‘Are you okay?’ Dad asked, when he saw me frowning. ‘Frankie, what is it?’
‘The frog-lady,’ I said.
‘The one who came back on the ship with us?’ Mum asked, pulling a face. ‘I didn’t like her. She gave me goosebumps. So slimy!’
‘She’s lonely,’ I replied. ‘But she said she didn’t belong here.’
It was right at that moment I opened my fingers and glanced absent-mindedly down at the delicate silver brooch that she’d pressed into my palm.
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled and my skin turned to goosebumps.
‘Frankie?’ Mum asked as she saw my face turn pale. ‘Frankie, you’ve gone as white as a spook, you’re frightening me.’
There, in the palm of my hand, was a piece of jewellery I’d looked at hundreds of times before. Set in the shape of the letters O and N, I recognised it the second I saw it. It belonged to my great-great-uncle’s mother, Olympia Nocturne.
‘IT’S HER!’ I yelled.
Suddenly her name made perfect sense. Why hadn’t I noticed before? Impya is just a shortened version of Olympia!!
Hearing me yelp, Grandad Abe floated over, beaming from ear to ear.
‘Frankie, my boy! It’s splundish to have you back!’ he chuckled. ‘You gave us a real fright when you vanished.’
‘I’m about to give you another one,’ I stammered to the friendly phantom.
‘Oh?’ Abraham’s fuzzy eyebrows gathered into a frown. ‘Go on.’
‘What’s all this about?’ Dad asked.
‘Grandad, when you and your first family stumbled upon the graveghast all those years ago, what happened to your wife, Olympia? Remind me…’
‘Oh, well, according to the photograph that accidentally caught the whole rotten affair, she was turned into a toad. Yes, that’s right. A big old hoppity-toad.’
‘I don’t think that’s quite right,’ I said with a trembling voice. I felt like my knees might give way beneath me. ‘She was turned into something much stranger.’
‘What do you mean?’ Mum snapped. I could tell she was growing impatient.
‘The frog-lady – she’s OLYMPIA NOCTURNE!!’
‘Oh my goodness!’ Mum gasped. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Where did she go?’ Dad huffed as he frantically started searching about.
‘OLYMPIA’S HERE?’ Grandad Abe started flapping about in mid-air. No one tell Regurgita! She’ll go completely gruzzly!’
‘Oh, blunkers!’ Maudlin barked, listening from a little way off. ‘We have to stop her!’
‘There! Look!’ Mum said, pointing at a trail of slime that led across the foyer floor and into the library.
‘Oh no!’ My brain started to race ahead of me and I knew what had happened before I even made it to the door. Back in Grimegorn, I’d told Impya EVERYTHING about Oculus. I’d even jabbered on about where his body was imprisoned in a block of ice, and… ‘SHE KNOWS OCULUS’S SPECTRIL IS IN THE LIBRARY! SHE’S GOING TO TRY AND RESCUE HIM!’
Dad and I raced ahead of everyone else, with Mum and the rest of our little group bounding along behind.
As I reached the archway over the library entrance, I slipped in the slime trail and careered across the floor, hitting my head and my back with a painful thump.
‘It’s gone!’ Dad wheezed. ‘IT’S GONE, FRANKIE! She’s taken the jar!’
I looked up to where he was pointing and saw that the shelves of the tallest bookcase were all dripping in mucus, and the top one that had stored Oculus’s spectril was now empty.
‘She can’t have gone far,’ I said, scrabbling back to my feet. But as I did I noticed the library window was wide open and the curtains were flapping in the cold winter air. Olympia Nocturne had escaped!
‘What’s happening, Frankie?’ Gully panted as he ran into the room, before slipping in the slime and careering into a table. ‘I heard yelling.’
‘More fuss?’ Princess Von Tangle popped out of Gully’s waistcoat pocket and scowled around the room. ‘What now? Can’t you lot ever let me have a moment of peace?’
‘Impya!’ I stammered to my friends. ‘She… She’s Olympia Nocturne. Cursed mother of my great-great-uncle, Oculus!’
‘Ugh! I know!’ Viscera moaned. ‘It was obvious!’
‘What!?’ I practically screamed. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘YOU DIDN’T ASK!’ Viscera screamed back. ‘PLUS, I WAS FEELING MOODSIE!’
With that, the minuscule piskie slunk back down into Gully’s pocket, muttering to herself.
There was a long moment of shocked silence, as Nancy and Maudlin gathered at the door, along with Calamitus and Tempestra.
‘W-w-w-what is it, Bargeous?’ Nancy stammered.
‘Come now, you eejit,’ rasped Maudlin. ‘Don’t keep us waiting. Did you get her?’
Dad thought for a second before his face hardened into a look of absolute determination.
‘If she frees Oculus from his ice prison, we’re done for,’ he said. ‘We don’t have any choice but to try and stop her.’
‘Should we send a letter to the yetis?’ Mum asked nervously.
‘It’s no use. Goblin postal crows don’t fly that far north,’ Dad said. I’d never seen him look so serious in all my life. ‘Grab all your coats, gloves – every blanket and duvet you can find.’
‘Why?’ Mum asked. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Get every warm jumper and pair of socks and scarf as well. ALL OF IT! WE’RE GOING TO THE HIMALAYAS!’
About the Author and Illustrator
Steven B is an award-winning children’s writer, actor, voice artist and host of World Book Day’s The Biggest Book Show On Earth. When not typing, twirling about on stage, or being very dramatic on screen, Steven spends his time trying to spot thistlewumps at the bottom the garden and catching dust pooks in jars. His The Wrong Pong series was shortlisted for the prestigious Roald Dahl Funny Prize.
www.stevenbutlerbooks.com
www.SimonandSchuster.co.uk/Authors/Steven-Butler
Steven L is an award-winning illustrator based in Brighton, not far from The Nothing To See Here Hotel! As well as designing all of the creatures you have just seen throughout this book, Steven also illustrates the Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam series and Frank Cottrell Boyce’s fiction titles. When he isn’t drawing giant spiders and geriatric mermaids, Steven loves to eat ice cream on Brighton beach looking out for goblin pirate ships on the horizon.
www.stevenlenton.com
www.SimonandSchuster.co.uk/Authors/Steven-Lenton
First published in Great Britain in 2020 by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
Text copyright © Steven Butler 2020
Illustrations copyright © Steven Lenton 2020
This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission.
All rights reserved.
The right of Steven Butler to be identified as the author of this work and Steven Lenton to be identified as the illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
PB ISBN 978-1-4711-7875-7
eBook ISBN 978-1-4711-7876-4
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
he Seven Sewers
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