Wanted (15 page)

I held my breath as the cat eyed Haywood.

The fat pumpkin leaves rustled all around us, shifting and bending in the cold October wind. Even the moonlight felt cold on my face as I stared … stared waiting for the cat to make his move.

Haywood tightened his grip on my arm.

The cat tilted his head and meowed. A soft mew.

Haywood tossed back his head and laughed. He reached down with his free hand and tickled the cat under his chin.

Zeus mewed again.

Haywood grinned at me. “He's just a cat, Devin. That's all.”

My mouth dropped open. “You mean —?”

“I mean, I tricked you,” Haywood said. “To throw you off the track. I made you think the cat was the Grave-Master, and you believed it — didn't you. So sorry. I can see how disappointed you are. But Zeus is just a cat. A big, lazy cat.”

“Noooo,” I moaned as Haywood began to pull me again. I tried to dig my shoes into the soft ground. But he was inhumanly strong. I couldn't hold back.

My mind was spinning. But I was so frightened, my thoughts made no sense at all.

“So …
you
are the Grave-Master?” I asked him.

He laughed again. “Wrong,” he said. “You are wrong about everything, Devin.”

He pulled me to a hole in the field. A perfect rectangle dug between the leafy vines.

I peered down. Dark inside. Too dark to see how deep it was.

But I recognized it. It was a grave. It was going to be
my
grave.

Suddenly, a few feet from the open grave, the dirt began to move. Chunks of dirt flew up from the ground. A hand poked up. The hand fumbled until it found a thick vine.

I stared in horror as the fingers wrapped around the vine. I knew what was happening. Another corpse was rising up from its grave.

“Want to meet the Grave-Master?” Haywood said, watching the ground along with me. “Here is the Grave-Master.”

We both stared in silence as a second hand appeared. Both hands tugged on the vine till a head poked up from the dirt.

Mrs. Barnes.

Dirt slid and tumbled out of her way as she pulled herself up. After a few seconds, the big woman stood grinning at me. She brushed dirt chunks from her long braids. She held something in one hand.

A pumpkin.

“Well, well. Here we are,” she said. “Do you know what night it is, Devin? It's the Night of the Jack-o'-lantern.”

She raised the pumpkin higher — and it lit up. Orange flames blazed inside it. And I could see big triangle eyes and a jagged mouth cut in a cruel scowl.

Mrs. Barnes shoved the fiery jack-o'-lantern close to my face.

“It's the Night of the Jack-o'-lantern, Devin. The jack-o'-lantern laughs at death. Are
you
ready to laugh at death?”

“No — please!” I cried, trying to back away. But Haywood held me tightly in place.

“Watch the jack-o'-lantern's grin as you go down below,” Mrs. Barnes said, still smiling at me. Her round cheeks were smeared with dirt. She pulled a worm out of her nose and tossed it to the ground.

“But — why me?” I cried in a high, frightened voice. “I don't understand.”

“It's easy to explain. My boy Haywood needs a friend,” Mrs. Barnes said. “It gets lonely under this field. As lonely as death. Haywood needs someone his own age to spend the long days with.”

I stared at her. “Me? A friend?”

“The vines,” I said, “attacking my room. The pumpkins … the whispers … It only happened to me. No one else in my family.”

“That's because I chose you,” Mrs. Barnes said. “You are Haywood's age. I mean, Haywood was twelve when he died one hundred and twenty years ago. I chose you to be his friend.”

“But — but I don't understand —” I didn't know what I was saying. I just thought if I could keep her talking, maybe …

“Time to go down,” Mrs. Barnes said. She raised the scowling jack-o'-lantern above her head. Then she signaled to Haywood with a nod.

Haywood pushed me to the edge of the grave.

My shoes slipped on the soft dirt. I stared down into the deep black hole.

“Do you want to jump?” Haywood whispered in my ear. “Or do you want me to push you?”

He grabbed my shoulders from behind. My shoes slid closer to the deep black hole of the grave. One push … one push, and I was gone.

I felt his fingers tighten on my shoulders. Ready to shove me down into my grave.

