by R. L. Stine
Galen whimpered in pain. I turned to him. “We’ll get you off that thing,” I said. “Just stay calm, okay? Don’t move. Just wait.”
Galen mumbled a reply, but again I couldn’t understand.
“Weird,” Ryland was muttering. “Too weird.” He brought over a half stick of butter.
Shark took it from him and started to smear it on the plaque. Galen let out a scream when the stick of butter bumped his lips.
Shark carefully, gently applied the butter, smearing it over the brass. Lowering it to Galen’s mouth. Spreading it all around Galen’s lips.
“If this doesn’t work, I’m dialing 911,” Ryland said. He shook his head. “I don’t get this. I just don’t.”
The butter had softened and oozed over Shark’s fingers. He took a step back. “Nate, try to move Galen’s head,” he instructed me. “Very gently. Give it a try.”
My hands started shaking as I raised them. I placed them carefully on the sides of Galen’s head. Then slowly . . . carefully . . . I tried to slide his mouth over the buttery surface.
But no. No . . .
His mouth wouldn’t move.
Galen uttered a sharp cry of pain.
I gasped and jerked my hands away. I staggered back, startled by his cry.
And to my surprise, Galen staggered back with me.
We both toppled backward into the bar.
Yes!
He was free!
Galen was free. The butter had worked.
I started to open my mouth in a cheer of victory.
But then I raised my eyes to the wall. To the plaque . . .
And I saw . . .
I saw a piece of Galen’s tongue—and both of his lips—still stuck to the plaque.
22
Ryland got Galen to the emergency room at Shadyside General. The rest of us all scurried home. Galen was definitely busted. Now his parents would know about him sneaking out to Nights. But we knew he wouldn’t rat out the rest of us.
Of course, all that didn’t matter much to Galen. The poor guy was totally messed up. He needed surgery and spent a couple of weeks in the hospital.
I tried calling him there. A woman picked up the phone. Maybe it was a nurse or maybe it was his mom. She said Galen had a lot of stitches and couldn’t talk very well.
I kept picturing that red chunk of tongue stuck to the brass plaque like a piece of raw hamburger. And the two thin, cut lips. And each time I thought about it I felt sick, like I was going to hurl my guts out.
I had to force that picture from my mind. But then I kept thinking about what Galen had said when he walked into the bar.
He said he’d found out why things were happening to me. He said he knew the truth.
My mind kept spinning with ideas. What had Galen found out?
Did someone try to keep him from telling?
If only he could talk. I had to know what he’d learned. I had to hear it before . . . before something else happened to me.
* * *
A couple of weeks after Galen had been hospitalized, Shark and I were walking to my house. A car horn made me jump.
We turned to see Jamie pull up in her blue Corolla. Lewis sat beside her. They both called out, “Hi!”
“Hey, what’s up?” I called.
“Galen is home,” Jamie said. “He got home last night. His mom said he can have visitors.”
“Have you seen him?” I asked.
“Yeah. Lewis and I just came from there,” Jamie replied.
“How is he?” I asked.
She shrugged. “He’s all stitched up. But he can talk pretty well. He’s going to need plastic surgery.”
A car honked behind Jamie. She gave us a wave and drove on.
“Let’s go see him,” Shark said.
We turned and walked to Galen’s house. He lives in a tiny white brick house about two blocks from Fear Street Acres.
He has three sisters. He says the house is so small that he’s always bumping into one of them. He says he comes to Nights for the peace and quiet.
Galen’s mother was just leaving when Shark and I walked up the drive. She opened the front door for us and said Galen would be really glad to see us.
Two of his sisters were in the living room playing a Super Mario game on the TV. We found Galen in his tiny bedroom in the back of the house. He sat up in bed when he saw us.
“Hey, whassup?” He put down the copy of Sports Illustrated he’d been reading. He kinda lisped. He said “whatthup” instead of “whassup.”
