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- Herausgeber: Little Tiger Press
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012
Join Stitch Head, a mad professor's forgotten creation, as he steps out of the shadows into the adventure of an almost-lifetime… WhenStitch Head sees his ice-blue eye for the very first time, he's convinced that it once belonged to the legendary pirate, Captain Flashpowder. Could it be that he is part-pirate? But as Stitch Head prepares for a life on the high seas, some fishy business closer to home puts a stop to his swashbuckling plans…
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Seitenzahl: 84
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To Mum and Dad
~ GUY BASS
For Alice Ballard - a book for big school!
~ PETE WILLIAMSON
CONTENTS
Foreword
Prologue
Yesteryear! What a wonderful time it was. Yesteryear was filled with song and cheer, with funny hats and moustaches and horses pulling carts, with cobbled streets and expressions like “Lawks-a-mussy!” and “Hooken-snivey!”. Yes, all in all, yesteryear was just about the most charming time to be alive.
Unless you lived in the small town of Grubbers Nubbin, that is. For in Grubbers Nubbin, even on the brightest day, a dark shadow fell upon the town. The shadow of
CASTLE GROTTESKEW.
High on a hill above the town loomed the castle. It had loomed there since before anyone could remember. The castle was home to the maddest of mad professors, Mad Professor Erasmus. For more years than it is possible to count on four people’s fingers, the professor had busied himself creating hundreds of monstrous, unearthly creatures.
The very first of his creations was a small, almost-human creature that the professor had named
Stitch Head was a jigsaw of bits, pieces and spare parts. His bald, round head was covered with stitches, and his eyes were different colours and sizes. One was black and forgettable, but the other was a bright, ice-blue orb that shimmered like the ocean on a cloudless morning.
Long since forgotten by his master, Stitch Head spent his days hiding in the darkest shadows of the castle, silently watching over the professor and his many creations. Fortunately, the castle’s inhabitants rarely caused trouble. After all, they were some of the nicest unnatural horrors you were ever likely to meet.
But they hardly ever started out that way.
The First Chapter
“RUN!”
Stitch Head raced down the moonlit corridor, his mismatched eyes flashing with fear. He had a small bag slung over his shoulder, which clanked and clinked as he ran. In his tiny hand he gripped an ink-blue bottle.
“Empty…” he whispered – and looked behind him.
“Oh … oh no. It’s here!”
A strange-looking, three-armed creature appeared from the gloom, stampeding after him. It was a hulking, beastly thing with a terrifying combination of monstrously abnormal parts. It charged along the corridor, gaining on Stitch Head with every step. Then, when it was almost upon him, its ear-piercing roar filled the air…
“WAAA-AAAHH! Faster, Stitch Head! It’s going to EAT us to PIECES!” cried the Creature. Stitch Head and the Creature both glanced back. Behind them, in the dim light of the corridor, emerged another monster. It was huge – five times bigger than the Creature, and an impossible combination of octopus, sea snake, squid and upside-down-faced horribleness. It writhed its way towards them, roaring and screeching so loudly that it cracked the castle walls.
“GRREAAEOOORRGH!”
“I thought your POTION was meant to CURE it of its monstrousness!” cried the Creature (who, as it still hadn’t fixed upon a name for itself, was just called the Creature).
“It was!” cried Stitch Head, searching in his potion bag as he tore down the corridor. “We’re going to need a bigger dose!”
“WHAT do you think it’s so GRUMPY about, anyway? It’s only been almost-alive for FIVE MINUTES…” cried the Creature. “Maybe it didn’t WANT to be brought to almost-life…”
“It’s the Root of All Evil!” panted Stitch Head, as the shadow of the octo-monster loomed over them. “The professor’s been growing the root in his laboratory … he must have added it to his creation! It’s made it … bad. I thought my Serenity Salve would cure it but—”
“GRREAAEOOORRGH!”
The tentacled octo-monster launched itself towards them with all its mad might. Stitch Head and the Creature leaped aside as the beast crashed through the floor, plummeting to the level below.
The Creature dusted itself off and peered though the hole left by the octo-monster.
“Well, THAT was a stroke of LUCK,” it said. A moment later, the remainder of the ancient floor crumbled beneath their feet. Stitch Head and the Creature plunged to the lower level with an “AAAAH!” and a cascade of rubble.
The Second Chapter
“Creature?” whimpered Stitch Head, dragging himself to his feet. He looked around, but all he could see was rubble. Where was it? “Creature? Are you—”
A vast, dark shadow fell over Stitch Head. He heard a deep, rumbling growl and felt hot breath on the back of his head.
“Uh-oh…” he said in a tiny, imperilled whisper. He turned slowly to see the octo-monster looming over him.
“GREOORGH!”
