“Bring up the next defendant!” Bloodbutton said.
The judge simmered, mainly in Foulstew’s direction. “You are free to go, Watch. But please remain in the court until your friends have been judged.”
“Thank you, Your Honor,” Watch said, climbing off the scale and flashing a rare smile.
“Adam Freeman will now sit on the scale!” the judge shouted, pounding his table with his skull.
Going through Adam’s life while he still lived in Kansas City, Bloodbutton was able to make a significant case against Adam. Of course Adam had never saved anyone’s life in his old hometown because none of his friends had done things from which they needed to be saved. But once they got up to the time of Adam’s moving to Spooksville, Adam was able to name ten times that he had saved his pals from death. He got so much credit so fast the judge was forced to let him go. Smiling, Adam returned to his friends. He spoke to Sally.
“Just mention all the times you rescued us,” Adam said. “We’ll be out of here in no time.”
But Sally was nervous. “But I wasn’t the hero as many times as you were.”
“Now she tells us,” Watch said.
“Sara Wilcox to the scale!” the judge ordered.
Sally started out all right, better than the others in fact. It seemed as a small kid she had seldom misbehaved. But when they passed her tenth birthday, Sally began to lose points dramatically. It seemed that bad-mouthing another person counted for one gold coin each, and Sally had done little else for the last two years.
“Isn’t it true you insulted Cindy the day you met her?” Bloodbutton demanded.
Sally stood uneasily. “She deserved the insults. She was trying to hit on Adam and she had just met him.”
“Two gold tokens against the defendant!” Blood-button shouted to the judge. “She not only committed the crime, she has no remorse about it!”
The judge pounded his skull. “Make it three tokens, Scalekeeper!”
Naturally, Sally gained ground when her heroic deeds were listed. Saving Cindy in the Haunted Cave from a goblin spear counted for a lot because Sally had almost taken the spear in the side. Yet as the trial began to wind down, Sally was still five tokens down and bobbing up toward the ceiling. Bloodbutton spoke about the incident with the Howling Ghost.
“So you stayed down below while your friends Adam and Cindy went up to fight with the Howling Ghost?” Bloodbutton asked.
“That’s true,” Sally admitted. “But when Adam was thrown through the wall and over the railing of the lighthouse, I was there to save him. In fact, I risked my own life when I reached out to grab him. I could have been pulled over the edge and killed.”
The judge nodded reluctantly to the Scalekeeper. “Remove ten tokens from the scale.”
“Just a moment, Your Honor!” Bloodbutton cried. “We are not through with the Howling Ghost incident. Isn’t it true, Sara Wilcox, that when everything was over that night and everybody was safe you took credit for ideas that Watch provided to help Adam and Cindy defeat the Howling Ghost?”
“How do you know that?” Sally asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Bloodbutton said. “Did you?”
Sally stammered. “I don’t understand the question?”
“Demon prosecutors don’t repeat questions!” Bloodbutton yelled. “Answer yes or no! Remember, you are under oath. If you lie, we will press your face into a vat of boiling lava this instant.”
Sally paused and looked over at Watch. “Yes, I took credit for Watch’s idea. He was the one who figured out the Howling Ghost was actually related to Cindy.”
The judge pounded his skull. “Scalekeeper! Leave those ten gold tokens alone. A liar cannot be counted a hero.” He paused and surveyed the courtroom, picking at his nose in the process. “Sara Wilcox, we have completed your life review and you are found wanting. Have you anything else to say in your miserable defense?”
Sally looked as if she were about to cry. But suddenly her old toughness surfaced. She straightened herself up and spoke to the entire assembly.
“I have been accused of bad-mouthing my friends and enemies,” she said. “To these accusations I have no defense. So I did mouth off from time to time. So what? I’m young. I have a right to complain. But I will say, before being sentenced, that you demons are the sorriest-looking bunch of monsters I have ever seen. You live in a dump and you smell like garbage.” She raised her voice. “I take it as a compliment to be found guilty by a bunch of losers like you!”
Naturally, her remarks did not go over very well. Bloodbutton requested ten eternal lives of agony for Sara Wilcox and the judge nodded his head vigorously. All the while the jury leaned forward, panting as if they couldn’t wait to get their teeth on Sally. Watch kept shaking his head and Foulstew looked both relieved and disgusted at the same time. Altogether, the situation seemed pretty hopeless. It was then that Adam shouted over the din.
“You cannot take our friend!” he yelled.
His words quieted the courtroom, but the judge was smiling contemptuously. “Your friend will be found guilty, Adam,” he said. “Have no doubt about that. You may as well say your goodbyes now.”
The realization finally hit Sally that she was doomed. “Goodbye, guys. Sorry I wasn’t the super heroes you were. I promise I won’t ever criticize you again.”
“Soon you won’t have a tongue to criticize anyone with.” Bloodbutton snickered.
“Don’t gloat over your victory,” Foulstew told him. “It’s disgraceful.”
“You cannot take our friend!” Adam repeated loudly. “We won’t let you!”
