The author gratefully acknowledges
Gabrielle Charbonnet
for her help
with this book.
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
1 Halloween Is Coming!
2 Big-House Halloween
3 Hannie’s Surprising Announcement
4 The Return of Druscilla
5 Spooky Plans
6 Let the Decorating Begin!
7 Save the Bats
8 Prime Suspect
9 Dueling Cinderellas
10 Really and Truly Haunted
11 Halloween Problems
12 The Last Straw
13 Druscilla’s Alibi
14 The Apology
15 Sam or Charlie?
16 Charlie or Sam?
17 There Is a Ghost!
18 Going Batty
19 Will the Real Ghost Please Stand Up?
20 Happy Halloween!
About the Author
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Halloween Is Coming!
“Leaf monster! Leaf monster!” I yelled.
Hannie Papadakis squealed and leaped out of my way. I threw big handfuls of leaves into the air. “I am coming to get you!” I said with a growl.
Laughing, Hannie scooped up an armful of leaves and threw them back at me. I ran after her. It was not long before we both fell down into a big pile of leaves in the middle of her yard.
“You are a good leaf monster,” said Hannie, panting. “Maybe you should be one for Halloween.”
I am not always a leaf monster. Usually I am mild-mannered seven-year-old Karen Brewer, one of the Three Musketeers. (The other Musketeers are my two best friends, Nancy Dawes and Hannie.) We are all in Ms. Colman’s second-grade class at Stoney-brook Academy.
But today I was also a leaf monster. It was October, and all the leaves on the trees had begun to change color and fall. The pile of leaves in Hannie’s yard was gigundo. There were tons of yellow and red and orange leaves. It had taken her father all weekend to rake them up. Playing leaf monster had sort of spread them out again.
“You could glue leaves all over some long underwear,” said Hannie. “No one would know who you are.”
I giggled. “That is not a bad idea for a costume,” I said. “But I have already decided to be Cinderella this year.”
“Oh, cool,” said Hannie.
“Yes. She is a blonde, beautiful princess,” I said. “I am blonde too. It is perfect.” (I do not know if Cinderella had blue eyes or freckles or wore glasses, like I do, but I do know we are both blonde. At least, she is blonde in the movie.)
“That will be a good costume,” said Hannie. “I am probably going to be a butterfly. Mommy said she would help me with my costume. I want to have big wings that I can spread out.” Hannie held out her arms to show me how big her wings would be.
“A butterfly would be great,” I said. “But you know what? I wish we had something really special to do on Halloween.”
“We will go trick-or-treating,” said Hannie.
“I know, but — ”
“And there will be the school parade on the Friday before Halloween,” said Hannie.
“Yes,” I said. “Those things will be fun. But I mean something really special. Maybe we could have a big party, at your house or my house. My big house, not my little house.” (I will explain about my two houses in a minute.)
“Yeah,” said Hannie. “We need to have a party.”
“Or maybe we could go to a haunted house this year,” I said. “Daddy said I was too young last year, but now I am seven. I would love to go to a haunted house.” Being just a little bit scared is fun sometimes.
“A pretend haunted house, right?” asked Hannie. “Not a real one.”
“Of course, a pretend one. I have seen signs for them,” I said. “Where would we find a real haunted house?” I threw a couple of leaves at Hannie.
“I will tell you,” said Hannie seriously. “Two doors down from here. Right on this street.” (Hannie lives one door down and across the street from my dad.)
“What?” I said.
“Yes. That old house on the corner,” said Hannie. “The people moved out a long time ago, and no one has bought it. It is falling to pieces. Probably it is haunted by now. Maybe the people even moved out because it was haunted.”
“I did not know that,” I said. I knew which house Hannie was talking about. I have walked past it about a million times. The yard is full of tall weeds. Some of the windows are broken. It needs paint. It is missing some railings from its balconies. Now that I thought about it, it definitely looked haunted.
“I think you are right,” I said. “I bet it is haunted now. That is too bad. It would be a pretty house if it was all fixed up.”
