she resolutely signed her name on the line next to
Skye handed the clipboard back to Annette, and before she could step out the door, Annette trilled after her, “Rehearsals are seven p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, the dress rehearsal is at six and we open for business at seven. Please be prompt.”
It was Friday afternoon, and Skye caught herself smiling as she sat at her desk, trying to whittle down the endless piles of paperwork that seemed to grow every time she left the room. Jackie was scheduled to be at the junior high for the rest of the day, and for once Skye had the office to herself. She thought of the Oscar Wilde quote, “Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.” Clearly Jackie fell into the latter category, at least from Skye’s perspective.
Another positive was that the haunted-house rehearsals had been less awful than she had feared. And, while she wasn’t looking forward to the opening that evening, her dread had diminished. She was one of a trio of identically dressed witches who would pop out at different locations in the haunted house, giving the impression that a single witch was disappearing and reappearing.
The other two witches, Nina Miles, a parent whom Skye knew slightly, and Hope Kennedy, a teacher from the elementary school, were a lot of fun. Skye had been a bit embarrassed when their dresses had to be padded so all three of them would appear to be the same size, but neither Nina nor Hope had made a fuss. In fact, since they all appeared remarkably similar once they were in costume, they’d all had a good time fooling people. They even startled themselves—when one popped up unexpectedly on another, it was like looking in a mirror.
A Ghoul’s Night Out was being held in an old white stone building on an isolated corner at the end of Basin Street. The American Legion had occupied it for years, but had recently built a brand-new hall outside of town. After scoping out the witches’ assigned spots, Skye had managed to obtain the one closest to the door that opened onto the hallway were the restrooms were located.
Having done what she could to mitigate her anxiety, Skye had put the upcoming experience out of her mind. She was concentrating on a particularly difficult part of the report she was writing when her office door thumped open and Jackie and Justin strolled in, laughing.
Her concentration broken, Skye blurted, “What are you doing here?”
“Gee, I’m sorry. Did you need the room to yourself?” A creased formed between Jackie’s brows, but she quickly smoothed it out. “The parent didn’t show up for our appointment, so I figured I’d get some work done here. But I could go sit in the teachers’ lounge if it’s a problem.”
“Oh. No. That’s okay. You’re welcome to stay.” Skye bit her lip. What else could she say—that she wanted to be alone? She’d sound like a poor imitation of Greta Garbo. Besides, it wasn’t as if she were testing a student and could demand that Jackie give her privacy.
“Thanks.” Jackie turned to her companion, an enigmatic expression on her face. “Justin, tell Ms. Denison what you were telling me.”
“Hi, Ms. D.” Justin pulled a chair up to Skye’s desk. “We were just talking about the history of the building that the Promfest haunted house is using.”
“What about it?”
“I was doing some research for an article for the
“What do you think?” Skye asked cautiously, preferring to allow the students to come to their own conclusions.
“All I know is that a lot of people have heard or seen something creepy there, but you know how rumors fly in this town.”
Skye nodded and picked up her pen, not wanting to hear any more about the haunted building, especially right before she had to spend time alone in the dark there.
“Justin, tell her the whole story,” Jackie urged. “It’s such a hoot.”
“Well.” He looked a little uncomfortable, and nervously jiggled his foot. “From what I’ve heard, back in 1935, when the building was an opera house, the star, a beautiful woman with long black hair, caught her husband, the male lead singer, with the blond understudy and freaked out. She picked up an ax that had been a prop in one of their shows and chopped off the other woman’s head, then turned on her husband and buried the ax in his . . . uh, private parts.”
“Wow.” Despite not wanting to hear the story, Skye was enthralled. “I wonder why I wasn’t aware of that. I’ll have to ask my grandmother if she knows anything about it. She’s the right age.”
Justin shrugged. “Anyway, when the star came to her senses and saw both victims lying at her feet in a pool of blood, she couldn’t live with what she had done, so she climbed to the roof, tied a noose around her neck, and jumped off.”
“Oh, my.” Skye shook her head. “So now she haunts the building?”
“Ever since then, all three of them have been seen and heard. When the opera house closed, everyone thought that would be the end of it, but it wasn’t. In the 1950s the building became a dance hall, and strange things started happening again. Ladies claimed that when they looked in the bathroom mirror they saw a beautiful woman with long black hair wearing a white dress covered in blood.”
A shiver ran up Skye’s spine. “That sounds a lot like one of the scary games my friends and I used to play at slumber parties, where we stared into a mirror until we convinced ourselves we saw an evil spirit.”
“I’ve heard of that game,” Justin agreed. “But the men say that they’ve heard both crying and voices arguing.” He took a breath and added, “When the dance hall closed, the weird stuff stopped. Then in the 1970s the building was bought by the American Legion and it all started up again.”
“Of course,” Skye muttered.
“During the next twenty-five years, before the American Legion moved to their new place, the caretaker said he saw ropes dangling from the roof, but they disappeared when he went up to check. Both members and guests reported seeing bloody axes leaning against the wall in the woman’s bathroom, and a man saw a pretty blonde covered in blood, running down the hall outside the restrooms.”
Skye had managed to keep Justin from seeing how much his story had upset her, but as soon as he and Jackie left, Skye buried her head in her hands. Why had she ever agreed to be a part of A Ghoul’s Night Out? All the fears she had managed to suppress came rushing back. Sighing, Skye opened her bottom desk drawer and reached for the Oreos. As she bit into the crunchy chocolate, she wondered if there were enough cookies in the world to calm her down this time.
CHAPTER 7
Oh, What a Night
Holy water, crucifix, garlic??check. Salt—check. Taser, flashlight, cell phone—check. Skye sat at her kitchen table inventorying the contents of her backpack. What else should she bring? She was prepared to fight off vampires, witches, and bad guys, but she needed something for werewolves.
Regrettably, she didn’t have any silver bullets for her shotgun.
What worked against ghosts? Although Skye secretly thought her own house was haunted, she had never attempted to get rid of the apparition. Mrs. Griggs had been a benevolent spirit, causing trouble only if Skye tried to get intimate with Wally. Given that they had moved their more amorous activities to his place, there had been no need to drive the ghost away.
Unfortunately, the ghosts at the American Legion hall did not seem to be of the Casper persuasion, and the only idea Skye could come up with was exorcism. Was it too late to ask Father Burns to perform a quick one at A Ghoul’s Night Out?
