by Ron Roy
They came to another fake tree. A sign on it said PULL THE WITCH’S BROOM HANDLE.
Bradley looked up. One branch was a broom. The handle had been painted white, and it glowed in the dark.
“Should we pull it?” he asked Nate.
“No way!” Nate said. “If you do, I’ll bet we fall right into that witch’s oven!”
Bradley laughed. He reached up and tugged on the broom handle.
They heard a creak. Then hundreds of tiny spiders dropped into their hair and faces.
“KILLER SPIDERS!” Nate screamed. “RUN!”
Bradley spit out a spider that had landed in his mouth. “They’re plastic, Nate,” he said. “Tiny plastic spiders.”
“Boy, do I hate Halloween!” Nate said. He shook a bunch of the spiders out of his hair.
“Shhhh,” Bradley said. He clamped a hand over Nate’s mouth. “Do you hear something?”
It was like a voice coming from underwater. It sounded hollow and scary.
“People are yelling!” Nate said.
“Maybe it’s Luke and those other kids,” Bradley said.
“Or it could be your brother and Lucy,” Nate said. “Maybe the witch is cooking them!”
“Can you tell where the sounds are coming from?” Bradley asked.
They both peered into the gloomy room. All they saw was mist, darkness, and the twinkly ceiling lights.
“Look, there’s an exit sign!” Nate said. He took Bradley’s shoulders and turned him around.
Bradley saw the red exit sign high on one of the walls.
“We can get out of here!” Nate said. “I’ve got my allowance money. I’ll buy us ice cream at Ellie’s Diner!”
“We can’t just leave, Nate,” Bradley said. “What about those missing kids? Besides, we’re supposed to meet Brian and Lucy in a few minutes.”
Suddenly they heard another yell. This time it was closer. Bradley recognized Lucy’s voice yelling, “BRIAN!”
“It’s Lucy!” Bradley said. “Maybe she and Brian found those other kids.”
Bradley shouted back, “Lucy, where are you?”
“Over here!” came Lucy’s voice. “Follow the green footprints!”
“Okay!” Bradley shouted. To Nate he said, “Help me find those footprints again.”
“How do we know that’s really Lucy?” Nate asked. “It could be the witch, pretending to be Lucy!”
“It’s Lucy,” Bradley said. He tugged Nate toward where he thought the voice had come from.
They kept walking through the darkness. Soon Bradley could make out the glowing footprints. “Here they are,” he said.
“Here who are?” Nate whispered.
“The footprints,” Bradley said.
They followed the glowing green prints. But a minute later, the footprints stopped. So did Bradley. Nate bumped into him.
“What’s wrong?” Nate asked.
Bradley felt Nate’s breath on the back of his neck.
“No more footprints,” Bradley said in a low voice. “They just ended.”
Bradley looked up. Even the twinkling lights were gone. He and Nate were standing in total darkness. No tiny lights, no glowing footprints. Just the misty fog and blackness all around them.
“I don’t like this,” Nate murmured. “Whoever invented Halloween should go to jail!”
“It’s like a cave,” Bradley whispered.
He remembered one time when he and Brian were playing ghost in their grandmother’s attic. Bradley had hidden behind an old mattress, and Brian shut off the light to scare him. The attic felt—and smelled—just like this!
“This is weird,” Bradley said. He reached his arms straight out into the darkness.
His fingers touched something soft and smooth. It felt like velvet cloth.
Suddenly a black curtain parted. Bradley gulped.
A bright light revealed Lucy standing like a statue. Behind her was a giant ogre’s mouth. The mouth was wide open, showing large white teeth.
“Lucy, what’s going on?” Bradley cried. “Where’s Brian?”
“I don’t know!” Lucy said. “He just disappeared! We were following the green footprints. When we got here, Brian saw the candy.”
“What candy?” Nate asked. He looked around.
Lucy pointed into the ogre’s mouth. A basket of candy sat between the ogre’s upper and lower teeth. “Brian ran to take some candy. When he started to grab the basket, the lights went out! When they came on again, the candy was still there, but Brian was gone.”
