“But she’s dead,” Peg Leg said. He sounded a bit embarrassed.
“So the jewels belong to her heirs,” I told him. Sometimes it is fun being a chief detective. Because right on cue, the Fat Seagull swept around the headland and began chugging towards us through the waves as fast as it could go. “And one of them,” I said, pointing at the jetty, “is about to arrive.”
A ghostly gasp of shock came from the skeletons when they saw the Fat Seagull. Standing in the prow like a figurehead was Miss Gargoyle, just as I had imagined. And yes … behind her was Uncle Drac!
Wanda grabbed my hand and we were off, racing to the jetty, running along it and yelling like mad. At the end of the jetty the Fat Seagull drew up beside us and there was Uncle Drac smiling at us, his black cloak wrapped around him, his white face shining like the moon and his lovely, pointy teeth gleaming in the moonlight. I have never been so pleased to see Uncle Drac in my whole life. And he looked really pleased to see me too. “Minty!” he said. “Oh, Minty!”
It was then I realised that there was no need to release the pirates from Billie’s mother’s curse. We were safe now. We could take off in the Fat Seagull and leave Skeleton Island and its horrible pirates behind. They could haunt the seabed for ever, for all I cared. It served them right. But then I turned around for one last look and I saw Billie standing alone, watching us.
I knew I couldn’t go. Not yet. I needed to set her free too.
“Minty …” Uncle Drac was saying very quietly. “Don’t look now but there are a lot of skeletons on that beach and they don’t look too friendly.”
“Oh, those skeletons,” I said in my can’t-be-bothered voice. I didn’t want Uncle Drac to realise how scared we had been.
“They’re just boring old pirates,” Wanda added. Uncle Drac looked surprised. Even he knows that Wanda used to think pirates were wonderful.
“Actually, Uncle Drac,” I said, “the pirates have got something they would like to give you.”
Miss Gargoyle was peering at the beach with a worried expression on her face. She looked different somehow and I realised it was because she wasn’t wearing her glasses. “Araminta and Wanda,” she said. “That’s quite enough talk about pirates for today. Hop into the boat now and we’ll soon have you warm and cosy.”
But I knew I couldn’t. I tugged on Uncle Drac’s hand. “Please, Uncle Drac,” I said. “Please. This is really important.”
Uncle Drac always knows when I really mean something. “I’ll just see what’s bothering Araminta,” he told Miss Gargoyle. So, as Uncle Drac walked along the jetty with us, I very quickly explained about the curse on the jewels.
We stepped off the jetty and walked over to the skeletons. Their empty eyes turned and looked at us and some of them rattled their cutlasses at us, but I didn’t care what they did now that we had Uncle Drac with us.
“They’re an ugly crew,” Uncle Drac whispered.
“Come and meet the ugliest one, Uncle Drac,” I said and I took him right up to Peg Leg. “Uncle Drac,” I said, “this is Peg Leg Jake. He killed your ancestor, Seraphina Maria Dracandor van Diemen, and stole her jewels. He has something to give you.”
Uncle Drac stared at Peg Leg. He narrowed his eyes and drew his lips back in a kind of snarl so that the moonlight shone on his pointy teeth. Peg Leg shuffled uncomfortably. He looked around at the rest of the crew and then he looked down at the bag of jewels that he was cradling in his hands. I could tell he didn’t want to hand them over. Peg Leg liked his treasure.
Jim spoke first. “Give him the bag, Peg Leg. Set us free.”
And all the skeletons began to murmur in empty voices that sounded like the wind rustling in the trees, “Set us free … set us free … set us free …”
So, very reluctantly, Peg Leg held out the bag of jewels. “I return these to their rightful owner,” he said. “And ask pardon for taking them.”
Uncle Drac took the jewels. He looked up at the skeletons, who were all staring at him now, waiting for him to release them from the curse. I think Uncle Drac had suddenly realised how weird it was, because all he said was, “Crumbs …”
Which was good, because there was something I needed to say before Uncle Drac released them from the curse. “But that is not all the jewels, Peg Leg. Is it?” I said.
Peg Leg glared at me and I was so glad that Uncle Drac was right there beside me. Peg Leg knew exactly what I meant. Very slowly he took off Billie’s necklace. “Give it back to Billie,” I told Peg Leg.
