Heidi Heckelbeck Gets the Sniffles

by Wanda Coven

  Heidi jotted down another note:

  I’ll get my book.

  Be right back!

  Heidi ran and got her Book of Spells. Then she opened it to the “No More Sickness!” spell. Mom studied the ingredients.

  “Hmm,” she said. “What kind of tea did you use?”

  Heidi answered on a sticky note.

  Mint.

  “Let’s go to the kitchen and have a look,” said Mom.

  Heidi raced to the kitchen, pulled the tea from the cupboard, and handed it to Mom.

  Mom opened the box. She sniffed the tea bags. Then she looked at the label. “Interesting,” she said.

  “Ribbit?” questioned Heidi, which really meant “What?” in frog.

  Mom pointed to the picture on the box. “You used spearmint tea. The recipe calls for peppermint.”

  Heidi looked puzzled.

  “They’re different,” said Mom. “Spearmint and peppermint are different enough to affect your spell.”

  Heidi hung her head.

  “Now, hold on,” said Mom, “and I’ll see what I can do.”

  Mom scurried to her office and came back with her Witches of Westwick medallion. Then she pulled a container of salt and a jar of honey from the cupboard. Heidi sat on a kitchen stool and watched her mom squeeze half a cup of honey into a bowl. Then she added a teaspoon of salt and mixed them together. Mom spread the mix on Heidi’s neck with her fingertips. Then she picked up her medallion and chanted a spell.

  Heidi sat and stared at Mom.

  “Don’t just sit there,” said Mom. “Please say something!”

  Heidi tried to think of something clever to say. Then she opened her mouth and went, “OINK! OINK!”

  Mom clonked the palm of her hand on her forehead. “Oh no!” she cried. “Now you sound like a pig!”

  Heidi smiled.

  “Just kidding!” she said.

  “Not funny!” said Mom.

  “Sorry,” Heidi said. “That’s all I could think of to say.”

  Mom ruffled Heidi’s hair.

  But there was still one problem.

  Ah-choo! sneezed Heidi. Ah-choo! Ah-choo!

  She felt completely yucky all over again.

  “Sorry, no more fix-it spells,” said Mom. “Health cures are too risky. You’re just going to have to get well the old-fashioned way.”

  “Ugh,” said Heidi.

  “Come on,” said Mom. “Let’s wash off this honey mixture. Then we can make a nest and watch The Witch Switch.”

  After washing off the sticky mixture, Heidi and Mom snuggled on the couch and watched the movie. It was dark when Henry and Dad got home. The boys sat on the couch and tried to cheer Heidi up.

  “I brought you a bag of kettle corn AND a frosted pumpkin sugar cookie,” said Henry.

  “Thanks,” said Heidi—even though she didn’t feel like eating anything.

  “I got you something too,” Dad said.

  He pulled a stuffed black cat from behind his back and handed it to Heidi. The cat had an arched back, a frizzed tail, green eyes, and red stitching on its nose and mouth.

  “I won it in the football toss,” Dad said proudly.

  “He had to toss a LOT of footballs,” Henry whispered.

  “I love it,” said Heidi, admiring the cat. “What else did you guys do?”

  “We went on the hayride,” said Henry. “But it was really bumpy. Then we went in the maze.”

  “And Henry got lost,” Dad said.

  “I just got a little mixed up,” said Henry.

  “Did you go in the haunted barn?” asked Heidi.

  “Believe it or not, I did!” Henry said.

  Henry had never been in the haunted barn before.

  “How was it?” asked Heidi.

  “Really, really scary,” said Henry. “But I loved it!”

  Heidi looked at the floor. “I sure wish I could’ve gone,” she said miserably. “The haunted barn is my favorite thing ever. Now I have to wait a WHOLE year until the next one.”

  Heidi slumped on the sofa and put a pillow over her face.

  “Two words,” said Henry. “That STINKS.”

  Heidi missed a whole week of school. By Saturday she felt like her old self.

  “Guess what?” said Henry at breakfast.

  “What?” asked Heidi.

  “Today you’re going to get a big surprise!”

  “Why?” Heidi asked.

  “Because you missed the Fall Festival,” said Mom.

  “What kind of a surprise?” asked Heidi.

  “A haunted house!” said Henry.

  Heidi squealed. “I LOVE haunted houses!” she said. “Where is it?”

  “In the garage,” said Dad.

  The Heckelbecks had a big garage. It even had wooden stairs that led to an upstairs storage area.

