Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns Read online

  “I thought you were going to meet me,” he said.

  Dad stared at Walker’s all-black costume. “What are you supposed to be?” he asked.

  “A dark and stormy night,” Walker replied.

  “Huh? Where’s the stormy part?” I asked.

  “Here,” Walker replied. He raised a black plastic water pistol and squirted me in the face.

  Dad burst out laughing. He thought that was a riot. He called Mom in from the den to take a look.

  “We’re never getting out of here,” I whispered to Walker. “We’re going to miss Tabby and Lee.”

  We had the night all planned out, down to the minute. But now the whole plan could be ruined.

  I had a knot in my stomach. I could feel it tightening. The cape suddenly felt as if it were choking me.

  Mom and Dad were admiring Walker’s costume. “A dark and stormy night! Very clever,” Mom said. “But how will anyone see you in the dark? You’d better be very careful crossing the street.”

  Mom had advice for everyone tonight.

  I couldn’t take it anymore. “We’ve got to go. Bye,” I said. I shoved Walker out the door and followed right behind him.

  Mom called out more warnings from the house. But I couldn’t hear her. I pulled Walker down the driveway, and we hurried toward the corner. That’s where we were supposed to meet Tabby and Lee.

  Our two victims.

  “You should have stayed on the corner,” I scolded Walker. “Maybe Tabby and Lee were here already and left.”

  “But you were so late,” Walker protested. “I thought maybe something was wrong.”

  My heart was thumping. The knot in my stomach grew even tighter. “Okay, okay,” I urged. “Let’s just calm down.”

  It was a clear, cold night. A light frost made the lawns silvery. Overhead, a silver of moon rested near a cluster of bright stars.

  Most of the houses on the block had their lights on. I saw two groups of little trick-or-treaters across the street. They were all hurrying up to the same house. A dog barked excitedly in the house next door.

  I turned my eyes to the corner where we were supposed to meet Tabby and Lee. No one there.

  Walker and I stopped under the street light. I adjusted my cape. It was really choking me. I saw that I hadn’t cut it short enough. The bottom was soaked from dragging along the ground.

  “Where are they?” I demanded.

  “You know they’re always late,” Walker replied.

  He was right. Tabby and Lee loved to keep people waiting for them.

  “They will be here any second,” Walker said.

  A tall hedge ran along the corner yard. Walker started pacing back and forth from the hedge to the curb. His outfit was so black, when he stepped into the shadow of the hedge, he completely disappeared!

  “Could you stop pacing — ?” I started.

  But my voice caught in my throat when I heard a cough. From the other side of the hedge.

  A low, gruff cough.

  Not a human cough. More like an animal growl.

  I turned and saw that Walker had heard it, too. He stopped pacing and stared at the hedge.

  I heard a scraping sound. The hedge appeared to shiver.

  “Wh-who’s back there?” I choked out.

  The hedge shook again. Shook and cracked.

  “Hey — who is it?” Walker cried.

  Silence.

  The hedge shook. Harder this time.

  “Is this a joke or something?” Walker demanded in a trembling voice.

  Another low animal growl.

  “Noooo!” I cried out as two ugly creatures came snarling through the hedge.

  I saw only a blur of ragged fur. Open jaws. Saliva-covered teeth.

  Before I could move, one of the creatures leaped onto me, snarling and growling. It shoved me roughly down to the grass. And dug its fangs into my shoulder.

  I let out a shrill wail of pain.

  I tried to scramble to my feet. But the snarling creature had me pinned to the ground.

  “Stop! Stop!” I struggled to squirm free as the creature tugged my cape over me, covering me like a blanket.

  “Hey!” I heard Walker’s angry shout. But I couldn’t see what was happening to him.

  “Noooooo! Let me go!” I shrieked.

  With a frantic burst of energy, I reached up one hand — and swiped at the creature’s drooling face.

  To my shock, the whole face pulled off easily.

  A mask. I held a rubber mask in my hand.

  I stared up at a grinning face.

  It took me a few moments to recognize the boy. Todd Jeffrey. Yes. Todd Jeffrey, the high-school kid who had frightened us all at Lee’s party two years ago.

