"The Greedy Servants"
"Wow," said Mr. Krabs.
He, Squidward, and Patrick were standing at the front steps, looking up at Spongebob's mansion, which towered over them.
"Yeah, double-wow," said Squidward.
As the three visitors advanced up the steps, Patrick asked, "If Spongebob's so rich, how come he needs us?"
"I dunno," answered Squidward. "But if this is another one of his stupid pranks, he's gonna need a hospital."
The three of them reached the front door. Mr. Krabs grabbed the large doorknocker and knocked it against the door.
Philip the tarpon answered it. "Ahhh, Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs. We've been expecting you."
"Hey, look! A penguin!" said Patrick, who pointed at Philip's butler uniform.
As Philip ushered the guests into the room, Spongebob slammed the front door and quickly locked a long series of locks on it.
"Oh, thank Neptune you guys are here!" gasped Spongebob to his buddies. "Listen, I've learned that a curse has just killed off the last twelve barons and…gulp…I'm number thirteen!"
"First of all, give me one good reason why we should help you," said Squidward, who folded his tentacles across his chest.
"Yeah," added Mr. Krabs.
"Because," said Spongebob. "Because you're all my friends?" A big grin spread across his face.
"Gimme a better reason," retorted Squidward.
"Because, if you go, kchkkkk!" Spongebob slid his finger across his throat. "I go!"
Squidward sighed. "Okay. Ooookay! We'll protect Spongebob from the big bad boogey monsters." He rolled his eyes.
"Yeah," said Patrick. "With us around, you'll be just fine." Patrick then turned to Philip. "Hi. Where's the bathroom?" he whispered.
"Top of the stairs. Second right off to the third left."
"Thanks. And I mean it, buddy." Squidward then turned and headed up the stairs.
Soon, Mr. Krabs and Squidward were sitting on one end of the dining room table, while Spongebob was at the other end, inspecting the area around his chair for traps.
"So, what's on the menu for tonight?" asked Mr. Krabs.
"The final catch of the day, if I don't watch out," answered Spongebob, who looked under his chair. "This place is swarming with booby traps."
"'Booby' is right," said Squidward to Mr. Krabs.
Spongebob slowly sat down in his seat and breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, he heard a sound above him. Spongebob looked up and was shocked to see a huge chandelier dangling above his head!
"Uh, hey, Squidward? Mr. Krabs? How about we switch places?" Spongebob asked as he got out of his seat.
Mr. Krabs and Squidward sighed. "Okay," they said.
As Spongebob walked towards the other end of the table, he looked up and discovered that the chandelier was following him along the ceiling!
"AAAAAUGH!!!" he screamed again. When he got to a chair, Spongebob saw a bucket of ice with a champagne bottle in it. Quickly, Spongebob tossed out the ice and bottle and put the bucket over his head, fearing the chandelier would crash down on him at any moment.
"Dinnertime," said Olga, who brought in a big covered dish on a cart.
Spongebob grabbed a fire extinguisher. "If it's a cake, call the fire department!"
"Tonight, we will be serving a von Bleuenlond family favorite," said Olga eagerly.
"Really? What?" asked Squidward.
Olga lifted the cover to reveal, "Kelp cupcakes!"
"AAAAUGH!!! DON'T LET 'EM GET ME!!!" shouted Spongebob, who leaped out of his seat and ran from the room screaming.
Meanwhile, at the top of the stairs, Patrick observed seven hallways in front of him, each going in a different direction. "Let's see," said Patrick to himself. "Three left and two right…or was it two left and three right?"
That night, Spongebob locked up a long series of locks on his bedroom door. Gary meowed.
"Yes, Gary, I need this extra security," Spongebob said as his closed a final giant combination lock. "Let's see a curse get through that."
He then stepped up to his bed and pulled away the sheets. At that moment, a candelabrum on the wall behind Spongebob leaned over until the candles were aimed right at Spongebob. Suddenly, jets of flame roared from the candelabrum!
"YYYEEEEOOOWWW!!" shouted Spongebob who flew over his bed and into the wall. The moment Spongebob made contact with the wall, the wall swung 180 degrees! Spongebob was now stumbling backwards in a dark, stone hallway. Spongebob's back made contact with something standing against the opposite wall. Spongebob looked up and saw a knight's suit of armor carrying a huge metal ax! With a start, Spongebob realized the armor was tipping over. Spongebob raced back against the previous wall and flattened his back against it. The wall swung around and Spongebob was back in his bedroom. A giant crash on the other side of the wall told him that the armor had fallen over.
Spongebob had frozen up for a moment, but then he began screaming and running in circles around Gary. Then, Spongebob crashed through his door (leaving a Spongebob-shaped hole) and opened up Squidward's door, which was right across the hall.
Squidward had the unfortunate luck of sleeping in the honeymoon suite, so Spongebob ran into a room filled with pink fabrics and cherub sculptures.
"Now what?" asked Squidward, when he was woken up by Spongebob's screaming.
"Squidward?" asked Spongebob at the side of Squidward's bed. "Can I sleep in your room?"
