This chapter is dedicated to calismoed 13. I hope I did the "sneezed" right. ; )
Thank you all again for your kind reviews. I'm really having fun with this story. Enjoy the chapter and R&R folks!
Chapter 25
They came upon an open doorway on their right and went through. The tunnel was just like the other one. They walked a few feet down and came to a door at the end. Royce turned the knob and it opened easily. He pushed it open and he shined his light inside. It had cement walls and a dirt floor. There was a single bulb that hung down from the ceiling with a pull string. Royce pulled it and the room was flooded with light. They all shielded their eyes to get used to the harsh brightness. As the room's objects got clearer, Frank saw that the left side of the room was done in the Baroque period in the 1600s.
An antique desk with scroll work etched around the sides and down the legs, sat with papers stacked neatly in the middle of the polished top. Behind it stood a chair in a gold leaf finish with deep purple upholstery on the back, two small paddings on the arms, and the seat. Two Absalom Roche chairs over 7 feet in height, with the same gold leaf finish in mahogany, with reddish purple silk and tufted, stood on either side of a low oval shaped marble coffee table. In the opposite corner stood a bronze metallic globe of the world on a dark brown, wooden three post stand. Behind the desk was a series of 11 x 14 inch paintings from the Baroque period of the classic composers: Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell and Pachelbel.
Fascinated, Frank walked over to them and marveled at each one. He himself loved the classical music, Handel being his favorite. A cry pierced his musings and he quickly turned around to find himself staring at a huge statue of a version of Frankenstein's monster set up on the opposite side of the room and froze.
"Aaah!" Chet cried out too, just as Royce had, as he caught sight of it.
"Geez, what the hell is going on?" Biff asked no one in particular, as he walked up to it in bewilderment. He gingerly put out a hand to touch it.
"Is it alive?" Chet asked, his heart hammering in his chest.
"I don't believe so." Frank said. He too walked up to inspect the exact replica of the life-like ogre of the classic tale of Frankenstein.
"What do you think its made of?" Phil asked, curiously.
"That is the coolest thing I've ever seen." Tony said, being quietly excited. "I wonder if he has Dracula, the Mummy and the Werewolf, too."
"Really?" Biff said a little sarcastically. He shook his head. "Royce, you sure you know your grandfather at all?"
Royce stood staring at the full figure of the statue in awe. He swallowed the lump in his throat and opened his mouth, but at first nothing came out.
"I…god I…didn't…know that…shit." Royce gulped air in his lungs as if he were drowning.
"He's hyperventilating." Frank informed, as he went to get the chair from the desk as Biff ran over to put an arm around Royce. He helped set him in the chair and had him put his head between his legs. Biff kept his arm around him to make sure he was alright, telling him to take slow breaths.
Once he knew he wasn't going to pass out, Royce sat back up and leaned his elbows on his legs with his hands on his face. His breathing was still shaky but he slowly got himself under control after a bit and lowered his hands.
"You okay?" Biff asked, with concern in his eyes.
Royce nodded with a grateful tight smile. "That thing wasn't in here before."
He groaned, "Shit-who is my grandfather?"
"Do you think this is the room where the safe is?" Frank asked, as he squatted down in front of him. "Does it look familiar?"
Royce nodded and pointed to his left and up on the wall was a huge 47 x 69 inch 3BQ Antique Gold Frame with the painting of George Frideric Handel from the Classic Baroque Collection. "He doesn't know I was looking in here. He turned around so fast I thought he was gonna see me, but I ducked back in time."
'How the hell did I miss this?' Frank asked himself. "He must like classical music." he said aloud.
"He loves it. Especially Handel."
'Great.' Frank thought, contemptuously to himself. 'There's a madman that likes the same things I do.'
"Do I just pull it open or is there some catch to spring…" Frank asked, walking over to the décor.
"I don't know. I never actually seen him open it." Royce answered and shuddered as he stood, eyeing the bigger than life monster, before going over to the painting to watch.
Tony came over to help as Frank and Phil began to run their hands along the gold leaf edging, after pulling on it hadn't moved it.
Eventually, Frank found a small button in one of the leaves of the large, bold design on the lower, right side of the frame. There was a popping sound and the massive painting swung open.
"Wow, that's one big picture." Chet said in awe.
