by Robert Gray
“The teeth look warn out. Do you think it still … opens anything?”
“They’re not like regular keys. Portal keys slip into tombstones and open a gateway to Gravesville. This one has definitely been used a lot, but I think it’ll still work.”
“So what are you thinking?”
“Well, the first thing is, I don’t know who gave me this key. It just appeared on my dresser last night.”
“Could be a trap,” Carly Beth suggested.
“I thought about that, but it seems weird someone would go through the trouble of leaving me the key.”
“Maybe it’s some kind of warning.”
“I’m not sure. But regardless of what the note says, I don’t think I should go alone. I’m gonna take my brother. He’s like a bloodhound when it comes to graveyards.”
“And …?”
“And I need to know how to get to the graveyard without anyone seeing my brother. He kind of stands out in a crowd.”
In truth, I wanted Carly Beth to go, too; otherwise I wouldn’t have told her about the key in the first place, but I felt guilty asking her. This was my problem to deal with.
Carly Beth eyed me suspiciously. “You’re kidding, right? We are so doing this together. I’ll be at your house by eleven-thirty.”
When I got home, I found Mom sitting in the living room, facing the empty fireplace. She looked enchanted, and her snakes stirred restlessly.
I stepped into Mom’s view and waved a finger at her. “Have you been out partying all night? How many times do I have to tell you?”
She gave me a blank smile and asked how my day was in a tone that reminded me of the tourists back home.
I sat down next to her and stroked her snakes. “What’s up, Mom?”
“Nothing. What makes you think something’s wrong?”
“You seem … somewhere else.”
“Just tired, I guess.”
I knew she missed Dad, and I knew she had a hard time with her emotions, you know, being a gorgon and all, but I’d never seen her like this before.
“Dad will be home soon. And then we can all go home,” I offered.
Mom’s snake hair rattled, and she flicked her eyes at me, which meant I wasn’t far off in thinking she missed Dad. I bet she also thought this mess was her fault, you know, with the whole petrifying-McDougal thing. I gave her hands a squeeze and kissed her cheek and said, “I’m taking Sam to a graveyard tonight. He’s been asking for a while, and I promised him.”
“Oh, but you had such a long day, and you’ll be so tired tomorrow,” Mom said, pulling herself out of her sadness long enough to give me some Mom Advice.
“It’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
However, I was thinking the opposite.
I did feel bad dragging Sam into my problems, too, but I needed him. He knew how to get around any graveyard. He could hear, see, and smell things I couldn’t. The problem was, how to get Sam to the graveyard without anybody seeing him. Carly Beth said she had that covered, but she’d never seen my brother before. So far, she’d only seen the human-looking Hallowses.
I did have my spell book, which contained plenty of spells to help us get from here to the graveyard undetected, but the spells only worked for witches and wizards. On rare occasions, a spell has been known to work for the common monster … and my luck had been changing lately. Besides, I did promise Sam I’d raise the dead, and there were a few spells in the book that worked with portal keys, so at least it would look like I tried.
As I sat on my bed, flipping through the Book of Spells, Wolf scampered in on his short, stubby legs. He poked around, then snorted in approval—his way of confirming the area was safe. When he left the room, he snorted again to let me know someone was coming.
Sam entered an instant later. The smile on his face let me know Mom had already given him the good news.
“We’re really going?” he asked. His skin oozed so much goo, he appeared to be glowing.
“We are.”
Sam glanced at the book and clapped his hands together. “You’re gonna raise the dead, too? Awesome!”
“Yup.” Okay, not a total lie. I pressed my hand against my pocket to make sure the portal key was still there. I figured I’d tell Sam the truth … but only if I had to.
Besides, if URNS found out I had a portal key, I’d get in big trouble. The way I saw it, I was being a good big sister by not telling him, that way he couldn’t be an accomplice to a crime.
Or so I tried to convince myself.
