House of the Horrible Ghosts Read online

  OTTO FOUND HIMSELF ON

  ONE OF THE TILTING

  FLOORS.

  Behind him, the floating head sang: “Yo ho ho and a barrel of fun! I’m after you. You’d better run!”

  The tilting floor led to a moving staircase, which Otto scrambled up. At the top, he ran into a dark room to hide. Otto switched on Olivia’s flashlight. He was in … the Chamber of Horrors!

  On every side stood wax figures of famous thieves and cutthroats. They were so real-looking, they almost seemed alive. One of the figures was holding a long knife in its hand. Its arm dropped, and the blade sliced past Otto’s nose!

  STEPPING STONE BOOKS

  BY GEOFFREY HAYES:

  Graveyard Creeper Mystery #1:

  Swamp of the Hideous Zombies

  Graveyard Creeper Mystery #2:

  House of the Horrible Ghosts

  STEP INTO READING® BOOKS

  BY GEOFFREY HAYES:

  The Mystery of the Pirate Ghost

  The Secret of Foghorn Island

  The Treasure of the Lost Lagoon

  The Curse of the Cobweb Queen

  The Night of the Circus Monsters

  Copyright © 1997 by Geoffrey Hayes.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

  Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

  Hayes, Geoffrey.

  House of the horrible ghosts / by Geoffrey Hayes.

  p. cm.—(Graveyard creeper mystery ; 2)

  “A First stepping stone book.”

  SUMMARY: When Uncle Tooth invites cousin Olivia along on their trip to Boogle Bay’s amusement park, Otto is so upset that he decides to go off on his own and he encounters a ghostly gang of pirates intent on taking over the Fun House.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-82848-4

  [1. Ghosts—Fiction. 2. Pirates—Fiction. 3. Animals—Fiction. 4. Cousins—Fiction.]

  I. Title. II. Series: Hayes, Geoffrey. Graveyard creeper mystery; #2.

  PZ7.H31455Ho 1997

  [Fic]—dc21 96-47801

  Random House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland

  http://www.randomhouse.com/

  v3.1

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  1. Ship Ahoy!

  2. At Sedley Mether’s

  3. Otto Takes Off

  4. “Laugh in the Dark”

  5. Why Otto Stopped Laughing

  6. Olivia and the Mirror Maze

  7. The Ghosts Go to Town

  8. Otto’s Plan

  9. Changes

  About the Author

  1

  SHIP AHOY!

  Otto was nailing a sign to the door of his Monster Clubhouse when his cousin Olivia came down the path.

  “It’s crooked,” she said.

  “It’s supposed to be,” said Otto.

  “Uncle Tooth is going to show me how to tie some sailor’s knots,” Olivia told him.

  “Typical,” thought Otto. Ever since Olivia had come to Boogle Bay, Otto hardly got to spend any time alone with his uncle.

  “Can I see inside?” asked Olivia.

  “No,” said Otto. “It’s for members only.”

  “But I just want to peek in the door.”

  “Sorry, I’m working on a Top Secret project.”

  “What? Reading comic books?” said Olivia.

  Otto said, “I’m conducting a very important investigation. Now leave me alone.”

  “With pleasure,” said Olivia. She went to see Uncle Tooth.

  Otto snapped a padlock on the door and took off for the beach. Darn that Olivia! She was always trying to butt in. Well, tomorrow Uncle Tooth had promised to take him to Playland, the amusement park at the end of the wharf. They would have the whole day together without her.

  There were some small caves along the beach. Otto thought they might be the perfect hiding place for monsters. He spent an hour checking them out.

  He found an old coin and a greenish rock, which he put into his backpack, but no monsters. Then he heard the horn sounding from the lighthouse. It meant that foul weather was moving in.

  Otto left the caves. He saw dark clouds in the sky and heard thunder. A hard rain began falling. Otto made his way toward the lighthouse and pounded on the door. No one answered.

  The lighthouse keeper, Lord Rutherford, couldn’t hear him. The rain was getting worse.

  Otto crawled under the boardwalk. It wasn’t much drier, but he felt safer.

