The Mystery of the Grinning Gargoyle Read Free

picked themselves off the floor of the stairway landing. Then they all looked back to the large window where they’d just seen the face of a gargoyle—a grinning gargoyle just like the ones that decorated the top of the old library building.
    But the window was empty. The gargoyle was nowhere to be seen.
    â€œDid you guys see that?” Jessie asked.
    â€œI sure did,” said Violet. “It was a gargoyle.”
    â€œI saw it, too,” said Henry. “But gargoyles aren’t real creatures. They’re just stone statues.”
    â€œBut if I saw it, and you all saw it, then it must have been real,” Benny said. “Right?”
    â€œWe all saw something,” said Henry, “but the real questions are what exactly did we see and where did it go?”
    Henry was already looking out the window—up and down and to each side—with his siblings crowded around him. “I don’t see it anywhere,” he said. “I wonder where it went…whatever it was that we saw.”
    â€œIt couldn’t have just vanished,” said Violet. “Could it?”
    â€œTell us exactly what happened, Benny,” Jessie said.
    â€œWell,” said Benny, “I was running up the stairs, and I knew I was close to the top because my legs were getting tired. I stopped to catch my breath, and that’s when I heard a scratching sound. When I looked out this door to see what was scratching and scraping, there was that gargoyle, smiling right at me through the window—and it wasn’t a friendly smile, either!”
    â€œWell, like I said, gargoyles are just stone statues,” said Henry. “There is no way they could fly down in front of a window, or make a scratching sound…”
    Just then, there was a different sound from behind where the children stood. It was a thumping and bumping sound, and it was coming from the stairwell where the Aldens had just been.
    Thump. Bump. Thump. Bump. The sound echoed all the way up to where the children were.
    Benny gasped. “Could a gargoyle make that kind of sound?” he asked.
    Thump. Bump. Thump. Bump.
    â€œThat sounds like someone—or something—running,” said Jessie. “Who’s there?”
    Thump. Bump. Thump. Bump. That’s the only thing the children heard.
    â€œYeah,” Violet called down the stairs, “who—or what—are you?”
    But there was no answer, just more thumps and bumps of footsteps, from either a human or something else, running down the staircase of the old library.
    â€œQuick!” said Henry. “Let’s follow the footsteps. Maybe it’s the gargoyle, or somebody who saw the gargoyle, too.”
    The children started to run down the stairs, but whoever or whatever they were following had too much of a head start. The thumping and bumping of the footsteps sounded farther and farther away.
    Thump. Bump. Thump. Bump.
    â€œLet’s take the elevator,” said Jessie. “It will be faster.”
    â€œJessie’s right,” said Henry. “We got to the top floor before Benny did when he took the stairs. This is our only chance to find out who or what was behind whatever it was that we saw and whoever it is that we’re hearing.”
    â€œIt sounds like a mystery for us to solve!” Benny said, rushing through the door to the next floor.
    As soon as the Alden children dashed out of the stairwell and onto the next floor of the library, Violet pushed the down button for the elevator. The bell dinged and the doors slid open. The children piled into the elevator and Jessie pushed the button for the ground floor.
    â€œIf we beat whoever it is to the bottom floor,” said Jessie, “we can wait at the bottom of the stairwell for them.”
    â€œGood thinking!” said Henry. “That way we can see whoever it was making those noises.”
    â€œAnd maybe that person knows something about the spooky gargoyle we