“But no one will buy it and fix it up now,” said Hannie. “Because it is haunted.”
Big-House Halloween
“Please pass the ketchup,” Sam said that night at dinner.
At the end of the table, Charlie tightened the cap on the ketchup. Then he tossed the bottle to Sam. Sam caught it.
“Enough of that,” said Elizabeth sternly.
Who are these people? I bet you are wondering. They are the people in my family — my big-house family.
A long time ago, when I was little, I lived in just one house, the big house. In my family were me, Mommy, Daddy, and my little brother, Andrew. (He is four now, going on five.) Then Mommy and Daddy decided to get a divorce. Andrew and I moved with Mommy to the little house, not far away. Daddy stayed in the big house. (It is where he grew up.) Now Andrew and I switch houses every month. We stay at the big house for a month, then at the little house for a month.
When we are at the little house, we live with Mommy and Seth Engle, who is our stepfather. Also at the little house are Midgie, Seth’s dog, and Rocky, Seth’s cat. Plus Bob, Andrew’s pet hermit crab, and Emily Junior, my pet rat. (Bob and Emily Junior go back and forth with Andrew and me.) The little house has a little-house-sized family.
But the big house has a big-house-sized family! Daddy got married again too, to Elizabeth Thomas. Elizabeth already had four kids. They are Sam and Charlie, who are in high school; Kristy, who is thirteen and the best stepsister ever; and David Michael, who is seven like me. He goes to Stoneybrook Elementary.
And there are more big-house people. There is also Emily Michelle, who is two and a half. Daddy and Elizabeth adopted her from a country called Vietnam. (I love her, so I named my pet rat after her.) And there is Nannie, who is Elizabeth’s mother. She came to help take care of all the people and the pets.
The big-house pets (besides Bob and Emily Junior) are Boo-Boo, Daddy’s old cat; Shannon, David Michael’s humongous puppy; and Goldfishie and Crystal Light the Second. If you guessed they are goldfish, you are right.
Now you know who all the people are at the dinner table. There are so many of us that we eat at a long, long table with two long, long benches. I like to sit next to Kristy. I do not like to sit next to Emily Michelle. She throws food.
Daddy tapped his spoon against his water glass. “I have some news,” he said. “Mrs. Porter’s daughter and granddaughter are moving back in with her. I think they will stay for good this time.”
I felt Kristy looking at me. Mrs. Porter is our next-door neighbor. Daddy calls her Mrs. Porter, but she has another name too: Morbidda Destiny. That is her witch name. Everyone knows that I know that Morbidda Destiny is a witch. But they do not let me talk about it.
A while ago, Morbidda’s daughter, Mrs. Peterson, and her daughter, Druscilla, came to stay with Morbidda. They came because Druscilla’s parents were getting a divorce. Then they moved to their own apartment. Now they were c
oming back. I will tell you something. Druscilla is my age, and I think she is a witch-in-training. The last time I saw her, she said she was not a witch. Since then I realized that this does not mean she is not a witch-in-training. It just means she is not yet an actual witch. So there you go.
“Karen, I am expecting you and Hannie and Nancy to be nice to Druscilla,” said Daddy. “She will need friends.”
I ate a french fry. “Okay, Daddy,” I said. “Will she be going to Stoneybrook Academy?” It would be weird to have a witch-in-training in Ms. Colman’s second-grade class.
“I do not think so,” said Daddy. “I believe she will go to Stoneybrook Day School like she did before.”
I tried not to look too relieved.
“Hey!” said Charlie. “Who drank the last of the milk?”
“You snooze, you lose,” said Sam.
“Milk hog!” said Charlie. “What did you do, take a bath in it?”
“There is more milk in the fridge,” said Daddy firmly.
“Taking a bath is an idea you might try sometime, Charlie,” said Sam, holding his nose. “You might try changing your socks too.”
“Okay, boys, enough,” said Elizabeth in her no-nonsense voice. “Charlie, please get more milk from the fridge. Sam, no more personal comments.”
For a few moments everyone was quiet. I knew it would not last. Quiet never lasts long at the big house. That is what I like about it.
