Hello, my friends!
Since I passed all my exams without much difficulty (three A's and one B+), I can finally enjoy my summer holidays and publish a new chapter of the story without feeling guilty. I hope you'll like it. :)
Special congratulations go to Robot Wolf 26Z who was 25% right, Book girl fan (50% right) and loonytunecrazy who was TOTALLY right! You rule, pals! :)
Regards,
VerMa.
Daphne yawned, blinked and stretched... or at least that's what she'd wanted to do. The light was poor but after a few minutes of straining her eyes, the girl discovered that the thing so effective at making her unable to move was a thick rope. A moment later, she also realized it was due to a piece of cloth, curled in a ball and stuffed in her mouth, that she couldn't make any sound.
"All right, let's stick to the facts" – she thought. – "I'm in an unfamiliar, rather dark place, bound, gagged and dressed only in pajamas. This can mean only one thing: someone kidnapped me. But who? And why? As far as I know, Mom and Dad don't have enemies... Unless... unless one of the criminals unmasked by us ran away from the jail and seeks revenge... Oh, jeepers... I have a feeling we're going to be in even bigger trouble than when Red and Jeff created this mechanical spider..."
x
Mornings in Coolsville had one characteristic trait – the traffic in the streets was minor or none. This very fact was currently being used by a dark-haired, mustached man, sitting behind the wheel of a not new (if someone was malicious, they'd rather say: ancient) but instead well kept, white car. The vehicle was moving pretty fast but within reason. Sure, the driver wanted to quickly fulfill the promise, made yesterday to a friend (and be able to get back home before lunch), but on the other hand, he knew that the excessive haste could cause an accident, which at best would mean a visit to the hospital – and a severe reprimand from his wife.
A few minutes later, from around a turn, emerged a huge mansion. Mr. Dinkley – for the early bird was him – with a slight surprise noticed that the gate was wide open; but then, he remembered that George and Liz were actually expecting his arrival. Thus, he pulled into the grounds and started up a long, impossibly twisty lane (the result of employing a party animal instead of a reliable planner) to finally stop almost perfectly in front of the entrance door, just behind a police car. Wait – a police car? This certainly didn't mean anything good.
"Hello! Anybody here?" the man called out, entering the long hall, the floor of which was covered with white and purple carpet.
The door to his right opened and there stood...
"Sam?" Mr. Dinkley asked in amazement.
"Greg?" Mr. Rogers's eyes widened. "Why did you come here?"
"To install a new security system; the old one apparently is broken. But what are YOU doing here?"
"Working; I'm investigating Daphne's disappearance..."
"More of a kidnapping" Mrs. Blake muttered, burying her face in her husband's chest. "None of her clothes are gone except for pajamas in which she went to sleep."
"This changes a lot" Samuel remarked. "Why haven't you said it from the start?"
"Because you never asked."
"Uh... okay... Do you two have any enemies?"
"I guess not" Mr. Blake said hesitantly.
"You guess?"
"Years ago, one of our employees tried to embezzle a large sum of money so we fired him..."
"I see. This means that the motive may be revenge."
"Unless it was done by someone else" Gregory cut in. "Then, the reason might be a ransom."
"You're right" Mr. Rogers admitted. "Anyway, I'll do everything I can to find the kid as soon as possible. Where is her room?"
"I'll show you" Elizabeth offered and they both left.
"George... I know Daphne's disappearance worries you, but could you, instead of standing around here, show me where is the control panel of your old security system?" Gregory spoke after a moment.
"Oh... Excuse me. This way."
x
Two hours later, into the mansion ran Mr. Jones and from the threshold he started to take pictures with a camera with a big, telescopic objective.
"What the heck, Skip, are you mad?" Mr. Blake asked angrily. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Sorry, George, but my boss told me to bring photos from the crime scene. Did you think the media wouldn't know about the kidnapping of Daphne?"
"To be honest, I don't know what I thought. But I do know you're wasting your film. Daphne's room is elsewhere."
"Will you take me there?"
"I can't, even if I wanted to. Sam said NO ONE can go in there until he and his team search the entire room and find all the clues possible. And please tell your boss that as for now, Liz and I would prefer to not make the case known so the kidnappers wouldn't hurt Daphne."
x
Although the adults tried very hard to keep the kidnapping of Daphne a secret, her friends found it out the very next day – because of Shaggy who, as usual, came running with Scooby a minute before the first bell.
"Listen" he panted "Scooby and I, like, know why Daphne wasn't, like, at school yesterday."
"Then tell us" Fred encouraged him. "What's wrong with her? Is she sick?"
"No. She got, like, kidnapped" Shaggy replied.
