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Michael blurted as Scilla scrambled up the steps. “Did you see the letters carved in this rock? It says R.I.P.”
    â€œR.I.P. — what?” Beamer asked with his usual little brother put-down.
    â€œRest in Peace, duh!” Michael retorted.
    As the light from Scilla’s lantern disappeared into the loft of the staircase, the others scrambled after her to escape the eerie glow of the cave.
    A few minutes later Scilla pushed up a trapdoor, and they entered another place with creepy lighting. “Don’t tell me, another cave?” Beamer grumbled.
    â€œMore biological illumination,” said Ghoulie with a whistle. It wasn’t fireflies this time but a forest of plants that glowed in the dark.
    Beamer lightly knocked on the dark wall. It clinked like glass. “We’re in a greenhouse,” exclaimed Beamer, “except the windows are all blacked out.”
    â€œThis way,” chimed in Scilla as she led them toward a door at the end of the building.
    â€œHey, I think I saw that one move,” said Beamer. They all gathered around a bush with glowing purple flowers. Suddenly a bird with glowing wings fluttered out of the bush. They all jumped back, screaming at the same time, “ Aiiiii !!”
    Still screaming, Michael ran to the door and flung it open.
    â€œOuch . . . Whoa!” yelped the others who were right behind him, wincing from the sudden assault of sunlight. Then they breathed a sigh of relief . . . that is, until their eyes adjusted.
    â€œJust exactly what planet are we on?” gulped Beamer. They were in a garden — but not like any they’d ever seen.
    â€œNice place,” Ghoulie gulped as he scanned the dark spires that loomed over the garden. “If you like sleeping in a casket.”
    Yep, you guessed it. They were in the backyard of Parker’s Castle.
    â€œWhat’s the next stop — the torture chamber?” Beamer rasped at Scilla.
    â€œKeep your shirts on,” Scilla barked back at them. “The gate’s over here.” She started down a path through the garden. “Just don’t touch anything!” she added.
    Actually Michael had already started touching everything. A plant suddenly snapped at him. “Yipes!” he yelped. “It’s a man-eating garden!”
    â€œKeep your hands to yourself,” Scilla repeated. “This isn’t your everyday garden.”
    â€œYou don’t say,” mocked Beamer.
    Actually, it would have been beautiful if it hadn’t also been so weird. Many of the plants seemed right out of The Wizard of Oz . There were flowers the size of a bicycle wheel, giant orchids, and walls of flowering vines. Huge and bright, they seemed to move from more than the wind. There was, however, no yellow brick road.
    â€œGrandma says this house was here even before Murphy Street,” said Scilla.
    â€œHow can you have a house without a street?” asked Michael.
    â€œA hundred years ago, this whole area was a big estate — the park too.”
    â€œWhat’s an estate?” Michael asked.
    â€œIt’s like a fancy farm,” Scilla explained.
    â€œWhat do you suppose happened to the people who ate what they farmed?” muttered Michael, jumping back from a yellow flower that spit red dust at him.
    Beamer suddenly tripped over a water hose into a wall of vines. The next thing he knew, the vine was crawling all over him, wrapping him up like a spider in a web. “ Aiiiii !” he yelled. “Somebody get me out of this!”
    Ghoulie jumped after him but only succeeded in getting himself in the same mess. They both yelped and writhed in full panic mode.
    Scilla rushed to them, shouting in a whisper, “Quiet! You’ll get Old Lady Parker after us!” At the same time she grabbed a spray bottle that was sitting on a little stand and sprayed the plant. Immediately it shrank back. Another spray sent it into full retreat, unwinding its