Hannie’s Surprising Announcement
“School, school, school,” I sang as I hopped off the school bus. Hannie hopped off right behind me. When I am at the big house, I ride the school bus with Hannie. At the little house I ride the school bus with Nancy, since she lives next door. I am lucky to live so close to both of my best friends.
“Hi!” Nancy called. She waved us over to a hopscotch area she had saved. We played hopscotch until the bell rang and it was time for school to start.
My friends and I hurried to our classroom. I went to my desk in the very first row. I sit there because I wear glasses. (Blue ones for reading, and pink ones the rest of the time.) My pretend husband, Ricky Torres, sits next to me on one side. Natalie Springer sits on my other side. We all wear glasses. Guess what. Ms. Colman, our gigundoly wonderful teacher, wears glasses too.
Hannie and Nancy sit in the last row, next to each other. I used to sit with them, before I got glasses. But I see better up front.
“Good morning, class,” said Ms. Colman cheerfully. “Karen, could you take attendance, please?”
“Yes! Oh, boy,” I said, leaping out of my chair. I love taking attendance. It is a very important job. I got the attendance book and a pen from Ms. Colman. Then I looked at her list.
“Tammy and Terri Barkan,” I read. “Check, check.” They are twins. “Me, check. Nancy Dawes, check. Sara Ford, Bobby Gianelli, check, check.” (Bobby used to be the class bully. But he is not so bad anymore.) “Jannie Gilbert, Audrey Green, Pamela Harding” (Pamela is my best enemy). “Omar Harris, Ian Johnson … ” Hmm. Ian was absent. I put a big X next to his name. “Chris Lamar, Leslie Morris, Hannie Papadakis, Hank Reubens, Addie Sidney, Natalie Springer, Ricky Torres.” I handed the attendance book back to Ms. Colman and sat down.
“Thank you, Karen,” said Ms. Colman.
“Oh, Ms. Colman!” said Hannie. She waved her hand. “I have an announcement to make.”
“All right,” said Ms. Colman. “Please come to the front of the class.”
Hannie stood in front of us and held up a poster. It said HALLOWEEN HAUNTED HOUSE / HOMES FOR FAMILIES.
“My parents are going to make a haunted house for Halloween,” said Hannie. “It will be in an empty house on our block.”
I gasped, and Hannie grinned at me.
“The city owns the house now,” continued Hannie. “And the mayor said we could use it. My parents are asking different groups to sign up to decorate the house. Each group will work on one room. They will make the rooms look as spooky as they can. Then, on Halloween, Homes for Families will charge admission to the house. After Halloween, Homes for Families will use the money to help fix up the house for families who cannot afford to buy a place to live in.”
“That is a wonderful idea, Hannie,” said Ms. Colman.
“My parents wanted to know if our class would like to sign up to decorate a room in the haunted house,” said Hannie. “We could work after school and on weekends.”
“What do you think, class?” asked Ms. Colman. “Would you like to make a spooky room in a haunted house? It sounds like fun.”
“I want to!” I cried, waving my arm around.
“I want to too,” said Ricky Torres.
“Me too,” said Addie Sidney.
“Okay, let’s take a vote,” said Ms. Colman.
The vote was unanimous. (That means everyone voted the same way.)
“I will make permission slips at lunchtime,” said Ms. Colman. “And we can start a sign-up sheet. Fill in your name and the afternoons when you are available to work on the house. I will also talk to Mr. and Mrs. Papadakis and find out all the details on what we need to do.”
Hannie sat down at her desk, smiling happily. I turned around and gave her the thumbs-up sign. What a great announcement, I thought. I wiggled in my seat. I could not wait to start decorating our spooky haunted-house room!
The Return of Druscilla
That afternoon Nancy came home with Hannie and me. (She had called her mother for permission.) After Nannie fixed us a snack, the three of us sat in my front yard.
“The house has twelve rooms,” said Hannie. “They will all be decorated.”
“Even the bathrooms?” asked Nancy.