  “Todd,” I murmured. I frantically pulled the cape away from my face.

  “Gotcha! Gotcha good!” he whispered. He let go of me and stood up.

  “You creep!” I cried angrily. I tossed the rubber mask in his face.

  He caught it in one hand and laughed. “Drew, can’t you take a joke?”

  “Huh? A joke? A joke?” I screamed.

  I climbed to my feet and furiously began brushing myself off. My cape was totally tangled and covered with wet brown leaves.

  Walker had been wrestling with the other creature. The guy pulled off his mask. Of course it was Joe, Todd’s disgusting friend.

  “Hope we didn’t scare you!” he teased. He and Todd laughed like hyenas. They fell all over each other, slapping high fives and low fives.

  Before I could tell them what jerks they were, I heard more laughter. To my surprise, Tabby and Lee came stepping out from behind the hedge. And all four of them enjoyed a good laugh together.

  “Grrrrrrr!” I uttered a furious growl. At that moment, I wished I really were a superhero. I wanted to plow my superfists into their laughing faces.

  Or maybe spread my cape and fly away — far away, so I wouldn’t have to see any of them anymore.

  “Happy Halloween, Drew!” Tabby called smugly.

  “Happy Halloween!” Tabby and Lee repeated in unison, grinning their disgusting grins.

  “How long were you and Lee standing back there?” I demanded angrily.

  “Long enough!” Lee snickered. He and Tabby both burst out laughing again.

  “We were standing back there the whole time,” Tabby declared. “I love Halloween — don’t you?”

  I growled under my breath. But I didn’t say anything.

  Keep cool, Drew, I instructed myself. Tabby and Lee and their two high-school buddies played a little joke on you.

  But they won’t have the last laugh.

  When the night is over, I told myself, Walker and I will be the ones who are laughing.

  When Shane and Shana arrive, we are going to terrify them. Truly terrify them.

  Todd and Joe had pulled their monster masks back on. They tilted back their heads and howled like wolves. Todd’s mask was really gross. It had rubber saliva dripping over the long, pointy fangs.

  “They’re not coming trick-or-treating with us — are they?” I asked Tabby.

  Tabby shook her head. She adjusted the tiara on top of her blond hair.

  “No way!” Todd replied from behind the ugly mask. “Joe and I are too old to trick-or-treat. Especially with you crybabies.”

  “Then why are you wearing those monster costumes?” Walker demanded.

  “Just to scare kids,” Joe replied. He and Todd laughed again, loud, cruel laughs.

  Joe grabbed my mask and pulled it down to my chin. Todd pulled the ski mask down over Walker’s eyes. Then they ran off to find some other victims.

  What creeps.

  I was glad to see them go. I stood watching them, making sure the didn’t change their minds and come back.

  “Nice guys,” Lee said. He set his orange and black trick-or-treat bag down on the grass. Then he adjusted his bee antennas.

  I heard kids laughing across the street. I turned and saw a group of four kids — all mon
sters and goblins — running up the driveway to a house.

  “Let’s get going,” Tabby said. “It’s kind of cold.”

  “Aren’t Shane and Shana supposed to meet us?” Lee asked.

  “Yeah. They’ll catch up to us,” I said.

  We crossed the street and started toward the first house, a tall, brightly lit brick house with a smiling pumpkin cutout in the front window.

  As we made our way up the gravel driveway, I glanced at my watch.

  And gasped.

  Nearly eight-fifteen.

  Shane and Shana were supposed to meet us on the corner at eight.

  Where were they?

  They were never late. Never.

  I swallowed hard.

  Was this Halloween about to be ruined, too?

  Had something gone wrong?

  We stepped up onto the front stoop and peered through the glass storm door. A big orange cat with bright blue eyes stared back at us from the other side of the door.

  I rang the doorbell.

  A few seconds later, a smiling young woman in jeans and a yellow turtleneck came hurrying to the door. She carried a basket of Snickers bars and Milky Ways.

  “You all look great,” she declared, dropping a candy bar in each bag.

