Spooky Scarecrow

by Addison Creek

  “Remind me never to get on your bad side,” I muttered.

  “That would require me to have a good side,” said Cookie, slamming the passenger door. “If I do, I haven’t found it yet. Glad it’s snowing. It’s about damn time winter got here.”

  “Mom is anxious to have you home. So is everyone else,” I told her. I’d left the heat in the car blasting and shivered into the warm air.

  “Don’t lie. No one is anxious to have me home,” said Cookie. Then she went silent, the sort of silence that I knew was saying a lot.

  For a moment I considered ignoring it, then remembered that I was dealing with a professional. “Yes?”

  “I’d like to stop in and see Hildegard at the shop,” she said. “It’ll only take moment. We can never have too many holiday decorations.”

  “Fine,” I grumbled. There was no point in arguing.

  On the way, I asked Cookie how it had been to sleep in jail. When she didn’t answer I glanced over at her. She shrugged when she caught me looking.

  “Can’t say that I know,” she said.

  “What are you talking about?” I demanded.

  “Didn’t sleep there,” she said.

  I frowned. Could she have stayed at Edmund’s? No, that didn’t make sense.

  “Where did you stay?” I asked.

  Then I remembered the light I’d seen on in her apartment. I also remembered Mr. Blacksmith carrying trays of used plates that he said came from “a couple of places.”

  My grandmother could see in my face that I knew. But she didn’t say anything, and we continued to drive in silence as I fumed.

  When we arrived at the shop, Cookie gleefully stepped from the car and ushered me inside the shop. She started talking before we even caught sight of Hildegarde. “Now the real work begins. I’ve convinced the chief to let the haunted house open again. He feels so guilty about arresting me, he’d throw a party in my honor too if I wanted it. Oh, hi Hildegard.”

  The gaunt figure of Cookie’s friend had appeared from behind the counter and smiled with her few remaining teeth. “Finally got arrested, did you? I’m so jealous! I’ve been trying for years! How’d you do it?” she asked.

  “He actually thought I committed murder,” said Cookie.

  I glared at my grandmother. She might be the most difficult person I had ever met, but she clearly wasn’t capable of that. Good thing Chief Gray had realized it as well, or we would have had a big problem. In the end I just couldn’t imagine Haunted Bluff without my grandmother.

  What would I do with that much free time?

  Chapter Twenty-One

  After Cookie had finished in the shop, we headed home in silence. Cookie had managed to fill the whole back seat with yet more decorations, and she’d recruited me to help her sneak them into the carriage house until she could deploy them. Agreeing to help her was easier than arguing with anyone else about letting her buy them.

  Ben was supposed to come and pick up the remaining scarecrows at some point too. I wasn’t expecting to see him, but it was another sign that the chief was moving on in the case. He was no longer insisting that all the scarecrows be left in place as parts of an active crime scene.

  The snow was coming down more thickly than it had been earlier, and I was daydreaming about Grant coming to dinner and everything going supremely well. Naturally in the dream he was coming to dinner with a family that wasn’t my own, because that was the only way dinner was going to go well.

  We had spent longer than I would have liked shopping, then Cookie had insisted on getting something to eat. Now dusk was falling. As we drove toward home, she hummed softly to herself. We were just turning onto our lonely, winding road when I felt the hair on my arms rise.

  Cookie stopped humming.

  There was something wrong.

  Before I could say a word, something solid slammed into the side of the car. Cookie braced herself as we veered wildly sideways, while I tried desperately to keep the car on the road.

  Out the driver’s side window I saw a vampire flying next to the car. I gasped as three more appeared.

  “The Root!” I cried. “We don’t have to look for them anymore.”

  “They really think you did them wrong. There are three more on my side, ”Cookie murmured. Then she started rummaging through her pockets. “Drat,” she said. “I don’t have any of my usual herbs and potions tucked away. Didn’t think the police would let me keep them in jail, and they didn’t.”

  “Imagine that,” I muttered.

  “What do you have?” Cookie asked me.

  “Just some oregano,” I said.

  She frowned. “What are you doing with that?”

  “Always need to be ready to make pizza,” I informed her.

  “Are you being funny?” she asked, her nose looking extra large as she glared down at me over it.

  “Kind of,” I told her.

  “Even without ingredients we should be okay,” said Cookie.

  The vampire on my left gave me a wild and gleeful grin, then slammed into the side of the car.

  We veered again, and it was all I could do to keep us from rolling into the ditch.

  “Pull over,” said Cookie through gritted teeth.

  The road was deserted and winding. Even if the haunted house was going to open again, there wouldn’t be anyone driving here tonight. With thick tree cover and the snow still falling, it felt as if we were all alone in Shimmerfield.

  “No way! They’ll be on us for sure! If we get home the gargoyles can protect us,” I told my grandmother.

  “Pull over! We aren’t going to make it home,” said Cookie. Several more vampires had appeared. The car was entirely surrounded.

  I swallowed hard. I didn’t like this at all, but I trusted Cookie enough to slow the car. At first the vampires were so surprised that they let me. Then they realized that they’d have an easier time hitting the car if it was slowing, and they crowded around.

  “Stop the car! How long does it take you to park, decades?” demanded Cookie. Her eyes were hard and she was concentrating fiercely.

  “We can’t stop! At least don’t get out,” I cried.