“Maybe the ogre chewed him up and swallowed him!” Nate said. “Like a candy bar!”
“The ogre is made of cardboard,” Lucy said. She knocked on one of the teeth.
Bradley walked behind the ogre face. The black curtain went all around the head. He found an opening in the curtain and peeked through.
“Guys, come here!” Bradley yelled.
Lucy and Nate ran behind the ogre head.
Bradley was standing next to an enormous black pot. Water was bubbling in the pot, and misty steam was flowing over the edges.
“I knew it!” Nate said. “That witch is making kid soup!”
Under the pot, there were red logs that looked as if they were burning. But the flames were fake, too.
Bradley peered into the pot, sweeping the fog away with his hand. “All I can see is water,” he said.
“Look at this!” Lucy said. A sheet of paper had been taped to the pot. Lucy read from the paper:
HOW TO MAKE WITCHY STEW
BOIL TEN GALLONS OF WATER.
MIX IN TWO CUPS OF BAT BLOOD.
DROP IN THREE SMALL CHILDREN.
STIR IN CHOPPED ONIONS AND CARROTS.
ADD SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE.
WHEN DONE, POUR INTO BOWLS.
SERVE WITH CRACKERS.
“Three small children!” Nate cried. “The witch cooked Luke and Miss Piggy and Brian!”
“She didn’t cook anybody,” Lucy said. “The water in the pot isn’t boiling.” She put her hand on the pot. “Just a little warm.”
“Then why is the water bubbling and making steam?” Bradley asked.
“It’s Halloween magic,” Nate said. “When I become president, we’ll skip over Halloween and go right to Thanksgiving!”
“Guys, I’m worried about Brian and those other kids,” Bradley said.
He walked around to the back of the pot. Something soft squished under his foot.
“AHHH!” he yelled, thinking he’d stepped on a bat.
But when he looked down, he saw a red cowboy hat. He picked it up and showed the others. “Luke was wearing a hat like this,” he whispered.
The three kids just stared at the red hat.
“Maybe it’s a clue,” Nate said. “Maybe some monster grabbed Luke, and Luke left his hat so we’d find it!”
Lucy and Bradley looked at Nate. “There are no monsters!” Lucy said.
“Luke’s hat was near this ogre’s head,” Bradley said. “It’s almost like he was trying to tell us something!”
“It means Luke got this far, then he disappeared,” Lucy whispered. “Just like Brian did.”
The three kids backed away from the giant cardboard ogre. It stared at them with red eyes. The basket of candy sat on the ogre’s tongue.
“I don’t want to disappear,” Nate said.
“Wait a minute! I just remembered something,” Bradley said. “Brian said we should all meet back at that couch. So maybe he’s waiting for us.”
“Let’s go and look,” Lucy said.
“Good idea!” Nate said. “Rubber snakes and killer spiders are better than disgusting ogres!”
The kids slipped through the black curtain again. They followed the glowing footprints past the fake trees and cobwebs.
They found the couch with the fake-fur blanket, just the way they’d left it. The tiny ceiling lights twinkled. The red exit sign glowed through the mist.
“No Brian,” Lucy said.
“I
’m getting scared,” Bradley said. “Where could he be?”
“I’ll bet he’s with Luke and those other kids,” Nate said. “Inside the ogre’s fat tummy!”
“What do you think we should do, Lucy?” Bradley asked.
“Keep looking, I guess,” Lucy said.
“How about you, Nate?” Bradley asked. “Want to keep looking?”
“No,” Nate said. “I think we should go to the police station. We need to tell Officer Fallon what’s going on!”
“But we don’t know what’s going on,” Lucy said.
“A bunch of kids disappeared. That’s what’s going on!” Nate insisted.
Bradley sat and thought about Brian disappearing. He thought about Luke’s red hat on the floor.
Then he had another thought: Maybe Nate is right! Maybe that big green ogre out front wasn’t someone in a costume!
Bradley left the cowboy hat on the couch. “I don’t know if Officer Fallon will still be in his office,” he said. “I think it’s pretty late. I wish we could find a clock!”
