The Last Resort

  “Listen!”

  The trio stopped arguing, and listened. There was a rattling sound coming from under the bed. Lisa peeked under, and immediately spotted a suitcase, jumping and jiggling around. She dragged it out and flipped open the lid. “Skully!” she shouted. Skully rolled his glass eyes towards Lisa in a pleading sort of way, but as his jaw was disconnected, he couldn’t say anything. “Oh, something’s seriously wrong here,” Lisa said. “We need to find some wire!” At this, Skully began to roll his eyes frantically back and forth, trying to gesture with them to the right. “There’s some wire in here?” Lisa asked him. The skull jostled up and down, trying to nod. “Okay,” said Lisa, and they began to search. Before long they found a roll of wire in the bottom of a drawer, along with a pair of wire cutters. Lisa chopped off a length, picked up Skully’s skull, and carefully wired in his jawbone. As soon as it was in place, Skully began to talk, and Lisa nearly dropped him. “Oh, thank goodness,” Skully said. “Listen, something really weird happened. A guy – he might have been one of the guests, or maybe not – I’ve never really seen them – anyway, he came into my bedroom just after lunch, overpowered me, and chopped my wiring to bits, then stuck me in this suitcase! I don’t know why he did it, but it’s freaked me out, and now I’m really worried about the others. Are all of the staff okay?”

  “Well,” Lisa said, “We saw Harriet and Swizelsticks and Violetta at lunch, and they seemed okay. Edgar was missing though. What did this guy look like?”

  “Like some fashion model,” Skully said. “You know – tan, chiselled jaw.”

  Lisa thought at once of Ken Trepid. “Long curly hair?” she asked.

  “No – he had a really short, military style haircut,” Skully said. He suddenly remembered Jim and Hugo. It wasn’t either of them, but maybe someone in their employ. “Maybe he’s a newcomer. You know, an intruder?” A short haircut… Not Ken then, Lisa concluded, nor Phil or Albert, who weren’t at all chiselled, nor Dan or Mike who were both silver haired. An intruder, as Skully suggested. “We need to warn Viktor, and Harriet. It might be… an old enemy.”

  “Okay,” Lisa agreed. “I’ll go.”

  “No, wait!” Skully said. “Put me together first, please!”

  “I’ll go,” Craig offered. “And Hayden can stay and help you.”

  Lisa looked at Craig, and smiled. Her younger brother was plucky, and Lisa was suddenly glad of his friendship. “Thanks,” she said, punching him lightly on the arm. “But please do be careful.”

  “I’ll be back soon with Harriet or Viktor,” Craig replied.

  As soon as he left, Lisa began to pull Skully’s bones out of the suitcase. The skeleton was a 206-piece jigsaw puzzle, and although Lisa knew her human biology pretty well, there were some bits that had her flummoxed. She lined up the pieces as best she could, and then Hayden wired them together.

  Once one of his arms was together, Skully tried to help by pointing to various bits. It was quite disconcerting seeing the disembodied arm moving by itself. “That bone comes next,” Skully said now, indicating one. “No, not that one. That’s a sacral vertebra, not a lumbar vertebra!”

  #

  Craig prowled the corridors of the castle, keeping to the shadows as best he could. Truth be told, he was loving this. Monsters, a castle, a rescue mission, and him saving the day – it was all too perfect. Except…

  Except that he couldn’t find anyone. Oh, he’d passed various guests, of course. Phil had nodded at him, and that horrible boy Christopher had mock-lunged at him in a mildly threatening way, but Craig had yet to see Viktor or Harriet, nor any member of the staff. Not even Edgar.

  Finally he spotted Violetta in reception. She was dealing with a long queue of guests. Craig ran up to the front of the queue. “Miss,” he began, but Violetta scowled at him and pointed to the back of the line. Penny Fisher, who was currently complaining about the “Do not disturb” sign on the doctor’s door also glared at him, and so Craig meekly walked to the end of the line. There didn’t look to be a major crisis in the castle, after all. Maybe Skully was exaggerating.

  #

  “’Dem bones, dem bones, dem…dry bones,” Skully sang. “Now hear, de word o’ de Lord.” Lisa thought he seemed remarkably chipper, considering his condition. “De arm bone’s connected to the… shoulder bone…” he continued, as Hayden twisted wire between the right humerus and scapula.

