The following story was written by Sam Grest when he was nine years old. It was scrawled in red ink on a few tattered scraps of A4 paper and was found in an old shoe box full of similarly themed stories and poems.

TRANSYLVANIA TREK by SAMUEL Z. GREST

CHAPTER ONE : THE MYSTERY BEGINS

As soon as the phone rang I knew I was in trouble. I always know when trouble's brewing, because the blue rat who lives inside my head starts to shiver with fear. When the phone rang he shivered so much that my eyeballs started juggling up and down.

"What's wrong?" I asked, picking up the phone and shaking my head to stop the blue rat from shivering. I listened carefully. It was Moss Biskin, who I knew from when I had to kill a zombie who was eating school kids in Brussels. He said he was in Transylvania, looking for vampires (Moss is always looking for something or other), and he'd found --

The phone went dead before he could finish. "Moss?" I asked, giving it a shake in case it was only faulty wiring. There was no answer. "This is bad," I said to the blue rat. "Tell me about it!" he squeaked. "I think you should pretend you never got that phone call." "You know I can't do that," I said. "I know," the blue rat sighed, then crawled out my left ear and slid down my shoulder to the floor. "Sorry, Sam, but I can't go with you this time. It's too dangerous. I don't think you'll come back." Then he ran away down a hole. I didn't blame him. I knew he had a wife and forty-six ratlings to think about.

CHAPTER TWO : ON THE WINGS OF DANGER

I knew it was going to be a rocky flight when I saw the stewardesses wearing parachutes. They pretended it was just for a test, but I knew better. When the plane started shaking halfway to Transylvania, and they jumped out the door, leaving me and the other passengers behind, I wasn't the least bit surprised.

"Calm down!" I shouted when everyone started screaming. "I'll take care of this. Sit down and don't say anything. And don't move about, in case you rock the plane too much."

When everyone was sitting, I ran to the front of the plane and burst down the door. There was a creature inside who would have scared a lesser mortal to death. He was huge, with two big wings and dark green fangs. I didn't know who he was, but there was something familiar about him. "Let's see you get out of this one, Grest!" the creature grunted, ripping off the plane's steering wheel and throwing it at me. I ducked out of the way of the wheel, but when I stood up again the creature had leapt through the window and went flying away with his wings.

If the blue rat was with me, I could have sent him down the hole left by the steering wheel and he could have put the wires back together and drove the plane from in there. But I was all alone. Of course I could have jumped out and used the mini parachute I always carry in the heel of my left shoe, but there were the other passengers to think about. So I ripped off the entire front buttons and levers cover and grabbed the wires myself. It wasn't easy but I managed to land the plane in a very big pond just down the road from Dracula's castle. When I'd got everyone else out, the plane sank and I jumped ashore.

I had arrived in Transylania!!!

CHAPTER THREE : "COUNT DRACULA, I PRESUME"

Dracula's castle had been abandoned for years but I wasn't fooled. I knew the vampire was there. Who else could have caused the brave and daring Moss Biskin so much fear? Going up the mountain, I tried to get to the castle before the sun went down, but I'd forgot to put my watch forward, so I got the time wrong, and it sank down behind the castle just as I got to the big front door.

I stood there for ages, not sure what to do next. I knew I should run away until morning, when the sun came back up. But Moss Biskin was in danger and needed my help. So, even though I knew I was maybe signing my death warrant, I pushed the door open and went in.

There were cobwebs all over the place, big and huge, white and sticky. I didn't see the spiders but I could hear them rubbing their legs together and hissing as I went past.

"We meet again!" the creature from the plane shouted, leaping out behind me when I got to a tall balcony and locking his arms around me. "Now I'll kill you at last, for murdering my brother!" Now I knew why he looked familiar. I'd killed his brother, the Monster From Mongolia, a couple of months before. "You won't kill me any more than your brother did," I laughed, grabbing him by his fangs and throwing him over the edge of the balcony. "Noooooo!" he screamed as he fell, but it was no good. He landed hard on the floor and broke his back, then the spiders came down and ate him alive while he was sreaming. It was horrible but he deserved it.

"Vell done, Meester Grest," Dracula said. Turning quickly, I saw that he was standing in front of me, smiling nastily. "You are a vorthy opponent. Such a peety I have to kill you." Saying that, he pressed a switch and the floor beneath me disappeared. I dropped into a pit full of poisonous cobra snakes.

CHAPTER FOUR : A NARROW ESCAPE

I would have been a goner, except I know how to charm snakes and always carry a flute in my bag. Pulling it out, I started to play, and soon all the snakes were asleep. Dracula saw this and cursed down at me. He threw big rocks down on me, trying to kill me, but all he did was wake and anger the cobras, who slithered up and attacked him. He ran away from them, screaming as they bit his legs and bum. I laughed and started after him.

That was when my real enemy leapt forward and showed himself.

CHAPTER FIVE : THE TRUE FACE OF EVIL

I realised too late that Dracula was only a decoy. He wasn't what Moss Biskin had rang to tell me about. It was a werewolf who was killing all the people. He was a giant, hairy werewolf, with big claws and long teeth. He leapt on me and dragged me to the ground while I was still laughing at Dracula being bitten by the snakes. I screamed and tried to push him off but he was too strong.

The werewolf howled in my face. I'm not afraid of anything in this world -- except werewolves! I can't stand them! Trying hard not to cry, I punched the werewolf and ran away, but he was too quick and caught me. Rolling me over, he clawed a big hole in my belly, then stuck his jaws down to suck all my guts out. I knew I was in big trouble and I knew I couldn't escape. Was this the end of the intrepid Samuel Z. Grest?!?

CHAPTER SIX : RESCUED FROM THE JAWS OF DEFEAT

No, it wasn't! At the last minute, as the werewolf started to suck, something jumped on his shoulder and bit his ears. He screamed and fell away from me. Sitting up, I saw the last thing in the world I had expected to see -- the blue rat who lives inside my head!! "Hello Sam," he said, smiling. "You didn't think I'd really let you come here by yourself, did you? I've been following you all along, waiting for the werewolf to make his move." "Have you killed him?" I asked, because the werewolf was lying very still now on the floor. "No," the blue rat said. "I put special ointment on my teeth when I bit him. It will make him better."

I watched as the werewolf's hairs began to vanish. After a while, he turned back into a human and I realised who he was. "Moss Biskin!" I shouted happily, helping him sit back up. "What's happening?" Moss Biskin asked, shaking his head stupidly. The blue rat and I laughed at his funny expression, then took him down the mountain, dragged up the plane from the bottom of the pond, and flew back home, where we told Moss Biskin all about it over three cups of tea and a plate of warm rat biscuits.

THE END