Read Online Trapped in Transylvania by Tony Abbott - Free Book Online Page A

went back to Frankie to tell her about Lucy’s mom and the coming feast when we heard a bunch of noise from outside. Taking one last look to see that Lucy was okay, we hurried downstairs to look. We crept past Dr. Seward who was asleep in a chair and went out the front door to the path.
    Peering through the storm at the harbor below, we saw several long wagons and a group of men unloading something from the abandoned ship. With all the scraping and dragging, they were making quite a racket.
    We watched for a while before we saw what they were unloading. When we did see, we were stunned.
    â€œThe boxes!” I gasped. “I almost forgot about them. They’re taking the boxes away! Ooh, that’s probably not so good. Where are they taking them?”
    Frankie opened the book. “The words are too fuzzy to read. But I bet we’ll find out before too long. And I bet wherever they go, we’ll be following. I smell another change of setting coming up.”
    â€œAnd I smell tomato sauce!” I said, turning back to the house. “Let’s go stuff ourselves until we’re sick!”
    â€œOr just before!” Frankie added.
    The feast was delicious. Frankie and I gobbled two whole platters of the stringy stuff, then asked Mrs. Westenra for seconds, thirds, and fourths.
    â€œBook food is good,” I said as I slurped down the last strand of spaghetti. “I feel not so empty now.”
    â€œIt’s the garlic that makes the difference,” the cook said. “It spices up the sauce something wonderful. No need to have Lucy’s room so stuffy with all that garlic!”
    â€œGarlic?” said Frankie. She opened the book. “But—”
    Suddenly— wham! —the front door burst open.
    â€œPatient is how?” boomed a voice. A moment later, Van Helsing stormed into the kitchen to find us up to our ears in spaghetti sauce.
    â€œPatient Lucy!” he repeated. “How is?”
    Mrs. Westenra made a little bow. “Well, if she’s better, I’m the one who’s done it!”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” asked Dr. Seward, coming into the kitchen rubbing his eyes. “I say, what’s going on?”
    Lucy’s mother smiled. “I was looking for some ingredients for sauce for the young master—”
    I raised my hand. “That would be me.”
    â€œWell, and don’t you know my nose told me there was something pungent in my Lucy’s room!” the lady went on. “So I went in there and my! I found just what I was looking for. Garlic. Lots of it. Oh, but it spices the sauce something wonderful!”
    Van Helsing’s face turned as gray as his raincoat. He began to shake and shudder and sputter and spit.
    â€œBut … achhh!” the man exploded. “It was garlic on the Lucy to protect her from vampires! Now! Now! To the Lucy—let us hurry!”
    Van Helsing led the charge on Lucy’s room. He battered open the door with his fists only to find Lucy’s window shattered and a huge black bat with red eyes fluttering out.
    â€œAch! My strudel! No!” Van Helsing cried.
    There on the bed lay poor Lucy. She was more white and pale than ever. Even her lips were white, and her gums seemed to have shrunk back from her teeth, which were longer and sharper than before.
    â€œThe fiend has been here and Lucy’s blood is gone!” Van Helsing shouted. “We need blood to go in her, not out!”
    â€œHurry!” cried Dr. Seward. “Hurry, or Lucy will die!”
    Stunned at how things were suddenly going, I opened the book and read as fast as I could for the next hour.
    With Van Helsing helping, Dr. Seward gave Lucy a blood transfusion. That’s where you take blood from a healthy person and give it to a sick person. It worked for a while, but then Lucy got weak again. I kept reading and found out that the next night there was a big black bird at her window. The night after that