The Collector

by KR Alexander

  I should have brought my mom. I should have brought Grandma. I should have called the police.

  But I hadn’t, and here I was, a terrible path before me and no turning back.

  I clenched my fists.

  I wasn’t going to run away from this. I was going to get my sister back, and I was going to put an end to Beryl once and for all. For me. For Anna. For Grandma Jeannie.

  Slowly, I crept up to the front door, hoping that maybe they weren’t expecting me. Hoping I could surprise them—though I didn’t know what I would do if I did. The door was open a crack, and the moment I neared, I heard a familiar voice.

  “Josieee. You’ve returrrrned.”

  I clenched my teeth and pressed my hand to the door.

  It was time to meet the monster.

  Vanessa’s house smelled like baking again.

  That was my first realization.

  My second was that everything in here had changed. At least, the dolls had.

  Before they’d all been looking at the wall. Now they were all turned toward me.

  Just like in the dream, their eyes were crossed out and their mouths were open in silent screams. Or near-silent screams. Wind whistled through the door, and it sounded like wailing ghosts.

  A shadow shifted at the end of the hall, and I had my first true sighting of Beryl.

  I could tell she’d been a woman once. She was hulking and huge, filling up the whole hallway with her shadowy body. Her skin was wrinkled and pale as moonlight, her eyes white pits. Two clawed hands reached from the folds of her shadowy dress, her nails long and vicious.

  When she smiled, her teeth were all pointed like a wolf’s.

  I held back a scream. Even though I wanted to scream. Very, very badly.

  “Josieee,” she rasped. Her smile widened.

  “Where is my sister?” I yelled. I tried to keep my voice from shaking, but it didn’t work.

  “She is here. Home. Your home.”

  With one gnarled finger, she gestured to the door beside me.

  I gulped and walked over.

  Inside, on the sofa, were two life-size dolls. One was Vanessa. The other was …

  “Anna!” I yelled.

  I ran into the room and knelt by her side.

  There was nothing I could do, though: her skin was porcelain and her eyes were glazed marbles. Her lips were painted in a smile, but I could tell from her eyes that she was shocked.

  “What did you do to her?” I demanded. Tears welled up in my eyes.

  “I brought her home,” Beryl replied. “So she can be mine. Forever.”

  “She’s not yours,” I said. “She’s my sister. She’s not yours!”

  “She came to me,” Beryl rasped. “She is mine now. Just like the other children are mine now. And there is nothing you can do to save her!”

  No, no, there had to be a way to save them. I might not have magic, but I had my brain. I looked from Anna to Vanessa. Vanessa’s doll wasn’t wearing her necklace.

  The necklace!

  I jumped to my feet and picked up the Anna doll—she was remarkably light—and ran out of the room.

  Beryl howled in anger behind me.

  “Nooo!” she wailed. “Bring her back!”

  I had to hope my dreams had been right. That I would find where I needed to go. That the necklace actually had a power.

  I darted down the hall while Beryl chased after me, snarling like the beast she’d become. I didn’t look back—I knew that if I did, she’d catch me, and I’d never escape or save anyone.

  There!

  I pushed open the door and then slammed it shut behind me. There was an old-fashioned dead bolt on it, and I locked the door just in time. Beryl thudded against it and howled again.

  “Come out of there!” she yelled.

  But we’d made it. I leaned Anna against the table and looked at my prize: Vanessa’s necklace. It seemed to shine with its own light from where it rested in its glass case. I could almost feel the magic radiating from it. I knew this was what I needed to do.

  With trembling hands, I pulled the necklace from the box and draped it over Anna’s neck.

  There was a gust of wind and a whirl of lights, and I watched transfixed as Anna’s body slowly turned from doll to girl.

  “Josie!” she gasped when the magic was complete. She fell into my arms and hugged me.

  “Anna, you’re okay!”

