Spell of the Screaming Jokers (5 page)

Everyone stared at me.

Then Frankie started laughing like a maniac.

“It's not funny!” I yelled at him. “It's true. One of her cats is here right now! Look!” I pointed to the windowsill.

But the cat had vanished.

“It was there!” I insisted. “Didn't any of you see it?”

Jeff, Louisa, and Max shook their heads.

Frankie started laughing again.

“I
know
Mrs. Marder's behind this somehow,” I declared.

“Oh, dear.” Mrs. Davidson entered the room and scooped up the joker from the table. “Two cards must have been stuck together,” she said softly.

She turned to Louisa. “Did you scream, dear? Did you scream at this ugly, ugly card?” Mrs. Davidson stared at the card in her hands and shuddered. “I can't blame you.”

“I—I wasn't screaming,” Louisa stammered. “It
was
the card. The card was screaming!”

“What imaginations you kids have!” Mrs. Davidson smiled. Shook her head. Then she left the room.

“You heard it!” Louisa exclaimed. “You heard it screaming. Didn't you?” She turned to Frankie and Jeff.

“Yeah, right,” Jeff laughed. “Screaming card. Good one, Louisa.”

Frankie's face was uncertain. “It doesn't make sense, but . . . ” he began. Then he trailed off.

“Max?” Louisa asked. “You heard it. Right?”

“I heard the screaming,” Max said evenly. “I heard you screaming.”

But Louisa didn't scream.

I was sure of it.

It was the joker—and Mrs. Marder's evil magic made it happen. Now I was sure of
that
too.

Somehow—some way—I had to prove it.

*  *  *

“Thanks for coming home with me, Brit,” Louisa said after we left Max's. We were in her kitchen,
hunting for something to eat. “My mom's meeting won't be over until eight,” she went on. “I couldn't stand coming into a dark, empty house tonight. Not after what happened today.”

I told Louisa all about Frankie falling off the ladder, and how he got the diamond-shaped mark on his arm. “What are we going to do?” I asked her now. “Mrs. Marder is behind all of this. I know it.”

The color drained from Louisa's face. “I don't want to talk about it anymore,” she said. “It's too creepy. Let's look at my new
Seventeen
magazine instead.”

Louisa ran upstairs to her room to get the magazine.

I peeled the foil off the top of a container of yogurt. I took a spoonful—and froze.

Hsssss!

I listened closely.

Hsssss!

There it was again.

Coming from upstairs.

Growing louder.

I jumped up and ran for the steps.

The hissing turned to rattling. Loud rattling.

“Louisa!” I cried.

Louisa answered—with a terrified scream!

I bolted to the staircase.

Started to run up the steps.

But Louisa was rolling down them—headfirst.

“Louisa!” I shrieked as she tumbled into me.

Dizzy, I struggled to sit up—and saw the three short figures. Dressed all in black, except for their green hats.

They zoomed down the steps. Leapt over us. Flung open the front door.

And ran out into the night.

“O
hhhh!” Louisa moaned. “I—I hurt my ankle.”

I helped her up. She hobbled into the family room and collapsed on the couch.

I ran to the front door and slammed it shut. I made
sure
it was locked.

“Those things—they appeared out of nowhere. Suddenly they were there—right next to me!”

“I—I saw them too.” My voice shook.

“They lunged at me. They pushed me down the steps!” Louisa exclaimed.

“It's Mrs. Marder,” I whispered. “It's Mrs. Marder's magic. Just like in the story Mrs. Davidson told us. It's just like what happened to those little kids! This is horrible!”

“It's worse than horrible,” Louisa wailed. “One of those—those
things
said something to me.”

“What? Louisa, what did it say?” I asked.

Louisa closed her eyes. Then she repeated what she had heard. “ ‘Her army strengthens day by day.' That's it.”

Her army strengthens day by day.
I repeated the words in my mind. What did it mean?

“Brittany, I'm scared!” Louisa hid her face in her hands.

I gasped.

“Louisa! Your arm!”

Louisa stared down at her left arm. “No!” she screamed. “No!”

On her arm was a bruise. A bruise in the shape of a black club.

She began rubbing it furiously, trying to make the mark disappear. But the club stayed—as if permanently printed on her skin.

I ran into the kitchen for a pencil and piece of paper. I wrote down what Frankie's attackers had said to him. Then I wrote down what Louisa had heard.

“Listen to this,” I told Louisa. I read:

“We shake the skull with eyes that gleam

We make our marks, we laugh and scream

Her army strengthens day by day

“It's part of the rhyme!” I decided.

Louisa shrugged. “I don't get what it means.”

“Me either,” I confessed. “But it must mean something!”

I stared down at what I had written. “Let's see—the skull. There's a skull in the base of Mrs. Marder's birdbath. Did you see it?”

Louisa shook her head.

“Well, it's there. Maybe at night its eyes gleam.”

