Wail of the Banshee Read Free Page A

demanded Cleo. “Pull it out!”
    “That’s exactly what I was about to do when you arrived,” said Dr Skully severely. “Now, this is a very delicate operation so, if you children are going to remain here, I must insist that you remain silent.”
    The skeleton opened a black medical bag and took out a large pair of pliers that seemed to me to be more suited to DIY than dentistry. “OK,” he said calmly. “Here we go…”
    Cleo adjusted the bandages on her face so they covered her eyes. “I can’t look!”
    Holding Favel’s mouth open with one hand, Dr Skully cautiously lowered the pliers into her mouth with the other. “I just have to grip the tooth… There! Now, on the count of three, I’m going to pull it out. One … two … three!”
    It all happened so fast. Dr Skully pulled as hard as he could on the pliers, Favel screamed and clamped her mouth shut, and there was a tinkling sound as though someone had dropped a teaspoon on the wooden floor.
    Only it wasn’t a teaspoon – it was one of Dr Skully’s fingers. Cleo gasped and stooped to pick it up. “Doesn’t that hurt?” she asked the skeletal teacher.
    “A little,” he confessed, “although I imagine it would have been worse if I were still in possession of my nerve endings.” He snapped the finger bone back in place and peered into the banshee’s mouth.
    “Did you get the tooth?” asked Luke.
    “I’m afraid not,” said Dr Skully, reaching in to remove what remained of the pliers – now little more than a lump of twisted metal. “You have quite a bite on you, young Favel.”
    The banshee shifted in the bed, whimpering. She looked very pale – but I didn’t know whether that was normal for her or not.
    “What about using an anaesthetic?” I suggested. “I had one when I had a tooth out. Didn’t feel a thing.”
    “A wise suggestion,” said Dr Skully, dropping the ruined pliers back into his bag. “But unfortunately, the only anaesthetic powerful enough to dull a banshee’s senses would be Calm Balm – and that’s impossible to get hold of nowadays.”
    “Wouldn’t Eefa sell it in the Emporium?” asked Resus.
    “If she did, she’d be in big trouble with G.H.O.U.L.,” replied Dr Skully. “Calm Balm is so potent that a single touch would render any non-banshee out cold for weeks at a time. It was swiftly banned after goblins began to use it to knock people out so they could burgle their homes.”
    “That’s not fair!” said Cleo. “How can we help Favel if this stuff is banned?”
    “That I cannot say,” admitted Dr Skully. “Now, if you youngsters will excuse me, I must try to stop this infection from spreading into Favel’s bloodstream.”
    Luke ushered us all out of the room.
    “We can’t just leave her,” said Resus. “We have to help.”
    “But what can we do?” I asked.
    “There must be something,” said Luke thoughtfully. “Come on – we need to make a plan!”

Chapter Five

    No one spoke again until the four of us were gathered together in the garden, out of earshot of Dr Skully.
    “We need to get Favel some of that Calm Balm,” said Luke.
    “How?” asked Resus. “You heard what Dr Skully said. The stuff was banned years ago.”
    “Then we have to find someone who bought some before it was banned.”
    “That’s a bit of a long shot, isn’t it?” said Cleo. “And just think how long it will take us to search every bathroom cabinet in Scream Street.”
    “Plus, even if we do find some, there’s no guarantee it will still be in date,” Resus pointed out.
    “It’s a shame we don’t know what the ingredients are,” I said. “We might have been able to make some ourselves. My mum works at a pharmacy and she mixes her own creams and stuff all the time.”
    Luke grinned and clapped me on the back. “That’s a brilliant idea!”
    “But we don’t know what’s in this Calm Balm,” said Resus.
    “Maybe not,” admitted Luke. “But I bet I know someone who does…” And with that,