The Black Heart Crypt

Zack, Judy, Zipper, and Aunt Ginny crept into the Ickleby family crypt on Haddam Hill with their flashlights.

Aunts Sophie and Hannah would “wait outside, thank you very much.”

Zack had never been inside a tomb before.

The flaking plaster walls were caked with black stains, covered with mold and mildew. They were so crackled you could see the exterior blocks and the lumpy mortar slathered between.

Zack swung his flashlight over to a stack of three coffins. One was dark brown wood; one seemed to be gilded with gold. The third was a rotting pine box with its knotholes popped out. Zack heard a tiny squeak and almost dropped his light when he saw a mouse scurry out of the coffin.

“Where’s Barnabas?” asked Judy.

“I’m not sure,” said Aunt Ginny. “The coffins have shifted positions since the workmen placed them here all those years ago.”

Great, thought Zack. The ghosts have spent thirty-some years in here playing musical coffins.

“As I recall, the oldest coffin looks like a mummy’s casket made out of iron,” said Aunt Ginny. “The Ickleby family crest and the letter ‘B’ are emblazoned on its top.”

Zack and Zipper drifted off to explore one corner of the crypt while Judy and Aunt Ginny moved to the opposite end of the dank tomb.

Zipper barked. Zack raised the beam of his light and saw a long box made out of gray washtub metal. There were handles on the side, a hump in the middle for the chest, and a bigger bump at the bottom for feet. The lid over where the head would be was already open.

Zack moved forward, saw the family crest and big letter “B” on the coffin cover.

He looked down into the head hole.

He wished he hadn’t.

“You guys? I think somebody got here before us.”

Judy and Aunt Ginny hurried over.

“Oh, my,” said Aunt Ginny. “That’s inconvenient.”

“Yeah,” said Zack.

Inside the coffin was a skeleton.

Well, the collarbone and rib cage.

No head, though.

Someone had stolen the skull.

Which meant they had taken all the teeth, too.

“That settles it,” said Aunt Ginny with a defeated sigh. “We must find the original black heart stone. It’s our only hope!”