  #

  Penny had made her point about the unavailable doctor and had finally gone, after receiving some assurances from Violetta. Then the old biddies had complained about Blake not being on hand, and had at last left, mollified by Violetta’s explanations. Dan and Mike complained next about the gym being out of commission and had received an apology, and then Della and Doreen had griped about the locked beauty salon. Finally it was Craig’s turn.

  “What’s your problem?” Violetta asked him. Then, before he could answer, she said, “You know what? I’m not interested. Beat it.”

  “I just need to know where Viktor or Harriet is,” Craig told her.

  Violetta’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

  “I only want to tell them something,” Craig said. “Please,” he added. “It’s important.”

  Violetta forced herself to smile. “Well, they are both very busy people. Why don’t you tell me what the problem is, and then I’ll see if it’s important enough to disturb them, okay?”

  Her eyes were very deep, and very dark. “Okay,” Craig found himself saying. “It’s just that there’s an intruder in the castle, and I need to warn them.”

  Surprise and anger contorted Violetta’s features. Her hand shot out and grabbed Craig around his slim wrist, her fingernails digging into his skin. “Who told you this?”

  “N…no one,” Craig squeaked.

  Violetta lifted her arm and pulled Craig off his feet. He dangled on the other side of the reception desk, his wrist in agony. He began to whimper. Violetta dragged him over the desk and into the reception office, flinging him into a sofa. “Who told you this?” she said again, between gritted teeth.

  “No one,” Craig answered in a tiny voice.

  Violetta scowled, closed the door, locked it, and drew the blinds. “Last chance, kid. Then all bets are off. Who told you?”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The tiny foot bones were particularly problematic. Lisa was still scratching her head and trying to separate the tarsals from the metatarsals when Skully howled in frustration, “Oh, just put them anywhere! We’ve got to go help the others!” Hayden nodded and got to work, wiring the delicate pieces higglety-pigglety. Lisa took a moment to look at her watch. Craig had been a long time. Lisa began to worry, wondering where he was, and if he had found Viktor or Harriet yet.

  #

  Skully! That loathsome bag of bones, Violetta thought, as she emerged from her office. Trust him to befriend a group of nerdy children. She started to lick an errant drop of blood off her lips, then stopped herself and shrugged. It hardly mattered now if anyone saw her even drenched in blood. Soon her mission would be at an end, and she could do as she pleased, mistress of her own castle. She strode through the corridors, buoyed by the fresh young blood in her system. It had been so long since she’d fed on human, she’d almost forgotten how good it tasted. No more sheep, she silently vowed, as she came to a halt in front of Skully’s door. She put one hand on the handle, took a deep breath, and flung it open. The room was empty.

  #

  Sergio went to check on the dungeon residents first. Norm was still attached to the weights machines, but without a gag, since Harriet had removed it. Sergio curtailed Norm’s shouting by stuffing the cloth back into his mouth. Blake was next. Sergio was tempted to forgo the dive, as it seemed too much bother to put on his mask and regulator, but, after all, Blake was worth half a million dollars. Plus, if he escaped, he could jeopardise everything. So Sergio kitted up, dived down, and of course found Blake right where he had left him, still trying to untangle himself, and glaring at Sergio
with pure hatred.

  #

  Skully, Lisa and Hayden had left Skully’s room only moments before Violetta’s arrival. In between telling the pair how to reconstruct his body, Skully had tried to raise a response from the ghostly sisters, calling their names, and repeating “emergency” over and over, but there was no answer, and this disturbed him greatly. He accepted that it was reasonably easy for an intruder armed with a pair of wire-cutters to overwhelm a skinny and relatively weak skeleton such as himself, but for someone to somehow incapacitate three ghosts… It was a scary thought. Yet if the castle was under threat, it was vital to have the sisters involved in their defence. Skully knew that Barbara was the resident most capable of communicating with the supernatural and spiritual world, and so after a moment’s thought, he put on a big coat and floppy hat and led Lisa and Hayden up the spiral staircase winding around his tower room to the floor above.

  #

  As Sergio was climbing the spiral stairs out of the dungeon, his cellphone chimed. He looked at the text message and smiled. One hour until his colleague arrived with the boat. Time for the final move in the game. The five million dollar move.

