Trick or Trap

  “But we didn’t do the stuff that’s happening,” Amanda told them. “That horrible smell … the skeleton at the window … the shadowy ghosts floating down from the ceiling … Those weren’t ours!”

  Mickey tore off his skeleton mask and squinted at Amanda. “You didn’t do that stuff?”

  “No,” I said. “That’s what we’re trying to tell you.”

  Morty tugged off his mask and tossed it onto the table. “You mean —?”

  “I mean we have to get out of here fast,” I said. “The house has scares of its own. And I have a very bad feeling the scares are going to get a lot worse!”

  “So can we stop wasting time and go?” Amanda pleaded.

  To my surprise, all three guys burst out laughing. They laughed and bumped knuckles and dropped onto their knees, laughing so hard they couldn’t stand up.

  Amanda and I stared at each other. My heart was pounding. I knew we were in horrible danger. What could be so funny?

  “You fraidycats are too easy,” Mickey said finally. “You’re no fun. You’re just too easy to scare.”

  I made a gulping sound. “Huh?”

  “What are you saying?” Amanda said.

  “WE planted those scares,” Mickey replied. “We set them all up. We took yours out and put our scares in.”

  “We saw you sneak into this house last Saturday,” Kenji said. “When you invited us to your party, we figured out what you were planning to do.”

  “It’s not like we’re idiots,” Morty said. “It wasn’t too hard to figure out. So we decided to make our own scares and see if we could teach you a lesson.”

  “But it’s too easy to scare you,” Mickey said. “It’s no fun at all.”

  Whoa. Double whoa.

  Have I ever been so angry and so upset and so frustrated in my whole life?

  I don’t think so.

  Our big chance to take our revenge on the three bullies. And they win again!

  How sad is that?

  I let out a long sigh. “Guess you got us,” I muttered.

  “I was scared. I admit it,” Amanda said, her eyes cast down at the floor.

  “Might as well have some pizza before it gets cold,” I said. I was halfway across the room to the food table when I saw something move at the stairway. “Hey —” I started to utter a cry, but it stuck in my throat.

  Near the top of the stairs, I saw the ugly death mask. It looked even more grotesque in the flickering light of the candles. The mask floated in the darkness and began to move down, hovering a foot or so above the banister.

  “Whoa. Look.” I pointed.

  We all turned and watched the mask float down the stairs, blue-orange in the shadowy light. Rita was hidden in her black outfit. You couldn’t see her at all.

  Mickey’s mouth dropped open. Morty made a gurgling sound. Kenji’s eyes widened in fear.

  The mask appeared to bob in the air, all by itself. Slowly, silently, it descended the stairs.

  Morty gurgled again. Mickey stood frozen, gaping at the frightening scene.

  Finally! I thought. Finally, we scared these guys. Thank you, Rita. Wouldn’t you know it would be Rita to scare the pants off them!

  The mask hovered at the bottom of the stairs. Its ugly scowl even made me shiver.

  I watched the three bullies, gripped in fright. Then, to my shock, Mickey darted forward. He trotted across the room, his eyes on the mask. “Who’s wearing that mask?” he cried. “Who’s there? Let’s see who it is.”

  He didn’t hesitate. He ran up to the mask — grasped it in both hands — and ripped it away.

  Then we all screamed when we saw there was no one wearing the mask.

  No Rita. No one. No one.

  The ugly death mask was floating on its own.

  “That’s impossible!” I cried. I stumbled back, trying to get away from the floating mask.

  All five of us stepped back. No one spoke. I couldn’t take my eyes off the ugly, scowling mask.

  Rita, where are you? Where?

  And then laughter, cold, cruel laughter rang out from the mask. A woman’s deep laugh, raspy and harsh.

  Before the laughter ended, Mickey opened his mouth in a frightened scream. He turned, dropped his skull mask, and bolted toward the front door. We all followed him, our shoes clumping heavily on the wooden floorboards.

  Another peal of laughter rang in our ears. It followed us to the front of the house.

