Full Moon Halloween (3 page)

On Halloween, a few nights later, Tristan found himself thinking about Ray’s dumb werewolf joke in class.

Why did Mr. Moon get so upset? Tristan wondered. The teacher totally freaked. He turned bright red and gaped at Ray, shaking in fright.

Didn’t Moon know that Ray was just being Ray? Couldn’t he tell it was a joke?

Tristan pulled the wide-brimmed hat down over his hair. Gazing into the mirror, he adjusted the black mask that covered his eyes.

“Tristan, where did you find that stuff?” His mom stepped up behind him, shaking her head.

“It was all in my old toy chest,” he replied. He pulled a cap pistol from the holster at his waist and twirled it on his finger. “Wish I still had some caps.”

“Do kids these days know what a cowboy is?” Mrs. Gottschalk asked.

Tristan tugged at the mask. It made his face itch. “Not really,” he said. “No one is into cowboys. That’s why I like the costume.”

His mom straightened the white cowboy hat. “This is a little small. It will blow off in the wind.”

“We’re going to be indoors—remember?” Tristan replied with a groan. “We’re going to be at that stupid party.”

“Maybe it will be fun,” she said. “If your whole class comes…”

“My whole class
isn’t
coming,” Tristan replied, tying a red bandanna around his neck. “We asked a whole bunch of kids at school if they were coming. No one even heard of this party. He must be inviting kids we don’t know.”

“Let me tie that for you. You’re messing it up.” She leaned down and began to knot the bandanna. “Are you supposed to be the Lone Ranger?”

“Who’s that?” Tristan asked.

He gazed out the bedroom window. A silvery full moon was rising over the treetops. Thin wisps of cloud wriggled across the big moon like shadowy snakes.

“Where are you? Are you upstairs?” Rosa’s voice
rang out from the first floor.

Tristan heard her footsteps on the stairs. He pulled both pistols as she stepped into the room. “Stick ’em up!”

Rosa’s mouth dropped open. She stared wide-eyed at him for a moment. “That’s the geekiest costume I ever saw,” she said.

“Hey, give me a break,” Tristan replied. He slid the pistols back into their leather holsters. “I’m going to be the only cowboy in town tonight.”

“You’ve got
that
right,” Rosa said, rolling her eyes.

Mrs. Gottschalk studied Rosa. “What are
you
supposed to be? A fish?”

“No way. I’m a mermaid,” Rosa replied. She wore a blond wig tied high on her head in a bun. Her cheeks and forehead glittered with sparkly stuff.

“See? I drew fish scales all over this green jumpsuit with a Magic Marker,” Rosa said. “I’m half fish, half girl.”

“Which half is the fish half?” Tristan joked.

“Ha-ha.” Rosa shoved him into the dresser.

His cowboy hat toppled off and sailed to the floor. He bent to pick it up. “Rosa, if you’re a mermaid, where are your tail fins?”

“I didn’t know how to make fins,” she replied. “Besides, how can you walk with a tail over your feet?”

“I think she looks very…different,” Tristan’s
mom said. She glanced at the clock. “If you don’t get going, you two are going to be late.”

They both groaned.

“I guess you’re not looking forward to Mr. Moon’s party, either?” Tristan’s mom asked Rosa.

Rosa shook her head. “No way.”

“Well, just stay for an hour,” Mrs. Gottschalk said. “Then tell Mr. Moon your parents don’t want you to stay out late.”

She straightened Tristan’s bandanna. “It’s the truth, after all,” she said. “And don’t forget. You both
do
have to be home by eleven—at the very latest.”

“Right. Eleven,” Tristan repeated.

“Mr. Moon will understand,” his mom said. “Especially with all the frightening news stories on TV lately.”

Tristan led the way out of the house. A gust of cold wind greeted him. He grabbed the hat with one hand to keep it from flying away.

Their shoes crunched over the gravel driveway. They both gazed up at the silvery full moon.

Tristan felt a chill start at his neck and tingle down his back.

He turned to Rosa. The moonlight washed over her, making her face shimmery and pale.

Again he turned his face to the moon. It gave off such cold, icy light.

Far in the distance, an animal howl rose over the rustle of the trees.

A dog howling?

Or a wolf?

“Why do I have such a bad feeling about tonight?” Tristan asked in a whisper.

They picked up Bella and Ray on the way to Mr. Moon’s house.

Bella wore a long, pleated black dress and a starched white blouse with a high collar. She had sprayed her hair black with a white streak down the center.

“I’m Cruella De Vil,” she announced. “So be careful. I’m totally mean tonight.”

“How will we tell the difference?” Ray asked.

“Ha-ha. Be careful, Ray, or I’ll smear your fake tattoos.” Bella reached out to pinch his bare arm.

Ray pulled away. His arms were covered with blue and red tattoos. He wore silver tights and a bright red cape over a sleeveless silver muscle shirt.
His eyes peered out from a silky silver mask.

He shivered as a strong gust of wind fluttered his cape.

Rosa laughed. “Stone Cold Ray is going to be cold tonight in that little T-shirt!”

Ray raised his tattooed fists. “You got a problem with that?” he growled. “You got a problem with that?”

