Help! We Have Strange Powers!

  Outside the store, I stopped — and let out a shocked cry. “Jackson — look!”

  On the corner, in the middle of the sidewalk, stood a small booth bathed in a purple glow. A fortune-teller’s booth.

  Madame Doom!

  We hurried over to it. The old wooden fortune-teller sat in front of a red curtain. She was dressed in purple with a long purple scarf over her black wig. She leaned toward the glass as if staring out at us.

  “Is it the same one?” Jackson asked.

  “Yes — look,” I said, pointing. “The same eyebrow chipped away.”

  Jackson blinked. “But how did it get here from the mall? What is it doing on the sidewalk?”

  “Maybe it’s following us,” I said.

  “Ha-ha. Very funny, Jillian.”

  “Put a quarter in,” I said. “Let’s check out our fortune.”

  Jackson frowned at me. “Last time, it said something stupid about a theme park.”

  I gave him a shove. “Go ahead. Try it. Maybe it’ll bring us good luck.”

  Jackson rolled his eyes. “Yeah. For sure.” He found a quarter in his pocket. He slipped it into the slot.

  Slowly, Madame Doom began to move.

  She blinked. Her head rolled back, then forward. One pink hand lowered heavily to her side. With a loud click, a small white card slid into the hand. Then slowly … very slowly … creaking loudly … she raised the card to us.

  Jackson grabbed the card.

  “Read it out loud,” I said. “What is our fortune?”

  Jackson read it: “Take good care of your teeth, and they will take care of you.”

  He laughed. “How lame is that? That’s the worst fortune I ever saw!”

  “Hey, wait —” I said. I grabbed the little card from him. “There’s something on the other side.”

  I turned it over and we both read the tiny black type together:

  WELCOME TO HORRORLAND.

  A group of kids received invitations to be Very Special Guests at a scary theme park called HorrorLand. They came looking for good, creepy fun — but instead, they found real horror.

  Frightening villains from their pasts followed them to the park. A park worker — a Horror named Byron — warned them they weren’t safe in HorrorLand. He said their lives were in danger. He urged them to escape to another park — Panic Park.

  When Jillian and Jackson received their invitation in the mail to be Very Special Guests at HorrorLand, Madame Doom’s fortune seemed to be coming true. But they were afraid to go to HorrorLand. Would they accept the invitation or not?

  Jillian continues the story….

  Why did my brother, Jackson, and I agree to go to that scary park? We thought long and hard about it. Then we realized we didn’t want to spend our whole lives running from the Thought Police. We needed answers: Where did our powers come from? Why do we have these powers? And did the invitation have something to do with the strange new powers we had?

  We were on a mission. We had to find out. But as we looked out on the park from our hotel room in the Stagger Inn, we agreed it could also be fun.

  But where were the other Very Special Guests?

  We asked the Horror at the front desk, a huge guy with green fur and yellow horns. He shrugged. “I think they all got eaten alive,” he said. He licked his lips. “Yum.”

  Jackson and I laughed. “You’re really not going to tell us where they are?”

  “I just did,” the Horror replied.

  A woman burst up to the desk. “Can you help me?” she asked the Horror. “There’s blood pouring from the sink in my bathroom.”

  The Horror stared at her. “You were expecting ginger ale?”

  Jackson and I hurried away. “I don’t think he wants to be too helpful,” I said.

  “Just doing his job, I guess,” Jackson replied.

  We stepped outside onto a wide plaza. It was crowded with kids and families. I saw a row of shops and food carts. A Horror was handing out helium balloons shaped like human skulls.

  A blue-furred Horror stood behind a table with a sign that read: SMALL BITES.

  “What kind of food are you selling?” I asked.

  “It’s not food,” he said. “Come over here and I’ll BITE you!”

  Some kids laughed. Jackson and I kept moving.

  “Where should we start?” I said.

  “Let’s check out the Doom Slide,” Jackson said. “Some kids at school told me it was awesome.”

  “But we came here to learn about where our powers come from,” I said. “And why Madame Doom gave us those cards welcoming us to HorrorLand.”

