Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7 WHILE THE MAN IN THE tall top hat and his crow assistant performed their final test to be absolutely certain the villagers were under their complete control, Franky, Vampyra, and George were putting their tickets to use. "Time for a little detective work," said Vampyra. Franky opened his Junior Monster Scout handbook and turned to the list of merit badges. "You know," he said, "I'll bet we can even get our Mystery Merit Badges if we solve this case." "I think you're right," said Vampyra. "This sure sounds like a mystery to me!"

Franky, Vampyra, and George placed their tickets in the ticket box and climbed up the steps and through the door of the Fun House of Fun. Sprocket waited outside. The inside was, as you and I know, very fun. There was fun music playing, fun rugs on the ground, fun paint on the walls, and a very, very fun mirror right in the middle of the room. "Haha," said Franky. "I look super tall. The mirror stretched me out!" "Look at me," said Vampyra. "I look shorter and kind of flat!" "Aw, rats," said George. "I don't see anything at all." "Did someone say 'rats'?" said a very large rat, gnawing on a hunk of cheese. That was Boris, and he lived in the basement of Castle Dracula with all of the other rats. They were always sticking their cheese-covered noses into everyone's

business. Boris was not alone. There were several other rats with him. But it was a good thing that Boris and the rats did stick their cheese-covered noses into this business because just as the Junior Monster Scouts were staring at the mirror, their eyes began to turn swirly and spiral and lose all focus… "Hey! Junior Monster Scouts," said Boris the rat. "We're talking to you. Over here! Wow… that's a fun mirror!"

Vampyra, Franky, and George heard Boris and turned from the mirror just in time. "Boris, what are you doing here?" asked Vampyra. "Hey, look at their eyes!" Franky said. "They're swirly spirals, just like everyone's outside!" George said Sure enough, Boris and the rats weren't eating their cheese anymore, and Boris didn't answer Vampyra's question. It wasn't because they were being rude—it was because they were hypnotized! Have you ever been hypnotized? No? I want you to do something. On the count of three, I want you to quack like a duck. Do you know how to quack like a duck? I'll bet you do. Okay, ready? One… two… three! Ah, very good. But guess what? I just hypnotized you! I made you quack like a duck. That was exactly what was happening to Boris and the rats, and Wolfy and the

cubs, and Peter, the mayor, the villagers… Wow, that is a lot of quacking and mooing and clucking and barking. That is a lot of noise. And do you know who doesn't like noise? Baron Von Grump. Which is why, at that exact moment, he made everyone stop making animal noises. No more quacking. No more mooing. No more clucking or barking. He made everyone be quiet. "Silence!" he said.

Everyone was absolutely silent. He took off his tall top hat and removed the rest of his disguise. "Ah, do you hear that, Edgar?" he asked. "Caw?" Edgar asked. "Exactly," said Baron Von Grump. "There's nothing to hear. Nothing! Because finally, the day has come. Finally, the villagers are quiet. No gum chewing, no smiling, no accordions or 'Hello, how do you do?' No walking, no talking, no singing or kite flying. Absolute silence.