Haunted Sleepover

by B. A. Frade

  “Emily has our pencil,” I told him. “Ask her.”

  “I didn’t write that,” she protested. “It’s not even my handwriting.”

  Connor and I both quickly turned to Bella.

  She shook her empty hands in front of her face. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t write in the journal.”

  I stared at the writing for a long moment, then asked Emily for the pencil.

  Under the Scaremaster’s sentence, I wrote:

  We’d love to have you

  entertain us.

  “No, we wouldn’t,” Connor said quickly. “No, no, no. We most definitely don’t want the Scaremaster—whoever that is—to do anything with us.” He stood up. “I have to go.”

  Bella grabbed his hand. “It’s a book, Connor. It can’t hurt us.”

  “Tell that to Blake Turner.” He refused to sit back down.

  “It’s just a book,” Emily assured him. “The writing must have been there all along and the pages were stuck together or something so we didn’t see it. It’s a gag. I bet your brothers are hiding out, laughing. I’m guessing they arranged this whole thing with the woman in the gift shop.”

  “If they wanted to scare me,” Connor said, “then they’ve done a great job.” He raised his voice. “Come out now. You got me. Ha, ha, ha.”

  His voice echoed around the halls, but no one answered.

  After a moment of silence, I said, “The book is writing again.”

  I’ll take you on a tour of the

  museum. You’ll never call me

  boring again.

  We all stared at the page.

  “Okay, how did my brothers do that?” Connor demanded.

  “It must be some sort of special ink. Or maybe this isn’t a regular book with normal paper pages and there’s an electronic component.…”

  The thing is, I couldn’t explain how this was happening. But I wanted to find out. I wanted to let the book be our tour guide.

  “What should we do?” I asked the others. “We do have an assignment we have to finish.” I waved the scavenger hunt page.

  “It’s not graded,” Emily told me. “Plus, you and I can probably get, like, ninety percent right without going to a single exhibit.”

  “I can help,” Bella said, putting her hands on her hips. “I know stuff.”

  Emily reached out to her. “I meant all of us can answer the questions. Sorry, Bell.”

  “I’m not really offended.” Bella laughed. “I say we do our best to answer the scavenger hunt questions and follow the Scaremaster to see where that takes us.”

  “I agree,” I said.

  “Me too,” Emily said. She pointed to the page. “Nate, tell him we want the tour.”

  I raised the pencil and was about to write, when Connor grabbed the book. The pencil skipped across the page, leaving a long, squiggly line.

  “No tour. No Scaremaster.” Connor looked really upset now. “No weird book.” He stood up and tucked the book under his arm.

  We weren’t fast enough to catch him. Connor rushed away from us and down a long hall.

  I’d known Connor long enough to know exactly where he was heading.

  He was going to the gift shop.

  Connor was going to return the book.

  Chapter Four

  We caught up with Connor at the museum store. He was banging on the doors, calling out, “Let me in,” and waving the Scaremaster’s journal in his hands.

  I reached out toward him. He flinched and moved away.

  “This can’t be happening,” he told me, pointing at a sign on the shop door.

  It said Closed for Renovations. See you next week.

  I read the sign twice before I let it sink in. “Hmmm. That’s weird for sure.”

  “You were in the store just a few hours ago?” Emily asked. “Weren’t you?”

  “Yeah.” I told her that we had been the only customers. “So that’s another weird thing.”

  “Maybe they were shutting down,” Bella suggested. “You were probably the last people in there. That’s not so strange. My mom’s bakery will close for a few days sometimes to change equipment or get new furniture.”

  “It’s a museum store,” Connor exclaimed, banging on the door. “They don’t have furniture or equipment.”

  “Maybe they’re updating their computers,” Emily offered.

  Connor clutched the book to his chest and glared at us. “The Scaremaster closed the store. I’m sure of it.” He thrust the book at me. “We’re going to disappear, just like Blake.”

  I took the journal from him and for the first time noticed it had an odd smell. Like rusted metal mixed with wet sand. I’ve had tons of books and some of them have even smelled old, but I’ve never had a book that smelled like this.

  “We aren’t going to disappear,” Emily assured him. I could see she was holding back a laugh.

  “In fact,” Bella added, “we’re going to be the first ones to use the Scaremaster’s journal as a guide and live to tell about it.” She and Emily high-fived each other.

  “Shh. Connor’s too flipped out for jokes,” I whispered to them.

  My best friend had slid down to the floor and was leaning against the locked shop doors. He had his head curled over his knees and was wrapped into a tight Connor-ball.

  I sat down next to him on the cold tile floor. “Come on, man. You know this is all a trick.”

  He shook his head. “We’re stuck with that horrible book.”

  “I bet you that your brothers are controlling the journal,” I suggested. “They have to be. Wouldn’t it be great to show them that you won’t get scared so easily? This is your chance to prove you’re not scared.” Connor looked up at me, and I continued, “If you play along, they won’t ever be able to bug you again. They’ll know you’re stronger than any prank they can play.”

  It was a good speech. One of my best. I looked over at Emily and Bella, who were both nodding in agreement.

