Chris Grabenstein - The Black Heart Crypt

“You dare call me a coward?”

“Yes, Norman. I just did.”

“You shall pay for your words, you horrid hag.”

“How?” Ginny held up the glowing pumpkin. “Are you and your horsey going to come up here and hurt me? Of course not. You’re afraid of pumpkins, too!”

Hannah and Sophie came out on the porch.

“Oh, my,” gasped Sophie. “Is that him?”

“Yes, dear,” said Ginny in a tense stage whisper. “Did you bring the exorcism powders?”

Hannah was carrying Ginny’s carpetbag. “It’s all in here. For heaven’s sake, sister, why do you taunt him?”

“It amuses me.”

“Does he have the black heart stone?” asked Sophie.

“Aunt Ginny?” It was Zack. He and Judy were at the front door.

“Stay inside, dear. You too, Judy. We’ll take care of this.”

“I’m going to call the police,” said Judy.

“No. Not yet. Soon that creature on the horse will be nothing more than a dazed and confused hardware-store clerk who will, hopefully, remember where they had him hide the black heart stone. Give us a minute.”

“ One minute,” said Judy.

Ginny stood up from the rocking chair and turned her back to Jack the Lantern so she could consult with her two sisters.

“We shall initiate the exorcism.”

“How?” asked Hannah.

“We can startle him with his false reflection from up here. I’ll work the mirror. Hannah, you take the horn. Sophie, stand by with the powder. Once we have spiritual separation, we can sage Barnabas and begin the banishment incantation.”

“I’ll ask you one last time, ladies!” shouted Jack the Lantern. “Where is the boy? Where is young Zachary Jennings?”

Ginny twirled around.

“He’s busy!”

“Doing what?”

“Getting ready for school!” shouted Sophie. “The bus will be coming along shortly to pick him up.”

Jack tugged up on the reins. His black stallion pranced sideways. “Why, thank you, Sophia. How silly of me to forget. The big yellow carriage full of children that I have seen pass Haddam Hill so many times.”

“Oops,” peeped Sophie, putting her hand to her mouth. “I think I just made a boo-boo.”

Jack pulled a pistol out of his belt, aimed it at Ginny.

“And just who do you think you’re scaring with that, coward?” said Aunt Ginny defiantly.

“Your glowing gourds might stop me from coming up on that porch, sorceress, but they cannot stop my bullet!”

The raven perched on the masked man’s shoulder squawked and flapped its wings.

Ginny reached into her carpetbag. Whipped out the stainless steel signal mirror.

Before she could use it, she heard a gun explode.

The pistol ball smacked Ginny hard.

The silvery mirror fell from her hand with a clatter.

Ginny felt a searing pain in her chest as the world began to spin.

“Oh, my,” she squeaked.

And then she toppled to the floor.

As theold crone fell to her knees, Jack the Lantern threw back his head and cackled his lunatic laugh. Satan reared up on his hind legs and roared triumphantly.

“Away!” the masked highwayman cried. “Away!”

He tugged up on the reins hard. The horse wheeled right.

“Back to the crypt! Fly!”

He gave a swift kick, and with a jangle of stirrups, the horse broke into a full gallop.

Jack the Lantern would kidnap all the children crammed into the yellow carriage when it passed Haddam Hill.

He would demand a king’s ransom for their safe return.

And once he had the money?

He would slay them all so none could bear witness against him.

But he would slay Zachary Jennings first!

Zack waskneeling on the porch, holding Aunt Ginny’s hand.

“Don’t worry, dear,” she mumbled, a pained smile on her face. “It’s only a flesh wound.”

“The ambulance is on its way!” shouted Judy, who had called 911.

“Put this poultice on it,” said Hannah, pressing a moist mass of cloth and herbs on the bloody bullet hole.

Aunt Ginny winced. “Ouch. Not so much pressure, dear.”

“Hush,” said Aunt Sophie. “Save your strength.”

“Malik,” mumbled Zack.

“What?” said Judy.

Zack motioned for his mom to join him where the aunts couldn’t hear what they were talking about.

“What if, somehow, Jack the Lantern knows about the gold and the reward? What if Norman, somehow, told him? Malik will definitely be one of the kids he grabs first!”

“Run inside. You call Malik. I’ll call your dad. Hurry!”

“Hello?”

“Malik?”

“Hi, Zack. Everything okay?”

“Don’t go to school today.”

“Why not?”

“Norman Ickes may be coming to get you.”

“What?”

“Well, he’s not really Norman right now.”

“But …”

“Look, I gotta run. The ambulance is here.”

“Ambulance?”

“Yeah. Norman just shot Aunt Ginny. I’ll call you again when we’re at the hospital. Bye.”

Zack clicked off.

Malik stared at the phone.

Norman Ickes, his puzzle pal, had shot Zack’s elderly aunt?

Malik turned on the early-morning TV news.

“This just in,” said the reporter, “Norman Ickes strikes again. Moments ago, the local hardware-store clerk, wanted for yesterday’s robberies at Stansbury Stables and the Hi-Way 31 Eat and Run, appeared on horseback and shot an elderly woman who …”

Malik snapped off the TV.

Zack was right.

He needed to stay home from school today.

At AuntGinny’s request, Zack and Judy rode in the back of the ambulance with her and the paramedic who had bandaged her shoulder wound.

A police car carrying Aunts Hannah and Sophie was right behind them.

“Do I look like a scuba diver, Zack?” asked Aunt Ginny, her voice weak. She had an oxygen tube stuck up her nostrils.

Zack smiled. “Sort of.”

“Good. I always wanted to go scuba diving.”

“Ma’am?” said the paramedic, who was holding her wrist, checking her pulse. “You need to take it easy, okay?”

“Yes, dear. Of course.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“Judy?”

“Yes?”

“Take my purse.” She gestured toward the bulging carpetbag.

“I’ll keep an eye on it for you.”

“No. You need to take my place.”

“But …”

“The circle must number three, Judy. You, Sophie, and Hannah.”

Judy nodded. She understood.

“Everything you need is in that bag.”

Aunt Ginny was wheezing now.

“Zack?” He had to lean down to hear her.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“This is why I tricked you and your friends into opening the black heart stone: I knew that I, and my sisters, would one day die, that our confinement spell would then be broken. The Icklebys would escape.… I ’m sorry … I …”

“Okay,” said Judy, touching Zack on his back. “Let Ginny rest, hon.”

Aunt Ginny closed her eyes.

Motion in the front of the ambulance caught Zack’s attention.