Chapter Five
Strange Things Are Afoot
As Neil and Jack snuck through the woods, with Nibbler stealthily slinking beside them, they contemplated what they had been told by Titus. It was not terribly surprising to hear that Jasper was back at his dastardly deeds. But he had to be up to something particularly nefarious, for Titus to feel that he had to warn them to be on guard.
When they felt that they were close enough to Lefty’s Manor, they crouched amid a colony of assorted shrubberies. From this point of surveillance, Neil, Jack, and Nibbler collectively observed the house. In particular, their eyes were concentrated on the window wells of the basement, which were just above the ground, and built into the concrete of the foundation.
It was in those windows that there appeared a very odd thing. The boys and the dog saw the intermittent burst of blue-white light, an arc of electricity against a pane of glass.
“Gobstoppers!” Neil gasped. “What is that?”
“Exactly what I’m wondering!” Jack exclaimed. “And that’s what I’m living with… That’s the kind of weird stuff that goes on around here when I’m trying to catch a few z’s at night! It’s not too easy, let me tell you, when you’ve got these crazy noises coming from the basement, and lightning flying around.”
“The basement,” Neil muttered thoughtfully, rubbing at his chin. “Didn’t you say that Lefty has some kind of laboratory down there?”
“Yep,” Jack confirmed.
“Have you been down there yet?”
“Nope… it seems like my uncle’s always down there, working on something, and I haven’t wanted to intrude. He seems to really get into his projects. But I think that’s going to have to change, after tonight… there’s no way I can go without investigating this.”
“You won’t be alone!” Neil declared. “This clearly seems to be a scenario requiring backup.”
“Well, I won’t disagree with that,” Jack said. “Backup is definitely in order.”
“Woof!” Nibbler added, vouching his own support.
The dog was pressed between the two boys, wiggling along on his belly in order to maintain Labradoodle stealth mode. His ears were flat against his head in consternation. He eyed the basement with apprehension, while a low, deep growl vibrated within his chest.
Nibbler paused in his growl for long enough to press his cold snout against Neil’s cheek, and administer a reassuring touch from his slobbery tongue. In response, Neil giggled. He couldn’t help it… he was ticklish.
Strange, funky music began to drift from the basement. It was loaded with the sound of bass strings being plucked, and a spunky, feisty melody.
“Your uncle sure has some weird taste in music,” Neil noticed.
“Yep, he sure does,” Jack agreed.
“Does he always play it so loud, this late at night?”
“No, not until tonight… He was playing it earlier, but nowhere near this loud. Uncle Lefty must really be getting into whatever he’s doing down in the laboratory. And I heard this same kind of music, right when the other noise started happening.”
“What noise?” Neil inquired.
No sooner had the question been asked than there came a great Thoom! from the basement.
“That noise!” Jack told him.
So came the crashing sound from the ancient basement, and the manor almost seemed to shudder upon its foundation. It was such a blast of noise, such a jolt, that Neil and Jack could not help but lurch backward at the sound of it.
And then, there came a voice from afar, issuing from the laboratory. “It’s alive!” called the voice. “It’s aliiiivveee!”
“It’s alive?” Neil gasped. “Um, what exactly? What’s alive?”
“That strikes me as a real good question, right about now,” Jack admitted.
Nibbler thumped his tail between the two boys, and uttered an inquisitive chuff. He too, it seemed, was struck with curiosity.
The basement windows were illuminated with a particularly bright blast of light, as the sound came again: THOOM! This time, it was accompanied by the noise of crackling electricity.
Lightning danced about, and burst through the panes of glass that covered the window wells of the basement. Forked fingers arced forth, reaching in the black night air.
It crackled, and roared, and belched with discord. It was a sound that sent chills through the bone, and acorns tumbling from the limbs of nearby oak trees. Alerted by the sound, Nibbler rose from the ground, but remained pressed against the boys, offering the comfort of his furry weight.
It was at that moment that their attention was diverted to the treetops above. At some distance not terribly far over their heads, there came a strange noise that sounded an awful lot like… chattering. But it was a weird, high-pitched kind of chattering, and if it was communicating anything at all, it must have been done in some sort of babbling, nonsensical language.
“Um… do you hear that?” Neil asked.
His eyes were wide as he studied the trees above. He could see little in the darkness, but the branches and leaves were moving about quite a bit. It seemed clear that something was up there.
“Oh, I hear it,” Jack assured his friend, as he scanned the canopy. “But I’m afraid I can’t tell you what I’m hearing.”
An acorn descended, and bopped Nibbler at the very tip of his black snout. He blinked in surprise, and his ears perked up, at what seemed to be strange giggling from the trees above.
“Okay, I think I’ve seen enough for one night,” Neil decided. He gripped Jack’s shoulder in alarm. “Let’s get out of here!”
“Agreed,” Jack said. “You don’t have to tell me twice. I think it’s time we performed a tactical retreat, so we can regroup!”
Neil and Jack ran for their bicycles, with Nibbler right beside them. With the strange noises roaring behind them, and weird arcs of lightning illuminating the darkness, they raced away, pedaling madly into the night.