Chapter 5
As they entered the dining room, they saw the gorgeous plates and silverware placed on the table.
"The dining room is beautiful, Mr. Smithee."
"Thank you, Ms. Blake. But, I'm afraid your dogs will have to eat in the kitchen."
"May I make a suggestion, Mr. Smithee? Belle asked. "Why don't we let Amber and Scooby eat in The Mystery Machine so that way if there are cats in the kitchen, they won't chase after them."
"Good idea, Ms. Blake . Why don't you go ahead and take them to your 'Mystery Machine' and I'll fix them some plates." He said as Belle took Amber and Scooby to the van. As she did, she felt nauseous and collapsed onto the floor.
"Belle!" Daphne and Flim Flam shouted as they got up from the table and ran toward her.
"Oh, dear. Is she ok?" Linda shouted as her and Mona ran toward her.
"We'll take her outside to get some fresh air." Daphne said as Flim Flam carried her into the van.
"I'll get her some water." Mona said running back into the house toward the kitchen.
Belle opened her eyes and realized she wasn't on the floor anymore. She was back in the cave and this time, Edgar, Mona and Linda were there.
"What are we going to do about the girl? She'll ruin everything." Mona asked
"Don't worry about her, Simone. Everything is under control. She'll be the first to be drained of her lifeforce and then we'll have all the power to live for hundreds even thousands of years. Won't that be grand, Isabella?" He said as he turned his head to see Belle hiding behind the wall. He charged at her and as he did, she vanished.
He growled and said, "Like I said, everything is under control."
Belle rose with great shock as she looked at Edgar, giving her a evil look on his face. Suddenly, the wind started to blow and the clouds started to form a circular cloud and green light struck from the cloud and into the ground below.
"No! Not again." Daphne said as she hugged Belle like a teddy bear as she watched people rising from the ground.
"Zoinks! It's a regular zombie jamboree all over again!"
"Hurry, get back to the hotel." Fred said as they ran back to the hotel and bolted the doors.
"That should keep them out." Linda said.
"What are we going to do? We can't stay here when there are zombies out there."
"We don't have to, follow me." Edgar said as they followed him toward the stairs and twisted the handle until the stairs opened into a secret staircase to a tunnel. Belle realized it was the same one her and Flim Flam came through.
"Since when was there a passageway in the stairs?" Fred asked
"We were wondering the same thing at first. But we soon learned that this was built during the civil war to hide from Union soldiers." Linda said as they entered the secret passage way.
They walked through the tunnel for a while until they reached two tunnels.
"This way." Edgar said as they walked toward a door which led to the lair that Belle and Flim Flam saw earlier.
"Like, Where are we?"
"This looks familiar, haven't we been here before?"
"Why don't you guys ask these three?" Belle said.
"What are you talking about, Belle?" Billy asked.
"Haven't you figured it out yet? This is where the cat people tried to steal our families lifeforce the last time they were here and those three are cat creatures." Belle said.
Edgar clapped his hands slowly "Very clever, Isabella, but it's too late." He said as he laughed with evil in his eyes. In his hands, he held two dolls in his hands which looked like Daphne and Velma and placed them faced down on the wall. As he did, Daphne and Velma flew toward the cave walls, then Fred and soon everyone was on the same wall.
"I guess these dolls do come in handy, don't they." He said as Mona and Linda placed the dolls in front of the cat god statue. "The harvest will so reach the midnight point on the moondial and then the ceremony will begin."
"What ceremony and what are you planning to do to us?" Billy asked
"The ceremony where every harvest moon we must drain the lifeforce from people lured to the island to give us power and immortality." He said as he started to change into a monster which made everyone gasp.
"You won't get away with this, Edgar!"
"We've been getting away with it for a few hundred years, haven't we, Isabella?"
"What does she mean, Belle?" Fred asked in shock.
"Didn't she tell you, Fred? She is a witch who knew who we really were from the beginning."
"Is that true, Belle?" He asked as Belle lowered her head with a sad look on her face.
Suddenly, Belle was lifted off of the ground and started to fly toward Edgar who was holding Belle's doll. Mona and Linda pulled her to the ground as she flew closer.
"If you're as old as you say you are, then I'll bet you three are the ones who found Moonscar's lost treasure." Velma said
"Don't mention that name, he was the cause of all of this and the destruction of my ancestors Lena and Simone few years later by your parents. Luckily, I was able to bring them back by using the pendant and this spell I got from that gypsy woman."
"Carlotta?! What did you do to her?" Belle shouted.
"She refused to give it to me. So, I cast a hypnotic spell on her and she wouldn't have had a choice but to give the spell to me. She must've woke up and warned you about this place. That's why I came back after you left with the pendent and I brung her here. Lena, will you go get Carlotta and bring her here?"