  “Drew — hold up your bag!” Tabby ordered shrilly.

  “Oh. Sorry.” I was still worrying about Shane and Shana. I held up my bag for the woman. The cat narrowed its amazing blue eyes at me.

  “Are you supposed to be a princess?” the woman asked Tabby.

  “No. A ballerina,” Tabby replied.

  “And you’re a lump of coal?” the woman asked Walker.

  “Something like that,” Walker muttered. He didn’t do his dark-and-stormy-night routine. I guessed he was worried about Shane and Shana, too.

  “Have fun,” the woman said. She pulled the storm door shut.

  The four of us jumped off her stoop and started across the frost-covered grass to the next yard. When I glanced back to the door, I saw the cat still staring out at us.

  The next house was dark. So we crossed the lawn to the house next door to it. A group of kids was already on the front stoop, shouting, “Trick or treat! Trick or treat!”

  “Where are they?” I whispered to Walker.

  He shrugged.

  “If they don’t show up …” I started. But I saw Tabby watching me. So I didn’t finish my sentence.

  We waited for the kids to leave, then climbed up to the stoop. Two little kids — probably three or four years old — were handing out little bags of candy corn to everyone.

  They laughed at Lee’s bee costume. They wanted to feel the antennas. The little boy asked Lee where his stinger was.

  “I stuck it in someone,” Lee told him.

  They stared hard at Walker’s all-black outfit. I think it kind of frightened them. “Are you supposed to be a monster?” the little girl asked Walker timidly.

  “No. I’m a lump of coal,” Walker told her.

  She nodded seriously.

  We hurried away and did three more houses to the end of the block. I saw two kids that I babysit for. They were in matching robot costumes. I stopped to talk with them for a minute.

  Then I had to run to catch up to the others. They had crossed the street and had started doing the houses on the other side.

  A strong gust of wind fluttered my cape. I shivered — and glanced nervously at my watch again.

  Where were they? Where were Shane and Shana?

  The whole plan depended on them….

  “Wow! Pretty good haul so far!” Lee declared. He held his bag open, studying the contents as we crossed the street.

  “Did you get any Kit Kats?” Tabby demanded. “I’ll trade anyone for Kit Kats.”

  “Only one person gave out apples,” Lee said, making a disgusted face. He reached into his bag and pulled out the apple. Then he heaved it as hard as he could across the yard.

  The apple hit a tree trunk with a loud thunk. Then it bounced into the next driveway.

  “Why do people give out apples?” Lee grumbled. “Don’t they know we only want candy?”

  “Some people are just cheap,” Tabby said. She pulled out her apple and dropped it in the grass. Then she kicked it with the toe of her ballet slipper.

  They both really deserve what they’re going to get, I thought. They’re both really jerks.

  But where are Shane and Shana?

  We trick-or-treated our way down the block. It was getting pretty late, and there were fewer little kids out.

  The streetlight near the corner was broken. We stepped into a patch of deep shadow.

  One of Lee’s antennas kept slipping off. He slid it back into place for the tenth time.

  As we neared the corner, a tall tree blocked the moonlight, and it grew even darker.

  “Oh — !” I let out a cry as two figures leaped out at us from behind the tree.

  I thought that Todd and Joe had returned.

  But I quickly saw that it wasn’t those guys.

  In a gray blur, the two figures turned their backs on us, blocking our way. They wore dark robes that flowed straight down to the ground. And over their heads …

  Over their heads …

  They wore pumpkins!

  Large, round pumpkins, perfectly balanced on their shoulders.

  “Whoa!” Walker let out a startled cry. He backed up and stumbled into me.

  Tabby and Lee gaped in surprise.

  But the most horrifying surprise was yet to come.

  As they slowly turned to face us, their jack-o’-lantern faces came into view.

  Eerie, jagged grins cut into their pumpkin heads.

  Flashing triangle eyes.

  Lit by flames!

  Bright orange and yellow flames danced inside their heads!

  And as the pumpkin heads turned their fiery, ragged grins on us, Walker and I opened our mouths and screamed in terror.

  Our screams echoed down the block.

