Gappy is Kidnapped

Also by Star Donovan

A Surprise for Gappy

Gappy Disappears

Gappy is Kidnapped

Book Three of

The Young Vampire Adventuresby

Star Donovan

Illustrations and cover art

by

Ann-Cathrine Loo

Bronwynn Press

Text copyright © 2009 by Star Donovan

Illustrations and cover art

copyright © 2009 by Ann-Cathrine Loo

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or

transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, record-

ing, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise) without written

permission from the publisher.

Gappy and Bronwynn Press are trademarks of

Bronwynn Press, LLC.

Published by

Bronwynn Press, LLC

PO Box 297

Troy, NY 12182

First edition, 2009

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009936696

ISBN-13: 978-0-9821404-4-4

ISBN-10: 0-9821404-4-4

Bronwynn Press

Contents

Prologue ...............................................................................................1

1 Off to Camp ................................................................................3

2 The First Day .............................................................................16

3 Vampire Lore .............................................................................32

4 Levitation and Flying.................................................................42

5 Telepathy and Detention ..........................................................57

6 Poisonous Berries and Fungus ................................................67

7 Particalization .............................................................................77

8 In the Middle of the Night ......................................................92

9 The Master ...............................................................................102

10 Gappy Makes a Plan ...............................................................116

11 Escape .......................................................................................127

12 Safe Again .................................................................................141

he bat swooped down out of the night sky on tired wings,

aiming straight for the open window. As it fluttered down

to land on the old, wooden floorboards of the room beyond,

it suddenly expanded in size and turned into a crouching, old

man, his thin back bent almost double so that the knobbles of

his spine jutted through the material of his ancient, black waist-

coat. When the man’s feet touched the floor, he remained bent

over for a moment, hands resting on knees, as though needing

that time to recover from his long flight and sudden transfor-

mation.

Wheezing slightly, he slowly straightened his back, grimac-

ing from the pain of his stiff joints. Then he limped over to a

dusty glass cabinet, opened it, and reached inside with a gnarled

hand for a bottle of green liquid that stood on the shelf within,

glowing with an inner light. After dusting off some cobwebs,

he opened the bottle, waved away the green-tinged smoke that

floated out, and took a swig, sighing with pleasure as the three-

hundred-year-old potion trickled a river of fire down his throat.

“Ahhh,” he moaned, “that’s better.”

He returned the bottle to the cabinet and limped over to

the fireplace where his assistant had laid wood and kindling in

the grate, ready for his return. He was always cold these days.

Taking a box of matches from the mantelpiece, he bent to light

the kindling, his back creaking in a most alarming manner. As

the flames took hold, a large ruby on the ring finger of his right

hand glowed dully red in the firelight.

1

T

Prologue

Satisfied that the wood was burning well, the old man made

his way over to a high-backed wing chair and sank into it with

a sigh to think about the night’s work. “Not bad,” he muttered,

idly fingering the few wisps of grey hair that were all that re-

mained of the glossy curls of his youth, once black as a raven’s

wing.

“Not bad at all. He’s the one, I think.

“Yes, he’s the one.”

Gappy is Kidnapped

2

hat do you mean I’m not going to Camp Sunrise with

Pru?” Gappy exclaimed.

Mom began clearing away the breakfast dishes. “Because

you’re going to vampire camp, dear. Now that you’re changing

into a vampire, you need to know some things about vampire

history and what you can expect from now on, living as a mod-

ern-day vampire in a human world.”

She smiled at his pouty expression. “I know you were look-

ing forward to spending the summer with Pru, but I thought

you’d be pleased to have the chance to meet some other vam-

pires your own age. You might even learn some new skills while

you’re away.”

Gappy’s face brightened a little as he listened to his mother.

“Yes,” he agreed, “it would be great to meet other kids who are

like me. It’s just that Pru and I have so much fun at Lake Sun-

rise, and Mr. Casey promised to tell us some really good ghost

stories round the campfire this year.”