A wild scream rang over the field.

At first, I thought it was
my
scream. It took a few seconds to realize it was from someone else.

I felt Haywood's hands loosen on my shoulders. I stumbled back. We both turned. All three of us stared at the roaring figure running across the field at us.

As this person ran into the moonlight, I saw a bright green costume. A Halloween costume? The hideous scream — like a furious wild beast — roared out from an ugly mask.

The mask was green and creased and rutted. It had huge, sharp fangs poking out of its open mouth. The ears were long and pointed and standing straight up. The eyes were red and wild.

The ground-shaking roar was so angry and loud, I wanted to cover my ears.

I saw the shock on the faces of Haywood and his mother. They froze like silvery statues in the moonlight. The jack-o'-lantern slid from her hands and rolled across the ground.

The bellowing creature ran up to us. Spread its arms wide. Thick gobs of drool fell from the open snout.

Turned to me. Those red eyes turned to me. Making my whole body shake.

“It's meeeeee!”
she cried in a raspy animal growl.
“It's meee … Luuuuu-Annnn!”

No. It couldn't be. It couldn't be my friend Lu-Ann.

This was a wild animal. A dangerous creature. A
monster
.

“It's Luuuu-Annnnn!”
it repeated.

“No — you can't be! You
can't
be!” I cried.

And then it twirled around to face Haywood and Mrs. Barnes. And screamed at them in a bellowing voice that made the trees shake and the ground tremble.

“GOOOOO AWAAAAAY!”

The masked creature dove toward them with a terrifying roar. It flung itself on Haywood, tackled him around the waist. The two of them crashed heavily to the dirt.

Eyes wide with shock, Mrs. Barnes stumbled back.

Grunting and groaning, Haywood and the creature wrestled over the ground. The monster let out another roar that shook the trees. Haywood ripped at its face, trying to pull off the mask. But I could see clearly it wasn't a mask. The hideous fanged face
was its face
!

I stood frozen across from Mrs. Barnes, watching helplessly as the battle grew louder and more intense. The monster poked its fingers into Haywood's eyes. Haywood let out a shriek of pain and twisted his face away.

He tugged at the monster's ears. Sent a hard punch into its belly.

Gobs of green drool splatted from the creature's mouth as it rolled on top of Haywood, pounding him with punches, gouging at his eyes.

My mind spun as I watched the horrifying battle. If the creature won, would it fight me, too? I knew that if Haywood won, he would toss me into his grave. But if the monster won …

They were both on their feet now, pulling and pushing, struggling to overpower the other, moving closer to the open grave. Closer …

And then with a burst of power, Haywood lifted the monster off its feet. He wrapped his arms around its waist and hoisted it high over his head. Then with a loud groan, he turned and held the creature over the grave.

The creature thrashed and kicked. But Haywood was too strong. He raised it higher — and started to heave the monster into the grave.

What if it really is Lu-Ann?

I stared at the horrible face.

How could it be Lu-Ann? But what if it is?

I shot forward. Lowered my shoulder and plowed hard into Haywood's middle.

He uttered a gasp — and staggered back.

The monster slid from his hands. It screamed as it started to topple into the grave.

I turned and grabbed it. Wrapped my hands around its middle — and swung it to safety on the ground.

With a roar of anger, Haywood came charging at me. I dodged to the side — and he ran into the open grave. I heard him screaming all the way down. He seemed to fall for a
long
time.

“Evil!” Mrs. Barnes screamed at the monster. “Evil!” Then she leaped into the grave and disappeared after her son.

Gasping for breath, I waited for them to return. But the grave remained silent and dark.

I turned to the creature. It stood with its hands on the waist of the green costume, breathing noisily, gobs of drool sliding from its fanged jaws. Its red eyes locked on me.
“You … saved … my life.”
A raw whisper.

And then its face appeared to loosen. Its whole head sagged. The red eyes faded. The rows of pointed teeth drooped. As I gaped in amazement, it reached up both hands — and tugged off its head.

A mask after all.

“Lu-Ann!” I shrieked. “It
can't
be!”

