The Cabinet of Souls Read online

“I know. The Cabinet of Souls?”

  She stared at him, shocked. “How did you know that?”

  “Lilith. Dr. Hysteria told her about it.”

  She looked across the room to the couch under the big windows. Lilith was sitting there, looking as if she’d always been welcome at Kellen’s house. She gave one of those snooty waves. The ones where each finger moves separately, like a waterfall.

  Lilith stood and sashayed across the room. “Dr. Hysteria has been working on that trick for years.”

  “Was it cool?” asked Kellen.

  “Was it cool?” Beth repeated, annoyed at both of them. She had seen something so horrible she could hardly believe it, and Kellen wanted to know if it was cool? “Oh, oh …”

  Beth stopped herself. She didn’t want to have this conversation in front of Lilith. She didn’t trust the girl who worked at the Hall of Horrors. And she didn’t like the way Lilith had oozed her way into Kellen’s company.

  Beth turned to Kellen. “Why is she here?” she asked, not caring how it sounded.

  “She stopped by,” Kellen said. “I told you, she’s cool. What did Hunter think?”

  Beth waved her hands in frustration. “He thinks it’s all smoke and mirrors. That’s because he didn’t see what I saw! He wasn’t in the cabinet with me.”

  Lilith gave her a long stare. She held up a large gold coin. “Do you see this coin, Beth?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s funny, because I see—” She ran her other hand up in front of the coin. In its wake, a dove was sitting on her fingers. “—a bird!”

  Kellen grinned. “That’s awesome.”

  Beth wasn’t ready to give up so easily. She took out her phone and showed Lilith the screen. “What do you see here?”

  It was a line drawing of a showman who looked a lot like Dr. Hysteria standing outside the Hall of Horrors. Over his head arched the words CARNIVAL OF CREEPS. She made sure Kellen got a good look.

  “I found this on the web,” she said. “It’s from 1832.”

  “I know,” Lilith said, and Beth deflated. “That’s the inspiration for the Hall of Horrors. Dr. Hysteria copied that character’s looks. But he thought ‘Hall of Horrors’ sounded more modern then ‘Carnival of Creeps,’ so he changed it.”

  “Oh,” said Kellen, “that makes sense. So he’s not almost two hundred years old.”

  Lilith chuckled as she stroked the dove. “Between you and me, sometimes he smells like it.”

  This hadn’t gone at all as Beth had hoped.

  Stepping toward her, Lilith held out the bird. Except now it was an orange. “Have something sweet.” She gave Beth a glance, daring her to take the orange.

  Beth took it. Lilith smiled and reached out to run her fingers along Kellen’s jaw. She gazed directly into his eyes as she purred, “Good night.”

  She shot Beth a half smile. Its message was clear: if Beth wanted Kellen, she’d already lost him.

  Lilith headed toward the door, pausing to give Kellen a little wave. “Bye, Kellen.”

  After the door closed, Kellen turned back to Beth. “Is she awesome or what? She told me she’s been training the show’s horses since she was a little girl.”

  Beth stared at him. She didn’t think Lilith was awesome at all. “Kellen, I’m scared for you. If she knows about the Cabinet of Souls, then she’s obviously in on it.”

  “In on what? What are you talking about?” His voice grew sharp. “Y’know what? You can start going out with Hunter, but as soon as a girl pays any attention to me, she’s part of some evil plot.”

  “This isn’t about that! Besides, I’m not ‘going out’ with Hunter.”

  He gave her a look that told her he didn’t believe her.

  “Okay,” she hurried to say. “This thing was scary. I’m not positive, but I think I saw that missing girl in there. From Federson. Andrea Payton.”

  “You’re really trippin’, Beth.”

  Beth was shocked. This wasn’t the Kellen she’d known forever. He wasn’t the same Kellen she’d known just a couple of days ago. He was changed. Different.

  There could be only one explanation.

  “Kellen … that girl, Lilith. Don’t trust her. I mean it. I’m worried about you.”

  “You think this new person comes to town, and all of a sudden, I start acting crazy. That’s not true.” His eyes drilled into her. “That’s not me.”

  She wanted to say it wasn’t her, either, but she could tell he wouldn’t listen.

