فصل 04

A Night in Terror Tower - Chapter 4

“Eddie—my camera!” I exclaimed. “Did you see—?”

I stopped when I saw the mischievous grin on my brother’s face.

He held up his hand—with my camera in it—and his grin grew wider. “The Mad Pickpocket strikes again!” he declared.

“You took it from my pocket?” I wailed. I gave him a hard shove that sent him stumbling into the Rack.

He burst out laughing. Eddie thinks he’s the world’s greatest pickpocket. That’s his hobby. Really. He practices all the time.

“Fastest hands on Earth!” he bragged, waving the camera at me.

I grabbed it away from him. “You’re obnoxious,” I told him.

I don’t know why he enjoys being a thief so much. But he really is good at it. When he slid that camera from my coat pocket, I didn’t feel a thing.

I started to tell him to keep his hands off my camera. But Mr. Starkes motioned for the group to follow him into the next room.

As Eddie and I hurried to keep up, I glimpsed at the man in the black cape. He was lumbering up behind us, his face still hidden under the wide brim of his hat.

I felt a stab of fear in my chest. Was the strange man watching Eddie and me? Why?

No. He was probably just another tourist visiting the Tower. So why did I have the frightening feeling he was following us?

I kept glancing back at him as Eddie and I studied the displays of torture devices in the next room. The man didn’t seem interested in the displays at all. He kept near the wall, his black cape fading into the deep shadows, his eyes straight ahead—on us!

“Look at these!” Eddie urged, pushing me toward a display shelf. “What are these?”

“Thumbscrews,” Mr. Starkes replied, stepping up behind us. He picked one up. “It looks like a ring,” he explained. “See? It slides down over your thumb like this.” He slid the wide metal ring over his thumb. Then he raised his hand so we could see clearly. “There is a screw in the side of the ring. Turn the screw, and it digs its way into your thumb. Keep turning it, and it digs deeper and deeper.” “Ouch!” I declared.

“Very nasty,” Mr. Starkes agreed, setting the thumbscrew back on the display shelf. “This is a whole room of very nasty items.” “I can’t believe people were actually tortured with this stuff,” Eddie murmured. His voice trembled. He really didn’t like scary things—especially when they were real.

“Wish I had a pair of these to use on you!” I teased. Eddie is such a wimp. Sometimes I can’t help myself. I have to give him a hard time.

I reached behind the rope barrier and picked up a pair of metal handcuffs. They were heavier than I imagined. And they had a jagged row of metal spikes all around on the inside.

“Sue—put those down!” Eddie whispered frantically.

I slipped one around my wrist. “See, Eddie, when you clamp it shut, the jagged spikes cut into your wrist,” I told him.

I let out a startled gasp as the heavy metal cuff clicked shut.

“Ow!” I screamed, tugging frantically at it. “Eddie—help! I can’t get it off! It’s cutting me! It’s cutting me!”