Vampire Brat Read Free

and he forgets that it takes him days to get all the way up—although sometimes, by mistake, he goes down really fast.
    I stopped beside Sir Horace, tapped very quietly on his armor, and said, “Are you awake?” Sir Horace spends a lot of time dozing and it is a good idea not to surprise him when he is asleep. He often wakes up with a jump and then parts of his armor fall off. You do not want parts of Sir Horace to fall off halfway up the stairs. Last week, when he was only two steps from the top, the spring holding his left knee together pinged out, his leg dropped off, and he fell all the way down tothe bottom. It was not my fault at all, I just happened to be walking past at the time, but no one believed me. I spent the rest of the day putting Sir Horace back together again.

    â€œGood morning, Miss Spookie.” Sir Horace’s booming voice came out from his helmet.
    â€œIt’s not morning anymore, Sir Horace. It’s nearly dinner time now,” I said.
    â€œIs it really? How time flies when you’re going upstairs.”
    â€œSir Horace,” I said, very quickly, as Sir Horace does go on a bit and it is best to get your question in early. “Have you seen a werewolf around here?”
    There was another crash of thunder and the lights came back on, flickered, and then went off again.
    â€œA what wolf?” asked Sir Horace.
    â€œA were wolf.”
    â€œWhere? Ah, indeed, that is the question, Miss Spookie. Where does one find wolves nowadays? In my time we used to have them howling at the castle gates on a cold winter’s night. Terrible noise it was. Quite froze the blood…”
    â€œWow. Did it really, Sir Horace?”
    â€œYes, it most certainly did, Miss Spookie. Ah, those were the days. You know I once found an abandoned wolf cub?”
    â€œDid you really?” Now that was interesting.
    â€œIndeed I did, Miss Spookie. It had injured its leg and been deserted by the wolf pack. I took it home and raised it myself. A wonderful companion….” Sir Horace sighed like he always does when he remembers the old days, which in his case are extremely old days. “Ahwell,” he said, “I must be getting along.” He suddenly stuck one foot out and put it on the next step. He looked very wobbly.
    â€œWould you like some help, Sir Horace?” I asked.
    â€œThat would be most welcome, Miss Spookie,” said Sir Horace in a smiley kind of voice. So I took his right arm—very carefully—and we got to the top of the stairs in no time at all. “Along here, if you please, Miss Spookie,” said Sir Horace, so I walked along with him to the little secret door under the attic stairs.
    Now I knew where Sir Horace was heading—he was going to his secret room. I helped him open the door and watched as he squeezed through, then I closed the door behind him. I listened to his footsteps fadingaway down the secret passage that runs behind the wooden paneling on the wall, and then a loud crash of thunder reminded me that I had an urgent appointment with some lightning.
    I ran down the corridor, through two moldy curtains, and past the monster bathroom. I zoomed along the zigzag passage, jumped over the trapdoor to nowhere, climbed up the old apple ladder and scrambled onto the ledge. And there I was, outside the old door to the haunted turret. I turned the key and went inside.

3
LIGHTNING
    T here are lots of turrets in Spookie House, but the best one to watch thunderstorms from is the haunted turret. The haunted turret is not really haunted. Well, I’ve never seen a ghost there and I have spent many hours looking. But it is the tallest turret and is so high in the sky that you feel as though you are right in the middle of the storm. It is very exciting.
    After you push open the little door with the weird creak that goes “Eeh-aaaah… ooooh ,” you climb up some rickety, cobwebby stairs, but you must not step on the