Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  Teaser

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  “Where are you going, Elf?” Dad called from the den.

  “Don’t call me Elf!” I shouted back. “My name is Drew.”

  Dad thinks it’s real cute to call me Elf, but I hate it. He calls me Elf because I’m tiny for a twelve-year-old. And I have short, straight black hair and sort of a pointy chin and a pointy little nose.

  If you looked like an elf, would you want people calling you Elf?

  Of course not.

  One day my best friend, Walker Parkes, heard my dad call me Elf. So Walker tried it. “What’s up, Elf?” Walker said.

  I stomped on Walker’s foot as hard as I could, and he never called me that again.

  “Where are you going, Drew?” Dad called from the den.

  “Out,” I told him, and slammed the front door behind me. I like to keep my parents guessing. I try never to give them a straight answer.

  You might say I’m as mischievous as an elf. But if you said it, I’d stomp on your foot, too!

  I’m tough. Ask anyone. They’ll tell you that Drew Brockman is tough. When you’re the shrimpiest girl in your class, you’ve got to be tough.

  Actually, I wasn’t going anywhere. I was waiting for my friends to come to my house. I walked down to the street to watch for them.

  I took a deep breath. The people in the corner house had a fire going in their fireplace. The white smoke floated out from their chimney. It smelled so sweet and piney.

  I love autumn. It means Halloween is on the way.

  Halloween is my favorite holiday. I guess I like it so much because it gives me a chance to look like someone else. Or something else.

  It’s the one night of the year that I don’t have to look like pointy-chinned me.

  But I have a problem with Halloween. Two kids in my class are the problem. Tabitha Weiss and Lee Winston.

  For the past two years, Tabby and Lee have totally ruined Halloween for Walker and me.

  I’m so angry about it. Walker is angry, too. Our favorite holiday ruined because of two stuck-up kids who think they can do whatever they want.

  Grrrrrrrr.

  Just thinking about it makes me want to punch someone!

  My other friends, Shane and Shana Martin, are upset about it, too. Shane and Shana are brother and sister, twins my age. They live in the house next door, and we hang out a lot.

  Shane and Shana don’t look like anyone else I know. They both have very round faces with curly ringlets of blond hair. They have red cheeks and cheery smiles, and they’re both short and kind of chunky.

  The twins are as angry as Walker and me about Tabby and Lee. And this Halloween, we’re going to do something about it.

  Only we don’t know what we’re going to do.

  That’s why they’re coming over to my house to discuss it.

  How did the Tabby and Lee problem start? Well, I have to go back two years to explain it to you.

  I remember it so clearly.

  Walker and I were ten. We were just hanging out in front of my house. Walker had his bike on its side and was doing something to the spokes on one wheel.

  It was a beautiful autumn day. Down the block, someone was burning a big pile of leaves. It’s against the law here in Riverdale. My dad always threatens to call the police when someone burns leaves. But I love the smell.

  Walker was fiddling with his bike, and I was watching him. I forget what we were talking about. I glanced up — and there stood Tabby and Lee.

  Tabby looked as perfect as always. “Little Miss Perfect.” That’s what Dad calls her — and for once, he’s right.

  The wind was blowing pretty hard. But her long, straight blond hair stayed in place. It didn’t fly out all over her head like mine did.

  Tabby has perfect creamy-white skin and perfect green eyes that sparkle a lot. She’s very pretty, and she knows it.

  Sometimes it takes all my strength not to shake both hands in her hair and mess it all up!

  Lee is tall and good-looking, with brown skin, dark brown eyes and a great, warm smile. He sort of struts when he walks and acts real cool.

  The girls at school all think he’s terrific. But I can never understand a word he says. That’s because he always has a huge wad of green-apple bubble gum in his mouth.

  “Mmmmmbbb mmmmbbbbb.” Lee stared down at Walker’s bike and mumbled something.

  “Hey,” I said. “What’s up, guys?”

  Tabby made a disgusted face and pointed a finger at me. “Drew, you have something hanging from your nose,” she said.

  “Oh!” I shot my hand up and rubbed the bottom of my nose. Nothing there.

  “Sorry,” Tabby snickered. “It only looked like you did.”

  Tabby and Lee both laughed.

  Tabby is always playing mean jokes like that on me. She knows I’m self-conscious about how I look. So I always fall for her dumb tricks.

  “Nice bike,” Lee mumbled to Walker. “How many speeds?”

  “It’s a twelve-speed,” Walker told him.

  Lee sneered. “Mine is a forty-two-speed.”

  “Huh?” Walker jumped to his feet. “There’s no such thing as a forty-two-speed!” he cried.

  “Mine is,” Lee insisted, still sneering. “It’s specially made.”

  He blew a big green bubble-gum bubble. That’s hard to do while you’re sneering.

  I wanted to pop it all over his smug face. But he stepped back and popped it himself.

  “Did you get a haircut?” Tabby asked me, studying my windblown hair.

  “No,” I replied.

  “I didn’t think so,” she said. She smoothed her perfect hair back with one hand.

  “Grrrrrrr.” I couldn’t help it. I balled my hands into fists and let out an angry growl.