“Yes,” said Hannie. “Plus the hallways and everything. Mommy has talked to a million people. There are some groups from the hospital who will help. And people from our church have volunteered. The people who work at the grocery store have said they will do a room.”
“Gosh,” I said. “Are we the only kids?”
Hannie shook her head. “No. Mommy is going to ask kids from Stoneybrook High School. I bet some of them will want to help.”
“Sam and Charlie go to Stoneybrook High,” I said. “I hope they sign up to decorate.”
“Hi!” said a voice from over the hedge.
Hannie, Nancy, and I all jumped. Then Druscilla Peterson poked her head around the end of the hedge.
“Oh, hi, Druscilla,” I said. “Come on over. Daddy told me you were moving back.” (I had already told the other two Musketeers about that.)
Now, if you have never met a witch-in-training (W.I.T.), you might not be able to recognize one. But Druscilla is easy to spot. For one thing, she has wild black hair. She also dresses all in black, all the time. (Once she told me it was because black matches everything, but I am not stupid. I saw through that.) She also eats weird foods, such as mushroom sandwiches. I am not making that up.
But the last time Druscilla stayed with Morbidda Destiny — I mean Mrs. Porter — I got to know her. She is not that bad. She is just different.
Now Druscilla sat with us. She wore black leggings and a long black sweater. Her hair was fixed in two neat braids, tied with black bows.
“I love autumn,” she said, sniffing the air. Her nose wiggled. “I smell leaves burning and food cooking. Everything is so crisp and clean.”
“I like autumn too,” I said. “It is the start of all the holidays. And the trees look so pretty.”
“Speaking of holidays,” said Hannie, “we were just talking about Halloween. My parents are organizing a haunted house.”
“Cool,” said Druscilla.
Just then Mrs. Porter came up our walk. She has frazzly gray hair, and dresses all in black, like Druscilla. She has “witch” written all over her.
“Hello, girls,” she said with a smile. “Are you enjoying this beautiful weather?”
“Yes,” said Hannie politely. “I was just telling Druscilla about my parents’ Halloween haunted house. It will be in the old abandon
ed house at the end of our block. We will decorate it — ”
“Oh, no!” cried Mrs. Porter. “Not the old Powell house!”
“Um, yes,” said Hannie.
“Oh, but you cannot!” said Mrs. Porter.
Hannie, Nancy, and I stared at her.
“Why not?” asked Nancy.
“Because there are bats living in the chimney,” said Mrs. Porter. “Every night at dusk, the bats swarm out. I always watch them. It is a wonderful sight. If the house is disturbed, the bats will have nowhere to live. Someone must save the bats,” she said firmly.
Well, my mouth dropped open. Save the bats? Yuck. Double yuck! Only Morbidda Destiny would want to save some yucky, spooky, icky old bats. If I ever needed proof that she was a witch, here it was.
“I must talk to your parents about this,” said Mrs. Porter. “Druscilla, dinner will be in an hour.”
“Okay,” said Druscilla.
After Mrs. Porter left, I did not know what to say. Just thinking about yucky bats made me feel shivery. I looked up at the sky. It was starting to get dark. I did not see any bats.
“I am sure Mommy and Daddy will come up with a way to deal with the bats,” said Hannie. “I am sure we will have the haunted house.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “Druscilla, you should come over and help us. You must know a lot about haunted houses.”
“Why?” asked Druscilla.
“Well, you know,” I said. I did not want to come right out and say I knew she was a W.I.T. She was probably trying to keep it quiet. “I bet you have a lot of neat stuff lying around — creepy stuff that we could use. Spooky stuff.”
Druscilla’s eyes narrowed. Her nose wiggled. “I just have regular stuff,” she said.
“Oh, sure,” I said. I winked at her.
Druscilla rolled her eyes. “I better go unpack before dinner,” she said. She got up and walked across the grass to Mrs. Porter’s yard.
“What?” I asked Hannie and Nancy. “What did I say?”
Hannie and Nancy shrugged.
“I guess she is just sensitive about witch stuff,” said Nancy. “Do not worry about it. You were trying to be nice.”