“Well, dear, Camp Widdershins is only two weeks long.

Maybe you can join Pru after that,” Mom suggested.

“Widdershins?” said Gappy. “What sort of a name is that?”

Mom laughed. “It’s a very old word. It means to go in a

counterclockwise direction, opposite to the direction traveled

by the sun. Some primitive religions who worshipped the sun

once thought that traveling Widdershins, especially around a

church, brought bad luck, and there are some folk tales about

things that happened to people who did that. Anyway, it’s a kind

3

“

Chapter One

Off to Camp

W

of magical word, so I guess it’s an appropriate name for a vam-

pire camp.”

“Widd-er-shins,” Gappy said slowly. “Yeah, I like it. Wid-

dershins.”

His mother handed him his lunchbox. “You’d better get

going or you’ll be late for school. Say hi to Pru for me. I’m sure

you’ll think up a reason to explain why you can’t go to camp

with her, at least for the first couple of weeks.”

Pru was Gappy’s best friend. Her full name was Prudence

Pottage, and she lived just down the street from Gappy. They

had known each other since kindergarten and often walked to

school together, but they were quite different. Ten-year-old

Gustavus Grapple – nicknamed Gappy – was tall and skinny

with pale skin, longish, black hair, and very blue eyes. Pru, on

the other hand, was quite short with masses of freckles, green

eyes, and flaming red hair. The color suited her character, as

she could be a bit of a daredevil at times and did not take any

nonsense from anyone. In contrast, Gappy was rather shy and

serious.

Pru had no idea that Gappy and his parents, Cuthbert and

Livinia Grapple, were vampires. In fact, Gappy had only learned

this about himself when he was nine years old. After fainting

at school one day, his parents had broken the news to him that

they were vampires and that he was turning into one too. Ac-

cording to the Vampire Code of Conduct, he had to swear

never to tell anyone his secret, for risk of endangering the mod-

ern vampire race that lived undetected amongst regular humans.

Vampires called them “regs” for short.

“Whaddaya mean you’re not coming to Camp Sunrise?”

Pru exclaimed later that morning when Gappy told her the

news.

“That’s what I said,” Gappy answered, playing with the

eraser on his pencil. “My parents are making me go stay with

Gappy is Kidnapped

4

my cousin for two weeks. They said I could join you after that,

though.”

Pru cheered up a bit. “Well, at least it’s not for the whole

summer. Who is this cousin you’ve got to go see?”

“Umm . . . uh . . .” Gappy stammered, his mind going blank.

Oh, gosh, now he felt as though he were blushing.

Pru eyed him suspiciously. “Gustavus Grapple, what’s going

on? Why are you acting so shady all of a sudden?”

Luckily the bell rang just then, and Gappy escaped to his

desk. “Saved by the bell,” he breathed. Thank goodness!

Later in the cafeteria, Pru took a huge bite of her tuna sand-

wich before turning to Gappy. “So,” she mumbled, “I’m still

bummed out about you missing Camp Sunrise, Gappy.”

“What’s that?” Timothy Daylo asked, setting his lunch tray

down next to them. “You mean this year’s the first time I get

to go, and now you’re not coming?” He took off his glasses

and rubbed his nose where the nose piece had left a red mark.

The left lens of his glasses was covered with pink tape to help

out a lazy eye, and his hair stuck straight up on the top of his

head. Billy Tompkins ruffled it with his hand as he passed by

their table. He used to be a big bully and tease the smaller boy

constantly, but he was a lot better now, ever since Gappy had

helped out his cousin a few months ago and kept him out of

jail. Sometimes he still couldn’t resist the occasional jab, though.

“Time to get a haircut, Timmy,” he yelled as he lumbered

away with a plate piled high with pizza and fries.

“Hey, Tim,” Pru commented, “you look so different with-

out your glasses on. Pretty cute, actually.”

