A Most Peculiar Toy Factory Read online

  In memory of Carolyn Whitaker

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1. Hoggle’s Happy Toys

  2. The Problem with Biffy

  3. Meeting Marmaduke J. Hoggle

  4. Enter the Factory

  5. A Terrible Picnic

  6. The Rocking-Horse Room

  7. A Buffalo Hunt

  8. The Mermaid Room

  9. The Secret Diary

  10. The Goblin’s Lair

  11. A Very Special Penny

  12. The Teddy-Bear Heart

  Copyright

  CHAPTER 1

  Hoggle’s Happy Toys

  Years ago, children used to peer past the toy factory gates, hoping to spot the wonderful toys inside.

  Now they ran past the entrance, scared and trembling. No one would stop there, not even if they were dared.

  The children of Cherryville all knew the factory was an evil place. Something awful had happened inside five years ago. It was something kids still whispered about in the playground and used to frighten each other at sleepovers.

  Some people said the toys had gone mad. Others suggested that there had been a gruesome teddy-bear mass murder. There was even a theory that the dolls had strangled each other with their hair. None of the children in the town knew the truth for sure. They just knew that they should stay away from that factory.

  It was all boarded up with wooden planks nailed across the windows and doors. The tall gates were always kept padlocked. The gold letters painted above the doorway had started to peel and fade, but you could still see they read:

  Hoggle’s Happy Toys.

  But there was nothing happy about these toys.

  Some people said that they could sometimes hear dolls whispering in there. Or that they’d seen the shadow of a teddy bear running across one of the windows. But how could this be possible if the factory had been closed down for years?

  No one ever said the word “haunted”. But nobody wanted to go into the toy factory. And one person who especially didn’t want to go into the factory was Tess Pipps.

  Ten-year-old Tess lived on a farm with her family, and it was a very special farm too. For a start, its cows produced all kinds of flavoured milk, from chocolate to strawberry to banana. The farm’s bushes grew sugar mice. And they had lollipop trees and cola-bottle trees and even toffee apple trees!

  Tess loved living on the farm, but last month something dreadful had happened – a health-food shop had opened in town. Up till then, the farm had supplied the huge boarding school nearby with its milk and treats, but now the school had cancelled their contract with the Pipps. They’d started ordering carrot juice and pickled vegetables from the new health-food shop instead.

  The boarding school had hundreds of pupils, and they ran a summer school in the holidays. They had been the farm’s biggest customer. Now that the school had stopped ordering supplies from the Pipps, whole pails of chocolate milk were going sour and the bags of sugar mice were collecting dust. Tess’s mother and father talked about money a lot, and what they could do to save the farm.

  Tess loved the cows. She loved their smell and their brown eyes and the way they would push their big heads up against her to say hello. But last night her father had said that they might have to sell some of them.

  Tess couldn’t bear the idea. The cows were part of the family. They couldn’t send them away. They just couldn’t. She’d miss them even more now that school had finished for the summer holidays. She opened the kitchen door and found her parents and siblings already sitting around the kitchen table. From the sounds of it, they were in the middle of a very excitable conversation.

  Tess’s youngest brother, Oliver, gave her a huge grin and said, “Guess what? Dad doesn’t have to sell the cows after all!”

  “What?” Tess asked, and gaped at Oliver. “Why not?”

  “Because the Hoggle’s Happy Toys factory is reopening,” her father said.

  “What?” Tess was shocked.

  “I’ll be able to get employment there,” her father went on. “Your older brothers too. There are plenty of jobs going because no one seems to want to work there.”

  Tess frowned. “Of course they don’t. Everyone knows the toys went mad and started killing each other.”

  Tess’s older brothers and father laughed, as if what she’d said was ridiculous. But the younger children didn’t laugh. They knew it was true.

  “Honestly, Tess, you shouldn’t talk such nonsense at your age,” her mother said. “Come and sit down and have your dinner.”