  I growl a lot. Sometimes I don’t even know I’m doing it.

  “Mummmmmbb mmmmbbbbb.” Lee said something. Bubble-gum juice ran down his chin.

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  “I’m having a Halloween party,” he repeated.

  My heart started to pound. “A real Halloween party?” I demanded. “With everyone in costumes, and hot apple cider, and games and bobbing for apples, and scary stories?”

  Lee nodded. “Yes. A real Halloween party. At my house on Halloween night. You guys want to come?”

  “Sure!” Walker and I replied.

  Big mistake. Real big mistake.

  The Halloween party was already crowded with kids from school when Walker and I showed up. Lee’s parents had orange and black streamers strung up all over the living room. Three huge jack-o’-lanterns grinned at us from the window seat by the front window.

  Of course Tabby was the first person I ran into. Even in costume, she wasn’t hard to recognize. She was dressed as a princess.

  Perfect?

  She wore a frilly pink princess-type gown with long, puffy sleeves and a high, lacy collar. And she had her blond hair pinned up with a sparkly rhinestone tiara in it.

  She smiled her lipsticked lips at me. “Is tha
t you, Drew?” she asked, pretending she didn’t recognize me. “What are you supposed to be? A mouse?”

  “No!” I protested. “I’m not a mouse. I’m a Klingon. Don’t you ever watch Star Trek?”

  Tabby snickered. “Are you sure you’re not a mouse?”

  She turned and walked away. She had a pleased smile on her face. She gets such a thrill from insulting me.

  I growled under my breath and searched for someone else to talk to. I found Shane and Shana in front of the fireplace. The twins were easy to recognize. They were both big, puffy white snowmen.

  “Excellent costumes!” I greeted them.

  They wore two white snowballs. One big snowball over their bodies. A smaller snowball over their heads.

  The snowman faces had eyeholes cut in them. But I couldn’t tell Shane from Shana. “What is the snow made of?” I asked.

  “Styrofoam,” Shana answered. She has a high, squeaky voice. So now I knew who was who. “We carved them out of big blocks of it.”

  “Cool,” I said.

  “Great party, huh?” Shane chimed in. “Everyone from our class is here. Did you see Bryna Morse’s costume? She sprayed her whole body with silver spray paint. Her face and hair, too!”

  “What’s she supposed to be?” I demanded, searching the crowded room for her. “Silver Surfer?”

  “No. I think the Statue of Liberty,” Shane replied. “She was carrying a plastic torch.”

  A loud crackle in the fireplace made me jump. Most of the lights were off, giving the room a dark, Halloween mood. The fire made long shadows dance over the floor.

  I turned and saw Walker making his way to us. His entire body was wrapped in bandages and gauze. He was a mummy.

  “I’m in trouble,” he announced.

  “What’s your problem?” Shane asked.

  “My mom did a terrible wrapping job,” Walker complained. “I’m coming unraveled.” He struggled to retie the loose bandages around his neck.

  “Aaaagh!” He let out an angry cry. “The whole thing is coming undone!”

  “Are you wearing clothes underneath?” Shana asked.

  Shane and I laughed. I pictured Walker huddled in the middle of the party in his underwear, piles of bandages at his feet.

  “Yes. I’ve got my clothes on underneath the costume,” Walker replied. “But if these bandages all come undone, I’ll fall on my face!”

  “Hey — what’s up?” Lee interrupted. He wore a Batman costume, but I recognized his dark eyes under the mask. And I recognized his voice.

  “Awesome party,” Shana said.

  “Yeah. Awesome,” I repeated.

  Lee started to reply. But a thunderous crash made everyone gasp.

  We all froze. “What was that?” Lee cried.

  The crowded room grew silent.

  I heard another crash. Bumping sounds. Low voices.

  “It — it’s coming from the basement!” Lee stammered. He pulled off the Batman mask. His bushy hair fell over his face, but I could see his frightened expression.

  We all turned to the open doorway at the far end of the living room. Beyond the doorway, stairs led down to Lee’s basement.

  “Oh!” Lee gasped as we heard another crash.

  Then heavy footsteps — up the basement stairs.

  “Someone is in the house!” Lee shrieked in terror. “Someone has broken in!”

  “Mom! Dad!” Lee cried. His voice rang out shrilly in the silent living room. The rest of us had all frozen in place.

  A shiver ran down my back as I listened to the heavy footsteps treading up the stairs.

  “Mom! Dad! Help!” Lee called again, his eyes bulging with fear.

  No reply.

  He took off toward their bedroom at the back of the house. “Mom? Dad?”

  I started to run after him. But he returned to the living room a few seconds later, his whole body trembling. “My parents — they’re gone!”

  “Call the police!” someone shouted.

  “Yes! Call nine-one-one!” Walker screamed.

  Lee hurtled to the phone beside the couch. His foot kicked over a can of Pepsi on the rug. But he didn’t notice.

  He grabbed the phone receiver and jammed it to his ear. I saw him push the emergency number. But then he turned to us and let the phone fall from his hand. “It’s dead. The line is dead!”

  Some kids gasped. A few cried out.

  I turned to Walker and opened my mouth to speak. But before I could get a sound out, two bulky figures burst out from the basement doorway.

