Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve - Mary Pope Osborne [5]
“Hello! May we enter?” he called.
Silence. They all stared at the heavy wooden doors.
“Never fear, I shall get us in,” said Teddy.
The boy sorcerer put down his lantern. He took a deep breath. He rubbed his hands together. Then he stretched out his arms and shouted:
“Open, ye two oaken doors….”
He looked at Jack and Annie. “Quick, what rhymes with doors?”
“Uh—floors?” said Jack.
“Good,” said Teddy. He opened his arms again and yelled:
“Open, ye two oaken doors!
Or we will not mop up your floors!”
Nothing happened.
Teddy looked at Jack and Annie. “Bad rhyme,” he said.
Annie frowned and nodded.
“Are you sure they’re even locked?” said Jack.
“Let’s see,” said Annie. She pushed on one door. Jack pushed on the other.
Slowly the doors creaked open.
“Ah, brilliant!” said Teddy with a laugh. “Shall we?” He held out his hand and waved Jack and Annie through the open doorway.
The castle gatehouse was cold and empty. Jack could see his breath in the sharp air. He heard a creak. They all turned to look. The heavy doors moved by themselves and closed with a thump.
They all stared at the doors for a moment. Then Teddy broke the silence. “Interesting,” he said cheerfully.
Jack tried to smile. “Indeed. Interesting,” he said. He shivered. He couldn’t tell if it was from cold or from fright. Now? he wondered. Now are we entering the tunnel of fear?
“Onward!” said Teddy. He led them through the empty gatehouse onto the shadowy castle grounds.
There were no signs of life anywhere. Jack thought of the old woman’s rhyme:
Where is the girl
who spins wool into thread?
Where are the boys
who play chess before bed?
Where is the hound
who waits to be fed?
Jack wondered what the rhyme could mean. What girl? What boys? What hound?
Teddy crossed the courtyard to the entrance of a large building. Jack and Annie quickly followed him.
Teddy held up his lantern so they could see inside. There were rows of clean, empty stalls. Saddles and bridles hung from pegs on the walls. Hay was piled in the corners.
“Must be the stables,” said Jack.
“But no horses,” said Annie.
“No matter, ’tis orderly,” said Teddy. “Onward!”
He led them to the open doorway of another building. Teddy’s lantern shone on a brick oven, a stone hearth, baskets of apples, and strings of onions hanging from the rafters.
“The kitchen,” said Jack.
“But no cooks or servants,” said Annie.
“No matter, ’tis orderly here, too,” said Teddy. “Onward!”
As they wandered through the moonlit courtyard, Jack looked to his right and his left. He glanced behind them. If there are ghosts, he thought, what do they look like? Halloween ghosts in sheets? See-through people like in the movies?
He stopped. “Hey, guys!” he whispered loudly. “Wait a minute, wait a minute!”
“What is it?” said Annie.
Jack pushed his glasses into place. “Are we just going to keep wandering from building to building?” he said. “What’s our strategy here?”
“Strategy?” asked Teddy.
“Jack means we should make a plan,” said Annie.
“Ah, indeed,” said Teddy. “Excellent idea. A plan, yes.” He grinned. “How do we do that?”
“Well, first we ask ourselves: Where exactly are we going?” said Jack.
Teddy looked about. He pointed to a tower rising above the courtyard. “There,” he said, “the keep. ’Tis where the family lives, the duke and duchess.”
“Great,” said Jack. “Now, what will we do when we get there?”
“Climb the stairs to each floor,” said Teddy. “Have a look around.”
“And if we see anything that’s not orderly, we’ll tidy it up!” said Annie.
“Excellent,” said Teddy.
“And then?” asked Jack.
“We leave!” said Teddy. “Our mission done.”
Jack nodded. This wasn’t much of a plan—or a mission, he thought. But he liked the “leaving” part. He hoped that happened before any ghosts showed up. “Okay,” he said.
Holding his lantern to light their way, Teddy led them to the entrance of the castle keep. He pushed open a wooden door, and they all stepped inside.
Dark figures loomed against the stone walls.
“Ah!” Jack cried. He jumped back, bumping into Annie.
Annie laughed. “It’s only our shadows,” she