7 Lord Midnight's curse

Chapter 7 Lord Midnight's curse Once Adam and Sally had settled down, the old man began. I've seen dreadful things at Twelve Bells End. "I'm Frank Forthright," he said, "and I used to be the Midnights' gardener."

"For the last fifteen years, the family has been under a dreadful curse. Every year, on the twelfth day of the twelfth month, another victim is struck down." "It always happens on the twelfth stroke of midnight. Some victims are killed instantly and their ghosts haunt the house. Others survive, but they are never the same again."

"There's Posy, who used to be a dancer. She had a bad fall and turned soccer crazy." "Young Joker slipped on a banana skin and started finding mathematics more funny than jokes." "Then, two years ago, Mervin the banker was hit on the head. Now he wants to join the circus.

"And, of course, there's your cousin Max. After his accident last year, he only wants to eat really disgusting food." Mmmm! "So all those people at dinner are victims of the Midnight curse..." said Sally. That's why they're so odd!

"And the ghosts that haunt our room are victims too," added Adam with a shiver. "But why are the Midnights cursed?" "Look here," said Frank, reaching for a book. He thumbed through the pages, to a picture of a silver urn. "See the dark blue stone set in the urn," he said. "That's the Midnight Stone and it's the cause of all the trouble." Adam and Sally studied the page.

The Curse of the Midnight Stone The Midnight Stone has always been a Midnight family treasure. Set in an antique silver urn, the stone can never leave Twelve Bells End. If someone removes it from the urn, a curse will Fall on the whole Midnight family. The curse can only be broken if a member of the family returns the stone to its proper place. "I've seen that old urn by the staircase," said Adam. "But who removed the stone?" Frank gave a sigh. "Archibald Midnight. He was a wicked man."