And Frank knew somehow this room was the key. The answers to why he was here would be found somewhere in this room. He only needed to decipher the clues contained here. He forced his attention back to the model gingerbread house, examining it in detail.

The gingerbread house was built like a small round cottage and stood tall like a tower, even though it was only two stories high. It even had a thatched roof made out of lemon jelly strips. There were no doors, but for a single intricate window that seemed to be the only way into that building. The house was located in the middle of a clearing surrounded by dark gnarled trees. White colored candy floss lay in a careless layer hugging the trunks of the trees, giving the model a misty, mysterious appearance. The trees were made of dark chocolates, giving the entire setting a very dark, alienated and spooky feel.

For some strange reason, Frank found the setting extremely familiar. Had he seen this before somewhere?

He peered closer at the model. There was something there in the ground around the gingerbread house. They looked like…graves. They were opened graves and came complete with a half opened coffin in each.

Frank felt consternation grew in him.

He started to count the number of graves, walking around the model as he did. There were twelve of them.

Then Frank realized why the scene looked so familiar. He and Joe had seen a movie a couple of months back. The ‘tower’ might be different, but this scene was taken from The Brothers Grimm starring Matt Damon and Heath Ledger.

This was the ‘tower’ where the wicked Mirror Queen slept, waiting to be returned to life.

Except it wasn’t a replica of that tower here, but a gingerbread house. Possibly the gingerbread house Hansel supposedly entered. But no, this house has no doors.

Suddenly, Frank knew what all those carvings were about. They were all scenes from the various Grimm’s Fairy Tales. He bent down and quickly worked his way through the carvings. Yes, that was Snow White, and there was Rapunzel, and there on the other end of the table was Little Red Riding Hood…

…and all of them seemed a little twisted to him.

His heart started to pound harder against his ribs, and even harder still as he spotted a second lower and longer table that he missed before.

On it were thirteen gingerbread men, seven males and six females. Colored sugar frosting denoted the hair and M&Ms denoted the eyes.

The first was male with straight yellow hair and blue eyes.

The second was female with wavy black hair and brown eyes.

The third was also female with straight yellow hair and blue eyes.

The fourth was male with curly black hair and brown eyes.

The fifth was again male with straight brown hair and brown eyes.

The sixth was female with long wavy brown hair and green eyes.

The seventh was male with wavy brown hair and blue eyes.

The eighth was female with long wavy yellow hair and blue eyes.

The ninth was male with curly yellow hair and blue eyes.

The tenth was female with long wavy red hair and green eyes.

The eleventh was also female with short wavy red hair and green eyes.

The twelfth was male with wavy yellow hair and blue eyes.

The thirteenth was also male with wavy brown hair and brown eyes.

Frank chewed his lips in concentration. It seemed that the last two were possibly him and Joe. And that meant…

Strains of a sweet melody filled the dark silent room.

He swiveled around, expecting to see someone walking up to him. But he was still alone in the room.

Soon, a voice started humming, joining in with the instrumental melody and the music echoed around the room.

Frank felt his breath just whoosh out of his lungs. He finally recognized the song.

(Candyman)

Was that him?

(Hey Candyman)

Definitely not him!

The music continued to grow in intensity, and Frank could feel the strong vibrations beating against the inside of his skull, as if they were trapped in there and looking for a way out.

He could hear footsteps coming. His eyes were drawn to the door before him.

Was that door there before?

He had no idea, but it clearly mattered not at this point in time. The footsteps grew louder still, and the door before him seemed to be almost quivering in excitement.

His heart raced, his breath came in gasps.

(All right, everybody gather ‘round)

But Frank was barely aware of that. His entire being was focused on that door. His hands were trembling quite badly now, and he knew not why. He thought he saw shadows detaching themselves from the walls.

(The Candyman is here)

He could feel something gathering in his throat, ready to escape at the first chance. His eyes grew wide and he stared straight ahead…

The door opened.

He screamed.

Soon the strains of the music faded away, and an empty hollow laughter echoed off the sweet walls of the Gingerbread House.

But Frank was no longer awake to hear it.

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.