Alice in Horrorland

1. Auflage CIP-Titelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek The Knickerbocker Kids / Thomas Brezina Alice in Horrorland Redigiert von Maria Clay Lektorat: Dr. Irene Kunze Illustrationen: Atelier Bauch-Kiesel Satz: Zehetner Ges. m. b. H., A-2105 Oberrohrbach Wien - Stuttgart - Kiel: Neuer Breitschopf Verlag 1993 Alle Rechte, auch die des auszugsweisen Nachdrucks, der fotomechanischen Wiedergabe, der Übersetzung und der Übertragung in Bildstreifen, vorbehalten. © Copyright 1993 by hpt-Verlagsgesellschaft m. b. H. & Co. KG, Wien ISBN 3-7004-1215-0 crazy2001 @ 02/2011

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VORWORT ALICE IN HORRORLAND wurde eigens für Englisch lesende Kinder im 2. und 3. Lernjahr geschrieben. Es wurden die bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt erlernten Vokabeln und Redewendungen verwendet. Außerdem befindet sich im Anschluß an den Text ein Glossar. Die Übersetzung ins Englische erfolgte durch Erich Ballinger und David Solomon. Erich Ballinger ist Grazer, unterrichtet Englisch und schreibt und illustriert Kinder- und Schulbücher. David Solomon wurde in Los Angeles geboren und ist freiberuflich als Lehrer, Schriftsteller und Songschreiber tätig.

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CONTENTS Welcome to Horrorland.............................................................07 Escape.......................................................................................10 The Magician is Alive!..............................................................13 Horror in Dreamland .................................................................15 Taxi to Doom ............................................................................17 Many Warnings.........................................................................19 Followed by Demons.................................................................22 The Graveyard of the Living Dead ............................................24 Blackbeard's Treasure................................................................27 Horrible News...........................................................................29 Terror on the High Seas.............................................................31 The End ....................................................................................35 The Final End............................................................................38 Word List ..................................................................................40

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THE KNICKERBOCKER KIDS NAME: Axel AGE: 13 He is the shortest boy in his class. However, he's a super sportsman. Nobody runs faster or jumps better. HOBBIES: They change every week.

NAME: Lieselotte, called „Lilo“ AGE: 13 She's the „Brain“ of the Kids. Lilo knows lots of tricks of professional detectives, because she reads all the mystery stories she can find. HOBBIES: Mountain climbing, skiing.

NAME: Dominik AGE: 10 His parents are actors, and Dominik has played small parts in musicals and films. His friends think that he talks like Hamlet's father. HOBBIES: Reading. And he remembers everything he reads, too.

NAME: Poppi (Her real name is Paula, which she doesn't like.) AGE: 9 Her home is almost like a zoo. She has three cats, a dog, a parrot, rabbits, goldfish, and rats. HOBBIES: Her pets.

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THE KNICKERBOCKER KIDS got their name in a funny way: Axel, Lilo, Poppi and Dominik had won the first prize in a contest for knickerbocker-lederhosendesigning. That was okay with them. However, they had to wear their funny-looking, flipped-out knickerbocker-lederhosen in a fashion show. They didn't like that. So they played a trick on the manager of the knickerbocker-lederhosen-company. The manager became angry and shouted: „You crazy Knickerbocker Kids!“ The children liked the name. So, since then, they call themselves THE KNICKERBOCKER KIDS.

KNICKERBOCKER MOTTO: We, the Knickerbocker Kids, are honest and true and stick our noses into every clue.

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WELCOME TO HORRORLAND Lieselotte was the first to wake up. Tired, she rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed. What was that?! It sounded like a cry for help. The „Brain“ of the Knickerbocker Kids stared nervously into the black night. Lilo was glad that her three friends, Axel, Poppi and Dominik, were sleeping in the same room with her. The eerie calls started again. It was a windless night. So the wind could not have caused the eerie sounds outside. Lilo didn't want to be scared alone, so she woke up her friends. „Do you hear that?“ she asked the others. Axel, Dominik and Poppi listened. „There .. . there is a voice!“ Dominik mumbled. Axel pulled a torch out from under his blanket and switched it on. He moved the light beam slowly along the wooden walls. There were long bookshelves against the walls. Large, bronze supports kept the books from falling over. They looked like voodoo priests with their mouths open. Axel pointed his torch at one of the heads. The thing was moving. Axel closed his eyes and opened them again. He was right! The eerie white rings around the eyes and the mouth were spinning around. The mask was changing into a skull. Axel's mouth was dry. „Do you... see that too?“ he breathed. The others stuttered: „yes“. „A snake,“ Poppy whispered. „A snake is crawling out of its mouth!“ Lieselotte closed her eyes and stuttered: „No ... no ... there are scorpions in its hair!“ The screaming was getting louder and more threatening. Axel got out of bed and moved towards the door. „Out . . . out!“ he called. „There's a man... he's coming out of the wall... he has a stick in his hand. There is a skull on the rod. He wants to hurt us!“ The others jumped out of their beds and stumbled towards the door. They reached the veranda where there were steps down to the garden. 7

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Axel, Lilo, Poppi and Dominik continued to see horrible things. Axel saw large flowers change into skulls. Poppi saw a garden hose change into a snake and wrap itself around her. Lieselotte saw a sickle turn into a monstrous scorpion, while Dominik saw a very large black widow spider! All four Kids screamed with horror.

