Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls

  As I darted from my hiding spot, Frank Foreman charged out his back door.

  “What are you doing?” he screamed at the ghoul in my body. “Spencer, I’m going to kill you!”

  The ghoul whirled around.

  He studied Frank. Then he smiled his evil smile. “Now, that kid has a good body. Strong, muscular. That’s the body for Oswald Manse!”

  Frank bolted across the backyard. “I’m going to pound you into the ground, Spencer! But first I’m going to break every bone in your body!”

  “NO!” I ran in front of Frank to block him. “Call the police! Call the fire department. Get help!”

  As I argued with Frank, the fire spread across the lawn. I could feel the heat through my sneakers.

  Then with a sudden burst, flames shot up in front of us.

  “Whoa!” Frank leaped away.

  “I know who you are.” The ghoul grabbed my jacket and jerked me away from the flames. “I’m going to take over Frank’s body,” he whispered in my ear. “Then I’m going to throw your body into the flames — and we’ll watch it burn.”

  The fire roared in front of us.

  The wood planks of the shed crackled in the scorching blaze.

  The ghoul stepped up to the fire. He reached his arms out to the leaping flames. “Want to watch your hands burn?” he sneered. “Say good-bye to your fingers, Spencer!”

  “Noooo!” I screamed. I grabbed the ghoul’s arm and jerked him back.

  “You’re sick!” Frank tackled the ghoul. He pinned his shoulders to the ground. “Jason.” He turned to me. “I’ll hold him here. Get your parents!”

  I started for help — but stopped when I heard Frank moan. “My head — it hurts. It hurts so much!”

  “Let him go!” I lunged for Frank and pulled him off the ghoul. “He’s trying to steal your body!”

  “You’re as crazy as your brother!” Frank jerked away from me. “I’m calling the cops!” He charged out of the backyard.

  The ghoul chased after him — but stopped when he saw Frank wave down a police car.

  I watched the ghoul turn quickly, jump over some bushes, and disappear from sight.

  I have to get my body back. But how? I asked myself. I need some help. But no one will believe me. No one will listen to me.

  “Whoa,” I murmured out loud. A face flashed into my mind. Audra’s face.

  Audra was with me in the graveyard. She saw me tilt over that double gravestone. She saw Frank and his pals tie me to a grave.

  Maybe Audra will listen to me, I thought. Maybe Audra will believe me.

  If there are two of us, people will have to listen.

  Audra is my last hope … my last hope.

  I raced down the street. Past burning houses and screaming people.

  Audra’s block was bathed in darkness. The ghoul hadn’t reached it — yet.

  I sprinted up the steps to Audra’s house.

  I peered into the front window. No lights on. Everyone must be asleep.

  I ran around to the back of the house. Audra’s bedroom faced the yard.

  I gazed into her window. I could see her inside, covers pulled up to her chin, sleeping peacefully on her back, her long black hair spread over the pillow.

  “Audra,” I called softly. “Audra, wake up.”

  She couldn’t hear me.

  I knocked on the window. She lifted her head off the pillow and squinted at me.

  “Let me in. Please.”

  Audra slipped out of bed. She pushed open the window, and I climbed inside.

  “Audra — it’s me, Spencer,” I choked out, frantic to tell her my story, frantic for her to believe me. “I know I look like Jason. I had to borrow Jason’s body. You see — the ghouls escaped. I mean —”

  She rubbed her sleepy eyes. “Jason, you’re not making any sense.”

  “I’m not Jason! I’m Spencer!” I cried. “A ghoul stole my body! You’ve got to believe me! You’ve got to help me!”

  “You’re crazy.” Audra’s voice trembled. She took a step back.

  She reached behind her and clicked on a table lamp. Light flooded the room.

  “Please! You have to help me!” I gazed pleadingly into her eyes.

  Her eyes.

  Not pale green eyes flecked with gold.

  No irises … no irises at all.

  Just holes in the center of Audra’s eyes. Deep black holes.

  I stared into the gaping black hollows that were once Audra’s beautiful eyes. “I know the truth. You’re a ghoul!” I cried. “You’ve taken over Audra’s body.”

