Wail of the Banshee Read Free

remembering. “Everyone used to call him ‘two eyes’! It really annoyed him.”
    “Well, my dad’s pretty artistic,” I said. “I’m sure he’ll sort the place out in no time.”
    “AAAYYYOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!”
    As one, we flinched and covered our ears, waiting for the wail to end. “We can discuss makeovers once we’ve dealt with Favel,” said Luke with a grimace. “Come on…”
    Once we were out on the street, I was able to get a good look at my new house. It was like something out of a horror movie – all twisted and misshapen, with fading paintwork, missing roof tiles and a crooked chimney. Next door was no better – rotting shutters covered the windows, and the varnish was flaking off the front door. Luke knocked, but there was no answer. He knocked again.
    “Favel’s gran is as deaf as a post,” Resus reminded him. “We could knock all day and she wouldn’t hear us. I say we just go in.”
    Cleo tried the door. It was unlocked. The cries grew louder as we followed her into the hallway and up the stairs. We could see Favel, or I guess it was her, in one of the rooms, squirming around on a bed and crying out in pain.
    I stopped and stared. Standing over the young banshee was a human skeleton...

Chapter Four

    “That’s Dr Skully,” whispered Cleo, pointing to the skeleton. “He spent forty years standing in the corner of a university laboratory learning all about medicine, so he helps us out whenever anyone gets ill. He knows loads of other stuff, too – he’s really clever.”
    “He’s not that special,” grumbled Resus.
    Luke gave me a sly wink. “Resus is just grumpy because Dr Skully is also our teacher,” he explained.
    “I don’t mind him,” hissed Resus. “I just think that, if he’s so keen to help ease suffering, why does he hand out so much homework!”
    “AAAYYYOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!”
    The banshee’s wail was almost unbearable now that we were in the same room as her. My stomach wobbled and flipped like a jelly on a trampoline as the noise vibrated right through it.
    “Is Favel OK, Dr Skully?” asked Cleo.
    The skeleton turned to see the four of us gathered in the doorway. “Ah, children!” he exclaimed, the corners of his lip-less mouth twisting into a bizarre smile. “And we have a newcomer, I see!”
    “Hi!” I said, nervously, not sure how you were supposed to conduct a conversation with a grinning skeleton.
    “I’m afraid Favel is not very well at all,” Dr Skully said. “She has a very bad toothache, hence the incessant wailing.”
    As if to demonstrate, Favel opened her mouth and gave another howl of pain. “AAAYYYOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!”
    Then a figure stepped out of the shadows: an old woman with a mass of grey, knotted hair. “WHAT?!” she screeched.
    “That’s Favel’s gran,” explained Cleo. She turned to the old woman. “Hello, Mrs Tapp!”
    “WHAT?”
    “Told you,” grinned Resus. “Deaf as a post.”
    Dr Skully continued his examination. “I can see the offending tooth,” he said. “It’s rather badly infected.”
    “Can’t you take it out?” asked Resus. “That’s what you did with my cousin Kian when he had that ingrowing fang.”
    Dr Skully sighed. “If you’d been paying attention in biology class, Master Negative, then you’d know that banshees’ teeth are not at all like yours or mine.”
    “They’re not?” I asked. Resus gave me a grateful smile for interrupting his lecture.
    “Not at all,” the skeletal teacher replied. “A banshee’s teeth are completely hollow. She uses them to amplify her voice.”
    “AAAYYYOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!”
    “They’re working, then!” bellowed Luke over the racket.
    “Alas not,” Dr Skully countered. “Every time poor Favel here wails in pain, the infection is driven deeper into the offending tooth. If it is not extracted soon, the disease will spread to the rest of her body. We have to act quickly or she could become gravely ill.”
    “Then what are you waiting for?”