Fiendish deeds by P. J. Bracegirdle

Author:P. J. Bracegirdle [P. J. Bracegirdle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Jeunesse
ISBN: 9781416934165
Published: 2008-08-05T07:00:00+00:00

After Joy finished her homework, she played with Fizz for a while, who had been jumping at the sides of the terrarium desperately. He rolled over and over as Joy tickled his smooth stomach. Before long, he fell asleep on her lap with a giant grin.

That had been a close call in her father’s office. But even if she was found out and punished later, it would still be worth it, she thought. The bog was part of Spooking’s history, and she couldn’t live with herself if she let it get swallowed up without a fight. How could her parents be mad at her for that? Still, it was probably a long-distance call and she’d been on for a while.

At dinner Joy was in a cheery mood. She was feeling triumphant. The Federal Imperiled Species Protection Agency didn’t fool around, if her father’s dealings with them were anything to go by. If there was something in the bog, they’d unearth it—and even get its face on a postage stamp in all likelihood.

Whether or not it would take kindly to either was another question, however.

“Joy?” asked Mrs. Wells, spotting the look of horror crossing her daughter’s face. “Are you all right?”

“Huh?” asked Joy, snapping out of it. “Oh, I bit my tongue,” she lied.

After helping out with the dishes, Joy went back up to her room. She got out The Compleat and Collected Works and opened the book to where it was marked in red silk ribbon.

She chomped the ends of her hair, reading. It was the climax of “The Bawl of the Bog Fiend,” when the bad-tempered bacon baron leads a torch-wielding posse into the bog, hoping to flush out the unholy demon standing in the way of his piggish ambitions. And as expected, it didn’t turn out happily, especially for the Prince of Pork, who wound up butchered like one of his hogs, his body parts raining down in a shower of chops on the fleeing survivors.

And though she’d previously tittered to herself over it, she now felt a less welcome sort of horror. Maybe calling in FISPA hadn’t been such a great idea, she fretted. Wasn’t Field Agent Wagner likely to meet a similar fate?

That would be awful. Field Agent Wagner, Joy guessed, was probably much like Dr. Ingram himself. Brave, inquisitive, ever calling “Hullo there!” into the black hole of the unknown.

Maybe she could just call him back and suggest he bring an assistant….

There was a knock on her door.

“Come in,” said Joy, startled.

“Sorry to disturb you,” said Mrs. Wells. “I just wanted to talk about Halloween next week.”

Halloween was Joy’s favorite holiday, when Spooking was at the height of its powers. She loved rummaging through the cellar for some new costume, and then stalking the streets with Byron under an evil moon.

“What about it?”

Mrs. Wells took a deep breath, which was a sign for Joy to brace herself for bad news. Could Halloween be canceled or something?

“Byron was hoping to go trick-or-treating down in Darlington this year.

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