“Not really,” said Sally. “It was a—a ’speriment. But I was really scared.”
I clutched her to me, thinking black thoughts. We had to get out of this house!
But first, we had to get out of this room.
I hoisted Sally against my shoulder and started for the door. But there was no big ring on the inside. No doorknob, either.
I didn’t think it would be as easy to break down as the closet door. But, then, it wasn’t really there, was it? It was just the door Bobby’s imagination had made. This whole place was just a ghostly nightmare, right? So why did everything feel so solid, so real?
“Stand back, Sally,” I said, putting her on the floor and grabbing up the iron bar. I ran at the door as hard as I could, the bar straight out in front of me.
I braced myself for impact and wasn’t at all prepared for what happened. The heavy bar kept going right through the door. The door made a sucking noise as it swallowed in the bar and spit me out.
I staggered backward and fell.
Sally screamed.
There was a brown blob in her hair and it was moving. I grabbed at it and the blob dissolved all over my fingers.
Desperately I wiped my hand on my shorts.
I looked around us. The walls were moving, melting and oozing toward us. It was a small room and getting smaller, fast!
The room was turning to slime.
Slime dripped in long, gooey strings to the floor. I felt something land on my head and saw a fat, brown slug plop onto Sally’s cheek.
She batted at it and smeared herself with goo.
The walls inched closer.
We were going to be smothered in slime.
Sally pulled at my hand. “In the closet,” she cried. “Back in the closet!”
Amazingly, that splintered doorway was the only thing that wasn’t melting out of shape. And there was light coming from inside it.
Sally scrambled inside. It didn’t look like there was room for me. I felt the room lap at my shoe.
No, I wasn’t going to fit.
The wall made sucking noises as it ate my shoe.
Slime crept up my ankle.
18
“Come on, Jason,” screamed Sally, yanking at my hair. “Come on!”
Shuddering with disgust and terror, I strained with all my might to free my foot.
But what was the use?
“Jason, there’s a door,” cried Sally. “Hurry!”
I jerked my head up.
Bright light blinded me. Behind it I thought I could make out stairs.
My heart pounded with hope. I yanked my foot out of the wall and scrambled into the closet. Squinting in the light I let Sally take my hand and lead me onto the stairs.
Behind us the closet door, whole once again, slammed shut.
What did Bobby have in store for us next?
The blinding light winked out, leaving millions of red spots in front of my eyes.
“Bobby saved us,” said Sally cheerfully. As my eyes adjusted I could see a smear on her cheek that looked like a squashed worm.
I sucked in my breath, realizing where we were.
We were on the attic stairs. The regular attic stairs. The real attic stairs. Above us the door was shut, although I could hear faint eating-type sounds behind it. Below us, the hall door was open and faint moonlight filtered up.
“I want to go downstairs,” said Sally. “I want Winky.”
“Winky’s in your bedroom,” I said, lifting her into my arms.
I went down the stairs, almost expecting they’d dissolve into goo under my feet. But the steps stayed rock solid and I was able to get Sally back to her bedroom without anything bad happening.
“There’s Winky!” Sally murmured sleepily. “Just like you promised!”
I tucked her in and patted her on the head.
“You’re the best brother in the world,” Sally said.
And then she fell asleep.
Back in my own bedroom, I suddenly felt exhausted. Totally whipped. I was barely able to crawl into bed before I collapsed and closed my eyes. Another few seconds and I’d be out like a light.
Out like a light.
But it was the light that was keeping me awake. A blue glowing light coming from the walls.
I sat up.
Not again! I couldn’t stand this! I had to get some sleep!
The blue light was coming from the mirror on the closet door. Once before Bobby had left messages on the mirror there. Now it was glowing again.
I rubbed my eyes and looked at the mirror.
The mists in the glass were darker this time, like thunderclouds. Clouds swirling thickly, boiling, and blowing apart as if something inside was fighting for control.
And when the mists cleared, I could see a coffin in the mirror. No, not a coffin, an old trunk. An old trunk like the trunk in the cellar.
As I watched in horror, the lid of the trunk opened. Something came out of the trunk, reaching up to the other side of the mirror.
A skeleton hand.
The fingertip of the skeleton hand glowed. Slowly the hand began to write on the other side of the mirror.
FIND THE WITCH
19
When I opened my eyes again it was morning. All night I’d been dreaming about the skeleton inside that old trunk, and the message Bobby left me on the mirror.
I didn’t care what the little ghost wanted me to do—I wasn’t going down in that basement again. No way! Even the thought was enough to almost make me barf.
I leaped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I shuddered as I looked in the bathroom mirror. Don’t you dare leave me another message, I thought.
And then a feeling of relief flooded me.
I wouldn’t have to FIND THE WITCH like the ghost wanted. Because today was the day Dad was going to see about getting us out of here!
That thought made me feel so cheerful I even felt hungry all of a sudden. I couldn’t wait to get downstairs and get some of that breakfast I could smell cooking.
As I hurried toward the stairs I heard giggling coming from Sally’s room. My heart