  Lightning flashed! Otto saw something big floating in the clouds. He got his spyglass from his backpack and peered through the lens. It was so rainy, he had difficulty making out the shape. Then, in another flash of lightning, he saw it—a ship!

  It was an eerie vessel, with tattered sails and seaweed trailing from the hull. Otto could just read the nameplate on the bow: THE THIEVING WENCH.

  Uh-oh! The ship was heading straight for the lighthouse. It was going to hit it! Otto didn’t have time to warn Lord Rutherford. Suddenly, with a WHOOSH!, the flying ship passed through the lighthouse and came out the other side! It headed off toward town.

  “A ghost ship!” cried Otto. “A real ghost ship! I’ve got to tell Uncle Tooth!”

  Otto ran home to Lone Point as fast as he could go.

  By the time he got there, the storm had died down.

  There was a note waiting for him.

  Otto,

  Olivia and I have gone to see Sedley Mether. Come join us if you’d like.

  Uncle Tooth

  Otto didn’t even bother to dry himself off. In a flash, he was out the door.

  2

  AT SEDLEY METHER’S

  “Hello, Otto. I’m glad you’ve come,” said Sedley Mether. “We were worried about you being out in that storm.”

  Sedley Mether’s place was cozy and warm. A fire crackled in the fireplace, and everybody had a mug of cocoa.

  “Goodness! You’re soaked to the bone!” Auntie Hick declared. She went to fetch a towel.

  “I’m fine,” said Otto. “Uncle Tooth, I need to talk to you in private.”

  “Is it an emergency?” asked Uncle Tooth.

  “Yes,” said Otto.

  “Well, why can’t you share it?” Olivia wanted to know.

  Otto paused. “It’s sort of official Monster Club business.”

  “I knew it,” said Olivia. “You make everything Top Secret so you can shut me out!”

  “That’s because you’re always butting in,” said Otto.

  Uncle Tooth called for a time-out. “Will you two stop bickering? You’re going to turn my hair white!”

  Olivia giggled. “Uncle Tooth, your hair is white!”

  Auntie Hick returned with a towel and began to dry Otto off. Otto sighed. He told them all about the ghost ship.

  Sedley Mether perked up. “You don’t say! I wish I’d seen it. Ghosts are a hobby of mine.”

  “Was it wearing a sheet?” asked Olivia.

  “See?” Otto said to Uncle Tooth. “I knew she wouldn’t understand.”

  Olivia got up to get a cookie. “Otto sees monsters everywhere.”

  “I do not!” shouted Otto. “I really saw it! It was called The Thieving Wench.”

  “Hmm, that rings a bell,” said Sedley Mether. Going to his bookcase, he pulled down a dusty tome: Ghostly Sightings and Their Remedies.

  “Ah! Here it is!” Sedley found the page and began to read. “ ‘The Thieving Wench was manned by a crew of terrible
pirates. It went down in a squall off Cape Honk three hundred years ago. None of the pirates survived. Legend has it that The Thieving Wench appears only once every seven years.’ ”

  “Wow! And I saw it!” Otto gasped.

  Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door.

  “Don’t answer it!” cried Sedley Mether.

  Auntie Hick snorted. “Stuff and nonsense! All this ghost talk makes folks fidgety!” She opened the door, and Lord Rutherford, the lighthouse keeper, walked in.

  “Hello. I just stopped by to see if everyone was all right,” Lord Rutherford said.

  “Yes, thank you,” said Olivia.

  “We heard your signal,” said Sedley Mether. “Please have some cocoa.”

  “Came out of nowhere, that storm,” Lord Rutherford went on.

  “Did you see the ghost ship?” cried Otto.

  Lord Rutherford looked startled. “Why, yes … I did. I was sure it was going to crash into my lighthouse. But then it didn’t. So I thought maybe I just saw some clouds that looked like a ship.”

  “See! It was only some clouds,” said Olivia.

  “Oh, yeah?” said Otto. “You’re just jealous because you didn’t see it!”

  Olivia went over to the fire and turned her back on Otto.