The octo-monster roared in Stitch Head’s face, almost knocking him over with the force and foulness of its breath. Stitch Head stared into the beast’s mouth, frozen with fear. This was the end. Silvery drool dripped like treacle from the octo-monster’s hundred-toothed jaws as it closed in…
“Oi! Snot-breath! Don’t make me come down there and smash your nose off!” came a cry. The octo-monster whirled round and looked up at the hole in the ceiling. There, standing on the edge, was a thin, scruffylooking girl.
“Arabella…” whispered Stitch Head, peering up.
Arabella was a girl from Grubbers Nubbin and, apart from the professor, was the only human being Stitch Head could call a friend. Unlike the other townsfolk, Arabella couldn’t get enough of the monsters, creatures and mad things in Castle Grotteskew. In fact, Stitch Head was pretty sure she wasn’t scared of anything.
Even if she was about to be eaten.
“Arabella, get out of here!” shouted Stitch Head. “RUN!”
“GREOOOOAAAEEGH!”
The octo-monster reared up to its full height, its tentacles flailing madly. But Arabella didn’t budge. She just shook her head and pointed to her shoes.
“You see these?” said Arabella. “These are my brand-new kicking boots. They’re polished up all nice and gleamy, so you’ll be able to see your face in ’em when I kick it in…”
The octo-monster slithered up the wall and propelled itself through the hole with another rage-filled scream.
“ARABELLA! Hang on!” screamed Stitch Head, as the octo-monster wrapped one of its tentacles around Arabella and held her over the hole.
“I’ll kick you into next week!” she growled, as the octo-monster gnashed its jaws…
“GREOO…ooR…GReorhh… uhhh…?”
Suddenly, the octo-monster shook its head and rubbed its huge, black eyes with two of its tentacles.
“My dear child, I must apologize unreservedly for such improper behaviour,” it said – in a soft, eerily polite tone. “I cannot for the almost-life of me imagine what could have prompted such abominable conduct! Although I confess I don’t remember anything at all… Even my own name. I simply must choose one – being nameless feels quite unseemly.”
“TELL me about it,” sighed the Creature.
“The Serenity Salve,” whispered Stitch Head. “It’s working…”
“Yeah, well, count yourself lucky,” huffed a disappointed Arabella. “I was just about to get kicky all over your face.”
“Then I am profoundly grateful I came to my senses when I did,” said the octo-monster, lowering Arabella through the hole and placing her delicately on the ground.
“Now, if you’ll be kind enough to allow me to take my leave, I suddenly feel rather dehydrated,” continued the octo-monster. “Is there perchance a body of water in which I might take up residence?”
“There’s … uh, there’s a moat round the castle,” said Stitch Head. “You can get to it via the sewer pipes – if you can squeeze through them…”
“A capital suggestion! My humblest thanks,” said the octo-monster. “And if I can ever be of assistance – anything at all – just give me a whistle!”
With that, the giant octo-monster slid into the shadows of Castle Grotteskew.
“I don’t even know if I can whistle…” muttered Stitch Head.
“Shame I scared him off,” grumbled Arabella. “Would’ve been nice to try out my new boots…”
“Uh, I think it was the Serenity Sal—Never mind,” said Stitch Head quietly. “Thanks for … wait, where’s the Creature? Creature! Creature, answer me! Are you—?”
“That was GREAT!” boomed the Creature, clambering out from under a mound of rubble. “I haven’t FALLEN through a HOLE on to my HEAD in WEEKS. It really clears out the COBWEBS. Hi, Arabella! I like your BOOTS! But HOW did you get into the CASTLE?”
“Got my own key made,” replied Arabella, showing off a large key round her neck. “Good job too, that thing was going to swallow Stitch Head like a pickled egg. So, you thought of a name for yourself yet?”
“I’ve narrowed it DOWN,” boomed the Creature excitedly. “Do you want to hear the SHORTLIST? I’ll start with the As… ABRAHAM, ALBATROSS, ALBERT, ALFRED, ALGERNON, ALVIN, ANGELA, ANGELINA, ANGELO, ANTELOPE, ARCHIBALD, ARTHUR—”
“Blimey, Creature, I’ll be older than my nan by the time you get to the Zs – and my nan’s so ancient her toenails have fallen off!” chuckled Arabella.
“Hey, where ARE we?” asked the Creature, glancing around. “THIS doesn’t look ANYTHING like the rest of the castle…”
Stitch Head cast his mismatched eyes across the room … and froze.
“It can’t be…”
“You all right?” asked Arabella. Stitch Head didn’t reply. He just stared into the doorway. Arabella waved her hand in front of Stitch Head’s face. “Anyone in there? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I didn’t think there WERE any GHOSTS in Castle Grotteskew…” said the Creature, panicking. “Should we start RUNNING and SCREAMING?”
“This is the room,” whispered Stitch Head, finally.
“What room?” asked Arabella. “What is this place?”
“This is my master’s – the professor’s – old playroom,” said Stitch Head. “This is where I was created.”