And so Peg Leg handed the little string of fat pearls back to Billie and Wanda and I saw our friend reappear. Soon she was back in her stripy top and trews, her bare feet on the sand, smiling shyly at us as though we had only just met. “Oh, Billie,” I said. “I am so pleased to see you again!”
Uncle Drac coughed as though he was about to make an announcement. Everybody—me, Wanda, Billie and all the skeleton crew—looked at him. “I, Dracandor Spook, accept the jewels of my ancestor, Seraphina Maria Dracandor van Diemen, and so allow the curse upon those who stole them to be lifted.”
There was a huge sigh of relief from all the skeletons and then Peg Leg spoke. “Right, mateys, let’s get back to the Cutlass Kate. We’re off to sail the seven seas!”
There was a loud cheer from the skeletons, and Peg Leg marched up and grabbed hold of Billie. “Come on, Billy boy,” he said. “Time to go.”
“No!” Wanda and I yelled together.
Billie smiled sadly. “It’s true, it is time for me to go,” she said.
“Billie,” I told her. “You don’t have to do what Peg Leg Jake tells you.”
“Yes, he does,” Peg Leg growled. “He’s my cabin boy.”
“Billie is a free person, Peg Leg,” I said. “You can be a horrible pirate if you want to but you can’t make anyone else be one if they don’t want to.”
“Rubbish! He wants to be a pirate, don’t you, Billy boy?”
“No, I don’t,” Billie said.
Peg Leg looked shocked. “Well then, stay here all on your own and see how you like that. No one likes being marooned, Billy boy. It sends you mad.”
“Billie won’t be marooned,” I told Peg Leg. “Because Billie will be coming with us. Won’t you, Billie?”
Billie didn’t answer. Wanda and I looked at each other. We so wanted Billie to come to Gargoyle Hall with us. “You can go to school like you always wanted to,” I said to Billie.
Billie fingered her mother’s necklace as if she was asking it what she should do. And then she said, “But am I allowed to go to school?”
“Of course you are,” I said. “Gargoyle Hall is a school for girls. And you are a girl and—”
A loud snort from Peg Leg interrupted me. “Ha! He’s not a girl, orphan child. He’s a boy. He’s Billy boy.”
“I am not a boy,” Billie told Peg Leg. “I am the daughter of Seraphina Maria Dracandor van Diemen.”
If a skeleton could go pale, Peg Leg did right then. “The daughter of the mistress of the Serendipity?”
“Yes,” said Billie, sounding really angry now.
“The lady with the jewels?”
“Was my mother,” Billie said.
Peg Leg stared at Billie for a long time and Billie stared right back at him. At last Peg Leg looked away. He shrugged. “Argh …” was all he said.
And with that Peg Leg gave up. He turned, then walked down the beach and into the waves. All the skeletons followed him. We watched them until the very last round white top of pirate skull was gone, sinking down into the depths to join the Cutlass Kate.
“Come on, Billie,” I said. “Let’s show you your new school.”
It was nearly midnight when we all got back to Gargoyle Hall. Wanda and I sat by the fire in the hall with Billie, Uncle Drac, and Frog and Grilla, who had been allowed to stay up to see us. Uncle Drac had given me Baby Bat back and she was sleeping in her bat box.
Billie was very quiet. She sat beside the fire and gazed around in amazement. Miss Garg
oyle was not good at seeing ghosts—in fact right then, without any glasses, she was not good at seeing much at all—so she did not notice Billie. But Frog and Grilla did, and I could tell they really liked her, which was great. It’s good when all your friends really like one another.
So while Uncle Drac closed his eyes and pretended that he was not asleep, we told Frog and Grilla what had happened. They were shocked.
“We told Miss Gargoyle that you weren’t there but her glasses fell into the sea in the storm,” said Frog.
“And Nora and Cora were wearing your hats and she counted them as you,” said Grilla.
“So when they took the hats off, Miss Gargoyle counted them again,” said Frog.
“And everyone was being sick because of the storm,” said Grilla.
“Even us,” said Frog.
“And then when we got back to Gargoyle Hall, Matron’s television was on fire,” said Grilla.
“And there were five fire engines trying to put it out!” said Frog.
“It was brilliant,” said Grilla.