  “It has a real ghost and everything!” said Henry.

  “But you have to wait until dark,” Mom said.

  “Can Lucy come?” asked Heidi.

  Mom and Dad looked at each other.

  “Lucy had other plans today,” said Mom.

  “Rats,” said Heidi. “But I still can’t wait!”

  Heidi and Henry spent the day at Aunt Trudy’s. They carved jack-o’-lanterns and made cupcakes with monster faces. After supper Heidi had to wait in her room until her family was ready. At six o’clock her bedroom door creaked open. A hand reached in and turned off the light. Then she saw Aunt Trudy in the doorway. She had on a jet-black dress with a jagged hem. Her hair had been teased, and she wore smoky eye makeup and bright red lipstick. She held a glowing candelabra in one hand.

  “Hello, Heidi,” she said in a deeper voice than usual. “My name is Raven, and I’m going to take you to the haunted house.”

  Heidi jumped up and followed Raven outside and around to the garage. The jack-o’-lanterns had been lit and displayed around the outside. Strands of twinkly orange lights hung from the garage and covered the bushes. A sign on a stake in front of the garage said FOR SALE, and underneath it said DIRT CHEAP.

  Raven shook her head sadly.

  “I’ve tried to sell this house for fifty years, but no one wants to buy it.”

  “How come?” asked Heidi.

  “Are you sure you want to know?” Raven asked.

  “Positive,” said Heidi.

  Raven glanced at the upstairs window of the garage as if she were checking for something. Then she looked back at Heidi. “This house is haunted,” she whispered.

  Heidi’s eyes grew wide. Even though she knew there were no such things as ghosts, she began to feel a tingle in her spine.

  “By what?” questioned Heidi.

  “By a ghost,” Raven whispered.

  Raven opened the door to the garage, and a cold, eerie mist swept over Heidi.

  They stepped inside, and Raven went on whispering. “No one ever knows when the ghost will appear,” she said as she looked uncertainly all around her.

  Heidi heard a door creak some-where in the garage. The inside of the garage had been made to look like rooms in somebody’s house.

  “Do you think the ghost will come out today?” asked Heidi.

  Raven paused for a moment. “We shall soon see,” she whispered.

  Then Heidi heard someone moan.

  “I WANT TO COME DOWN!” said an eerie voice from up the wooden stairs.

  “What was that?” asked Heidi, biting the corner of a fingernail.

  Raven looked up. “Oh no,” she whispered. “I fear it may be the ghost!”

  A dusty piano then began to play “Chopsticks” all by itself. Heidi never realized how creepy “Chopsticks” could sound in a dark, spooky garage.

  She pointed at the piano. “How is it doing that?”

  “The ghost likes to play the piano,” said Raven. “But it’s funny, it doesn’t seem to need to be at the piano to play it.”

  Then the voice from upstairs wailed again. “I WANT TO COME DOWN!” it cried.

  “Come,�
�� Raven said. “I’d like to show you the dining room.”

  Heidi followed Raven into the dining room.

  The table was set for dinner. A mummy sat at one end of the table and a skeleton at the other. A zombie boy sat on one side.

  “I’m hungry!” said the zombie boy. “Would you please take the lid off my dinner?”

  Raven nodded to Heidi.

  Heidi looked at the domed platter. Don’t be afraid, she told herself. Remember, this is all fake. Then she bit her bottom lip, lifted the lid, and screamed.

  “Aaaaaaaaaah!”

  There was a head on the platter, and it waggled its tongue at Heidi! Heidi grabbed on to Raven and held tight.

  “Yuck!” complained the zombie boy. “We had somebody’s head for dinner LAST night!”

  Heidi took a closer look at the ghoulish head on the platter. It looked an awful lot like Dad.

  Then a door banged upstairs.

  “I’M COMING DOWN!” said the ghostly voice.

  Raven led Heidi into the living room. Huge spiders hung from the ceiling. An old lady rocked in a chair with her knitting. A black cat sat beside her. It hissed at Heidi. Then the coffin coffee table in front of the old lady began to creak. The lid slowly opened, and a vampire boy rose from inside.

  “Good evening . . . ,” he said. “I vant to suck your blood!”

  Heidi hid behind Raven.

  “Oh, don’t mind him,” said the old lady. “He just wants his bottle.”

  The old lady handed Heidi a baby bottle full of what looked like blood.

  Heidi shut her eyes and handed the bottle to the vampire boy. He slurped it down.