  Before we reached the front door, a thick swirl of purple mist rose in front of us. The mist spun crazily, spreading out, filling the dark room with an eerie purple light.

  “Open the door!” Morty shouted to his brother. “Hurry — open it!”

  We all stopped short as the purple mist parted, and a woman stood in front of us. She wore a long black dress down to the floor. I recognized her at once. Recognized her straight white hair, her pale skin pulled tight against her face, the gold tooth in the middle of her mouth as she smiled at us.

  “Calm down, everyone,” she said. “Take a breath. You’re not going anywhere.”

  “Is that the woman you saw in your house?” Amanda whispered.

  I nodded. I turned to the woman. “Who are you?” I cried in a trembling voice. “I know you’re not my aunt Ida.”

  “Of course I’m not your aunt Ida,” the woman said with a cold sneer. “Your aunt Ida is still alive, isn’t she?”

  Amanda gasped. Behind me, Mickey, Morty, and Kenji muttered to each other.

  “Then who are you?” I demanded. “What were you doing in my house?”

  “My name is Lillian,” she said. “That’s a lovely name, isn’t it?”

  “I guess,” I said. I didn’t know how to answer her.

  “I used to be a lovely person,” she said, her raspy voice a low whisper now.

  “Are you going to answer my questions?” My voice broke. My legs were trembling. “Why were you in my room?”

  “I was searching for the mask, of course,” she snapped. “You came home from school before I could find it.” She waved her hand in the air. The mask came floating across the room to her. She caught it and raised it toward us. “Thank you for bringing it back to me tonight. Your sister, Rita, and I have become very good friends.”

  Oh, no. Rita …

  “Where is she?” I demanded. “Where is Rita? What have you done with her?”

  Lillian waved a hand to calm me down. “Don’t worry, Scott. You’ll see your sister again. You’ll have a lot of time to spend with her.” She studied the mask as if seeing it for the first time. “I’m so happy to have this back. You did a bad thing — didn’t you, Scott?”

  All eyes were on me now. “Y-yes,” I stammered. “I did. I’m really sorry I stole it. I don’t know why I did it. It was crazy. It was wrong. I’m glad you have it back.”

  She smiled. Even in the dim light, the gold tooth gleamed. “I’m happy to have it back, too.”

  I took a deep breath. “So … we can all go home now?” I asked, my eyes on the door behind her.

  She shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “You won’t be going home. You’ll be staying here with me.”

  The words sent a shuddering chill down my back. “Forever?”

  “Yes, Scott. Forever.”

  “You can’t keep us here!” Mickey cried. He had his eyes on the door.

  “I can do anything,” Lillian replied. “I have the mask. I have powers you can’t imagine.” She narrowed her blue eyes at Mickey. “I can make you disappear.”

  “I’d like to disappear,” Mickey said. “Right out that door.”

  “But I’m going to keep you here with me,” Lillian said, spinning the mask on her pointer finger. “It’s been so long since I had company.”

  “You … you’ve been living in this house?” I stammered.

  She snickered. “I haven’t been living anywhere. I’ve been trapped inside this mask for at least a hundred years. My spirit was trapped inside the mask, locked away in that wooden box.??
? She squinted hard at me. “When you entered this house, you must have heard me wailing and moaning. So sad … so lonely.”

  “But — but —” I didn’t know what to say.

  She continued, her eyes locked on mine. “When you opened the box, I escaped from the mask. Escaped in a puff of purple mist.”

  I remembered the mist. Amanda and I were in my room. I opened the box, and the purple mist came shooting out.

  “It felt so good to be free.” Lillian shut her eyes. She seemed to be speaking to herself. “So good … so good.”

  “That means I helped you,” I said. “I’m the one who set you free. So why can’t you set us free?”

  She flashed me a sad smile. Her gold tooth gleamed. “You don’t know anything, do you? I forced you to help me. Didn’t you feel my power pulling you to the box? I made you steal the box, Scott. I made you open it and release me. Did you really think you were in control?”

  “I … I …” I sputtered.