  Tess took her seat at the table and tried to feel pleased about the factory reopening. After all, if it meant that they could keep the cows, then it was a good thing. In fact, it was wonderful. And yet, Tess couldn’t squash down the nagging feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach.

  CHAPTER 2

  The Problem with Biffy

  Unfortunately for the Pipps, their plan didn’t quite work. The new owner of the toy factory, Marmaduke J. Hoggle, was only employing children.

  “No one knows why,” Tess’s older brother Mika said to her as she mucked out the cowshed. “But this Hoggle chap insisted on it. He told us, ‘No one over twelve.’ So you and the younger ones will have to do it.”

  Tess paused, her shovel in the air. There was a loud splat as some cow dung fell on the floor. “Do what?” she asked.

  “Work at the toy factory, of course,” Mika replied. “Just for the school holidays. Perhaps a few weekends.”

  “But I can’t!” Tess said. “My place is on the farm.”

  “Do you want to save the cows or don’t you?” Mika asked.

  “Of course I do!”

  “Well then, you’ve got no choice,” Mika told Tess. “Unless you can think of some other way of earning all that money fast … Or unless you’re too scared of the toys …” Mika grinned at her in a mocking way.

  Tess frowned and leaned the shovel against the wall. “Do you really not remember what happened with Biffy?” she asked.

  Mika gave her a strange look. “What are you talking about?”

  Biffy had been Mika’s childhood teddy bear, purchased from Hoggle’s Happy Toys before the factory had closed down. Biffy had been white and fluffy with a small black nose, and Mika had loved him. Until the day Mika ran screaming from his bedroom saying that Biffy had tried to stab him with a fork.

  “Biffy attacked you,” Tess said as she watched her brother closely. “You cried non-stop for a day. You wouldn’t go to sleep until Dad promised to lock Biffy up in the basement. And even then you said you could hear him scratching at the door and rattling the doorknob with his paw all night. The next day, you made Dad throw Biffy away. Surely you haven’t forgotten?”

  For a long moment, Mika just stared at her. Tess thought she saw his face flicker with a memory. But the next second, Mika threw back his head and roared with laughter.

  “You’ve got a crazy imagination,” he said.

  Tess crossed her arms over her chest. “Dad laughed at me yesterday too, and yet he’s never let us have any Hoggle toys in the house since Biffy.”

  Mika waved a hand. “Only because Hoggle toys were expensive, Tess. And then the factory closed down anyway.”

  Tess didn’t believe it. Surely the adults must realise that there was something wrong with the toys? Tess could still remember the terror in Mika’s scream when he’d run away from Biffy. And she could still remember the suspicious look on her mother’s face when she’d looked at the bear. It was as if, deep down, her mother knew that there was something not quite right about it.

  “Anyway, I’ve got chores to do,” Mika said, interrupting Tess’s thoughts. “I can’t stand
here listening to your teddy stories all day. I’ll see you later.”

  Tess watched Mika go. She knew that she would have to work at the Hoggle’s Happy Toys factory. She knew there was no other way to save the farm and the cows that lived on it. But she also knew that she would have to be very, very careful. And watchful. And, most of all, she must make absolutely sure that she did not forget the danger one day, as other children like Mika seemed to do as they grew older.

  CHAPTER 3

  Meeting Marmaduke J. Hoggle

  The next day, Tess and her younger siblings walked to the toy factory. They found the gates wide open, like the factory was waiting for them. It was a creepy sight. The children felt a thrill of dread as they hesitated outside.

  Tess could feel Oliver holding on to her coat. The six year old had always been a bit timid, and Tess had to make an effort not to get annoyed with him sometimes. Tess also had eight-year-old twins Niles and Stacy with her. The twins both wore glasses and had dark hair and freckles like Tess. Oliver’s hair, on the other hand, was as orange as a carrot and tended to stick up on end.