Timmy blushed. “I only have to wear them a few more

months. I can’t wait.” He tried unsuccessfully to smooth his

hair down. “So, Gappy, what’s this about camp?”

Gappy crunched a pretzel, spraying crumbs everywhere. “I

have to go stay with my cousin at his camp. I’d rather be going

Off to Camp

5

with you two, believe me. It’s only for two weeks, though, and

then I can join you at Camp Sunrise.”

“I don’t know why you couldn’t have told us this sooner,”

Pru complained. “Maybe we could have gone with you. It’s too

late to change now. My parents have already paid.”

Timmy nodded in agreement.

Gappy took a sip of his juice box. “Yeah, I know. I only

just found out this morning.” He looked around for something

to distract Pru so they could get off the subject. “I think I’m

gonna get some French fries. Want some?”

“I do,” Timmy said. “Extra ketchup, please?”

As Gappy had expected, Pru instantly launched into a lec-

ture about unhealthy food, and the subject of summer camp

was forgotten.

That afternoon when Gappy got home, Mom asked him

how Pru had taken the news. “She didn’t like it,” Gappy replied,

“but she cheered up a bit when I told her I could join her later.”

“What reason did you give?” Mom asked, pouring a glass

of milk and putting a snack on the kitchen table for him.

Gappy sat down. “I told her I was going to my cousin’s

camp first.”

“Funny you should say that,” his mother said. “This morn-

ing after you left, I got a call from Aunt Joelle in Wales. Your

Uncle Peregrine has some business in the States for a month

and thought it would be nice if he brought your twin cousins,

Jackie and Llewellyn, with him. They can go to Camp Widder-

shins with you too. You’ve never met them but they’re nearly

eleven – a bit older than you.”

“Oh,” Gappy said, taking a sip of his milk. He already felt

a little nervous about going to a strange camp with people he

did not know, and now he had to meet some cousins he had

never met before? “Are Aunt Joelle and Uncle Peregrine vam-

pires too?” he asked. “And Jackie and Llewellyn?”

Gappy is Kidnapped

6

“Half and half,” Mom said. “Perry’s a vampire and Joelle’s

a reg. Llewellyn’s been a vampire for about a year and a half

now, but Jackie hasn’t shown any signs of it yet.”

“Did Aunt Joelle know Uncle Peregrine was a vampire be-

fore she married him?” Gappy asked.

“Yes,” Mom answered. “After they’d been going out for a

while and were starting to think about marriage, he had to tell

her. Naturally she didn’t believe him at first. In fact, they almost

broke up because she thought he was going mad. Anyway, she

soon had to admit it might be true after he showed her some

of his skills. And, of course, she needed to know that their chil-

dren might turn out to be vampires too.”

“Wow,” Gappy said and bit into his granola bar.

The last week of school flew by. Exams were over and the

students spent most of the final days doing fun activities and

clearing junk out of cupboards in preparation for the next class

coming up. Cleaning cupboards might not sound like much fun,

but Gappy found it was actually quite enjoyable when everyone

worked at it together.

The last day of school finally arrived, and the next morning

Mom and Dad drove Gappy to the airport where they were to

meet his cousins and Uncle Peregrine. Then they would look

for the school buses that would be waiting at the airport to pick

up all the children who were flying in from all over the country

to go to Camp Widdershins.

“Why does everyone have to travel here?” Gappy asked

while Dad was pumping gas.

“Because Camp Widdershins is the only vampire camp in

the country,” Mom answered. “There aren’t that many vampire

children, you see? It’s difficult enough for us to have babies in

the first place, and nowadays as more and more vampires are

marrying regs, so are more of their children turning out to be

regs too, like Jackie. Anyway, we’re lucky that we live just a few

Off to Camp

7

hours away from the camp.”

“It’s pretty tough for kids who live all the way over on the

other side of the country, though,” Gappy remarked. “Why

don’t they have the camp in the middle?”