  But our relief was short-lived. Beryl pounded on the door, making books fall off the shelves. We didn’t have much time before she broke in.

  “I have to save the others,” I said, reaching for the necklace around Anna’s neck.

  “No!” she said. “If you take it off, I turn back into a doll.”

  “What?” I felt the world falling down around me. If she couldn’t take it off, I couldn’t save anyone else.

  “Yeah. But I think there’s a way,” she said.

  The door shuddered again. We had to hurry!

  Anna went on. “I heard Beryl. The necklace holds the spell—the only way to break it is to make Beryl wear it.”

  “But then I have to leave you as a doll!”

  “It’s the only way,” she said. She took my hands and put them on the necklace. “Do it. I’ll be fine. It doesn’t hurt.”

  “I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you,” I said, tears in my eyes.

  “It’s okay. You believe me now. You’ll save me, I know it.”

  Crying, I lifted the necklace off her neck.

  A moment later, she was a doll again.

  I clutched the necklace tightly and turned to the door.

  Then I stepped forward and put my hand on the lock.

  It was time to end this, once and for all.

  I turned the lock and opened the door.

  Beryl floated outside, her robes fluttering around her like wings. When she saw that I held the necklace, she snarled and reared back.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she growled.

  “I’m ending this,” I replied.

  That made her laugh.

  “You have no power here. You can’t save them. You are alone. As you will always be alone.”

  Her words cut through me.

  I’d felt alone this whole time. Ever since I moved here. Only one person had made me not feel that way.

  “What did you do to Vanessa?” I asked. “Why has she been helping you?”

  “You mean Victoria? She has no choice. Just as you will have no choice. She is my servant. As you will be. It will be my greatest revenge, for all your grandmother has done to me.”

  She stepped forward, but I reached my hand up with the necklace, and she flinched back.

  “I know your secret. This is how you control them. But if you wear it, your magic breaks. They’ll be free.”

  I expected her to howl in fear. Instead, she started laughing.

  “Perhapssss. But if you destroy my powers, every doll will return to their real age. And your dear friend ‘Vanessa’ will be an old woman. If she even lives. But if you join me, you can be her friend forever. Otherwise, you’ll stay lonely until the end of time.”

  That made me pause.

  Saving everyone might mean Vanessa became an old woman. Or it could kill her. Could I do that?

  Then I remembered hearing her crying the other day, when I’d snuck up to the house, and I realized that yes—she would want to be free, no matter the cost. She’d want everyone else to be free as well.

  I also knew that I would never get close enough to Beryl to put the necklace on her. I had to lure her in.

  Sighing, I bowed my head.

  “You’re right. I can’t do it. I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

  Beryl laughed.

  “Don’t worry, Josie. This will only hurt a bit.”

  She reached out and grabbed my shoulder.

  Reached for the necklace.

  And then, before she could take it from me, I sprung into action and looped the chain around her nec
k.

  She screamed the moment it touched her skin.

  The whole house shook and wind burst through the windows, whipping curtains and knocking over lamps. Lights flashed and shadows swirled, and I stepped back in horror as Beryl whirled and screamed like a tornado, collapsing in on herself.

  Only moments later, she was nothing more than a pile of black dust and a necklace covered in soot.

  “Josie?” Anna whispered from behind me.

  A girl. Not a doll.

  “Anna!” I yelled. I turned and gave her a huge hug.

  “Is it over?” she asked.

  “It’s over,” I replied, squeezing her tight. “Everything’s going to be fine now.”

  “Josie?” came another voice. Weaker. Older. But I still recognized it.

  Vanessa.

  I took Anna’s hand and ran into the living room.

  Vanessa was there, on the sofa. And in the space of moments, she had aged. She was wrinkled, and her hair was gray.

  “Vanessa!” I ran over and knelt at her side, taking her hand. As always, her skin was cold. She looked so old, but when she looked at me, her eyes were just as youthful as before.

