The Five Masks of Dr. Screem (2 page)

She pulled us into her house. I blinked in the shimmering gray light.

We stood in a narrow front entryway. The ceiling was high above our heads. The light came from a huge glass ball dangling on a thick chain above us.

“We — we’re just trick-or-treating,” Peter stammered.

The woman nodded. Her straight black hair fell over her face. She brushed it back with a pale hand.

I couldn’t tell how old she was. Maybe in her thirties, like our parents.

She was pretty, with round, dark eyes, high cheekbones, and a warm smile. Her black dress fell to her ankles, soft and flowy like a nightgown.

“I knew you would come,” she repeated.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She didn’t answer. She turned quickly, her
long dress swirling around her. And led the way into an enormous, dimly lit front room.

A low fire flickered in a wide stone fireplace on the far wall. It sent long shadows dancing into the room.

Antique black leather couches and armchairs filled the big room.

A tall painting hung over the mantel. It was a portrait of a sad-looking woman in old-fashioned lacy clothes, a single teardrop on one cheek.

Despite the fire, the room was cold. The air felt damp and heavy.

What a totally depressing place
, I thought.
Everything is so dark and creepy
.

“My name is Bella,” the woman said. She tossed her hair off her forehead with a snap of her head. She stood facing us with her hands at her waist. Her dark eyes moved from Peter to me.

“You are Monica, aren’t you?” she said. “And your brother is named Peter.”

I felt my throat tighten. “How did you know?” I asked.

“Who are you?” Peter demanded. “Do you know our parents or something?”

She shook her head. A thin smile spread over her pale, slender face. “You’re in the book,” she said softly. Her eyes stayed locked on us, as if studying us.

“Book?” I said. “I don’t understand.”

She leaned a hand against the back of one of the big armchairs. “The book says you would come. It says you will help me tonight.”

I glanced at Peter. He rolled his eyes.

Is this woman crazy?
I thought.

“We’re in a book?” I asked. “You mean, like a phone book?”

Bella shook her head. She motioned for us to follow her. She led us to a library at the back of the living room.

Bookshelves climbed to the ceiling on all four walls. The shelves were filled with old-looking books. The covers were cracked and faded.

Two lamps that looked like torches poked out from high on the walls. The lamps threw yellow light over a long wooden table. Four straight-backed chairs stood around the table.

Blue-black shadows stretched everywhere. I shivered. I had the strange thought that the shadows were
alive
.

Bella reached down to a lower shelf and tugged out a large book. She raised it in both hands and blew dust off the cover.

As she brought it to the table, I saw that the cover was cracked and stained. She held it up so that Peter and I could read the title etched in curly brown letters on the front:
The Hallows Book
.

“Hallows?” I said. “It’s … like a Halloween book?”

She didn’t answer. With a groan, she set the heavy book down on the table. Then she leaned over it, turning the yellowed pages carefully.

“I … don’t understand,” I said. “What is this book?”

“We just came for candy,” Peter said. His voice trembled. I could see he didn’t like this.

“Read,” Bella said. She ran a slender finger down a page. “Come closer, you two. Read what the book says.”

Peter and I leaned over the book. It smelled kind of musty, like the closets at Grandma Alice’s house. I squinted at the tiny, faded type, and read:

On Halloween night, the doorbell will ring. Two young people will come to Bella’s aid. Their names will be Monica and Peter Anderson
.

They will be celebrating the rituals of All Hallows’ Eve. But Peter and Monica will give up their celebrations. And they will help Bella in her time of need
.

I tried to swallow. My throat suddenly felt dry as cotton.

Peter and I stared down at the faded page of the old book. The writing ended there. The rest of the page was blank.

I raised my eyes to Bella.

“This is impossible,” I said. “How can this be?”

“It is written in the book,” Bella said. Her dark eyes glowed. “So it must be true.”

I grabbed Peter by the arm. “Let’s go,” I said. “This is too weird.”

“You can’t!” Bella cried. She moved quickly and blocked the doorway to the library.

Peter and I almost ran right into her. She spread her arms to keep us from sliding past her.

“You can’t keep us here!” Peter cried.

“
The Hallows Book
says you will stay,” Bella said. Her dark eyes flashed again. She gazed past us to the open book on the table. “You won’t leave. The book says you won’t leave.”

“I — I don’t know how you did that book trick,” I said. “But really. You have to let us go home. Why do you need our help anyway?”

Bella pointed to the old book. “It says you will stay and help me. The five masks — they will be
stolen, as they are every year. You will help me get them back.”

“Five masks?” I cried.

“I know karate,” Peter blurted out. He raised a hand, as if he was going to give Bella a chop. “Better let us go.”

Her eyes went wide. “Peter, I’m not going to hurt you,” she said. “I’m not trying to hold you prisoner.
The Hallows Book
says that you will help me get back the masks.”

