costumed creatures prowled the sidewalks.
The girls trick-or-treated until their buckets were almost too heavy to
carry, and then lugged them back to Brooklyn’s.
“That was awesome!” said Charlotte, admiring the pile of treats on the
kitchen table.
“Beyond awesome,” Brooklyn agreed.
“Yum! Peanut butter cups!” A giant furry paw reached over Brooklyn’s
shoulder.
“HEY!” she cried, looking up to see a
werewolf leaning over her. Dracula and
Frankenstein stood behind the werewolf,
staring hungrily at the candy.
“Hi, Dale,” said Alex. “Hey, Max.
Who’s that?”
Dale’s friend Lucas slid the
Frankenstein mask up to his forehead
and dropped into the chair
next to her. “Whoa, good haul!”
“Best ever,” said Brooklyn
proudly. “Bet you wish you’d
trick-or-treated instead of going
to that costume party.”
Dale sat down next to
Charlotte. “Can I have a piece
of bubble gum?”
“Okay . . . sure,” she said.
Charlotte usually felt shy around Brooklyn’s big brother and his friends, and
tonight was no different, despite the costumes.
“Hey, if you’ll share your candy, we’ll let you watch a scary movie with us.”
“Excellent!” said Alex.
“What movie?” asked Brooklyn suspiciously.
“Looking Glass,” said Max. “These kids do a séance and invite this spirit
named Prudence in through an old mirror.”
“I’ve been wanting to see that!” Alex exclaimed.
“What do you say, Char?” Dale grinned at her. “You’re the tiebreaker.”
“Um, okay,” Charlotte stammered. “I guess I can leave the room if
I get scared.”
“That’s the spirit,” Dale beamed. “Get it?
Spirit!”
To Charlotte’s relief, the movie wasn’t
too creepy. The boys’ jokes after every
jump-scare made it seem almost silly.
Even Brooklyn laughed in spite of herself.
“See? Your brother’s not so bad,”
Charlotte said later as they headed to
the second-floor bathroom to get ready
for bed.
“Trust me, he is,” Brooklyn replied.
Alex was reaching for the knob
when the door burst open and all
three boys piled out.
“Go ahead . . . if you dare,” Dale
said with a sly smile.
“What do you mean?” asked Alex.
“Nothing,” said Max mysteriously.
“Did you put soap on my toothbrush
again?” Brooklyn demanded.
Dale shook his head.
“My hairbrush?”
“I didn’t touch your stuff,” said Dale.
“He’s always doing weird things with soap,” Brooklyn explained.
“If you must know, we were holding a séance to try to make Prudence
appear,” Dale said.
“But no luck . . . so far,” Max sighed. Then the boys burst into laughter.
“Night-night, ladies,” said Lucas, shutting Dale’s bedroom door.
The girls brushed their teeth and scrubbed off their Halloween makeup.
But the zombie patches Alex had given Charlotte were still stuck to her arms.
“Could I take a shower?” she asked. “Otherwise, I’m not sure this stuff will
come off.”
“Sure,” said Brooklyn. “Towels are in the cabinet.”
When her friends left the bathroom, Charlotte climbed into the antique
claw-foot tub. The room was warm and steamy, and the hot water felt good on
her shoulders. Still, the creaks of the old house sounded eerie to Charlotte,
who was used to her snug, modern apartment.
“Don’t be scared,” she whispered to herself as she wrapped up in a towel
and pushed the shower curtain aside. “Brooklyn’s family spends every night
here and nothing creepy ever happ—AAAGHHH!!!!”
Brooklyn and Alex heard Charlotte’s scream and raced to the rescue.
“CHAR! WHAT’S WRONG?!”
Charlotte pointed a trembling finger at
the fogged-up mirror. In its center was a
ghostly message: Let me out! Prudence.
“The door was closed the
whole time!” Charlotte wailed.
“Calm down,” said
Brooklyn. “I know what
spirits wrote that!”
Who wrote
the message,
and how did
Brooklyn know?
Dinner with
Dragons
“HELP! I’m freaking out!” Brooklyn shouted into
the phone.
“Let me guess,” Alex began. “Dale took your
favorite soccer ball to practice with him again?”
“WORSE! Remember how I told you about
the twins’ school play? It’s called Happily Ever
After? Well, it’s about to become UNhappily
Ever After because Ms. Barston has the flu,
and she was supposed to do costumes and stage
makeup. Now I’m trapped backstage with ten
thousand screaming first graders!”
“You