Spell of the Screaming Jokers (10 page)

N
o 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!

O
utside 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!”

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.

“Thanks, Brittany,” Max said before he left. “You sure know how to stack a deck.”

“Thank
you
, Max,” I told him. “You sure know how to play your cards right!”

T
he next night Frankie called me. I stretched across my bed talking to him.

“You know what, Brit?” Frankie asked. “Jeff and I went over to Mrs. Marder's after school today. Jeff had to deliver some groceries.” He coughed, sounding embarrassed. “I thought maybe I should apologize to her. You know. For the birdbath and stuff.”

“You're kidding!” I exclaimed.

“Nope. Anyhow,” Frankie hurried on, “Jeff asked her about her telescope. Know what? Before they retired, she and her husband both worked as astronomers! There's a cluster of stars somewhere about a billion miles away that's named after them. It's called the Marder Formation!”

“Really?” I said. “But wait a second. Why was her telescope aimed at Max's window?”

“You saw how her cats jumped up on everything,” Frankie reminded me. “They must have knocked it out of line. And did you know she
rescued
all those cats?” he went on. “None of them had homes. They would have been put to sleep if she hadn't adopted them. She goes out at night sometimes, looking for strays.”

That must have been what she was doing in the woods outside Louisa's house! I groaned. “Now I feel terrible for believing those awful stories about her,” I said.

There was a loud knock at my door.

“It's me!” Jimmy called. “I've got a great card trick to show you, Brit!”

“Did you hear that?” I asked Frankie. “Well, Jimmy did show me how to stack a deck. So I guess I owe it to him to let him show me his latest card trick.”

Frankie laughed. “Have fun, Brit!”

We hung up. “Come in!” I called to Jimmy. I patted the place next to me on my bed. I was in a great mood that night. If Jimmy had ten new card tricks, I promised myself, I'd watch them all.

“Okay,” Jimmy said, plopping down on my bed. “Pick a card! Any card!”

He fanned a deck for me.

I slid a card out of the middle. “Should I look at it?” I asked him.

“Definitely,” Jimmy said.

I turned the card over.

I stared at it. My mouth suddenly went dry.

I didn't want to believe what I was seeing.

It was a joker!

The most awful joker I'd ever seen!

It had bulging green eyes.

And a piggish, turned-up nose.

And wild, wiry hair.

Its big, evil smile spread from ear to ear. A smile formed by red, lipsticked lips.

It was Mrs. Davidson!

A golden crown rested on her hideous head.

Mrs. Davidson—the Queen of the Jokers.

I watched in horror as the queen opened her wide red mouth and let out a horrible scream.

My mouth opened too.

And I screamed and screamed.

Are you ready for another walk down Fear Street?

Turn the page for a terrifying sneak preview.

M
y eyes popped open the next morning. A pair of eyes stared back at me.

Fish eyes.

I sat straight up in bed. I glanced around the room.

Of course. My first full day at Club Lagoona.

I gazed at the fish painted on the walls. The bedspread covered with seashells. The fishing net hanging from the ceiling. Even my pillow was shaped like a clam.

I shook my head. “There's definitely something fishy about this room,” I joked.

I crack myself up.

“So, you're finally awake,” Polly called from the bathroom we shared. “Mom and Dad will be here
any minute. We're heading over to the Atlantis pool together.”

I flopped back down on the bed. The Atlantis pool. The Swim or Sink trial with Barry. It was this morning!

I had to find a way out of this. And it was going to take some pretty fast thinking!

Polly bounced into my room. She wore a bright black and purple bathing suit. “Mom unpacked your stuff,” she informed me. “Your new bathing suit is in the top drawer. And hurry up!” She yanked the covers off me.

“Okay. Okay,” I grumbled. I stumbled over to the dresser and yanked open the top drawer.

Oh man. I reached in and pulled out the most hideous bathing suit I had ever seen.

I twirled the suit between my fingers. Green volcanoes spewed bright orange lava. In between the volcanoes were awful purple and red flowers.