  And then I remembered the faint voice I heard in the cemetery. The voice calling to me: “Help me. Help me … please.”

  “Audra is trapped up in the cemetery! Isn’t she?” I shouted. “She’s up there now. That was Audra calling me. Wasn’t it?”

  “That doesn’t matter anymore. Does it?” The ghoul grinned at me. “It’s Audra’s turn to stay in the graveyard. And it’s my chance to be alive!”

  “Nooooo!” A hoarse cry of protest burst from my throat. I dove for the window.

  But two strong hands seized my shoulders — and yanked me back into the room. “Sorry,” the ghoul whispered. “I can’t let you go. I’m never going back to that grave again. I don’t want to be Martin Manse anymore. I’m Audra now!”

  “Martin Manse!” I gasped.

  “Yes!” The ghoul spun me around.

  I watched in horror as the black circles of his eyes turned to liquid. Spread like pools of ink. Filled up his eyes. Filled them — until the whites were completely gone.

  The ghoul inhaled deeply. Then, grabbing my waist, he lifted me off my feet — and hurled me across the room.

  “Ohhhh.” I uttered a groan of pain as my head slammed hard against the wall.

  I crumbled to the floor.

  The world tilted away … tilted away …

  I saw a flash of bright red … blood red … and then everything faded … faded to black.

  Pain throbbed through my head, down my neck.

  I struggled to open my eyes.

  A knock on the bedroom door snapped me alert.

  “Audra — what was that noise?” her mother called from the hall. “I heard a loud thud.”

  The door swung open.

  The ghoul rushed toward Audra’s mother. “Would you believe it, Mom? I fell out of bed.”

  “Are you okay?” her mother asked her.

  This is my chance, I thought.

  Shaking off the pain, I pulled myself to my feet.

  I lurched out the window.

  I could hear their startled cries behind me.

  I glanced back once to see if the ghoul was following me. I didn’t see him, so I took off.

  I raced up the steep slope of Highgrave Hill.

  The grass was slick and wet with early morning dew. The moon was fading in a brightening sky.

  Below me, I heard the wail of sirens. I could see walls of flame.

  Black smoke choked the sky.

  Gasping, my heart throbbing in my chest, I ran up to the graveyard gate.

  I have to find Audra. Together we’ll beat those two ghouls. We’ll get our bodies back, I thought. I know we can do this together!

  I burst through the gate — and stopped.

  The graveyard ghouls hovered over their tombstones. “Bodies. Bodies,” they moaned. “We want bodies, too.”

  A boy about my age floated toward me. The skin on one of his cheeks hung loosely off the bone. “I want your body,” he rasped.

  “No!” an old woman cried. “His body is mine!”

  “I want your body.” The other ghouls moved in.

  They formed a circle around me. Joined their bony hands. And began their eerie dance. “I want your body,” they chanted as their legs shuffled stiffly.

  I suddenly felt dizzy.

  My legs weakened. I couldn’t move.

  Their dance of death held me in a trance.

  “Stop!” I cried. “Don
’t do this to me!”

  “You’re a ghoul,” the boy rasped. “You’re just like us. You’re a graveyard ghoul!”

  “NO!” I cried. And with a burst of energy I broke free from their spell.

  I charged through the circle. “Audra?” I shouted. “Are you here? Audra?”

  Silence.

  “Audra?” I called, running through the rows of graves. “Audra? It’s me! I —”

  “Jason?” I heard her voice, soft and weak. “Over here. Under the big willow tree.”

  I turned and charged toward the voice.

  And stumbled over a gravestone.

  It toppled to the ground with a heavy THUD, and I fell on top of it.

  “Oh, no. Not another one,” I muttered.

  I started to scramble to my feet. In the fading moonlight, the words engraved on the stone caught my eye: DEFEAT DEATH ONLY BY LIVING.

  What does that mean? I wondered.

  I stood up, pulling dead leaves from my hair.

  “Jason — over here!” Audra’s weak cry.