  Connor looked around the area where we were sitting. He whispered to me, “You really think my brothers are behind this?”

  “Positive,” I told him. “We’ve got to show them who’s boss.”

  “I’m boss?” Connor said. It sounded like more of a question than a declaration.

  “Yes, you are,” I said, standing, then offering him a hand up. “I say we play along with the Scaremaster’s book. Prove that we aren’t afraid of anything. And then, when you go home tomorrow, you can proudly tell your brothers that they failed.”

  Connor took my hand. “I’ve got this,” he said. “I’m not going to be scared. I’ll show them who’s in charge.”

  “Yes, you are,” Emily said. She and Bella both hugged Connor.

  “And we’ll help,” Bella added. She pushed back her braids. “Then, later, maybe we can come up with a way to scare them back.”

  From the look on Connor’s face, I knew he liked that idea.

  He took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m okay,” he said, holding out a hand for the Scaremaster’s journal. “I can do this.”

  I was so proud of my best friend. This was going to be a whole new beginning for Connor. Now we could finally go trick-or-treating. We could see movies that weren’t animated. We might even be able to play the Zombie Hunters video game together.

  Now that Connor was in, I did have one important thing to tell my friends.

  “I really want to do the class scavenger hunt first,” I told everyone. “I know it’s not graded, but I bet Mr. Steinberg will expect us to know a bunch of information that you can only find out from the exhibits. I think we should do the scavenger hunt and then take the Scaremaster’s tour after snack break.”

  “Ugh, you’re such a nerd,” Bella said with a snort. “We need to follow the journal now. What if”—she glanced at Connor—“his brothers go home?”

  “We have to take that chance,” Emily said, agreeing with me. “We’re starting late, but we should do the project. Nate’s right. We can’t skip it.�
��

  “I really don’t think it’s a big deal,” Bella argued. She looked at Connor, but he just shrugged.

  “Let’s ask the Scaremaster,” I suggested. “That way”—now I looked at Connor—“his brothers can go get a snack and meet up with us later.”

  Emily handed me back the journal. That metal odor I’d noticed had faded. It was all musty sand now. Like the beach or a sandbox.

  I opened to the first page and found that our conversation was still there. Under his promise that we’d never call him boring again, I wrote:

  Must do school stuff first. Can we meet up for the tour later?

  The Scaremaster replied right away:

  After tonight, you won’t need school.

  I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Sounds exactly like something Chris would say.”

  “Yeah,” Connor said, getting into it. He took the pencil and the book from me.

  We’ll meet you at midnight.

  “That’s after lights-out,” I told Connor. We were supposed to be in our sleeping bags at eleven sharp. “You want to sneak out from the sleeping area?”

  Connor smiled and gave me the pencil. “It’s also the time when Chris and Cameron watch their favorite TV show. They don’t ever record it to watch later. It’s on tonight, and they don’t miss it.” It was a sci-fi show about aliens. I knew because I watched it too, but I wasn’t as crazy as they were about seeing it on time. Connor’s brothers didn’t want to see spoilers online by accident.

  “It’s got to be midnight,” Connor said defiantly. “Let’s mess up their night. Chris and Cameron will be bummed.”

  “Way to take control,” Bella cheered, offering Connor a high five. They slapped palms.

  Must be midnight.

  I wrote that just to be perfectly clear.

  We gathered around and stared down at the book.

  Do not be late. Prepare to be scared.

  I’d have thought that last line would have freaked Connor out again, but it didn’t. “Yeah, whatever,” he said out loud, as if his brothers could hear through the book. “Hey, bros, you’re the ones who are gonna miss your TV show. Too bad for you!”

  He was met by silence.

  The rest of the afternoon crept by. We finished the museum scavenger hunt.

  We didn’t have time to go back to our bags to get the candy, so we snacked on the carrots and hummus that were available to everyone. After snack, we had a discussion with an expert on biology. It was a great discussion, and my nerd cells were partying hard by the time we ate dinner. After dinner, we were given free time to walk around in the health exhibit. Connor, Bella, Emily, and I used some of that time to make our plans for after lights-out.

  Finally, we said good-bye to the girls, and headed over to our separate sleeping areas. Connor and I settled into our sleeping bags.

  All the stuff we had seen was really amazing, but I’d had trouble concentrating. I must have checked my watch two hundred times. There were 3,600 seconds in every hour. The ticking of my watch marked each one. It was painful.

  After lights-out, I passed the minutes reading the bear book with a flashlight I’d borrowed from Connor. So that I wouldn’t get caught, I was way down in my sleeping bag with my head covered. That made my watch’s ticking even louder, which made time pass even more slowly.

  Finally, it was ten minutes to midnight. It was showtime!

  We were on the second floor of the museum. The girls were sleeping in the health exhibit area. The boys were in a room filled with old pottery. We’d had such a busy day that everyone on our floor seemed to be asleep already. At least, no one moved when I stood up. If anyone was awake, they probably thought I was going to the bathroom.

  I hoped it was also quiet in the girls’ area. I didn’t want to get caught. We’d get in big trouble if we were caught. I was trying not to think about that.

  The plan was for all four of us to meet up in the front hall, right by the registration desk.

