Spell of the Screaming Jokers

  And gasped.

  You play her game! She’ll make you pay!

  All red and black must bow to green . . . .

  For she alone is now our queen!

  I backed silently out of the kitchen. I let the door close without a sound.

  Then I turned and charged up to Max’s room. I shut the door behind me.

  “Brittany!” Louisa cried. “What’s wrong? You look pale.”

  “I—I went into the kitchen,” I croaked. “Mrs. Davidson didn’t see me. She was talking—telling the police to come. But, Louisa—she wasn’t on the phone! She was only pretending to make the call!”

  Now it was Louisa’s and Jeff’s turn to look scared.

  “Max?” I said. “Does this make sense to you?”

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Max cried. “She’s crazy!”

  “You mean you were talking about your mom?” I demanded.

  “She’s not my mom,” Max whispered.

  23

  “What?” Jeff, Louisa, and I all cried.

  “I’m not sick either,” Max went on. “I never had pneumonia. I’m her prisoner. She uses me to get players for her card games. She’s some kind of evil sorceress.”

  “Does she have magical powers?” Louisa asked. Her voice trembled.

  Max nodded. “Her magic depends on the jokers. The more jokers she has, the stronger her powers are.”

  “I can’t believe this!” I cried. “Mrs. Davidson is so—so nice! She’s always smiling!” I put my hand to my head, trying to piece things together. “And Mrs. Marder! You’re telling us Mrs. Marder isn’t behind any of this. It’s Mrs. Davidson!”

  Max nodded sadly.

  Then I had a horrible thought. I gazed from Louisa to Jeff to Max. “Oh, no! Frankie! He must be part of her army of jokers now!”

  “Yes, he is,” Max said. “It’s horrible. She tricks kids like you into playing cards. Then she makes sure one of you draws a joker. Once you draw a joker, the attacks begin. For every attack, the jokers mark you with a card suit. When you have all four suits, you turn into a joker too.”

  I started shaking badly. I sat down on Max’s bed.

  “Are the jokers all under her power?” I asked.

  Max nodded. “They’re completely helpless. They have to do whatever she says.”

  “How many kids has she trapped this way?” Jeff asked.

  “Frankie makes thirteen,” Max said. “Shadyside is the fourth town we’ve moved to. She’ll try to get all of you into her army. Then we’ll move again. To another town nearby. And Mrs. Davidson—except that she’ll think up a new name—will go to another school. She’ll talk to the principal. She’ll ask if kids can come and visit her poor, sick son.”

  “But, Max,” Jeff said, frowning, “there’s one thing I don’t get.”

  “What’s that?” Max asked.

  “How do you fit into this?”

  For a moment, Max didn’t say anything.

  Then he held out his left arm. He shoved up his pajama sleeve. There, above his wrist, were three marks: a club, a diamond, and a spade.

  “See—I’m only one sign away from becoming a joker,” he said. “If I don’t help her, she’ll turn me into one. I’m sorry I didn’t help you. I didn’t know what to do.”

  “We can still escape, can’t we?” I asked him. “We’re not jokers yet. If we get out of here—right now—we can call the police for real.”

  “Brittany’s right,” Louisa whispered. “Let’s go—quick! Before she comes back!”

  “Come on, Max,” Jeff said. “You’re coming with us.”

  Max threw back his covers and climbed out of bed. The four of us ran for the door.

  But we didn’t make it.

  There in the doorway stood Mrs. Davidson.

  As always, she was smiling. But now it was a crooked, wicked smile. In her hand she held a scepter with a hideous skull at the top.

  “Going somewhere?” she asked.

  She stepped into Max’s room.

  We backed up.

  “I don’t think so,” she answered herself.

  “We—we have to get home,” Louisa whimpered.

  “Sit down!” she snarled. “Nobody is going anywhere. It’s time to play my game!”

  24

  Mrs. Davidson shoved us toward the table.

  My heart pounded like crazy.

  I could hardly breathe.

