You Can't Come in Here! (10 page)

“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter,” Hannah replied.

She gave each of them a quick hug. “Thanks again
for letting us use your house for the party.”

“You know that Emily's friends are always welcome here,” Mrs. Hunter said. “And you kids did a fabulous job decorating the downstairs.”

“Yeah, it really looks like a forest,” Mr. Hunter added. “I had to take my GPS with me when I went down there so I didn't get lost!”

Emily was in such a good mood that even her dad's corny jokes seemed funny today.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang again. Emily opened the door and saw Ethan standing there with another boy. This boy was not as tall as Ethan, but his hair was also bright red, though he kept it shorter and neater than Ethan did.

“Em, this is my cousin, Declan,” Ethan said. “Declan, Emily.”

“Hey, Declan, come on in,” Emily said. “Ethan, on the other hand, you can wait outside.”

“You're very funny, as always,” Ethan said. Then he followed Declan into the house.

“Thank you for inviting me, Emily,” Declan said. “I know how much Ethan likes you.”

“All right, all right!” Ethan said, pushing Declan
through the door. “That's enough of that Ethan-likes-you stuff.”

Emily laughed. “Well, I really can't stand him,” she said.

“Hi, Mrs. Hunter,” Ethan said, handing a grocery bag to Emily's mom. “Here are the toppings for the ice cream sundaes.”

“Thanks for bringing those, Ethan,” Mrs. Hunter replied.

Over the next hour the remainder of the guests arrived. By seven fifteen everyone was down in the home theater and the party was in full swing.

As everyone munched on pizza, the talk turned to teachers the kids had this year and who they might have next year. Some kids talked about their plans for the summer.

“I'm off to Camp Cheapskate again in a couple of weeks,” Roger Higgins announced.

“Is that really the name of the place?” Emily asked.

“Nah, it's really Camp Chesapeake, but everyone calls it Camp Cheapskate because the guy who runs it is so cheap,” Roger explained. “His idea of a camp T-shirt is a white undershirt with ‘Camp Chesapeake' written on it in Magic Marker.”

“Sounds like my kind of place!” said Ethan.

“Ice cream time!” Emily's mom called out from the top of the stairs. “Make-your-own sundaes.”

The kids all charged up the stairs, as if they hadn't eaten in a week. On the kitchen counter, Emily's mom had set up three flavors of ice cream, plus cherries, M&Ms, sprinkles, chocolate syrup, and a spray can of whipped cream.

One by one, the kids scooped ice cream into bowls, then tried to defy the laws of physics by cramming twenty ounces of toppings into a ten-ounce bowl that was already filled with ice cream.

Ethan picked up the can of whipped cream, shook it vigorously, then sprayed a stream right at Declan. Reacting as if he knew the whipped cream attack was coming, Declan ducked. The stream of white foam shot over his head and struck Roger in the face.

Rather than get mad, Roger picked up his spoon, scraped the whipped cream off his cheek, as if he were shaving, and shoved the spoon into his mouth.

One of the girls, Sarah Cooke, winced. “Em, what time did you say the boys were leaving?”

When everyone had finished their ice cream, the
kids all tromped back downstairs.

Emily pulled out a bunch of tents. “Time to go camping!” she announced. The girls each grabbed a tent and began to set them up, with the boys lending a hand occasionally.

The girls set their tents up in a circle near the TV, under the dangling branches. Then Emily popped in her dad's fireplace DVD, complete with a crackling fire in realistic surround sound.

“This is so dorky!” Ethan exclaimed.

“So it's perfect for you,” Emily shot back.

Declan laughed. “I think it's cool.”

“Thank you, Declan,” Emily said. “You are welcome here anytime. Now who's got a scary story?”

“What kind of scary story?” Sarah asked.

“Any kind,” Emily said, shrugging.

“How about monsters chasing people through the woods?” Ethan suggested.

“Or maybe a wolf chasing someone through the woods,” Hannah chimed in, making a scary face and curving her fingers into the shape of claws. “Or how about a scary story about creepy neighbors?”

Emily shot a look of mild annoyance in Hannah's
direction. The last thing she wanted was to be reminded of her wolf hallucinations, or the Strigs.

“She's talking about Drew and Vicky, right?” Ethan asked.

“Right,” Emily replied.

“Who?” Declan asked.

“Did you notice that creepy old house across the street when my mom dropped us off?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well, the kids who live there are really weird,” Ethan explained. “Or so I've heard. I've never actually met them.”

“What's so weird about them?” Declan asked Emily.

“Oh, nothing,” Hannah jumped in. “Just the way they're always together and the fact that they never seem to leave that house. The one time I met them, they never made eye contact with me. Not for one second. It was like they were somewhere else, even though we were in the same room.”

“And their house is filled with all sorts of old, dusty things,” Emily added.

That was all she would say. Just as she had promised herself earlier, she was not about to reveal the truth
about just how weird Drew and Vicky really were.

“But enough about them,” Emily continued. “Who has a scary story?”

“I do,” Declan said. “It's a tale all about vampires.”

“Cool, I love vampire stories!” Emily exclaimed.

“Me too,” Declan said.

“Did you ever see
Vampire Babysitter
?” Emily asked. “That's one of my favorite movies.”

“Only a dozen times,” Declan replied. “It's a true classic.”

“Agreed. So, what's your vampire story?”

Declan cleared his throat and began. “Five hundred years ago in a remote mountaintop village—”

“In Transylvania, right?” Ethan interrupted his cousin.

“In the Swiss Alps, actually,” Declan explained.

“Ethan, no interrupting!” Emily scolded him. “Go ahead, Declan.”

