Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
Map
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Also by Janey Louise Jones
Copyright
About the Book
Poppy and Honey are giopng to France to stay in an enormous castle and they can’t wait. It’s the first time Poppy’s ever been abroad or stayed in a castle. But as soon as they arrive, strange things start happening . . .
Join Poppy and Honey on their spooky French adventure and find out who is haunting their holiday!
For Fiona MacMillan, thanks for everything
Chapter One
“BONJOUR, HONEY!” CALLED Poppy as her best friend arrived with her suitcase and backpack. “All ready for the holiday?”
“Bonjour to you too!” called Honey. “I’ve been packed for days – I’m so excited. How’ve the French lessons with your grandpa been going?”
“Très bien!” said Poppy, showing off. “But learning all the vocabulary is really difficult and a bit boring. I love hearing all about French history though. Grandpa makes it sound so interesting – he’s been telling me about the French Revolution. The last Queen of France was Marie Antoinette. She had hair as high as a top hat, and she wore dresses as fancy as a wedding dress every day! Grandpa told me that the French people decided that they didn’t want to have kings and queens and princes and princesses any more so they just got rid of them. That’s what the French Revolution was.”
“Gosh, but why would anyone not want real princesses?” said Honey. “They must have been mad!”
Poppy shrugged her shoulders. She couldn’t understand it either. “Who knows? It’s such a terrible waste of beautiful palaces and tiaras and stuff,” she said sadly.
“Exactly,” agreed Honey.
“And guess what else Grandpa told me,” said Poppy. “It’s really gross!”
“What?” asked Honey, fascinated.
“People had their heads cut off by the revolutionaries!”
“I don’t believe it. That’s too cruel.” Honey shuddered; she found it hard to imagine that such a thing could ever have happened. “I just can’t wait to see my mum and dad again when we get to France,” she said, deliberately changing the subject because she didn’t want to hear any more about people having their heads chopped off. “It’s been ages since I last saw them.”
Poppy had always thought it strange that Honey didn’t live with her parents all the time, but Honey had often explained that her mum and dad had to travel a lot for work. Honey’s dad was a film producer and her mum was a successful actress. After they got married and had Honey, they had planned to settle down in Honeypot Hill. However, they needed to keep jetting about the world for their work, so it was agreed that Granny Bumble would keep Honey safe at home. That way Honey was able to go to school and make friends there. Granny Bumble was a wonderful full-time parent, but that didn’t stop Honey wishing that her mum and dad were around all the time.
Just then they heard the toot of a horn. It was Poppy’s cousin Saffron and her husband David, the village vet. They were accompanying the girls on the flight: Saffron was off to the Paris fashion shows to get some inspiration for her new collection and David was going with her. Meanwhile Poppy and Honey were going to stay with Honey’s parents in the historic Chateau de Lafayette, which they had rented for the whole summer. Daniel Bumble, Honey’s dad, was working on new film ideas and thought that a couple of months in a French castle might inspire him! Saffron and David were going to join the girls at Chateau de Lafayette in the middle of the week, and Poppy’s family and Granny Bumble were flying over a couple of days later for a long weekend as Granny Bumble’s birthday treat.
The girls climbed into David’s car and waved goodbye to Mum, Dad, the twins, Grandpa and Granny Bumble.
“I can’t wait to see Chateau de Lafayette,” said Saffron on the way to the airport. “I just love the atmosphere in old buildings. What’s it like, Honey?”
“Well, I haven’t actually been there before, but Mum and Dad told me that it’s hundreds of years old and really, really big, and it has a really interesting history. I hope nothing too horrible happened there though!” said Honey, remembering what Poppy had told her earlier. “It used to belong to a French noble family called the de Lafayettes,” she continued, “and my mum says it looks like a giant fairy castle.”
“Maybe it’s haunted,” said David, making a spooky woooo-woooo noise.
“David, just concentrate on the driving!” said Saffron.
“Just teasing,” he smiled. “Actually, I wish I was coming straight to the castle instead of being dragged round the fashion shows. It’ll be so much more fun than admiring stick-insect models in boring black outfits all day long.”
Even though she knew David had been teasing them, Poppy couldn’t get what he had said out of her mind – what if the castle was haunted? It would be so exciting.
Chapter Two
WHEN THEY GOT to the airport, they headed straight for the check-in desk and handed their luggage over. Poppy was amazed when her pink pull-along suitcase disappeared on a black conveyor belt through two plastic curtains.
“Don’t worry,” said Saffron. “It has a label with your name and flight number on it. You’ll get it back when we arrive in France!”
Before long they had all boarded the aircraft. Honey had flown lots of times and she explained everything to Poppy, who was both nervous and excited about going on a plane.
“You have to wear a seatbelt and we’ll get a meal halfway through the journey. The food is so cute – it’s just like having a doll’s tea party! And it’s brilliant when you take off. You leave the ground behind and go up and up into the clouds,” said Honey excitedly.
“I just can’t see how this great big aeroplane can actually get off the ground!” Poppy said, looking worried.
“I don’t really get it either,” confessed Honey, “but it always does!”