by R. L. Stine
I gazed all around. “I thought she was here. I didn’t realize—”
Another scream rang off the walls.
“Shannon? Shannon?” Dad cried. He took off running. Logan and I followed.
To the mummy room. At the doorway, Dad stopped short. Logan and I almost bumped right into him.
The room was bathed in blue light. The dark walls glowed eerily, reflecting the light. A large model of a pyramid also shone brightly in the glow.
Shannon stood with her back pressed against the wall. Her eyes were wide with fear. “I—I—I—” she sputtered.
“Shannon—what’s wrong?” I screamed.
She pointed with a trembling finger to the mummy case. “I—I said some words. They were on the side of the mummy case. I said them and—”
Another low groan made us turn.
“Oh no,” Dad murmured. His eyes bulged.
I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
I grabbed Logan’s arm as we stared … stared at the mummy sitting up in his case.
The mummy’s wrapped hands gripped the sides of the stone case. His head tilted forward. His chest leaned forward and another ugly low groan came from somewhere deep inside him.
“Oh noooo,” Dad moaned again.
“He … he’s moving!” Logan cried.
Shannon slid up beside Dad and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I just wanted to see it,” she said. “I just wanted to take a peek. Then I saw the words on the coffin, and I said them. I didn’t mean to—”
Dad gently pushed her back. “Get out,” he said, his voice tense. “Get out of the room.”
I choked. My mouth was suddenly dry. Chill after chill ran down my back.
“Those words brought him to life,” I choked out. “Just like the dummy.”
We stood frozen, watching in shock as the mummy pressed both hands down on the sides of the case, his ancient arms crackling and cracking from the pressure.
He turned and stopped, as if seeing us for the first time. Then, with another groan, he raised one leg over the case.
“He—he’s climbing out,” I stammered. “Dad—what are you going to do?”
Dad’s face was tomato red. He had big drops of sweat rolling down his forehead. “I don’t know,” he murmured. “My brain isn’t functioning. This … this can’t be real.”
The mummy stood outside the case now. He rolled his head from side to side. From beneath the ancient layers of cloth and tar, we heard more cracking sounds. Like bones breaking.
Arragotus took a heavy step toward us. He moved unsteadily in slow motion, testing his legs, his balance. He swayed to one side as he took another step.
“Should we call 911?” Shannon cried.
Dad shook his head. “They won’t believe us. Who would believe this?”
The mummy raised his arms as he staggered toward us. As if he wanted to grab us … capture us … smother us.
“Maybe … maybe he’s friendly,” I said, my voice dry and tiny.
A growl rose up from deep in his chest.
“Not friendly,” Logan said.
“Get back!” Dad shouted. He mopped sweat off his forehead with his hand. “Get back! I’m going to try—”
The mummy tossed his head to the side and howled, a throaty cry that echoed off the dark museum walls.
“I’m going to try to get him to return to his case,” Dad said.
“How?” I cried.
“I don’t know. Just don’t get close,” he ordered.
Logan, Shannon, and I stumbled to the wall. I bumped into an old iron battle shield and sent it clattering to the floor at my feet. Logan grabbed me to keep me from falling over it.
My heart pounding, I turned and watched Dad as he stepped toward the mummy. Dad raised a hand as if signaling the mummy to stop.
“Go back!” Dad cried. “Arragotus—go back to your bed. Go back to sleep!”
The mummy took another heavy step toward Dad. His wrapped feet thudded hard on the stone floor. His eyes were covered by a thick layer of tar. I knew he couldn’t see.
But why did he appear to have his gaze locked on Dad?
“Go back!” Dad shouted again. He motioned with both hands. “Go back where you belong, Arragotus!”
The mummy had been moving slowly, an inch at a time. Testing his legs, unsure of his balance.
But now he lurched forward—and grabbed Dad by the neck.
Dad uttered a strangled cry. His hands flew up in surprise.
I screamed as the mummy hoisted Dad off the floor.
“Put him down! Let go of him!” I screamed.