"My pleasure." She said as she walked toward a wooden door which used to be a prison for the victims lured to the island. Lena opened the door and out came Carlotta who looked like she was in a fight with Edgar.
"What are you going to do to her, you monster?"
"Simple, she will be the first to go." He said as they grabbed her and started to drain her and as they did, Belle suddenly broke free and charged at the creatures with her magic shield to save Carlotta. She threw her shield toward them and they flew back as they were wacked in the head with Belle's shield. She ran to Carlotta who almost looked like a zombie.
"Are you ok?" She asked as she grabbed Carlotta by the shoulders. Suddenly, Carlotta's zombie face started o change back to her young self.
"Thank you, I was beginning to feel like a raisin." Carlotta said as Belle helped her back up on her feet.
"Hurry, go free my friends and family, I'll take care of these three."
Carlotta ran toward the cat god statue and started untying the gang from their voodoo dolls. As she did, she turned around and saw Edgar, Lena and Simone getting back up. "Belle, look out!"
Belle turned around and saw Edgar, Lena and Simone back on their feet.
"We've had enough of you, you meddling girl." He said as they started to change into werecats. After they changed, they charged at Belle who was ready to fight the three werecats. Carlotta grabbed Belle by the arm and started to run.
"This way!" She said as they ran toward the exit. As they drew closer, a werecat stood in front of them. It was Jack, the ferry captain, he was a werecat too. They ran in the other direction away from Jack, the werecat and headed toward the door that Belle and Flim Flam went through to escape the zombies the first time. They ran toward the door and as they did, the door burst into pieces revealing the zombies that Belle saw earlier. They had come to the rescue and walked toward the werecats.
"Hurry, now's our chance to escape." Carlotta said as they all ran toward the broken door and toward the secret passageway which led back toward the house. As they ran, the werecats were right behind them.
"Like, their gaining on us." Shaggy shouted as they reached the passageway entrance.
"Hurry, help me get this down." They pulled the stairs down and ran up into the house. Belle grabbed the handle and pulled the stairs back up.
"They won't be following us anytime soon." Belle said. Suddenly, the werecats bursted through the passageway and landed in front of the gang. They started to draw closer toward the gang and Belle drew her magic shield out to protect them. Jack whacked the shield out of Belle's hand and onto the floor. They were trapped until Belle thought of something.
"Flim Flam, what time is it?"
"You're worrying about the time now?"
"Just tell me!"
"It's about to be midnight in 3…2…1."
Suddenly, the werecats started to scream in pain as smoked rose from their bodies.
"Looks like your nine lives are up, Edgar." She said as they watched in shock as the werecats turn into dust. Soon, the zombie drew closer toward the gang and as they did, they started to turn back into skeletons and the green light started to appear in front of the gang as a giant floating ball. The doors suddenly opened and the green light flew through the doors and into the sky and vanished like a baseball from a home run.
"Is it over, Carlotta?"
"It's over, the zombies are finally at peace once more."
"Hopefully, we stopped all of them." Daphne said.
"We'll go check just to make sure. Belle said as her and Flim Flam went back toward the lair door and looked around. They walked toward the moondial and Belle noticed something in the shadows.
"Please don't let that be another werecat." Belle said as they drew closer toward they eyes staring at them. It was a little kitten with more cats following behind.
"Whew, at least it wasn't a werecat."
"Or more of Moonscar's zombie crew."
Suddenly, the cats walked toward a spot in the cave and started to dig. They were curious as to why the cats were digging in that spot. Belle casted a digging spell and the hole was soon turning into a pit until it hit something. Belle got into the hole and pulled the mysterious box out of the ground. Flim Flam grabbed the other half of the box and placed it down on the ground. As Belle got out of the hole, they started to open the box and their mouths dropped with complete shock. They had found the lost treasure of Morgan Moonscar.
"I can't believe it, we've actually found Moonscar's lost treasure." She said as she hugged Flim Flam. "Thanks to you cats. We better bring this back up to the rest of the gang." They carried the chest back with them to the gang.
As they carried the chest back up the stairs, the gang's mouth dropped in shock.
"Is that…..?" Daphne almost asked.
"The treasure of Morgan Moonscar."
"I thought it wasn't real?" Velma asked.
"It's real all right." Flim Flam said.
"Wow, this is….Incredible!" Daphne said with excitement as she looked at the treasure. The chest was filled with crowns, jewelry, and a lot of coins from the time of Moonscar.
"What do you think we should do with it?" Fred asked.
"We'll figure that out once we get off the island." Daphne said
"But what about the cats? We can't let them stay here without someone to take care of them." Belle asked as she patted one of the cats on the head.
"We'll take them with us and they can come live with me until I find them good homes." Carlotta said as she picked up a white, snowy kitten and placed it on her chest.