Mom dabbed at her face with her handkerchief – it was a

hot day. “I don’t know, Gappy. Just because.”

Dad finished pumping gas, and they continued on to the

airport. As Gappy followed his parents to the greeting area by

security, he began feeling excited about meeting his cousins, es-

pecially Llewellyn. I hope he’s nice, he thought to himself. It’ll be so

cool meeting another vampire kid like me.

“Here they come,” Mom said. She also sounded excited.

She had not seen her brother Peregrine in years. “Perry! Perry

Abernathy!” she yelled. “Over here!”

A tall, thin man with short, black hair and long sideburns

smiled and came over to them, followed by two children. “Hi

there, Livvie. Hallo, Burt,” he said in a British accent. “Gosh,

it’s good to see you again.” He hugged Gappy’s mother, then

held her away from him so he could look at her. “It’s been too

long, sis, but you haven’t changed a bit.”

Duh, thought Gappy. We’re vampires. We don’t change much once

we get to a certain age. “Oof!” His breath exploded out of him as

Uncle Peregrine enveloped him in a bear hug.

“So, this is Gustavus,” his uncle smiled down at him.

“Handsome young fellow, aren’t you? It’s nice to meet you at

last.”

Gappy smiled up at him, a little red-faced at being called

handsome, then he turned to greet Jackie and Llewellyn who

were standing nearby.

Llewellyn was a sturdy, well-built boy with dark hair and

grey eyes like his father. He held out a big hand to Gappy.

“Hallo.” He smiled, displaying a crooked front tooth. “I’m

Llewellyn. That’s spelled L-l-e-w-e-l-l-y-n, but you can call me

Gappy is Kidnapped

8

Off to Camp

9

He turned to greet Jackie and

Llewellyn who were standing nearby.

Llew. Everyone does.”

“Hi,” Gappy said a little shyly. His cousin seemed nice.

When he smiled, his face lit up and made him look quite mis-

chievous.

Llewellyn’s sister tapped Gappy on the arm. She was almost

as tall as Llewellyn, but thinner and athletic-looking with long,

blond hair and blue eyes. “When you’ve quite finished admiring

each other, I’m Jacquelina Ermintrude,” she announced with a

wrinkle of her turned-up nose. “You can forget about the Er-

mintrude part, though. Just call me Jackie.” She flashed her eyes

sideways at her brother. “His middle name’s Horace. If you

want to bug him, just call him Horrid Horace. He hates it.”

“Jacquelina!” Llewellyn protested, pretending to look

shocked. “Don’t listen to her, Gappy.”

Gappy chuckled. “Well, my middle name’s not much better.

It’s Ignatius. If you want to bug me, just call me Iggy.”

“Or G. I. G. for Gustavus Ignatius Grapple,” Llew pointed

out. “Like G.I. Joe, except you’re G.I. Gee.”

They all laughed and Gappy relaxed. He need not feel shy

around Jackie and Llew. They looked as if they could be fun,

and he loved their accents. They sounded British, but with an

extra lilt to their voices that went up and down as they talked.

That must be the Welsh part, he thought.

“So,” his dad said, taking one of Uncle Peregrine’s bags,

“you seem to be hitting it off, you three, but we have to get

going. We’re supposed to meet the bus at twelve o’clock, and

it’s almost that now.”

“Right you are,” Uncle Peregrine said, turning the hour

hand of his watch to the correct time. He put an arm around

Gappy’s mother and gave her a final squeeze before picking up

his other bag. “Lead the way, Burt.”

Gappy took Jackie’s bag, and they followed the grownups

out of the airport.

Gappy is Kidnapped

10

“Now,” Dad said, squinting shortsightedly through his tor-

toiseshell glasses as they stood on the curb, “they said the buses

would be across the street at the side of the parking lot. Look

for a bunch of blue buses.”

“There,” Gappy’s mom said, pointing. “See? They’re pulling

in over there.”

