Tom Bites Back

by Steven Banks

  I stopped.

  It couldn’t be.

  I turned around.

  The girl Tanner Gantt was talking to had long red hair and pale white skin and was wearing a dark green dress.

  It was Martha Livingston.

  43.

  Saving Tanner Gantt

  How did Martha Livingston get here?

  What was she doing here?

  Why was she talking to Tanner Gantt?

  I slipped behind a tree, peeked out, and cocked my ear toward them to listen.

  “That’s an awesome T-shirt!” said Martha.

  She wasn’t talking in her normal voice. She sounded like one of those teenage girls who get excited about everything.

  “Thanks,” said Tanner.

  Martha smiled.

  “Whoa!” he said. “Those fangs look real.”

  “You think so?”

  “Yeah. I wouldn’t want you to bite me.”

  Martha laughed, like it was the funniest joke anyone had ever told.

  “My name’s Martha, what’s yours?”

  “Tanner.”

  “That’s a cool name.”

  I have to admit, Tanner is a cool name.

  “Hey, do you know that Vam-Wolf-Zom kid?” asked Martha, twirling the end of her hair with her finger.

  “Tom Marks? Yeah. He goes to my school.”

  “Really? He does?” said Martha, pretending to be impressed. “Where does he live?”

  “A couple of blocks away.”

  “What’s he like?” ’

  I figured he’d say something like, “He’s a total dork. He’s so stupid that he got bit by a vampire and a werewolf and a zombie on the same freaking day. And he’s a vampire, but he can’t even turn into a bat and fly! What a loser!”

  But this is what he said to Martha: “Tom’s cool. We hang out all the time. We’re like best friends. I’m in a band with him.”

  Why was Tanner Gantt saying that?

  “Awesome!” said Martha, in her goofy-teenager voice. “Hey, Tanner, I heard some kids say there’s a scary monster maze on the other side of the park. You want to check it out with me?”

  “Sure.”

  “Awesome!” said Martha. “Let’s go through the park.”

  “We can’t. It’s closed on Halloween.”

  “So? Are you…afraid to go that way?”

  “No!”

  “Then let’s go!”

  * * *

  Martha was going to take Tanner Gantt in the park and suck his blood. She might accidentally turn him. We did not need a vampire Tanner Gantt. I had to stop her. I had to get him out of there, even though he wouldn’t do it for me.

  I pulled my creepy clown mask down over my face and ran out from behind the tree. I hoped Tanner wouldn’t recognize me. Would Martha?

  “Hey! Are you Tanner Gantt?” I said in my high-pitched voice.

  “Yeah. Who are you? Minnie Mouse?”

  “Uh, no. My name’s…Lucas.”

  I glanced over at Martha. It didn’t look like she knew it was me.

  He smirked. “I think you bought the wrong-sized costume, dork.”

  I looked down at my tight costume. “It shrunk. Listen, your mom’s looking for you, she said you had to come home right now!”

  “Why?”

  “She said it was an emergency!”

  “What happened?”

  “Your…your dog got hit by a car!”

  Tanner Gantt had a dog that was big and mean, just like him.

  He looked worried. “Is he okay?”

  “I don’t know! You better go see!”

  He turned to Martha. “I gotta go. Maybe I’ll see you later.”

  She smiled. “I hope so.”

  Tanner Gantt ran off down the sidewalk.

  Martha slowly turned to me and smiled.

  “So…Lucas? Do you want to go see a scary monster maze?”

  I couldn’t believe it. Martha didn’t know it was me.

  “No…. I already went.”

  She moved closer and started whispering. “Come on, Lucas…. We can cut through the park…. You want to go in the park with me…don’t you?”

  She was trying to hypnotize me.

  “No, I don’t, Martha!”

  I pulled off my mask.

  She put her hand to her mouth and let out a little gasp. “Thomas Marks…. What a pleasant surprise.”

  “What are you doing here?!”

  “I am en route to New Orleans. You were on the way, so, I thought I’d drop by to see how you were faring.”

  “Were you going to suck Tanner Gantt’s blood?”

  “That was the general idea, before I was rudely interrupted.”

  I looked around to make sure no one was watching us. I didn’t really need to worry. We just looked like a girl dressed up as a vampire and a kid in a clown costume talking to each other on Halloween.

  “I must feed,” she said.

  “Let’s go to my house,” I said. “I have some raw liver you can have.”

  She made a disgusted face. “Raw liver? I suppose that will have to do, until I can find a real meal.”

  “Just don’t bite anybody here. Blood swear.”

  She sighed. “Blood swear.”

  We started walking down the sidewalk, through groups of trick-or-treaters.

  “How’d you find out where I live?” I asked.

  “Quite simple. I used the magic power of…Google.”

  We passed two parents pushing a stroller with a baby in it who was dressed as a vampire.

  “Are there any baby vampires?” I whispered to Martha as we passed.

  “I’ve only met one,” she said. “Extremely difficult to babysit.”

  “Okay, listen, when we get to my house, I’ll go in first. You wait outside, turn into a bat, fly up to my window, and I’ll let you in. Make sure you find a dark place to transform, so no one sees you.”