Peter lowered his hand. “I get it,” he said. He shook his head. “It’s Halloween, and you like to give kids a good scare on Halloween. It’s a big joke, right?”

Bella moved to the table. “The book isn’t a joke. It tells everything that happens.”

“What five masks are you talking about?” I asked. “Are they Halloween masks?”

“They are called the Masks of Screem. They are masks of powerful magic,” Bella said.

Peter and I exchanged glances. She was definitely a nut job.

Should we run while we had the chance?

I leaned down and gazed at the open book. To my surprise, I saw new writing on the page. A new paragraph had appeared. I read it to Peter….

“
Peter and Monica didn’t trust Bella. They couldn’t decide what she wanted of them. At
first
,
they believed her to be insane. The two youngsters wanted to run
.

“
But they had an important mission to accomplish. Bella desperately needed their help. In fact, the whole world needed their help
.

“
They could not run
.”

“Too weird,” Peter said, shaking his head. He tugged off his black mask and let it fall to the floor. He wiped sweat off his face with the back of his hand.

“Definitely too weird,” I murmured.

“Let me show you the five masks,” Bella said. “They are mine now. But not for long.”

She led us to one wall of bookshelves. She reached for a red-covered book and pulled it from its shelf.

A few seconds later, I heard a humming sound. The whole shelf began to spin. As the shelf turned, the books disappeared. And a hidden compartment in the wall came into view.

Hanging in the compartment were five Halloween masks.

I uttered a gasp. The masks were ugly and frightening.

I recognized a skull … a mummy head … a hideous wolf head, its fangs bared in a silent snarl….

“Whoa. Those are majorly
scary
!” Peter exclaimed.

“You don’t know what you are saying,” Bella
replied in a whisper. “You don’t know the meaning of
scary
.”

She motioned us closer. “Come here. Don’t stand back there. Take a good look at them.”

Peter stepped up. His eyes were on a furry pig-face mask with curled yellow horns poking out of the top.

I held back. My skin was prickling again. I felt cold all over.

True fear. Just
looking
at the masks was frightening.

And then … then … as I stared in fright …

… The mouths on all five masks dropped open — and they began to howl.

I couldn’t hold it in. I opened my mouth in a shrill scream.

Peter and I staggered back. I wanted to get as far away from those howling masks as I could.

We started for the door — and tripped over each other.

Peter sailed to the floor and landed hard on his side. I caught my balance and reached down to help him up.

The masks’ howls faded. The ugly mouths closed again. But I could still hear the frightening sound in my mind.

Peter fixed the belt on his karate uniform. We both edged toward the library door.

“I’m sorry,” Bella said softly. “But you do have reason to be afraid.”

“I don’t want to hear any more,” I said. “Just let us go home.”

“I need to explain,” Bella said, tossing back
her long hair. “You must know everything if you are to help me.”

“No. Really —” I started. “Peter and I —”

“I have been guarding these evil masks for one hundred years,” Bella said.

“Yeah. Sure,” Peter muttered. “You look younger than our mother.”

“Just let us go,” I insisted.

She had to be a
lunatic
.

“There is magic involved,” Bella said. “I am one hundred and thirty years old.”

“And I’m SpongeBob SquarePants,” Peter said.

Bella’s pale face darkened in anger. She stared hard at Peter. “I am not insane,” she said. “If you want to get home safely, you need to listen to me — and believe. At least give me a chance.”

IF
we want to get home?

Was that a threat?

Bella’s words sent a chill down my back.

I crossed my arms tightly in front of me. “Go ahead,” I said. “We won’t interrupt.”

Bella motioned to the masks hanging limply in the shelf. “These masks were made one hundred years ago,” she said. “They were created by a powerful sorcerer. His name was Hallows.”

“He wrote that book?” Peter asked, pointing to the book on the table.

Bella nodded. “Hallows was born on a Halloween night,” she continued. “Many years
later, he died on a Halloween night. After he made these masks, he gave them strong magic. Magic that comes to life only one night a year — tonight.”

I stared at the masks. “Tonight …” I murmured.

“Hallows gave the masks to the evil Dr. Screem,” Bella said. “That’s why they are called the Masks of Screem. But I cannot let him keep the masks. His evil is too great.”

I took a deep breath to work up my courage. “I’ve heard enough,” I said. “Peter and I are leaving.”

“It’s a good scary story,” Peter told Bella. “Maybe you should make a movie of it or something.”

Bella stared at us both. She didn’t reply. She raised her hands to the sides of her face.

Peter and I started to back away from her. I took a final glance at the ugly masks. They hung limply on their hooks and didn’t move.

We turned and took two hurried steps toward the library door.

Then we both gasped in horror.

The door was GONE.

My eyes swept the library. Four walls of bookshelves from the floor to the ceiling.

