Chapter 13
The room where Stauf sat was simply described as a medium sized, dark round room. There were two semi-circle windows, but hardly any light shone in. Of course, that's the way it was with the whole house. The door slowly closed behind Joseph and Chris. Joseph remembered what would happen next, according to what happened in The 7th Guest.
Then, Joseph and Chris saw Stauf laughing evilly in a wooden, outdated wheelchair. Then, Heine and Tad came into view. "Bring him here!" ordered Stauf with a devilish grin across his face. Tad was trying to get out of Heine's grip, but he couldn't. Heine asked Stauf what her reward would be. Stauf laughed briefly and spit out a puddle of green slime at Heine's feet.
Heine cried, "You tricked me! You promised me!" She slowly sank through the slime and disappeared. After Heine was out of the picture, Stauf focused his attention on Tad. He opened his mouth and revealed his long, lizard-like tongue. It stretched out on its own and wrapped around Tad. It got a firm grip around Tad's waist. Stauf tried to defeat Tad by doing so. Tad eventually managed to yank off Stauf's tongue. Suddenly, the room suddenly shone brighter with a brief flash of light, and the details of the room were more noticeable. Stauf transformed into no more than a skeleton sitting in a wheelchair.
Then, Stauf and his wheelchair sank in a pool of lava right below him. Then, the room briefly dimmed, and then, it lit up in white light suddenly as Tad came up to Joseph and Chris. "You saved me! It's all been changed now. Now…and forever!" Tad said. Then, he turned into an orb and lifted up. Bright light was shining in the center of the ceiling. The orb was sucked into it, and then, it disappeared.
The light from the center of the ceiling slowly faded away, and the room became dark again. Joseph and Chris turned around and faced the door.
"Weird," Chris said.
"I know, but at least we're done with this place. WE'RE OUTTA HERE!" Joseph exclaimed. "Oh yeah, I wonder whatever happened to my book."
Then, the door slammed. The invisible force that had moved them before grabbed Joseph and Chris, and they floated to the center of the room. Then, the invisible force released them.
"Hey, Chris, I remember this. It was exactly the same thing that happened in our dreams!" Joseph said excitedly.
"Now that we know Stauf will eat us, let's trick him," Chris said sneakily. Joseph and Chris looked at each other sneakily.
Then, Stauf appeared in the wheelchair again. "HA HAA! I TOLD YOU IN YOUR DREAM, BUT YOU NEVER LISTENED, DID YOU?" Stauf sneered.
Then, Stauf opened his mouth wide open and lowered it to Joseph and Chris. Both boys moved to the side quickly, and as a result, Stauf leaned out of his wheelchair. He fell out of his wheelchair and traveled through the attic floor and fell far below. "You fooled me!" Stauf yelled as he was falling through the ground. Then, Stauf's soul returned to his grave.
Suddenly, the book faded in the center of the room. Joseph grabbed it, and then, Chris and he zoomed out of the attic rooms. They both zoomed down the stairs, down the hall, down the stairs, and then, stopped at the stained glass door. They stooped, opened the stained-glass door, and then, they ran out of the house.
Both boys hopped onto their bikes and pedaled away from the house. In Joseph's rear view mirror, Joseph could see Stauf opening the door, closing it, and running after them. Joseph was scared and told Chris, who wasn't aware.
When Chris heard Joseph telling him that, Chris sped far ahead of Joseph. "Wait up, don't let me be the victim!" Joseph said. Then, he sped faster away. Unfortunately, Stauf came even closer to Joseph and Chris. Finally, Joseph and Chris zoomed through the space between the trees and finally onto the street. Boy, they were glad to be out of there! They hadn't seen their neighborhood or sunlight for days! They calmly went up the steep road that led to Joseph's house, and then, the boys sped to Joseph's house.
Joseph and Chris rode through Joseph's front yard and jumped off their bikes. They ran into Joseph's house, though the foyer, and picked up the beige wall phone in the kitchen.
Joseph picked up the phone and dialed the police. "Why are you doing that?" Chris asked.
"There's something strange going on in the Stauf house. Stauf supposedly was supposed to disappear after we solved all the puzzles and saved Tad, but despite that, he's still lurking about. According to the book, it says that when all the puzzles are solved, Stauf is to be gone forever. Something must be going on there," Joseph said.
Finally, the police answered, and then, Joseph told them who was calling, where they lived, their phone numbers, a short summary about what happened in the Stauf house, and where the mansion was located. The police told Joseph and Chris to meet them in front of the Stauf house.
Joseph and Chris hung up the phone and ran out the front door and closed it. The boys got onto their bikes and pedaled to the Stauf house.
Five minutes later, the police arrived at the house. Joseph and the police met. The police were wearing blue uniforms with gold badges. Both of them were men. One was taller, and another was shorter. Their car was a four door blue Pontiac that was in need of repair in a few places. The police asked Joseph and Chris to tell them if they met anyone near the Stauf house. Joseph and Chris told them about Bob Carmichael and "Old Man" John.
"I'd think that Bob Carmichael probably has the most to do with this," the shorter man said. "If he looks like Stauf and says he's experienced what you have, he probably actually performed the scary happenings in the mansion. He's a great inventor, too, so he could make a lot of strange things happen." "But I don't think 'Old Man' John would have much to do with it," he continued.
"It's still possible that Bob Carmichael and he could have teamed up and tried to scare people away," the taller man said.
"We'll have them in court and see if they're guilty or not, and while that's taking place, we'll send four police officers to split up in the house and see if anything is going on. If nothing happens, it's probably them," the shorter man said. Then, both men got in the car and then, the shorter man drove down the narrow pathway. They stopped at the hill when they approached it, and the policemen hurried down the dirt stairs. Then, they ran as fast as they could to Bob Carmichael's house. An hour later, they returned, and they also had taken "Old Man" John with them. The policemen handcuffed both of them and instructed them to sit in the backseat. The policemen sat in the front seats in the car. The shorter man rolled his window down and said, "Tomorrow, we'll put them in court and have the four officers split up in the house and see if anything is going on. Then, the police drove away from the area and back on the street. Then, Joseph and Chris turned around and looked at the house. In the attic window, they saw an angry face of Stauf looking out the window at them.