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ESCAPE Lieselotte grabbed Poppi's and Dominik's hands. „Come with me... we aren't staying a second longer!“ she yelled. The others agreed. The white house with the red roof had looked so friendly, so harmless in the daytime. It sat upon a hill overlooking the sea, with palm-trees and wild flowers. But now the house showed its real face. It was a haunted house. Lilo, still holding hands with Poppi and Dominik, reached the fence and jumped over it. The two younger Kids had problems following her, but they managed by holding on to Lilo's hands. Lilo suddenly stopped and said: „Axel? Where is Axel?“ No answer. They looked around. They had forgotten their friend. He hadn't followed them. Where could he be? „Axel . . . hey! Where are you?“ the three called into the dark. There was no answer. What now? „We... we have to go back and... and look for him!“ Lieselotte stuttered. „Do we have to?“ Poppi asked quietly. „We can't leave him!“ Lilo said. The Kids stayed close together as they slowly went back to the house. An invisible, but very strong power tried to hold them back. But they fought against it, reaching the fence at last. „A light, a fire!“ Dominik whispered. Between the palm-trees was a light. And there was Axel! He was standing with his back pressed against a tree, staring at a metal bowl with his eyes wide open. There were knee-high, green flames blazing from it. A second figure appeared that made the Knickerbocker Kids shiver. The voodoo magician was with Axel. He wasn't made of metal, he was alive! It was the same face they had seen in the room. Poppi, Lilo and Dominik saw with horror the big, wooden box, which the man was putting down.

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„That . . . that is a voodoo coffin!“ Dominik whispered. He knew a lot about voodoo because he had read so much about it. „The man wants to put Axel in the coffin. And then maybe... bury him alive!“ Lilo shook her head silently. „No ... no ... this must not happen. No!“ But how could they help the boy without being caught by the magic? What could they do?

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THE MAGICIAN IS ALIVE! The voodoo magician made gestures with his hands, and then threw something into the fire. The colour of the fire instantly changed to red. The magician opened the coffin. Gesturing towards Axel, he seemed to pull him towards the coffin with invisible threads. Axel, his face frozen, walked towards his doom. Thick yellow smoke came out of the bowl and covered Axel. Closer and closer he came to the coffin. Lieselotte was breathing heavily, as she nervously chewed on her braids. Poppi made a fist which she bit so hard that it hurt. Why were they so powerless? Poppi rocked nervously, unable to stand still. She touched a cool, hard thing on the ground with her toe. She bent down and grabbed it. This was the answer! Poppi leaned over to Dominik and whispered something in his ear. He nodded and searched to his left in the dark. He soon found it. Dominik turned the water on and the water shot out of the hose. Poppi pointed the water at the voodoo magician. He screamed as the water hit him. The fire went out. Then Poppi splashed Axel who shook himself like a dog and said: „Hey . . . what. . . how ... where?“ Axel couldn't say anything else. „Axel! Come here!“ Lieselotte called out. Axel moved towards his friend. She quickly grabbed him and together the Knickerbocker Kids ran down the hill. No one even looked back. They finally reached an unpaved road which took them to the next village. Lilo pointed and said: „Look! There is something ... a car is parking over there, and somebody is sitting in it!“ The car door opened and a woman got out. „Lieselotte, it's me!“ a familiar voice called. „Alice!“ the Kids shouted with joy. They ran towards the woman and fell into her arms. „Please take us away . . . fast!“ the frightened junior detectives begged.

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„It was horrible ... it was more than that, it was super-horrible!“ Dominik reported. „You ... you also saw it? So it was not only my imagination,“ Alice said. „Something is wrong in that house.“

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HORROR IN DREAMLAND Alice was Lieselotte's pen pal. She was seven years older than the Brain, but she got along very well with her younger friend. The young woman had lived in Miami until she inherited the white house from her Uncle Harry. The house was on the beautiful island of St. Thomas in the Caribbean. Alice had liked the „Wonderland“ at first, but not since the horrible visions had started. She knew how successful the Knickerbocker Kids were in solving mysteries, so she had invited the Kids, during their Christmas vacation, to the Caribbean to help her. Once in the car Lieselotte's brain began to work. She rubbed her nose really hard. It helped her to think better. Such ghostly visions needed technical machines. The junior detectives had inspected the house during the daytime, but they hadn't found anything unusual. So where did these visions come from? „We are going to drive to the Grand Palazzo Hotel,“ Alice said. „I've been living there since the visions started. I knew that the same thing might happen to you, so I reserved two rooms for you.“ Lying in bed that evening, Lieselotte thought about the day. She didn't believe in ghosts, but they had seen the terrible things with their own eyes. The Brain decided to stop thinking for the day. However, the horror was not yet over. In the half-dark, luxurious hotel room something moved. Lilo and Poppi stared at the old carved bed posts. They looked like snakes, they were cobras! As the girls stared at them the posts seemed to come alive. Poppi screamed softly and slipped under the blanket. „Did you see... did you see them too?“ she asked Lieselotte fearfully. Lieselotte nodded. „I want to leave this room ... I can't stand it any longer!“ Poppi whispered. Lilo shut her eyes and opened them again. The cobras had turned back to wood. The telephone rang and Lilo picked it up. Axel was on the telephone. He was in the other room with Dominik.