“Let’s go look behind Mr. Linkletter’s desk,” Lucy suggested.
The three kids hurried across the dark room. After a few minutes, they saw the plastic skeleton again.
Then Bradley had an idea. “Maybe we can call Officer Fallon!” he said. “If we leave the hotel, we might not be able to get back in again.”
“There’s no phone,” Nate said.
Lucy poked around behind the desk. She pulled open drawers and searched on bookshelves.
“Here it is!” she said, holding the phone over her head.
She called information and asked for the Green Lawn police station.
She looked at Bradley and Nate. “What should I tell him?” she asked.
“Tell him Brian is missing,” Bradley said.
Bradley and Nate could hear the phone buzzing in Lucy’s ear. Then she said, “Hello, is this Officer Fallon?”
Lucy began to explain how Brian and the other kids had disappeared inside the haunted house. After a minute, she hung up.
“He’s coming right over,” she told the others.
Bradley looked around. He spotted the exit sign over the door. “Let’s wait there,” he said.
Three minutes later, they heard banging on the door.
“Who is it?” Nate asked.
Bradley giggled. “A ghost,” he whispered in Nate’s ear.
“Officer Fallon!” a deep voice shouted from outside. “Open up!”
Bradley pulled open the door, making a loud creak. Officer Fallon stepped inside. He looked brave and determined.
“Mr. Linkletter should oil this door,” Officer Fallon said.
“He isn’t here, either!” Bradley said.
“Hmph,” Officer Fallon said. “Mr. Linkletter’s gone, too? Very mysterious!”
“We saw a witch and a ghost and a zombie,” Nate whispered.
“Did you?” Officer Fallon said. “I hate zombies!”
“And they talked to us!” Lucy said.
“What did they say?” Officer Fallon asked.
“We tried to ask them where the other kids were,” Bradley said. “But they just kept telling us to follow the green footprints.”
“So we did!” Lucy said.
The foggy mist floated in the air. The lights on the ceiling glimmered.
“Can you show me exactly where you were when Brian disappeared?” Officer Fallon asked.
“Easy,” Nate said. “We followed these footprints. Come on, I’ll show you!”
The kids led Officer Fallon through the darkness. They kept their feet on the green footprints.
Suddenly they all heard a scream.
Officer Fallon froze in his tracks. “What was that?” he asked.
“That’s one of the weird noises!” Nate said.
“Gives me goose bumps,” Officer Fallon said.
They moved slowly forward.
“Watch out for the snake!” Lucy said when they came to the snake tree. “But it’s only a rubber one.”
Officer Fallon tickled the snake’s belly as he walked past it.
“Where’s this zombie you told me about?” he whispered.
“I don’t know,” Bradley said.
“We don’t know where the witch and ghost are, either,” Lucy said.
“Everyone is disappearing,” Nate muttered.
The green footprints led them to the couch. The fake-fur blanket was still there, but it was neatly folded. The cowboy hat sat on top of the blanket.
“This looks different,” Bradley said. “Who folded the blanket?”
“Not me!” Nate said. “I never fold anything. Just ask my mother.”
“I didn’t do it, either,” Lucy said.
“Is this Luke’s hat?” Officer Fallon asked.
“Yes,” Nate said.
Officer Fallon hitched up his pants. “Take me to this ogre head!”
They crept through the foggy mist to the black curtain. Lucy opened it at the crack.
“There it is!” Nate said. He pointed at the giant ogre’s head.
“Oh my gosh!” Officer Fallon said. “It sure is big!”
“Come and see this!” Nate said. He took Officer Fallon’s hand and led him to the other opening in the curtain. He showed him the cauldron of bubbling water. “It’s a witch stew!”
Officer Fallon went right to the recipe. “Three small children!” he said. “Goodness, do you think the witch wants to cook some kids?”
“Yes!” Nate said.
“No,” Lucy said. She put her hand on the pot. “The water isn’t even hot.”
Officer Fallon peeked into the pot. “It’s dry ice,” he said.
“What’s that?” Bradley asked.
