The Mysterious face at the castle window

"Have we reached the station?", asked Jenny, a fair girl to her brother Tim. "We've almost reached the station'', replied Tim. "Oh!, Thomas would be so happy to see us after so many years", said Tina, their cousin. "I bet so!" said Tim. They arrived at a small station with a board that said, "Carolinian station". They all rushed out of the train and saw a tall boy shouting to them, "Hey, over here!". They all ran at full speed to Thomas. "I thought your train was never going to come!'' said Thomas. "Our train was delayed by half an hour'', said the three tired children. "Well, you all look really tired, so lets eat some ice-cream before going home'', said Thomas. They sat in an ice-cream shop nearby and had ice-cream. After finishing, they headed to Thomas's house where uncle Joe and aunt Joanna welcomed them. They had dinner and went to sleep. Next morning, they got up early as uncle Joe and Aunt Joanna were going for a picnic out of station. "Take care of the house", said Aunt Joanna, "And take care of you", said Uncle Joe and they left in a taxi. "Well what shall we do?", asked Thomas. "I think we'll go to that ancient castle you were talking about", said Tim. "I think you should first see the castle with a binocular", said Thomas. "Why?" asked Tim. But before he could see anything else, Thomas brought a binocular and showed him the castle. "Whoa! That castle is really spooky! It looks as if a ghost lives in it!", said Tim.

 But just then Tim started shivering. He gave the binocular to Thomas and he looked through it. "Oh! My! God!" shouted Thomas. "What happened?" asked the girls. "There was a...a face at the window in one of the towers of the castle", replied the boys. "Really? Then we need to find who it is, he may be in trouble", said Tina. "Well Thomas, you are the biggest one here, so you tell, what should we do?", said Jenny. "I say we fall into adventure!"

CHAPTER 2 : GOING TO THE TOWER

     "Well Thomas, you are the biggest one here, so you tell, what should we do?", said Jenny. "I say we fall into adventure!", said Jenny. "You all are right, we need to find who that person was", said Thomas. "We'll start tomorrow at evening, so that we can reach there at night". "Right now me and Tim will go to the shop to buy food for the journey", said Thomas and he and Tim left hurriedly. Tina and Jenny played cards until it started raining and suddenly the boys came running out of the door, soaked with water. "Aaaacheee!! We brought the things", said Tim, sneezing.They ate dinner and went to sleep. It rained heavily until 10:00 in the morning when the window made a large 'Thump!' which woke up Tim. Not only Tim, but everyone in the house was awake then. They hurried and directly had lunch as it was lunch time and started to get ready for their journey. They packed the food for their trip and were ready very soon. "We actually forgot to buy torches and maps last night as it was raining", said Thomas,"So I'm going out to buy it now". "One question, why do we need maps?", asked Jenny. At night there will be no transportation", replied Thomas. He went out of the house and soon came in no time. They were all ready and started their journey. They reached the bus station and took a bus to the castle. They waited and waited and also ate some of the snacks they brought. Then, finally they reached their destination. The bus driver was pretty scared to see that place himself. They got out of the bus and ran towards the castle and saw a tall thin man. "10 dollars for all of you to go around the castle", he said. They paid the money and entered the castle. An odd smell hit their noses with a lot of strength. They didn't care going round the castle but that tower. They kept on searching and finally found it. There was a rusty staircase to enter, but they knew even

if a baby stepped on it it would brake. They went around the tower and found a loose rock. They pulled it out and to their surprise they saw.....

CHAPTER 3: THE SECRET PASSAGE

 

They went around the tower and found a loose rock. They pulled it out and to their surprise they saw a secret passage! They looked at each other and decided to go in. They went straight for some time then found a stone staircase. It was surely stronger than the rusty one, even though the stone one was older. They switched their torches on as it was pitch black. All was going well until suddenly Jenny screamed. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!", "What happened?", the others shouted. "There was a small spider on the wall", replied Jenny, frightened. Then the others shouted back at her,"You screamed for THAT!!". "What? You know I'm scared of spiders", said Jenny. Instead of fighting, they just continued their journey. "Hey guys, I feel we're going really deep underground", said Thomas. Indeed they were going deep underground. They felt as if they were walking for hours and finally reached the flat ground. Then they saw it was not a straight road but totally a confusing one. Because it had a left, a right in every direction you can think of. They walked slowly when they heard a song, like a ghost singing. "La..la.la........la..la.la......la..la.la.la..la..la". A shiver ran down everyone's spine. Then, Thomas shouted, "Tim! Stop it! You almost gave me a heart attack!". "Hee! Hee! Hee!",laughed Tim, as he loved playing pranks."Its more like a maze here", said Tina who is always very quiet."We need to split up into two groups, Jenny and me, you and Tim.", said Thomas and they split up and went in different directions. It was really dark and nobody could see where they were going. Thomas and Tina found a room with something like a huge box with switches and switched it on. The lights came on and Thomas and Tina smiled at each other and went to search for Tim and Tina. Just then they heard someone scream,AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

CHAPTER 4: EVERYBODY IS TRAPPED!