Shark and I tried to find a place to sit in the little room. It was the size of a closet. No kidding. It probably was a closet.
“How’s it going, Galen?” Shark asked.
I couldn’t stop staring at his mouth. It was totally swollen and covered with black stitches. He had little pieces of black thread poking out of his skin.
“Not bad,” he said. “I won’t be kissing any girls for a while.” He lisped all the s’s.
Shark and I both laughed. You know. Awkward, forced laughter.
But Galen didn’t laugh. He suddenly got real serious. “I . . . found out something. Something totally weird. But . . . I know what’s going on. It’s Candy. It’s all Candy.”
“Huh?” I stared at Galen. “Excuse me? Are you sure?”
Galen nodded. “Candy did this to me to keep me from talking. I know it. I tried to warn you about her, Nate, that night at the bar.”
I pulled the little wooden chair from Galen’s desk closer. Shark sat on the edge of the bed. He kept rolling up the copy of Sports Illustrated and then unrolling it.
“Candy made your mouth stick to the plaque?” Shark asked.
Galen nodded. “I found out the truth,” he said. He cringed. I think it was painful to talk with those swollen lips. “And I know it’s for real, man. All the weird things that have been going down . . . Candy did them all.”
I rolled my eyes. “Galen, how many painkillers did they give you at the hospital?”
Again, he didn’t laugh. “It’s true. Listen to me.” He climbed off the bed and started shuffling through some papers on his desk.
“I found this Web site,” he said. “It’s about legends and stories from the early days of Shadyside.”
Galen studied one of the pages. “It’s about Fear Street. All about how terrifying things happened there. And about the Fear family and how weird and evil they were.”
He handed me a sheet of paper. It had a black-and-white drawing of a young woman on it.
“Check it out. Know who that is?” Galen tapped his finger on the woman’s face. “Angelica Fear,” he said. “She was some kinda witch, remember? We learned about her ages ago.”
Shark grabbed the drawing from me and studied it. “Yeah. It’s Angelica Fear. So what?”
“Check out what she’s wearing,” Galen said. He cringed again and raised a hand to his swollen mouth.
Shark and I both gazed at the drawing. I recognized it before Shark. “Candy’s pendant!” I exclaimed.
Shark squinted at it. “Yeah. It’s that same pendant Candy wears all the time. Angelica Fear is wearing it.”
“The Web site has a whole page about it,” Galen said. He shoved more pages into my hands. “Check it out, man. It’s called an amulet. It’s totally evil. The amulet has evil powers. It can be used to cast spells on people and stuff like that.”
Shark and I gazed at the drawing.
“The article says it’s silver with sapphire jewels on it. And look at the words on the back of the amulet,” Galen said. “Dominatio per malum. It’s Latin. My mom told me what it means. Power through evil.”
My mind was whirring. I remembered Candy sitting in Nights with her hand wrapped around that pendant. And I remembered that big, evil grin on her face.
“Get it?” Galen demanded. “Candy has Angelica Fear’s amulet. And she’s using it against us.”
“The cockroaches . . .” Shark muttered, staring down at the drawing of the amulet. “The blood fr
om your ears . . .”
“My car!” I said. “Shark—that’s why my car went flying into the river.”
Shark leapt to his feet. “She . . . she really did try to kill us!”
A chill ran down my back.
I didn’t want to believe it. But here was the proof.
Candy was evil. Candy wanted to kill me.
I scanned the pages from the Web site. It was all there. Angelica Fear had used the power of the amulet to destroy her enemies . . . destroy them in ugly, painful ways.
I turned to Shark, the papers trembling in my hand. “Shark, what are we going to do?” I asked in a whisper.
Shark’s eyes narrowed. “We’re going to get that amulet,” he said softly.
23
“Candy said her parents were going away,” Shark said. “Remember? She was inviting kids to come over and party?”
“But no one wanted to party with her,” I told Nikki. “Shark and I went by her house around nine, and there was no one there. We saw her through the window, sitting in her living room by herself.”