  “Must I remind you, Thomas Marks, that I have been doing this for over two hundred years?”

  As we turned the corner to my house, we practically bumped into Annie and Capri.

  44.

  Are Those Real?

  Hey, Tom,” said Annie.

  Why hadn’t I pulled my creepy clown mask back over my face?

  Annie was wearing her Captain Ahab Moby Dick outfit and carrying her harpoon. Capri was in her hippie outfit.

  “Hey, you guys,” I said.

  “Is your costume, like, two sizes too small?” asked Capri.

  “It shrunk. Did you get a lot of candy?”

  “Yeah,” said Annie, looking at Martha. Capri was looking at her too.

  I was trying to think of what to say, when Martha put out her hand.

  “Good evening. I am Martha Livingston of Philadelphia.”

  Annie and Capri looked at each other. Maybe they thought Martha was talking weird because she was pretending to be a vampire. Kids don’t usually shake hands either. Except Abel, of course. Annie shook Martha’s hand.

  “Whoa. Your hand is cold,” said Annie.

  “I have…poor blood circulation,” said Martha.

  “I’m Annie.”

  “I’m Capri.”

  Martha shook Capri’s hand and then turned back to Annie.

  “I must say, that is an excellent Captain Ahab costume.”

  I think Annie was surprised that Martha knew who Captain Ahab was. “Thanks. You’ve read Moby Dick?”

  “Twice,” said Martha, then she turned to Capri. “And your costume is quite well done. Except for the ‘No Global Warming’ button, which is historically inaccurate for the sixties.”

  “I don’t care,” said Capri.

  “Obviously,” said Martha.
/>   Annie looked at Martha’s outfit. “So, what are you supposed to be?”

  Martha smiled and showed her fangs. “Guess?”

  “A vampire,” said Annie.

  “Correct.”

  “Where’d you get your fangs?” asked Capri.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “Is that a wig?” asked Annie.

  “No,” said Martha as she moved her head so her hair swirled around. “This is my hair.”

  “Those contact lenses make your eyes look super-intense green,” said Capri.

  “I’m not wearing contact lenses,” said Martha.

  Annie got a strange expression on her face and looked at me.

  “Wait…. Isn’t Martha Livingston the name of the girl who wrote the diary about Ben Franklin?”

  Why did Annie have to have such a good memory?

  “Uh…yeah,” I said. “Did you guys go to the house where they gave out hot sauce?”

  Annie turned to Martha. “And your name is Martha Livingston and you’re from Philadelphia.”

  I quickly added, “She’s her great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter.”

  I hoped I’d used enough “greats.”

  Annie went on. “And you’re thirteen and you play a lot of musical instruments.”

  “Eleven, to be precise,” said Martha. “My goodness. It appears that Thomas has told you a great deal about me.”

  “Thomas?” said Annie. “You call him Thomas?”

  “That is his name, I believe?” said Martha.

  I had to get us out of there. I tugged on the collar of my costume. “This costume is cutting off my blood circulation, I gotta take it off. I’ll see you at school on Monday.”

  “So, what are you doing here, Martha?” said Capri.

  “Trick-or-treating, of course.”

  “So, where’s your candy bag?” said Annie.

  “I left it at Thomas’s house.”

  “Yeah, and we better get back there,” I said. “Your parents are going to pick you up and take you to New Orleans, where you’re going to live forever. Bye, Annie, Capri. See you at school!”

  “Bye, Martha,” said Capri. “Really nice to meet you. Sorry we can’t hang out.” You could tell she was being sarcastic.

  “Bye, Thomas,” said Annie.

  They walked off, whispering to each other. But I didn’t listen because I was explaining to Martha about the diary I made up in class for my report and promised I hadn’t told anybody about her.

  Martha watched them go and said, “Annie is quite fond of you.”

  “What— What are you talking about?”

  “As is Capri.”

  “No, she isn’t!”

  Martha grinned.

  “So? Have you flown outside yet, Thomas?”

  I knew she was going to ask that.

  “Um…not really…. I’m still working on my landings. But I’m going to do it soon.”

  “Why not tonight?”

  “Tomorrow’s better. I’ll definitely do it tomorrow.”

  “My dear Thomas Marks, pile up enough tomorrows and you’ll find you’ve collected nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.”

  “Did Ben Franklin say that?”

  Before she could answer, I saw Zeke running down the sidewalk toward us.

  “T-Man!”

  45.

  Hypnotic Lesson

  Why was everybody I know showing up?

  Zeke ran up and said, “Somebody told Tanner Gantt his dog got run over! But it didn’t! And he was—”

  He saw Martha and he froze. His jaw dropped and he slowly raised his hand and pointed at her.

  “You’re…you’re her…. The girl…the bat…that bit Tom…. The vampire…. You’re Martha Livingston!”

  Martha glared at me. Her glares were scarier than Emma’s.

  “You told this lad about me?!”

  “No! I-I didn’t. He guessed! And I didn’t melt or burn up, so I didn’t break the blood oath.” I jumped in between Zeke and Martha. “Swear on blood you won’t bite him!”