Dad struggled to twist free of the mummy’s grasp. But Arragotus was too strong. With a loud groan from deep in his chest, the mummy raised Dad high over his head …
… and heaved him facedown into the mummy case.
Dad hit hard. He made a sick thud as his body spread over the coffin bottom. Then he didn’t move.
“Dad! Dad! Dad!” I couldn’t stop. I kept screaming the word over and over.
Behind me, Logan and Shannon stood frozen in panic. Their eyes bulged in horror.
“Dad—move! Get out of there!” I cried.
The mummy turned. He bent over the case, as if examining Dad.
“Dad—please move! Please!” My cries echoed through all the rooms. “Dad—please!”
But he didn’t move. He must have been knocked out when his head hit the stone bottom.
I sucked in a deep breath. My throat hurt from screaming.
The mummy reached his hands into the case. He took Dad by the shoulders and began to shake him.
“Cathy! Cathy! He’s … he’s going to kill him!” Shannon cried.
“No. No,” I murmured. I hurtled across the room. I grabbed the mummy around the waist. The cloth-and-tar covering felt rough and hard on my skin. A sour odor, the odor of thousands of years, invaded my nose and mouth.
Dad’s head bobbed lifelessly as the mummy continued to shake him by the shoulders. I tugged with all my strength, struggled to pull Arragotus away from Dad.
But the mummy was as solid as a tree trunk. I couldn’t budge him.
“Get off!” I cried. “Let him go!” My voice was a harsh, terrified whisper.
The mummy whipped around suddenly, catching me off-balance. He swung his arm hard—and gave me a shove that sent me staggering back. I toppled to the floor. Waves of pain rolled up my whole body.
I saw the mummy turn again and reach down to grab Dad by the throat.
With a groan, I spun off the floor. Frantic, my mind spinning, red lights flashing in my eyes, I grabbed the armored shield I had knocked to the floor.
I lifted it in front of me—and raced to the mummy. I bashed the heavy metal shield into the mummy’s side. The shield clanged as it crashed into the mummy’s hardened body.
Arragotus moaned and fell aside.
Gasping for breath, I watched him hit the floor. I heard rib bones cracking.
Inside the case, Dad blinked and raised his head.
“Dad—hurry. Get out!” I cried.
I grabbed Dad’s arm to help him up. He kept blinking, tilting his head dizzily. Finally, he pulled himself over the side of the case. Rubbing the back of his neck, he leaned against the wall.
Struggling to catch my breath, I turned and saw the mummy climb to his feet. He took a slow step forward.
His arms reached out.
He glanced down at the shield.
He grunted and pointed at me. He kept his finger pointed, as if saying, You’re next!
“Run, Cathy!” Shannon cried. “He’s coming after you now.”
I had been watching Dad, waiting for him to return to normal. But now I spun away. I started to the door.
Too late.
I felt the hard hands grip my shoulders. Hard as steel. The fingers dug into my skin.
I let out a cry of pain.
I squirmed and twisted. The mummy held on.
“Let me go!” I s
creamed.
Then, from somewhere deep in his throat, I heard a harsh whisper, a word, more a groan than a word. “Cathy … Cathy …”
“He can talk—and he knows your name!” Shannon screamed.
The mummy gripped me tighter.
“Cathy … Cathy …”
“Nooooo!” The sound of my name erupting from his ancient throat sent chill after chill down my back—until my entire body shook. I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to scream and scream and scream.
“Let me go! Let me go!”
“Cathy …”
The mummy raised his dry, scratchy hands to my neck. I felt the fingers begin to tighten.
“Nooo!” I screamed.
I raised my knee fast. Slammed it into the mummy’s middle.
His hands loosened. It gave me just enough time to slip out of his grasp. I ducked fast and twirled away. I could still feel the dry, ancient hands on my throat.
I saw Dad try to take a step away from the wall. His eyes were still rolling in his head.
My breath came out in frantic whooshes. I struggled to think straight.
