Monsterstreet #3, page 3
He ran past the ride operator and peered down at the coffin resting in the artificial grave.
“Hey, get back in line!” the carnie yelled at Ren. But Ren ignored him.
“Kip! Are you okay?” Ren called down to his brother, trying to pull open the lid. But it was locked tight.
He jerked at the lid again and again, hit it with his fists, pushed and pulled, but nothing worked.
The carnie operator laughed, which made Ren even more uncomfortable with the situation.
Finally, there was an angry hissing sound, like pressure being released beneath the ride. Ren tried the handle again, and this time it opened.
But when he looked inside . . .
The coffin was empty.
Kip had vanished, just like the coin.
9
Haunted Mirror Maze
“It’s impossible!” Ren said, examining the coffin, looking for any sign of Kip.
“You won’t find him here,” a familiar voice called out from behind Ren.
Zora stood next to the aggravated operator. She seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
“Where is he?” Ren asked in a panic.
Zora walked over to the coffin and pressed a hidden button. A trapdoor at the bottom of the casket opened, and Ren observed a hole in the ground beneath it.
“All rides at the carnival are connected,” she explained. “Like appendages of the same body. This one leads to the Haunted Mirror Maze.”
Ren looked down through the hole in the casket and realized that the entire carnival sat on some kind of platform.
“Your brother must have made a special transaction that allows him into the underground network of tunnels to skip the lines.”
“Can you show me where he went?” Ren asked.
“I can try, but it may be too late.”
“Too late for what?”
Zora didn’t answer.
She took Ren’s hand and led him through the crowd until they arrived at the entrance to the Haunted Mirror Maze. Spooky calliope music and sound effects echoed from within, seeping out into the crisp autumn night.
“I’ll wait here,” Zora said, handing Ren a ticket.
“You’re not coming with me?” Ren asked.
“I don’t do mirrors,” Zora replied. “Kind of like how you aren’t a fan of clowns.”
“But . . . how could you even know that?” Ren asked.
“I saw it in my moon-ball,” she said.
Ren looked into her eyes and realized she was serious.
Knowing he didn’t have time to question her, he approached the ghostly entrance of the Haunted Mirror Maze. Fingers of fog curled out from a machine hidden somewhere inside.
He handed his ticket to a carnie, stepped into the swirling mist, and felt the world behind him slowly disappear.
“Kip! Are you in here? If you can hear me, say something!” Ren called out into the unknown.
Soon, mirrors and mist surrounded him in every direction. The walls, the ceiling, and the floor . . . were all his reflection, replicated dozens of times.
I can see why Zora was too creeped out to come in here, he thought.
But what he didn’t know was that the creepiest part was still up ahead.
He turned down another hallway. And another.
Then, at the final turn, a foreboding voice filled his ears. . . .
“Joooiiinnn ussss, Ren.”
It was deep and unnatural, like something out of a nightmare.
Ren spun around, stirring the fog, unable to tell if the voice was in his head or was coming from the mirrors.
“Hello?” he said.
But there was no reply.
Suddenly, Ren saw Kip’s reflection pass over a single mirror, then quickly disappear.
“Kip!” Ren called out.
The mirror opened on its own, like a door into another world. Only blackness stared back at him.
Zora said all the rides are connected. Maybe this is the secret passageway to the next one, he thought.
Conjuring up his courage, Ren stepped through the doorway. The mirror-door shut behind him, trapping him alone in the darkness.
“H-hello?” he said again, then grew afraid that talking might draw attention to himself.
But there was only silence.
Maybe Zora wasn’t really trying to help me. Maybe she was leading me into a trap, Ren thought.
He stepped farther into the unknown. And then took another step. And another. Until he saw a flickering light up ahead.
Another room, he thought, wondering if there was an end to the nightmarish labyrinth.
He approached the light and soon realized it was the flame of a candle. Cautiously, he picked up the antique candle-stand and started to turn in a circle.
But before he could make it all the way around, he stopped, paralyzed with fear.
Someone was standing in the shadows, watching him.
10
What You See is What You Get
Ren stared back at the thing in the dark, waiting for it to move.
But it never did.
He held the candlelight closer to its face and saw that it wasn’t a person at all. It was a life-size mannequin dressed like a clown. Its eyes seemed so real, like it was actually watching him, its gaze following him wherever he went.
The soft light revealed dozens of other mannequins and odd-shaped figures there too: porcelain dolls, broken ventriloquist dummies, stage props, and more.
It was a room filled with the creepiest things Ren had ever seen.
This must be where the carnies store all the stuff that they don’t use anymore, he thought. But why was there a candle lit unless someone else has been in here recently?
He then noticed a broken mirror leaning up against a wooden chest full of dolls. It was grimy and covered in dust.
A warning had been painted over it in bloodred letters.
Beware.
This mirror is haunted.
Ren stepped toward the mirror and examined his own reflection.
But he didn’t see himself staring back. . . .
He saw Kip.
“Help, Ren!” Kip’s muffled voice cried out as he banged on the inside of the mirror.
“Kip! What’s going on? How did you get in there?” Ren yelled.