  The fire flashed in the pumpkin heads’ eyes.

  I turned to Tabby and Lee. The light from the fiery jack-o’-lantern faces flickered over their faces. They stood calmly, staring at the grinning pumpkin heads.

  Tabby turned to me. “Is this your idea of a joke? Were you trying to scare us?”

  “We know it’s Shane and Shana,” Lee said. He tugged at one of the dark, loose, flowing costumes. “Hey, Shane — how’s it going?”

  The two pumpkin heads remained silent.

  “How did you get the fire to work? Do you have candles in there?” Tabby demanded. “How can you see?”

  The pumpkin heads grinned back in silence. A lick of fire darted out from one of the jagged mouths.

  I shivered. These costumes were too good. I could hear the flames hiss inside the big orange heads. The costumes were dark green, like pumpkin vines.

  Why aren’t Tabby and Lee frightened? I wondered.

  I expected Shane and Shana to appear in something frightening. But I didn’t expect anything as good as these fiery jack-o’-lantern heads.

  The costumes were great. But I felt so disappointed. Tabby and Lee were definitely not frightened.

  This Halloween is going to be a disaster — like the others, I thought.

  I stepped up beside Walker. I couldn’t see his expression under his ski mask.

  “How do they do the fire?” he whispered. “It’s really awesome!”

  I nodded. “But it didn’t scare Tabby and Lee,” I whispered back.

  “It’s early,” Walker whispered. “Shane and Shana have just started.”

  My cape had become tangled around my legs. I tugged it free and tossed it behind me.

  The two pumpkin heads still hadn’t said a word.

  Tabby picked up her trick-or-treat bag and turned to me. “You’ll have to do better than this if you want to scare Lee and me,” she said with a sneer.

  “We’re not scaredy-cats like you two,” Lee boasted.

  Flames darted o
ut of the pumpkin heads’ eyes. They both tilted their big heads as they stared at Tabby and Lee.

  How do they do that? I wondered. How do they control the flames? Do they have some kind of remote control?

  “Well, are we going to stand here and freeze? Or are we going to trick-or-treat?” Tabby demanded.

  “Let’s do your block,” I suggested to her.

  Tabby started to reply — but a hiss of fire from the nearest pumpkin head made her stop.

  “Let’s go somewhere else,” the jack-o’-lantern said from somewhere inside the pumpkin head. His voice came out in a hoarse crackle. Too harsh to be a whisper. A dry, choked sound.

  “Somewhere else,” his partner echoed. Her voice also came out in a hoarse crackle. Like dry, dead leaves being crinkled together.

  “Excuse me?” Lee cried.

  “We know a better neighborhood,” the first pumpkin head crackled. The jagged mouth, cut through the thick pumpkin flesh, didn’t move. The voice hissed from inside. The orange and yellow flames tossed in rhythm to the words.

  “We know a better neighborhood.”

  “A neighborhood you won’t forget.”

  Tabby laughed. She rolled her eyes. “Oh, wow. Scary voices!” she said sarcastically.

  “Oooh, I’m shaking! I’m shaking!” Lee teased.

  He and Tabby laughed together.

  “Give us a break, guys,” Tabby said to the pumpkin heads. “Your costumes are pretty good. But they didn’t scare us. So lose the creepy voices, okay?”

  “Yeah,” Lee agreed. “Let’s go do some houses. It’s getting late.”

  “Follow ussss,” one of the pumpkin heads hissed.

  “Follow us to a new neighborhood. A better neighborhood.”

  They led the way down the street. Their big heads bounced on their shoulders as they walked. The fire flickered from their heads, casting a glow like lighted torches.

  “What are they doing?” Walker whispered in my ear. “This isn’t in the plan. Where are they taking us?”

  I didn’t know.

  We walked three blocks, heading away from our houses. We passed a row of big stone houses set back on wide lawns behind tall hedges. The next block had an empty lot where someone had started to build a house, and then stopped.

  The two pumpkin heads walked quickly, taking long strides. Their heads bounced on their shoulders. They kept their fiery faces straight ahead and didn’t glance back at us.