Did I go out the wrong door?
I turned to go back into the room with the mirror. But the door behind me was gone.
“Whoa. Wait a minute.”
I’d just stepped out the door. And now I saw solid wall. I stepped up to it and ran my hands over the wood. I gazed all around.
Definitely no door here.
I began to make my way slowly to the next door and the next. I knew there had to be a doorway that would lead to the outside.
I stopped when I heard a soft whining sound. A shrill cry. Somewhere behind me.
A cat?
The black cat I’d seen out in the yard?
I started to walk faster, but it was nearly dark as night in the narrow hall. I couldn’t see where I was going. The cat’s mournful cries followed me down the hall.
Finally, I spotted an open door near the end of the hall. I stepped into the doorway. Another room. I squinted into the darkness.
“Oh.” I took a step back as a figure came into view. A skeleton. A human skeleton, lighted by dying sunlight from a window at the far wall.
The skeleton appeared to stand on its own in the center of the room. Its toothless grin was frozen on its eyeless skull. I saw thick spiderwebs clinging to its rib cage. Its legs were spread, knee bones slightly bent. Standing there. Just standing there, bony arms hanging limply, nearly to the floor.
I stared into the gray light. I’d never seen a real skeleton before—not even at the museum. What was holding the bones together? How was it standing upright like that?
I didn’t have much time to think about it. I heard a rattling sound—and then the skeleton started to move!
As I gaped in horror, it did a short dance. Like a sailor’s jig.
Its bony feet tapped against the wooden floor, and its long arms bent in front of it and in back. It moved its arms and tapped its feet, and danced to a silent rhythm.
The skull tilted from side to side. Its jaw bounced up and down, making clicking sounds, as the bones did their dance.
And suddenly I remembered it.
I remembered the Dancing Skeleton from level one of the Shudder Mansion game.
Yes. I’d run into it in the game. The skeleton seemed harmless, just a grinning figure that wanted to dance.
But if you watched him too long, he would DANCE OVER YOU.
He would pull you to the floor and grind his hard, bony feet over your body.
He would kick and pound and dance on you till he flattened your bones.
I remembered the Dancing Skeleton. And I knew I should run. But I waited too long … too long …
He turned. He saw me and stopped his dance. He raised his long, bony arms to me. And he took a lurching dive.
With a sharp cry, I ducked out of his grasp. I spun away and started to run.
I tore blindly through the darkness, past the closed doors. Back down the hall, unable to see or breathe or think about anything but those rattling bones coming after me.
The cries of the cat rose higher and more shrill, drowning out the shaking bones. At the end of the hall, I saw a door with dim sunlight seeping through the bottom. I darted toward it.
I heard the clatter of bones close behind me. The sad cat wails. The bones … the bones … the snap of the jaw and the thud of the foot bones on the hard wood floor …
I was nearly to the door. A choking sound escaped my throat as I felt bony fingers, hard, bony fingers, wrap around my neck.
The skeleton grabbed me. Tugged me back. The fingers pressed hard into my skin. The eyeless head grinned at me with its toothless jaws hanging open.
“No—!” I tried to cry out. To squirm away.
But the skeleton held tight.
And began to dance with me in its painful grip.
Its bony knees bumped my legs. It shoved me and lifted me with surprising strength.
The skeleton was forcing me to dance.
Dance. Dance. We tapped the floor together. It gripped me in its powerful hold and pushed my legs. I had no choice. I had to dance with it.
The thud of my shoes on the floor. The clatter and snap of bones. Dancing. Dancing.
“Nooooooo!” I screamed—and yanked away.
I broke free from the dancing skeleton. And gasped when I saw what I gripped in my hand.
Finger bones. Two of its finger bones had ripped off into my hand.
“Oh, noooo,” I groaned. I spun away. Out the front door. My chest nearly bursting. I couldn’t breathe. I could only run.
I was running blindly. Everything a blur. A swirling, colorless blur.
And then the world went black.
I don’t know for how long. The blackness hung over my eyes and pressed me down. Like a dark creature sitting on my chest. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t raise my arms or bend my legs.
And when I finally opened my eyes, it took me a few seconds to realize I was flat on my back on the ground. And I was staring up into a girl’s face.
I was staring up at my sister.
“Scarlet? What are you doing here?”
“Are you okay? Riley, are you okay?” She placed her hands on my shoulders and gently shook me.
“I … don’t know,” I answered, my mouth dry as cotton.
She leaned over me, her hair falling around her face. “Oh, I was so worried.”
I blinked up at her. “What’s … happening?”
“I … I came back to look for you,” Scarlet said. “You didn’t run away when we did. I was worried. I came back. And I saw something in the grass under this tree.” She pointed up at a low tree branch above us.
“I thought it was a pile of clothes or something,” she continued. “But I walked closer—and I saw that it was you. You were flat on your back with your eyes closed.”
She pressed her hands to her cheeks. Her eyes grew wide. “I … I didn’t know if you were alive. I mean … you didn’t move. I guess you were out cold.”
I gazed up at the tree branch. I tried to raise my head. But a stab of pain forced me to lie back down.
