Free Von Gobstopper's Arcade by Alexandra Adornetto Page B

flattened themselves against in their attempt to become invisible.
    ‘Psst!’ a voice said urgently. ‘Get inside,quick! Before she sees you!’ An opening appeared in the stone wall at around knee-height. Without thinking, Milli and Ernest ducked inside. They found themselves standing in a damp and poorly lit passageway. They looked around to see who had rescued them but nobody was there.
    ‘Down here,’ the voice said, making them both jump.
    It was coming from ground level, and when they looked down they saw a little toy soldier wearing a red military jacket. He gave them a salute and clicked his heels. Now that he had their attention he was beaming all over his little wooden face.
    ‘Fear not, little miss,’ the toy soldier said, ‘my name is Captain Pluck and I have come to guide you to safety.’ His eyes wandered to Ernest’s rucksack. ‘And you, young master, I see, have come prepared.’
    The children stared at him with mouths agape. Ernest blinked several times in an effort to clear his vision. He knew he wasn’t hallucinating because he saw on Milli’s face the same expressionhe imagined to be on his own. Toys weren’t meant to speak—they were inanimate objects. Even the breathtakingly lifelike toys created by Gustav Von Gobstopper were still only toys. If they could communicate at all it was in mechanical and toneless greetings.
    Milli’s initial amazement started to pass and she looked at the soldier with more curiosity than shock, as if some secret theory she had harboured all her life had just been confirmed.
    ‘Did you…’ Ernest began, and faltered. ‘I’m sure you didn’t just…’
    ‘Speak up, lad!’ the soldier demanded. ‘What are you jabbering about?’
    Both children jumped upon hearing the voice again. There was no denying that it had come from Captain Pluck. They could see his lips moving, and not in an unnatural way but almost as the mouth of a human might move when speaking. In fact, the toy was staring at them as if he found their behaviour quite strange.
    ‘We beg your pardon…err…Captain Pluck,’ Milli began, realising he was waiting for an answer from them. ‘We don’t mean to berude, it’s just that we’ve never met a talking toy before. You took us by surprise.’
    Now it was the soldier’s turn to look surprised. ‘Never met a toy who could talk?’ he said incredulously. ‘Did you think we were all mute dummies? Surely your own special toys at home have acquired the ability of speech?’
    ‘Not as yet,’ Milli answered.
    ‘Slow developers then,’ said Captain Pluck, shaking his head. ‘Perhaps you haven’t provided them with sufficient stimulation.’ He became suddenly thoughtful as he eyed the children up and down. ‘How did you come to be loitering outside the arcade on your own?’
    Ernest didn’t like his suspicious tone. ‘We were left behind by accident when we went to investigate an SOS,’ he said.
    The soldier brightened suddenly. ‘An SOS? Why didn’t you say so! You had better come and meet the others.’
    ‘The others?’ echoed Ernest but the soldier was no longer listening.
    ‘Hurry along and follow me now. There’s no time to lose.’
    Captain Pluck turned on his heel andmarched off down the passageway ahead, which was rather narrow and more like a tunnel. Milli and Ernest hesitated a moment. They had no doubt that their absence would soon be noticed and the school bus (carrying a distraught Mildew Macaw) would return to collect them. But that might take a little time—perhaps, if they hurried, just enough time to follow this extraordinary little toy and learn more about the inhabitants of the arcade.

CHAPTER EIGHT
Toys Underground
    T he tunnel wasn’t designed to accommodate children and Milli and Ernest had to walk with bowed heads. It was just as well Milli had routinely fed her vegetables to a not-so-finicky Stench at dinner, or she might well have grown too big to get through.
    After several minutes of travelling