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„It's spooky here... a lamp turned into a jellyfish.“ Axel whispered. „And Dominik is always seeing black widow spiders on the table. But when I turn on the light, there's only a cable!“ Lieselotte got out of bed and opened the balcony door. The night was mild, and a warm wind blew around her feet. She breathed the salty air. It was funny, but outside she felt free and safe. „Grab your blankets and let's sleep out here. I have a feeling it is much better for us.“ The boys and Poppi agreed with Lilo and soon they were fast asleep. However, the great Brain couldn't sleep. Maybe there was a voodoo master on the island who had the Kids in his power. The Knickerbocker Kids had to free themselves from this. But how?

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TAXI TO DOOM It rained the next day, but it was a warm rain. The Knickerbocker Kids woke up shortly after eight o'clock. They all felt as if somebody had been hitting their heads with a stick all night long. They sat up groaning. Luckily the balcony had a roof, otherwise the junior detectives would have been very wet. After they had showered and brushed their teeth, they knocked on Alice's door. She hadn't slept well either. They ate breakfast on a big terrace. The Kids had a great view of the ocean and the neighbouring islands. „You... you were my last hope!“ Alice confessed. „But after what has happened, I am sure that the house is haunted. I... I will try to sell it, but I won't get much money for it.“ Axel said: „Do you think that other people know that the house is haunted?“ „Unfortunately I told the man who works in my garden. I am sure that the whole world knows it now,“ said Alice. „How long did your uncle live in the house?“ Lilo asked. Alice paused for a second. „I think for more that twenty years. But I'm not sure. I never saw him. He didn't want any contact with his family.“ „Alice, as beautiful as the house might be, sell it, before it's too late!“ added Axel. „No, we're not giving up that fast!“ said Lilo. „A real Knickerbocker never gives up! Did you forget that?“ „And what's your idea, Miss Super Intelligent?“ Axel said. „I think that we should check the house once more,“ she said in a calm voice. But she had butterlies in her stomach. Her fear was as great as Axel's, but she could hide it better. „How can we get to the house?“ Dominik asked. „It is too far to walk.“ Alice, who was very nervous that day, said, „I'm sorry, but I can't drive today.“ 17

„We'll take a taxi,“ Lieselotte decided. „We'll leave in fifteen minutes. Who's coming?“ Axel wasn't in the mood for playing the hero and said, „I'm going to stay.“ Dominik and Poppi agreed with Axel. Lilo looked at them angrily. „Okay, then I will go alone to help my friend!“ Lilo asked in the hotel for a taxi. Five minutes later she got into an old taxi cab. A black woman was driving the car. Lilo shut the door and off went the taxi. Lilo told the woman driver the address but the lady just ignored her. „Hey! Did you understand me?“ Lieselotte asked. The taxi woman ignored Lilo and stepped on the gas. The car took off pressing Lilo into her seat. Wildly the woman turned the steering-wheel to the left and to the right, letting the car spin from one curve to the next. The woman seemed to be mad or drunk. Lilo fastened her seat-belt. She did her best to hold on. „Stop, stop the car! What are you doing?“ Lilo screamed, trying to be louder than the old motor or the screeching tyres. But she didn't have a chance. The woman didn't seem to hear her. Lilo discovered, with horror, that the car had turned onto a very small road. The road was slippery because of the rain, and sometimes the car came dangerously near the cliff. „Stop!“ screamed Lilo, who was becoming more and more terrified. The lady took an aerosol can from under her seat and sprayed something at Lilo. A white cloud covered her face. Lilo felt an itching and burning in her nose and eyes. Then she fainted.

