Spell of the Screaming Jokers (7 page)

Mrs. Davidson raised her eyebrows.

“It's true,” I insisted. “And they aren't only on the cards. They show up in real life too! They attacked Frankie and Louisa—just like the creatures who attacked those poor kids in the story you told us!”

Mrs. Davidson shook her head. “You're imagining this, Brittany dear.” She patted me lightly on the shoulder.

My heart sank. Mrs. Davidson didn't believe us.

Probably no one would believe us, I realized with dread.

Who could believe such a wild story? As my words spilled out, even I thought I sounded crazy!

“Maybe you should play checkers today,” Mrs. Davidson suggested.

“Could we play in the living room?” Jeff asked.

Mrs. Davidson looked puzzled. “Why?”

“It's the windows,” Louisa told her. “Mrs. Marder spies on us through Max's windows.”

“Oh, all right.” Mrs. Davidson laughed. “The things you kids think up!” She led the way to Max's room.

“Max?” She bent over him. “Do you feel up to playing in the living room today?”

Max shook his head silently.

I glanced at the windows. They had shades rolled all the way up. “Let's pull down the shades,” I suggested. “Then we can play in here.”

Mrs. Davidson laughed again. But she lowered the shades. That made the room so dark, we had to turn on some lamps. But at least Mrs. Marder couldn't spy on us.

“Surprise, Max!” Louisa announced as she carried a checkerboard over to his bed. “We're going to play checkers. I'll play you first.”

“And I'll play the winner,” Jeff told Max.

But Max only stared at the checkerboard.

“What's the matter, Max?” Mrs. Davidson asked. “Wouldn't you like to play checkers for a change?”

Max shook his head. “No,” he whispered.

He looked so unhappy.

“All right, Max.” I sighed. “We'll play Hearts if you want.”

“What?” Louisa exclaimed. “Am I hearing you right?”

“Yeah,” Jeff added. “This is a switch for you.”

I shrugged.

I had come prepared.

I reached into the back pocket of my jeans and drew out a deck of cards.

“There's no way Mrs. Marder could have put any evil spell on these,” I announced as I handed my cards to Max. “Want to deal?”

Max smiled as he took the cards.

“Oh, thank you, kids!” Mrs. Davidson exclaimed. “Now everyone's happy. Have a good time!” Then she left us to our game.

Max slid out of bed. He walked slowly over to the table and sat down. He began to shuffle the deck. Louisa cut the cards and Max dealt our hands.

I didn't feel at all scared. I wasn't one bit worried about anybody getting a joker.

When the cards had all been dealt, I picked up my hand. I straightened the cards. I looked at the first one.

And gasped.

There it was—a hideous joker.

My hands began to tremble.

How could this be? How did the joker get into
my
deck?

I
felt a weird buzzing in my ears. For a moment, everything in the room seemed to fade. To turn gray.

I shook my head.

Everything came back into focus. I was staring at the card in my hand. A joker—with cold, evil, yellow eyes. The most horrible one I'd seen yet.

It was screaming!

“Nooo!” I shrieked.

I hurled my cards at the window.

How did she do it?

How did Mrs. Marder work her evil magic on
my
cards? How did she see us with the shades pulled down?

We didn't stay at Max's long that afternoon. I was still shaking when we left his house.

“Are you okay?” Jeff asked me as we headed down Fear Street.

“No!” I shouted. “I'm not okay! I feel like a walking target. I got a joker. Now something terrible is going to happen to me. I'm just waiting for the rattles and hisses to start. I'm waiting for a bunch of jokers to attack me!”

“Take it easy, Brit,” Jeff said. “We'll stay with you. They won't attack all of us.”

“We'll walk you home,” Louisa offered. “Don't worry.”

They walked me all the way to my front door. “Thanks, guys,” I told them. “You're really good friends.”

For some reason, that sent Frankie into a fit of laughter.

“Frankie, quit it!” Louisa rolled her eyes. “You've been acting so weird lately. All you do is laugh. This isn't funny.”

“Ha! Ha! The joke is on you,” Frankie said, and started to laugh some more.

The laughter pounded in my head. “Cut it out, Frankie!” I yelled. I just couldn't stand the sound.

I broke away from the group and ran into my house. “Mom?” I called.

No answer.

“Mom?” I called again. My eyes searched the kitchen. There was no sign of my mom. And no sign that she'd been there.

No groceries. Nothing on the stove.

My heart began to race.

“MOM!” I screamed. “Where are you?”

No answer.

I turned and ran for the stairs.

“Jimmy?” I called. “Jimmy? Are you home?”

I waited to hear his voice.

But all I heard was a faint hissing sound.

Mom must be taking a shower
, I tried to tell myself.
It's only the shower running.

That's all.

Just the shower.

But the hissing sound grew louder—and turned into rattling.

I searched frantically for a place to hide.

All I could think of was the hall closet.

I dashed for it. I threw open the door—and screamed.

There they were—five ugly jokers in pointy green hats!

Waiting for me.

Leering at me with their hideous grins.

Each one held a stick—with a horrible, grinning skull perched on the top.

Their lips curled into an ugly sneer.