  “Sure,” Jackson agreed. “But while we’re here, we can have some fun, right? Let’s find the Doom Slide.”

  “What’s so cool about it?” I asked.

  “These kids said there are a whole bunch of slides. And if you choose the wrong one, you just keep sliding forever.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oooh, scary!” I said. “And you believe in the tooth fairy, too — right?”

  Jackson didn’t answer. Instead, he narrowed his eyes at me and concentrated.

  “Hey!” I felt myself float a few inches off the pavement. “Put me down, Jackson! Give me a break!”

  He lowered me to the ground. “Okay, okay,” I said. “We’ll check out the Doom Slide.”

  I gave Jackson a shove. “We said we’re not going to use our new powers. Remember? We don’t want people to see that we’re weird?”

  Jackson shoved me back. “What’s the use of having them if we don’t use them?”

  “I’m trying to read your mind,” I told him. “But I can’t. Because I can only read minds that are bigger than an M&M!”

  “Remind me to laugh,” Jackson said.

  We stepped up to a big map of the park. A little yellow square with an arrow read: YOU ARE HERE. (BUT FOR HOW LONG?)

  I spotted the Doom Slide on the map. It was just on the other side of the carnival rides.

  Jackson and I crossed the plaza. We started to walk toward Wolfsbane Forest. I could hear low growls on the other side of the trees. Then I heard kids shrieking. I couldn’t tell if they were afraid or if they were having fun.

  “Jillian — stop —” Jackson said suddenly. He grabbed my arm. He pointed back to the plaza.

  “Oh, wow,” I said. We both stared at a fortune-teller’s booth.

  “Madame Doom!” Jackson cried.

  “How weird,” I said. “She’s here, too?”

  The wooden figure of Madame Doom sat behind a glass window, staring out at us.

  “They must have these booths all over the place,” Jackson said.

  “Maybe,” I said. I felt myself drawn to it, as if Madame Doom was pulling me to her.

  Jackson and I both stepped up to the booth. It was glass on three sides. It had no roof. It was open on top.

  The wooden Madame Doom was chipped and cracked. The paint on her face was faded and peeling. She sat in front of a red curtain.

  “Look — the left eyebrow is chipped off,” I said, pointing. “Jackson, I swear. It’s the same one we saw back home!”

  Jackson squinted at the fortune-teller’s faded face. “That’s way crazy. How can the same one be in both places?”

  “Do you have a quarter?” I asked. “I want to see our fortune.”

  Jackson made a face. “Last time it was some stupid thing about taking care of our teeth.”

  “Just put a quarter in,” I said. “Come on. Do it. You want to get to the Doom Slide, don’t you?”

  He grumbled some more as he fumbled in his jeans pocket. Finally, he pulled out a quarter and slid it into the slot.

  The wooden mannequin creaked to life. The painted eyes blinked. The head rolled back, then forward. The wooden hand dropped down to her side. When it came back into view, it held a small white card.

  I pulled the card from between the hard fingers. Raised it to my face and read it.

  “Well?” Jackson demanded. “What does it say?”

/>   I held it up to him. The card read: ESCAPE HORRORLAND.

  Jackson and I stared at the card.

  “What does it mean?” I said finally. “We just got here.”

  Jackson shook his head. “We got two cards that said ‘Welcome to HorrorLand.’ Now a card telling us to leave. I don’t get it. It’s too weird.”

  I kept thinking about it as we turned and started walking past Wolfsbane Forest. The sun dipped behind a wide bank of clouds, and long blue shadows stretched in front of us. Without the sun, the breeze grew chilly.

  I shivered in my sleeveless top. Should I go back to the room and put on something warmer?

  Jackson and I both stopped short when a man jumped in front of us.

  Inspector Cranium!

  He was in his long white lab coat. His bald head glowed like a lightbulb in the flickering sunlight. A thin smile played over his face, and his gold tooth flashed.

  I turned to run. I pulled Jackson after me.

  Cranium moved quickly to block our path.

  “What are you doing here?” I blurted out. “You — you were a baby!”