Frank pulled it farther out and there in the wall was a safe that was 13 x 13.
Tony let out a bark of laughter. "Now that is funny!"
"It's not that funny." Biff said, rolling his eyes. "What did you expect, a safe as big as the picture?"
"I just wasn't expecting that little bitty safe compared to the huge painting it was behind, that's all." he giggled.
Frank took out the notes from his wallet with the scripture verses on it.
"Okay, we know that 19 is the address here. Then there are five numbers left. 9,1,6,7,8. So that means we have a few options here." Frank figured. He set to work on the first set.
9 right, 16 left, and 78 right. Nothing.
91 right, 6 left, and 78 right. Nothing.
91 right, 67 left, and 8 right. Click.
"And…we're in."
Frank checked his watch. It had only been fifteen minutes since they came in, but it seemed longer. He was worried about leaving Joe and Natalie in the van alone. "I don't want to be down here too long. We need to get back to Joe and Natalie soon."
"How about if I go up and check on them?" Chet suggested, eyeing the ogre.
"You're just scared, admit it Morton." Biff accused with a playful smirk.
"I am not, Hooper." Chet defended himself. But couldn't help taking another peek at the figure.
"Yeah, he is. Look at his face." Tony chided.
"I wouldn't talk if I were you, Prito." Chet said, remembering a time when they were in a situation that had Tony running scared from a prank he pulled on him. Tony's face reddened slightly and turned away.
"Would you?" Relief flooded Frank's face. "Just watch yourself. We don't need you going missing. Do you remember the way out?"
"Go down the tunnel, turn left at the doorway, down the other tunnel, through the door and up the stairs." Chet said, remembering the way in his head.
Frank smiled. "Okay, be careful."
As Chet left, Frank looked in and found a manila envelope and a thin leather bound book. He reached in and brought them out and headed over to the desk.
He opened the manila envelope first. It wasn't sealed so he pulled out the papers and laid them on the desk to look at them. Right away he knew the equations were over his head. Phil on the other hand knew some of them and started studying them one page at a time.
"Well," Royce said impatiently. "are they my grandfather's formula?"
"Looks that way." Phil said, as he deciphered what was on the pages, shaking his head slowly back and forth. "This doesn't look good."
Frank in the meantime opened up the leather bound book and gasped.
"What is it?" Royce asked, as he glance over Frank's shoulder.
"It looks like your grandfather was building his own Frankenstein laboratory."
There were instructions and illustrations on how to create a human.
"Oh my God." Royce whispered, as the full impact hit him. "He's crazy!"
"What do we do?" Tony questioned.
"How do we stop him?" asked Biff.
"You will never get the chance to find out." a craggy voice said, from the doorway.
Frank's nose smell it before he even saw it.
They all looked up and saw a tall, thin, older man with grey hair and a pencil thin mustache with a goatee, standing in the room, leaning on a cane. His eyes were sunken in and he looked frail and sickly. So intent were they on the papers that they didn't hear the man come in. He was holding a Siamese cat, its tail flicking back and forth.
"Aachoo!" Frank bent over and sneezed again. He was highly allergic to cat dander. It was the reason Joe couldn't get one, as he loved cats.
"Grandfather!" Royce exclaimed.
"I knew you would betray me boy." he coughed. He looked worse than when Royce had seen him last. "I also have a strong suspicion that it was you who was poisoning me with arsenic in my wine at night."
"I quit doing that." Royce defended himself feebly.
Biff turned to look at him in astonishment, as did the others. But he just hated seeing it on Biff, especially. He lowered his eyes.
"Only when I had left to come back here. Funny about poison, grandson. It stays in the body until you either have an antidote or you die." the old man sneered. "Fortunately I have a good doctor who has a cure."
"Well…you killed my grandmother!" Royce accused, in a low menacing voice.
Arlon lifted his eyebrows in shock. "I did not!" he rasped. "I loved your grandmother, she was all I had."
"You may as well have. Those men robbed you because of your dirty schemes." Royce was furious. "I hate you!" he growled. "You took everyone I loved away from me."
Arlon stood gazing at his grandson. "I had no idea you felt that way."