Then one moved forward. It raised its skull-stick high—then it lunged for me.

“Nooo!” I cried.

I dropped to the hall floor. I covered my head with my arms. I squeezed my eyes shut.

Three more jokers circled me. Danced around me. Swatted me with their skull-sticks.

They laughed and screamed. And chanted.

“All red and black must bow to green!

All red and black must bow to green!”

Over and over again.

I hugged my arms more tightly around my head.

They rattled their sticks wildly. Shrieking now. Shrieking madly.

Then all the noise stopped.

Gone. The jokers must be gone.

I slowly raised my head—and gasped.

They were still there! Hovering above me. Staring at me in eerie silence.

“Leave me alone!” I screamed. “Go away!”

The first joker stretched his hand toward me.

“Get away from me!” I cried, shrinking away.

But he yanked on my arm and pulled me to my feet.

I stared into his horrible eyes. And they began to glow an evil red.

“Wh-what are you going to do?” I stammered.

The joker glared at me. He lifted his skull-stick high in the air. The other jokers did the same.

They began to shake them again. More frantically than before.

The rattling was deafening.

I threw my hands over my ears. But I couldn't drown out the terrifying sound.

The skulls seemed to start breathing. A green mist poured from their nostrils. Their hollow cheeks began to pulse. And from deep within their sockets, their eyes began to glow.

The jokers started singing their horrible chant.

“We shake the skull with eyes that gleam!

We make our marks, we laugh and scream!

Her army strengthens day by day

You play her game! She'll make you pay!

All red and black must bow to green . . . . ”

Then they stopped—and ran out of the house.

My legs collapsed underneath me.

I couldn't move.

I didn't even move when the front door began to open.

I only stared.

“Brittany!” my mom exclaimed as she and Jimmy walked through the door. “Why are you sitting on the floor?”

I didn't answer. What could I say?

Mom held out a hand to help me.

“Where were you, Mom?” I asked quietly. “I came home and nobody was here.”

“Jimmy had a late doctor's appointment,” she replied. “It was the only one we could get. I told you about it this morning.”

“You did? I—I guess I wasn't listening.”

I knew I wasn't listening. For the last week all I'd been thinking about was Mrs. Marder and her hideous jokers.

“Hey, Brit?” Jimmy said. “Want to see my new card trick?”

“Not now!” I yelled. A deck of cards was the last thing I wanted to see—

But then I changed my mind.

I was beginning to get an idea—

“Sure, Jimmy,” I said. “I'll watch your new trick later.”

I turned toward the stairs. “Mom, I'm not hungry. I think I'll go up to my room.”

I gripped the banister and slowly began to climb the steps.

“Hey, Brit?” Jimmy called after me. “What's that thing on your arm?”

I glanced down.

My pulse suddenly thundered in my ears.

There it was.

Dark and clear.

The sign of the club.

T
he next morning before school, I found Jeff by his locker.

“Take a look.” I held out my arm and pushed up my sleeve.

“Oh!” he moaned. “The jokers got you! But how?”

I told him all about it. Including the new line of the rhyme.

“I'm really scared,” I admitted, shuddering.

“So am I,” Jeff said. “And Frankie is acting totally crazy.”

“I know,” I agreed. “The jokers have gotten him three times now. That's enough to make anyone crazy, I guess.”

“You know, I was thinking—he seems to get worse with each mark on his arm,” Jeff pointed out.

I stared at him. “You're right. I didn't realize it—but you're right!”

“Maybe we should talk to Mr. Emerson,” Jeff suggested. “We'll tell him we can't go to Max's anymore.”

“It'll never work,” I said gloomily. “We can't tell him what's happening. He'll think we're all crazy. Or worse—he'll say that we made up the story to get out of going. Then we'll really be in trouble.”

“Yeah, that's true. Okay. We'll go to Max's this afternoon,” Jeff told me. “But we have to say
no more cards.
And we have to mean it!”

“Right,” I declared. “No cards, no jokers.”

Usually the school day seemed to drag by so slowly. But the one day I wanted to last forever whizzed by. I couldn't believe it when the three-thirty bell rang.

“So who's going to break the news to Mrs. Davidson and Max?” I asked as we headed toward Fear Street. “Who's going to tell them we're not playing cards?”

“I'll do it,” Jeff volunteered. “And I won't let them talk us into changing our minds.”

We turned a corner. Mrs. Marder's house loomed in the distance. No way were we going to cut through her yard today!

We hurried past her gate—and the cats hissed at us.

“They're really hissing loudly!” Louisa quickened her step.

Louisa was right. I'd never heard her cats hiss this loud before. And it seemed to be getting louder.

“Wait!” Louisa cried. “It's not the cats! Look!”

Louisa pointed a trembling finger at some bushes ahead.

Jokers!

Six
horrible jokers jumped out from behind the shrubs.

We froze in place.

The jokers leapt forward.

Circled us.

They rattled their skulls in our faces.

And began their awful chant:

“We shake the skull with eyes that gleam!

We make our marks, we laugh and scream!

Her army strengthens day by day,

You play her game! She'll make you pay!