“This particular
Swiss
village,” Declan continued, looking right at Ethan, “had been plagued by a series of brutal murders. Victims were found dragged from their homes, lying dead in the snow. All of the victims were bitten in the neck. But the odd thing was that some appeared to have been bitten by a person and some by an animal.”

“So the murderer had a vicious dog that helped him,” Ethan jumped in. Emily said nothing this time. Asking Ethan to stop interrupting was like asking him to stop breathing.

“Not necessarily,” Declan went on. “Because as it turned out, these were no ordinary murders. They were the work of a vampire. The villagers knew this because one by one the bodies of the victims started disappearing from the cemetery. People started reporting seeing their dead relatives walking through the village at night.”

“But what about the human and animal thing?” Ethan asked.

“Well, that was just further proof that the killer was a vampire. What most people forget is that vampires can shape-shift. They can change their form to look like other people, but they can also change themselves to look like animals. Some vampires actually prefer to hunt and feed in their animal forms.”

“Like as a mean, vicious dog?” Ethan asked.

“A dog, maybe, but also a wolf or a jackal, or, of course, the classic bat.”

“A hamster?” Ethan asked.

Hannah giggled.

“Not usually, no,” replied Declan seriously, totally ignoring Ethan's joke. “Anyway, one day, during a particularly bad snowstorm, a local villager huddled in front of a blazing fire in his hearth. Shortly after the sun set, a sharp knocking came at his door, cutting through the constant howl of the wind outside. Peering out his window, the man spotted a stranger standing in the raging storm. He wore only a thin coat and no hat or gloves. He shivered and shook as snow piled up on his shoulders and head.

“‘Please let me in,' the stranger cried. ‘It's cold and I've traveled such a long way.'

“Now, the villager knew of the recent attacks, so he hesitated. Again the man outside pleaded with him.

“‘Please let me in!'

“The villager had a good heart, and the man outside looked so cold and tired. He looked as if he couldn't hurt anyone. And so the villager opened the door. ‘Come in and get warm, my friend, before you freeze to death.'

“As soon as the stranger was inside, he began to change shape. He grew taller and stronger-looking. Well, the villager was never seen again. When his friends came
to see what had happened to him, they found one set of footprints leading up to the door, and two sets leading away.”

“If the vampire was so strong, why didn't he just bust into the guy's house and bite him?” Ethan asked.

Declan shook his head. “He couldn't. If a vampire catches you wandering around outside, he can do as he pleases. But the only way a vampire can enter a person's home is if that person invites the vampire in. Otherwise the vampire cannot enter.”

“That wasn't so scary,” Ethan said.

“I liked it,” Hannah said. “How about you, Em? You're the big scary movie fan.” Hannah looked over at Emily. Her eyes were opened wide, and her face had turned pale.

“What's the matter, Em? I never figured you for one to get so scared by a story.”

Emily's mind raced. She felt as if her brain was going to leap right out of her head. The story was set so long ago, but so much of it seemed . . . familiar. It all made sense now. Everything. The coffins, the wolf, never seeing Drew and Vicky during the day, the homeschooling, the fake parents, the way they pleaded to be let in once
they decided they wanted—what? What did they want?

Oh no, I know what they wanted,
Emily thought.
They wanted someone to fill that third coffin. They wanted me. It's all so clear to me now. Mr. and Mrs. Strig weren't lying in those coffins. They don't even exist. Those coffins belong to Drew and Vicky, because Drew and Vicky are vampires!

“I'm fine,” Emily said, waving Hannah away. She struggled to regain her composure. She was not going to let this ruin her party. Besides, she had never let Drew and Vicky in. She was safe. She pushed all this craziness aside and invited someone else to share a scary story.

A couple of other kids told stories. One was about an alien abduction. Another, about the ghost of a sailor doomed to sail the seas forever.

The storytelling was interrupted by Emily's mom calling down from the top of the cellar stairs. “Okay, guys, it's eleven o'clock. Time for the boys to go home and for the girls to go to sleep. Ethan, your mom is here to pick up you and Declan.”

“Okay, Mom,” Emily called back up.

The boys said their good nights and thanked Emily.

“Another successful end-of-the-year event,” Ethan said as he headed for the basement stairs. “Although not quite as memorable as puking at the top of the Ferris wheel.”

“Thank you so much for inviting me, Emily,” Declan said as he followed his cousin up the stairs. “I had a great time.”

“You're welcome,” Emily replied. “Thank you for the vampire story. That was great. I hope I get to see you again soon.”

When the boys had all gone, the girls gathered in a tight circle and chatted about summer plans, what they might do at the end of the next year, and about how charming Declan was.

“Okay, girls, lights-out time,” Emily's mom called down.

Emily turned off the TV, putting out their campfire, and one by one, the girls slipped into their tents. Just before she went into her tent, Emily glanced toward the basement window. There appeared to be a face peering in at her. She knew the face. It was Vicky!

She blinked and rubbed her eyes. When she opened them again, Vicky was gone. There was no one at the window.
It's been a long day
, Emily thought.
Just go to sleep.

She crawled into her tent and slipped into her sleeping bag. She was exhausted from the day's events but was still wired from the excitement and the evening's startling revelation.

Vampires living across the street from her. Now that she thought about it, it sounded ridiculous. There had to be some logical explanation, right? There were no such things as vampires. But she must have believed it to some degree, since she felt so relieved that she had never officially invited Drew or Vicky in. And in the last text she sent them, she'd specifically told them they weren't invited to her party. Still, Emily thought about that third coffin and shuddered. She hugged the sleeping bag around herself tighter. Eventually she drifted off to sleep.