  Mickey edged up beside me. “She’s an old woman,” he whispered. “If we all rush the door at once, she won’t be able to stop us.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I whispered back.

  But Mickey didn’t wait. He signaled with both hands, and he and Morty took off, racing for the door.

  They didn’t get two steps before they froze, then started to scream in pain. Their hands shot up to their ears. They wailed and slapped at their ears. I could see smoke floating up from their heads.

  “Stop! Please stop it! Make it stop!” Mickey shrieked.

  Lillian had one hand raised. She lowered it slowly.

  “What did you do to them?” Amanda demanded.

  Lillian offered a cold smile. “I set their ears on fire.” She tossed back her head and laughed. “I turned their ears extra crispy!”

  Mickey and Morty muttered to themselves, tenderly rubbing their blackened ears.

  “I warned you,” Lillian said softly. “I have all kinds of powers. You shouldn’t think about escaping. You could get hurt.”

  “You’re free now,” I said. “And you have all your magical powers. So why do you need us? Why can’t you let us go home?”

  “Yes. Let us go home,” Amanda echoed. “Please.”

  Lillian turned her eyes on me. “You don’t understand, Scott,” she said softly. “Let me explain the magic of the mask. In order for me to stay free, someone else must live inside the mask.”

  Amanda gasped. Morty made a choking sound.

  Lillian had the mask in her hands and was moving toward me. Her eyes locked on mine. She raised the mask, preparing to slide it over my face. “And I picked you, Scott. You’ve worn it before. You know it doesn’t hurt.”

  “N-no!” I let out a stammered cry. I took a step back. Then another — and stumbled. “Ohhhh,” I groaned as I tripped over Mickey’s shoe. I landed hard on my back.

  And before I could scramble to my feet, Lillian pushed the wooden mask over my face.

  “You’ll have such lovely dreams in there, Scott,” she said. “You’ll live in a wonderful fantasy world, forever and ever.”

  I tried to cry out, but the mask muffled my voice. She pressed the mask down hard. Harder.

  I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe.

  I tried to kick and thrash and squirm out from under it. But Lillian had surprising strength. She smashed the mask against my face….

  Until I felt myself sinking into it. Falling into its darkness.

  Once again, I saw the gray curtain of fog. And I heard the chattering voices, distant voices deep in the mask, rising and falling over a steady buzz of static.

  I’m sinking, I realized. Sinking into the fog, into the world of the mask … sinking so fast.

  I felt as if I was flying now, flying headfirst into a deep hole. Dropping faster and faster into the gray fog, into the chatter of strange voices. I knew I’d disappear and never return, never see the light again.

  And just as I felt myself surrounded … lost in another world … at that very last moment, I heard a scream.

  “Get off him! You can’t do that to him!”

  Was it Amanda? Amanda shouting from such a far distance?

  Yes. Amanda’s alarmed cry shook me awake. My mind fought off the gray fog. I clenched my jaw and opened my eyes and forced myself alert.

  I grabbed the sides of the mask — and twisted my whole body to the side. I spun away from Lillian — and out of the powerful grasp of the mask.

  I blinked myself alert. I breathed. My brain came back from the darkness.

  Before I could move, Lillian came at me again with the mask raised. Her blue eyes burned with new intensity. She uttered a roar as she stabbed the mask back at my face.

  “No way!” I screamed. I grabbed it from her hands and covered her face with it.

  “Nooooooo!” Lillian’s shriek of horror rang out as she stumbled into the mask.

  She twisted and squirmed. But she was light and frail and no match for me. I kept it pressed tight against her.

  “You can’t do this!” she wailed. “You can’t trap me in there again!”

  But I pressed the mask over her. And as I struggled to keep it in place, she disappeared into it. First her head, her shoulders, her arms … pulled inside the mask by a powerful invisible force.

  And then just before she sank completely into the mask, she let out a furious scream: “You can’t keep me in here! You can’t hold me! You can’t! You can’t!”