  #

  Skully was relieved to find Barbara in the playroom, along with her young charge. He pulled his hat low and his coat tight so that the girl would not see what he was, and began to explain the situation, but it seemed that Barbara already knew. The witch told him that she and the girl had been preparing spells to use against the intruders. The girl held up a handful of eggs. “They’re enchanted confusion bombs,” she said proudly.

  “Er… um…” Skully replied, unsure what to say. “You’ve been doing magic?”

  “Oh yes!” the girl replied. “Aunty Barbara’s a witch. She’s been teaching me.” Then the girl put her head on one side. “So, what are you?” she asked him. Skully wasn’t sure what to say.

  “A skeleton,” Lisa informed her, figuring with little kids it was just easier to tell them the truth and let them deal with it. They had more important things to worry about than upsetting some child anyway.

  “Cool!” Amy said.

  Lisa looked at the old witch. “Skully can’t get a hold of the ghost sisters. Can you?”

  Barbara scrunched up her face in concentration, compounding the wrinkles. She rapidly shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts, and then swore, pulled a feather from her pocket and used it to write in the air. At once, one of the chickens began to squawk, startling everyone in the room except Barbara. She walked over to it, lifted it, removed the egg, cracked it open, pulled out a piece of paper and read the contents. The news was bad. “They are trapped. They don’t know where. Everywhere they look, they see only themselves. They are frightened and separated.”

  Skully pushed his Velcro eyebrows low on his face. “Keep communicating with them. Try to get more information. We’ll take some of your confusion bombs,” he went on, and Lisa and Hayden eagerly sprang forward to collect some of the eggs. “Look after the little girl, and don’t do anything dangerous, okay?”

  Barbara nodded and put an arm around Amy.

  #

  “How can I help you, Mr. Trepid?” Violetta said to Sergio. He was standing at the reception desk, but two of the three travel agents were also in the grand hallway, so Violetta figured she had better make a pretence of normality.

  “It’s rather a delicate matter,” Sergio replied. “Perhaps we should discuss it in your office?”

  Violetta raised her eyebrows. Was there a problem with Sergio’s plan? There better hadn’t be! She thought for a moment. Sergio had asked her to keep everything normal until after he had left. The boy she had recently dined on was still in the office, but she had tucked him into one of the metal lockers, so that wouldn’t be a problem. “Certainly, Mr. Trepid,” she said, smiling.

  After she had closed the door, the smile dropped. “What is it?”

  “Just this,” Ken said, raising his modified rifle and firing. Violetta responded at once, turning into mist, but she was not fast enough. The core of her being was still solid enough to be caught by the net of silver filaments. She coalesced back to solidity under the net and began make unearthly sounds, growling and swearing. Her teeth lengthened and thickened, preparing for an attack. If it wasn’t for the silver, she’d be tearing at Sergio’s throat right now, and he’d be dead in less than a minute.

  Sergio tut-tutted. “Bella!” he said. “Such ugly words from such a beautiful lady!”

  “Why?” Violetta snarled.

  “A young, attractive female vampire? Try five million dollars,” Sergio answered. “An Arabian sheik wants you for his collection. And what a pretty pet you’ll make!” He shrugged. “Sorry sweetie, but business is business.”

  #

  Lisa, Skully and Hayden left the playroom and almost walked straight into Penny, who was pacing outside the doctor’s office. As soon as he saw her, Skully went limp, and Lisa and Hayden only just managed to catch him, grabbing one arm each. “What have you got there?” Penny said suspiciously, peering at the pair.

  “It’s a skeleton,” said Lisa. “It belongs to Dr. Ehl Bone. He…uh… loaned it to us to study. We’re just returning it.” She began to open the door, but Penny put a hand on her arm.

  “It says ‘Do not disturb,” she pointed out. “Besides, I’m next.”

  “We’ll just be a minute,” Lisa said. “He’s expecting us.” They barged through, still carrying Skully between them, and closed the door firmly in Penny’s face. They were alarmed to find the doctor lying in his office, bound in bandages. Lisa suggested that Hayden unwrap him and explain the situation, while she and Skully check on Callie next door in the salon. Hayden agreed. Unfortunately, Penny was still lurking, so Lisa had to explain that the doctor had kindly extended the loan of his medical skeleton. She dragged the floppy collection of bones along the hallway, smiling at the sceptical woman as she passed her, and used Skully’s keys to unlock the salon.