“I made sure you were breathing,” Scarlet said. “I was so … relieved. But then I didn’t know what to do.” She rubbed two fingers over my forehead. “Riley, you have a big red bruise there.”
And then it all came clear to me. “I was taking photos, then I ran into the tree branch,” I told her. “It must have knocked me out. I wonder how long I’ve been lying here.”
“I’m so glad I came back,” Scarlet said. Her whole body shuddered. “That was scary.”
Scary? Yes.
I pictured Mia’s reflection in the mirror. The thick curtain of cobwebs filled with dead flies. I heard the cat cries, so shrill in my ears. The tap and jangle of the skeleton bones as the Dancing Skeleton came after me.
All a dream?
All of it only in my mind? Was I passed out here on the grass the whole time?
The terrifying pictures were still clear and real. My fear lingered in my chest.
A tree branch. A tree branch had knocked me out. And I had that frightening nightmare about being in Shudder Mansion.
I rubbed a finger over the bruise on my forehead. The pain had faded a little. I raised my head slowly and turned my gaze to the front of the house.
I focused on the doors above the front steps. They were shut. The windows on both sides of the front stoop reflected the late afternoon sun.
Scarlet stood up and reached both hands down to me. “Can I help you up?”
I lifted both arms.
Whoa. Wait.
Something strange. I was gripping something tightly in my right hand.
With a groan, I lifted my head. I opened my hand and stared. Stared at the two finger bones gripped tightly in my palm.
Haha. Riley seems a little confused. Was he inside the mansion? Or was he taking a snooze in the grass?
This story has everything—mystery, suspense, thrills. There’s just one thing missing—ME! I make every story a scream! Ha ha.
If I lived in Shu
dder Mansion, I’d enjoy being there. I wouldn’t need any electricity—because I light up every room! Ha.
Did you know my nickname is Sunshine?
Did you also know that I lie a lot? Hahaha.
I know what you’re all waiting for. You’re waiting for Riley and Scarlet and their friends to go spend the night in Shudder Mansion. You’re waiting for the real scares to begin.
Will they survive?
I hope not.
I hate a happy ending! Hahahaha!
I grabbed the car door handle as Dad pulled to the curb at the side of Shudder Mansion. Mom turned around in the passenger seat. “Riley—don’t jump out before the car stops,” she said.
Scarlet laughed. “He can’t wait to go inside and start screaming.”
I shoved her shoulder. “I’m not going to scream,” I said. “You will be the one calling for help.”
“You both have a bad attitude,” Dad said, shutting down the engine and tucking the car key into his jacket pocket. “It may be a long, scary night. We’re all going to have to help each other.”
“Sure,” Scarlet said. “I’ll help him cry like a baby and run for his life.”
Not funny.
We climbed out of the car. It was a chilly, damp night. Low clouds blocked the stars and the moon. A sharp wind shook the trees and the tall weeds in the Shudder Mansion yard.
I shivered in the sudden cold.
Scarlet laughed. “See? He’s shivering already!”
“Just from the cold,” I said. “I’m not scared, Scarlet. I’ve played the Shudder Mansion game a thousand times. The game is a lot scarier than what will happen to us tonight.”
I wish I believed that.
Actually, I didn’t know what to think. I’d tossed the skeleton fingers into the trees, but I couldn’t stop thinking about them.
I would never admit it to Scarlet, but I’d never been so terrified in my life. None of my friends knew it—but I had gone to Mrs. Blume and begged her to change the assignment. I told her the old mansion wasn’t safe.
“Your friends all want to do it,” she said. “And remember, your parents will be there. You’re going to make a great video. And you’ll have fun, Riley.”
Fun?
Well … here we were. Ready to have “fun.”
“Don’t forget the cooler,” Mom said. “We brought a lot of drinks and snacks for everyone.”
Dad lifted a tall plastic spray bottle from the back of the car. “And hand cleaner. You’ll need plenty of hand cleaner. There have to be a lot of germs in this old place.”
Both of my parents are fanatics about hand cleaner. Every time you look at them, they’re squirting their palms. They must have the oiliest hands in town.
Behind us, a long SUV pulled up to the curb. Carter climbed out, followed by his housekeeper. He had told everyone his parents were in France. So his housekeeper came instead. She and Carter moved to the back of the SUV and began pulling out all the electronic equipment Carter had promised to bring.
“Hey, Riley!” Carter shouted. He raised a small camcorder in one hand. “This is the GoPro I used on our safari in Kenya. I’ll show you how to use it. It’s not that complicated. Even you can handle it. We can both take some video tonight.”
“Awesome,” I said. I knew Carter wouldn’t stop bragging and showing off about how much cool stuff he had and how he was so much smarter than the rest of us. So, why fight him?
By eight o’clock, the whole team was gathered in the front entryway. We opened the doors that circled the hall. No monsters lurking behind any of them.
I breathed a sigh of relief. In the game, I always hated having to open one of the doors, knowing that I’d be attacked.
I led the way through a door on the left into a large square room that could have once been a dining room. We piled our jackets against one wall. Some of the parents began lighting candles and setting them up around us. Most everyone was talking at once, and our voices echoed off the high stone walls.