It was a little after three in the morning, and we were at Nights. Nikki, Shark, Lewis, and I huddled at the back booth sipping beers, making a plan.
“So why didn’t you go see her?” Lewis asked. “You had your perfect chance.”
“No way,” Shark said, spinning his beer bottle between his hands. “We have to take her by surprise.”
“Shark’s right,” I said. “We can’t just ask her for the amulet and expect she’ll give it to us.”
“She’ll turn us into frogs or something,” Shark said. He meant it as a joke, but it didn’t seem too funny.
Nikki suddenly looked frightened. “Shut up! You’re just going to break into her house and steal the amulet?”
“That’s the plan,” Shark said.
“Maybe we can do it without even waking her up,” I said. I felt a sudden chill of fear. “I mean, she’s dangerous. No joke. She’s evil.”
Lewis rolled his eyes. “I think you’re crazy.”
Shark tilted his head and gazed at him. “Why?”
“I think you should call the police,” Lewis said. “Explain to them what Candy has been doing.”
Nikki, Shark, and I laughed.
“For sure,” I said. “That’s perfect. Officer, a girl in our class is a witch, and she’s been casting horrible spells on me. Could you arrest her and take away the evil pendant she’s been using?”
Lewis let out a long sigh. “Okay, okay. You’re right. That wouldn’t work. But count me out. This whole plan . . . it’s too dangerous. Totally. After my accident last year . . . well . . . I don’t want anything to do with magic pendants or the Fear family.”
“The amulet is too dangerous,” I said. “You know me, Lewis. I usually try to talk Shark out of these crazy schemes. But this time he’s right. Candy . . . she almost drowned us. You weren’t there, Lewis. Jamie was barely breathing. It was the most terrifying day of my life.”
“And no one will believe us about the amulet,” Shark said. “We just have to do it ourselves. We have to take it away from her and hide it somewhere it will never be found.”
“Well, I’m outta here,” Lewis said, climbing up. “Good luck, guys. I really mean it.”
We watched him walk out of the bar. He kissed the plaque on the wall on his way out. For extra luck, I guessed.
The three of us fell silent. I glanced at the Budweiser clock behind the bar. Nearly three-thirty. Ryland sat hunched on his tall stool, his back against the wall, half asleep.
I suddenly wanted to be home too. I didn’t want to be breaking into Candy’s house and stealing that evil amulet.
I didn’t even believe in evil amulets!
Finally Shark turned to Nikki. He placed his hand over hers. “Are you coming with us?”
She hesitated. “I guess,” she replied finally. “But I’m really frightened.”
“Let’s go do it,” Shark said.
24
We said good night to Ryland and walked to Shark’s car. It was a cold, damp night. No stars or moon in the sky. The wind kept gusting, and I felt light raindrops on my face as we walked.
I was shivering as I climbed into the back seat of the green Saturn. Shivering from the cold? From my fear?
I wasn’t sure.
Nikki climbed into the front seat. Shark turned the heater up high as soon as he started the engine.
Of course there were no other cars on the street. By ten o’clock, all of Shadyside is closed up. They don’t even have a midnight show at the Cineplex at the mall.
Shark drove slowly, his eyes straight ahead. None of us said a word. I knew we were all thinking about what we were about to do.
Could we take Candy by surprise?
If we didn’t, she might use the amulet on us.
I pictured Galen’s swollen mouth, the lips stitched up with black thread. I pictured the bright red blood shooting from my ears, spraying the walls, the floor—and everyone.
I swallowed.
I hugged myself to stop the shivers.
Angelica Fear had used that amulet. A hundred years ago, she had used that same amulet to kill people.
And now Candy had it.
And she hated me.
Shark cut the headlights about half a block from Candy’s house. The car slid silently to the curb and stopped at the driveway.
I peered up at the house through the car window. Completely dark.
I saw Candy’s BMW parked in the drive at the side.