  “What’s in the bag?” Connor asked me as we tiptoed past a large clay pot and into the next room, which was filled with crystals and minerals in glass display cases.

  I was carrying the museum gift shop sack because I didn’t have my backpack with me on this trip. In it I’d put the things I thought we’d need for our adventure. My museum map. The Scaremaster’s journal. A pencil. The flashlight I borrowed from Connor. And the candy, in case we wanted to snack on something during our Scaremaster tour.

  “Give me the dinosaur gummies,” Connor said, his hand out. “I wouldn’t want you eating them all without me.”

  I laughed quietly and handed them over. “But I’m keeping the rope licorice.”

  He stuck the bag of gummies in the big pocket at the front of his sweatshirt and patted the outside. “Now they’re safe.”

  We went down a large central staircase to our meeting place.

  “Hey,” I whispered when we caught up with the girls.

  “Hey,” Bella whispered back.

  We didn’t want to talk loudly in case our teacher was patrolling the halls. So I held up the book and Connor’s flashlight. We gathered around it.

  The Scaremaster wrote:

  We begin in the Hall of Birds.

  “I know where that is.” Emily pointed the way. It was upstairs on the fourth floor. We tiptoed up the broad main staircase in the central hall and then took another staircase up two floors. We didn’t dare use the elevators because they’d make noise.

  Emily led us through the Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians and into the birds’ room. We’d been here on the scavenger hunt. There were large glass windows with displays behind them. One was set like a desert, with mountains and birds placed around the scene, as if the birds were alive and enjoying their habitat. The displays were a lot like dioramas we made in elementary school, only way bigger and way more awesome.

  For the scavenger hunt, we’d had to answer a question about how king penguins carry their eggs. The answer was on a plaque by the display: The eggs sat on their feet.

  We stopped by that plaque, and I opened the Scaremaster’s journal, wondering what he’d show us on his special tour.

  Some birds eat seeds.

  Others eat insects.

  Go to the third display on the left side.

  We did.

  It was a display of birds of prey.

  I wasn’t worried about talking out loud now. We were on a different floor than our snoozing classmates, teachers, and the few parents who were staying the night as extra chaperones.

  “Birds of prey are pretty cool,” I said.

  The display was packed with hawks, falcons, eagles, vultures, and some others that I had to read the plaques below them to identify. When it came to science, I preferred mammals. Birds weren’t really my thing.

  Emily put her hand on my arm. “I’ve been here so many times. I’ve never noticed all these birds in one display case,” she said. “Usually the displays break up the scenes by geographic location. Like, they might put certain kinds of hawks in California, and since some vultures live in Africa, they’d put them in another case.”

  “It sure is crowded in there,” Connor said. He poked his finger at the display glass. “There must be thirty birds, maybe more.”

  Since the Scaremaster was our guide, I figured he could explain what we were seeing. I wrote:

  Why are all the birds of prey together?

  It seemed a basic question a museum escort would know.

  He answered:

  Wait and see.

  I didn’t know what that meant.

  I showed his reply to the others.

  “No clue what he mean—” Emily began, when suddenly, a loud screeching sound came from inside the display case.

  I looked to see that rats, maybe ten or fifteen of them, were scampering across the floor of the display. The birds, which I swear had been dead and stuffed, began to circle, swoop, and screech. It was a battle for which bird could capture which rat. The rats spread out, dodging th
e birds. The birds swooped down, coming at them from every direction.

  “I can’t look.” Connor closed his eyes. “Run, rats, run.”

  “The birds aren’t real,” Emily insisted. And yet, they were going crazy, swooping and squawking. “The rats aren’t real either,” she added. “This is a museum, not a zoo.”

  “Seems like a zoo to me. This is the stuff that happens after hours when the guests go home.” Connor peeked through his fingers, then covered his eyes again.

  Bella, Emily, and I couldn’t look away. It was like a strange, terrible show, and we wanted to see it to the end.

  I thought it was over when the rats disappeared. It looked like they had all discovered safe places to hide. We never saw any get caught. But the birds weren’t happy. In fact, they seemed furious. And hungry.

  A big black vulture with white-tipped feathers noticed us standing there, watching. With a resounding whack, the vulture hit the glass.

  Connor jumped back.

  The other birds decided that the vulture was onto something, and they began hitting the glass as well. Small cracks began to form in the large display window, stretching from the spot where the birds were attacking toward the edges of the frame.

  “They’re going to break through! Connor shrieked. “We need to run!”

  “They’re not real.” Emily held her ground, refusing to run away.

  I agreed with Emily, but as more and more birds charged at the glass and the shattering lines seemed to be growing, I agreed with Connor too.

  Bella, being the boldest of us all, stepped toward the glass for a better look. “They sure do seem real,” she said. A hawk slammed into the window right in front of her. “Hmmm. I saw a movie like this once,” she added calmly.

  “I saw that one too,” I said. “The birds attacked the town.” I held the shopping bag in one hand and the journal in the other. I gave Connor’s flashlight to Emily. “Real or not real, it doesn’t matter anymore. We need to get out of here!” I yelled so I could be heard over the birds’ squawks.