Frank watched as his eyes played back and forth as in a volleyball match. He felt sorry for Royce, but not only did they need to leave, he was going to sneeze his brains out. His eyes were tearing up as he looked around for an escape but couldn't see a way out. Although they could probably just walk out since he was an old man and they were much stronger, let alone they outnumbered him, something told him they weren't alone. And this might just get ugly.
"You need to pay for all you've done. Especially this!" Royce pointed to the book in Frank's hands, which the Hardy boy promptly sneezed on. Then over to the ogre. "And that thing. Are you serious? You think you can actually play God?"
"No playing, just science." his grandfather laughed evilly. Then his eyes landed on all the boys. "But I'm afraid you've all come at a bad time, and I'm afraid I can't permit any of you to leave. And you all look like healthy specimens. Besides, I need Gerald's formula."
"You can't stop us old man." Tony went to go past Arlon to the door. Biff followed.
"Igor!" Arlon called.
Biff's eyebrows shot up and he mouthed at his friends. "Igor?"
The disfigured monster hobbled slowly into the room with his arms out. They could see the old sutures around his wrists and about his face. He and Tony quickly backed up.
"Frank!" Arlon called again.
Frank frowned and looked at his friends who all looked back at him, as he had a hand covering his mouth and nose. Then it made sense when they all saw the pieced together beast come through the door. He had short blond hair and fresh scars around his neck and wrists. He was barefoot but his feet didn't match.
"Holy shit!" Biff cried out.
They all started backing up to the wall. Tony and Biff hurried back to their friends. Tony stepped on something hard and flat and the next thing they knew there was a short hidden door under the classical composers that slid to the side. The boys turned and saw that this was their only escape.
"Don't let them get away!" they heard the madman cry out.
The boys ducked in and ran down a corridor along the wall.
"What the hell century are we in?" Tony half joked, running with the rest of them.
"This is a little too surreal isn't it?" Phil asked.
Frank could feel the need to sneeze dissipate as he looked for another door in the wall to escape through. Soon the corridor ended, but there was a ladder that led half way up the wall. It ended where it seemed another door was concealed. Low groans bellowed along the walls and raked eerily over their skin.
"Move!" Phil urged, pushing Tony ahead.
Tony hastily climbed up the ladder, hissing as a splinter gouged his hand and then the rest hurriedly flew up the rungs and through the door which opened after Tony had pushed on it. They dropped down to a dank dirt floor from where they scrambled through up next to the ceiling and into the adjacent room. They got dirty smears on their jeans and shirts where they'd wiped their soiled hands. They shown their lights around the room. They found themselves-a couple of centuries ahead this time-in the 1800s as they looked at an old rotting wooden table with an old scale for weighing gold. Standing up along the walls were pick axes, a stack of sieves, shovels, bundles of ropes, a saw hanging from a hook on the wall, two wheelbarrows, and a few knives on the table that looked like it would fall over with age. The walls were dirt with the same rough wood paneling as the tunnels, railroad ties supported the beams in the ceiling.
"Are you catching a cold?" Royce asked.
"Cat dander." Frank said, as his nose was still stuffy and his eyes were red.
"Ah." Royce nodded. "My grandfather loves them. Thank God he only has the one. I'm not allergic but I can't stand them myself."
"What kind of place is this?" Biff asked as he looked at the sieves that were used in panning for gold.
"This must be how they got the gold out so they wouldn't get robbed." Phil said.
"I read about it in an article for a school paper I was doing." Frank agreed. "They would get their gold and after they got what they wanted or could afford to take without getting caught, they used these tunnels for some form of transportation and to leave without threat of getting robbed."
"Well, the history lesson is nice but we need to get out of here." said Tony.
Royce pointed ahead, "We have to go out this doorway."
The room led out into another tunnel.
"Which way do we go?" Tony asked.
Frank calculated in his head that they where just next door to the one they were in, so as far as he was concerned they should go right back the way they came.
"This way." he said, confidently.
They only took a few steps when they heard the ogres' roar.
"Guess we don't go that way." Biff said, as he retreated to the left.
They shone their lights up ahead and kept to the single file as the tunnel wasn't big enough for two. Up ahead there was another door to their left but they kept on going. They jogged to get as far away from the monsters as possible. Tony in the lead with Frank next, then Royce, Biff and Phil bringing up the rear. As they got past the door, a hand was put over Phil's mouth and nose, jerking him to a halt and a syringe pierced his neck.