Sure enough, a procession of blue school buses was

trundling into the parking lot to where a large group of children

and parents was assembled.

“Great,” Uncle Peregrine said, beginning to cross the street,

right in front of an oncoming taxi.

Gappy’s dad yanked him back as the taxi sped by honking

loudly at them. “Watch it, Perry! We drive on the other side of

the road here, remember?”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Uncle Perry said with a rueful grin.

“Thanks, Burt.”

“Come on, kids,” Mom called. “It looks like we’re just on

time.” She led the way across the street toward the parking lot

with Gappy and his cousins following on behind.

They came up to the chattering group of kids, just as the

doors of the buses opened. Gappy’s mother gave her son a big

hug. “Have fun, Gappy, and watch out for your cousins, won’t

you? I’ll miss you.” She turned to Jackie and Llewellyn. “I’m

sorry we couldn’t spend some time together before you disap-

peared off to camp, but I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun, and

I’ll see you both when you get back.”

Jackie gave her a quick hug. “Me too, Auntie Liv, bye.” She

hugged Gappy’s dad. “See you in a few weeks, Uncle Cuthbert.”

Then she turned to Uncle Peregrine. “Goodbye, Dad. Be

good.”

“Be good, yourself,” he smiled, hugging her, “and have

fun.”

“Bye, Uncle Burt,” Llewellyn said, shaking his uncle’s hand.

Off to Camp

11

“Aunt Livinia.”

“Come here, you,” Mrs. Grapple laughed. “Why so formal?

It must be a British thing.” She gave Llewellyn a quick hug. “See

you when you get back.”

“Hey!” a voice yelled, and they turned to see the driver of

the nearest bus leaning sideways out of the door beckoning to

them. “Finish your goodbyes and let’s go,” he yelled. “We’re

two minutes late.”

Llewellyn laughed. “I suppose we’d better get in, otherwise

he’ll be complaining soon that we’re three minutes late.”

Jackie bounded up the steps, blowing a last kiss to her dad.

Gappy said goodbye to Uncle Peregrine, and then he and

Llewellyn shoved the bags into the open luggage compartment

on the side of the bus and followed Jackie up the steps. A man

standing nearby closed the luggage hatch with a click and made

some checkmarks on a clipboard. Then he also got on the bus

with a thumbs-up to the driver. The door closed with a hiss.

“Camp Widdershins, here we come!” Llewellyn sang at the

top of his voice, taking no notice of strange looks from the

other kids on the bus. He had a good, strong voice, but Gappy

would rather he not draw attention to the three of them; at least

not yet when they did not know anyone. He followed Llewellyn

and Jackie to a vacant seat and almost landed on Llewellyn’s lap

as the bus jolted away from the curb.

They were off!

The journey to Camp Widdershins took about three hours,

and the cousins used the time in getting to know one another.

Jackie and Llewellyn described where they lived in Wales. It

sounded like a pretty ordinary town, just like Gappy’s home

town of Catchpole.

“So, when did you find out you were becoming a vampire,

Llewellyn, I mean Llew?” Gappy asked, sticking a piece of gum

in his mouth and offering the pack to his cousins.

Gappy is Kidnapped

12

Llewellyn took a stick of gum and crammed it into his

mouth. “Well, it was a bit embarrassing. I was going around the

supermarket one day with Mom. It was just like any other trip

to the supermarket, until we got to the meat section, that is, and

then – ”

“– everything changed,” Jackie interrupted dramatically in

a deep voice.

“Yeah. So then Mom asked me to put a steak roast in the

shopping cart,” Llewellyn continued, “and suddenly I got this

crazy urge to bite into it and see what it tasted like raw.”

“It was calling to him,” Jackie teased. “It was pretty gross,

though. He started trying to rip open the plastic with his teeth,

and people were looking at us all funny, like, ‘What on earth is

that crazy kid doing?’ Then Mom came and took it away from

him and made some lame joke, and we quickly got the rest of

our stuff and left.”