 

  "What was that?", asked Jenny to Thomas. "I don't know", replied Thomas. They continued searching until they see Tim an Tina running at full speed. "Run! Ruuuunnnn!!", shouted Tim. They saw something dark and big behind them. As they come closer, they saw it was some kind of a creature and they started running too. Soon all of them were running at  full speed. "Whoa! What on earth is that?", shouted Thomas. "I don't know, I think its some kind of a monster". They kept running until they lost it. They saw some kind of hiding place in a corner and hid there. "I don't think this is a hiding place, but if we speak here I'm pretty sure no one would hear us", said Tim. "Hey guys! Look here! You can block this place with this stone by pushing it", said Tina. They pushed it and finally gave a sigh of relief. They sat at a corner and waited. Then they start asking questions. "First of all, what did you do for those things to come behind you?", asked Thomas. "We didn't do anything! The moment the lights got switched on, those things came out of nowhere", replied Tim and Tina. "I think we'll name those monsters as 'The Crotons'", said Jenny with a giggle. "It is a nice name but I don't think it is a good time to laugh. Don't you all see? We're all TRAPPED!!!

CHAPTER 5: THE GAME STARTS

          "We've got to find a way out!", said Tim. "I don't want to split up this time.  We'll go together, please ", said Thomas. They set out into the maze and started to

 walk straight, then they took a right and then a left. Suddenly they came upon a very large door. They tiptoed slowly and opened the door.

And to their surprise, they saw different types of plants and trees and of different sizes."This place is amazing", said Tina as they were walking through the mind blowing place. Just then they saw a bridge.  They walked slowly on it. Cccccrrrrrraaaaaccccckkkkkk!!!!!!!! The bridge broke. Fortunately, Thomas caught Tim's hand or else he would have fallen down. "Everybody now be extra careful", cautioned Thomas. They started to walk straight and soon they were infront of a cascading

waterfall. "Tim, look there is no ground near the waterfall! How will we get to the other side?, asked Tina. "We're gonna jump to the other side", said Tim with anexcited look on his face. "I'll go first", said Thomas.He took a step back and ran at full speed and jumped. "He made it!",shouted Jenny. Next went Tim and made it to the other side. And pretty soon everybody were on the other side. Just then Jenny looked up and shouted, "Look out everybody, OMG. There is a Croton!!!

Rrrrrruuuunnnnnn!!!!!!!".

CHAPTER 6: THE UNKNOWN MAN

Everybody started to run and the Croton came behind them. "Arrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!", it mumbled. Then Thomas said, "Guys, we've gotta distract it somehow"."Hide in the bushes or trees!". They all hid in a large bush. Ccccccrrrrrcccccc! Ccccccrrrrrcccccc! Ccccccrrrrrcccccc! The sound was coming as the large legs of the croton hit the ground. When the Croton was not to be seen, they came out. "That bush was creepy!", Jenny said. "How are these plants and trees growing when nobody is watering them?", asked Tina. "Maybe someone is.", replied Thomas. "Ssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! Someone is coming", said Tim. They hid into the bushes again. They heard footsteps coming closer to them. They slowly peeped out and saw. It was a man!!! He was tall and thin and had golden hair. They had never seen this man before. No one had!! They slowly moved from bush to bush, tree to tree, until the man was out of their sight. They came out and entered the room from which the man came out. And when they did, they saw steps at a distance. They started to climb it. And they felt like they were climbing for hours when they finally reached the last step. Right then they had a problem. There were 4 tunnels with a door at the end of each tunnel. They decided to go in all the 4 directions from left to right. They went into the first tunnel. It was a small room with a small chair and a table. Then they went to the second tunnel and inside the room. There was just a window, but when they looked out, they knew where they were. They were inside the tower! "So if we are in the tower, then the mysterious person whom we saw in one of the tower windows must be close!", said Thomas. They went into the third tunnel which was nothing but a dead end. The door opened to plain rocky wall. "Wierd" exclaimed Jenny. They went into the fourth tunnel and opened the door. And when they opened it they saw.......
CHAPTER 7: WE NEED CLUES AND ANSWER

Tina shouted, "We've found the mysterious boy......? Wait! It is a girl?..." "Since we were so far, we couldn't see clearly even with a binocular", interrupted Thomas. The girl was smaller than them. Then she asked, "Who are you all?". They told the girl the whole story. Then the girl squeaked, "We've gotta get out of here, and by the way, my name is Marina". "All we need is a plan", said Thomas. "Let us go to our hiding place first", said Tim. They had remembered the directions and got to their hiding spot. "Let's sit down!!!", gasped Tim who was very tired. Actually, not only him but everyone were tired. They sat  down on the smooth floor. "We need all the information we can get, so tell us what all you know, Marina", said Jenny. And Marina started to talk. "John Jordan is the name of the man who kept me here.

 The monsters here are his pets....." "We named them the Crotons", interrupted Jenny. Marina continued, "Okay, the Protons or whatever you call it.....", "CROTONS", Jenny interrupted again. "Oh! Whatever! John is the one who waters the plants and trees or you can say takes care of this place. And he is wanted. Every cop is trying to catch him, but no one can because he is hiding here. That's all I know", exclaimed Marina. "So, that gave us a few clues and answers", said Thomas. "And somehow, I feel he is very fast", said Marina. "What do you mean by fast?", asked Jenny. Marina replied, "Okay, let me give you an example. Uuummmm.... Let me think which one to tell. Okay, once he was speaking on the phone to someone and told he'll meet him near Elephant's tusk which is a place, and it is something like 95 km from here, I know that. But he went and came back within fifteen minutes. I still don't understand how he could do that. Oh, and there is proof he went there because whenever you goes to Elephant's tusk, they keep a tag in one of your luggage and there was one on his suitcase when he came back". "Hold on a minute, who are your parents?", asked Tina. "I'm an orphan", replied Marina. " Then why does John want you?", asked Tim. "I don't know", replied Marina.

To be continued......

~

K Mukunth Maithreyan

Grade 6

MCGS