  As soon as she was through the door, Lisa released Skully, and hurried over to the two captive women. She pulled the duct tape off Callie’s mouth. “Thanks,” she said. “Um… we’re… all involved in a roleplaying game. Do you think you could untie me?”

  Lisa looked at her and shook her head. “You’re not playing a game. You’re a gorgon, and she’s a werewolf,” she said, nodding at Harriet, “And he’s a living skeleton,” she added, pointing. Skully was climbing to his feet and walking over to Harriet to see what was wrong with her. She wasn’t moving.

  “Oh, well,” Callie said. “In that case, I guess there’s no more secrets. Skully – it was one of the guests – Ken Trepid. I think he must be working for Hugo Dixon.”

  Skully looked up from where he was crouching beside Harriet. “Ken Trepid? Okay – Lisa, do you think you could go and tell Barbara? She can get working on a spell to weaken him. Then I need Ankh in here to help Harriet, and then I want you and Hayden to go to your room, and lock yourselves in, okay?”

  Lisa nodded. But, she told herself, she was only agreeing to the first two instructions. She had her own ideas about what to do after she’d finished with those responsibilities. Craig had been gone for too long. Lisa knew she had to find him.

  #

  Swizelsticks had spent the afternoon restocking the bar and experimenting with new mixtures. Now he poured out pre-dinner cocktails for the three travel agents, and looked at his watch. It was getting close to dinner time, and guests were beginning to drift into the dining hall. Where were all his colleagues hiding themselves? Lazy slackers!

  #

  Ankh spat the herbs out of his mouth and struggled to sit up. His arms and legs were still bound, but his head was now free. As he shook it, the coins fell from his eyes and he opened them. A boy was staring at him, hands full of bandages. “What are you doing?” he demanded. “I was in the middle of a delicate procedure, and you’ve interrupted me! I’ve a good mind to curse you!”

  “There’s an intruder in the castle,” the boy said.
“He cut Skully’s wires and stuffed him in a suitcase! But we put him back together.”

  Ankh slowly blinked his bear-like eyes, and regarded the boy. This was certainly a strange story. And how did the boy know about Skully? Ankh supposed he should go and investigate, even if it meant putting Ken Trepid’s magical cure on hold for the moment.

  #

  Lisa discharged her obligations, sending Ankh and Hayden through to the beauty salon to tend to Harriet, and telling Barbara about Ken Trepid. The witch cackled and clapped her hands, pleased to have a target for her spells. Lisa was startled when the little girl, Amy, cackled too.

  Now Lisa walked slowly down the main staircase, feeling anxious for Craig. Her brother had been on a mission to find Viktor or Harriet, but now they knew Harriet had already been captured. Lisa was worried that maybe Craig had somehow crossed Ken Trepid and been captured too – or worse. Lisa remembered how nervous the Count had made her feel at their first meeting, but now she wanted more than anything to see that solid menacing presence. She felt sure that Viktor would know what to do. But where was Viktor? Had Craig found him?

  #

  Sergio entered the Professor’s cottage, and was pleased to see him still safely bound hand and foot. He took the philosopher’s stone from his pocket and waved it at the Professor, unable to resist a little gloat. The money he was going to make from the sale of the monsters was phenomenal, but the stone he now held was even more remarkable. It would give him time to enjoy the money. Several centuries, hopefully.

  Feeling the angry stare of the Professor burning into his back, Sergio walked out of the cottage and down to the pier, looking out to the mainland. He thought he could just make out his boat, way in the distance. Time to check on the headless ghost.

  #

  Ankh, Skully, Callie and Hayden had managed to pull the silver net off Harriet, but still she did not stir. A criss-cross pattern of angry red welts marred her face, and her breathing was shallow. Gently they lifted her and laid her upon one of the salon’s massage tables. “Harriet said Norm was trapped,” Callie told the others. “Probably Blake too, and maybe everyone else.”

  “The sisters have definitely been captured,” Skully added.