Free Trapped in Transylvania by Tony Abbott

“Two nights from now, we will all meet at the home of Dr. Seward in London to plot our next move.”
    I nudged Frankie. “A sort of big meeting of the guys.”
    â€œThere’s always one of those when you need to get a job done,” she said. “I love the big meeting of the guys.”
    â€œMe, too,” I said. “Big meetings of guys always make you feel good. Let’s do it.”
    Everyone looked at each other and nodded.
    By the next page, we were in London.

Chapter 14
    Dr. Seward’s house in London was stuck between a hospital on one side and a dark old house on the other. Although it was rainy and cold and the fog was thick, it was still warm and cozy inside. A fire crackled noisily in the fireplace as we gathered around the dining room table.
    While Van Helsing paced up and down, Morris chewed a big cigar, and Holmwood sat frowning in a corner. Not only was Lucy dead, but Holmwood’s father had just died, so now everybody was calling him Lord Godalming. Sort of a mouthful, if you ask me. I turned to Frankie and checked her place in the book.
    We had a lot of pages left.
    â€œShouldn’t we start the big meeting of the guys?” I asked.
    Van Helsing shook his head. “We are waiting for—”
    â€œMore characters?” said Frankie. “I mean … people?”
    I looked at her. She looked at me. People. Right. They did seem a lot more real now than when we had started.
    â€œWe wait for the doorbell,” said Van Helsing.
    I gave Frankie the old head nod, and she began reading. Suddenly, she jumped up and rushed to the door.
    Ding—!
    Frankie pulled the door open before it donged , and Harker and his wife Mina stumbled into the room.
    â€œMr. Harker Jonathan and his wife of charms, Mina!” Van Helsing boomed, clasping their hands. “I am with so much pleasure meeting you now both!”
    Then with a snap of his fingers, the professor bid us all to sit down and start the meeting.
    â€œBegin us now!” he said. “First, Harker Jonathan, what say you?”
    Harker stood up and glanced at all of us one by one. He looked tired and scared. “Dracula is in London,” he said. “And though it seems impossible, he appears to be younger, stronger, and more powerful than before. Not only that, but with Mina helping me, we have tracked down the boxes of dirt—”
    â€œEvil dirt!” I said.
    â€œBad evil!” Frankie added.
    â€œYa—quiet!” said Van Helsing. “And the dirty boxes are where?”
    â€œThey were unloaded from the boat at Whitby and brought to the house Dracula purchased,” said Mina. “An old house in London known as Carfax Abbey—”
    â€œOh—my—gosh!” Dr. Seward exclaimed suddenly, jumping up from the table. “Carfax? Carfax? Carfax!”
    â€œCarfax Abbey,” said Frankie, pointing to the page.
    â€œBut—Carfax Abbey is—the house next door!”
    Dr. Seward pointed out the window at the dark hulky shape beyond the trees. It looked ultraspooky.
    â€œAstounding it is!” said Van Helsing. “Right here?”
    I gasped. “That’s some kind of coincidence!”
    â€œAll fifty boxes were brought to the chapel at Carfax,” Harker went on. “I’ve been asking, and it seems Dracula has purchased three other London houses, but I know not where. Some boxes may have been moved around.”
    â€œWe must destroy all the boxes,” said Lord Godalming—formerly Holmwood—from his chair. “To avenge my dear, dear Lucy!”
    â€œWhat I want to know,” drawled Quincey Morris, his cigar held tight between his teeth, “is why there is silly dirt in the boxes. Man alive! Back in America, we leave dirt on the ground—where it belongs!”
    â€œAh!” said Van Helsing, puffing up his chest. “I will turn on your brain with lightedness! Now you listen!”
    It was clear