  There had been unease at home before they’d left that morning. Tess’s mother hadn’t been very happy about them going. But if she’d said something, she’d be admitting that there was something wrong with the factory, that there was something sinister about the toys … and that was something no adult would ever do. Tess thought that perhaps that was what Mr Marmaduke J. Hoggle was counting on.

  There was a sign at the front gates welcoming all job seekers and asking them to report to Mr Hoggle in the factory. The sign had been there for two days, but so far Tess hadn’t heard of the factory taking on a single employee. Tess guessed that any adults would have been turned away like her father was. And the other children in the town weren’t so desperate for money. But the Pipps kids had a farm to save.

  Tess led the others across the deserted concrete yard, kicking aside the odd bit of stray rubbish as she went. They stopped outside the wooden front doors painted with manically grinning toys. The doors were covered in grime and the paint was beginning to peel away in flakes. Tess knocked, but the echoes faded fast and no one answered. She knocked again, more firmly this time.

  “Let’s go back, Tess,” Oliver whispered, tugging at her coat. “I don’t like it here. Let’s go home—”

  “Shut up, Oliver,” Tess said, and shook him off. “Do you want Mum and Dad to sell the farm?”

  Oliver didn’t reply.

  “Well? Does he want them to sell it?” a voice said from behind them.

  The children screamed. Tess whipped round to face a tall man who was looking at the group with vague interest. He was wearing a strange mixture of clothes: a purple top hat that made him seem even taller than he really was; one blue velvet glove and one orange; a white shirt and yellow bow tie beneath a too-big green coat; black trousers and green pointed shoes. Tess saw that his eyes were a pale blue and his hair was a light brown, from what she could see under the hat.

  “Who are you?” Tess demanded.

  “I’m the toy maker,” the tall man replied. “Who are you?”

  “We’ve come to see Mr Hoggle about employment,” Tess told him.

  “Are you all under twelve?” he asked.

  “Yes, but—”

  “You’re hired.”

  “Are you Mr Marmaduke J. Hoggle?” Tess checked.

  “Yes, I already told you, I’m the toy maker. Marmaduke Jaron Hoggle at your service.” He gave them a bow, then said, “You’d better come in. Then you can get right to work.”

  The children parted to let him past to the door. Everyone held their breath as Hoggle put his velvet-gloved hand on the door handle and pulled it down.

  Nothing happened.

  Frowning, Hoggle tried it again. He then threw his body hard against the door, making the children jump, but still it didn’t open.

  “Blast,” Hoggle muttered to himself. “Those wretched teddies have locked me out again.”

  Tess felt three small pairs of hands clutch at her with fright.

  “What was that you said?” she asked, trying to keep her voice level. “About the teddies?”

  “Hmm? What?” said Hoggle. “Oh, nothing. Don’t worry, I have a key in here somewhere.”

  He produced the key from a pocket. A moment later, Tess heard the groan of a rusty old lock. Hoggle turned back to them with one hand still resting on the door. His voice was almost a whisper as he said, “Are you ready, children?”

  Tess heard Oliver and the twins whimper behind her. She was feeling more than a bit afraid herself at the thought of going into the old factory. But it was the only way to save the farm and the dear cows. And Tess had to be brave for the young ones. So she stood up straight and nodded firmly. “Yes,” she said. “We’re ready.”

  Hoggle pulled down on the handle, which clicked this time. He pushed the double doors using both of his hands and they swung inwards on creaking hinges. Then he stepped aside, giving Tess and her siblings a perfect view of the large foyer in front of them.

  CHAPTER 4

  Enter the Factory

  The toy factory’s entrance was a large circular space. It had a wide spiral staircase twisting up to the floor above and a great crystal chandelier hanging from the centre of the ceiling. Everything was covered in a coat of dust ten centimetres thick, so it was hard to tell what colour things were supposed to be. It was grander than Tess had expected – more like a mansion than a toy factory. It was terribly dirty, but at least there was no blood or teddy-bear hearts lying around.

