A Most Peculiar Toy Factory Read online

  “You were about to say something else then!” Tess exclaimed.

  “No, no,” Hoggle said. “Just a moment of confusion, that’s all.”

  “What are you hoping we’ll scare away?” Tess demanded.

  Before Hoggle could answer, there was another sneeze from inside the wall.

  “Atishoo!”

  “What is that thing in the wall?” Tess asked.

  “What thing?” Hoggle replied.

  “That thing that just sneezed!”

  “I didn’t hear any sneeze,” Hoggle said.

  Tess narrowed her eyes at him. Why was he lying?

  “You know there’s something wrong with the teddy bears, don’t you?” Tess said. “Adults can’t normally tell, but if you didn’t know, then you wouldn’t have said about them locking you out of the factory earlier.”

  “My dear,” Hoggle replied. “Please be assured that there is no need to worry about the teddy bears. There are none left in the factory.”

  Tess opened her mouth to argue, but Hoggle held up a gloved hand to silence her.

  “This morning was my mistake, I admit,” Hoggle said. “I thought I had got rid of all of them, but it turns out there was one left. I found it while you were cleaning the foyer.”

  “But … but we’ve been in the Teddy-Bear Room since then,” Tess said. “And it was full of teddy bears. Dozens of them!”

  Hoggle gave Tess a startled look, then shook himself and said, “Not possible.”

  “I tell you we saw them!” Tess exclaimed. She was starting to feel cross. “Come and look if you don’t believe me.”

  Hoggle followed them back down the corridor, where Tess threw open the door to the Teddy-Bear Room.

  “See!” Tess said triumphantly. “I told you.”

  “Tess!” Niles said. He was tugging at her sleeve, but she ignored him.

  Hoggle looked over her head into the room. “Just as I thought,” he said. “Not so much as a whisker.”

  “What?” Tess said.

  Tess spun around and stared into the room. Hoggle was right. There wasn’t a single teddy bear in sight. Nothing but row upon row of empty shelves.

  “But they were there!” she said. “Just a few minutes ago!”

  “Children have such wonderful imaginations,” Hoggle commented. “Simply marvellous.” He glanced down at Tess and said, “Still, imagination is not all that helpful in employees. My own fault for hiring children in the first place, I suppose.”

  “Why do you only hire children?” Tess asked.

  Hoggle shrugged. “Why not?” he replied. “You’d only be wasting your time in school otherwise. Now, I must get on.” He waved the net. “I’ve dragonflies to outwit and you two have rooms to clean.”

  And, with that, Hoggle set off down the corridor, whistling to himself once again. Tess and Niles watched him go, while wondering how on earth a roomful of teddies could have simply vanished.

  CHAPTER 8

  The Mermaid Room

  Tess was just thinking that it would be hard for things to get much worse when Stacy suddenly came sprinting down the corridor. Tess could tell from her sister’s face that it was not good news.

  “Oliver isn’t there!” Stacy gasped, skidding to a stop. “At home, I mean!” She bent over, still panting for breath. “No one’s seen him all day.”

  “So he’s still here in the factory then,” Tess said.

  She closed her eyes for a brief moment. She had been so afraid that something like this would happen. She should have listened to her instinct. She should have refused to bring her younger siblings here. But it was too late to change that now.

  Tess opened her eyes. The twins were both staring up at her, waiting for her to tell them what to do. She couldn’t fall apart.

  “We just have to find Oliver, that’s all,” Tess said. “And then we’ll leave. And we won’t come back, no matter what. We’ll just have to find some other way to save the farm.”

  And so they continued to explore the factory. First they found a room full of bright yellow rubber ducks that squeaked at them in a panicky sort of way. Then they passed on to a room of jack-in-the-boxes, where they could hear the dolls inside the boxes whispering and weeping to themselves and rapping their knuckles against the wood.

  Unfortunately, Niles knocked his foot against a jack-in-the-box as they left the room and it popped open all on its own. A boy doll with a shock of orange hair jumped out, grinning at them wildly as it bounced around on its spring.