The wind sent Tristan’s cowboy hat sailing over the grass. He chased after it. “I think there used to be a string on this thing you could tie under your chin,” he said. He jammed the small hat back on his head.

“Look at those kids.” Ray pointed to a group of nine or ten trick-or-treaters hurrying up a driveway across the street. “They’re having fun. They don’t have to go to a dumb teacher’s party.”

“We don’t have to stay for long,” Tristan said.

He heard a loud
crack
behind him. A twig breaking?

He spun around—and saw a dark figure standing half-hidden by a tall hedge.

A vampire.

White face. Dark red lips. Black hair slicked back. Long black cape fluttering in the wind.

“
Be careful
,” the vampire called softly. So softly Tristan wasn’t sure he heard the words correctly.

“
Be careful
.”

“Hey—” Tristan called out to him. Was it Michael Moon?

“What’s your problem?” Ray shouted.

Pulling the cape around him, the vampire shrank back into the darkness of the hedge.

He called out once more before he turned and started to run.

“
Don’t go!
” he warned. “Don’t go to that party! If you do, you won’t return!”

“Hey—wait!” Tristan started to run after the vampire. But his hat sailed off his head again.

He bent to pick it up. When he stood up, the figure had vanished.

“Who was that? Was it Michael Moon?” Rosa asked. “It had to be him—right?”

“Why is he always following us?” Bella said, still squinting at the hedge.

“Because he’s crazy?” Ray answered. “Because he’s a total wack job?”

“You’ve got
that
right,” Tristan said. “But for some reason, he keeps trying to warn us about something.”

“Or scare us,” Bella added. “Maybe it’s just some kind of weird Halloween prank.”

They continued walking. Ray picked up a stone and sent it bouncing down the street. Another group of trick-or-treaters came laughing and shouting out of the house on the corner.

“Why was Michael out here?” Bella asked. “Why isn’t he at his dad’s party?”

“Maybe he wasn’t invited!” Rosa said.

They all laughed.

Bella stopped walking. “No. I know what that was about,” she said. “It was part of the party. Mr. Moon sent Michael out here to scare us. He told Michael to warn us—to make the party seem really scary. It’s all a joke.”

“Yeah. You’re right,” Ray replied. “Mr. Moon is trying to make his party seem cool.”

“Well, so far he’s doing a lousy job.” Tristan sighed. “Let’s go get this over with.”

A few minutes later, they stood in Mr. Moon’s driveway, staring up at his house. It was a big, rambling house. Old and kind of creepy-looking.

Dark shingles. A high, slanting roof. Black shutters on the windows. A jack-o’-lantern, candlelight flickering behind its jagged grin, stared out the front window at them.

Tristan led the way as they climbed the rickety front porch. Fake cobwebs had been stretched along the wall. A large gray skull was perched on a stand near the door.

“Here goes,” Tristan whispered. He raised his hand to ring the doorbell.

But the door creaked open before he had a chance to push it.

Orange light poured onto the porch. A vampire leaned his white face out. A different vampire. Taller. Older.

Mr. Moon.

“Welcome. Welcome to the House of Pain!” he declared in a low, scary voice.

He stepped back to allow them to enter. Tristan saw more thick cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. He saw black and orange streamers stretching over the living room.

“Angela, our victims have arrived!” Mr. Moon called in his movie vampire voice. He pushed back his shiny black cape, motioning for them to step farther into the hall.

“This is my wife, Angela,” he said.

A large, pink-faced woman swept into the room. She wore a silky white dress that swirled out as she walked. Sparkly wings were attached to her shoulders. And a gold halo bounced on top of her piles of white-blond hair.

“Welcome! Happy Halloween!” she called. She also had a deep voice. One wing scraped against the wall as she made her way across the living room.

“Angela is an angel tonight,” Mr. Moon said.

Tristan glanced into the living room. A fire danced in a wide fireplace. The lights had been turned low.

Grinning skulls had been placed around the room, along with jack-o’-lanterns with long knives stuck through their middles, and a tall cutout of a witch with her head tossed back in a cruel laugh.

Great decorations, Tristan thought. Very spooky.

He heard the front door slam hard behind him.

From somewhere past the living room, a high witch’s cackle repeated over and over. The floorboards creaked as Tristan followed the others into the living room.

Tristan glanced around the room. No one else here.

No one.

He stepped up close to Rosa. He saw the frightened expression on her face.

Tristan swallowed hard. “Where is everyone?” he whispered. “Where are all the other kids?”

The fire popped and crackled. Mr. Moon stepped into the orange light from the fireplace. He grinned at Tristan and his friends. His eyes moved slowly from one to the other.

The four of them stood awkwardly in the middle of the room.

“It’s such a cold, windy night,” Angela said, straightening a candle on the coffee table. “We thought it would be nice to have a fire.”

“The house looks…awesome,” Tristan said. He had his hands jammed into the pockets of his jeans. The mask over his eyes was really itching now.

“Yes, it’s terrific,” Rosa jumped in. “You must have worked so hard.”

Angela smiled at her husband. “Yes, we want this to be our best Halloween party ever.”