Getting to the graveyard turned out to be easier than I’d thought. Carly Beth showed up at my house in a taxi, which she said would cost us each ten dollars, another twenty if we wanted the driver to wait. Being a waitress did have some benefits, namely I always had cash in my pocket. I was able to cover Sam and me with no problem.
Carly Beth waited at my front door. She peeked into the house, rocked back and forth on her feet, tapped her fingers together.
“You’re not a vampire, you know?” I said.
“Huh?”
“You can come inside. You don’t have to be invited.”
“Oh, right … I … yeah, sure.”
She took a cautious step into the house and glanced around some more. She let out a jittery sigh of relief. “I guess I was expecting a lot more gruesome. This place looks so—”
“Boring. I know. Don’t remind me.”
I introduced her to Sam, and I thought she handled herself well, though I could tell by her glassy eyes and her puffed up cheeks that she wanted to vomit. I felt that way sometimes, too, but only because he was my little brother.
“I think we’ll need to disguise him. Out in town, I mean, so he doesn’t look so … you k-know,” Carly Beth stammered.
“I have a hoodie that covers most of my face except for the old shnozola,” Sam said and tapped his hooked nose.
Mom walked in, and I heard Carly Beth’s breath catch in her throat.
“Hello, Mrs. Hallows, pleased to meet you,” Carly Beth managed. She reached her trembling hand out to shake my mom’s.
“Oh, Carly Beth. Eve has told me so much about you. It’s wonderful to finally meet you.” Mom, not accustomed to handshakes, glanced at Carly Beth’s hand and smiled. Carly Beth did sort of a half wave, since she was left hanging, as the humans like to say.
“So what are you kids planning on doing at the graveyard?” Mom asked. She looked happier than she had before, and her eyes were filled with a red-gold gleam.
“We’re going to raise the dead,” Sam said, practically bouncing out of his scales.
“How wonderful. Do you have your spell book, Eve?” Mom nudged me, knowing full well that I didn’t have a lick of magical powers.
“Yup. So plan on a house full of zombies and ghouls and ghosts when we get home,” Sam said.
“I’ll have the table set and ready for the extra company.”
Poor Carly Beth couldn’t believe the exchange taking place before her. It showed completely on her face.
“Oh, is this your first time, sweetie?” Mom asked.
Carly Beth looked to me for reassurance, and I nodded. “Yes, Mrs. Hallows. I—I mean I’ve been to a graveyard before, but only as a—um—spectator.”
“Well, don’t say that too loud in front of Sam. He loves to torture the newbies. Sam, don’t go teasing Carly Beth at the graveyard. There. Now you three go off and have some fun. And don’t forget you two girls have school tomorrow.”
Sam and I gave Mom a hug, and when we were out the door, Carly Beth said, “Your Mom’s cool.”
“I think she liked you, too,” I confided to her. “She didn’t even try to turn you into stone.”
The taxicab dropped us off right at the iron-gated entrance of Cherryridge Cemetery. I had no idea what to expect from a human graveyard. Not even in my most adorable dreams would I have expected something like this. When we entered, Sam gripped my arm. “Something’s very wrong with this place, Eve.”
I knew what he meant. The headst
ones ran in neat rows, the earth beneath them undisturbed. No decrepit hands, not a single restless spirit, nothing besides flowers poked through this graveyard. Even the trees were alive and littered with colorful autumn leaves.
When I tried expressing my concerns to Carly Beth, she said, “This place gives me the creeps.”
Amateurs.
“This is the most boring graveyard I’ve ever seen,” Sam said. He looked to the sky, the silver clouds, the curved, reaper’s moon. “No swirling vultures.” As he tasted the air, his face twisted with disgust. “Salt Water? Yuck! Is that what dead human smells like? It’s adorable. Thank Jack you brought your spell book.” He leaped onto one of the headstones and lowered his head over the stone to read the name. “Herbert Alexander Wellington. What do you think, Eve? How ‘bout this one?”
Carly Beth and I knelt, while Sam perched on the headstone. Since I hadn’t told Carly Beth my plan (mostly because I didn’t have one), she said, “You’re not going to …?” She pointed to the grave.