Suddenly, I had a plan.
My eyes on the mummy, I backed slowly toward the empty case. Arragotus grunted and started to follow me. “Cathy … Cathy …” He raised his hands again, preparing to attack, to grab me.
I backed up another step. Another.
I was nearly to the side of the mummy case.
Arragotus staggered forward slowly, steadily. His wrapped feet scraped the stone floor. One heavy thump … Another heavy thump …
“Cathy …” My name coming out of him in a disgusting rattle.
I waited till he was almost close enough to grab me. Then I ducked fast, spun away. Darted across the floor.
Summoning all my strength, I lifted the big model of the pyramid in both hands. I gripped it tightly and raised it in front of me. Then I lowered my head and rushed at the mummy with all the speed I could muster.
I smashed the point of the pyramid into his back.
He groaned and spun around.
And I shoved the pyramid hard into his chest.
His arms flew up. His head tilted to one side. He staggered backward. His legs bumped against the side of the case—and he fell in.
I gripped the heavy pyramid in front of me. My whole body trembled. I watched the mummy fall into the case.
“Cathy … Unnnnnh … Cathy …”
Arragotus landed hard on his back. But it looked as if he was going to get up again.
I saw the writing on the side of the mummy’s case. Shannon said she read it, and that’s when the mummy came to life. The same thing that happened with Slappy last night. I had a hunch. It was worth a shot. I shouted the words out loud.
The mummy uttered a groan. Then I watched his body flatten against the stone bottom. He didn’t move. The words had put him back to sleep.
I let the heavy model pyramid fall to the floor.
“Wow. Cathy, are you okay?” Shannon rushed forward and wrapped me in a hug.
“I … I think so,” I stammered. I couldn’t stop my legs from trembling, my heart from pounding.
“That was awesome,” Logan said. He shook his head. “I can’t believe you defeated an ancient mummy!”
“I can’t believe it either,” I said, still struggling to catch my breath.
I turned and saw Dad come walking over to us. He was still rubbing the back of his head. But his eyes looked clear and normal again.
“I … I think I was knocked out,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you.”
“Are you okay?” Shannon asked him.
He nodded. “Yeah. I think so.” He turned and gazed into the mummy case. “But what are we going to do about this guy?”
Arragotus lay still. He looked dead, as he had looked for thousands of years.
“This is impossible. But it really happened,” Dad continued to stare at the mummy, stunned. “It’s the same thing that happened with the dummy last night!”
“We told you, but you didn’t believe us!” Logan said.
“We have to cancel the overnight,” Dad said sadly. “We can’t take the chance someone might get hurt.”
“But, Dad—” Shannon started.
“This is a very angry mummy,” Dad said. He gazed into the case. “No wonder those people were so willing to get rid of him.” He rubbed his head. “If Arragotus wakes up again, he’s too dangerous. It’s just too big a risk.”
I could see how disappointed Dad was. We all were. But I knew he was right.
“We have to tell everyone in your class,” Dad said. “Right away.” He turned from the mummy case and started out of the room. “They are coming on a bus together. I’ll call the driver. Or maybe your teacher. Everyone has to be stopped before they come here. We—”
We all gasped as a loud buzzer rang out.
The doorbell at the front of the museum.
I heard footsteps. Voices out in the hall. Laughter.
I turned and gazed down the hall.
“Now what, Dad? They’re already here!”
Shouts and laughs rang off the high walls as my class poured into the museum. Mrs. Uris, my teacher, was herding everyone through the hall.
Dad came up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I don’t know what to do,” he said. “Should I just tell everyone to turn around and go home?”
I glanced back into the mummy room. Arragotus was out cold. Dead again. He hadn’t moved.
“Everyone will be so upset if we cancel,” I said. “And we’ll be careful. No way we’ll read those words.”
“We’d better move the boys’ cots out of the mummy room,” Dad said. “Why risk one of them reading the words on the mummy case?”
“If the mummy comes back to life, I’ll tickle him to death!” Shannon exclaimed. She laughed and started to tickle me under the chin.