  “Thank you,” said the vampire boy. “That vuz vunderful!”

  Then the boy lay back down in the coffin and shut the lid.

  “I’M COMING DOWN!” said the spooky voice from upstairs.

  The old lady stopped knitting and looked at Heidi.

  “Little girl, you must get out of this house!” she warned. “Get out while you can!”

  The wailing voice got a little bit louder. “I’M COMING DOWN!”

  The dim lights began to flicker.

  “We’d better go,” urged Raven. She rushed Heidi toward the door.

  But it was too late! They ran right into the ghost on the bottom stair. The ghost wore a ragged dress and had a sheet over its face. It hopped from the stair and landed in front of Heidi.

  “Boo!” said the ghost.

  Heidi screamed and ran out the door and onto the driveway.

  “WAIT!” shouted the ghost as she chased Heidi out of the garage. “It’s ME, LUCY!”

  Heidi turned around. “Lucy? Is that really YOU?”

  “Yes!” cried Lucy.

  Then everyone came out: Mom, Dad, Henry the zombie, Aunt Trudy, and the vampire boy, who was really Heidi’s friend Bruce.

  Heidi began to laugh.

  “Did we scare you?” asked Henry.

  “Did you EVER!” said Heidi, still catching her breath. “That haunted house was the BEST!”

  “Yes!” said Henry, pumping his fist.

  Everyone cheered. Then they all went into the Heckelbecks’ house and had monster cupcakes and goblets filled with blood . . . which, of course, was really just fruit punch.

  “What’s the matter, Lucy?” asked Heidi.

  “Nothing,” her friend said coldly.

  Heidi looked at Bruce to see if he knew anything. Bruce looked at the ground.

  Heidi turned back to Lucy. “What’s going on?” she pressed.

  Lucy lowered her eyebrows and pushed her lips together. “As if you didn’t know,” she said.

  “What are you talking about?” asked Heidi.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you,” Lucy said crossly. “My lollipop pen is missing! It wasn’t in my backpack when I got home last night.”

  Heidi blinked in disbelief.

  “So please give it BACK, right now!” Lucy said firmly.

  “But I don’t have it,” said Heidi. “Maybe it fell out of your backpack at Bruce’s.”

  “I checked all over,” Bruce said.

  “Maybe it’s in my dad’s car,” Heidi suggested.

  “Nice try,” Lucy said.

  “What’s THAT supposed to mean?” asked Heidi.

  “Think about it,” said Lucy. “You wanted a lollipop pen, then your aunt didn’t get you the right one—and now mine is MISSING!”

  Heidi’s face fell. “You really think I stole your pen?” she asked.

  Lucy looked away for a moment. “Well, it sure looks that way.”

  “Wow,” said Heidi. “What kind of friend do you think I am?”

  WANDA COVEN has always loved magic. When she was little, she used to make secret potions from smooshed shells and acorns. Then she would pretend to transport herself and her friends to enchanted places. Now she’s able to visit other worlds through writing. Wanda lives in San Jose, California, with her husband and son. They have three cats: Hilda, Agnes, and Claw-dia.

  PRISCILLA BURRIS has illustrated numerous books and materials for children, parents, and teachers. She enjoys painting cakes and creating art for products, which include murals, greeting cards, and rubber stamps! Priscilla lives with her family in Southern California.

  Little Simon

  Simon & Schuster

  New York

  Meet the author and illustrator and get activities at

  KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Wanda-Coven

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Priscilla-Burris

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  LITTLE SIMON

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  First Little Simon edition September 2014

  Copyright © 2014 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Jacket design by Ciara Gay

  Jacket illustration by Priscilla Burris

  Jacket illustration by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Coven, Wanda.

  Heidi Heckelbeck gets the sniffles / by Wanda Coven ; illustrated by Priscilla Burris. — First edition.

  pages cm. — (Heidi Heckelbeck ; 12)

  Summary: Heidi is excited about Brewster’s Fall Festival, but she catches a cold and her magic may not be enough to make her well in time.

  ISBN 978-1-4814-1362-6 (pbk) — ISBN 978-1-4814-1363-3 (hc) — ISBN 978-1-4814-1364-0 (ebook) [1. Festivals—Fiction. 2. Cold (Disease)—Fiction. 3. Witches—Fiction. 4. Magic—Fiction.] I. Burris, Priscilla, illustrator. II. Title.

  PZ7.C83393Hdf 2014

  [Fic]—dc23

  2013039360