Read Spooksville 17: The Thing in the Closet Online
Authors: Christopher Pike
Spooksville 17: The Thing in the Closet (11 page)
But the King still held his sword and there was hatred in his eyes. Before saying a word he swept his blade to Zeta's throat, which made them all gasp. They had thought he was going to cut off Zeta's head. But Zeta himself did not flinch. He met his uncle's blazing stare and was not afraid. On both sides big ugly Shadows slobbered.
'Betrayed by my own blood!' the King cursed. 'I should take your life now and put an end to this rebellion. How could you do this to me?'
Zeta spoke calmly. 'How could you do this to your own people?'
'I made an alliance with the Shadows to save my people!'
Zeta still had the sword at his throat but that did not stop him from slowly shaking his head.
'You made this alliance to save yourself,' he said. 'Indeed, if you had not pushed Gilbrare so hard, demanded so many taxes and so much obedience, they would not have rebelled in the first place.'
'They are my subjects!' the King roared. 'They are to do as they are told! Like you were supposed to do what you were told!'
'It is true I am your subject,' Zeta said quietly. 'But I am also your nephew. And I do not believe you are so evil that you would just kill me. Even if I do intend to kill your evil plan.'
The King was haughty. 'You cannot stop my plan, Zeta.'
'But I can,' Zeta said.
Zeta turned to the nearby Shadows and laughed at them.
The Shadows froze as if stunned.
Sally was impressed. She pointed.
'Look at that,' she said. 'The laughter hurts them. Let's all laugh at them.'
The gang pointed at the Shadows and burst into hysterics, mocking the monsters at the same time.
'Ugly balls of green goo,' Sally said.
'Mindless beasts,' Watch said.
'Disgusting slobberers,' Adam said.
'Unpleasant companions,' Cindy said.
Sally turned to Cindy. 'That is not much of a criticism,' she said. 'Show a little fire.'
It did not matter. At their laughter, because of their absence of fear, the Shadows suddenly began to melt. To everyone's astonishment, once they started they couldn't stop. Soon, rather man having guards, the King had nothing but big pools of green goo. The King stared around in amazement, and in fear. He lowered his sword from Zeta's neck.
'You have destroyed my allies,' the King whispered.
'We have saved you from your real enemies,' Watch said. 'Your Highness, why don't you talk to the people of Gilbrare, reason with them? I am sure they don't want war any more
than you do. It is way too much trouble, and people just end up getting hurt. I don't think you want that.'
The words had a strong effect on the King, or perhaps he was still recovering from the shock of seeing his guards melt. He stared at the humans as if seeing them for the first time, and the fear in his eyes was replaced by wonder. He turned back to his nephew.
'Forgive me for raising my sword to you, Zeta,' he said. 'That was unworthy. You are the only nephew I have.'
Zeta nodded. 'Forgive me for ever disobeying you.'
The King continued to study the humans. 'These are friends of yours, Zeta?' he asked.
Zeta nodded. 'I met them in the forbidden Territories. They are from Earth. They have come to our realm to help us.' He added, 'On earth they are considered great heroes.'
'That isn't exactly true but it sounds good,' Sally muttered.
King Furma nodded. 'I can see their greatness with my own eyes. They must be very powerful to defeat my army with their mere laughter. Their words are also wise. I will try to follow them, and make peace with Gilbrare. I am getting too old to fight anyway, and besides, I might not win without the Shadows at my back.' He paused. 'Would the humans like to remain in my kingdom, and be my personal guards?'
'We would enjoy that, King Furma,' Cindy spoke up. 'But it is Sunday back on Earth and we all have homework to do. But perhaps we can come back another time, when your problems with Gilbrare have been settled.'
'That is fine,' the King said. 'You have helped open my eyes. I owe you a great debt. I grant you leave to be on your way.'
Watch and Adam turned their attention back to the sky.
It was only a few feet away but it looked as thick as ever.
'Now what do we do?' Adam muttered.
'Have faith and be fearless,' Watch said. Then he cupped his hands over his mouth and called out, 'Hey, Bryce? Tira? George? Are you guys there?'
Bryce answered from the other side of the sky.
'Yeah. We can hear you but we can't see you. Where are you?'
'Close,' Watch said. 'Are you still at George's?'
'Yeah. We're sitting in his closet. The rear of the closet began to glow with green light just before we heard you. Should we try to come through to where you are?'
'No,' Watch said. 'Just stick your arms through the light. You can help pull us through.'
'OK.'
A couple of human arms poked through the sky.
One looked like it belonged to Bryce, the other to Tira.
The gang was not surprised George had not stuck his arm through.
'This is a weird way to be saved,' Sally muttered. 'But as long as it works and we don't get stuck in the sky I don't care.'
'Don't even think about that,' Watch warned.
Cindy turned to Zeta and Clere and hugged them.
'This looks like goodbye,' she said. 'I am really happy I got to meet you both. Stay together always. You look like a cute couple.'
'Come back and see us soon,' Zeta said.
'We will miss you,' Clere said.
'I will return,' Cindy promised. Then she giggled. 'Some dark night when I am afraid to fall asleep!'