  He scowled at me. “Sometimes babies grow up fast,” he said.

  “Let us go!” I cried.

  “Did you really think you and your puny friends defeated me so easily? Do you really think your little friend is the only one with power over time?” Then he said softly, “Don’t you two know why you’re here? Don’t you even have a clue?”

  “Tell us!” I cried.

  “Tell us what’s going on!” Jackson demanded.

  “You made a fool of me and I want my revenge…. He promised me my revenge,” Cranium said, moving closer.

  “Who?” I cried. “Who promised you?”

  “We don’t understand you!” Jackson said. “Please —”

  Inspector Cranium aimed his tiny eyes at me. “This won’t take long,” he said.

  I could feel his stare. I could feel his eyes burrowing into my brain. Like a harsh beam of white light.

  “No!” I gasped.

  I gave Jackson a push, and the two of us took off running. I felt strange … a little dizzy. But I broke free of Cranium’s powerful stare.

  We darted past him, into the tall, tangled trees of Wolfsbane Forest.

  “Do you really think you can run from me?” he shouted. “I did my job and now I want you to pay!”

  Jackson and I were running hard along the twisting path through the trees. The leaves and branches above our heads were so tangled and tight, no sunlight could filter down. It was nearly as dark as night.

  I glanced back. I couldn’t see Cranium. But I could hear him.

  He was panting hard as he ran after us. Close behind. Closer …

  We made a sharp turn off the path. I pushed tall weeds out of the way as we struggled through thick underbrush. Somewhere nearby, I heard the wolf howls again.

  Jackson and I took another sharp turn, trying to lose the terrifying little man. I glanced back — and saw him trotting after us with his head lowered. He leaned forward as he ran, his hands shoved deep in his lab coat pockets.

  And again, I could feel his eyes … feel his stare, hot against the back of my head. I could feel the white glare burning into my brain, searching my mind.

  Breathing hard, Jackson and I broke out from the trees.

  And stared at Madame Doom’s fortune-telling booth.

  “We — we’re right back where we started!” I stammered.

  Inspector Cranium came trotting after us. Beads of sweat gleamed on his bald head, and he was wheezing loudly from the long run.

  He had his eyes trained on me. “It’s my turn,” he gasped. “I must go into your brains!”

  He moved forward. “This won’t hurt very much. Really. This won’t hurt very much at all.”

  Inspector Cranium lowered his head and stared hard at me as he moved forward. He was like an animal now, stalking his prey.

  I stumbled back, too frightened and out of breath to run anymore.

  “Jackson —” I murmured. “He’s inside my brain. I can feel it. Tingling. Ohhh … it hurts … the tingling … it hurts.”

  “Me, too,” Jackson whispered. “My whole head is tingling from the inside. Just like back in his lab.”

  I wanted to run. But Inspector Cranium held me in his power.

  I turned and saw Jackson staring past Cranium. Staring hard at something behind him.

  “Jackson?”

  He didn’t move. He didn’t blink.

  And then I saw what he was doing.

  I saw the Madame Doom mannequin rise up from its glass booth. The heavy wooden figure floated up slowly … rising high above the booth walls.

  It tipped back and forth in the air. Then it came flying across the plaza.

  Cranium didn’t see what hit him.

  The mannequin dropped hard and fast. It landed headfirst on top of Cranium, and he crumpled to the pavement.

  He didn’t make a sound.

  Did it knock him unconscious?

  Jackson and I didn’t wait to find out. He grabbed me by the arm, and we took off running again. Our shoes slapped the pavement as we shot through the plaza.

  People stared. A Horror shouted to us, warning us not to run.

  But we didn’t slow down. And we didn’t look back.

  The Doom Slide came into view up ahead. A tall purple building with a wide, curving ramp in the center.

  We ran to the ramp and started to climb.

  I grabbed the metal railing on the side and half pulled, half pushed myself toward the top.

  My heart was pounding, and my face was drenched with sweat. My legs felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds as we climbed higher and higher.