  Stacy began to wail. “It’s Oliver!” she cried, pointing. “They’ve turned him into a toy!”

  “Don’t be daft!” Tess exclaimed, and yet she felt a jerk of unease deep down.

  The jack-in-the-box did look a bit like Oliver, with its orange hair and big green eyes …

  Tess shook her head firmly. “This toy is really old,” she said. She stuffed the doll back in the box and closed the lid with a snap. “Look how dusty it is. It can’t possibly be Oliver.”

  Still, Tess felt deeply troubled as they left the room. After all, this was no ordinary factory and the normal rules didn’t apply here. What if children could be turned into toys?

  The idea was too dreadful to think about and Tess pushed it from her mind as they opened the next door. They found themselves in a room that was almost empty apart from some toy soldiers and a few mermaid dolls.

  Stacy adored mermaids and had pictures of them painted all over her walls back at home. She forgot her fear of the toys, exclaimed in delight and ran straight over to the mermaids. Their hair was made from blue and green yarn that hung all the way down their backs, so long they could sit on it. And they wore shell jewellery and had sparkly, shimmering scales on their tails.

  Tess and Niles joined Stacy and looked at the mermaids on their shelf. They were all slumped together in a dusty heap, as if they’d been there a long time. There was something unloved and forgotten and sad about them. Stacy reached out and began to straighten them up.

  Tess was about to warn her against touching the mermaids when suddenly the air filled with the scent of the sea. The children all gasped. They had only been to the seaside once, when their parents had taken them on a special holiday a few years ago. But they all remembered the wonderful smell – a mixture of salt and shells and seaweed.

  For a moment, Tess almost thought she could hear the roar of the surf and feel the warm sand against her toes.

  “Can you smell it too?” Niles asked.

  Before anyone could reply, one of the mermaids moved her painted lips and spoke.

  “Will you help us?” the mermaid said in a soft voice. “Please?”

  The children jumped. Tess grabbed her younger siblings by the arms and pulled them back a few steps. But the mermaids made no move towards them. In fact, they didn’t move at all, apart from their lips.

  “Oh, please,” another mermaid whispered. “Please help us.”

  This mermaid was still lying down and her face wasn’t pointed towards the children. Tess expected her to turn her head, but she stayed lying on the shelf.

  “Can’t … can’t you move?” Tess asked. She took a cautious step forwards.

  “Only the teddy bears can move,” the mermaid replied. “The rest of us can only talk.”

  Tess slowly reached out and propped the mermaid up against the wall. The air still smelled of the sea, and Tess could almost taste salt on her lips.

  “How can we help you?” Tess asked.

  “Get rid of the teddy bears,” one of the mermaids said in a trembling voice. “They hate all the other toys. The first toy maker locked the teddy bears up in a box, but then this new one came and let them all out. They’ve already killed the baby dolls. They’ll come for the rest of us next.”

  “Why are they so evil?” Stacy asked. “How did they get this way?”

  “We don’t know,” the mermaid said. “One day we all just came to life. The teddies have been evil since then.”

  “Have you seen our broth
er?” Tess asked. “He’s about this tall.” She held her hand out flat above the ground. “And his hair is as orange as a carrot. You can’t miss him.”

  “We haven’t seen him,” the mermaids replied. “But if he’s lost in the factory, then the teddy bears have probably taken him.”

  “Taken him where?” Tess demanded, feeling panic rise up inside her once again. “They won’t … they won’t turn him into a toy, will they?”

  Tess couldn’t help thinking of that jack-in-the-box that had looked so much like Oliver.

  “They’ll take him to the tunnels,” the mermaid said.

  “What tunnels?”

  “There’s a whole network of tunnels underneath the factory. It’s how the teddy bears move around.”

  “How do we get to them?” Tess asked eagerly.

  “You can’t. The entrance is behind a locked door. And only the toy maker has the key.”