"Ror ransom!" Scooby added.
"How do you know it?" Fred asked.
"Like, I heard my dad telling it to my mom..." said Shaggy. Having noticed Fred's skeptical look, he blushed slightly. "Okay, I was, like, eavesdropping at the door" he admitted. "Apparently, the kidnappers demanded the entire fortune of the Blakes and said that if they don't get the money, they'll, like, hurt Daphne."
"Jinkies, we must save her" Velma spoke.
"You're right" Fred agreed. "Let's meet in our clubhouse today after classes."
x
"Where are you going to, Velma?" Madelyn asked, seeing her elder sister went straight instead of turn left toward their house.
"To meet my friends" Velma replied briefly.
Madelyn grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes.
"Will Shaggy and Scooby be there, too?" she asked with excitement. "Will they? Tell me they will!"
"Of course they will. We're meeting by their house."
"Great!" Madelyn cheered. "Can I go with you? Will you take me? Please, please, please! Shaggy and Scooby are so cool!"
"But we'll be very busy. You'll be bored..."
"I won't be bored! I'll play with Maggie! She's cool, too! Let me come, please!"
"Oh... well, okay..." Velma agreed reluctantly.
"Thank you!" Madelyn squealed, hugging her tightly, then once again grabbed her hand and bounced off towards the Rogers' house, while chattering happily: "Shaggy and Scooby are so funny! And Maggie is so nice! I really, really like them! I'm so glad you're taking me to them, sis! You're darling, you know? Really, really, really darling! Almost as darling as Mom and Dad, but, of course, they're the best and the darlingest in the world and..." at this point, her big sister put a hand over her mouth. "Mmmm-mm-mmm...!" Madelyn muttered indignantly, pulling Velma's hand away from her face. "What?"
"First, there's no such word as 'darlingest'. Second, don't talk so much because either it will get you in trouble, or I'll go crazy in a moment" Velma said sternly.
"Can I ask you just one more question?" her little sister asked sweetly.
"Alright" Velma sighed. "What do you want to know?"
"Do you like me?"
Before Velma could answer, something large, heavy and furry knocked her to the pavement.
"Rello, Relma" said Scooby and licked her face with his wet tongue several times. "Rello, Raddie" he added.
"Hello, Scooby" the two girls hugged the dog.
Having put her sister to her feet, Madelyn ran into the Rogers' front yard.
"Hi, Fred! Hi, Shaggy! Hi, Maggie!" she called out cheerfully.
Fred walked over to Velma and pulled her aside.
"Why didn't you tell us you'd bring Madelyn?" he asked in a low voice.
"Because I didn't know I'd do it" Velma explained in a whisper. "She wouldn't leave me alone until I agreed to take her."
"Hi, Maddie!" Maggie grinned. "Shaggy, what are you gonna do?" she asked, looking at her brother with the most innocent expression in the world.
"Homework" Shaggy replied, contrary to the truth, by the way. "It's very difficult so we asked Velma for help."
"Uh... boring..." Maggie waved her hand. "Come on, Maddie, we'll play with my dolls."
Once the two younger girls had disappeared in the house, Fred said:
"Now, everyone to the clubhouse. We must come up with a plan."
x
"You know" Madelyn spoke when she and Maggie had entered the house "maybe it's weird, but I don't believe they're just doing their homework there."
"To be honest, me neither. Last night, before falling asleep, I heard Shaggy telling Scooby that Daphne had been kidnapped for ransom."
"You know, I think they're actually making a plan on how to find and free Daphne."
"I think so, too, but we must make sure."
"How will we do it?"
"Wait, let me think... Can you climb trees?"
"Yes. My dad taught me... but in secret from my mom, because she says that one tomboy in the family, I mean Velma, is enough for her..."
"Yes, I understand. Come on, we'll overhear what they are saying."
"Isn't it illegal?"
"I don't know but think of it as of playing detectives."
x
"Right, everything set" Fred said happily. "We're meeting at midnight in front of my house."
"Did you hear that?" Maggie whispered. "We were right."
"Yeah. I wonder why they kept it a secret from us."
"I have no idea but they can't get away with it."
"I think I know what we'll do" Madelyn smiled slyly. "Listen..."
x
This night, when Mrs. Rogers was long since asleep, and her husband was at work making the action plan with his team, Maggie showed up in Shaggy's room and said she was going to accompany him during the investigation.
"Like, no way, get it out of your head" Shaggy said firmly. "You're, like, too young."
"I'm not" the girl protested. "When you and your friends began solving mysteries, you were as old as I am now, and Velma was Madelyn's age."
"Did you forget that after our first case, she spent more than a month in hospital, because Red Herring had almost, like, killed her?"
