Laura Ellen Anderson - Amelia Fang and the Half-Moon Holiday

19. ONE SMALL BEACON OF LIGHT . . . . . . . 217 For Dad.The true king of the ‘dad joke’. Thank you for being you and always encouraging me to boldly go into my creative future. Love you long and prosper! xxx First published in Great Britain 2019 by Egmont UK Limited The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN Text and illustrations copyright © 2019 Laura Ellen Anderson The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted ISBN 978 1 4052 9209 2 eISBN 978 1 4052 9415 7 www.egmont.co.uk A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library Printed and bound in Great Britain by the CPI Group All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher and the copyright owner. Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet. Egmont takes its responsibility to the planet and its inhabitants very seriously. We aim to use papers from well-managed forests run by responsible suppliers.

Ghoulish Greetings!

LIKES:

His special eyelid cream

New clothes

DISLIKES:

Running out of eyelid cream

Being hungry

LIKES:

Hanging out with friends

Pumpkin Paradise Park!

DISLIKES:

Mean creatures

Tidying up her bedroom

LIKES:

Boat races

Foraging for food

DISLIKES:

Tangine’s eyelid cream obsession

Being called a ‘Beast’

LIKES:

Being with his friends

His trusty scythe torch

DISLIKES:

What’s in the Sea of Sparkles

Tragic stories

LIKES:

Telling tragic stories

Sandwiches with extra filling

DISLIKES:

Ricky’s map reading

Running out of teabags

LIKES:

The Rainbow Ranger club

Summer Houses

DISLIKES:

Graham’s tragic storytelling

Graham’s driving

LIKES:

His Nectar Carriage

His bug kingdom

DISLIKES:

Anything with butter

An unhappy bug

LIKES:

Being the best in class

Tormenting Amelia Fang

DISLIKES:

Amelia getting better grades

Being nice

CHAPTER 1

SPARE KNICKERS

As the sun rose in the Kingdom of the Dark,

the creatures of Nocturnia were all getting

ready for bed; all apart from one little vampire

and her pet pumpkin, Squashy.

‘Muuuum!’ Amelia Fang called up the spiral staircase of the Fang Mansion. ‘Have you seen my pumpkin backpack? I need it for the Rainbow Rangers camping trip, and I have to be in Central Nocturnia Graveyard in ten minutes to meet everyone!’

A yellow door halfway down the corridor burst open and Countess Frivoleeta, a beautiful vampiress with VERY tall hair, appeared. She was wearing a long sparkly

dressing gown with HUGE shoulder pads and her hair was wrapped up in a glittery towel.

‘Darkling!’ she oozed, scooping Amelia up in her arms. ‘I can’t believe you’re going away for the whole half-moon holiday!’ She kissed Amelia three times on each cheek, leaving behind shiny black lipstick marks. ‘Now, did you remember your fang polish? How about

your pale skin scrub? Oh, and some spare

pairs of knickers just in case any get

eaten by vultures or something . . .’

‘Mum!’ Amelia blushed. ‘None

of my things will get eaten by

vultures. Plus, we’re going

to the Kingdom of the

Light. You don’t really get any vultures over there. But I really do need to find my pumpkin backpack or I won’t be able to pack a spare pair of anything.’

The countess pondered for a moment and then disappeared into her bedroom. A few seconds later, she emerged from another room further along the corridor. The doors of the Fang Mansion were rather unusual; they moved around whenever they pleased and Amelia was lucky if her bedroom was behind the same door for more than a few weeks at a time. Some doors disappeared, new ones appeared and you never knew quite where you were going to end up!

‘You can use this bag if you like? It’s one of my favourites!’ said the countess, stroking a furry clutch bag which looked like a flattened mouse. Amelia was unsure she’d fit her hand inside it let alone a week’s worth of camping

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essentials. As Amelia tried to figure out a way to let her mother down gently, her dad appeared from the bathroom with a crossword puzzle tucked under one arm.

‘Ah! My favourite sausage sizzler!’ said Count Drake the Third when he saw Amelia. ‘You must be excited to escape organ practice for a whole week!’ He winked mischievously.

Countess Frivoleeta glared at her husband. ‘Drake my most dreadful flabbergaster, Amelia will be catching up with her organ practice after the half-moon holiday, won’t you, darkling?’

Amelia sighed. ‘Yeess, Mum.’

The Fang Mansion Grimfather clock chimed, causing Amelia to shriek.

‘It’s already 5am! I’m going to be late!’ she said, running along the corridor. ‘Where’s my backpack?!’

Squashy bounced around in circles,

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waggling his stalk and squeaking in shared panic.

‘Do you mean this backpack, young Amelia?’ came a familiar voice from the bottom of the stairs.

Wooo, the most respected ghost butler in the Kingdom of the Dark, floated up towards them holding a round orange bag.

‘Oh, Wooo!’ said Amelia, running over to him. ‘You’re the best!’

‘I found it in the basement being cradled by a bogeyman. He’d adopted it as his pet.’ Wooo turned to the count and countess. ‘I’m afraid the bogeyman infestation is getting worse. We’ll need to move them on quickly otherwise they’ll start to take over the whole house. They’ll wear all your clothes, Countess, and then rip them up. For fun.’

Countess Frivoleeta looked as though she might faint, and her left eyeball was spinning

5

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around so quickly it was dangerously close to falling out.

‘It’s okay, my dearest little pus-fart. We’ll sort it.’ Count Drake nodded at Wooo and took a deep breath. ‘I’ll call the Bogey Busters tonight.’

With her pumpkin backpack filled to the brim, a few spare pairs of knickers (JUST IN CASE) and a very bouncy Squashy, Amelia kissed her mum and dad goodbye. She was so nervous, her tummy felt full of fluttering vampire moths. She’d never been away from home for this long before without her parents; not even when she ventured to Glitteropolis to find Tangine’s mum.

Countess Frivoleeta straightened Amelia’s Rainbow Rangers sash. ‘I expect this will be

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FULL of badges by the time you return.’

The countess smiled. ‘You’re going to have the best time.’

‘I hope so!’ said Amelia. ‘I’ll miss you and dad though.’

‘Oh, you’ll forget all about missing us when you’re having fun with your friends, my little toe-stopper,’ said Amelia’s mum. ‘You won’t want to come home!’

‘And don’t go eating anything you shouldn’t,’ said Count Drake.

Amelia giggled. ‘Don’t worry, Dad. I won’t. A Rainbow Ranger must always be prepared. Plus, our Ranger leaders, Ricky and Graham, will be looking after us the whole time.’

‘Well, you take care, my little pimple-popper.’ Her dad smiled and gave Amelia a squeeze. He opened the vine-covered door that revealed a misty Central Nocturnia Graveyard.

‘Right then,’ said Amelia.