“And all I could think about on the way home was that raw

hunk of meat in the boot, uh, I guess you’d say trunk in Amer-

ica.” Llewellyn said. “Anyway, I didn’t know what was going on.

It was pretty freaky.”

He glanced sideways at Jackie and dug her in the ribs. “It

didn’t help that Jackie was bugging me about it all the way

home, either.”

Jackie jabbed him back. “Yeah, well, you would have done

the same, if it had been me.”

“So, what happened then?” Gappy asked, popping his gum

impatiently.

“When we got home, Mom and Dad sat us down, all seri-

ous like, and explained everything,” Llew answered. “Well, of

course I didn’t believe them at first. I thought they were nuts.”

“Tell me about it,” Gappy agreed.

“And what about me?” Jackie put in. “I had to hear the Big

News too. We’ve been waiting to see if I’m going to turn into

Off to Camp

13

a vampire as well, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen. I’m nearly

eleven and there’s no sign of it, and I certainly don’t like raw

beef sandwiches or blood soup. Yuck.” She looked wistfully

out the window as the bus sped past fields and trees.

“So what’s it like, Jackie, having a brother who’s a vampire,

I mean?” Gappy asked curiously. “Is it hard?”

Jackie turned away from the window. “Sometimes it is. I try

not to feel jealous about all the things Llew will be able to do

that I can’t, but it’s difficult not to. The worst thing is the flying.

I’d love to be able to do that. I mean, who wouldn’t? And if I

had telepathy, I’d never have to worry about passing a test again.

I’d just read the teacher’s mind.”

“You know that’s not allowed, Jack,” her brother reminded

her.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Jackie said. “Still, it would be nice to

get the teacher to give me an A, especially in math.” She blew

a bubble with her gum. “It is kinda fun watching Llew learn

new stuff, though, and at least he’ll be able to take me flying

with him when he learns how.”

“Flying!” Gappy exclaimed. “Wow! D’you think they’re

gonna teach us that at camp?”

“I don’t know,” Llew answered. “I mean, I went to camp in

England last summer and we started learning it, but they might

do things differently here.”

Gappy sat back in his seat, feeling excited. He looked

around at the other children on the bus. The older kids seemed

to know one another and were talking quietly at the back, but

the younger ones were all chattering away like magpies, swap-

ping stories. After all, most of them had never met any other

vampire kids until now, and they were eager to hear each other’s

tales about when they had first learned the Big News and won-

dering what Camp Widdershins would be like.

They all look so normal, like any other kids, Gappy mused. Except

Gappy is Kidnapped

14

most of us have pale skin and dark hair, of course. There are a few dif-

ferent ones, though, like my Dad who’s got sandy hair, but they might be

regular human brothers or sisters, like Jackie.

Gazing at the excited faces all around him, a warm glow

began to grow in Gappy’s chest. I belong, he told himself. These

are my people. We’re all the same and it’s gonna be great!

He looked at Jackie and Llewellyn and smiled at them hap-

pily. They smiled back. Yeah, his cousins were pretty cool too.

After almost three hours, Gappy stretched his arms above

his head and yawned. “Are we there yet?” he moaned. “I’m get-

ting stiff.”

“Tell me about it,” Llew said. “We’ve been driving for ages.”

He looked out at the rolling hills and occasional field of cows.

“Hey, what’s that? Look, you can just see the tops of some tow-

ers above the trees back there.”

“That’s the Old Mansion,” a girl sitting across the aisle told

them. “No one’s lived there for years. They say it’s haunted.”

At long last the school buses began slowing down, and

everyone craned their necks to look out of the windows. They

were approaching the entrance to a long driveway that stretched

away into the distance, lined with trees on either side. A high,

wooden arch spanned the entrance, and big metal letters were

stamped onto it.

“Camp W,” Gappy read aloud with a thrill, and Jackie

squeezed his arm.

They had arrived!

Off to Camp

15