The judge chuckled and closed his black book. “You have no choice in the matter. Just be thankful you and Watch have managed to escape our judgment. You won’t be so lucky next time.”
“We don’t want to escape,” Adam said. “We’ll make you a counteroffer. If you release Sally, both of us will stay here in her place.”
Watch cleared his throat. “Adam. Hmm, don’t you want to discuss this?”
Adam ignored him. “You will have two of us for her,” he said to the judge. “All we ask is that you return Sally to our world.”
“Adam,” Watch said.
Foulstew suddenly clapped his hands together. He went to shout out something but the judge silenced him with a sharp look. Once more the judge leaned over his wide table and stared down at Adam and Watch.
“Do you honestly mean to make this offer?” he asked.
“Yes,” Adam said without hesitation. He bumped Watch and whispered under his breath. “Say yes.”
“Well,” Watch said.
Foulstew hissed under his breath. “Say yes!”
“Objection!” Bloodbutton shouted.
“Yes or no, Watch?” the judge asked.
Watch glanced around the courtroom, at the hungry jury, the evil prosecutor, the troubled judge. Finally his eyes came to rest on Sally. She continued to stand with her head bowed, looking more frail than he had ever seen her. Watch came to a decision.
“Yes, Your Honor,” he said. “With my friend, Adam, I offer my life to save hers.”
Sorehead jumped with excitement. “Good show, man!”
At that the courtroom went insane. Foulstew ran over to Watch and Adam and embraced them.
“There is a rule in our book,” he said excitedly. “If two or more people offer to give their lives in our court to save the life of another, then all must go free. The rule has never been used before today, but neither the judge nor the jury has the power to overrule it.” Foulstew turned to the judge. “Isn’t that true?”
The judge was studying the fine print in his big black book. “That’s true, I hate to say. Not only that. Those who have offered their lives to save Sara Wilcox are also permitted to ask a favor of the court.”
“Objection!” Bloodbutton howled.
“Overruled!” the judge said.
“What kind of favor?” Adam asked.
The judge hesitated. “A legal favor.
It is up to you to choose it.”
Adam glanced at Watch and smiled. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Watch nodded. “I hate to leave any prisoners behind.”
Adam addressed the court. “Our request is simple, but we want it carried out immediately. We want all the prisoners in the Dark Corner released. We want an end to all suffering in this dimension.”
Of course this request raised a stink.
But the court had no choice. Even the demon court.
They had to obey the rules in the book.
Epilogue
Foulstew escorted Adam, Sally, and Watch to the interdimensional portal. As if on cue, Bryce and Cindy stuffed three frozen demons through the tombstone, opening the magic doorway so that they could get back to where they belonged. It was then and only then that Watch and Adam finally trusted Bryce. They could hear him and Cindy yelling on the other side to hurry and return. But Foulstew seemed sad to see them go. He handed Adam his business card.
“If you have any legal problems in the future, be sure to give me a call,” he said.
“We will,” Adam promised, studying the card and then putting it in his back pocket. He was surprised to see that the demon had a fax machine.
“Have you ever met your human counterpart?” Watch asked, curious.
“No, but I’ve heard a lot about him,” Foulstew said. “He’s supposed to have visited here several times. I heard he’s mayor of your town, or at least he used to be mayor.”
Sally laughed. “Bum! I should have known. You two have a lot in common!”
“Tell me,” Adam said to Foulstew. “That book of rules you have—it really helped us out. Do you know who wrote it?”
But Foulstew just winked as he turned and walked away.
“You’ll have to ask Bum that question. He’s the only one who knows.”
“Ask that worthless old tramp?” Sally muttered as they got ready to return home. “Why does he have so much secret knowledge?”
“Careful what you say about him,” Adam said.
Sally stopped and then burst out laughing. “Yeah, I forgot already! Someone somewhere is keeping score!”
About the Author
Little is known about Christopher Pike, although he is supposed to be a strange man. It is rumored that he was born in New York but grew up in Los Angeles. He has been seen in Santa Barbara lately, so he probably lives there now. But no one really knows what he looks like, or how old he is. It is possible that he is not a real person, but an eccentric creature visiting from another world. When he is not writing, he sits and stares at the walls of his huge haunted house. A short, ugly troll wanders around him in the dark and whispers scary stories in his ear.
Christopher Pike is one of this planet’s best-selling authors of young adult fiction.
Books by Christopher Pike
Spooksville #1: The Secret Path
Spooksville #2: The Howling Ghost
Spooksville #3: The Haunted Cave
Spooksville #4: Aliens in the Sky
Spooksville #5: The Cold People
Spooksville #6: The Witch’s Revenge
Spooksville #7: The Dark Corner
Available from MINSTREL Books
This book is a work of fiction, Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A MINSTREL PAPERBACK Original
A Minstrel Book published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 1996 by Christopher Pike
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0-671-55066-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-4814-1077-9 (eBook)
First Minstrel printing April 1996
A MINSTREL BOOK and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.
Cover art by John Youssi
The Dark Corner Page 7