The Monsters of Morley Manor Read Online Free PDF Page A

bump had not happened. In a deep voice, with his long tongue flicking in and out, he said, “My profound thanks to you for releasing me and my family from our imprisonment.”
    Albert had said something about family, too.
    â€œSo you guys are all, like, related?” I asked.
    Gaspar smiled—which was somewhat terrifying, given how many teeth he had. “Well, Albert isn’t actually family—though he has worked for me for so long that it often feels as if he is. But Ludmilla and Melisande are my sisters. And Bob is our faithful dog.”
    â€œDog?” cried Sarah. “I thought he was a werewolf!”
    Gaspar made a hissing noise, which I found very disturbing until I finally realized it was laughter.
    â€œBob is a
werehuman,”
he explained. “Most of the time he’s a cocker spaniel. But when the moon is full he turns into something sort of like a human being. It’s very frightening for him.”
    Bob whined in agreement.
    Gaspar tapped the end of his own long face and said, “Hmmm. There must be a full moon tonight, or Bob would have returned to his normal form. At least, I think he would. It’s hard to say how what we have been through would affect his condition.”
    â€œHow did you get so small?” Sarah asked.
    Gaspar’s eyes grew wide. “Treachery!” he replied, raising a clenched fist into the air. “Foul, foul treachery. It was the work of my brother, Martin. He was the one who shrank us.”
    â€œDid he turn you into monsters, too?” I asked.
    â€œOh, no!” hissed Melisande, the words coming from the snakes on her head rather than from her mouth. “We did that oursssselvessss! Only we don’t like the word monssssterssss. We prefer to ssssay we are . . . sssspecial.”
    â€œYou
wanted
to be mons—er . . . special?” asked Sarah in astonishment.
    Ludmilla smiled, showing her fangs. “Vell, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” Her accent reminded me of Bela Lugosi in
Dracula
. Since none of the others had that accent, and since she was supposed to be their sister, I wondered if she was faking it, or if it came with the transformation that had made her a vampire to begin with.
    Bob sat down and tried to scratch behind his left ear with his foot. He couldn’t quite manage it, though.
    Melisande patted his head sympathetically, then scratched behind the ear for him.
    â€œDo you know where our enemy is?” asked Gaspar, his forked tongue flicking between his thin lips. “Now that we are free, there is a score to settle, and we must—”
    Albert tugged at his lab coat. “Listen, boss, there’s something you need to know.”
    â€œWhat?” asked Gaspar impatiently.
    â€œWe’ve been sleeping for over fifty years!”
    Gaspar threw back his head and hissed in rage. He clenched his fists and waved them at the ceiling. His thick tail thrashed back and forth. “Perfidy upon perfidy!” he cried. “Now does the world say, ‘Gaspar, you were a fool, a fool to trust your scheming brother.’” He staggered, then gasped. “Ethel! What about Ethel?”
    â€œNow, boss,” said Albert. “Don’t get yourself in a state.”
    â€œWho’s Ethel?” asked Sarah.
    Gaspar dropped his hands to his sides. Chest heaving, he said, “I don’t wish to speak of it.” He narrowed his eyes. “Does Martin still live?”
    I hesitated, not sure how he would take the news.
    â€œWell?” he demanded.
    â€œWell,” I said, “if Martin was the guy we used to call Old Man Morley, he died last month.”
    Gaspar hissed again. “No chance to say good-bye. No time to heal old wounds. O world, o world, why must you be so dark?” Suddenly he stood up straight and declared, “We have to get back to the house as soon as possible!”
    â€œWhy?” asked Sarah.
    â€œIt issss the only