  Uncle Tooth nudged Otto’s shoulder. “You just shut Olivia out,” he whispered.

  “So?”

  “So, she’s your cousin. It won’t hurt you to be nice to her.”

  “She’s not very nice to me,” Otto muttered. He sighed and walked up to Olivia. “I’m sorry, okay?”

  Olivia turned around. “Okay,” she replied.

  But to himself, Otto said, “Nah, nah! I saw it and you didn’t!”

  They all talked about the ghost ship for a while. Then Lord Rutherford had to get back to the lighthouse, and Auntie Hick and Olivia had shopping to do. They said their good-byes to Sedley Mether.

  “This is very exciting,” said Sedley. “I could just kick myself for missing it.”

  By the time Otto and Uncle Tooth walked home, a thick fog had settled over Boogle Bay. “I’m going to write about The Thieving Wench in my Monster Club journal,” Otto said.

  Across a courtyard, Otto and Uncle Tooth saw an old woman smoking a pipe. For an instant, her eyes glowed.

  Then she disappeared.

  “Funny,” said Uncle Tooth. “I could have sworn I saw …”

  “A ghost?” whispered Otto. “I saw it, too. Maybe she came off The Thieving Wench.”

  “Humph!” snorted Uncle Tooth. “In the fog, everything looks like a ghost.”

  “I guess so,” Otto said. “But I really did see that ghost ship.”

  “I’m sure you did,” said Uncle Tooth. “But it’s probably fifty miles away by now.”

  As they left, Otto looked back over his shoulder. The courtyard was empty. At least, it looked empty.

  3

  OTTO TAKES OFF

  The next morning, Otto hopped out of bed full of excitement. But then he glanced out the window. That darned fog was still there! “Well, Uncle Tooth and I will have fun at Playland anyway,” he thought.

  He got dressed and hurried downstairs to fix breakfast. Uncle Tooth wasn’t up yet.

  Someone knocked at the door.

  It was Olivia again! How annoying!

  “What do you want?” he said.

  “I just dropped by to visit.”

  “Well, you can’t stay long,” Otto told her. “Uncle Tooth and I are spending the whole day at Playland.”

  Olivia strolled into the room. “Seen any ghosts lately?” she asked.

  “As a matter of fact … yes! Uncle Tooth and I saw a lady … um … a ghost when we were walking home yesterday. I think she came from the ship.”

  “You mean, like a tourist?” asked Olivia.

  “Why do I even bother talking to you?” Otto huffed.

  He went back to the kitchen and made himself some toast. Uncle Tooth came downstairs yawning. “By jingo! I slept like a whale! Good morning, Olivia.”

  “I told her she couldn’t stay because we’re going to the amusement park,” Otto said.

  Uncle Tooth peered out the window. “Oh, not today, Otto. It’s too foggy. In fact, I doubt that Playland will even be open.”

  “But you promised!” cried Otto.

  “I know I did. But we’ll have a much better time when the weather is nicer,” replied Uncle Tooth.

  He put an arm around Otto’s shoulders. “Look, I promise I will take you just as soon as the fog lifts.”

  “Okay,” said Otto. “Hey! Maybe it will lift in a few hours.”

  “Maybe,” said Uncle Tooth. “And Olivia, why don’t you join us?”

  “What did you invite her for?” Otto cried.

  “I thought it would be more fun if we all went,” explained Uncle Tooth.

  “No, it won’t!” Otto said. “This was supposed to be our day together!”

  “Otto, you’re being selfish,” said Uncle Tooth.

  “I am not!” screamed Otto. “Fine! I don’t want to go with you anyway!”

  He stomped up the stairs to his room and slammed the door.

  “What a baby,” said Olivia.

  Otto kicked his basketball against the wall. “Darn! My whole day is ruined! That stupid Olivia spoils everything!”

  He’d show them! He’d go to Playland by himself—right now!

  Otto opened the old cigar box where he kept his money. There was enough for a few rides. Next, he pulled on an old sweater and his baseball cap. Was there anything else? Yes, it would help to have a flashlight in the fog.

