Free The Beast of Blackslope by Tracy Barrett

he’s a little batty on the subject. And anyway, he’s even grumpier than usual these days. He’s not looking forward to leaving the manor, even though my parents are buying him a nice cottage close to town.”
    â€œHey, I bet you know all about the story of the Beast of Blackslope,” Xander said, “since a lot of it happened right here.”
    Ian blinked. “The Beast? What do you know about that?”
    Xena and Xander told him what they’d read in Sherlock’s casebook, and what Mr. Tuttle had told them, that he believed the Beast was back.
    â€œOr maybe it never left,” Ian said. “It’s true what Mr. Tuttle said about the cook disappearing. He knows a lot about the Beast. But not everything.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Xander asked.
    â€œThis isn’t the first time it’s reappeared. It
carried off my uncle Philip when he was a teenager.”
    â€œ What ?” Xena and Xander couldn’t believe that no one had mentioned this before. Xander felt his stomach turn over at the thought of someone being carried off by the Beast.
    Ian nodded. “He just disappeared one day. All they ever found were huge footprints. And his jacket. I still have it.”
    â€œWow!” Xena said. “What else?”
    â€œNothing.” Ian shrugged. “There were no more clues. No one ever heard from Philip again. And there’ve been other strange disappearances.”
    Just then they heard a woman’s voice calling Ian’s name.
    â€œGot to run!” Ian said. “Maybe I’ll see you in the village before you leave.” He turned and tripped over a garden hoe that was lying right out in plain view. Xena ran to help him, but he got up, brushed off his knees, and said, “Don’t worry! I’m all right,” and limped away.
    They watched him go, too surprised to speak for a moment.
    â€œWell!” Xena finally said. “It looks like we have some more investigating to do.”
    â€œDefinitely,” her brother agreed. “There’s
something here that doesn’t add up. Mrs. Roberts said it was her family that was cursed, not the Blackslopes. And neither she nor Mr. Tuttle mentioned Ian’s uncle. Let’s find Mom and Dad and see if they can take us to the library.” He turned back toward the house. “I want to find out more about this missing Uncle Philip.”
    They went in through the manor’s front door, entering a huge high-ceilinged room. The house seemed to be filled with people walking around holding pamphlets. Everywhere Xena and Xander looked they saw shining wood tables heaped with china, silver, books, and paintings. Each item had a sticker with a number written on it. “How will we ever find Mom and Dad?” Xander asked.
    â€œJust start looking, I guess. Let’s split up. We’ll meet back at the front door.”
    Xander went to the left down a long corridor with a suit of armor standing in a niche, and Xena turned into a smaller room where even the cushions on the sofa had stickers on them. How sad, she thought, imagining how she would feel if everything her family owned was going to be sold. She didn’t see her parents in there, but she did briefly meet Ian’s mom, who looked a lot like
Ian. Xena introduced herself and then moved on to the next room. She was about to give up and follow in the direction Xander had taken when suddenly she saw him waving at her from a doorway.
    She managed to get through the crowd to where he stood. “Find them?”
    â€œNo,” Xander said, “but I did find something very interesting.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œIan lied to us. His uncle Philip wasn’t carried off by the Beast or anything else!”

CHAPTER 13
    F or a minute Xena could only stare at Xander. “What do you mean, Ian’s uncle wasn’t carried off by the Beast?”
    â€œCome with me!” Xander disappeared into the