  “It’s me — Spencer!” I called to her. “I had to borrow Jason’s body. Where are you, Audra?”

  “Right here. Next to you. But I can’t figure out how to move. I — I feel like air.”

  “I’ll help you,” I said. “I’ll get you out of here.”

  “How?” she asked.

  “Uh …” I swallowed hard. “Well …”

  And then I heard a noise from the graveyard gate.

  I turned toward the sound. And saw a large black dog, a black Lab, come loping into the cemetery.

  He wandered toward us, head bent, sniffing graves along the way.

  “Yes!” I cried happily. “A dog!”

  “So what?” Audra whispered.

  “You can slip into his body,” I told her.

  “Huh? How?”

  “You just have to concentrate,” I told her. “You can use the dog’s body to take you to town. Then maybe … maybe, we can get our own bodies back.”

  My voice trailed off.

  It was a big maybe.

  “Can I really take over the dog?” Audra asked in a tiny voice.

  “You have to,” I replied. “And we have to hurry — before the ghouls get this body, too.”

  I reached out my hand to pet the dog, to keep him calm while Audra slipped into his body.

  “Nice dog. Nice boy,” I repeated softly.

  He raised his smooth black head.

  Gazed up at me.

  Then spun around and loped away.

  “Get him!” Audra cried.

  The dog trotted toward the gate. I started after him.

  I stopped when I spotted something white poking up from the dirt. A bone?

  I stopped and yanked it out of the ground.

  Yes. A bone.

  A human bone? The thought made me shudder.

  I let out a long, loud whistle.

  The dog stopped. He turned and gazed at me.

  I waved the bone in the air — and he came trotting back. I held it out to him and let him sniff it.

  “Quick, Audra! Do it now!” I whispered. “Slip into his body!”

  “I — I don’t know how,” Audra wailed. “How do I turn into a dog? It’s impossible!”

  “Just concentrate. Concentrate on moving into him — and you’ll do it. You’ll see.”

  I waited for Audra to make her move.

  The dog licked at the bone.

  “Hurry, Audra.”

  The dog ran his big, wet tongue over my fingers.

  “Audra, where are you?” I whispered.

  “I’m here. Concentrating.”

  “You’ve got to hurry.”

  “I’m trying!” Audra cried. “I’m trying as hard as I can. But it’s not working.”

  “Think, Audra! Just think about slipping into him!” I urged.

  The dog rubbed his head against my arm. He unfurled his tongue again and licked my wrist. Then — suddenly — his body stiffened. He chomped down hard on my hand.

  “Owwww!” I let out a sharp cry and jerked my hand away.

  The dog growled. He shook his body back and forth, as if fighting an invisible enemy.

  “That’s it, Audra! You’re doing it! Don’t give up!” I cried.

  The dog twisted furiously. He fell to the ground and rolled over and over. He kicked out his legs. Growled fiercely. Then his body went limp.

  “Audra — are you in there?” I stared at the unmoving dog.

  He opened his mouth in a soft YIP — and I knew Audra had made the move. She was in the dog’s body.

  “Yes!” I shouted. “Let’s go!”

  We tore through the cemetery. And raced down Highgrave Hill.

  The sky was turning morning pink. A red sun hung low, rising over town.

  As we neared the bottom of the hill, we heard the screams. The cries for help. The sirens.

  Police cars, fire engines, and ambulances choked the streets.

  Flames shot out of houses and store windows.

  Black smoke billowed up from the burning buildings.

  “Look!” I pointed to a house totally destroyed by flames. It was Frank Foreman’s house. He stood outside with his family. They huddled together, staring in disbelief at the ruins.

  I felt sorry for him.

  I felt sorry for everyone.

  I turned to Audra, loping beside me. “What are we going to do?” I asked. “What can we possibly do?”

  We ran through the streets, through a trail of destruction. My jaw dropped as I gawked at the wreckage.

  Street signs lay scattered on the ground, hacked off at the tops. Lights had been ripped free from their wiring. Mailboxes had been completely destroyed.

  Windows were smashed. Shards of glass carpeted the streets.