“That sounds fun,” I said, feeling sorry to have missed it.
“It was,” said Frog.
“But not as much fun as it would have been if you were there,” said Grilla.
While Uncle Drac snored gently, Miss Gargoyle—who was now wearing her prescription swimming goggles and looked very odd—brought us hot chocolate and egg sandwiches with cheese and onion crisps. She told us again how sorry she was we had been left behind on Skeleton Island and how brave we were. She told us how once the fire engines had gone she had realised we were missing and as soon as she did, Uncle Drac had phoned. “That is not a conversation I ever want to have again,” Miss Gargoyle said as she poured Wanda some more hot chocolate. “I shall be expelling Nora Morris and Cora Crumm from Gargoyle Hall first thing tomorrow.”
“Will it be raining tomorrow?” Wanda asked.
Miss Gargoyle looked puzzled. “Goodness, Wanda, I have no idea.”
“I hope it isn’t,” Wanda said. “Then you won’t be able to expel Nora and Cora.”
Miss Gargoyle looked puzzled. “Perhaps you had better pop up to bed now, Wanda, dear,” she said. “You’ve had quite a day.”
But I knew what Wanda was trying to say, and I agreed. Wanda didn’t want Nosy Nora and Creepy Cora to be expelled. They were part of Gargoyle Hall as much as we were. “What Wanda means,” I told Miss Gargoyle, “is that we think Nora and Cora should be given a second chance.”
Miss Gargoyle looked very surprised. “That is most generous of you, Araminta and Wanda. I will give the matter some thought.” She smiled. “You are true Gargoyle Girls. A Gargoyle Girl Never Holds a Grudge.”
“A Gargoyle Girl Doesn’t Judge!” Wanda and I finished for her.
Miss Gargoyle settled herself down by the fire and smiled. “Now, Araminta and Wanda, tell me what happened on Skeleton Island. I want to know everything.”
So we did. And when we had finished, all Miss Gargoyle said was, “Oh, you do tell such tales, Araminta.” Then a very loud snore came from Uncle Drac and he woke himself up.
Miss Gargoyle stood up and said, “Dracandor, dear, allow me to offer you our guest room for the night.” And Uncle Drac accepted. Which is surprising, as he usually stays awake at night. But I think all the excitement had tired him out.
So we said goodnight to Uncle Drac and Miss Gargoyle and as we were leaving, I said, “Miss Gargoyle, would you mind if Billie, the little pirate skeleton ghost, lives in our room here at school and comes to lessons with us?”
Miss Gargoyle laughed and said of course she wouldn’t mind. She was all for pirate skeleton ghosts coming to school.
Wanda and I and Frog and Grilla went up to our little cabins in the attic of Gargoyle Hall, where the junior girls sleep. Billie came with us, of course. Frog and Grilla helped us to make Billie a bed out of spare blankets, which she loved. She said it was the best bed she’d had for hundreds of years. And then she said something that really surprised Wanda and me: “I wish I could wave goodbye to the Cutlass Kate.” But when I thought about it, I did understand. The Cutlass Kate had been Billie’s home for a very long time.
“All right, Billie,” I said. “We can go up to the Lookout. You can see Skeleton Island from there.”
The Lookout is a platform at the top of Gargoyle Hall’s roof. We climbed up through the trapdoor in the corridor ceiling, and then up the ladder on the outside of the roof to the Lookout. It was surrounded by white balustrades so that you couldn’t fall off, which was good because it was very high up.
You could see for miles and miles, even though it was pretty dark, with just a few twinkling lights down by the harbour. Billie was looking out to sea, at the dark bump of Skeleton Island silhouetted in the moonlight. We couldn’t see anything, but Billie could. “Oh!” she gasped. “There they go.” And she raised up her little ghostly arm and waved. She seemed almost sad.
“Where are they?” Wanda, Frog, Grilla and I all said at once.
Billie didn’t say anything. She just pointed at the horizon. We all stared and then suddenly Wanda whispered, “Oh! I can see it. A beautiful pirate ship. It’s sailing away …” And Wanda waved. She seemed almost as sad as Billie.
And then I saw it. A ghostly white ship, heading off to sail the seven seas for ever more. We all watched until the Cutlass Kate had disappeared below the horizon, and then we went down the ladder and off to bed. At last.