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MANY WARNINGS Lieselotte heard splashing as she was waking up. She had a hard time opening her eyes. She was still sitting in the taxi with the seatbelt on. The ride was over and the car had stopped. Lilo looked out the window but she couldn't see much. There were green bushes all around the car. Had they had an accident and had fallen off the cliff? Lilo checked, but luckily she was okay. She only had a headache. She also had problems with her eyes. She couldn't see clearly. Everything seemed to be moving. The Brain had the feeling that she was sitting under water. But what had happened to her driver? She looked like she was dead. Her head was leaning on her shoulder. Lieselotte's heart began to beat fast as she held her hand under the woman's nose. Yes! She was still breathing. Lieselotte was relieved. But where were they? The girl touched the driver on the shoulder and shook her a bit. „Hey! Hello! Wake up!“ Lieselotte said. The woman still seemed to be unconscious. She didn't move and she didn't seem to notice the shaking. This was too eerie for Lieselotte. She decided to get out of the car and look around. She unfastened her seat-belt and tried to get out, but the door didn't open. She tried the door on the other side. It was not locked, but the bushes made it hard to open it. The splashing got louder. She must be near a waterfall. Lieselotte pressed her feet against the door. She pushed as hard as she could. Wood cracked as the door opened a little bit, just enough for her to crawl out. The bushes scratched Lieselotte's face, got caught in her hair, and in her T-shirt. It seemed as if the thorns had grown around her and the taxi. Had she slept for a hundred years? The bushes finally came to an end. The blue sky came into sight. Just as she was about to step out of the bushes, Lilo grabbed a thorny branch, cutting her hand. She stopped, and then saw that the bushes were at the edge of a cliff. One step further and she would have fallen twenty metres. 19

There was a big waterfall and a large lake. The taxi had been placed there so that Lilo would fall down when she got out. But who had put the car there? And the driver, why was she unconscious? There was a rock in the middle of the lake with four large dolls on it. One wore a cap, another one wore glasses, the third one had long, dark hair, and the last one had blond braids. It was clear that the dolls were symbols for the Knickerbocker Kids. As Lieselotte stared at the dolls a ball of fire flew over the lake and landed on the rock. The dolls began to burn. Lilo felt as if she, too, was burning. „No! No!“ she screamed, fighting her way back through the bushes. When Lieselotte reached the car, she crawled under it. That's when she saw, on the other side of the car, the two brown feet in old tennis shoes, walking up and down.

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FOLLOWED BY DEMONS „Oh, here you are!“ the driver called and gave Lilo her hand. „I was so worried about you and what had happened!“ Lilo didn't come out from under the car. She didn't trust the woman. „What is the matter? I won't hurt you.“ But Lilo wasn't so sure. „I don't know what came over me,“ the taxi driver said. „It was like a dream. Suddenly I got the order to bring you here as fast as possible.“ Lilo asked her, „Who gave you this order?“ „A ... a deep voice; but don't ask me who! I have no idea. I was suddenly afraid of you during the ride. You looked like a snake, so I sprayed you with sleeping gas. I always keep a can under my seat for my protection. When I arrived here, there was a man at my door. He was... he was a ... a...!“ The woman could not continue. „A voodoo master?“ The taxi driver nodded. „And then I fainted. When I woke up you were gone.“ Lieselotte came out from under the car. She stood up and brushed off her clothes. She looked at the taxi which had been pushed into the bushes. „What have you done?“ the woman asked seriously. „You are being followed by demons!“ Lilo shivered. „What???“ „You are being followed by evil demons. You must have done something horrible to make the big magicians angry at you.“ Lilo tried not to panic. „I don't believe in such things,“ Lilo said. „Quiet, girl!“ the woman warned her. „Be quiet, and leave this island as fast as possible!“ Lieselotte didn't answer. The woman's frightened face made her very insecure. „I... I want to be taken to Blackbeard's Drive,“ Lilo said quietly. „Please, listen to me,“ the woman begged. „Later!“ Lilo promised. 22

The two were able to get the car out of the bushes. They were at Alice's house in ten minutes, but the taxi driver did not want to go up the hill. „The black shadow of doom is over you! You must leave!“ she warned Lilo again. „Nonsense, nonsense!“ Lilo said out loud. „This is not real. There is an explanation for all of this. Yes, yes, yes!“ But the nearer she came to the house, the more uncertain she became. The house looked the same, but the bowl of fire and the voodoo coffin were gone. Lilo slowly wandered around the house. It seemed perfectly harmless. There were no signs of a spook. When Lilo reached the veranda she stopped. The door was moving even though there wasn't any wind. It seemed that a ghost was opening it. Slowly, very slowly, the door opened. It made a noise which hurt Lilo's ears. Lilo stepped back, trying to find a hiding place. She did not want to be seen. Her hands touched a barrel as she stepped back. Lilo took a wrong step and the barrel crashed to the ground. The door of the house flew open and a green figure jumped out into the garden.

