Detective Grace and Cold Rock Castle

Grace is captured inside Cold Rock Castle. Can her foster brother George find her in time?

“Come on!” I yelled after George. “We are going to be late!” Ever since George and I got stuck together in a foster family, we were required to meet our foster parents every night at the Blue Candle Club, or BCC. I came from a rich family, a family that went out to fancy parties a lot. I was used to going to parties like this one. George, on the other hand, came from a poor family. George was teased a lot back when he had real parents. He was teased about his last name, Elfeindor. He was small for his age too, and his voice was kind of squeaky, so I guess the name kind of fit him. Whenever we were late for BCC, he was reluctant to realize why the club was so special.

       The BCC was held in an abandoned castle, a spooky kind of setting. The castle was called the Cold Rock Castle. It was just a block from our house. I grabbed George’s arm and ran. We were already late. When we arrived, we hid behind a bush, checking for any guards. There was usually one around, and we didn’t know the password. After hiding, we had a good feeling that there weren’t any guards. We crept closer to the bridge. I thought it was a drawbridge like in the movies, but George was convinced that it wasn’t. I always checked to see if the drawbridge was down. It was, so we crept inside the castle.

      The familiar smells and music rushed into my head at full blast. Our foster mom pulled us inside. “Grace Grillknock! Where have you been?”She exclaimed. I twisted my arm out of her grasp. I looked around. There was a band playing a fast, happy song. People were dancing and chatting. There was a silver pedestal proudly presenting a golden trophy.  A lady in shiny clothes was singing. Before I could get indulged in eating or talking, George grabbed me from behind. He said “Mom grounded you for a week!” “A WHOLE ENTIRE WEEK!”I shrieked. I stomped off to complain to my mom. It was impossible to find her though, with all of the people.

    I slipped under the nearest table. Well, okay, being thirteen I just sat down next to it. I buried my face in my hands. Why did she punish me and not George? We were both late for the party. I thought about it for the rest of the party. Every ten minutes or so, I would stand up and snack on a cracker or a carrot. I fell asleep. I had a dream. In my dream, the lights suddenly went off. I imagined that George was calling my name. All of the people left the room in a hurry. There was a bright light shining in my eyes. I woke up to an empty room. This room had been a party before I went to sleep. A note fluttered off the table that I was leaning on. It said;

 

                                  Grace,

I was just joking about

You being grounded.

Love,

George

     George! Where was he? Where was everyone else? I had just started to think up possible solutions, when the bright light came back in my face. I shielded my eyes from the bright light. I heard a raspy voice whisper,”Hello pretty girl.”

      Another person jumped on me. My skinny body was thrust into the wall. He placed a rope around my hands and a scarf around mouth. I flailed my legs, trying to kick him anywhere that it would really hurt. He grabbed my legs and swung me over his shoulder like a heavy bag. I let out a muffled scream. The first man just laughed. The man that was holding me, held me tighter, hurting my ankles. I heard a key click into a door. It was dark so I couldn’t see anything. The men could slice my leg off without me knowing it. Right then, I realized that I was in great danger.

 

           Back at the house, George started to worry about his foster sister.

 

     “Mom, do you know where Grace is?” “No honey. The last time I saw her is when you lied to her.” I was scared. What if my last words to Grace were a mean lie? I think I would die too! “I hope she’s not dead.” “Don’t think about such things honey.” I knew what I would have to do. I had to go back to Cold Rock Castle and find my sister. Dead, or Alive.

In the Castle, Grace starts to panic

     I looked around because I had nothing else to do. The men had left me in here and had locked the door. My eyes started to adjust to the dark. I was in a large circular room that looked like a dungeon. I was sitting down opposite from the door way. What would happen to me in here? Would they never come back? Did they know my secret detective identity? My brain was a mess as I sorted through what could really happen. I couldn’t die. There would have to be another party. There would have to be a lonely guy who would come wandering into this room looking for the bathroom. I wouldn’t die.

