Chris Grabenstein - The Black Heart Crypt

“Oh me, oh my!” gasped Sophie.

“Is that wise?” asked Hannah.

“Well, if I don’t, they’ll wilt the pumpkins. Or maybe the wind will knock them off the railing and we’ll burn down the house. Again.”

“But …”

Suddenly, there was a horrible shriek—an angry yowl followed by banging, something falling, a crash, and another yowl.

“Mister Cookiepants?” snapped Aunt Hannah. “Leave Mystic alone!”

“Mystic?” cried Aunt Sophie. “Leave your sister alone. Bad cat! Bad, bad, very bad!”

The two aunts hurried up the stairs to referee a catfight.

Judy went out to the porch, picked up the pumpkin lids, and blew out the candles one by one. As the wicks smoldered, she savored the scent of fresh-baked pumpkin pie.

“We should all smell so good when we die, am I right?”

A stout young man swaggered toward the porch steps. He was costumed like a character from the musical Grease . Slicked-back hair. White T-shirt. Blue jeans. A pack of cigarettes tucked into his rolled-up shirtsleeve. When he moved into the porch light, Judy could see that what she’d thought were the white tips of cigarettes were actually writhing maggots.

“Can I help you?” asked Judy.

“Your people vaporized my son tonight. Sent him packing.”

“What?”

“You’re a Jennings, right?”

“Who are you?”

“They call me Little Paulie.” He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a blunt black handle that had a silver button on its front. “Little Paulie Ickleby.”

Ickleby .

The ghost Zack and Ginny had battled at the hardware store had been an Ickleby.

This Ickleby pressed the button on the black knife handle. A sharp steel blade sprang up.

“Go away,” said Judy. She fumbled in her pocket for a match to relight one of the jack-o’-lanterns. Couldn’t find one.

The ghost put one foot on the first step.

“Hey, don’t be a wet rag. Word from the bird: If you didn’t want me to drop by, you shouldn’t’ve blown out your overgrown turnips. Jack-o’-lanterns protect you, sister. Frighten spooks away.”

Okay. The folktales were true.

Little Paulie Ickleby lurched up to the second step.

“First you Jenningses drag us away from home.”

He climbed the third step.

“Next you rub out Eddie Boy? My favorite son? Now all I got left is chickenhearted Herman!”

Little Paulie slashed his knife angrily to the left.

It scratched a deep scar into the porch railing.

The knife blade could do serious damage. It was real.

Because tonight is Halloween , Judy realized.

“Where’s your son?” asked the ghost, his eyes narrowing to reptilian slits.

“What?”

“You people take my son; we take yours. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a boy for a boy.”

Little Paulie lunged forward.

Behind Judy, the front door flew open.

A cat hissed.

“Duck!” shouted Aunt Hannah.

“Incoming!” shoutedAunt Sophie.

The two aunts leapt onto the porch and hurled smoldering white smoke bombs at the feet of Little Paulie Ickleby.

Pyewacket, Aunt Ginny’s gray-and-white cat, sprang over to swat its paws at the greaser’s knees. Little Paulie froze in his tracks and dropped the switchblade knife so he could clench his throat.

“You’re … bad … news!” he gasped in pain.

“Especially for you, young man,” said Aunt Hannah.

The aunts leaned over the gulping specter and started to chant. “It is time for you to leave. All is well. There is nothing here for you now.”

Judy could’ve sworn that the ghost was starting to fade away, like somebody had just unplugged him.

“Go now, Paul Ickleby,” said the two aunts. “Go. Complete your passing.”

With one last pitiful, choking whoop, the ghost disappeared.

And somewhere, high in a tree, a bird cawed harshly.

Zack wasfeeling pretty good as the van headed up Stonebriar Road for home.

He’d hang on to his ghost-seeing gift, at least until Halloween was over. He’d protect his friends and family.

They’d already dropped off Malik and Azalea.

“Sorry we had to cut Halloween a little short,” said his dad, turning into the driveway in front of their house.

“That’s okay.”

“If you like, Zack,” said Aunt Ginny, “we can go to the grocery store tomorrow. I suspect all the Halloween candy will be half price.”

He chuckled.

But then he saw Judy and his dad’s other two aunts up on the porch. All three were waving their arms over their heads the way people do when they’ve just witnessed a car wreck on the highway. Zipper shot his ears up, sensing trouble.

“Oh, my,” muttered Aunt Ginny.

Zack’s dad jammed on the parking brake, jumped out of the van, and raced up to the porch. Zack and Zipper were right behind him. Aunt Ginny was bringing up the rear.

“What happened?” Zack’s dad asked.

“Another one of those Ickleby ghosts,” said Judy. “This one looked like he was from the 1950s.”

“Aha,” said Aunt Ginny after she caught her breath. “Little Paulie. The next-youngest man in the mausoleum.”

“What?” said Zack’s dad. “Who’s Little Paulie?”

“Eddie Boy’s father,” said Ginny.

“Who’s Eddie Boy?” asked Judy.

“The ghost Aunt Ginny smoke-bombed in the hardware store,” said Zack.

“Virginia?” said Aunt Hannah, her hands on her hips. “What have you done?”

“Me? Why, nothing, sister.”

“How would you explain this sudden influx of evil Icklebys?”

“We three agreed,” mumbled Aunt Sophie somewhat sheepishly. “I remember. We did.”

“Did you use my sage candles, sisters?” Aunt Ginny asked very sweetly.

“Yes,” said Hannah. She looked like she was so mad she might turn into a smoke bomb, too.

“Wonderful,” said Aunt Ginny. “Two down, ten to go.”

“You seem very pleased,” said Hannah.

“Me? Hardly. But now that the cats are out of the bag, so to speak, perhaps we three should go inside and discuss this matter further?”

“What matter?” asked Judy.

“Oh, we’re not to speak of it,” said Sophie. “It’s a triple-pinky secret.”

Aunt Ginny winked at Judy. “I’ll clue you in later, dear.” She gestured toward the front door. “Sisters? Shall we?”

Hannah harrumphed into the house. Sophie followed her.

“Oh, Georgie?” said Aunt Ginny.

“Yes?”

“We may need to stay in town a bit longer than originally planned.”

Jenny Ballardfound a sharp twig and etched a five-pointed star into the blackened dirt in front of the Ickleby family crypt.

Then she surrounded her pentagram with one dozen sputtering candles.

“Stand in the center of the burning circle, Norman!” she said, her voice urgent and breathy. “Prepare to welcome your ancestors into your body.”

Norman hesitated.

“This is your chance!” said Jenny. “Forever banish weak Norman from your body!”

“I can make my dad pay for never standing up for me?”

“Yes, Norman.”

“And Snertz? I get to cream him, too?”