Sammy Keyes and the Night of Skulls Read Free Page B

new section toward the old.
    “That thing is coming to get us,” Billy says.
    “Shh!” I tell him, but it’s too late—Marissa’s totally freaking out. “Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!” she pants like she’s about to die.
    We watch the Beast get closer.
    And closer.
    My heart is beating like crazy and my whole body feels tense and twitchy. Like it’s a fuse sparking and sputtering toward a bomb. And since the Beast is coming straight for us, we finally quit looking and cower behind our tombstones and hold our breath.
    The footsteps get louder.
    Then there’s heavy breathing.
    And all at once there it is.
    Right above us.
    The Beast.

Out of reflex I sort of jump and I go, “Aaagh!” And I guess Casey thought I was trying to scare the Beast off because he does the same thing, only on purpose.
    And then Holly does it, too.
    Since our eyes are already bugged out and we look like death in our makeup and tatters, the Beast must have thought we’d just risen from the graves we were on, because he backpedals like mad to get away from us.
    And then he stumbles over Billy.
    “Aaaah!” he cries, and when Billy lunges at him, he stumbles again, and this time the woven sack he’s carrying flies out of his hand and drops in Billy’s lap.
    That’s when I finally realize that the Beast is not a beast at all. It’s a guy wearing a zarape—you know, one of those Mexican poncho-type things?
    So, ding-dong!
    Trick-or-treat!
    I feel like such an idiot. Why hadn’t I thought of that before?
    But El Zarape doesn’t seem to get that
we’re
trick-or-treaters, and when he realizes that there are
five
of us ugly,warty creatures hanging out on graves and hears the guy who’s been chasing him call, “I know you’re in there, punk!” he does what any sensible trick-or-treater who’s been chased through a graveyard into a pack of zombies would do.
    He abandons his candy sack and takes off running.
    Now, it’s pretty obvious that it would be bad news if Shovel Man found
us
. I mean, what kind of man chases a trick-or-treater through a graveyard with a
shovel
?
    So we hide behind our tombstones holding our breath, and when Shovel Man doesn’t show up after a few minutes, we finally get brave and peek.
    “There he is,” Casey whispers, and we can see him skirting the edge of the old section, searching for El Zarape as he moves farther and farther away.
    “It looks like he’s afraid to come into this part,” I whisper back.
    “Smart guy,” Marissa says, and her teeth are chattering so bad she can barely talk. “Can we
please
get out of here?”
    So we get up and start moving along the border of the old section, staying far enough back so we can duck behind gravestones again if we have to hide. I keep looking over my shoulder for signs of Shovel Man or El Zarape, and finally I ask, “What do you think El Zarape did?”
    Everyone turns and looks at me.“El Zarape?”
    “You know, the guy in costume? The one who lost his candy bag?”
    Billy holds the woven bag up. “If I see him, I’ll give it back.”
    Casey snorts. “
Sure
you will.”
    “Dude, I’m serious. I’m no sugar-lootin’ ghoul. I’m a good ghoul!”
    Casey chuckles, and then he starts singing,
       
“He’s a good ghoul, loves his mama …”
    And Billy chimes in louder with,
       
“Yeah, I’m free! Free fallin’!”
    “Are you guys crazy?” Marissa says. “Do you
want
that guy with the shovel to hear you?”
    “He won’t hear us,” Billy says. “He’s long gone.”
    “What song was that?” I ask, because it was pretty obvious they weren’t just making it up.
    Holly turns to me. “ ‘Free Fallin’,’ Tom Petty.”
    Casey nods. “Also covered by both John Mayer and The Almost.”
    Marissa and I give each other a never-heard-of-it shrug, but very quietly Holly says, “My mom used to sing it.”
    So now Marissa and I look at each other like,
Oh, maaaaan
, because to make a long, sad story short, Holly’s real mom is dead and