I let Baby Bat out of her box. She fluttered up to the curtain, hung upside down and there she stayed all night. Wanda and I snuggled under our duvets and Billie curled up on her blankets.
“Goodnight, Billie,” Wanda and I said together.
“Goodnight,” Billie said. And her voice sounded different—not so far away and ghostly. And then I realised why. Billie wasn’t sad any more.
So now Billie is catching up on all the school she missed and all the friends she never had. And Gargoyle Hall is even more fun, now that it has its very own skeleton pirate ghost.
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It all began when I was in my Thursday bedroom doing my ghost practice. I have always done regular ghost practice, as I was sure it would be much easier to find a ghost if the ghost thought that I was one too. I have always wanted to find a ghost, but you know, even though our house is called Spook House, I have never, ever seen a single ghost, not even a very small one. I thought that Aunt Tabby had scared them off—she would scare me off if I were a ghost.
Anyway, I was busy doing my practice and I had my ghost sheet over my head, which is why I tripped over Sir Horace’s left foot. Stupid thing. And then his left foot fell off, and Sir Horace collapsed into hundreds of pieces. Stupid Sir Horace. And then all the bits of stupid Sir Horace rolled all over the floor, and I stepped on his head and got my foot stuck inside it. Don’t worry, it wasn’t a real head. Sir Horace is just a boring old suit of armour that’s always hanging around here, lurking in various dark corners.
I was yelling at it to get off and hopping around shaking my foot like mad, but Sir Horace’s stupid head was totally stuck. Then, with really great timing, Aunt Tabby shouted, “Breakfast!” in that if-you-don’t-come-downright-now-and-get-it-I-shall-give-it-to-the-cat voice—not that we have a cat, but she would if we did have one, I know she would.
So I gave my foot the biggest shake ever—in fact, I am surprised my whole leg didn’t come off—and Sir Horace’s helmet flew off, shot out of the bedroom door, and hurtled down the attic stairs. It made a fantastic noise. I could hear it all the way down to the basement. Sound travels really well in this house, so I could easily hear Aunt Tabby’s scream, too.
I thought I’d better get going, so I slid down the banister and hopped off at the landing. I wanted to see if Uncle Drac had gone to sleep yet—he works nights—because i
f he had, I was going to wake him up and make him come downstairs with me just in case Aunt Tabby was going to throw a wobbly. His bedroom door is the little red one at the end of the top corridor, the one that goes to the turret.
I was very careful pushing the door open, as it’s a sheer drop down for miles. Uncle Drac took all the floors out of the turret so that his bats could fly wherever they wanted. Uncle Drac loves his bats; he’d do anything for them. I love bats too. They are so sweet.
I pushed Big Bat out of the way, and he fell all the way down to the bottom of the turret. It didn’t matter, though, as the floor of the turret is about ten feet deep in bat poo, so it’s very soft.
Without Big Bat clogging up the door, I could easily see Uncle Drac’s sleeping bag. It was hanging from one of the joists like a great big flowery bat—and it was empty. Great, I thought, he’s still downstairs with Aunt Tabby. So, to save time, I slid down the big stairs’ banister and the basement stairs’ banister too—which I’m not meant to do as it keeps falling over—and I was outside the second-kitchen-on-the-left-just-past-the-larder in no time. It was suspiciously quiet in there. Oops, I thought, trouble.
I pushed open the door really considerately, and I was glad I did as Aunt Tabby was sitting at the end of the long table, buttering some toast in a way that made you think the toast had said something really personal and rude. It didn’t look like a fun breakfast time, I thought. The signs were not good.
First not-good sign: sitting in the middle of the table was Sir Horace’s helmet. It had a lot more dents in it than when I last saw it, but that was obviously not my fault as it was OK when it left my foot.
Second, third, fourth and fifth not-good signs: Aunt Tabby was covered in soot—apart from two little windows in her glasses which she had wiped clear so that she could attack the toast. Aunt Tabby being covered in soot is one of the worst signs. It means she has had a fight with the boiler and the boiler has won.
I sat down in my seat in a thoughtful and caring way. Uncle Drac looked really relieved to see me. You see, I live with my aunt and uncle because my parents went vampire hunting in Transylvania when I was little and they never came back.