"No, but..."
"Then, like, stay home. I don't want, like, the same or, like, worse thing to, like, happen to you."
"Look, I want to go with you and Scooby and help you find Daphne. And if you say 'no' one more time, I'll start screaming and Mom will catch you, and you'll go nowhere."
"Oh, zoinks" Shaggy muttered "seems I've got, like, no choice... Alright, you can come with us but on the condition that you'll, like, obey me."
x
Velma poked her head out of her room, looked around, soundlessly slipped out into the corridor and began sneaking towards the stairs, trying to not make noise. Then, somewhere behind her, there was a creak of a floor board. The girl, feeling her heart pounding wildly, looked back.
"Maddie!" she whispered with a mixture of relief that it wasn't Dad, anger that her sister followed her, and surprise that the kid was in her normal clothes instead of pajamas. "What are you doing?"
"Going with you" Madelyn announced happily. "You promised that one day you'd take me along and show me how you solve mysteries, remember?"
"I guess I also talk too much sometimes..." Velma muttered grimly. "You're not going anywhere" she added sternly. "You still are too young. Go back to bed. Looking for clues is dangerous, especially at night."
"So why do YOU want to do it?"
"Because Daphne is my friend and would have done the same for me."
"What should I tell Mom and Dad if in the morning they notice that you're gone?"
"They won't" Velma said firmly. "I'll be back by the morning."
"Then why don't you want to take me with you if our parents won't even know that we left?" Madelyn asked in a small, painful voice and sniffled.
At this point, her big sister realized she'd lost the battle.
"Alright" she muttered reluctantly "you can go with me..."
"Thanks!" Maddie squealed, clinging to Velma, who took the opportunity to put a hand over her mouth.
"Don't make so much noise" she scolded her in a whisper. "We can't wake Dad up. Now come on but be quiet" she added, taking her sister by the hand and leading her down the stairs. "And remember that you have to stick close to me all the time. No exceptions."
x
Upon seeing Velma and Shaggy, leading their sisters, Fred grabbed his head.
"Why did you take them along?" he asked in an angry whisper.
"I had no choice" Velma replied defensively. "I had to take Maddie so she wouldn't start crying and wake Dad up."
"And Maggie threatened that if I, like, didn't take her, she'd tell mom that Scooby and I aren't, like, home" Shaggy added grimly.
Maggie and Madelyn winked at each other knowingly.
"All right, they can come with us" Fred sighed "but keep an eye on them."
"Don't worry about it" Shaggy and Velma said simultaneously, grasping their sisters' hands a little tighter.
"So where are we going to?" the little Madelyn asked merrily.
"According to the map which Shaggy and Scooby snatched, Daphne should be in the Matthews' abandoned mansion" Fred replied.
"It's a long way from here" Maggie pointed out. "How are we gonna get there?"
Fred pointed to three bikes standing nearby; one of them had a small cart attached to the back.
"But... there's six of us" Madelyn worried. "How are we gonna get there on three bikes?"
"Scooby will go in the cart, you with Velma, and Maggie with Fred" Shaggy explained.
"Can we get moving?" Fred demanded impatiently. "We can't stand here till the morning."
"That's right" Velma added. "Daphne needs our help."
x
About half an hour later the whole gang (minus Daphne, of course) stood in front of a large, dark, old house.
"Follow me, guys" said Fred. "All right, let's split up" he added in a whisper, once they'd come inside. "Shaggy, Scooby and Maggie will go to the right; and Velma, Madelyn and I to the left. Any questions?"
"Why are we splitting up?" Maddie spoke.
"To find Daphne quicker."
"And how will we know who found her?"
"I hadn't thought about it" the embarrassed Fred admitted.
"Why am I, like, not surprised?" Shaggy muttered.
"I have an idea" Maggie pulled two whistles out of her pocket and handed one to Fred. "Two signals will mean 'Daphne' and three 'we need help', okay?"
"Okay. Now let's get to work."
x
"What are we doing now?" Madelyn asked.
"Sneaking" Fred explained in a whisper.
"Why?"
"So the thugs who kidnapped Daphne wouldn't know we're here."
"What would happen if they found out?"
"Certainly nothing good."
"Be quiet, Maddie" Velma sternly looked at her sister.
"Oh, come on, I just want to learn something."
"But you make too much noise on the occasion. We'll get in trouble because of your constant chattering, you'll see."
"You know, it's weird" Madelyn remarked, not without a trace of malice in her voice. "You spend lots of time with Dad but you're as hopelessly serious as Mom..."
"Stop talking finally or I'll gag you" Velma threatened.
"You won't" her sister said dismissively. "You've got nothing to do it with."