“Raise the dead?” I asked and gave her a reassuring wink.
“Oh, yeah, right.”
I ran my finger down the index of spells. “Here’s one to incinerate ghouls inhabiting a graveyard. I’ll have to remember that one the next time you tattle on me.”
“Oh, very funny,” Sam said.
“Wait. Here’s one. It’s called ‘Corpse’s Breath.’ That sounds like it has potential.”
Carly Beth, who’d been leaning over my shoulder, read below the title. “Advisory: This spell will add a basic mindless spirit to an inanimate corpse. To reverse the spell, counter with ‘Corpse’s Death’ found in section four: ‘Eternal Death for the Recently Unearthed.’ Sounds, um, good to me.”
“Okay, here we go.” I cleared my throat and read slowly:
Dig and dug, decayed breath churns; heart pumps, ba-deep, ba-dump.
Squirm and squim, eyes crack open; body shifts, ba-deep, ba-dump.
Growl and grit, the night awaits; fingers bloom, ba-deep, ba-dump.
Bug and bool, join the living; death forgets, ba-deep, ba-dump.
“Now what do we do?” Sam asked.
I shrugged. “I guess we wait. The book doesn’t say how long it takes for the spell to work—”
“What was that?” Carly Beth asked.
Sam perked up an ear and listened. “Sounds like … Your spell worked!”
I couldn’t hear anything at first, but then a raspy moan—the sound of dusty lungs trying to let out a long-held breath—cut through the silence. I sprung to my feet and gripped Carly Beth and Sam by the wrists. “I don’t like this. We need to get out of here.”
“I thought you said it wasn’t going to work,” Carly Beth said, looking confused and frightened.
“I—”
Sam pulled away from me and ran toward the sound.
I grabbed for him but missed. “Sam! No! It’s a trap!”
TWENTY-FOUR
OLD FRIENDS … AND FIENDS
I called after Sam again and again. No response.
The thought of something happening to him—of it being all my fault!—tore at my insides. How long had he been gone? A minute? An hour? I couldn’t tell.
“I need to go after him,” I said finally.
“Look,” Carly Beth said. She pointed at some low-hanging branches straight ahead. “Over there.”
Sam appeared from the shadows and tangled trees. He had a goofy smile on his face and was hopping up and down with excitement.
I ran up to him and grabbed his arms. “What’s wrong with you? You can’t just run off like that.” My stern voice was adorably similar to Mom’s.
“You’ll never guess who came to see us,” Sam said. He had that mischievous look in his eyes—the one that said, You can try to guess, but you’ll never get the right answer.
“I give up,” I said without hesitation.
“You’re no fun. C’mon, I’ll show you.” Sam led me and Carly Beth down a tree-lined gravel path. Not far along, I noticed three lanky shadows tacked to the ground. At first, I thought it was just the trees casting those shadows, but then they began to move toward us. I took a step back and peered through the tree branches. I couldn’t see anything at first, but then their faces caught moonlight.
“Hey, lady … good to see … you again.”
No way! Three Petes, the zombie triplets from the ship!
“It’s so horrible to see you guys,” I said, giving each of them a hug.
Carly Beth inched up behind Sam and me, and I felt her shaky hand clutch onto my arm. “Um, Eve. I know they’re your friends and all, but I don’t like the way they’re staring at me. It’s like they can smell my brain.”
I forgot she’d never seem zombie pirates before—or maybe even zombies in general. What a sheltered life she’d had, I thought with amazement.
“This is my friend Carly Beth, by the way.”
Each of the Three Petes sounded off. “Black Feet Pete … Brain Beat Pete … Dead Meat Pete.”
“Hi,” Carly Beth managed, and then she whispered, “How do you know them?”
“They were on the ship that brought me here … So, how are John Wart and Sawbones and Captain Mossbeard? Are they here? Did they come to help, too?”