  “Noooooo!” Lee let out a horrified howl. Tabby stepped up and huddled close beside him. Her heavily made-up eyes were wide with fright. She grabbed Lee’s arm.

  The two intruders moved quickly into the living-room entrance and blocked the doorway. One of them had a blue wool ski mask pulled down over his face. The other wore a rubber gorilla mask.

  They both wore black leather jackets over black jeans.

  “Party time!” the gorilla shouted in a gruff voice. He laughed. A cruel laugh. “Party time, everyone!”

  Several kids cried out. My heart started to pound in my chest. I suddenly felt hot and cold at the same time.

  “Who are you?” Lee demanded over the frightened cries of some kids. “How did you get in? Where are my parents?”

  “Parents?” the guy in the ski mask replied. He had bright blue eyes, almost as blue as the wool mask that covered his face. “Do you have parents?”

  They both laughed.

  “Where are they?” Lee cried.

  “I think they ran away when they saw us coming!” the guy said through the ski mask.

  Lee swallowed hard. A tiny gulping sound escaped his throat.

  Tabby stepped in front of him. “You can’t come in here!” she shouted angrily to the two intruders. “We’re having a party!”

  The gorilla turned to his partner and laughed. They both laughed loudly, tossing back their heads.

  “It’s our party now!” the gorilla announced. “We’re taking over!”

  Hushed gasps rang out around the room. My legs suddenly felt rubbery and weak. I grabbed Walker’s shoulder to keep from collapsing.

  “Wh-what are you going to do?” Tabby demanded.

  “Everybody down on the floor!” the guy in the ski mask ordered.

  “You can’t do this!” Tabby screamed.

  “We’re just kids!” someone else cried. “Are you going to rob us? We don’t have any money!”

  I saw Shane and Shana huddled together by the fireplace. Their faces were hidden by their snowman costumes. But I knew they must be terrified, too.

  “Down on the floor!” both intruders screamed.

  The room echoed with heavy thuds and the rustle of costumes as we all obediently dropped to the floor.

  “You, too!” the gorilla screamed at Shane and Shana.

  “It’s impossible! How can we get down in these big snowballs?” Shana cried.

  “Get down on the floor anyway,” the gorilla ordered nastily.

  “Get down — or we’ll push you down,” the ski-masked guy threatened.

  I watched Shane and Shana struggle to lower themselves to the floor. They had to pull off their bottom snowballs to get onto their knees. Shana’s snowball broke in half as she worked to pull it off.

  “Okay — push-ups, everybody!” the gorilla ordered.

  “Huh?” Confused cries rose up through the room.

  “Push-ups!” the gorilla repeated. “You all know how to do push-ups — right?”

  “How — how many do we have to do?” Walker asked. He knelt close beside me on the rug in front of the coffee table.

  “Do them for a couple of hours,” the ski-masked guy replied.

  “Hours?” several kids cried out.

  “A few hours of push-ups will get you all warmed up,” the gorilla said. “Then we’ll think of something harder for you to do!”

  “Yeah. Much harder!” his partner added. Then they both burst out lau
ghing again.

  “You can’t do this!” I screamed. My voice came out high and tiny, like a mouse voice.

  Other kids protested, too. I turned to the door. The guy in the ski mask had moved into the living room. But the gorilla was still blocking any escape.

  “Get started!” the gorilla ordered.

  “Or we’ll make it three hours!” his partner added.

  I heard a lot of groans and complaints. But we all dropped onto our stomachs and started doing push-ups.

  What choice did we have?

  “We can’t do this for two hours!” Walker protested breathlessly. “We’ll faint!”

  He raised and dropped, raised and dropped, close beside me on the floor. His mummy costume was unraveling with each move he made.

  “Faster!” the gorilla ordered. “Come on. Speed it up!”

  I had done only four or five push-ups, and my arms already started to ache. There was no way I’d last for more than ten or fifteen minutes.

  I raised my eyes to the front of the room — and saw a sight that made me cry out in shock.

  “Walker — look!” I whispered.

  “Hunnh?” he groaned.

  I poked Walker in the side.

  He lost his balance and hit the floor. “Hey, Drew! What’s your problem?” he groaned.

  We both turned our eyes to the doorway.

  And saw to our surprise that Tabby and Lee weren’t down on the floor with the rest of us. They had joined the two intruders in front of the doorway.

  And they both had wide, gleeful grins on their faces.

  I stopped the push-ups and raised myself to my knees. I saw Lee start to laugh.

  Tabby joined him. She laughed so hard, her tiara shook. They slapped each other a high five.

  All around me on the floor, some kids were still working away, pushing themselves up, then down, up, then down. Groaning and grunting as they obediently did their push-ups.

  But Walker and I had stopped. We were both on our knees, watching Tabby and Lee. The two creeps were laughing and celebrating.

  I was about to cry out in anger — when the two intruders tugged off their masks.

  I instantly recognized the boy with the gorilla mask. He was Todd Jeffrey, a high-school kid who lives next door to Lee.

  I knew the ski-mask kid, too. His name was Joe Something-or-other. He is a friend of Todd’s.