  I ran by an overturned car parked on someone’s lawn. As I passed it, it burst into flames.

  We turned onto my block — and I cried out in surprise. “There they are!”

  Audra and Spencer. Our bodies! Axes in hand. Running side by side up my front lawn.

  “Come on, Audra!” I cried in panic. “They’re going to wreck my house!”

  The Spencer ghoul raised his ax and smashed through our front door. The Audra ghoul heaved his ax through the living room window.

  I heard shrill screams inside. Remy and Charlotte’s screams.

  Through the smashed window, I could see them holding each other in the center of the room.

  “Jason, help us!” Remy spotted me outside and cried out in fear. “Spencer has gone crazy!”

  I saw Mom and Dad rush in from the kitchen. They pulled Remy and Charlotte away from the window.

  The two ghouls leaped through the broken window.

  Audra and I charged in after them.

  I had no plan. I didn’t know how to fight the ghouls. I just knew I had to stop them from hurting my family.

  “Spencer! What’s wrong with you? Give me that ax right now!” Dad was screaming at the ghoul.

  Mom let out a terrified shriek as the ghouls raised their axes in the air.

  “Noooo!” I wailed, diving toward them.

  “Jason! Run!” Mom pleaded with me. “Go get help!”

  Audra, inside the black Lab, lowered her head and let out a low, menacing growl. Then she barked ferociously at the ghouls.

  The two ghouls spun around to face us.

  I took a deep breath. “Go back to the cemetery where you belong!” I screamed. “Give us back our bodies, and go back to your graves!”

  The two ghouls grinned at each other.

  “Spencer! Audra! What’s wrong with you?” Dad cried. “Put down the axes — and let’s talk!”

  “Dad — I’m Spencer!” I said. “I tried to tell you. These aren’t Spencer and Audra. They’re Oswald and Martin Manse. They’re ghouls!”

  Mom and Dad exchanged confused glances. Remy and Charlotte pressed their backs against the wall.

  “Get out of here!” I screamed at the gho
uls.

  The Spencer ghoul let out a furious cry. He swung his ax down on the coffee table and split it in two.

  Remy and Charlotte burst into tears. Mom and Dad, mouths open in horror, stepped back to protect them.

  Laughing, the two ghouls raised their axes and chopped at our piano.

  I stood helplessly, thinking hard, frantically trying to come up with a way to stop them.

  With a fierce growl, Audra leaped to the attack.

  She dove at the ghoul in my body — and sank her teeth into his leg.

  He cried out in surprise. The ax fell from his hands.

  Snarling, Audra bit into the leg.

  The ghoul twisted and turned. He thrashed his arms wildly, tilting back his head in a howl of pain.

  As he struggled, the Audra ghoul menaced my family, holding the ax high in front of him. “The dead shall live, and the living shall die!” he proclaimed.

  “Audra — wh-what are you saying?” Mom stammered. “Please — s-stop this!”

  “We don’t understand!” Dad cried. “What do you kids want? Why are you doing this?”

  The Spencer ghoul uttered an angry cry. He kicked hard and freed his leg from Audra’s teeth. Then he bent down — picked up the black Lab, and heaved it against the wall.

  The Audra ghoul handed him his ax. Then their eyes narrowed coldly as they turned to me.

  “Get him,” the Spencer ghoul said through gritted teeth.

  “Ohhhh.” Uttering a low cry, I turned and bolted out of the house.

  The two ghouls lumbered after me. “Don’t let him get away,” the Spencer ghoul growled.

  I ran down the front lawn.

  Heavy gray clouds covered the morning sun. I could hear sirens in the distance.

  “Give me back my body!”

  Who said that? The shrill cry made me stop.

  I glanced around, but I didn’t see anyone.

  “Give me back my body,” the voice repeated, so close, from right next to me.

  “Jason? Is that you?” I choked out.

  “Yes. I want my body back.”

  The two ghouls raised their axes as they closed in on me.

  “Not now!” I cried. “Jason — please! Not now!”

  “Yes — now!” he insisted. “I need my body. I’m taking it back!”

  “Jason — not now!” I screeched.