Read The Battle for Duncragglin for Free Online Page B

over a napkin, Craig and Willie still wanted the same one, so Mr. McRae evened out the amount of ham and cheese on each roll by using some from his own.
    Annie watched with wry amusement. “Pretty silly, aren't they?” She sounded a little embarrassed. She steered Alex away, and they strolled up to the rail. “So far, I haven't seen any way to get inside,” she said, “but let's keep looking. We might have more luck after lunch, when we head down below.”
    Alex scanned the coastline. “It looks different than last night, when I went looking for Vanessa,” he said. “I don't remember a beach down there.”
    Annie laughed. “That's because the tide was in, silly!”
    Alex looked away, annoyed. How was he to know? It's not like he grew up next to an ocean.

    After lunch, they all hiked down steep, overgrown steps to explore the harbor. Alex imagined moored boats and a wharf crowded with fishermen hauling out their catch, kids darting between piles of nets and buckets of fish, carts clattering over stones…. And now there was nothing, only the steady sound of crashing waves clawing away at what was left.
But is there really nothing?
Alex thought back to the eerie moaning noise, the movements, the monsters from his dream. He shivered and hurried after the others.
    They crossed into a shadow, and a blaze of blue sky silhouetted the ruins above them. Alex stopped to study the walls. He could make out the outline of rows of vertical slits for firing arrows, but they all appeared to be filled in.
    “Alex, over here.” Mr. McRae waved for him to come. They headed down to the sandy stretch at the base of the cliffs.
    Out on the wet sand, Alex was careful to step around the brown sea kelp, having spotted numerous jellyfish in its strands. Crunching wet kelp underfoot was one thing, squishing slithery jellyfish was quite another.
    The tide had receded further. Slimy green boulders dotted the wet beach. Mr. McRae stopped at a pool left by the retreating tide to point out colorful sea anemones rooted to the rocks. Using a hooked stick, he probed underneath and pulled out a crab. It waved its claws angrily.
    “Strange things, these hermit crabs,” Mr. McRae said.
    “They take up empty shells for a home. When they outgrow one shell, they abandon it and take over another.” He looked back to the castle. “And speaking of things that take over dwellings, has anyone seen a castle ghoulie today?”
    Everyone dutifully shook their heads.
    “Well then, let's no go on so much about ghoulies or ghosts or whatnot – alright?”
    Everyone dutifully nodded.
    Mr. McRae harrumphed. He wasn't fooled: he knew it would take more than a sunny midday walk around the castle to dispel all the fears and myths that had grown over the years.
    Alex stumbled over a board that protruded from the sand. Mildly curious, he wriggled it loose and balanced it on end. Down one side were mud-filled grooves that were not part of the wood grain. Intrigued, he dropped the board into a puddle and kneeled to rinse it off. The faint outline of a bird emerged, its pointy beak stuck into the ground as if after a worm.
    “Hey, check this out!” Alex called.
    Mr. McRae gave it barely more than a glance. “Just a worthless old plank off a boat,” he said. The others quickly lost interest.
    Regardless, Alex wanted to keep it as a memento. He tucked an end under his arm and dragged the other end behind him. It left a deep rut in the sand. He soon wished it was not quite so big and heavy.
    Shadows from the cliffs were reaching out across the sand. Alex stopped, sure he saw something moving. “Look, there! At the base of those rocks! Do you see it?”
    Everyone shielded their eyes. There in the shadows were two figures, one large and the other small.
    “Oh, no, not them,” Mr. McRae muttered.
    “Not who, Dad?”
    “If I'm no mistaken, that would be Kenneth Farquhar and his son, Grant.”
    “Oh, them.” Annie frowned.
    “Who are they?” Alex asked.
    “The