  “Wow,” she said softly. “Hey, I know a disappearing act, too.”

  She handed him the orange and left, feeling more alone than ever.

  Beth didn’t fall asleep for hours. When she finally did, she heard a voice calling her. “Beth … Beth …”

  She sat up in bed and gasped. Even in the dark, she could see the person whose voice she’d heard in her dreams. Dr. Hysteria.

  Beth gasped. Dr. Hysteria was in her room. He was standing at the foot of her bed. How had he gotten into her house? Why was he here? He looked even scarier in the dark, dark room.

  “You’ve met Andrea,” he said in icy voice. “Andrea, tell Beth what you told me.”

  A girl’s voice came out of the darkness. She was crouched on the floor. “You can’t save me.”

  “Tell her to her face,” Dr. Hysteria ordered.

  Andrea threw off her hoodie. Her face wasn’t hers. It belonged to a gremlin. “Please save me!” she begged Beth.

  Beth bolted up out of her pillows, panting as if she’d run a marathon. She scanned the room.

  There was no one there.

  It must have been a dream. It had to be a dream.

  But what if it wasn’t?

  THE HALL OF HORRORS DID NOT LOOK frightening in the morning light. It looked old and drab—as if all its magic couldn’t stand up to the sunshine.

  Deep inside, Dr. Hysteria looked weak, too. As he threw open the doors to the Cabinet of Souls, he was gasping for each breath.

  “Must feed,” he said, leaning heavily on the doors. Even his voice had lost its strength.

  Taking a couple of shallow breaths, he pulled himself through the doorway. He struggled to part the mist clinging to the floor. On both sides, the trapped souls stood, staring and moaning.

  Fear was more alive than anything else in the cabinet. There was the fear from the trapped souls who had seen what their end would be. And there was the fear from Dr. Hysteria. He was afraid that he would run out of the young souls that kept him alive.

  He moved toward a girl who wore a 1950s-style dress. He leaned closer and breathed in deeply.

  A wave of her life force came out of her body—her soul. It lingered a moment in the air before Dr. Hysteria drew it into himself.

  His steps were stronger as he moved to his next victim. Draining too much too fast from a trapped soul would ruin his chances of getting every drop of the essence he needed.

  Next in line was Andrea Payton. As he leaned forward and drew in a deep breath, her body arched. She fought to hold on to what was hers and hers alone. But Dr. Hysteria was too powerful, and soon her soul flowed out of her. She moaned as her body sagged. Once again he had stolen life from her.

  Dr. Hysteria moved on to his next victim. This girl was dressed in pioneer clothing.

  Dr. Hysteria paused. “You’re almost empty,” he said. Then he breathed in the last of the girl’s life force. What remained crumbled into nothingness. The girl became part of the mist floating above the floor. Soon even that had disappeared, and all that was left was her old linen dress.

  “You were a good worker,” Dr. Hysteria said. “But tonight, we get fresh souls. Chop-chop! Let’s get to work.”

  All around him, his creatures emerged from their trapped souls. Soon the room was filled with ghouls and ghosts and monsters. They formed two lines and paraded out of the Cabinet of Souls.

  Dr. Hysteria laughed his most wicked laugh. The lives he had stolen had made him strong again. He was ready to capture
new ones.

  And tonight was Halloween! How perfect. By midnight, many fresh souls would take their place in the Cabinet of Souls.

  Yes, and he had his eye on several of the visitors to the Hall of Horrors. They were almost ready for his dining pleasure …

  “NICOLE!” BETH CALLED AS SHE walked into school on Halloween morning.

  Her friend didn’t turn around.

  Beth knew it had to be Nicole. Although her friend never went anywhere with her hair looking so ratty and tangled. On the other hand, it had to be Nicole, because no one else in school had such fabulous shoes.

  So why didn’t she stop? Maybe she hadn’t heard Beth calling her.

  She tried again, running to catch up with her friend. “Hey, Nicole!”

  Nicole spun around, and Beth stared. Her friend looked … possessed! There wasn’t any other word for it. Her makeup was dark and scary—a little bit like Lilith’s—and her face was so pale she looked gray. Was she sick?

