Attack of the Shark-Headed Zombie Read Free Page B

said. “We can try out the wand and the spell you found.”
    Keats took a deep breath, then nodded. “It’s only part of the spell, but what do we have to lose?” he said. “After all, it’s called Zap a Zombie.”
    The boys faced the wall where the zombie was pounding. Keats held the spell, and Henry held the wand.
    “Okay,” Keats said. “Step one says we have to stand on one foot.” The boys did. Keats was a little more wobbly than Henry.
    Keats read step two. “Now wave the wand.”
    Henry did. “What’s next?”
    “I don’t know,” Keats answered. “We’re supposed to say something. But step three is missing. I don’t know what the words are.”
    “You named your bike after the guy who wrote the dictionary,” Henry said. “You like words! Make something up!”
    Keats thought for a second. “How about … zombie, go up a tree and set us free!”
    “That’s really strange,” Henry said with a nod. “But I like it.”
    Henry waved the wand, and both boys said, “Zombie, go up a tree and set us free!”
    Keats held his breath. Henry was grinning, waiting for a bang or something big.
    But nothing happened. The zombie just kept ramming the wall. The boys put both feet on the floor again.

    “Sorry,” Keats said, disappointed. “We need the real words to make the spell work.”
    “It’s not just that. Listen.” Henry shook the wand again. Keats heard a rattling sound. It was the noise a burned-out lightbulb makes.
    Keats said, “The bulb is burned out. The wand probably can’t work with a busted bulb.”
    “No problem,” said Henry. “We’ll just get another one.”
    But it was a problem. They looked in the cabinets. There weren’t any bulbs there. And the ones in the lamps in the kitchen were all too big. They didn’t fit into the wand.
    “Hold on!” Henry said. “I know where we can find a bulb. In the note, Mr. Cigam asked us to
bring the box of lightbulbs down from the attic.
The bulbs are waiting for us! We just have to go get them.”
    Keats felt his stomach flip-flop.
    If the garden and the kitchen were so creepy, he could only imagine how scary the attic would be.

“WAIT A SECOND , Henry,” Keats said. “I just want to make sure I understand your new World’s Greatest Plan.” He took a deep breath and asked, “You want us to go up to the attic to get the lightbulbs and bring them downstairs and use one of them to put in the wand so we can zap the zombie with a spell and finish the to-do list so the owner of the house will come back and take us home?”
    Henry laughed at the really long question. He knew Keats was trying to stall. “Don’t go chicken on me, Keats. We can follow my plan. Or we can stay here and wait for our zombie pal.”
    Keats looked at the shaking kitchen wall. The pounding from outside had gotten louder. Cracks were forming in the wall. It wouldn’t be long before the zombie broke through.
    “Okay, let’s go,” Keats said.
    Henry opened the door on the other side of the room. Behind the door was a hallway.
    “
Another
hallway?” Keats asked.
    Henry shrugged. “I guess that’s why Mr. Cigam called this place Hallway House.”
    The hallway was fairly dark. Doors lined both walls. And at the end, they could make out the bottom steps of a winding staircase.
    “Those steps must lead up to the attic,” Henry said. “Come on.”
    With Keats holding the wand, the boys crept out of the kitchen. After they walked through the doorway, it shimmered. Then it was gone. This seemed totally normal by now. But it also made the hallway even darker.
    Slowly, the boys made their way down the hall.
    “Ouch!” a voice said.
    Henry chuckled. “What’s wrong now, Keats?”
    “I didn’t say anything,” Keats said.
    “Then who said ‘ouch’?” Henry asked.
    “I thought you did,” Keats said. He took another step.
    “Ouch!” a voice said again. Something nipped at Keats’s toes. He could feel it through his sneaker. He jerked back his foot.