  We sat down at the table. Mrs. Davidson sat next to me—in the place where Frankie used to sit.

  Max was right—we were doomed.

  “You’re too nosy, Brittany,” Mrs. Davidson told me as she picked up the cards. “How dare you spy on me in my kitchen?”

  My stomach tightened into a knot.

  Mrs. Davidson shuffled the cards at lightning speed.

  “Because of you, I have to hurry up my plans. How I’ll enjoy turning you into the most hideous joker in the whole deck!”

  She cackled loudly. “Before I deal the cards, I have a surprise for you.”

  The knot in my stomach grew tighter. What now?

  Her evil green eyes flicked from Jeff to Louisa to me.

  “Today I’ve put ten jokers in the deck! Yes! This will speed things up, kids! Let me see. Brittany—you need three jokers. Two for you, Louisa. And four for Jeff. And Max? All you need is one more!”

  Mrs. Davidson threw back her head and shrieked with laughter. “By the end of the game,” she went on, “I’ll have four new jokers in my army! Hey, kids! Want to see what you’ll look like? Here, take a peek!”

  Mrs. Davidson began pulling joker cards from the top of the deck. Jokers I hadn’t seen before.

  One had rotted fangs.

  One had green drool oozing from its lips.

  But the worst one was a joker I had seen before. It was the one Max had dealt me the last time we played. The one with the yellow eyes.

  Mrs. Davidson tapped that awful joker with a long fingernail. “Take a good look at this one, Brittany,” she snarled. “I had this face in mind for your new look!”

  Mrs. Davidson plucked two cards out of the deck and pushed them to the middle of the table.

  “Now there are fifty cards left in the deck,” she told us. “We’ll each get ten.”

  She began shuffling again. “Ten jokers! My, this will be an exciting game, don’t you think? You know, I have a way with cards. A way to make sure you each get the perfect hand—just the right amount of jokers!”

  She shuffled the cards some more. “Yes—I’ll make sure I deal the cards right—especially for you, my little Max!” She glared across the table at him. “My little traitor!”

  Her expression grew fierce. “You think I don’t know what you told your friends? I know everything, Max dear! Everything!”

  “There,” she said, placing the deck in front of me. “Cut the cards, Brittany.”

  I reached for the cards. My hand shook so badly, I dropped half the deck on the floor.

  “You stupid, clumsy girl!” Mrs. Davidson screeched.

  Then she drew back her skull-scepter and swung it at me!

  25

  “Noooo!” I screamed as I dropped to the floor.

  The skull-scepter grazed the top of my head.

  I darted under the table. “Leave me alone!” I screamed.

  “Get out from there. And pick up those cards!” Mrs. Davidson ordered. “NOW!”

  I tried to pick them up. But they kept dropping out of my trembling hands.

  “Hurry!” Mrs. Davidson kicked at me with her green shoe. “We haven’t got all day! After I get my four new jokers, we have to pack. We’re moving again, Max dear!”

  Finally I crawled out from under the table.

  I placed the deck in front of Mrs. Davidson. Then I cut the cards.

  My heart pounded as I watched Mrs. Davidson start to deal.

  I flinched with each card she slapped down in front of me.

  Each card might be the awful joker! The joker
that had my new, horrible face.

  “Now, pick up your hands, kids!” Mrs. Davidson commanded.

  My pulse thumped like a drum as I pushed my cards together. I gathered them into a stack. But I didn’t pick them up.

  I glanced around the table.

  My friends stared down at their cards in fear. No one picked up a hand.

  Mrs. Davidson’s green eyes darted eagerly from player to player. Our fright brought a cheery smile to her face.

  “Look at your cards!” Mrs. Davidson shouted.

  Slowly, I picked up my hand.

  Slowly, I turned it around—and let out a sigh.

  The two of hearts.

  Nine more cards to go.

  With a shaky finger I pushed the two of hearts aside.

  Six of clubs!

  I glanced around at the other players. Jeff had half his fan open. He seemed okay. So he must not have found a joker yet.