  CHAPTER 9

  The Secret Diary

  The children promised to come back for the mermaids, but first they needed to find Oliver. They tore around the rest of the factory and finally found the locked door. It was big and heavy and made of wood, and there was no way they were getting past it without the key.

  “The mermaids said Hoggle has it,” Tess said. “Perhaps it’s in his office.”

  She glanced back down the hallway. A few minutes ago they had passed a door with a frosted glass window with gold words that read: “Toy Maker’s Office”.

  They hurried back down the corridor only to find that this door was locked too.

  “I bet Hoggle has the key on him somewhere,” Tess said. She turned to her siblings. “None of us are pickpockets – we’ll never be able to snatch it from him.” Tess looked back at the door. “So we’re just going to have to break the window.”

  “I know!” Niles said. “There was a Noah’s Ark Room just down there. We can use one of the arks.”

  They went back to fetch one of the large wooden boats and then Tess hurled it at the window with all her might.

  Fortunately, the glass was old and delicate. It shattered immediately.

  Being careful to avoid the broken shards, Tess reached in and twisted the door handle from the inside.

  “We’ve got to be fast!” Tess whispered. “Hoggle might have heard the smash. Everyone look for a key.”

  They slipped into the room, which had a great big desk in the middle and lots of bookcases lining the walls. Stacy and Niles went to the bookcases and Tess investigated the desk. She yanked open the drawers and rifled through them.

  “What’s this?” Tess said, pulling out a big heavy book.

  It was bound in red leather and had Caractacus Hoggle’s name on the front. When Tess opened it, she realised it was a diary. A page had been marked with a paperclip and the diary fell open to this.

  Tess’s eyes went to a highlighted paragraph of small, neat handwriting. She skimmed over it and then gestured to the others.

  “Listen to this,” Tess said, and then started to read aloud from the diary:

  Today I ventured down into the tunnels once again and pleaded with the goblin, but he will not undo the magic spell placed on the toys. The teddy bears continue to rampage around the factory, destroying everything in their path. To my dismay, some of the bears had already been sold to families. I visited these homes and it was plain to me that the children were terrified of the teddies. But most of the adults seemed to think me perfectly mad when I tried to warn them about the toys. Oh, there were one or two adults who seemed to sense something was wrong and had already thrown the toys away, but their unease seemed vague – just that something wasn’t quite right.

  Most of the adults had no idea at all. There was one mother who threatened to telephone the asylum when I tried to explain. And a father who seemed blind to one of the teddies running about his living room and brandishing a knife in the most savage manner. I can only assume it is part of the goblin’s magic that adults don’t see the toys come to life.

  But when an adult is inside the factory itself, they see and hear all. Several of my best workers have already walked out, vowing never to work with toys again. They didn’t even wait for their wages! And there are rumours and whispers in the town about strange sights and sounds coming from this place.

  Oh, how I wish I’d never set eyes on that goblin, let alone thrown pennies into the wishing well! All I ever wanted was to create extraordinary toys, but that fiendish goblin granted my wish in the most twisted manner imaginable. I cannot risk making new toys. Not with that vile goblin’s magic poisoning the entire factory.

  I fear I have no choice but to close the place. My life’s work is in ruins …

  Tess trailed off. Then she said, “He goes on about his life’s work being in ruins for a bit after that.” She flicked back to the start of the journal and scanned the pages rapidly. “It looks like he discovered a wishing well in a cave while out on a country walk,” Tess told the other two. “So he built his toy factory on top of the wishing well on purpose – in order to keep the wishing goblin to himself.” She shook her head. “Stupid thing to do,” she tutted. “The goblin didn’t like having his home built on and so he granted the toy maker’s wish with an evil twist. When Caractacus Hoggle wished for his toys to come to life, the goblin made the bears wicked. But only children can see it. Adults are normally clueless.”

  Stacy and Niles stared at Tess with wide eyes.

  “The goblin must have been the sneeze we heard,” Niles said in a low voice. “In the walls. The thing with the yellow eyes.”