“Angela, let me introduce you to everyone,” Mr. Moon said. “The wrestler is Ray. The mermaid is Rosa. This one is, um, Bella. And—”

He stopped as Michael entered the room.

Michael tugged his black cape behind him. His face was covered in white makeup. Thick black eyebrows had been painted over his tiny round eyes. He looked like a shorter, thinner version of his father.

So it
was
Michael outside a few minutes ago, Tristan realized.

“There you are!” Mr. Moon said. “Where were you? We were looking for you, Michael.”

“Uh…nowhere really,” Michael replied, gazing down at his shiny black shoes. “Just getting my costume ready.”

“You know everybody—right?” Mr. Moon asked his son.

Michael nodded. “Do we have to have this party, Dad?” he asked, still not raising his eyes. “Can’t we just stop it now?”

Rosa leaned close to Tristan. “He is really weird,” she whispered.

Tristan shrugged.

“We’re not stopping now. We’ve prepared so many surprises,” Mr. Moon boomed. “You have to get into the party spirit, Michael.”

Michael grumbled something Tristan couldn’t hear.

Tristan’s throat suddenly felt dry. He glanced around the living room but didn’t see a refreshment table.

“Let’s break the ice with a little game,” Mr. Moon said, rubbing his hands together. His tiny eyes flashed inside his white, painted vampire face.

“Uh, shouldn’t we wait for everyone else to show up?” Rosa asked.

Mr. Moon smiled. “Everyone is already here! You’re the only people I invited!”

Tristan gasped.

“What kind of a freaky party is this?” Bella asked her friends quietly. Her voice shook slightly.

Angela disappeared into the next room, her halo bouncing on her head. A few seconds later, she returned carrying a large silver bowl.

Mr. Moon raised a black blindfold. “This should get us in a party mood. It is a guessing game,” he announced. “I’m going to blindfold you one by one. Then I want you to feel what is in this bowl and tell me what you think it is.”

“Yuck. It’s going to be something really gross, isn’t it?” Rosa said.

Mr. Moon chuckled. “That depends,” he said. “One of you might not think it’s so bad.”

What does
that
mean? Tristan wondered.

Mr. Moon blindfolded Tristan first. Then he led him across the room to Angela.

Holding him by the wrist, the teacher lowered Tristan’s hand into the bowl.

“Oh.” Tristan’s fingers wrapped around something cold and squishy. Wet. Kind of rubbery.

“Is it raw liver?” he asked.

“Keep feeling it. Move your hand around,” Mr. Moon instructed.

Tristan felt around in the bowl. “It’s kind of like cold, soft hot dogs,” he said. “Yuck. Whatever it is, it’s really slimy.”

Mr. Moon led Tristan back across the room to the others. Then he blindfolded Bella.

She let out a gasp as her hand explored the bowl. “Yuck! Oh, gross. It’s wet and cold. It
is
liver—isn’t it!”

Angela laughed as she held the bowl. “Not quite. But you’re warm,” she said.

Rosa and Ray took their turns. When she felt the slimy, soft objects, Rosa’s face turned nearly as green as her mermaid suit.

Ray didn’t say a word. He dipped his hand around in the bowl. Then just shrugged.

Michael refused to take a turn. He sat glumly on the edge of the couch with his arms crossed tightly in front of him. “I already know what it is,” he said.

“Everyone give up?” Mr. Moon asked. He took
the bowl from his wife. Then he tipped it so they all could see inside.

Tristan stared at the wet pile of yellow and red pieces. They looked like meat or maybe sausage wrappings.

“It’s animal guts,” Mr. Moon announced. “Real organs and intestines from animals that live in our woods.”

“Ohhhh, sick,” Bella groaned.

Ray laughed. “Cool.”

Mr. Moon’s eyes locked on Ray. “You think it’s cool, huh? You don’t think it’s disgusting?”

“Well…” Ray hesitated.

“You
like
it?” Mr. Moon asked Ray eagerly.

“Uh…not exactly,” Ray replied, confused.

Mr. Moon handed the bowl to Angela. Then he turned back to Tristan and his friends. “One of you
likes
animal guts—a lot,” he said. “Because one of you is a
werewolf
!”

“Huh?”

“Excuse me?”

“What did he just say?”

The room erupted in cries of surprise.

Tristan’s throat turned dry. He realized his hands were suddenly as cold as ice.

Mr. Moon had the strangest smile on his face. His tiny eyes sparkled excitedly in the firelight.

“This is going to be an exciting Halloween party,”
he said. “Because, as you know, it’s not only Halloween—it’s a full moon tonight.”

Taking long, heavy strides, he stepped up close to the kids. His eyes moved from one to the other as his smile slowly faded.

Tristan jumped when he head the loud
click
of the doors locking.

He turned and saw heavy black metal bars slide downward and clang into place over the living room window.

He turned to Rosa with a frightened gasp.

Her chin was trembling. She chewed her bottom lip. Her eyes were narrowed on Mr. Moon.

“Someone in this room is a werewolf,” the teacher said. “And we’re not going to leave this house until we find out who it is.”