  against that mythical monster, the Three-headed Cat.

  3. Cruella von Cacklefur, a charming rat. Many a rodent

  lost his head over Cruella. (Really — she had them all

  beheaded!)

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  3

  2

  24

  I took a ste

  p back. A cold

  breez

  e

  BLEW

  throu

  gh the

  windo

  ws. The curtains whirled

  in th

  e air like ghosts.

  Creepella turned to the

  window. “This room has a

  lovely view of the graveyard.

  Isn’t it romantic?”

  “I want to go

  HOME

  !

  ”

  I wailed.

  Then I hea

  rd a loud cough.

  I turn

  ed around.

  A gra

  y rat stood there. He

  held

  a candelabra in his paw.

  He

  was

  tall

  and

  thin

  , with

  a

  pointy

  snout and whiskers

  that were waxed and curled

  .

  What a curious-looking

  rodent!

  25

  I CAN’T BELIEVE

  MY EARS!

  “This is Boneham, our butler,” Creepella

  said. “How are you today

  , Boneham?”

  The thin rat bowed. “

  VERY BAD

  ,

  thank you, Miss Von Cacklefur.” Then he

  looked up and saw me. “Good heavens! We

  have a guest!” he said, shocked.

  “This is Geronimo Stilton,” Creepella


  declared. “We are going to be married!”

  I almost fainted. “Well, that’s n-n-not —”

  I stammered. “I mean, Creepella and I —”

  “I will see you later, my little

  MONSTER

  pie,” Creepella said. She turned to the butler.

  “Take care of him for me, please.”

  “I will do my worst, Miss Creepella,” the

  butler said.

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  18

  INSIDE CACKLEFUR CASTLE

  1. Muddy moat where The Thing lives

  2. Drawbridge

  3. Front door

  4. Chompers

  5. Front hall

  6. Drawing room

  7. Library

  8. Hall of mummies

  9. Dining hall

  10. Safe

  11. Watchtower

  12. Weapons room

  13. Inner courtyard

  14. Greenhouse

  15. Castle grounds

  16. Crocodile pool and piranha tank

  17. Bedrooms

  18. Guest bedroom

  19. Kitchen and pantry

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  !

  Boneham led me down a

  very long

  ,

  very narrow

  , and

  VERY

  DARK

  hallway. He pointed

  out rooms in the castle as we

  walked.

  “Over there is the greenhouse,”

  he explained. “That is where

  we grow the

  flesh-eatin

  g

  strawberries

  , my pride and

  joy. And at the end of this hall

  you’ll find the library, the gym,

  the crocodile pool, and the

  piranha tank.”

  I could not believe my ears.

  What kind of a house has a

  crocodile pool?

  “And these stairs lead to the

  castle dungeons,” Boneham

  continued.

  Who Is He? Boneham has been the Cacklefur f

  amily

  butler for ages. He is very devoted to the Cacklefurs

  and calls them “the Family.” He is a snob from the tip

  of his tail to the tips of his curled whiskers.

  His Secret: His socks stink!

  BONE

  HAM

  My stomach rumbled. I had not eaten for

  hours and hours.

  “Where is the kitchen?” I asked.

  The butler pointed to a door. “In there.

  But please make sure you call it

  K

  itchen,

  with a capital

  K

  . Its feelings get hurt if you

  don’t.”

  Then the butler coughed. “Ahem, Mr.

  Stilton,” he began. “I have heard you are a

  publisher. I am working on a

  MASTERPIECE

  .

  It’s entitled The Adventures of

  the Cacklefur Family.

  So far I have written

  365

  volumes. Would

  you mind taking a look

  at it?”

  I gave him a card. “Give

  me a call when you are

  finished writing,” I told him.

  17 Swiss Cheese Center

  Mouse Island 13131

  P

  ublisher

  T

  H

  E

  RODEN

  T’S

  GAZETTE

  HERE LIES THE

  GUEST .

  . .

  Boneham stopped in front of a purple door

  engraved with a skull. A brass plaque on the

  door read

  . .

  Boneham opened the door and I peeked

  inside. It was a strange-looking room! Thick

  purple velvet covered the walls. It reminded

  me of the inside of a

  price

  y coffi n. Creepy!

  The dresser was shiny and black. The

  silver handles looked like coffi n handles. A

  large bed with four posts sat in the center

  of the room. Bats and spiders were carved

  into the posts. Over the bed hung a sign:

  GUEST ROOM

  HERE LI

  ES THE GUEST

  31

  How was I supposed to sleep in this chamber of horrors?

  33

  I gulped and stepped inside. How was I

  supposed to get any sleep in this chamber of

  horrors? I shivered at the thought.

  Boneham cleared his throat. “We could

  certainly use a fire

  on this chilly autumn

  day.”

  I turned toward the fireplace. There was

  no fire.

  The butler spoke again, more loudly this

  time. “I said, we could certainly use a

  fire

  .”

  Once again, I was confused. Who was

  Boneham talking to?

  Finally, Boneham began to yell. "We need"

  a F-I-R-E! A fire! It is cold enough to

  FR EEZ E

  your whiskers in here!”

  Suddenly, a crackling fi re began to burn

  in the fireplace. I stepped back, shocked.

  What had happened? Was this some kind

  of magic?

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  “I am sorry, sir,” Boneham

  said. “The

  fireplace

  is a bit deaf. It is more than

  three hundred years old,

  you see.”

  I took another step back

  and found myself standing

  next to a tall mirror. At least

  I thought it was a mirror. I

  could not see my reflection

  in it!

  “Is something wrong with

  the m
irror?” I asked.

  “Oh, the

  MIRROR

  has probably just gone

  somewhere to take a nap,”

  Boneham answered. “It’s

  very lazy,

  sir. So sorry.”

  A deaf fireplace? A lazy

  35

  mirror? What kind of a place was this?

  Boneham walked toward the door. “One

  more thing, sir,” he said. “Be careful of the

  carpet. It’s a real paw-puller

  . And if you need

  anything, just

  yell

  .”

  The butler left and closed the door. I

  looked down at the carpet, curious. Without

  warning, it pulled out from under me.

  I fell flat on my snout. Then

  the carpet rolled up — with me inside it!

  Boneham opened the door. “I told you, sir.

  The carpet is a real paw-puller!” Then he

  shut the door behind him.

  I could not take it anymore. I was hungry.

  I was tired. And now I was rolled up in a

  paw-pulling carpet!

  “I want to go home!” I wailed.

  Splat!

  36

  EARTHWORM LIVER

  AND LEECH LARD

  I unrolled myself from the carpet. There

  was no way I could sleep in this awful room.

  I decided to search for something to eat

  instead. I was so hungry, I would have given

  my left paw for a cheese sandwich!

  As I walked down the hallway, a delicious

  smell wafted toward me. My whiskers

  twitched.

  Sniff ... Sniff ... It smelled like stew!

  I followed my snout until I

  found the

  kitchen. It was an enormouse room with a

  brick ceiling and stone floor.

  I saw a rat stirring a pot over the stove. If I

  were being polite, I might describe him as a

  heavy rat with a stained apron and waxed

  CHEF

  S

  T

  EWRAT

  Who Is He? The Cacklefur family cook. He loves

  the opera. He is always trailed by a cloud of gnats.

  That’s probably because he hasn’t washed since

  Christmas — exactly which Christmas, nobody knows!

  His Secret: He dreams of selling his stew around the

  world. And he is in love with Madame Latomb!

  “

  Open your snout

  Come and pig out!

  My

  stew is a treat.

 

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