We climbed out of the car, closing the doors silently and quickly so the roof light would go out. A strong gust of cold greeted us as if trying to push us away.
The three of us huddled together at the bottom of the drive, gazing up at the dark house. Trees shook and rattled in the wind. The rain began to patter down harder.
Nikki leaned against Shark. She had her arm tucked around his. Her hair blew behind her in the gusting wind. I saw that she was shivering, too.
She turned to Shark. “Are we really doing this?”
Shark pulled away from her and took a few steps up the asphalt drive. He wiped rainwater off his forehead. “Look. It’s going to be easy,” he said. He pointed.
Squinting into the darkness, I saw the canvas tarp over one side of the house. Their house-painting job was still underway.
“Why is it going to be easy?” I asked.
Then I saw the ladder, and I answered my own question.
A tall ladder leaned against the side of the house, tilting from the driveway up over the slanting roof.
“It’s a piece of cake!” Shark declared, suddenly excited. “They left a ladder for us. A piece of cake! Let’s go do this thing!”
Nikki held back. “Are you just going to climb into her bedroom? Won’t she wake up?”
Shark pointed again. “That’s her room up there. The one in the front. We’ll climb into a room in the back. Then we can sneak into Candy’s room quietly.”
My breath caught in my throat. I suddenly had doubts. Lots of them.
I suddenly didn’t want to be here.
“Shark, we didn’t bring a flashlight or anything,” I whispered, my eyes on the dark house. “How will we find her room?”
“I’ve been up there before. We can figure it out,” he said.
“But . . . how will we find the amulet in the dark?” Nikki asked.
“No problem,” Shark told her. “She wears it every day. So she probably leaves it out somewhere. We’ll find it.”
He snickered. “She’ll wake up tomorrow morning, and it’ll be gone. And when she comes to school, she’ll see the big grins on our faces. And she’ll know what a loser she is.”
Was Shark really that sure of himself? Was he really that confident?
Or was he saying all that to cover up the fact that he was terrified too?
No time to think about it.
My jacket was soaked through. The cold rain pattered down harder.
Shi
elding my eyes with one hand, I followed Shark and Nikki up the driveway.
Shark and I each grabbed a side of the ladder. Luckily, it was aluminum and light enough for us to carry. We made our way to the back of the house.
No lights on back here, either. I spotted a partly open window on the second floor.
We carefully lowered the ladder to the back wall near that window.
Shark brushed raindrops from his hair. His expression was grim. His eyes were on the half-open window. “Here goes,” he said softly.
He grabbed the sides of the ladder and started to climb.
25
I followed Shark up the ladder. My legs felt rubbery and weak. I’d never broken into a house before.
I took a deep breath and held it, trying to slow my racing heart. Candy is all alone in there, I told myself. Her parents are away. We have her outnumbered three to one.
But she has the amulet.
My hands slipped on the wet metal ladder. I grabbed on tight and kept climbing. I glanced down and saw Nikki right behind me.
Above me, I saw Shark struggling with the window. He shoved it open and disappeared inside the house.
A few seconds later, I swung a leg over the windowsill and stepped inside. I turned and helped Nikki climb off the ladder.
The three of us stood very still. We were all breathing hard. My clothes were soaked through from the rain.
“Where are we?” Nikki whispered.
I glanced around, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. The room was hot and smelled kinda musty. After a few seconds, a bed came into focus, and a low dresser beside it. Cartons were stacked against one wall. I took a few steps forward and stumbled over an exercise bike piled high with folded clothes.
“Must be a spare bedroom or something,” I whispered.
Shark made his way quickly to the door and pulled it open. Dim, yellow light flooded into the room. We tiptoed into a narrow hall. A ceiling light had been left on at the far end. It sent a dull, yellow glow over the dark-wallpapered hall.
We kept our backs pressed against the wall and moved silently, keeping close together. We passed a tiny room, probably a bathroom, and then closed double doors. A linen closet?