  Louisa was still staring at the first card in her hand. Across the table Max held his cards facedown in his pale, trembling hands. One joker—and he was doomed!

  Mrs. Davidson hadn’t even straightened her pile. No, she was far too interested in how we’d scream and cry when we discovered our jokers.

  I took a deep breath.

  I held my thumb against the six of clubs.

  My heart raced. I forced myself to push aside the six.

  I saw a face!

  I opened my mouth to scream!

  I stared down at my hand.

  The face belonged to a jack. The jack of diamonds.

  “Ohhh,” I moaned with relief.

  “Did you get a joker?” shrieked Mrs. Davidson. “Did you?”

  “No,” I croaked.

  “Me either,” Louisa whispered.

  Jeff shook his head no.

  Max only shrugged. He didn’t have the nerve to look at his cards.

  I glanced back at my hand.

  Three cards down.

  Seven to go.

  I didn’t know if I could stand it!

  Quickly, I exposed my fourth card.

  Eight of spades.

  Whew!

  “This is no fun!” Mrs. Davidson screamed. “You’re wasting time! Open your hands quickly! That’s good card manners! Do it! Look at all your cards right now!”

  “You’re not looking at your cards!” I shouted at her. “You don’t have good card manners!”

  “All right, Brittany!” Mrs. Davidson spat out my name.

  She grabbed her cards with both hands. She shoved them together and picked them up.

  “This is good card manners,” she said. “This is the way you open your hand—quickly, like this.”

  She rapidly fanned her cards.

  “What?” she shrieked. “No! This is impossible!”

  “What?” Louisa cried.

  Mrs. Davidson’s eyes grew wild. The veins in her neck bulged out. She screamed, “Noooooo!”

  I shrank back in my chair.

  Mrs. Davidson’s face turned red with fury. She glared at me with her crazed eyes. Then she stood up from the table—and threw her whole hand up in the air.

  I watched with a dry mouth as her ten cards floated down.

  A bead of sweat trickled down my cheek as they fluttered to the table.

  I forced myself to look at them as they landed.

  I gasped.

  On the table lay ten hideous jokers.

  26

  No one moved. We all stared at the jokers.

  The room turned silent—until the hissing started. Faint at first. Then growing louder—quickly.

  And louder still—as a band of jokers burst through the door—screaming.

  We jumped up from our chairs and huddled in a corner of the room. But that wasn’t really necessary.

  The jokers were after only one card player.

  Mrs. Davidson.

  They circled around her, shaking their skulls.

  “Get away!” Mrs. Davidson cried. “Obey me at once!”

  But the jokers only laughed and screamed more loudly.

  “Obey your queen!” she cried. “Stand back!”

  A joker with a toothy grin swatted at her with the skull on his stick.

  As the jokers danced around her, I tried to study each one’s face.

  Which one was Frankie? I thought he might be the one with the twisted grin—the joker card he’d drawn. But there was nothing of Frankie in that awful face.

  “Look, Brit,” Louisa whispered. “They’re picking her up!”

  “Put me down, you idiots!” Mrs. Davidson cried as the jokers lifted her up over their heads. “I made you what you are!” she shrieked. “You are nothing without me. Nothing!”

  Her words didn’t frighten the jokers at all. They shook their skulls and hooted with laughter as they carried their queen from the room.

  And they were gone.

  For a moment no one spoke.

  Then all four of us cried out with relief.

  We were safe! We weren’t going to turn into jokers!

  “What amazing luck!” Jeff exclaimed as we let go of each other. “I can’t believe Mrs. Davidson got all ten jokers.”

  “Well, luck had a little help,” I told him.

  “What do you mean?” Jeff asked.

  “When I dropped the cards, I stacked the deck,” I explained.

  Louisa looked confused. “You did what?”

  “Stacked the deck,” I repeated. “That’s when you put the cards in a special order. It’s an old card trick. I asked Jimmy to show me how to do it last night. But I was pretty scared. I wasn’t sure I got it right.”