He suddenly felt a void inside himself widening, aching, making him hollow. He regretted all the times he had ever treated Kip badly and realized how much he wanted him to be okay.
But it was too late.
Kip’s reflection soon faded.
Ren looked over every inch of the mirror, trying to re-conjure the image of his brother.
“Please come back, Kip! I’m sorry!”
Then Ren saw something floating toward him in the glass.
Something unnatural.
And ominous.
A black balloon, Ren thought. When will this nightmare end?
But it had only just begun.
Suddenly, the balloon popped. And a monstrous figure appeared in its place.
Its terrible, ugly grin smiled back at him. Yellow drool oozed from its decrepit mouth.
A bloodthirsty clown! Ren thought, trembling in terror.
The hideous monster stared back at him. With cocked fangs. And black eyes. But it didn’t look like a human dressed as a clown. It looked more like a grotesque creature that had crawled out of the darkest dark.
Spookiest of all, when Ren moved his left arm, the clown moved its arm in exact synchronization. Their reflections were sewn together perfectly.
“Give me back my brother!” Ren yelled, summoning whatever courage he could find within himself.
But the clown only laughed.
Its laughter grew deeper and darker, until . . .
The hideous thing faded away.
And Ren was alone again.
He collapsed to the ground, as if the breath had been knocked out of him.
What was that . . . thing? he wondered, his hands still trembling.
Just as he was about to look for an exit, something caught his eye.
On the ground.
Right in front of the mirror.
Kip’s blue cap.
11
Good Night, Sleep Tight
Ten minutes later, Ren was standing just inside the carnival gates talking to the sheriff on duty.
“I swear it, officer. There’s something not right about this place. I saw my brother trapped inside a mirror with a clown monster, and—”
The sheriff began to laugh.
“Boy, I’ve heard some whoppers in my day, but this one takes the cake.”
“Go see for yourself!” Ren pleaded.
Just then, the caped magician appeared, with Zora at his side. His elaborately ringed hand was on her shoulder, and she was looking at the ground, as if she was in trouble.
“Good evening, officer,” the Tick-Tock Man said.
Ren couldn’t believe he had the nerve to show his face after kidnapping Kip.
“That’s him! That’s the guy who took my brother,” Ren said.
The magician smiled.
“Sheriff, it seems there’s been some kind of misunderstanding,” he said. “My daughter here was just playing a prank on the boy.”
“Daughter?” Ren questioned him in surprise. “Prank?”
“Yes,” the magician continued. “She thought it’d be funny to scare him in the Haunted Mirror Maze. She took his brother’s cap while reading their fortunes and left it on the floor of the final room in the maze. A childish prank. But it’s more than scared the boy. You see, the end of the maze is made to look like a secret room full of old abandoned props. The person looks into a mirror and sees their greatest fears. It’s rigged, of course. But this boy here must have seen something about his brother.”
Ren looked to Zora, wondering if it was true.
Even if it is true, how could they make something inside my head appear in a mirror? he thought.
“I know what I saw. And it wasn’t just smoke and mirrors,” Ren said.
The sheriff squinted at the magician, then at Ren, as if trying to decide who was telling the truth.
Finally, the sheriff burst into laughter again.
“This just keeps getting better. Haunted mirrors. Bloodthirsty clowns. Sounds like quite good entertainment for this time of year,” he said, then turned to Ren. “Boy, why don’t you go get some cotton candy and relax a bit? Carnivals are supposed to be fun.”
“Because he’s lying!” Ren said, beginning to feel helpless. “How can you just stand there and do nothing?”
Right then, Aunt Winnie pulled up in the black hearse.
The Sheriff, the Tick-Tock Man, and Zora watched with intrigue as the flustered woman jumped out of the funeral car and hurried toward Ren.
“What’s going on here?” she asked.
“This guy is hiding Kip somewhere!” Ren said, pointing at the magician.
“What?” Aunt Winnie asked in shock. Ren was glad there was finally someone there who would believe him. “Kip is back at Old Manor, asleep. As soon as he showed up without you, I came right away. I told you two to stick together, but he said you left him. It’s a good thing he found his way back on his own. What if something bad had happened to him?”
“Kip is asleep? In his bed at Old Manor?” Ren asked his aunt. “And he didn’t look hurt or anything?”
“He just seemed tired. Didn’t say much. Went straight to bed.”
That doesn’t sound like Kip, Ren thought. He’s never volunteered to go to bed on his own. His feelings must have been so hurt that he decided to walk home without me.
Ren shot a questioning look at the magician, who raised his brows as if to say, “See? I told you so.”
“I swear I saw him get on that ride, Aunt Winnie,” Ren said. “And then I saw his reflection in the mirror and his hat and a clown and—”
The magician calmly handed Kip’s cap to Aunt Winnie.
“I believe this belongs to your younger nephew, mademoiselle,” he said charmingly, then took Aunt Winnie’s hand and kissed the top of it.
She quickly pulled her hand back.
“Excuse me,” she said, unimpressed by the stranger’s charm.