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THE GRAVEYARD OF THE LIVING DEAD Lieselotte started to scream. She could usually stay cool, but this time she couldn't. „Hello... Miss... hello!“ a high voice laughed. A young, smiling boy wearing green trousers was standing on the veranda. He had white teeth under his big dark lips. „Miss ... Miss ... don't scream! You are scaring the worms!“ the boy said jokingly. „Aren't you in the earth Miss Alice's friend, the one who is as intelligent as James Bond?“ Lieselotte didn't answer. She wanted to know who he was. „I am Jim the gardener. I worked for Mister Harry and now I work for Miss Alice. I came to cut the grass, but I couldn't find Miss Alice or her guests. I was afraid that something had happened. So I looked around the house.“ Lieselotte calmed down a little bit but was still suspicious. „Jim won't hurt you, Miss!“ the young black man said. Smiling, he gave her his hand which she gladly shook. „What happened? Why were the doors left open?“ Jim wanted to know. Lieselotte told him everything that had happened since yesterday. Jim didn't seem to be surprised. „That doesn't surprise me,“ Jim said. „Mister Harry didn't spend much time here because he knew that the living dead didn't want anyone to stay here.“ „The living dead?“ Lilo asked. „This house should never have been built here. The hill is an old graveyard. A graveyard of zombies. Zombies are dead people who return to life. When they come out of their graves, nobody can come near them. If you disturb them, you pay with your life!“ Jim whispered in a spooky voice. „Mister Harry knew that, so he spent most of the time on his boat. He only stayed here a few days each month. He only slept in the house during a new moon. That's the time when zombies sleep.“ Lilo didn't believe the boy. „And why aren't you afraid?“ she wanted to know. 24

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Jim pulled out a silver amulet that hung on a chain under his shirt. Strange symbols were carved on it. „It protects me from demons, but only during the daytime! I have been wearing it ever since I began working here. The zombies scared everyone else away.“ Lieselotte shivered. Everybody seemed to believe in black magic. Could black magic really be true? „May I borrow your amulet?“ she asked the gardener. He thought for a moment and then gave it to her. Lilo didn't want to go into the house again without protection against the evil powers. But she wanted to look at the bronze heads one more time. The voodoo heads stood quietly on the shelves. Lilo wanted to touch them, but she couldn't find the courage. She got a stick from the garden and hit the statues. They were hard and solid and harmless. How could those horrifying creatures have crawled out of the statues? Lilo looked down at the floor as she was leaving and saw something. She grabbed it and put it into her pocket. „Miss, are you leaving already?“ Jim asked. „Yes, goodbye!“ Lieselotte called out. „Say hello to Miss Alice for me!“ But Lieselotte didn't hear him. She had already run down the hill to the road. She had to speak with her friends about what they should do next.

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BLACKBEARD'S TREASURE In the hotel room, Lilo showed the others what she had found. „This looks like a hand-drawn map,“ Dominik said. He ran into his room and came back with an atlas of the Caribbean Sea. He opened to a map of the island of St. Thomas and compared it with the handdrawn sketch on the piece of paper. „It is St. Thomas!“ An „x“ had been marked on the map about two kilometres from the shore. „Do you think this is a ... a treasure map?“ asked Axel. Lilo, Poppi and Dominik weren't sure. Everything was possible. Lieselotte said: „Until now, the house has only given us horror. I think that this map will only bring us more horror. The 'x' could also be a magic point in the sea.“ Poppi was also suspicious. „Maybe Alice's uncle was part of a voodoo clan?“ Lieselotte shook her head. She didn't like the idea. It didn't fit with the things which had already happened. Or perhaps it did? Why did Uncle Harry leave the house to Alice? Did he want to drive her mad, or did he want revenge? But why? He didn't even know her. Or were the zombies really the reason for the horror? But how could Uncle Harry put up with the horror for twenty years? Was it really true that he only spent time at the house during the new moon? Somebody knocked on the door. „Lieselotte, could you open the door?“ Alice called. Lilo opened the door. There was Alice with another woman. „This is Lucie. She worked for my uncle for seven years. She has come to tell us something important; but I can't believe it.“ „What is it?“ Lieselotte asked quite surprised. „It's about Miss Alice's uncle. He asked me just before he died to tell her something. I knew that he had been looking for Blackbeard's treasure. The pirate captain, Blackbeard, had really lived on St. Thomas. He kept his treasure here, in his castle, but he never told anyone 27

where it was hidden. I was asked to tell Miss Alice that the big magician keeps watch over the treasure.“ Alice looked at her friend puzzled: „Do you have any idea what this means?“ Lieselotte didn't want to tell her the truth. Of course she knew. This explained the meaning of the „x“ on the map. Yes, it was a treasure map. It seemed that all of the puzzle pieces were coming together. Lieselotte promised Alice that she would think about everything and give her an answer later. She shut the door and told her friends what had been said. „This means that we're going to dive for the treasure,“ Axel said. The Kids had taken a diving course the summer before, and Axel had learned to like the sport. Dorninik shook his head: „Not me! I can't stand putting my head under water. It frightens me as much as spiders.“ Nobody laughed at him. „I understand,“ said Axel. „I don't like being locked up in a room.“ „Something isn't quite right here,“ said Lilo angrily, rubbing her nose really hard. „On the one hand there is voodoo magic, and on the other hand there is a buried treasure. But what does the one have to do with the other?“ „Well, I'm going diving today,“ said Axel. Poppi wanted to go diving with him. There were many different kinds of fish and plants in the Caribbean Sea that she wanted to see. Lilo and Dominik said they'd go with them on the boat. Would they find the marked place? „Why didn't Uncle Harry get the treasure himself?“ Lieselotte asked. Another question which she couldn't answer, didn't seem to be her lucky day.