“Dry ice is made from carbon dioxide instead of water,” Officer Fallon said. “When you drop it in warm water, the water and carbon dioxide make steam. Like in this pot. The water bubbles, but it never gets hot.”
They all heard a voice. It sounded as if it came from underwater. The voice was moaning.
Nate grabbed Bradley’s arm. Lucy grabbed his other arm.
“Who is it?” Nate whispered.
Bradley gulped. He had heard that voice before. “I think it’s Brian,” he whispered.
“How can you tell?” Lucy asked. “It’s just a moaning sound.”
“I know Brian’s voice,” Bradley said. “It’s the same as mine!”
Bradley made the same sound. “See, we sound just alike,” he said. “Sometimes at night Brian and I hide under our beds and make creepy noises to scare Josh.”
“Yeah, I tried doing that once to scare Ruth Rose,” Nate said. “But she’s not scared of anything!”
They heard the moan again.
“Did you hear that, Officer Fallon?” Nate asked.
But Officer Fallon was gone.
“Where is he?” Lucy asked. “He was right behind us.”
“Well, he’s not here now!” Bradley said.
They dashed back through the black curtain. The giant ogre head was still staring at them. The basket of candy was still inside the ogre’s mouth. But Officer Fallon was nowhere to be seen.
Bradley stepped on something that crinkled under his foot. He picked it up. “It’s a candy wrapper,” he said.
“Here’s another one!” Nate said, grabbing a wrapper off the floor. “They’re the same as the candies in the ogre’s basket!”
Bradley stared at the basket of candy. “Officer Fallon loves candy,” he said. “But he would never throw the wrappers on the floor. He’s always picking up litter!”
“Maybe he left the wrappers as clues,” Lucy said.
“What good are clues?” asked Nate. “The ogre got him, like he got Brian and Luke and those other kids!”
“I can’t believe Officer Fallon just disappeared,” Lucy said. “He was standing right here three seconds ago!”
“Maybe it’s the candy,” Nate said. “You eat some, and you disappear!”
“Dink told me that if we stole candy from the ogre, we’d get a prize,” Lucy said.
“Some prize,” Nate mumbled. “Eat it and you’re gone.”
They all stared at the basket in the ogre’s mouth.
Bradley grinned at Nate. “Why don’t you take a candy and find out what happens?”
“No way!” Nate said. “Why don’t you take some, brave Bradley? Then Lucy and I will watch you disappear!”
Bradley shook his head. “No, I have to stick around to protect you from the witches and zombies.”
“I’m not taking candy, either,” Lucy said. “But I have an idea.” She parted the black curtain. “I’ll be right back.”
Then she was gone.
“Where’s she going?” Nate asked. “Now there are only two of us! If you disappear, I’ll be all alone in this creepy place!”
“Don’t worry,” Bradley said. “I’m not going to disappear.”
Nate peeked through the curtain crack. “It’s dark out there,” he said. “What if she—”
Suddenly Nate shrieked and jumped back. “Run for your life!” he yelled.
When Bradley turned, he saw a skeleton walking through the black curtain.
The skeleton pointed a bony finger at Nate. “Come with me, Nate Hathaway,” the skeleton said. “I’m your new best friend!”
Nate ran and hid behind Bradley.
Bradley laughed. “Okay, come on out, Lucy,” he said. “We know it’s you.”
Lucy stepped out from behind the skeleton and laid it on the floor. It grinned up at them through yellow plastic teeth.
“Where’d you get it?” Bradley asked.
“It was on Mr. Linkletter’s desk, remember?” Lucy asked.
Nate walked over to Lucy and the skeleton. “Very funny,” he said. “Why did you drag it way over here?”
“Mr. Skeleton is going to help us figure out what happened to Brian, Officer Fallon, and the other kids,” Lucy said.
“How’s he going to do that?” Nate asked. “He doesn’t have a brain, Lucy.”
“No, but I do,” Lucy said. She pulled a ball of string and some scissors from a pocket. “I borrowed these from Mr. Linkletter’s desk.”
“What’re they for?” Nate asked.