The Tick-Tock Man glanced over at her hearse and said, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help but notice your . . . unique choice of transportation.”
“It’s a rental,” Aunt Winnie replied.
“I see,” the Tick-Tock Man said.
Not easily deterred, the magician flipped over his hand and conjured a black rose out of thin air.
“A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady,” he said, handing it to her.
She frowned at him suspiciously. For a moment, Ren thought she might reach for it, but she managed to resist.
“Thank you, but I don’t care for roses—especially dead ones,” she said, observing his wicked gray eyes.
There was an awkward pause, then the sheriff interrupted, “Well, I think our work here is done. I know boys sometimes get mixed up about what they see. No harm done as far as I can tell. Hope you folks have a spooky night.”
The sheriff tipped his hat and walked back to his post.
The magician exchanged one last look with Ren, then turned and headed into the carnival crowds with Zora at his side.
She looked over her shoulder at Ren, and he saw some secret hiding in her eyes.
Aunt Winnie was quiet for most of the ride back to the nursing home. Ren could tell she was thinking about something. Just before she pulled into the parking lot of Old Manor, she said, “That man gave me a weird feeling. Stay away from him, okay?”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Ren said. “I’m never going back there again.”
As soon as Aunt Winnie parked the hearse, Ren went straight to his and Kip’s room in the guest house. Sure enough, he found Kip fast asleep in his bed.
But what he didn’t know was that the boy lying in the bed wasn’t Kip. It wasn’t a boy at all.
12
Morning Sickness
When Ren walked into the kitchen for breakfast the next morning, Aunt Winnie was washing dishes in the sink.
“How did you sleep?” she asked.
“Okay, I guess,” Ren replied.
“I have to go check on the residents, but you two are welcome to anything in the pantry or fridge for breakfast,” she said. “Come on over to the main building when you’re done. We have lots of decorating to do.”
Before Ren could say anything, she disappeared out the door.
He took a bowl out of the pantry and sat down at the kitchen table to pour his cereal.
A few moments later, Kip walked in. His eyes looked glazed over, and he failed to acknowledge Ren’s presence.
“That was some move walking home from the carnival on your own last night,” Ren said. “I admit, you had me worried.”
Kip didn’t reply. He poured his cereal and began spooning it out of the bowl without adding milk.
Ren examined Kip’s face and noticed that it was paler than usual. He didn’t smile or laugh either, which wasn’t like him. In fact, there hardly seemed to be any life in his eyes at all.
It was then that Ren noticed a swollen bite mark on Kip’s right forearm.
“Dang. What bit you?”
But Kip kept staring at his bowl.
“Where did you go?” Ren asked. “After the Drop of Fear, I mean. You did get on the ride, didn’t you?”
When Kip didn’t answer for a third time, Ren raised his voice in frustration, “Are you sick or just ignoring me?”
Kip slowly looked up.
The skin around his eyes was dark, like he hadn’t slept all night.
“You don’t look so good,” Ren said, getting the same pit in his stomach that he had the night before. “How did you pay for that ride last night? Did you make some special deal to skip the lines?”
Kip’s flushed, crusty lips began to move, whispering something that Ren couldn’t decipher. He kept repeating it over and over again. But it was too soft for Ren to hear.
Ren scooted closer and lowered his ear in front of Kip’s mouth. . . .
“Beat, beat . . . Tick, tock . . . Every heart is a ticking clock.”
Ren stood up, and his chair screeched across the floor. His stomach twisted into knots.
“W-why did you say that?” Ren asked.
Without giving an explanation, Kip rose from his chair.
“I’m tired,” he said, walking to the kitchen window and pulling down the blinds to block the sunlight. “I’m going back to bed.”
Not knowing what to say, Ren watched as Kip walked across the kitchen toward the doorway.
But as Kip passed by the mirror on the wall, Ren’s eyes widened in horror.
Kip was missing his reflection.
13
Secret on the Wall
That’s not possible, Ren thought, wondering what had happened to his brother’s reflection.
He watched as Kip ambled down the hallway of the guest house and disappeared into his bedroom.
Maybe Mrs. Wellshire wasn’t crazy after all. And maybe she knows what’s going on, he thought.
Ren put his cereal bowl in the sink and headed out the kitchen door.
When he arrived at Mrs. Wellshire’s room in Old Manor a few minutes later, he heard her coughing. Each cough was followed by a painful wheeze.
The door was already slightly open, but he knocked on it anyway to announce his presence.
“Mrs. Wellshire? It’s me—Ren. The boy who came by yesterday to check on you,” he said, then stepped into her room.
She looked at him, then back to a book that was open in her lap. It was full of photographs, and Ren realized it was a scrapbook of some kind.
“Glad to see you survived the night,” she said, turning to the next page. “It’s my birthday, you know.”
“I—I didn’t know that,” Ren replied, walking to her side. “Happy Birthday.”
“Eighty-nine years old,” she said. “Goes by in a blink. This book is all I have left of it. The memories, the adventures, the people. My husband passed a few years ago, and my kids all have their own lives and families. Even my grandkids are starting to have their own children now.”
