zombie once again. “What now?” she said.
The creature gave a gentle moan and handed Cleo a single, dead flower. Then, sighing heavily, he turned and limped slowly away towards his tunnel.
“You know,” said Cleo as she joined Luke, Resus and a trembling Sir Otto beneath the stage, “I’ve really changed my opinion of zombies!”
“And I’ve changed my opinion of werewolves,” said a voice. Luke spun round to find Vein crawling under the stage towards them.
“I was worried about what giving you my relic would do to me,” admitted the zombie. “What I didn’t consider is what you would do for others.”
“What do you mean?” asked Luke.
Vein gestured towards Sir Otto. “You saved this man, even though he tried to take everything from you! That’s the bravest thing I’ve ever seen; it made me realize that I need to be brave too.”
Opening his mouth, Vein grabbed hold of his tongue and pulled. With a sickening squelch, the muscle tore away.
“Ih i or ooh,”
he mumbled, handing over the quivering chunk of flesh.
“But — the band!” said Luke. “Your career …”
“Vein is going to be the band’s manager from now on,” said Tee, appearing beside them. “They’ve got a new singer.”
“You …?” exclaimed Cleo, throwing her arms around her new friend. “But what happened to finding out who you really are?”
“I know who I am now,” smiled Tee. “I’m a zombie.”
“If this gets any mushier, I think I might throw up,” grinned Resus, pretending to be sick.
“Sneer’s gone!” exclaimed Luke, interrupting him.
Sir Otto was nowhere to be seen. Resus lifted the cloth in time to see the landlord scurrying away towards the gates of Sneer Hall. “I guess he just about gets away with it — this time.”
“I suppose so,” agreed Luke.
“Er, not quite,” admitted Cleo. “While you were busy taking pixies from the Underlands, I was leaving something behind …”
“What?” Luke asked cautiously. There was a flash of green light and a heavy thud shook the stage above them.
“I wrote down the lyrics to ‘Zombie Feasting Time’,” grinned the mummy. “The Tooth Fairymust have found them somehow and joined in with the song.”
“Whoa, momma!” bellowed the Tooth Fairy, leaping to the ground and chasing after Sir Otto. “Let me get a look at those pearly whites!”
“You gave the Tooth Fairy her freedom?” asked Resus.
Cleo nodded. “In return for these,” she said, opening her hand.
“My fangs!” exclaimed Resus, snatching them up.
“Well,” beamed Cleo, “what’s a vampire without them?”
“Still no sign of the pixies, then,” said Luke as he unfastened a section of the stage and handed it to Porridge.
“I think they must have followed the zombies into the tunnels,” said Resus. “With any luck, they’ll fly into a Hex Hatch and wind up back in the Underlands.”
“I hope it’s not the same one we’ll be using to get this lot to our next gig,” said Jazpants, loading another piece of the stage into the tour bus.
“Where’s your next concert?” asked Cleo.
“Norway,” replied the zombie. “We’ve got a huge following among the trolls.”
“They’re funny!” said Twonk, lumbering over with a pile of drum cases. “I bet they love our new lead simper, too.”
“Lead
singer!”
shouted everyone together.
“Oh, yeah!”
“Speaking of which,” added Porridge, “where is the little chap?”
“Here,” said Tee, emerging from the doors of Everwell’s Emporium. “Vein’s been helping me find a new look,” he added shyly. The young zombie twirled to show off his new leather jacket, ripped jeans and scarlet bandana.
“You’re the best-dressed zombie I’ve ever seen,” grinned Luke.
“These are yours,” said Tee, handing the sunglasses back to Resus.
The vampire shook his head. “You keep them,” he smiled. “Unless you want to end up a slave to injections like old inky-eyes over there!”
Vein smiled
Rev. W. Awdry
Michael Baron
Parker Kincade
Dani Matthews
C.S. Lewis
Margaret Maron
David Gilmour
Elizabeth Hunter
Melody Grace
Wynne Channing