“They … are … here.” Three Petes shivered, one after another. “But they … didn’t come … to help. They are … the ones … after you.” Each of them shared the same nervous look as they rubbed the hilts of the swords strapped to their sides.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“We stole … the captain’s portal key … after we came through. Those three … are up to … no good. We think it has … something to do … with you.”
“Why would Captain Mossbeard need a portal key? And how did you get past Griff and into my room? And if the captain and the others were after us, why didn’t they just throw us off the ship in the middle of the ocean?” My head swam with questions. None of this made a bit of sense.
Three Petes huddled together and regarded each other with confirming nods—some sort of telepathy, I figured. Then they turned to me, and said. “We have … no … idea.”
“Okay,” I said, crossing my arms impatiently, “what do you know?”
“We know the fairy heart necklace … Mossbeard gave you … is dangerous,” they said and again nodded to each other, obviously pleased with their answer.
“Dangerous how?” I asked, shaking my head. Getting information from these zombies was impossible. With all the brains they eat, you’d think they be a little smarter … Not!
“Maybe you can get through to them, Sam,” I suggested, but Sam was too busy sniffing the air to pay any attention to me.
“Something smells strange,” he said after a moment. “I can’t make it out. Like a burning log … but sweeter.”
“Uh-oh … not … good,” Three Petes said and drew their swords.
Suddenly, the branches behind us rustled, and we all jumped.
Carly Beth clutched my arm. “Any chance it’s just more friends of yours?”
I shook my head grimly as a dozen glowing fairies the size of baby vampire bats hurtled toward us, their wings pulsing like flames behind their blue-green bodies. When they screamed, I could see needle-thin teeth glimmering in the night. By the way Carly Beth gasped, I could tell she saw the teeth, too.
With their swords fixed on the fairies, Three Petes said, “They came … for … their hearts.”
“But my fairy heart necklace was stolen,” I managed.
“You mean … this … one,” Three Petes said, and one of them pulled the necklace out from his pocket.
“You stole my necklace? Is there anything else you took or put into my room?” I asked.
They shook their heads. “We thought … we were … protecting you. Captain Mossbeard said the fairies … can find you as long as … you have the necklace.”
“Maybe I’m thinking a little too deep here,” Carly Beth said, “but shouldn’
t you have gotten rid of the necklace, then?”
Three Petes shrugged, their shoulders rolling from one body to the next like a wave. “That’s … a good … idea. We didn’t … think … of that.”
The fairies eddied around us, snapping at the air inches from our faces. Three Petes slashed their swords to keep the fairies away, but this would only work for so long, I knew.
“Give me the necklace!” I yelled.
One of the Petes tossed it to me, only too happy to be rid of it.
“Here,” I said to the fairies. “Here’s your hearts. I’m sorry to have taken them. I didn’t know they belonged to you.”
I threw the necklace as far as I could, and the fairies paused to follow the necklace with their eyes. Once the necklace disappeared from view, they returned their attention to us and flashed their teeth.
“Um, Eve, I don’t think that worked,” Sam said and clutched onto my waist. Between him and Carly Beth tugging on me, I was ready to topple over.
“I thought you three said they were after their hearts?” I managed.
“Huh … guess we were wrong … about that,” Three Petes said. “Here they … come … again.” They lined up shoulder to shoulder in front of us and raised their swords.
The fairies’ blood-dotted eyes were ravenous. They screamed out something that was part chirp and part howl and then flung themselves at Three Petes, who parried and sliced through the glowing storm. At first it seemed like another stalemate, but then one of the fairies broke away from the swarm and fired toward me, its tiny-clawed hands grasping at the air in front of it—or, more precisely, grasping at where my throat would be at any moment.
I did the only thing I could think of … I clenched my eyes shut.
“Whoa! What’s going on?” Sam said. The urgency in his voice snapped open my eyes. It took me a moment to realize what I was seeing. The fairy had stopped in midair, inches from my neck. Its head spasmed, but otherwise the creature appeared frozen, as if caught in an … invisible hand?