‘I’ll get you for this, Rooster!’ Thaddeus snarled. ‘If it’s the last thing I do.’ He jumped over the wall and was gone.
‘Hooray!’ Amy cried. ‘We did it!’ She gave Boo and Ruth a huge hug. Then she turned to the professor. She still had something she needed to get off her chest. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about James Pond, Professor,’ she blurted out. ‘It was my idea to ask him to help. I thought it wouldn’t matter if you didn’t find out, but I can see now that it did.’
‘It’s all right, Amy,’ Professor Rooster said gently. ‘I was partly to blame for giving you such a difficult mission in the first place. The important thing is you did it in the end.’ He fixed Amy with a stern look. ‘But next time, tell me the truth, okay?’
‘Okay!’ Amy wanted to punch the air with joy. The professor had forgiven her. She promised herself she wouldn’t do anything silly like that again. EVER.
‘Congratulations to you all!’ Professor Rooster smiled at his team. ‘Chicken Mission accomplished.’
Ichabod Comb sat at the bar in the juice shed. Since the defeat of Stella von Fangula and inspired by the false name the villains had adopted for Bloodsucker Hall, the shed had been renamed by the chickens of Fogsham Farm as The Happy Hen, which was altogether a far nicer name than the one it had before, Ichabod agreed. He helped himself to a worm juice and a packet of grub scratchings with a satisfied sigh. It wasn’t only that the curse had been lifted: the granny hens had gone home to their smallholding at last. He had thought they would never stop partying.
‘All right, Ichabod?’ Rossiter Brown came and sat down beside him. ‘Feeling better?’
‘Much better, thanks,’ Ichabod Comb said. The pain in his leg had gone and his wings had returned to full feather. He could hardly remember being a zombie at all, except that it had been rather gooey.
‘I brought you this.’ Rossiter Brown placed a newspaper on the bar. Ichabod Comb scanned the front page.
‘Thanks,’ said Ichabod.
There was silence for a minute.
‘No one blames you for what happened at Bloodsucker Hall, Ichabod,’ Rossiter Brown said eventually. ‘It was an easy mistake to make.’
Ichabod felt awkward. It was the first time since the events of recent days that anyone had actually brought up with him how the Countess Stella von Fangula had awoken from her grave. He gave a little nod.
‘I just wanted you to know.’ Rossiter Brown got up to go.
Ichabod Comb waited until the rooster had left the juice shed. It was decent of Rossiter Brown to say that, he decided. And it made him feel much better about things. He vaguely remembered visiting Bloodsucker Hall. And he had been wondering if the whole von Fangula problem had been somehow his responsibility although he couldn’t quite remember how: being a zombie seemed to have zapped his brain. Still, it was a relief to know none of the other chickens in the coop held it against him. He could forget all about it now.
Ichabod Comb felt a renewed sense of adventure. It was time he went on another expedition. In fact, he would go as soon as the spring came! He hopped off his stool and fetched a little book from behind the bar. The grannies had left it behind by mistake. It was a guidebook of the moor.
He turned the pages. There were all sorts of exciting things to do nearby. He picked out his three favourites and wrote them laboriously on a piece of paper.
Sprognockle Spooky Ghost Walk
Haunted Catacombs of Doom Church
Witch’s Cauldron at Wartspell Crags
Ichabod Comb tore the paper into three, folded each piece up and put them in a cup. Then he closed his eyes and picked one out with his wing and unfolded it again.
Witch’s Cauldron at Wartspell Crags
That would do very nicely. He’d always wanted to go to Wartspell Crags. He began to plan the trip in his head.
After all, thought Ichabod Comb, what could possibly go wrong this time?
About the Author
Jennifer Gray lives in London and Scotland with her husband, four children and friendly but enigmatic cat, Henry. Her other work includes the Atticus Claw series and the Guinea Pigs Online books, co-written with Amanda Swift. The first book in the Atticus series, Atticus Claw Breaks the Law, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and won the 2014 Red House Children’s Book Award – Younger Readers category.
By the Same Author
Atticus Claw Breaks the Law
Atticus Claw Settles a Score
Atticus Claw Lends a Paw
Atticus Claw Goes Ashore
Atticus Claw Learns to Draw
Chicken Mission: Danger in the Deep Dark Woods
To Amanda
with special thanks to Keren, Lydia, Becky,
Anna and Fenella
Copyright
First published in 2015
by Faber & Faber Limited
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2015
Typeset by Crow Books
All rights reserved
Text © Jennifer Gray, 2015
Illustrations © Hannah George, 2015
The right of Jennifer Gray to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
978–0571–29830–3
The Curse of Fogsham Farm Page 10