    I started to think about me being a detective. That was the reason I was in foster care. My real parents hadn’t had a clue about my secret interest in being a detective. When there was a murder in town though, I revealed my secret. Before I could even think of an excuse, they threw me into foster care. The same has happened with every set of parents. They find out, and I get thrown out. No one seems to like mysteries any more. This set of parents has kept me for four years. Four years without doing something that I really liked doing. Four years with the last foster parents available to take me in. I had to do something. Now.

    Of course, George knew all about my love for mystery. Last year on my birthday, he secretly set up a fake crime scene in our basement for me to solve. After he did that, I made him take an oath to be my trusty assistant. There is another reason. If I have to go, my brother/assistant is not going to come with me. I miss him. I miss his jokes, his smile, even his silly faces. I miss watching him get sent to his room for feeding his rabbit my homework. I miss him a lot. I wish that he was locked up with me. So that we could die together. Not.

   I rested my eyes. My head was sore from thinking so hard. My nap was interrupted with a faint scratching sound at the door. Uh Oh. Rats. I had completely forgotten about them. Every dungeon has rats. The scratching was louder now and for some reason it sounded like ‘Rocko Poco’, the song that was played on the radio yesterday. I had developed a liking for it and it made me feel more comfortable. The jazzy feel to the song sent me to sleep again. Wait a minute. The thought jolted me awake. Rats can’t play ‘Rocko Poco’. Wow. I’m really starting to miss home.

   I drifted back to sleep. As soon as my eyes closed, the scratching had turned to knocking. Was I just imagining this, or was it really happening? The beat of ‘Rocko Poco’ was clearer now. Every note seemed to be coming straight from my radio at home. The knocking became very clear now. The door knob rattled. A sigh came from the other end. Someone stuck something into the lock. Not a key. Someone was trying to break in.

      I heard more sighs from the other side of the door. Someone was desperate to get in. I heard the person try a few more times to pick the lock. I heard a happy sigh and a click, which told me the person had succeeded. The doorknob silently turned. I tried to look asleep, but I kept one eye open. The intruder creaked open the door, letting a thin beam of sunlight illuminate the room. I heard heavy breathing. It sounded like the intruder was nervous to come in. The intruder took a deep breath. A small, squeaky voice whispered, “Grace?”

     I heard the voice again, “Grace, are you in there?” I cautiously opened my other eye. I turned my head toward the light. Five skinny fingers clenched the door. I carefully watched, as a small head poked through the doorway. “Hello? Anybody there?” the voice whispered. I had a sudden thought. I whispered a phrase that only my family would be able to understand. “Say hello, you say?” I whispered back. “Hey! Grace is that you?” it whispered again. I carefully stood up. With my hands and mouth bound, I couldn’t yell out and welcome the intruder. I couldn’t hug, or kiss him.

       I slowly wobbled over to the figure that reached up with one hand, and sharply pulled down. I winced, thinking that a bomb was going to go off. I relaxed, when no bomb went off. Instead of a bomb, the room was flooded with light from an old chandelier hanging on the ceiling. I wonder why I didn’t think of that before. I could have enjoyed my stay in this dungeon�"Wait, if there was a chandelier, it couldn’t have been a dungeon. I looked around. There was a broken table in one corner. A few royal velvet chairs were scattered among the cobwebs. The air was musty, and the whole room stank like rotten food. I must have been a dining room.

      I came back to reality when the intruder coughed. I looked at his figure. Studying it in the light. It was George. He looked tired and hungry. I was a bit frightened with his appearance. I knew what I had to do.”Thank you for saving my life George. I knew I could count on you.”I said. “Well, I didn’t exactly ‘save’ you. The men were coming when I first got here. I set traps, and scared them out of Cold Rock Castle. They were probably coming to set you free. It was probably just to scare you.” he explained. Just to scare me. I repeated the words over in my head. They were probably scaring me away from detecting their next big crime. If only I knew who they were.

 

        I made a big decision. I was no longer Grace Grillknock. I was

Detective Grace Millie Grillknock

Detective Of All Cases and Mysteries 

Author's Note

Wrote this a REALLY long time ago, and I thought it was cute. Ignore grammar problems, and enjoy!