Tales of Terror
Page 4
The walls were moving! They were closing in on me!
I saw the glowing metal coming closer and closer. There was a low rumbling sound. The sound of a machine pushed to its limits. The Inquisition was eager for my death now. It was wasting no time. It was not going to make me suffer for hours. My death would be soon. And certain. And terrible.
I had to step back from the glowing metal. Back step by step. Back toward the edge of the pit.
Until I could go back no farther.
I stood at the edge of the pit. My back was toward it. I tried to hold my ground—my last little bit of ground. Any death but the pit! But the wall facing me was so close. The heat was so intense.
My face felt as if it were on fire. I could no longer stand it. My feet were slipping over the edge. I began to fall. I shut my eyes. My mouth opened. I gave one long last scream of despair….
It died in the air. I felt a hand grabbing my arm as I fell.
I heard a voice saying my name. And other voices behind it. There was a loud blast of many trumpets.
I opened my eyes. The hot walls had pulled back. A man in uniform held me upright. It was he who had saved me.
I knew the uniform. It was French.
I knew the man. General Lasalle.
The French army had entered Toledo. The Inquisition was in the hands of its enemies.
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1809. Raised by his uncle, who wanted Edgar to become a lawyer, Poe instead was drawn to a literary life. He worked as a magazine editor and critic while pursuing his writing career. His poems and criticism were greatly respected during his lifetime. However, today he is most famous for his dramatic tales of horror, filled with the strange and terrible, which continue to hold readers under their spell. Poe died at the age of forty in Baltimore, Maryland.
Les Martin has adapted Oliver Twist and The Time Machine, as well as Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Terror, for the Stepping Stones series. He also writes original action and adventure stories for young readers. An avid tennis player, he lives in New York City.
If you liked these scary stories,
you won’t want to miss …
The
Phantom
of the
Opera
by Gaston Leroux
adapted by Kate McMullan
I crept up a secret passage behind Box Five. I whispered to the managers. “Carlotta is singing tonight to bring down the lights!”
The managers looked around. Who had spoken? Then they looked up. The huge chandelier that hung over the hall was swaying back and forth. Back and forth. Faster and faster. And then … Crash! It fell!
“A little present from the Opera Ghost!” I howled.
by Mary Shelley
adapted by Larry Weinberg
I had to make other parts of the creature myself. He was going to be big. Eight feet tall! And stronger than any man or woman on earth.
At last I was ready. It was a cold and gloomy night in November. The room was dark when I went in. The creature lay on the table. It was a thing of death. But soon it would have life!
Dracula
BY BRAM STOKER
ADAPTED BY STEPHANIE SPINNER
That night Jonathan was shaving in his room. He used a small mirror that he had brought from England. There were no mirrors in the castle.
He heard someone behind him. It was the Count. But the Count did not appear in Jonathan’s mirror. Jonathan turned white. A terrible thought came to him. The Count was not human!
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1991, 2007 by Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in different form by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., in 1991.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Martin, Les.
Edgar Allan Poe’s tales of terror / adapted by Les Martin.
p. cm.
“A Stepping Stone Book.”
SUMMARY: Presents four chilling tales adapted for easy reading.
eISBN: 978-0-307-75897-2
1. Horror tales, American. 2. Children’s stories, American. [1. Horror stories. 2. Short stories.] I. Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809–1849. Short stories. Selections. II. Title: Tales of terror.
PZ7.M36353Ed 2007 [Fic]—dc22 2006022150
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