  “I swear on blood,” she said, through gritted teeth. She curtsied to Zeke and said, “Martha Livingston of Philadelphia.”

  Zeke put his hand over his heart and bowed, like she was a queen or something.

  “Zeke Zimmerman at your service, m’lady.”

  “Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Martha turned to me. “A lad with manners. How refreshing. So, this is your true and loyal friend.”

  “You’re even prettier than T-Man said you were!”

  Why do I tell Zeke anything?

  He raised his hand. “I solemnly promise I will never tell anybody about you, Martha!”

  She moved closer to Zeke and softly said, “I know you won’t, Zeke.”

  “Your eyes are super green,” he said.

  She kept staring at him as she spoke. “You won’t tell anyone about me. Because…I was never here…. You never saw me.”

  “I…never…saw…you,” said Zeke in a sleepy voice.

  “You hypnotized him that fast?” I said.

  She nodded. “He is the most willing subject I have yet encountered. Is there anything you wish him to do while under the trance?”

  I thought about that for a while. “Can you ask him to stop doing jumping jacks when he gets excited?”

  “As you wish,” she said, turning to Zeke. “The next time you want to do jumping jacks, Zeke, you will refrain from doing so…. You will not do them, ever again…. And now, you will go home and have a restful slumber.”

  Zeke walked down the sidewalk in a daze, repeating, “No…more…jumping jacks…. No…more…jumping jacks.”

  “Martha? Can you teach me how to hypnotize people?” I asked.

  “I can try.”

  * * *

  She turned into a bat in my backyard. I went in the house, told Mom and Dad how trick-or-treating went, grabbed the liver from the fridge, went up to my room, locked the door, took off my creepy clown outfit, opened my window, and let Martha in.

  I sat on the bed, she sat at my desk, and we split the raw liver.

  “This is…horrid,” she said after one bite and put the plate down. “Let us commence with the hypnosis lesson.” She stood up. “You cannot make someone fall in love with you. You cannot make someone hurt themselves. And some people will never bend to your will.”

  I knew what she meant. I had tried to hypnotize Tanner Gantt the first week of school, so he’d stop bothering me. He pretended to be hypnotized and then he threw me into a trash can. If someone doesn’t want to be hypnotized they can’t be, which is unfair. It’s like having a superpower you can’t use.

  “Rise and face me,” said Martha.

  I stood up and we looked at each other.

  “Lock eyes with the subject. Stare intently. You may simply think of what you want them to do, but usually you must speak it aloud.”

  “Okay.”

  “It does help to get as close as possible to your subject, as you witnessed when I hypnotized Zeke.”

  I took a step toward her.

  “Look into my eyes,” she whispered.

  Her eyes really were super green. She also had some freckles on her nose that you can’t see unless you’re up close.

  “You must talk quietly…calmly…slowly…. Do not let them look away.”

  Her voice was relaxing. I felt a little sleepy.

  “Thomas?”

  “Yes?”

  “Do you have a diary?”

  “Yes.”

  “Go get your diary and let me read it.”

  I got down on the floor and reached way under my bed. I pulled out my old baseball glove. Inside was a black notebook. I handed it to Martha, and she started reading it out loud.
/>
  “ ‘Tuesday. December 25. If you are not named Thomas Marks, do not read this diary or you will be killed! If you are Emma, I will tell Mom and Dad I saw you smoking a cigarette with Pari in her car.

  “ ‘Emma got me this diary for Christmas. It’s a really cheap one. I think she got it at the one-dollar store. I’m going to write in this every single day.

  “ ‘Christmas was pretty good. I got a lot of cool stuff, except for this diary. Zeke called me to say he got a new video game called Rabbit Attack! He said it was the greatest game ever, so I’m going to buy it.’ ”

  Martha turned the page.

  “It’s blank?”

  She turned more pages. They were blank too.

  “You only wrote in your diary once?”

  “Yes.”

  She snapped her fingers. I felt like I woke up from a nap. She tossed the diary on my bed.

  “Hey! Did you just read my diary?” I asked, annoyed.

  “All one page of it? Yes. Now, be properly warned, Thomas Marks: The power to hypnotize is a dangerous one. What you make someone do may come back to haunt you…in unpleasant ways.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Can you teach me how to turn into mist or fog?”

  “Not in one night. That is the most difficult transformation to perform. It requires immense skill. However, I have something for you.”

  She reached into a pocket in her dress and pulled out a small book, with a worn and cracked leather cover.

  “I learned much from this,” she said, handing it to me.

  On the cover, in faded, gold letters, it said “A Vampiric Education written by Eustace Tibbitt.”

  “This was a gift from my instructor, Lovick Zabrecky. Only one hundred copies were printed. If it fell into other hands…I would be greatly displeased. It is quite valuable. Do not sell it on eBay.”

  “Thanks.”

  I flipped through it. The pages were thin and yellowed. There were some drawings of people in Ben Franklin–type clothes, turning into mist and smoke and fog and bats and wolves. I put it in my baseball glove, along with my diary, and hid it back under the bed.