“Noooo!” Farley cried. “At least I can still have the beetle!” He scrambled over to the sarcophagus, but he was too late. It shut with a stone-on-stone bang that reverberated through the crypt. He tried to pry it open with his powerful fingers, but it was no use.
The pharaoh-queen and her beloved beetle were back where they belonged, and staying there.
“C’mon, let’s go.” Cody and the others scrambled up the stairs.
They reached the surface in time to see Ramut plow through the partygoers, who all fell back, whimpering in terror. The Destroyer snapped his fingers. A bolt of lightning snaked down from the sky. The flash blinded Cody. When his vision returned, the demon was gone, leaving a circle of charred grass.
“Run!” Cody said. The boys hitched up their costumes and sprinted across the lawn before the dazed monsters could regain their senses.
“What happened down there?” a monster voice said. “If it scared that dude, I don’t want to wait around to meet it.” Monsters took off flying, slithering, and waddling, scattering like marbles.
The boys reached the door and heaved it open. Safe, inside. They slid down onto the floor and collapsed. Who’d have thought they’d ever be so happy to be back inside Splurch Academy?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THE END?
“Back in the dorms,” Ratface observed as they crawled into bed that night. “I guess quarantine is over.”
“Yeah,” Carlos said. “We’ve had a miracle cure from our . . . what was it? Gagged Splaskers?”
“Splagged gaskers,” Sully said. “Close enough.”
“Where’ve you clowns been?” asked an older boy from one of the other grades. “We figured you’d been eaten.”
“We got to go on a special field trip,” Victor said.
“Just so long as you didn’t bring Farley back with you,” the older kid joked. “Splurch Academy’s been way better since he’s been gone.”
Cody and his friends looked at one another.
“The words Splurch Academy and way better don’t even belong in the same sentence,” Carlos said.
“Sure they do,” Victor said. “It’d be way better to die the death of a thousand paper cuts than to ever be sent to Splurch Academy.”
“Which is better? To torch Splurch Academy, or use a wrecker ball? Demolishing Splurch Academy with ten thousand sticks of dynamite would be way better,” Sully said.
“The food at Splurch Academy is bad, but at least with lots of ketchup it’s way better,” Mugsy added.
“Never mind,” the older kid said, rolling over in his bunk. “Forget I said anything at all, okay? And let the rest of us get some sleep.”
The door to the dormitory opened. There, in the glow from the hallway candles, stood a tall, familiar figure with a rat perched on his shoulder.
The older kid let out a shocked breath. “Rats! It’s him!”
It was him, all right. Archibald Farley, Headmaster of Splurch Academy, was back from the grave and boiling mad at Cody and his friends. He couldn’t bite them, not now that he had his body back and had to abide by the ancient rules governing the Academy —rules ensuring that, so long as the children didn’t go outside after dark, the monsters could never eat them. He wouldn’t risk breaking them again, not directly. But he could still find all sorts of ways to make their lives a living misery.
And Cody knew he was the first kid Farley would start with, any time he wanted to test out some new torture method.
He pulled the door shut.
“We’re all goners,” Cody moaned.
“Look at the bright side, Cody,” Carlos whispered. “You’re yourself again. No more vampire mind-control. We won that part.”
“But we brought Farley back,” Cody said.
“We stopped him from getting a Lizard of Endless Dominion over Children,” Sully pointed out. “That’s something.”
“What difference does it make?” Cody said. “He’s got endless dominion over us.”
“Will you quit blabbing about lizards?” the older kid grunted. “I’m trying to sleep.”
Cody stared into the darkness.
“Hey, guys.” It was Mugsy, whispering.
“Guys. Follow me. Come see what I got.”
Mugsy led them into the bathroom.
“When we were passing through the party,” Mugsy said, “I, er, grabbed a few things.” He poured out a pillowcase onto the tile floor. Inside were pounds and pounds of confiscated Halloween candy and treats.
“There may be a few bugs mixed in, but who cares?” he said. “Happy Halloween, guys.”
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to our sister, Joanna Gardner, for tirelessly Splurching along with us. There’s a room with a view in Splurch’s topmost tower with her name on it. Thanks also to our mom, Shirley Gardner, for all the bowls of oatmeal.
About the Authors
Sally Faye Gardner and Julie Gardner Berry are sisters, both originally from upstate New York. Sally, who now lives in New York City with a smallish black dog named Dottie, has, at various times, worked as a gas pumper, janitor, sign painter, meeting attendee, and e-mail sender. Julie, who now lives near Boston with her husband, four smallish sons, and tiger cat named Coco, has worked as a restaurant busboy, volleyball referee, cleaning lady, and seller of tight leather pants. Today she, too, attends meetings and sends e-mail. Julie is the author of The Amaranth Enchantment and Secondhand Charm, while this is Sally’s first series.
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