I gazed around the room, taking a count of how many we were. I’m not sure why I did it. It just seemed like a good way to start the night.
Carter was fiddling with his camcorder while his housekeeper dragged a bunch of other equipment into the hall. Scarlet and Danitia were laughing about something and bumping knuckles.
Cheng explained that his parents work at night. So he brought his grandparents. They were both gray-haired, short, and thin, dressed in black. They kept smiles on their faces but didn’t speak.
Danitia’s parents were as enthusiastic as she was. They were greeting everyone, passing out bags of chips and pretzels and helping carry the candles down the hall, chattering the whole time about how exciting this was.
And then I blinked when someone else walked into the room. Mia.
What was she doing here?
Scarlet and Mia greeted each other like old friends. Mia wore a heavy black sweater that came down nearly to her knees. Her blond hair was tied back behind her head.
Carter looked up from his machine. “Hey, hi. You don’t go to our school,” he said. “Who are you?”
“Her name is Mia, and she’s my friend,” Scarlet answered him. “I invited her. She doesn’t know anyone, and I thought she’d have fun.”
“Hope everyone doesn’t mind,” Mia said shyly.
I stared at her, thinking about her reflection in the mirror. Thinking about that afternoon we met when I suddenly could see her skull underneath her skin.
She’s trouble, I thought. I felt a chill at the back of my neck. I know there’s something strange about her.
“Are your parents here?” Scarlet asked Mia.
“They’re coming later,” Mia replied.
My dad began to clap his hands together and shouted, “Quiet, everyone. Can we have it quiet? We have a plan.”
It took a little while for everyone to settle down. Mom and Dad both stepped into the center of the room. Their faces appeared to flicker in and out in the candlelight. The whole room pulsed dark, then light as the candle flames trembled.
“We parents got together earlier this week and made a plan,” Dad announced. “You guys are going to have a lot of fun tonight.”
Fun? I thought. Will it be fun?
“Now here’s our plan,” Dad said.
Scarlet and I exchanged glances. Neither of them had bothered to tell us anything about a plan. Why was it a big secret?
Carter had his camcorder trained on my parents. He was recording every word.
“We adults are going to stay downstairs,” Mom said. “This room will be our headquarters.”
“We’ll have all the drinks and snacks down here,” Dad continued. “We have lit up the second floor for you. There are candles and a few lanterns hung on the walls.”
“And we’ll be down here for you,” Danitia’s mom chimed in. “If we hear you screaming for help, we’ll come running. Otherwise, you’re on your own up there for any adventure you can find.”
“Riley, where do we go?” Scarlet asked.
I pointed to the stairway at the back of the room. “That way. Up to the second floor,” I said.
It also leads to a rabid two-headed hyena that can bite your head off from the front and from behind at the same time, I remembered.
“Better let me go first,” I said, my hands shaking. I grabbed two of Carter’s light poles that he brought to help light up the place. I led the way to the stairs. “If a hyena attacks, I can fight it off with these poles.”
Everyone laughed.
They thought I was making a joke.
“Maybe Bigfoot is up there,” Scarlet said. “We could get him on our video.”
“You’re not funny,” I said. “I’m just telling you what’s in the game.”
Carter had brought so much equipment, everyone had to help carry it upstairs.
Our parents were all wishing us good luck and making jokes as we started the steep climb. None of them were taking the danger seriously. I guess I couldn’t
blame them. None of them had ever played the game.
The old wooden stairs creaked under our shoes. One floorboard was missing, and I nearly tripped and fell into the hole. I grabbed for the banister, and a chunk of it broke off in my hand.
Scarlet and Mia were right behind me. “Riley, are you a total klutz in the game, too?” my sister said.
Mia chuckled.
“Scarlet, you’re a riot,” I muttered.
The air grew colder as we climbed. A burst of wind greeted us near the top. The air smelled musty, sour.
“Evil spirits like to stay up high,” I heard Carter telling Danitia. “They don’t like to be near the ground.”
Danitia let out a tense laugh. “So you think it’s more dangerous on the second floor?”
“Definitely.”
Since when is Carter the evil spirits expert? I wondered.
I paused at the top of the stairs and glanced around. Every muscle in my body tensed. I’d fought the monstrous hyena several times. Sometimes I won. Sometimes I died.
No sign of the deadly creature.
I saw a wide room with windows all around. A long wooden table stood in the middle. Half a dozen candles burned brightly on the table. And a flaming torch was hung on one wall.
A narrow door in the back wall stood half-open. Maybe a closet door? I could see only darkness behind it.
Shoes scuffled over the wooden floor as everyone stepped into the room. “At least it’s nice and bright up here,” Cheng said. “Not exactly cozy, but …” His voice trailed off.
“I’ll set up my equipment over there,” Carter said. He pointed to the wall across from the stairway. “Careful with the motion detector. It’s very delicate. Don’t drop anything. This stuff cost a fortune!”
Danitia, Cheng, and Mia obediently dragged the cases and screens and electronic devices to the wall.
“Okay, everyone stand back,” Carter said, waving both hands as if shooing away a dog. “I have to set this up myself. Stay back. I’m the only one with the skill and the knowledge to get this equipment to work.”