Wonderfully Wacky Families by Jackie French

Author:Jackie French [Jackie French / Stephen Michael King]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780730445777
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

CHAPTER 4

Gone

It was a dark and stormy night outside the castle. Rain gusted through the open front door, and lightning flashed brightly to show the note on the doorstep.

Drackie picked it up. It was damp and the ink had begun to run.

‘We have your toad,’ he read out. ‘Leave the ransom of $100,000 under the back seat of the ferry next Tuesday, or else. Signed, the International Society of Toad Thieves.’

‘Or else what?’ whispered Cousin Snot.

Drackie shook his head. ‘I don’t know! Maybe they’ll hurt Fang! Or sell him! Vampire toads are rare. What are we going to do?’

‘Me call your parents,’ said Plop. ‘Me call the whole island!’

‘I bet they’ll find Fang for you,’ said Cousin Snot comfortingly. ‘It’ll be easy! Any toad thief will be terrified of vampires! I bet the toad thieves are so scared by now they’re widdling themselves so hard they’ll drop Fang and…Hey, what’s that?’

Cousin Snot bent down. ‘It’s a feather!’ she said, picking it up. ‘A bright pink one! What’s it doing there?’

‘Maybe one of the toad thieves wore a pink feather collar,’ suggested Plop.

‘It’s a clue!’ said Cousin Snot. ‘Kids in books are always finding clues. You get to find the bad guys really fast when you find a clue. All we have to do is find whoever wears pink feathers! Easy! Don’t worry,’ she added to Drackie. ‘I’m sure Fang will be OK.’

‘I hope so,’ whispered Drackie.

The vampire clan met in the ballroom. It was just like the night of his party, Drackie thought miserably. But this time there was no cute little vampire toad leaping about around people’s ankles and looking for beetles to vampirise.

Auntie Warts banged the hammer on the table. ‘I call the meeting to order.’

‘Didn’t have any of this meeting stuff when I was young,’ muttered Great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great Uncle Spung. ‘If someone did something we didn’t like we just grabbed them by the throat and…’

‘But what sort of thief would take a vampire toad?’ said Auntie Warts quickly. ‘That’s what I’d like to know.’

‘And how did the toad thief get onto the island?’ cried Mum.

‘They can’t have come on the ferry!’ said Dad. ‘It doesn’t call in to the island today.’

‘Maybe they flew,’ suggested Cousin Snot.

‘Only vampires can fly, remember,’ said Auntie Warts. ‘After they start turning into bats,’ she added.

‘Birds fly too,’ argued Cousin Snot.

‘I don’t think a seagull stole Drackie’s toad,’ said Auntie Warts shortly. ‘The thieves must have come on a boat during the day, when we were all asleep. Then they sneaked up to the castle and grabbed little Fang when no one was looking.’

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