  A loud burst — a deafening roar — made me let go of the mask and clap my hands over my ears. A sizzling puff of purple steam shot up from the mask, shot straight up to the ceiling. I watched the purple cloud float away and disappear upstairs.

  The mask dropped from my hands and clattered to the floor. Lillian had vanished.

  Morty, Mickey, and Kenji looked dazed. They stood there, blinking their eyes and shaking their heads.

  Finally, Mickey spoke in a shaky voice. “Let’s get out of here. You two sure know how to throw a party.”

  Morty gave me a shove. “Next time, have more pizza and fewer ghosts.”

  Our shoes thundered over the floor as the five of us stampeded to the front door. I tugged the door open, and we all ran out into the night. The cold air felt so good on my burning-hot face. I took several deep breaths.

  I’m alive! I thought. I’m not trapped inside a death mask forever.

  I turned to Amanda. “Do you want to come to my house?”

  She shuddered. “I just want to get home.”

  I could understand that. I flashed her a thumbs-up and took off, running full speed.

  I was halfway home when I remembered I’d forgotten something.

  Rita. Rita was still back in the haunted house.

  I spun around and hurried back to the house, my heart pounding. Of course, I didn’t want to go back to that terrifying place. As I ran, my shoes felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds.

  Rita. How could I forget Rita?

  Rita was upstairs the whole time. Was she okay?

  Clouds had floated over the moon, covering the street in darkness. I stopped on the sidewalk and stared up at the house. In our rush to escape, we had left the front door wide open.

  I climbed to the top of the front stoop and cupped my hands around my mouth. “Rita? Are you in there?” My voice cracked as I shouted into the house.

  I took a deep breath and stepped inside. The candles still flickered in the front room. I spotted the wooden death mask, facedown on the floor. My whole body shuddered at the sight of it.

  I crossed to the stairs and shouted. “Rita? Are you still up there?”

  Silence.

  “Rita? Where are you? Are you upstairs?”

  No answer.

  I had no choice. I climbed the creaking stairs. I called her name again at the top. No answer. It was too dark to see anything up there. I slid my hand along the wall till I came to a doorway. “Rita? Hey, Rita? Answer me!”

  My voice rang out down t
he hall. I moved slowly from room to room. No sign of Rita.

  I returned to the stairs, a heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I called her name ten more times. Then, sick with dread, I slumped out of the house and walked slowly home. I’d never been so scared and worried in my life.

  I left my sister upstairs in that house, and now she’s gone.

  I needed to tell Mom. I needed to get help.

  I’ll have to call the police.

  The lights were on in the kitchen. I made my way to the kitchen door — and gasped in surprise. Rita sat at the kitchen counter, sifting through a pile of Halloween candy.

  “Oh, wow! Oh, wow!” I exclaimed. “You’re home! You’re okay!” I was so happy and relieved, I ran over and hugged her!

  She made a face. “Give me a break.”

  “How did you escape?” I cried. “How did you get out of that house?”

  “I didn’t escape,” she said.

  “Huh? What do you mean?” I cried.

  “I didn’t escape, Scott. I was upstairs. The purple mist came shooting upstairs. Remember? Lillian was inside the purple mist that shot out of the mask? It roared upstairs and settled over me.”

  “Settled over you?” My voice cracked. “Then what? What happened? What are you saying, Rita?”

  She shrugged. “Never mind.”

  “No. Tell me. Tell me!” I demanded.

  “No big deal,” she said. She picked up a handful of candy. “Would you like a piece, Scott?”

  She gave me a big smile.

  A big smile … Yes, a big smile.

  And I started to scream.

  Because I saw the gleam of the gold tooth in the front of her mouth.

  “Jenny, don’t fight with your brother. It’s your birthday,” Mrs. Renfro said.

  “But he took the candy bar I wanted!” Jenny cried.

  “Did not!” Ben squeezed the miniature Snickers bar in his fist. He made his mean face at Jenny.

  Mrs. Renfro sighed. She blew a strand of blond hair off her forehead. “Why don’t you two share it? You’re twins. You should share everything.”