"Missing?"
Jasmine's light blue eyes widened as she repeated the word.
"Are there any secret passages or anything that you know of under the set or in the general area?"
Jasmine considered.
"There were rumours of something… One of the special effects crew members, Chuck Dresden, said he found something. He said it was some kind of tunnel under the set, but everyone thought he was making it up or just being silly. Maybe you should go talk to Chuck."
She pointed to a heavily-built man in stained dungarees on the other side of the set.
"That's Chuck."
Velma walked over towards Chuck, whose eyes widened rather like Jasmine's as he clocked the gorgeous young actress.
"Hello, Ms French, what can I do for you?"
Jasmine raised her eyebrows.
"Actually, it was Velma here who wanted a word with you."
She pushed Velma forward with one slender arm and Velma looked up at Chuck, a little nervous due to the man's size.
"Uh, we were told you'd found some kind of secret passage?"
"Yeah," Chuck replied, his face brightening. "Behind old Ridley's office, as well! He has no idea, course. I'll show you if you want."
Velma nodded. "That would be good if you could."
Chuck abandoned the Inferi suit he was working on and started walking towards the exit. The gang-minus-one and Jasmine followed him, but as they reached the door Mr Ridley called Jasmine back.
"Aw, damn… You guys will have to go on without me, I'm sorry."
Velma smiled at the actress. "Don't worry, we'll keep you informed." She had discovered that Jasmine was almost as keen on a mystery as they were, and that she was pretty good at putting two and two together.
The others set off with Chuck at the head of the little procession.
Chuck opened a storeroom door and the group crowded in.
"The entrance is there, behind the candy machine prop."
Shaggy and Scooby's eyes widened as they saw the candy machine, filled with all sorts of brightly-wrapped, sugar-coated candy and with a lever to extract it…
Shaggy pushed the lever hard and a rain of candy rattled onto the tray. Both boy and dog picked up the candy in both hands and made to swallow it. Chuck saw them and grimaced.
"Uh, you two might wanna spit that out…"
Shaggy and Scooby didn't hear him; their mouths bulged considerably as they stuffed candy into them.
"Like, YUCK!"
Shaggy spat the candy out into a corner and gob-coated candy splattered everywhere. Scooby next to him spat his out with a "ph-tooey!" into the same place.
Chuck laughed heartily as Shaggy and Scooby swallowed the nasty taste, making faces.
"I did warn you guys… That candy is fake."
Shaggy made a face worthy of Frankenstein.
"Like, man!"
The large man laughed again and wiped his greasy hands on his already mucky dungarees. He reached out and pushed on a wall panel marked "HERE" in rough writing.
"I marked it out," Chuck explained as Velma clocked the writing.
A large portion of the wall slid sideways into a cavity, and Chuck smiled and walked into the gloom of the room inside. He pulled a torch out of his dungaree pocket and lit it, pointing it at the ground in front of his feet. Slowly, the rest of the group followed suit, being careful of where to step; at one point they had all screamed, even Velma, as the torch had lit up a set man-trap.
"Like, ZOINKS!" Shaggy yelled suddenly.
Velma jumped about a foot in the air, and then turned to Shaggy, visibly shaking.
"What? Did you step in a man-trap?"
"No, like- LOOK!"
Chuck's torch had suddenly lit up a horrible figure with glowing red eyes and rotted limbs, flesh drooping off its sunken face, horribly human-like yet horrifically, dreadfully altered.
"I warn you, fools… Leave your lost, he is gone forever. He will never return. You must go back, you have no choice. Leave or you will all fall into sunken graves before the day is out."
He turned and walked out of the torch-beam. Daphne looked straight at Velma, her eyes widened with fright.
"He is gone forever… Freddy…"
Velma reached out with one hand and put it on Daphne's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Daph, we'll find him. This ghost is a phoney, plus Freddy isn't an actor or part of the filming crew."
Daphne nodded, but still looked very freaked out.
Chuck was staring at the place where the ghost had stood.
"Hold on… Those were lines from Oz's part in Haunts from Corrupted Beach. They were used in Inferi Beach too, but still…"
Velma was also looking thoughtful, but for a different reason. She remembered Alex Richman reciting those lines earlier, and somehow the ghost had reminded her of more than just those words…
The small party carried on, eventually reaching a wall with a panel like the one in the storeroom that Chuck had pushed.
"These are commonly used on movie sets, especially for movies like this one," Chuck said, pressing the panel.
The room was dark except for a faint square of light from the ceiling, as though there was some kind of panel there. Chuck swerved the torchlight around the room. It lit up an object in one corner- another man-trap- and in the opposite corner, a flash of white.
"Freddy!"
Daphne immediately ran over to the corner, despite Velma's warning to stay with the group. Chuck followed, the torch out in front of him.
Fred's eyes were closed as the gang got closer to him. Daphne slapped his cheek lightly, whispering in his ear, trying to wake him up. Chuck knelt down next to Daphne, his flashlight on Fred's face. There was a thick cut on his forehead, which was ugly and all too obvious in the harsh light from the flashlight. A little blood trickled from it onto the floor, where a pool of blood had formed.
Shaggy rooted in his pocket, and pulled out a bottle.
"Like, since we don't have smelling salts… I think Xtra-Strong Chilli Sauce will work as a substitute!"
He opened the bottle and knelt down on Daphne's other side. Chuck eyed the lanky teenager as Shaggy's long fingers unscrewed the lid.
"What are you guys doing?"
"Like, watch and learn, man."
Shaggy held the chilli sauce under Fred's nose, clicking his fingers at the same time and talking in a loud-ish voice.
"Like, come on, Freddy…"
Fred's eyelids flickered and his eyes focused on the chilli sauce bottle.
"Shag?" he croaked.
"Like, I knew he'd come round soon," Shaggy announced, sitting back on his haunches and looking at Fred with satisfaction.
"What happened, Freddy?"
Fred shook his head, then winced.
"That goon was here… I can't remember."
Daphne put her hand on his forehead and Fred sighed.
"I'm fine!"
Velma eyed Fred sceptically.
"No, you're not. Chuck, I think we need to get Freddy to the first-aid department."
Chuck nodded and grinned at Fred.
"I don't think there's any point protesting, sonny… They've made up their minds."