  Stacy and Tess nodded. Everyone knew that goblins were allergic to children.

  “I bet that’s why Hoggle is hiring kids,” Tess said. “To scare the goblin away. He almost said as much earlier.”

  “So now we have an angry goblin to deal with as well as mad teddy bears,” Stacy said.

  The children gave each other grim looks.

  “Well, come on,” Tess said. “We still need to find this key. Oliver is depending on us.”

  They tore around the room, very aware that Hoggle himself might return at any moment. Tess was just beginning to despair that they might never find the key when Stacy gave a shout of triumph from across the room.

  “Here it is!” Stacy exclaimed. “It was hidden inside the giant atlas.”

  “Well done!” Tess said, and hurried over to take the big brass key from Stacy. It felt cold and heavy in Tess’s hand as she curled her fingers around it.

  The children returned to the locked door and everyone held their breath as Tess inserted the key.

  There was a soft click as she turned it and the door swung slowly open. They saw a staircase leading straight down to a dark, silent basement. Tess peered into the gloom and then glanced back at the twins, who’d both gone pale.

  And Tess knew that she couldn’t take them with her down there. Not after what had happened to Oliver. She couldn’t risk losing Stacy and Niles too. She had to get them out of harm’s way. But she knew they wouldn’t simply agree to abandon her to the darkness and the evil teddy bears. So Tess thought carefully about what to say next.

  Finally, she said, “I need you two to go outside and stand guard.”

  “Outside?” Niles repeated, wrinkling his nose. “But—”

  “I saw Hoggle walk off down the road from the window in his office,” Tess lied. “So I need you two to stand at the front gates and keep watch for him. If Hoggle comes back, then one of you can keep him talking while the other one comes to warn me.”

  The twins hesitated, but Tess said, “I really need you to do this. It’s very important that Hoggle doesn’t discover me down there.” She glanced back towards the basement.

  “All right,” Stacy said at last. “We’ll stand watch.”

  “Good,” Tess replied. “And if I’m not back in an hour, then I want you to go straight home and tell Mum and Dad what’s happened. Make them believe you. OK?”

  “But you will come back, won’t you?” N
iles said, looking scared. “With Oliver?”

  Tess tightened her grip on the mop. “Yes,” she said. “I’ll come back with Oliver. But there’s no time to lose, so you two go outside and I’ll see you soon.”

  The twins gave Tess a quick hug before leaving her alone.

  Tess turned back to the open doorway and gazed at the stone staircase leading into the darkness. Her hand already ached from holding onto the mop so tightly.

  “Don’t worry, Oliver,” Tess whispered. “I’m coming.”

  CHAPTER 10

  The Goblin’s Lair

  Tess’s heart was thumping so loudly in her chest as she went down the spiral stairs that she felt sure the goblin would be able to hear it. The stone walls were wet and there was a damp, musty smell in the air.

  She had to go slowly to allow her eyes time to adapt to the dark. But as she got nearer the bottom, a greenish glow spilled out of the darkness towards her. And the smell of damp gave way to the scent of goblin, which was something like black pepper and toffee apples mixed up together.

  Finally, Tess reached the end of the staircase and found herself in a long tunnel. She knew at once that the goblin lived down here, because the tunnel was lined with goblin candles. Goblins made them from their bogies, so they were a yucky green colour. And the candle flame burned green too. The light made Tess feel like she was in some kind of underwater swamp. She could even hear the trickle of running water from somewhere.

  Tess really didn’t want to be in the tunnel, and part of her longed to run straight back up the stairs and all the way home to the farm. But she had to find her brother first.

  “Oliver?” Tess called softly.

  There was no reply and she didn’t dare shout louder in case the goblin heard her. So she swallowed down her fear and made her way deeper into the tunnel. As the mermaids had told them, there was a network of tunnels that spread out under the factory. Sometimes the path Tess was on would branch off into a cavern or cave, and it wasn’t long before Tess feared she was lost.