  “Wow,” Jeff said. “Nice work, Brittany.”

  “Excellent!” Louisa agreed, slapping me a high-five.

  “If it weren’t for you,” Max added, “I’d be a joker now.”

  “Let’s get out of here,” I said, shivering. “I don’t know what’s happening with Mrs. Davidson and the jokers. But I don’t think we should stick around to find out.”

  We ran out of Max’s room and down the stairs to the front door.

  I reached out for the doorknob.

  I twisted it. It turned easily in my hand.

  But before I could pull the door open, a horrible hissing filled the room.

  I turned.

  The jokers! They were back!

  They lunged at us. Circled us, cutting us off from the door.

  They grinned their evil grins.

  They rattled their hideous skull-sticks.

  Then they closed in around us. The joker with the toothy grin stepped toward me.

  “The—the game’s over!” I stammered.

  But the joker didn’t care.

  He kept coming toward me, rattling his skull-stick.

  “Run!” Max cried.

  We charged through the circle and ran back to Max’s room.

  We slammed the door behind us.

  “We made it!” Louisa exclaimed. “We got past the jokers!”

  Jeff frowned. “It was too easy. They let us run back here.”

  Jeff had a point.

  Of course the jokers wanted us in this room. It had no outside door. There was no way out. We were trapped!

  “What do we do now?” I croaked.

  “We wait,” Max said.

  “Wait?” I cried. “For what? For the jokers to show up?”

  “Exactly.” Max calmly held a stack of cards in his hand. He ran his thumb over the edges.

  “Ohhh!” I groaned.

  Why had I trusted Max?

  He played cards for Mrs. Davidson.

  He helped her trap kids. Trap us!

  And we had just let him trap us again!

  27

  Outside Max’s room I heard the hissing start.

  Max glanced toward the door. I lunged for him.

  I tried to grab the cards out of his hand.

  “Stop, Brittany!” Max cried. He twisted away from me. “You don’t know what you’re doing!”

&nbsp
; I could hardly hear him over the horrible rattling skulls.

  The jokers stormed into the room. I clapped my hands over my ears. Their crazed laughter was like thunder.

  They laughed and laughed. And why not? They had us right where they wanted us.

  “You!” Max called. He was talking to a joker. The joker with the toothy grin.

  Max held the joker’s card up.

  As the joker glanced at himself on the card, Max turned the card sideways and ripped it in half.

  Instantly the joker’s skull-stick turned into mist—then vanished into thin air.

  His face began to droop. Melt.

  I turned to Max. “Wh-what’s going on?” I stammered.

  Max didn’t answer. His eyes remained glued to the joker.

  I turned back—and gasped.

  The joker’s face wasn’t melting. It was—changing. Changing into the face of a boy.

  His nose, his cheeks, his chin, all began to take on a new form. He was beginning to look like a regular boy.

  I watched in awe as his horrible red eyes turned a normal shade of blue. As his teeth shrank to a regular size.

  Suddenly the rattling of skulls filled the room.

  The other jokers!

  I had forgotten about them!

  They shrieked loudly—and charged at us.

  “Max—quick! The other jokers!” I shouted.

  Max shoved some joker cards in my hand. Louisa and Jeff grabbed some too.

  “Make sure they’re looking at the card when you rip it!” Max cried.

  We ripped our cards—and all the jokers turned back into kids. All but one.

  I held the last joker card in my hand.

  Frankie’s joker card.

  I held it up.

  The joker that was Frankie darted around the room—shrieking madly.

  “Hey, Frankie,” I shouted. “Look!”

  The joker turned my way.

  I held up the card—and ripped it in half.

  The joker’s face began to change.

  In moments Frankie was back.

  * * *

  All the kids who had been jokers thanked us for helping them. They called their parents, and we waited for them to arrive to take them home.

  Finally a couple with blond hair and pale blue eyes hurried up Mrs. Davidson’s walk. Max zoomed out of the house. I think the three of them broke the record for the world’s longest hug.