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HORRIBLE NEWS St. Thomas harbour was a busy place. Passenger ships arrived daily, with hundred of tourists who liked to shop in the duty free shops. Here many things could be bought much cheaper by the tourists. The Knickerbocker Kids decided they needed to hire a boat and a guide, if they wanted to find the exact location of the treasure. Luckily, many people had boats to rent. The Kids found an old, white-bearded man called George. He didn't ask for a lot of money and he was friendly. Axel and Poppi borrowed two diving suits and brought them on board the little boat. They showed George the map before leaving the harbour. George stared at the map. He knew exactly where they wanted to go. „Blackbeard's treasure?“ Lilo and her friends didn't answer, they didn't want to give away their secret. „I wish you a lot of luck, because many people have tried to find his treasure. I've taken divers everywhere,“ the old man told them. George's ship danced on the waves in the harbour while the Kids got on. Lilo felt seasick. „I'm feeling sick! I want to stay on land. Let's meet here in three hours.“ George turned on the motor and the boat took off. Lieselotte waved goodbye and went into the city. She went window-shopping. She had seen enough horror for one day. Lilo didn't want to think about it. Slowly she walked past the shops. Mostly clothing and jewelry were sold here. Lilo saw a newspaper office between a hamburger restaurant and a boutique. She went into the office. Three ladies looked up from their desks. One of them asked: „Can I help you?“ „Yes,“ Lieselotte answered. „I would like to know if you have an archive. I am looking for an article about a relative of mine.“ „Of course. You may use our computer,“ the young woman answered. 29

Even though the office looked old from the outside, it was very modern inside with many computers. One could look through the records by using keywords. Lilo started to work. What was Uncle Harry's last name? The Brain could not remember. Had Alice ever mentioned it? Since Lilo didn't know Harry's last name, she decided to enter 'Harry' and Alice's last name which was 'Littlejohn'. The computer searched. It didn't find anything. Drat! Maybe the last name was wrong, or there were no records about Uncle Harry? Lilo didn't give up. She tried 'Harold Littlejohn'. The computer searched again. It found one record. It was the death announcement from two months ago. Lilo was just going to leave when the computer brought up something else about Harold Littlejohn. He had placed some advertisements in the newspaper. Two of them surprised Lilo very much. The young woman stepped up to Lilo and said: „We only have records on the computer back to 1988. You have to go downstairs if you want to look at any earlier papers. We have a keyword index listing all the people we have written about.“ Lilo thanked her for the tip and followed her into the cellar. The junior detective went through the keyword index and looked up Harold Littlejohn. Three articles had been written about him, all about nineteen years ago. Lieselotte took out the folder and looked through the pages. One article was about the protests made against Harold when he built his house on the hill. The second article asked the question if Harold was a relative of a man who had been looked for by the Florida police, and the third one reported that the police had found out that he was, but that they didn't have enough evidence to put Harold in prison. Lilo thought she knew now why the house had turned into a horrorland for Alice. But she still didn't understand where the horror came from. How could they see those nightmares when awake? Suddenly Lilo remembered her friends. They were in great danger! They must not dive at the marked spot. Lilo ran down to the harbour.

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TERROR ON THE HIGH SEAS George steered the boat through the waves. The ocean was rough, rocking the boat. „This map of yours isn't very exact! I'll do my best to find the spot. If there really is something in this place, you'll find it. The water of the Caribbean is very clear.“ About an hour and a half later George nodded happily: „We are here, if the map isn't a joke.“ Axel was sure it was a real treasure map. He and Poppi got into their diving suits, which would protect them from the sharp coral and the jellyfish. They put on their oxygen tanks, goggles and fins. Then they jumped into the water. Dominik and George stood at the railing and watched them. Lilo ran down to the boats. She rented an expensive sports boat. Lilo gave the owner her last few dollars. A diving suit? Maybe I will need one? She didn't have any more money, so she explained her problem to the captain. He helped her get one. Lilo was okay for the first five minutes. As the boat speeded over the water, Lilo sat back and moved as little as possible. But she began to feel seasick. The thought of her friends kept her on board; otherwise, she would have asked the captain to turn around. In the newspaper office, Lilo had understood that the voodoo magic was done not only to force Alice to leave the house, but also to force her to sell it. Lilo was sure that there wasn't any treasure in the ocean, only danger. Perhaps there were lots of sharks, or some other trap. Something horrible was planned, Lilo was sure. There were at least two people or perhaps three who wanted to have the house. Lilo had a strong idea who the people were. She knew the gardener and the housekeeper were part of the plot. Jim and Lucie had lied. Neither of them had worked for Uncle Harry for years. The newspaper's computer had found several advertisements in which Uncle Harry was looking for a housekeeper and a gardener.