“Wait.” Louisa gazed off into the distance. Trying to remember something. “The joker card. It had a stick—and on top was a
skull!”

“That's right!” I snapped my fingers. “And the skull had weird, glowing eyes!”

Now we were getting somewhere!

I read the next line.
“We make our marks. We laugh and scream.
The marks—they must be the club and diamond shapes,” I said.

The pieces of the puzzle were starting to come together.

“The first time we went to Max's, Frankie was dealt a joker,” I murmured, thinking back. “Then, on the way home, we heard hissing and rattling— and a scream. Then someone pushed Frankie down. After that we saw the club shape on his arm.”

Louisa nodded.

“Today
you
were dealt the joker,” I went on. “Then we heard hissing and rattling and a scream—and
you
were pushed down.”

“But why?” Louisa whispered. “Why is it happening to us?”

“Mrs. Marder is doing this! She put a spell on us!” I exclaimed. “She said she'd make us pay for ruining her plants! She's evil. She's really evil!”

Louisa's face twisted as if she were about to cry. “What are we going to do?”

“We have to stop her,” I declared.

“How?” Louisa demanded.

“I don't know,” I admitted. “But I'm going to come up with a plan.”

Louisa's mom came home then. I left a few minutes later.

I live just a few houses away from Louisa. I started for my house—in the dark. It's woodsy at Louisa's end of the street. The houses are spread out among the trees.

As I hurried home, something moving in the woods caught my eye.

I heard rustling.

And a high-pitched wail.

Terrified, I glanced over my shoulder.

Something shifted behind a bush. Something green!

And then I saw it—the top of a green hat.

As I stared in horror, the green hat rose. Up from behind the bushes.

No—not a green hat.

A green bandanna—on the head of Mrs. Marder!

She stared at me with the strangest smile on her face.

A completely evil smile.

“I
'm so happy it's Saturday!” I sang as I passed the basketball to Jeff. “No cards at Max's house today!”

We were playing hoops in my driveway. Louisa and Frankie against me and Jeff. Jeff shot the ball back to me.

“Let's take a break,” Louisa suggested. “My ankle's starting to hurt.”

We sat down at the picnic table by our driveway. Our house is at the top of a high, steep hill. For a minute we all gazed down at the view of Shadyside.

“Only three more days of visiting Max,” I said at last.

Jeff glanced at me. “Max is nice. Why don't you like him?”

“I like him fine,” I protested. “I just don't want to play cards anymore!”

I hesitated a minute. Then I said what was really on my mind. Ever since I saw Mrs. Marder in the woods, I had been thinking of a plan. Now was my chance to spring it on everybody.

“I think we have to sneak into Mrs. Marder's house and find proof that she's behind the jokers!” I announced.

Jeff shook his head. “Mrs. Marder wouldn't hurt anybody.”

His attitude was really starting to bug me. “How do you know, Jeff?” I demanded. I crossed my arms. “Why are you sticking up for Mrs. Marder? Do you know something we don't know?”

Jeff scowled. He picked up the basketball and angrily hurled it at the basket—hard! The ball bounded off the backboard and sailed out of our driveway.

“I'll get it!” Frankie jumped up and dashed down the hill. He ran until we couldn't see him anymore.

“Sorry,” Jeff muttered. He sat back on the bench and scowled down at his feet. “Look,” he began. “If you want to know—”

“Shhh!” Louisa interrupted him. “Listen!”

That's when I heard it.

Hsssss.

I sprang to my feet. “The hissing!”

I whirled around. Searching frantically for a black cat—or a little kid wearing a green hat.

I didn't see either one.

Then it hit me.

“Frankie!” I cried.

I raced down the hill. Jeff followed right behind me.

The hissing grew stronger.

Then the rattling sounds began.

At the bottom of the hill, four little kids on bicycles appeared from a side street.

Four little kids. Dressed all in black. Wearing green floppy hats.

Those hats . . .

Finally, I put it together.

They're not little kids at all
, I realized in horror.

“What are those kids doing down there?” Jeff asked.

“Those aren't kids!” I cried, putting on more speed. “Don't you see? They're jokers! The jokers from the card deck!”

My sneakers pounded the grass as I ran down the hill.

I cupped my hands around my mouth. I tried to warn Frankie. “Look out!” I cried. But Frankie was chasing the ball at the bottom of the hill.

He didn't hear me.

He didn't see the jokers aiming straight for him.

The hissing and rattling grew louder.

Frankie bent down to pick up the ball.

A deep rumbling sound filled the air. Was it coming from the jokers?

No! It was a huge truck speeding up the road.

The jokers heard it too. They pedaled harder—and barreled right into Frankie.

The jolt knocked Frankie into the air. He landed in the street. And didn't move.

The truck driver should have hit the brakes. But he didn't.

The truck picked up speed.

“Noooo!” I screamed.

The truck headed straight for Frankie—and Frankie didn't move!