  “Ohhh.” A faint cry escaped my lips when I heard heavy footsteps beneath us. I listened hard as I climbed. And heard grunting breaths. Someone was climbing fast.

  It had to be Cranium!

  My throat ached and my legs throbbed with pain as Jackson and I reached the top. We ran onto a wide, flat terrace.

  In front of us stood ten open doorways cut into a high wall. The doorways were as dark as tunnel entrances. Each opening had a slide behind it. Each door was numbered.

  “He — he’s coming,” I stammered to Jackson. “Cranium. He’s right behind us.”

  “Choose a slide,” Jackson uttered. His chest heaved up and down. He lowered his hands to his knees, struggling to breathe normally. “Quick — which one? Which one?”

  My eyes ran down the line of slide entrances. At the end, I saw a fat, yellow-furred Horror seated on a folding chair.

  “Welcome to the Doom Slide,” he said, waving toward the openings. “Pick your doom.”

  I heard Cranium’s footsteps on the stairs. Each thud made my heart jump.

  “Nine slides are normal slides,” the Horror said. “One slide is endless. You will slide forever … slide to your doom.”

  Which one? Which one?

  I concentrated … tried to read the Horror’s mind. But I couldn’t pick up any thoughts.

  Was it because Horrors aren’t human?

  I heard a sharp, angry cry. Turned to see Cranium burst out of the stairwell. He pointed a finger at us. “You can get away from me — but you can’t escape The Menace!”

  The Menace? Who was that? Did I know that name?

  No time to think about that now. “Come on.” I grabbed Jackson’s arm and pulled him to Slide Number 4. I dove through the doorway, into total darkness, and dropped onto the slide.

  Jackson was right behind me.

  We both sat with our legs straight ahead — and started to dive down.

  The slide was steep with curve after curve. Like riding a pretzel, I thought.

  Hot wind brushed back my hair as I slid down.

  I listened for Cranium. But I couldn’t hear anything over the rush of wind and the whir of our bodies against the smooth, curving slide.

  Down … down …

  “I — I don’t like this!” Jacks
on cried behind me.

  “It’s taking forever!” I shouted.

  We spun around another curve, curling down sharply into even deeper blackness.

  “Jillian —” Jackson’s voice trembled. “Jillian — I think we picked the Doom Slide!”

  I felt like screaming. I wanted to cry out for help.

  The slide bumped hard and curled again. I had my arms crossed tightly in front of me, so tight it was hard to breathe.

  The hot wind brushed my face as I dropped through the darkness.

  Then I blinked as I saw a flash of bright light up ahead.

  Was that sunlight?

  Yes. The slide tilted up and I slowed down. Slower … Slower …

  “Hey —” I let out a cry. And came to a sharp stop at the end of the slide.

  I lowered my feet to the ground.

  “Look out!” Jackson rammed right into me.

  We both stumbled to our feet. We were back on solid ground. I blinked hard, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the sunlight.

  It took me awhile to realize that Jackson and I were surrounded by Horrors. They formed a tight circle around us.

  “Wh-what do you want?” I stammered. My heart was still racing from the long slide through darkness. And my throat was dry and throbbing.

  “Jillian Gerard? Jackson Gerard?” one of the Horrors asked, squinting at us.

  My brother and I nodded.

  “Come with us,” the Horror said.

  “Why? Where?” Jackson cried.

  The Horror frowned at us. “We cannot have you wandering around on your own — can we?” His dark eyes went cold. “That just wouldn’t be safe.”

  The Horrors tightened the circle around us. Their fur smelled sour, like my friend Marci’s dog, who always needs a bath. One of the Horrors spit something brown and disgusting onto the pavement at my feet.

  “Let’s go,” he growled. He raised his big paws to my shoulders to start me moving.

  I tried to stand in place, but he was too strong. “Where are you taking us?” I demanded.

  “Don’t get tense,” another Horror said. “We’re taking you to your friends.”

  I stared at him. “Friends?”

  “To the other Very Special Guests,” he said. He pulled a fat brown bug from the fur on his chest and flicked it away. “They are all safe and sound with The Keeper.”