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About half a year ago, Mr. Littlejohn had written that he was ill and needed help in his house and garden. It seemed clear from this that he had not had any help before this time. Jim had also lied about the house. The house was not built on a zombie graveyard, but on the grave of Blackbeard's wife! However, nobody knew if she was really buried under the house. And even more interesting was why the Miami police had been looking for Uncle Harry. There must be a really big secret in the house. But for the moment, Lilo's friends were more important than why the Miami police had been looking for Uncle Harry. Lilo put her hands across her stomach. She didn't normally feel seasick, perhaps her body didn't like the sleeping gas from the morning. Axel and Poppi went slowly down through the warm, clear water. Yellow fish swam around them. Suddenly, and without any warning, a big, silver-coloured fish appeared. It had big, sharp teeth. It didn't move; it seemed to be watching the divers. Poppi noticed that it was a barracuda. Axel looked fearfully at Poppi. She gestured to Axel to keep still. The barracuda's teeth looked dangerous, but it didn't attack them. It was only curious. The barracuda disappeared quickly. The Knickerbocker Kids were able to continue their search. Poppi suddenly waved at Axel. Axel didn't understand what she was trying to say. Then he saw it: a sunken ship! It wasn't Blackbeard's ship because it hadn't been there very long. It was a rusting fishing boat. They moved closer to the ship. Oddly, it was called „Blackbeard.“ They looked through one of the portholes. They saw some metal cases next to the steering-wheel. They were able to open the door to the cabin and swim inside. The door closed behind them! Axel and Poppi swam to the cases. They were new! They couldn't have been there very long. Axel opened one of the suitcases. A bomb was in it! It had been activated by opening the case. The countdown was shown on a digital display. It began at 9999. Axel gave Poppi a sign to get out of there. They swam to the door but it didn't open. It

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was stuck. The two friends were locked in the cabin. It was a trap. Axel got panicky. He hated to be locked in tight places.

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THE END „Miss, there's the ship you're looking for,“ the captain screamed down to Lieselotte, who was having a hard time understanding the captain because of the wind. It didn't matter how she felt, she had to keep going. She begged: „Please, dear stomach, be good and keep everything down.“ Dominik stood at the railing and looked at the motorboat with suspicion. When he saw Lieselotte waving her hand, he shouted at her: „What are you doing here?“ „Are Axel and Poppi still in the water?“ Lieselotte shouted back at him. „Yes; why?“ he asked. „There isn't a treasure down there. It's a trap!“ Lieselotte got on the other ship and quickly explained to Dominik what she had found out. „I brought a diving suit, but I can't go down there. I will feel seasick the moment I get into the water.“ The Kids looked at the two captains, but the diving suit was too small for them. There was only one person left to go. „Me? No... I... I hate to dive!“ yelled Dominik. „I... hate... it! It frightens me as much as spiders! You know that.“ Lilo didn't answer; she only looked at him. Dominik had a difficult time breathing. He was fighting with himself. His friends were in danger. „I... I will do it,“ Dominik said. Lilo thanked him. Dominik got into the diving suit and disappeared into the clear water. The first few seconds were the worst. He had taken the same diving course as the other Knickerbocker Kids, but he didn't like the sport. Lieselotte was walking up and down the ship, rubbing her nose. „Please . . . please . . . Let nothing bad happen to them! Please!“ Her fear caused her brain to think again. Dominik was afraid of spiders, and spiders had appeared in the night at Uncle Harry's house. She was afraid of scorpions, and that's exactly what had crawled out of the voodoo heads. Everyone had seen what they feared the most. So it wasn't a technical trick but a drug which had caused the 35

nightmares. The voodoo magician and the coffin had been real. The drug had continued to work even in the hotel room. Sleeping in the fresh night air had helped them. Maybe they had inhaled the drug? At the same time Axel and Poppi, in the sunken ship, were hitting against the closed door. It still wouldn't open. The Knickerbocker Kids had already tried to crawl through one of the portholes, but it was too small. The digital display was already at 3897, and it continued to count down. Axel was getting panicky, hitting the water with his hands. He accidentally knocked Poppi's mouth piece out of her mouth. With difficulty she put it back in and moved away from Axel. She stared at the display: 3776. The explosion would be very soon. Poppi thought she saw Dominik at the porthole. She closed her eyes and began to cry. But Axel shook her and pointed to Dorninik. He was real; he was asking them with gestures what he could do to help. They pointed at the locked door. Dominik looked at them and saw the door. It was locked from the outside. He opened the door. Axel and Poppi swam out. They gestured to Dominik to swim away from the boat. As fast as they could they swam away from the wreck towards the boats above. They quickly swam to the surface and were pulled out by the captains. „A bomb! There is a bomb in the sunken ship! A bomb!“ screamed Poppi. They suddenly heard an explosion. Luckily the bomb wasn't strong enough to damage the boats. The three divers were very tired. They said to the men: „Take us to the harbour. We want to be on land again!“

