The Questioneers Book 3: Iggy Peck and the Mysterious Mansion
Don’t be scared he said They can’t hurt Iggy stopped short A glimpse of something white caught his eye A few feet behind the cats a slab of vine-covered marble jutted from the forest floor He stepped closer Iggy reached through the vines and his fingers touched cold marble His hand trembled as he pulled back the vines revealing a weathered marble slab with faint letters c sherbert and h sherbert 1918 Iggy gasped It’s a gravestone Iggy whispered Another gravestone stood to the left It seemed newer its lettering unmelted by time and rain It simply read pierre glace Nearby the remains of a small cottage stood like an ancient ruin Long abandoned Long forgotten Bricks hissed again and bristled his fur Iggy nodded It is spooky he said picking up Bricks Let’s get home 6
Iggy looked around It was much darker now The wind was chillier and stronger A storm was brewing He had lost track of time He always did when he was thinking about architecture which was all the time But he couldn’t help it Thinking about architecture always made Iggy feel like he was doing exactly what he should be doing Even when he was supposed to be doing something else Sometimes it got him in trouble He was pretty sure that this was going to be one of those times He wasn’t supposed to go past the edge of the woods and he should have been home long ago C’mon Bricks he said We’d better Suddenly a flash of lightning lit up the forest BAM a crack of thunder split the air Bricks squirmed out of Iggy’s arms and bolted through the trees Bricks yelled Iggy chasing after him 7
BOOM CRASH MEOW Bricks zigged and zagged through the trees changing direction with each lightning flash and thunder crash MEOW Come back Iggy yelled Iggy chased Bricks deeper and deeper into the woods At last Bricks dived into the end of a hollow log and hunkered down trembling in the storm Iggy caught up and knelt beside the log It’s okay Bricks he said It’s okay Iggy reached into the log and pulled out the shivering cat He clutched Bricks close and looked around Where are we he asked Nothing looked familiar Which way do we go he wondered CREEEAAAAK Iggy looked up as a large dead branch swayed 8
in the wind and CRACK Iggy jumped out of the way just as the limb crashed onto the hollow log smashing it to smithereens That was too close said Iggy Let’s get out of here Iggy ran PLOP PLOP PLOP Large raindrops splattered onto his face In moments it was pouring Iggy stumbled through the darkening woods until at last he saw a gap in the trees It’s a path he said Iggy ran down the uneven path which opened onto a wide overgrown lawn A brilliant flash of lightning revealed the outline of an enormous dark house and suddenly Iggy Peck knew exactly where he was Uh-oh he whispered and pulled Bricks a little closer Iggy looked at the looming shadowy building 9