  It couldn’t be a Halloween costume. Nicole loved dressing up, but she always wore glamorous costumes. She would never make herself look like some fright queen.

  “What?” demanded her friend in a voice Beth had never heard. She sounded like someone who was filled with hate. Beth knew Nicole could be self-centered, and a bit obsessed with boys, but she’d never been hateful.

  Until now.

  “Have you been getting my texts?” Beth’s question was cautious as she stared at a Nicole she didn’t recognize.

  Nicole sneered. “Yeah, about five hundred of them. It’s annoying. I turned off my phone.” She took on a whiny voice. “Queen Beth says there’s an emergency, and everyone’s supposed to jump.” Her face turned fierce. “Get real.”

  Beth looked away, unable to meet her friend’s angry gaze. Her eyes fell on Nicole’s hand. Nicole was scratching the spot where Dr. Hysteria’s stamp was still visible. Her skin was raw and red and infected.

  “What’s going on with your hand?” she asked.

  Nicole just grunted and stalked away.

  “Nicole!” Beth called. She started to follow her friend, and then stopped. Nicole obviously didn’t want to talk to her. What was wrong with her?

  Outside the school, Kellen was scuffing his shoes along the sidewalk. He was alone. He didn’t know where Luke was. Usually his friend trailed along with him, cracking jokes the whole way. Kellen hadn’t realized how much he missed having him around. He’d catch up with Luke later. Maybe he would ask him to tell one of his stupid jokes.

  “Good morning,” purred a voice he couldn’t forget.

  Lilith was standing right behind him. She looked good in her black leather jacket and pants. He glanced past her, but he didn’t see her motorcycle.

  “Oh … hi,” he said.

  “I spoke to Dr. Hysteria about you. Told him that I knew a guy who might be great in the show.”

  “Me?” He was flattered. After the dance contest, he wasn’t so scared about making a fool of himself in public. The actors in the Hall of Horrors seemed to get into their parts big-time. It could be fun.

  “Are you interested? You’d get to be a character in our Halloween finale.”

  “Really? Cool.”

  “Then let’s go.” She turned to walk back in the direction she’d come. Away from school.

  “Now? I have school.”

  “And school will be here tomorrow, but I won’t.” She gave him a sweet smile.

  The bell rang.

  “That’s the warning bell,” he said. “I’m going to be late for class.”

  “And if you don’t follow your heart, you’re going to be late for life.” She put her arm around his shoulders and steered him away from school.

  He stared at her. He’d always been the good kid. The one who followed the rules. What had it gotten him? Bad Boy Hunter came to town, and Beth fell head over heels for him.

  This was his chance to do something Good Boy Kellen would never do.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  She smiled and led him away. He followed her readily, without looking back once.

  Beth was worried. She couldn’t find Nicole. Where could she have gone? The hallway was crowded because homeroom didn’t start for another five minutes. As she passed other kids, hanging out by their lockers and making plans for Halloween, she glanced at their hands. None of them had Dr. Hysteria’s stamp. But she recognized several of the kids who’d been in their group when they went through the Hall of Horrors that first time.

  She stopped by a locker where Dan and Theresa, whom she knew from English class, were chatting.

  “Hi,” she said, feeling awkward about what she wanted to ask. “Have you guys been to Dr. Hysteria’s Hall of Horrors yet?”

  Dan grinned. “Yeah, it was awesome.”

  “Not that scary.” Theresa rolled her eyes.

  “Some of it was funny,” he said. “Those zombies were great!”

  Beth kept her smile in place. “By any chance, did they stamp your hand?”

  “Yeah, they did,” Dan said. “But it just washed off.”

  Theresa looked down at her hand. “I can still kinda see mine.”

  “Not anymore.” He licked his finger and grabbed her hand. Tilting it, he rubbed off the last of Dr. Hysteria’s image.

  “Ew! Gross!” Theresa complained. She snatched her hand away and gave him a dirty look.

  Beth turned away and started walking. That stamp had come off of Theresa’s hand so easily. Beth had scrubbed hers, and it still was as bright as the night it had been stamped.