  There were plenty of teddy bears on the walls, however. The entire room was decorated with wallpaper of bears having picnics. They were dressed like people, with lots of top hats and parasols, and Tess thought it was horrid.

  “This is the main foyer,” Hoggle said as he led the way inside. “As you can see, it’s in a frightful mess, so the first thing I want you to do is get it cleaned up. I can’t make toys in a dirty factory … Well, what are you all standing outside for? Come in, come in!”

  The children shuffled into the foyer reluctantly, their feet kicking up clouds of dust that made them sneeze.

  “There is a map somewhere,” Hoggle said. He covered his nose with his hand and moved away from the dust storm. “It’s over here, I think. Ah, yes, here it is. Come and have a look.”

  Tess and the others walked around to the wall behind the large reception desk.

  “This is a map of the toy factory,” Hoggle said. Tess saw that there were rooms with labels such as “Teddy-Bear Room”, “Mermaid Room” and “Dolls’ Hair” on them. Hoggle pointed at the map with his blue glove. “It’s split into two floors, you see. We’re here in the room marked ‘Foyer’. And two corridors and the staircase lead off from it. The factory can be a bit confusing, so try to memorise this map if you can. I can’t be running around after you the whole time. I’ve far too much to do. And if you get lost in here, then we might never find you.”

  Oliver gasped and Hoggle grinned. “I’m joking, of course,” Hoggle said. “We’d find you at some point, I expect. Now, there are buckets and mops and dusters and things in the cupboard over there. I want you to clean the factory until it is sparkling. Any questions?”

  “When do we get paid?” Tess asked.

  Hoggle glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow. “Ah, an entrepreneur.”

  “What’s an entrepreneur?” Tess asked. She was afraid that Hoggle might be insulting her.

  “It means a bright, intelligent person who will go far in life and one day make their fortune,” Hoggle replied. “You will be paid at the front gates at six o’clock – when it is time for you to go home. Once I have inspected your work and seen that it has been done properly, I will give you your wages myself. And now I shall leave you to get to work and start earning that money.”

  Hoggle turned and strode from the room, leaving deep footprints in the dust as he went. The children watched him go in glum silence.

  “
Well,” Tess said, trying to sound positive. “Let’s get to work.”

  She led the way over to the cupboard Hoggle had pointed out. When she opened the door, a whole load of mops and brooms fell out on top of them. There were dusters and buckets at the bottom of the cupboard. Stacy squealed because there was a dead spider inside a bucket. Tess told her to not be so silly and throw the spider outside. “If we’re expected to clean the whole factory,” Tess said, “then there will probably be a lot more dead bugs to come.”

  But worse than the dead spider was what they found in the last bucket – thirteen small knives, each about the size of a thumb.

  “Teddy-bear daggers,” Niles whispered.

  They all peered at the knives.

  “Is there any blood on them?” Stacy asked.

  “Don’t be daft,” Tess told her. “Teddy bears don’t bleed.”

  “Why not?” Oliver said with eyes as big as saucers.

  “Because,” Tess replied. “They haven’t got any blood. They’re just full of stuffing.”

  “Oh. Well … what should we do with them, Tess?” Niles asked.

  Tess thought for a moment. “Throw them out,” she said at last. “If Hoggle really is going to start making toys again, then we don’t want the new teddies getting any ideas.” Tess handed the tiny daggers over to Niles and said, “I saw a rubbish bin out in the yard. Go and put them in there. Oliver, you go with him.”

  When the two boys came back in, Tess gathered the children close and said, “Now listen – never go anywhere on your own, OK? We move around the factory in pairs. If you need to go to the bathroom, take someone with you. Stay within sight of each other at all times – understand?”

  The other children nodded with serious, nervous looks on their faces.

  “Right,” Tess said, rolling up her sleeves. “Let’s get started.”