  “You did it,” she said. She squeezed my hand, but her grip was weak. “You saved us. Thank you.”

  “But I couldn’t save you, not really.”

  Tears were beginning to form.

  “It’s okay, Josie. I’ve been under Beryl’s command for far too long, and have done terrible things. I’m sorry I could never tell you the truth—her magic prevented it. I can finally rest now.”

  She took a deep, rattling sigh.

  “I’m just glad Beryl’s evil has ended.” When she looked at me and smiled, her eyes filled with tears. “And that after all these years, I knew what friendship felt like again. Tell Jeannie good-bye for me, will you?”

  I nodded.

  And, with another sigh, she closed her eyes.

  If I pretended, it almost looked like she was sleeping.

  Meanwhile, in the hall, there was the sound of voices. Of running and shouting, tears and laughter. I heard footsteps racing down the hall, but I didn’t go to see them. Anna stood by my side, holding my hand, as we watched my friend slowly vanish into a cloud of dust and stars. By the time we got into the hall, all the other children had disappeared.

  Like us, they didn’t want to stay here any longer than they had to.

  Local children who had been missing for days or years had found their way home. I watched it on the news, saw their tear-filled reunions with family and friends. It made me feel a little better, to know I’d helped so many people. But I was still sad over losing Vanessa.

  Anna and I had walked home hand in hand after that terrible night. She hadn’t needed to sleep in my bed again. Both of us stopped having nightmares.

  Grandma Jeannie was feeling better. Lots better. She’d started having sun tea on the back porch with us again, and she didn’t seem to look at the woods with as much fear. Together, she and Anna and I had buried the magical locket and Vanessa’s doll in our backyard. Grandma even did a little spell over the burial site to keep it hidden and safe.

  Anna asked me over and over if Clara’s name had appeared on the news. But it never did. Maybe, like Vanessa, she’d been given a different name. Or maybe not. There was no way for us to know.

  Going back to school was hard. Without Vanessa, everything seemed a little off. At least no one was leaving scary notes on my locker. It made me wonder … had everyone known about Vanessa and her tie to Beryl? Maybe my grandmother hadn’t been the only one warning kids away from the woods. Maybe everyone else had just been trying to keep me—the new girl who didn’t know better—safe from a threat.

  Slowly, I started to make some new friends. Karen and Charlie, the kids who had been recently turned into dolls, started hanging out with me at lunchtime. We never spoke about what happened. We didn’t need to.

  Honestly? I thought everything had gone back to normal.

  Or at least as normal as things could be out here, anyway.

  I even began leaving my window open at night to let the cool breeze in. There weren’t any whispers or monsters calling my name.

  It was nice to feel like a normal kid again. Not worrying about magic or dolls or witches.

  Things were finally going to be okay.

  It was a little less than two weeks after I defeated Beryl.

  “Josie!” Mom called out. “Time for breakfast!”

  I curled the sheets tighter around me. Monday. I didn’t want to go to school. We had a quiz in science today. Maybe five more minutes of sleep …

  BEEP BEEP BEEP!

  My alarm clock started blaring.

  I reached over to turn it off.

  My hand bumped into something.

  Slowly, I opened my eyes, tried to make my vision adjust. I couldn’t believe what I saw.

  There was a doll on my nightstand.

  A doll that looked an awful lot like Beryl.

  K. R. Alexander scours the world for fantastic and true stories (but this book is made up … right?) and is an avid collector of things mysterious and macabre. K. R. is the author of many books for adults and teens, though they write under various guises.

  K.R. recommends having your toys face the wall at night.

  Just in case.

  Copyright © 2018 by Alex R. Kahler writing as K. R. Alexander

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First printing 2018

  The text type was set in Sabon.

  Cover design by Nina Goffi

  Cover art by Nina Goffi created from the following images: Cover photos ©: doll: THEPALMER/Getty Images; doll eyes: Shelly Still/Shutterstock

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-21225-9

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.