Suddenly fresh air streamed into my lungs. I was free! I crawled away, thinking only about escape. Behind me I heard the whisper of cloth, the sound of bones creaking as they rubbed together, coming after me.
I was in the hallway. I felt around and located the post at the top of the stairs. Escape! I could run down the stairs and out of the house and never stop running. Get away from this awful thing, this awful house, and never look back.
But I hesitated. I had to get Sally.
But how? I couldn’t lead this thing to my little sister. She was safe in her room—for now at least.
Mom and Dad, then. I had to get to them, wake them up. But my heart sank. I knew they wouldn’t be able to see the skeleton that had come to get me, or to scare me away so it could get Sally. They didn’t see any of the things that happened in this house. They would just send me back to bed and it would come for me again.
No, I had to fight it myself. Maybe there was something downstairs I could use as a weapon.
But I had hesitated too long.
I heard a low cackle, felt its rotten breath on the back of my neck. It was catching up. It reached for me.
I yelled and flung myself toward the stairs. I reached to catch hold of the banister but missed.
My hands grabbed nothing but air. Then my back hit the top of the stairs. I was rolling.
My head slammed the edge of a stair and everything went black.
25
The bang on the head stunned me for only a second—long enough for me to tumble halfway down the stairs. A jolt of pain woke me up as I bounced from one stair to the next and landed at the bottom.
I sat up and rubbed my head. Ouch! A nasty lump was forming.
All around me was darkness and quiet. The thing in the black shroud had not followed me down the stairs. No sound came from upstairs. Was the gruesome thing gone?
I tried squinting up the stairway, but I couldn’t see a thing. It was so dark. Cautiously I looked around, peering into the shadowed dimness of the living room and the dining room. Nothing moved. Could the nightmare be over?
Gritting my teeth, I started back up the stairs. My plan was to check in on Sally, stay and guard her for the rest of the night.
I got up just one step.
Without warning something heavy flew over my head and crashed into the wall. As if that was a signal, the house erupted like a volcano, objects flying everywhere.
I covered my head with my arms and crouched low. I heard the lamp slide off the hall table and fly up. A second later the table followed, smashing the lamp in midair. A chair hurtled in from the dining table and crashed against the banister just above my head.
Vases and figurines flew off the shelf upstairs and collided with candlesticks and lamps from downstairs.
I peeked out from under my arms and saw a toy boat hurl itself at a silver serving tray from the dining room. Wham-smash! They were both destroyed.
I watched in horror as one of the heavy living room chairs rolled slowly toward me. It flipped end over end, smashed into the sofa, which shot up as if weightless, and then wedged itself in the doorway.
But how could I see what was going on? A moment ago it had been totally dark. Wait—there was a ghostly shimmering light over everything. I raised my head a fraction to try to find the source of the light. A heavy book zeroed in on my head. I ducked and the book slammed into the mirror behind me, exploding in a tinkly shower of glass.
I had to get out of here.
Cautiously I looked up again. The light seemed to be coming from upstairs. A soup ladle whizzed past my ear. I flinched away but not before I saw something move in the shadows at the top of the stairs.
My eyes searched the gloom beyond the light. There was something—someone—up there.
Two figures appeared in the ghostly light. One was tall, shrouded, and menacing—the thing that had come for me in my room. The other shape looked small and helpless, like a child. The weird, shimmery light swirled around their feet like glowing fog.
Suddenly the smaller shape broke away and tried to run toward me. But the tall thing grabbed it and held it back.
“Jason,” cried the child. “Jason, help me! Help me!”
It was Sally, and the tall thing had her in its skeleton hands.
26
The sound of my sister’s frightened cry made me leap up. I had to help her, no matter what.
The weird light flickered and beckoned me up the stairs. The two figures at the top struggled. I had to go to my sister. I had to save her!
But the thing had fooled me before with Sally’s voice. Maybe it wasn’t really her.
I hesitated and Sally cried out again, in pain this time. She twisted away but the skeleton thing had tight hold of her. “Jason!”
Sally’s voice pierced my heart. I knew it was really Sally this time. I could feel it.
I gulped back my fear. The storm of flying objects was subsiding. A candlestick dropped abruptly to the floor and rolled lifelessly into a corner.
The evil that awaited me at the top of the stairs was far worse than a bunch of flying objects. I wanted to crawl into a corner and scream for my parents. Let them handle this, or make it go away. But would they ever hear me?
Now or never, Jason. Just do it.
I clenched my jaw and bolted up the stairs to Sally.
The ghostly light blazed brighter as I ran into it. But where was Sally? I whirled one way, then the other, reaching
