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    The Twins, the Ghost and the Castle
    The Twins, the Ghost and the Castle
    The Twins, the Ghost and the Castle
    Ebook77 pages53 minutes

    The Twins, the Ghost and the Castle

    By Paul Mason

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    About this ebook

    Two abandoned children make their home in a castle - which turns out to be haunted by the Duke of Wellington! The ghost is a particularly determined spook who helps them hide from the castle's caretaker. But when developers want to turn their home into a spa, everyone who loves the castle must band together to save the day. Comic ghostly fun for newly confident readers aged 8+ and those looking for a fast, fun read.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateJan 17, 2013
    ISBN9781408180785
    The Twins, the Ghost and the Castle
    Author

    Paul Mason

    Paul Mason is a writer and broadcaster on economics and social justice. He is the author of PostCapitalism (Penguin, 2015) and a contributor to Syriza (Pluto, 2015) and Student Revolt (Pluto, 2017).

    Read more from Paul Mason

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      Book preview

      The Twins, the Ghost and the Castle - Paul Mason

      For Joan and David

      Contents

      Chapter One The castle

      Chapter Two ‘You can’t be serious!’

      Chapter Three A deep, thunderous voice

      Chapter Four Hide and seek

      Chapter Five Harry Parkin

      Chapter Six Mrs Crank

      Chapter Seven Verruca fish

      Chapter Eight Ghost hunter

      Chapter Nine ‘Up, Guards, and at ’em!’

      Chapter Ten Like a snake

      Chapter Eleven A wild-ghost chase

      Chapter Twelve ‘Get what’s coming to you!’

      Chapter Thirteen Stonyheart meets his Waterloo

      Chapter Fourteen Things turn out well

      A Note from the Author

      Footnotes

      Chapter One

      The castle

      On the outskirts of a seaside town, right next to the beach, there is a mighty castle facing the sea. On a clear day if you stand at the water’s edge, you can see the shadow of the continent in the distance. It really is that close, which is probably why Henry the Eighth built the castle there in the first place – to keep out any nasty invaders. (If there was anyone being nasty in England, thought Henry, then it was going to be him alone.)

      So, for nearly five hundred years the castle has been guarding the beach, and its grey stone ramparts are as strong and solid as the day it was first built. It has a deep moat lined with high, mossy walls, cannons bristling in all sorts of directions, and a tall white pole on which flutters a proud flag. Around the castle there are acres and acres of the most wonderful gardens and woods. If you hover above the fortress in a helicopter (and you won’t catch me in one of those things), it looks like a Tudor rose: made up of four half-circle towers around a circular keep in the middle. (A keep is the stronghold of the castle, right in the centre. And in the bottom of the keep is the castle well – which gives you some idea just how important it is to have water to drink.) To get in you have to clomp across a heavy, wooden drawbridge and pass through the gatehouse.

      The heroes of this story, however, weren’t anywhere near the drawbridge. They were hiding in the bushes by the gardens looking for a way to sneak in. To buy an entrance ticket costs money, and Stella and Tom didn’t have any money. In fact the twins had nothing at all to their name except the clothes on their backs, and those were grey and scratchy and joyless.

      Stella and Tom were totally alone in the world without anyone to look after them. We shan’t discuss how they came to be so alone and without their parents, and why they were running away, as that would be completely grim, and this is meant to be a happy story.

      Perhaps...

      The castle towered above them, immense and cold, and, peeking through the bushes, they both felt very small and insignificant.

      ‘Do you really think we ought to?’ asked Stella. ‘I mean, sneak in round the back.’ She looked worried.

      Tom gave his sister a hug. Stella was a bright and clever girl, who drew the most amazing pictures of imaginary underground kingdoms, and Tom loved her more than anything else in the world. It broke his heart to see her unhappy.

      He smiled at her. ‘It is a bit naughty, but we shan’t cause any trouble, and perhaps we could help by picking up some litter or something. Besides we won’t be staying for long.’

      ‘I can’t wait to see what it looks like inside. Do you think there’s a dungeon?’

      ‘Probably loads,’ said Tom. ‘You know what kings are like, always clapping prisoners in irons and throwing them into jail.’

      ‘If we get found out, do you reckon we’d get thrown in the dungeon?’

      ‘Nah,’ Tom chuckled. ‘Anyway, they’ll have to catch us first.’

      He lifted up a bit of the thin wire fence, making a gap. ‘Come on, in you go.’

      The twins managed to get through the fence, and found themselves on the edge of the kitchen gardens, between the greenhouse and the cabbage patch. Not far away was a little cottage, probably the caretaker’s.

      The twins hid inside the greenhouse amongst the palm trees and waited to see if anyone was coming. When they were sure they were alone, they crept out and headed down the path towards the

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