She didn't answer. She stared openmouthed at the hideous mask in her hands. “It came off.” Her voice still a whisper. She shook her head as if she didn't believe it.

“Devin, you … you saved my life,” she stammered. “An act of kindness. You thought I was a monster, didn't you? But you saved my life, anyway. An act of unbelievable kindness.”

I moved closer to her. “Lu-Ann, I don't really know what you're talking about.”

She crinkled the mask between her hands. “It took an act of kindness to remove the mask. That's what Marcus's dad said. An act of kindness. But not from
me
. Don't you see, Devin? It had to be an act of kindness from
someone else
!”

“Lu-Ann, I still don't understand.”

“
Beauty and the Beast
, Devin.
Beauty and the Beast
. I was the Beast.”

“I've always known you were a beast,” I said. I was starting to feel a little more normal.

She laughed. Then she tossed the mask across the field and began dancing up and down. “I'm free! I'm okay! I'm free! I'm me again! Devin, I'm
me
!”

Lu-Ann pumped her fists above her head. Then she dove forward and hugged me.

“The mask stuck to my face. It turned me evil. I ran and ran,” she said. “I didn't know where to go. And then I remembered your farm was here.”

“You're okay,” I said. “Me, too. We're
both
okay.”

She tossed back her head and laughed again. “Happy Halloween, Devin.”

“Happy Halloween,” I said. “By the way, how was Polly's party?”

Polly stared down the attic stairs at the line of kids. “Okay, everyone. Keep to the right,” she called. “Have your money ready.”

Kids laughed and chatted excitedly. One boy near the end of the line made ghost sounds.
“Owoooooo.”
That made more kids laugh.

Polly watched their faces. She could see that they were excited and tense.

“Okay. One at a time,” she said. “If you get frightened, just turn around and go back downstairs.”

She turned from the stairway to go stand in front of the closet. But Marcus and Brad hurried up behind her. “Polly? What's up with this?” Marcus asked.

“Did you hear about Lu-Ann?” Brad asked. “She ended up at Devin's pumpkin farm last night.”

Polly shook her head. “I didn't know that. But, wow. Thanks to Lu-Ann, my party is the hit of the year. Everyone is talking about it.”

“But … what are they saying?” Marcus asked. “Your party was a total
disaster
.”

“Are you kidding? My party was
not
a disaster, Marcus. It was the scariest Halloween party in the history of Dayton, Ohio.”

Marcus and Brad both sighed.

“When can we start? We want to see the ghost!” a boy shouted from the stairway.

“Ghost! Ghost! Ghost!” kids started to chant. Their voices echoed up the attic stairs.

“What are you doing?” Brad demanded. “Why are all these kids lined up?”

Polly tossed back her hair. “They want to see the ghost in the closet. Lu-Ann wrecked him last night. But he put himself back together. He's totally terrifying. Everyone wants to get a good look at him.”

“You — you mean you're charging admission?” Brad stammered.

“Five dollars,” Polly said. “Five dollars per person to see a real ghost.”

“But, Polly —” Marcus tried to protest.

Polly pushed him toward the stairs. “Go get in line, guys. You can't stand here. You're in the way. It's time to get started.”

Shaking their heads, Brad and Marcus started to the stairs.

But Polly called to them. “Hey, check this out. Look what I found.” She held up a dark blue mask.

The two boys squinted at it. “That looks a little bit like the mask Lu-Ann wore last night. Where'd you find it?”

Polly pointed to the open trunk on the floor. “I found it in that trunk. Isn't it sick looking? It looks a
lot
like Lu-Ann's mask. I'm going to put it on now.”

“You're
what
?” Marcus cried.

“I'm going to wear it to surprise the kids in line. You know. Make the whole experience creepier.”

“You shouldn't —” Marcus started. But Polly waved the two boys away. “Do you have five dollars? Go get in line.”

“We've already seen the ghost. For
free
,” Marcus said. He followed Brad to the crowded stairway. He turned back as they started down the stairs.

The last thing he saw was Polly pulling on the ugly blue mask.