Velma just smiled condescendingly and asked Fred:
"Can I borrow your ascot?"
"Maybe later" Fred said, turning left. "For now, we must..." at this point, he saw a tall, skinny thug with a big scar on his left cheek. "... RUN!" he yelled, taking off down the same corridor they'd come.
"Hurry up, Maddie!" Velma screamed, rushing after Fred and pulling her sister with her.
"Hey, let go of me! I'm not three years old!" the annoyed Madelyn jerked her hand out of Velma's grasp, then stumbled, lost her balance and fell to the floor.
"Are you okay?" her sister asked, leaning over her.
"Yes, but I lost my glasses."
"I'll find them right away; they couldn't have fallen far... see what I mean? Here you go."
"Thanks."
"No problem. Now come on, we must run."
Just as Velma said these words, up to the girls ran two men – one tall and thin, the other short and fat.
"Now what?" the scared Madelyn asked.
"Run!" Velma slipped between the thugs, pulling her sister with her. "MADDIE!" she cried out in horror when a great force separated their hands.
"VELMA!" Madelyn wailed, uselessly trying to get out of the hands of the short bandit; meanwhile, his accomplice grabbed and immobilized the older of the girls.
"Hide her somewhere" the thin guy ordered briefly. "I'll see you later."
His companion nodded and the men went in different directions, ignoring the desperate screams of the two sisters which effectively drowned out a triple whistle signal.
x
"Are you, like, sure we're going the right way?" Shaggy asked.
"Reah" Scooby nodded. "Rit's rot rar row." (Tr.: Yeah. It's not far now.)
"That's great!" Shaggy rubbed his hands in glee. "I have a hunch there's plenty of food waiting for us!"
"What?!" Maggie exclaimed in shock. "We're supposed to look for Daphne, not food!"
"Relax, sis, Fred and the girls can, like, do it" said Shaggy and waved his hand.
Maggie looked unconvinced.
"It's not fair" she stated grumpily. "They're taking a risk, while we..."
"We're taking a risk, too" Shaggy cut her off. "We're taking a risk from the moment when we'd walked into this spooky, old house."
Suddenly, there were shouts and three whistle sounds.
"Fred and the girls can do it, huh?" Maggie looked at her brother with a frown.
"Okay, maybe I was, like, wrong but that's, like, no reason to give up a little calm-down snack..."
"A little snack? I know you too well... Norville. Enough of the slacking, I'm the boss now. Scooby, lead us to Daphne."
The puppy did a sort of salute with his paw and sniffed the air; having caught the scent, he turned right and headed toward the stairs leading to upper floors. However, two thugs soon stood in the way of the trio.
"GANGWAY!" Shaggy yelled and ran away.
Scooby and Maggie, who this time wasn't going to argue, did the same. After a while, however, one of the criminals caught up with the girl and grabbed her.
"Let me go!" she screamed, kicking his legs.
The bandit didn't give up, even though Scooby bit his calf, and Shaggy punched his side several times; for soon came running two other thugs, one of whom held back the puppy and the other caught the boy. Then, the men split up without a word.
x
The gangster carried Scooby to the attic, threw him into a storage unit and left, locking the door. Having landed on a dusty, old couch, the puppy sneezed loudly.
"Bless you, Scooby" said a familiar voice. "Ah... ah... achoo!"
"Ress rou, Reddy" the dog replied, putting his tail under his nose to not sneeze again. (Tr.: Bless you, Freddy.)
x
"Mom and Dad will most probably kill me! Why did I ever take Maddie with me?" Velma cried out in despair and strongly kicked a bucket lying on the floor.
"But you said you'd had to do it to prevent her from crying" Maggie remarked.
"That's not what I mean! I shouldn't have taken her to your place after classes! I don't know how she found out this all but it must have happened there!"
Maggie got an uncomfortable look on her face and stared at her shoes.
"You know... it's probably my fault because it was me who'd gotten the idea to overhear your conversation" she said softly.
x
Not only the cell under the stairs was very small but Shaggy was also locked in it along with the terrified Madelyn, clinging to his side and weeping into his shirt. Frankly, he'd give a lot to calm her down somehow because her sobs were already beginning to get on his nerves. Wait – what Velma would do? Hmmm... normally, she'd undoubtedly first told her sister to be quiet and then begin to comfort her; but in this case, she probably wouldn't know herself what to say... so maybe she'd just hug the kid? The boy carefully put his arm around the girl and pressed her to him; and indeed, her crying soon stopped.
"Don't be afraid" he said when she looked up at him "my dad and his pals will certainly find us."
PS - As always, I am waiting for the feedback! :)
VM