  She stopped and glanced around. Nobody was paying attention to her. Licking her thumb, she tried to rub off the stamp the way Dan had.

  Nothing happened.

  Nasty laughter floated from farther along the hall. Forgetting the stamp, Beth looked up and saw Luke taunting a boy whose curly hair stuck up in every direction.

  “That hairdo is a hair-don’t,” Luke said, loud enough for all the boys gathered around him to hear.

  Why was he hanging out with those creeps? He liked to make jokes, but it wasn’t like Luke to be mean.

  First Nicole was acting strange, now Luke. What was going on?

  “Did you stick your finger in a light socket, Brillo pad?” Luke crowed. “Puffball? Poodle head?”

  The curly-haired kid cringed at the laughter. Shutting his locker, he turned to walk away.

  That didn’t stop Luke. “Hey, nice perm! 1980 called. They want their hairdo back.”

  That brought more laughs from the bullies. Luke fist-bumped the four guys in his audience.

  Beth pushed past one of them and looked Luke directly in the eye. “Dude, that was really mean!”

  “Yeah, so who cares?” Luke fired back as he scratched a bandage over his left hand. “I was getting laughs.”

  “What happened to your hand?” she asked. She could see a hint of the Dr. Hysteria stamp beneath the bandage. Was Luke’s hand as raw as Nicole’s had been? If he kept scratching it, his skin would be bright red, too.

  “What happened to your face? Score! Hoo-hoo!” He bounced away and around a corner.

  “What?” Beth wondered if all her friends had gone crazy. She hadn’t seen Kellen, but he’d acted weird last night when she’d gone over to his house. She thought it was just because Lilith was there. But this was too strange.

  What was happening to her friends?

  Luke bounded into the boys’ restroom, still laughing. His jokes had rocked this morning. His new posse had laughed at every one. The meaner he got, the more they laughed.

  Dr. Hysteria was right. He didn’t need his old friends. They didn’t get him and his sense of humor.

  He ran in circles like an ape, letting his arms hang down and making silly sounds. He made faces at himself in the mirror. He was so funny! Everything was perfect.

  Except for that itch on his hand. The stupid bandage was in the way. He tore it off and tossed it aside. He scratched the red, scaly skin on his hand around the stamp. I
t itched. It itched so bad.

  Then he heard a voice. It seemed to be coming from his hand. It was the voice of Dr. Hysteria. And his words gave Luke a chill.

  “Now you’re mine,” Dr. Hysteria said.

  Luke looked up to see where the showman was. But he forgot all about Dr. Hysteria when he looked in the mirror.

  What he saw there was the scariest thing he had ever seen.

  LUKE STARED AT HIS REFLECTION. He could hardly believe it was him. He was wearing a bright, fuzzy wig. His face was painted white. He had large lips colored with bright red lipstick. There were blue circles around his eyes. And on his nose was a red ball.

  He was a clown! A real clown!

  And not just a regular clown. He also had sharp fangs. He was an evil, fiendish clown!

  He took one more look and let out a loud, evil whoop.

  “Oh, yeah!” he shouted with joy.

  His laugh echoed through the bathroom. As he dashed out into the now-empty hall, he did flips and kicked up his heels and laughed and laughed and laughed.

  Kellen led Lilith along the back way students used when they wanted to cut class. They went through a few backyards and came out on a street several blocks over.

  The clip-clop of horse’s hooves sounded behind them. Kellen glanced at Lilith. How had she known to have her horse and buggy waiting here?

  They stepped into the street, and the horse stopped right in front of them. Kellen got the oddest feeling that the horse was looking directly at him, as if it were trying to tell him something. He knew it was just his imagination, but he couldn’t get the idea out of his mind.

  “Want to drive?” Lilith asked.

  “Yeah,” he said. Being the guy with the reins made him feel like a real man. And sitting next to such a beautiful girl felt pretty cool, too.

  As they began climbing up into the buggy, Lilith stroked the horse’s jaw. “Hello, handsome,” she murmured.

  The horse whinnied as Kellen swung up into the buggy and grasped the reins.

  Lilith slid closer to him and put her hand on his arm. He flexed his muscle, just so she could feel it. She smiled up at him.