Chris Grabenstein - The Hanging Hill

If this was a storage room for scenery, that meant there had to be some sort of freight elevator. A trapdoor. Some way to raise and lower heavy objects. Otherwise, how did they get the statue down here?

Now Hakeem, Grimes’s assistant, stepped toward the statue. “Mighty Moloch, for lo these many years have we waited for this moment!”

Meghan looked over at Derek. He was trembling.

“We have longed for a high priest of Ba’al, an heir to the royal bloodline, to journey forth to this portal under the full dog moon to unleash our avenging army of demons!”

Okay. Now Meghan’s knees were knocking, too. She’d met one demon—Lilly Pruett. But a whole army?

“Brotherhood of Hannibal, prepare to reap your reward!” cried Hakeem. “Prepare to raise a legion of merciless mercenaries to restore the glory that was Carthage! My brothers, prepare for Pandemonium!”

Meghan knew what that meant.

They were going to reestablish the capital city of Hell!

97

“There has to be a sliding panel!” said Judy.

“What?” said Meghan’s mom.

Mrs. Stone didn’t say anything. She was still passed out, squeezed in tight between Judy and Mrs. McKenna in the claustrophobic substitution box.

“That’s how magicians do this trick! They slip off the ropes, then slide out the secret panel to switch places with their assistant.”

“Where do they put the secret escape hatch?”

“Well, it can’t be on the front or the two sides,” said Judy. “The audience would see the magician sneaking out. So, it has to be on the bottom or the back. Feel around for it!”

They both slid down as far as they could with their hands tied behind their backs, their ankles bound. Judy patted her palms against the rear wall, then the floor, feeling for a hidden switch or lever. Being blindfolded didn’t make the search any easier.

“We need to get out of here,” said Mrs. McKenna, sounding frantic. “Those men have Meghan!”

“We’ll find her. Derek, too. And Zack! Where’s Zack?”

“With Wilbur,” said a young girl.

Judy and Mrs. McKenna froze.

They couldn’t see who the little girl was.

But they both heard what sounded like rubber balls bouncing around on the crate’s wooden floor.

98

Mr. Kimble crawled through the trapdoor first.

“I’ll go phone the police!” he shouted down the ladder to Zack. “Meet me at the stage manager’s desk! It’s behind the black curtains stage right!”

“Hurry!” said Zack. He hauled himself up the final four rungs of the ladder, came up through the trapdoor.

The curly-haired ghost was waiting for him.

“Hello, Zack.”

He could finally see her face.

It looked just like it did in the theater program.

Young and happy.

His mother.

His real mother. Susan Potter. When she was in her twenties and her hair was wild and curly, not flat and straight like Zack remembered it. This was his mother before Zack had been born. Before she had even met his dad.

“It’s so good to see you again. Let me look at you!”

Zack retreated two steps. Bumped up against some ropes and sandbags.

“W-w-what do you want?” he stammered.

“To help you! That’s why I moved the gloves. To point the way to the statue! Then I led you to the trunk and protected you from Lilly Pruett and helped you find the hidden script. Don’t you see, Zack? I want to help you and Judy.”

“You leave Judy alone!”

“No, Zack. You don’t understand. I’m trying to …”

“Shut up! I know what you’re trying to do!”

For a moment, the ghost of his dead mother said nothing. Then she smiled. “You were always so different, Zack. So very special.”

Was she mocking him?

“I think it’s because you were born under a full moon.”

Oh, yeah. She might be dead, but she was still the same.

“You should be downstairs, Zack. He can’t complete the ritual without children born under a full moon.”

So that was why she’d saved him from Lilly Pruett. She was making some kind of deal with Moloch. Offering Zack as another kid to be fed into the fire.

“You were spying on me at the hotel back in North Chester, weren’t you?”

“No, Zack.”

“You were there with that guy in the electric chair! He called you Doll Face.”

“Yes, but…”

“Is Mad Dog Murphy one of your new pals?”

“No, Zack.”

“Yeah, right. You broke the picture frame in my room, didn’t you?”

“I’m sorry.”

“You could only do that if you were really, really mad.”

“Or happy.”

“No, you’re mad because I’m finally happy!”

Her terrifying smile broadened. “Are you, Zack?”

“Absolutely!” He spat the word at her. “Happier than I ever was with you!”

And then Zack figured it out.

“You hate that, don’t you? You hate that I’m happy!”

“No, Zack.”

“You’re lying! I know what you’re trying to do! You’re trying to slow me down! You want Judy dead!”

“No, Zack. Listen …”

“Shut up, you wicked witch! I didn’t kill you and I won’t let you kill Judy or Meghan or even Derek!”

The ghost of his mother stopped smiling.

“I’m sorry, Zack.”

“Why? Because I figured out your stupid plan?”

Susan Potter disappeared as quickly as the fog off a mirror when you throw open the bathroom door.

Hah! Got her!

One demon down, who knew how many more to go?

“Zack!” It was Mr. Kimble. Off in the shadows. “Help!”

99

The sleek gray cat was fast.

Very fast.

Zipper chased it up the spiral staircase.

Across the lower lobby.

Up the curving staircase.

Very, very fast.

Into the main lobby. Around the box office. Under the velvet ropes, over the stack of playbills, down the side of the lobby, through a door.

A closed door.

Zipper hit the brakes.

Smacked into the door.

He wasn’t a ghost. Couldn’t run through solid objects. The cat could. Cheater.

100

“Don’t be afraid,” said the soft, childish voice.

“Who are you?” Judy asked the darkness.

“Clara Kimble. Mr. Harry Houdini showed me how to do this trick, ages ago. Feel on the floor. Near your feet.”

“I don’t feel a thing,” Mrs. McKenna grunted.

“Not you, silly. You!”

Judy felt a rush of cold air, as if she had just stuck her head inside the freezer case at the supermarket to check out the ice cream. She slid her feet around on the floor.

“Got it! Found it!”

“Great!” said Meghan’s mom.

“Push it sideways,” said the girl. “Push it now!”

Judy pushed. She heard a soft thunk. A panel flopped open under her feet and she tumbled out onto the floor.

“What about the rope? My hands?”

“Move the knots around,” whispered the girl. “Find the slack. There is always slack. Houdini said so!”

Yes! Judy found the slack, wrestled her hands free, and pulled off her blindfold. Started to work on the ropes binding her ankles. “Thanks, Clara!”

Clara was gone.

“Hang on, Mary!” Judy crawled back into the box. Maneuvered around Derek’s unconscious mom. Started untying Mrs. McKenna’s wrists and ankles.

“Was that a ghost?” Mrs. McKenna asked.

“Yeah. I think so.”

“What about Mrs. Stone?”

“We’ll come back for her.”

The two moms crawled out the secret panel on the bottom of the box.

They heard a man screaming and laughing in the darkened wings stage right.

“You fools!”

His voice was dripping evil.

“You weaklings will never stop us!”