"No, you may not sleep in my room, Spongebob."
"B-But it's spook central in my room! Please!"
Squidward sighed and got out of bed. "Anything for a little sleep," he groaned.
"Oh, thanks Squidward. You're a pal."
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the castle, Patrick was still looking for the bathroom. "Three left and three right," he said, as he turned a corner. "Is this my right or the hallway's?"
When Squidward was gone, Spongebob observed his surroundings. He looked at all the Cupid statues and their little bows and arrows. At least there weren't any monsters or things like that. With that Spongebob sat down in the bed.
Just then, a 'whip' sound was heard and something whooshed by the top of Spongebob's head. Spongebob looked at his pillow and gasped. His nightcap was pinned to the pillow with an arrow! As he watched, two more arrows landed in the pillow.
Spongebob turned and saw a line of Cupid statues appear, their arrows pulled back in their bows. More statues appeared on the other side of the room. It wasn't long before the room was filled with flying arrows and Spongebob was dancing all over the place trying to dodge them. All the while, Spongebob was whooping and hollering and screaming "HELP!!" at the top of his lungs.
Across the hall, Squidward heard Spongebob scream and got out of bed. "If that curse doesn't kill him, I will," he grumbled.
Squidward met Mr. Krabs in the hall.
"What in the name of Davey Jones's locker is all that screaming?" asked Mr. Krabs in his pajamas.
"It must be the 'curse'," muttered Squidward who opened up Spongebob's room. "Spongebob would you please…" Squidward and Mr. Krabs gasped at what they saw.
Spongebob was up against the wall in an odd position with arrows that had just missed him and were embedded in the wall. "Help," squeaked Spongebob.
Then, everyone heard a rumbling sound. Everyone turned and was shocked to see a grand piano racing towards Spongebob! A Cupid statue on the piano had an arrow aimed right at the middle of Spongebob's body.
"HEEEEELP…whoa!" yelled Spongebob, who was immediately whisked away by a tentacle and a crab claw.
CRASH went the piano as Spongebob, Mr. Krabs, and Squidward collapsed into the hall.
"Good gravy, that was close!" said Mr. Krabs, catching his breath.
"Spongebob, I'm so sorry I didn't believe you before. You really are cursed!" exclaimed Squidward.
Spongebob hugged Gary who had wandered into the hall. "Mr. Krabs?" said Spongebob, "If I ever get out of here, I'm gonna have to work overtime for this."
"Well the sooner we get out of here, the better. C'mon!" said Squidward, pulling on Spongebob's arm.
"Wait a minute!" said Spongebob. "Where's Patrick?"
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the castle, Patrick was still looking for the bathroom. "So you take the three rights times two and subtract two lefts…and then you divide by the common denominator and put the decimal in…uh…in the middle…times the first two lefts…"
"Patrick?" whispered Mr. Krabs. He and Squidward were traveling down a darkly lit hallway.
"Patrick, get out here you big lummox," whispered Squidward loudly.
A few stories above them, Spongebob had put on a sponge-sized suit of armor. "Patrick?" he whispered down a hallway.
"Hey," said Squidward to Mr. Krabs. "Do you hear something?"
"Yeah," said Mr. Krabs. "It's coming from the other side of this wall." He and Squidward immediately put their heads against the wall.
On the other side of the wall, Philip and Olga were talking to each other in the kitchen.
"That sponge is certainly a 'finful' isn't he?" asked Olga.
"I know," replied Philip. "Father didn't have this much trouble with the twelfth baron, I can assure you."
"Well, you won't have to worry much longer," said Olga. "As soon as we knock off the last of the barons, there will be no one left to inherit this place. The castle will be ours at last!" Olga let out a witch-like cackle.
"I don't believe it," whispered Squidward. "They've been behind this curse all along!"
"Or at least Spongebob's curse," added Mr. Krabs. "I say we….AAAAUGH!!!"
"What?" asked Squidward. He turned and saw to his horror, a large slug on the ground! It was, in fact, the slug that Spongebob almost had for dinner last night! Mr. Krabs was so startled by the slug that he climbed up on Squidward's head, and both of them began yelling and hollering.
If Squidward and Mr. Krabs could hear Philip and Olga through the wall, that meant the opposite was true as well. Philip and Olga smiled evilly at each other for a moment. Then, Philip reached up and pulled on one of the hanging pots above his head. The wall immediately spun 360 degrees, which caused Squidward and Mr. Krabs to slide into the kitchen on their tummies.
"Hello there," said Philip. He quickly reached up and pulled on a different pot. A trap door suddenly opened up under Squidward and Mr. Krabs. Both of them fell a considerable distance before they landed on a spit. On the spit was a rope, which Mr. Krabs and Squidward grabbed onto. They fell towards an open fire pit before the rope yanked them back up like a yo-yo. The two got wrapped up on the spit by the rope and hung there for dear life.
"I guess we can add calamari and crab legs on our menu!" shouted Olga before she cackled evilly again. Mr. Krabs and Squidward began crying out for help as the fire continued flaming below them.
Final chapter up next!