No door.

No door where there
had been a door
!

Panic made my legs tremble. Another chill rolled down my back.

“Where’s the door? Let us out!” Peter cried. He began running frantically around the room, pushing on the shelves. Trying to find a way out.

“Be calm,” Bella said, nearly in a whisper. “Don’t you see? Once you are in, the way out is difficult. Your journey has just begun. There’s no turning back.”

“We don’t want to go on a journey,” I said. My voice shook, revealing my panic. “We just want out of here.”

Peter shoved his shoulder against a shelf. It didn’t budge.

“You can’t keep us prisoner here,” I said. “Our parents —”

“You’re not prisoners,” Bella said. “You have come to help me — remember?”

“You’re crazy!” Peter screamed. “Let us out of this room!”

“I am not your enemy,” Bella told him. “Come. Sit down. Relax. I need your help. I swear I’m not going to hurt you.”

She shoved the red book back into its shelf. The masks disappeared as the shelf turned around. “Properly hidden,” she murmured.

Then she moved to the table in the center of the room and pulled out two chairs. “Come, you two. Sit down. Please.”

Peter and I glanced at each other. We knew we didn’t have a choice.

Maybe if we let Bella finish her story, she would let us go.

We dropped down onto the chairs and slid them up to the table. Bella sat across from us. Her fingers tapped the tabletop. Her fingernails were long, painted dark red. “May I continue?”

Peter and I stared back at her in silence.

“I was telling you about the sorcerer named Hallows,” Bella said. “Hallows made the five masks. He filled them with powerful magic. He gave them to Screem. He didn’t know of Screem’s
evil. Then Hallows created this book. He named it
The Hallows Book
.”

I lowered my eyes to the book. My mind spun. I was trying to figure out how Bella got our names in that book.

But I didn’t have a clue.

“Screem is my enemy,” Bella said. “I struggle every year to keep the masks from him. But every year, he steals them. Every Halloween, we must struggle over the masks. He steals them and hides them, but they must be found!”

I felt a shiver of fear as Bella stared into my eyes and said:

“The hunt for the five masks has been going on every Halloween night for one hundred years. And I am forced to play the same dangerous game year after year.”

“So … you really are one hundred and thirty years old?” I cried.

She raised a hand to silence me.

“Screem is all evil,” she said. “His evil is beyond anything we know. I cannot allow him to keep the masks.”

Her voice faded. She shut her eyes for a long moment.

Then she said, “If I don’t keep the masks away from him, the world will be in terrible danger.”

“Okay,” I said. “You have the masks safely hidden away here. Can we go now?” I scooted my chair back.

“You don’t understand!” Bella cried, raising her voice for the first time. She jumped to her feet. “Screem will steal them. Every year, our story repeats. Every year, he steals them back from me and hides them in different places. If you leave, how will I get them back? I can’t go after them.”

“I … don’t understand,” I said. My head was spinning.

Did
any
of this make sense?

“I can’t go after the masks,” Bella said. “When Screem steals them, I need someone else to hunt them down. Someone to help me. That’s why you’re here.”

Her dark eyes glistened with tears. “The sorcerer Hallows made the rules of the hunt. He put a curse on me. If I touch any of the masks, I will crumble to ashes.”

Peter rolled his eyes. Her story got crazier and crazier.

Why was I starting to believe her? Maybe it was the tears that were brimming in her eyes. Maybe it was the desperate tremble of her soft voice.

“Every Halloween night, I must find someone to help me,” Bella continued. “When Screem steals the masks, I need someone to go on the
hunt and collect them. Someone to bring them back to me. This year, you two are the ones to risk your lives.”

“If you’re trying to give us a Halloween scare, it’s working,” Peter said. He stood up. “We listened to your story. Now let us go home.”

“I can’t let you go home,” Bella said. “I am helpless against Screem. I cannot use magic against him. I have no powers that can stop him.”

She slid the heavy old book across the table. “Look at it. Read what it says. The book doesn’t lie. The book says you will be the ones to help me this year.”

Peter and I leaned over the book. We ran our eyes down the tiny type. A new paragraph had appeared.

It said pretty much what Bella had just told us. It named Peter and me. It said we had come to help her….

They didn’t believe Bella’s story. They didn’t believe that the Halloween mask hunt was real. They were eager to escape the old mansion and return home
.

But the story of the old sorcerer Hallows and the Five Masks of Screem was true. This year, it was Peter and Monica’s turn to meet the challenge. And perhaps … save the world from untold evil
.

And then the last words caught my eye.

The last words … I read them twice. I felt my
heart start to pound. I had that trembling feeling in my legs again.

I read the last words out loud:

“
Monica and Peter were frightened by Bella’s story. But their true terror wouldn’t start FOR ANOTHER FIVE MINUTES
.”