  Otto looked under piles of clothing, in drawers, and under the bed. All he found was Olivia’s flashlight. She’d left it the last time she was over. It was a deluxe model with red and green lenses to go over the light. Otto grabbed it. He knew it was wrong to take it without Olivia’s permission. But he was so angry that he didn’t care.

  “It serves her right for forgetting it,” he muttered.

  Otto climbed out his window to a tree branch.

  Olivia saw him drop to the ground.

  Where was he going? she wondered. And what was he doing with her flashlight?

  “You little thief!” she cried, dashing out the door.

  “Would you like some cereal?” Uncle Tooth asked from the kitchen.

  But Olivia was already gone.

  Uncle Tooth shook his head. “So much for company!” he sighed.

  Olivia ran down the path, but Otto had already vanished in the thick fog.

  4

  “LAUGH IN THE DARK”

  Otto hurried through the damp streets. Hardly a soul was outside. There was only the warm glow of lighted windows for company. Then he reached the wharf. There were no more houses, just the long and empty boardwalk.

  Everything was eerily still.

  Playland was at the very end of the wharf. A few lights peeked through the fog. But no people. The Ferris wheel had a big OUT OF ORDER sign on it. Even the cotton candy booth was closed.

  Otto crushed a paper soda cup under his foot. “It’s not fair!” he thought. “I was really looking forward to this day!”

  He wandered about the deserted park. If only there were ghosts in Boogle Bay! At least then he’d have some excitement.

  As soon as Otto thought these words, the lights flashed on at the Fun House. “Laugh in the Dark,” it was called. It was a creepy place with moving stairs and tilting floors. It was built to look like an old haunted house.

  “Wow! Maybe it’s open,” Otto said. He hurried forward, but there was no ticket taker.

  “That’s odd,” he thought.

  Suddenly, Jolly Judy, the figure above the door, began to laugh and sway from side to side. Otto jumped back. He had heard that laugh many times. But today she sounded really loud and crazy. And why had she started moving all at once? Had someone inside pulled a switch?

  A dark shape loomed up behind Otto. Just as he turned around … BONK!!
<
br />   Otto yelped.

  The figure said, “Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

  It was Ducky Doodle! He lived with Auntie Hick and helped out in her Sweet Shop. But he was always wandering off.

  “Doodle! It’s me—Otto!”

  “Oh, hi, Otto. All these dumb rides are closed.”

  “I know. It’s annoying,” said Otto. He pointed to Laugh in the Dark. “I think that one is open.”

  “I’ve never been in there,” said Ducky Doodle. “It’s too creepy to go in by myself. Will you come with me? I’ve got five cents.”

  Otto slowly stepped toward the attraction. “I don’t think you need your five cents, Doodle. No one’s taking tickets.”

  “It must be free today!” cried Ducky Doodle. “Come on.”

  Before Otto could stop him, Ducky Doodle disappeared through the entrance. Otto took a deep breath and followed.

  WHOOSH!!! Jets of air shot up from little holes in the floor. Otto and Ducky Doodle made their way through some spinning drums and came out into darkness. It smelled like old, musty rooms. Otto sensed something very close by, ready to touch him.

  “Doodle! Where are you?” he called.

  “Over here. Look at this cool floating head!” cried Ducky Doodle.

  Otto turned on the flashlight. Ducky Doodle was staring at a head with an evil-looking face. “Gee! That must be new. I’ve never seen it before,” said Otto.

  The head laughed. “Oh, my! Live people! How creepy!” it said. Then it began to swoop about.

  “This is too weird!” said Ducky Doodle.

  “Oh, not nearly weird enough!” cried the head. “Wait until I swallow my tongue!”

  Otto and Doodle screamed. They ran off in separate directions.

  Ducky Doodle ran in the right direction. He was soon outside. “I don’t like that place,” he said to Otto.

  But Otto wasn’t behind him!

  “Otto? Otto?” he called.

  Above, Jolly Judy suddenly stopped laughing.

  The lights on Laugh in the Dark went out.

  Everything got very quiet.

  Ducky Doodle ran out of the park as fast as his legs would carry him.