I knew she was just trying to look brave. But I didn’t want to be tickled at just that moment.
I jerked around and pushed her hand away. “Stop it, Shannon. And don’t tickle any of my friends. No one likes it.”
She made a phony pouty face. “You’re mean.”
I hurried to greet my friends. Most of them had been to my dad’s museum before. Most of them shared my attitude that it was kind of babyish and not too scary. But they didn’t come for the scares. They came to party all night.
“What’s that weird smell?” my friend Scott asked, sniffing the air. “Smells like an old closet.”
I realized he was smelling the ancient odor left by the mummy. A chill rolled down my back. I glanced to the mummy room. Nothing moving there.
I knew I’d be tense about the mummy all night.
“There’s a lot of old stuff here that, well, smells old,” I told Scott.
He grinned at me. “Does your dad still have that three-legged dinosaur skeleton?”
I nodded. “Three legs are better than none.”
“Is he going to try to scare us tonight?” Scott asked.
“You know my dad,” I replied.
Scott snickered. “Hope I don’t scream like a baby.”
We both laughed. But my laugh was fake. I was thinking about Arragotus. If he comes to life again, we’ll all be screaming.
It didn’t take long to get everyone settled. Then we gathered beneath the wide stairs in the front hall. “Sit down, everyone. Get comfortable,” Dad said. “I want you all to have a scary good time at my Haunted Horror Museum.”
“Oooh, scary,” someone murmured. “I’m shaking.”
Some kids laughed.
Dad ignored them. “I’m going to start out by telling you a true story.”
“Can we see the new mummy?” Ashli Munroe shouted. A few kids murmured their agreement.
“Later,” Dad said. “I want to tell you a story first.”
Dad planned to start in the mummy room. But I guess he had changed his mind. Was he stalling? Waiting to see if Arragotus w
ould come walking down the hall?
“How old is the dinosaur skeleton?” LeBron Harkness called out. “Is it as old as Mrs. Uris?”
That made everyone laugh. Mrs. Uris sat in a chair against the back wall. She jumped to her feet and shook a fist at LeBron. “I’m only thirty-six. Does that make me a dinosaur?” She has a good sense of humor. That’s why we liked to tease her.
“The dinosaur is older than Mrs. Uris,” Dad said. “It’s at least seventy million years old. And do you know where it was found?”
“In Scott’s backyard?” someone shouted.
Scott’s backyard is famous because it’s like a junkyard, cluttered with all kinds of old car parts and metal scraps and rusted engines and stuff.
“Actually, it was found in a field in Montana,” Dad said. “Did you know there were dinosaurs in Montana?”
“So can we see the mummy?” Ashli repeated.
Dad grinned at her. “The mummy is taking his dinner break.”
He settled back against the wall of the stairway and began to tell his story. “A lot of people ask me why I call this place the Haunted Horror Museum,” he said. “Is it really haunted? The answer is yes.”
A few kids snickered. Shannon, who sat beside Dad, rolled her eyes. I glanced down the hall toward the mummy room. Nothing going on down there.
“Maybe you can tell this museum was originally an old mansion,” Dad continued. “It has thirty-five rooms, three floors, and was actually built in the early 1800s.”
“Older than me!” Mrs. Uris chimed in, and we laughed again.
“The mansion was built by a very wealthy family whose last name was Tyler. The Tyler family had seven children,” Dad continued. “So all the rooms were filled, with bedrooms for the parents and the children, and there were even a few guest rooms for the family’s relatives to stay in.”
Dad took a pause. A hush had fallen over the front hall as we all became interested in his story.
I was surprised I’d never heard it before. Was it true? Was he making it up as he went along? I knew he wanted to keep us all away from the mummy room until he could be sure the mummy was really dead again.
“Tyler fell into trouble,” Dad continued. “His business went bankrupt. He owed the bank thousands of dollars. Sadly, he realized he could not keep his house. It was only days until the bank would take it from him.”