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THE FINAL END „Jim, Lucie and the woman taxi driver were arrested,“ Alice told them. „You were right. None of them had ever worked for my uncle. They were all gangsters in Miami.“ „Did they say how they made the spook?“ Alice nodded, but Lilo continued: „They had a hidden drug, in the room, which we inhaled and which caused us to have nightmares.“ Alice was surprised and nodded: „They used a simple wood preservative. The gas from the preservative caused the nightmares. There is one thing that I don't understand: why did they want the house?“ Lieselotte knew: „Alice, your uncle was a criminal. He was known for making the best counterfeit money in the world. I think they wanted to have the printing-press. They thought it would be hidden in or under the house.“ , Alice agreed at first, but then shook her head. „You know the house. There is no workshop there.“ „The only things of value are the printing-plates. Uncle Harry lived on the counterfeit money he made. How else could he live the way he lived without working?“ The junior detectives searched the house for five hours that afternoon. They wore gas masks when they checked the bedrooms. „I would like to take one of these as a souvenir,“ said Axel as he took one of the voodoo heads off the bookshelf. „Each of you can take one of the heads,“ Alice said. The junior detectives gladly took one for each of them. As Lieselotte looked at her head a little more carefully, she noticed that the bottom had come off a little. Lilo pulled it off completely and yelled. „Here! Over here! I've found the printing plates.“ They were inside the heads. And so the case was solved. Alice had the room cleaned of the poisonous gases. The horrorland had turned into a paradise. „Peace . .. finally peace!“ Alice called out. 38

„Peace? That would kill us! We want more action!“ And more action the Knickerbocker Kids would get for sure.

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WORD LIST A accidentally - unabsichtlich advertisement – Werbung aerosol can – Sprühdose agree – zustimmen alive – lebendig announcement – Anzeige appear – erscheinen as if - als ob B barrel - Tonne beam – Strahl beg – betteln bend – bücken blanket – Decke blaze - lodern blew - (von: blow) blies braid – Zopf brain – Gehirn breath – Atem bury – begraben C Caribbean - Karibik carve – schnitzen cause – verursachen chew – kauen cliff – Klippe coffin – Sarg compare – vergleichen confess – gestehen continue – fortsetzen 40

counterfeit – gefälscht cover – bedecken crash – stürzen crawl - kriechen curious – neugierig D damage - Schaden disappear – verschwinden display - Anzeige, anzeigen disturb – stören dive – tauchen doll – Puppe doom – Verderben drove - (von: drive) fuhr drug – Droge E edge - Rand eerie – unheimlich evidence - Beweis(e) evil – böse excited – aufgeregt explanation – Erklärung F faint - Ohnmacht, ohnmächtig werden familiar – bekannt felt - (von: feel) fühlte fence – Zaun final – endgültig finally – endlich fin - Flosse fortunately - zum Glück frighten – erschrecken 41

G gestures - Handzeichen glad - froh goggles – Taucherbrille grab - fassen, nehmen graveyard – Friedhof groan – stöhnen ground - (Erd-)Boden H harbour - Hafen hardly – kaum haunted – verwunschen held - (von: hold) hielt hero – Held hide – verstecken hire – mieten hit – schlagen hose – Schlauch hurt – schmerzen I imagination - Phantasie immediately – sofort inhale – einatmen inherit – erben instantly – sofort invisible – unsichtbar itch – jucken J jellyfish - Qualle jewelry – Schmuck

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K knew - (von: know) wusste L left - (von: leave) verließ location – Lage lock – versperren M magician – Zauberer mood – Stimmung mumble – murmeln N nightmare – Alptraum nodded – nickte notice – bemerken P plot - Verschwörung point - zeigen, richten poison – Gift porthole – Bullauge powerless – machtlos preservative – Schutzmittel print - Druck, drucken promise – versprechen protect – beschützen protection – Schutz proud – stolz R railing – Reling record – Eintragung reHeved – erleichtert 43

revenge – Rache rock – schaukeln rod – Stange rough – wild rush – fließen S scream - schreien search – suchen seat-belt – Sicherheitsgurt secret – Geheimnis shark – Hai shiver – frösteln shout - ruf en shower - Dusche, duschen sickle – Sichel skull – Totenschädel slippery – rutschig softly - (hier) leise solve – losen spider – Spinne spin - sich drehen splash – spritzen spooky – geisterhaft stare - starren steering-wheel - Lenkrad, Steuerrad stick – Stock stomach – Magen stumble – stolpern stutter – stottern surface – Oberfläche support - Stütze surprise - Überraschung, überraschen suspicion – Misstrauen suspicious – misstrauisch 44

T terrible - schrecklich thread – Faden threaten – drohen threatening – bedrohlich thought - (von: think) dachte thorn – Dorn tight - eng torch – Taschenlampe touch - berühren towards – gegen treasure – Schatz trap – Falle tyre – Autoreifen U unconscious - bewufklos unfasten - (einen Verschluß) öffnen unpaved road – Schotterstraße W whisper - flustern workshop - Werkstatt wrap - (um)wickeln, einwickeln Y yell - schreien

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