  “My dear girl, I did not survive all these long years by being afraid,” said Cookie. Without so much as a backwards glance she put her hand on the door handle. “Stay here. I shouldn’t need you. You’ll only be at risk.”

  Before I could argue, she was gone.

  “Cookie!” I yelled, but she didn’t turn around. I swore and considered what to do.

  The vampires abandoned me and the car and started circling my grandmother. She went to stand in front of the car, so I could still see her. I couldn’t tell if she was speaking or not.

  The next instant she whipped out an enchantment so fast I could barely follow it. Sparks went flying in every direction and the vampires fell backwards.

  When they recovered and came on again, Cookie unleashed another round of epic enchantments. Never had I seen so many spells flying around at once. One moment an enchantment was shooting off to her right and the next there were several more sparking off to her left. I could only see her back, but I imagined a look of satisfaction on her face.

  My hands had been tight on the driver’s wheel, but when it became clear that Cookie was winning, they loosened just a little.

  After one more round of enchantments, the attacking vampires from the Root of All Evil turned tail and disappeared. Night had fallen fully by now, so it was easy enough for them to get away.

  Cookie turned back to the car, hobbled to the passenger door, and got in. “Let’s go,” she said. “We have a murderer to catch.”

  “That was . . . amazing,” I told her.

  She looked at me and smiled. “I always thought it was best to confront problems head on.”

  “Maybe, but not when the problems are fifteen vampires.”

  “Definitely then,” she insisted, motioning for me to get going.

  We were close to home now and all I said was, “
Do you know who the murderer is?”

  Cookie pursed her lips. “I think that I do. What about you?”

  I shook my head. “It feels like I should. Are you going to tell me?”

  “Not yet,” said Cookie. “You have enough clues to figure it out. The only question is whether the vampire is going to kill again.”

  “Why would that be? No one else has died,” I said.

  Cookie didn’t say anything for a moment. We were just turning into Haunted Bluff’s driveway and the great gates opened to reveal our expansive lawn.

  “Because the first two deaths lured their brother here,” said Cookie.

  Dorian!

  “The killer is after Deadlys?” I gasped. Dorian had showed up here and talked about his brothers as if he and they were very different from each other.

  Maybe they were.

  But they were still family.

  “Dorian Deadly is going to be next if we can’t get to the killer first,” said Cookie.

  Just as we got out of the car, the door to the mansion opened.

  My heart sank.

  “Looks like I have a welcome home committee,” said Cookie as we hurried across the driveway. Lark and a frantic Pep came rushing out, followed closely by the rest of the family.

  Cookie clapped her hands together. “So good of all of you to miss me!”

  As we reached them, Joel appeared in the doorway looking devastated.

  Clearly there was something else going on.

  “Anything?” he yelled. When he saw Cookie and me he came stumbling forward.

  “The first time my appearance has offered comfort,” Cookie whispered.

  “Do you know where he is? Did he go with you?” gasped Joel.

  I looked at my cousins to explain.

  “Dorian is missing. Grant is on his way here from his office,” said Pep. “Dorian has been missing since last night.”

  “He didn’t come in. His bed wasn’t slept in. I didn’t check!” Joel raked his fingers through his hair. “He said he’d be right behind me when I went upstairs to bed.”

  “But what was he doing last night?” I asked.

  “I thought he was meeting with one of you. He said he had something to do,” cried Joel.

  “Maybe he went Down Below,” said Lark.

  “He didn’t meet with me,” said Pep. The rest of us shook our heads to say we hadn’t seen him either.

  There was the screech of tires, and we all turned to look. It turned out to be Grant, racing up the driveway with Jason in the passenger seat. The car had barely come to a stop when they lurched out of the vehicle.

  “Anything?” Grant asked, sweeping up to us, tall and strong and most definitely acting in his official capacity.

  “We just got here,” I said.

  “We don’t know where he is,” said Pep.

  Joel relayed what he had discovered.

  “Is it possible he’s just gone for a long walk?” asked Grant.

  “Anything is possible, but in this case he’s been kidnapped by the Deadly killer,” said Cookie.

  Joel let out a wail and collapsed onto the ground. “They’re going to kill him! Then the other Deadlys are going to kill me,” he wailed.

  The wind whipped around us and the snow fell a bit harder. I wanted to ask if the vampires had anything to do with this, but I had a feeling Cookie wouldn’t appreciate my bringing them up. Mom was likely to demand that Cookie not leave the estate again any time soon if she thought Cookie was in danger from vampires.

  And if that happened, how would Cookie cause enough trouble to function properly?

  “We spread out and looked. He can’t have gotten far,” said Grant, calmly taking control. “An enchantment strong enough to move a man as big as Dorian couldn’t possibly work on a warlock of his ability.”

  “You sound more hopeful than sure,” said Cookie.

  Grant nodded. “Until we know more, that’s the best we can do.”

  Cookie started hobbling toward the house. When I followed, she flashed around to glare at me. “I’ve been in jail! Can’t an old lady take a shower in peace?” I backed off and watched her stump away.

  Joel was talking frantically to Grant, while Clover had come out of his lavish tent to glare at us. His assistant was nowhere to be seen.

  Ignoring Clover, we split up to start searching for Dorian. Pep and Lark headed around the side of the house toward the bluff, Lark muttering something about checking the beach. Mom fell into step next to me. “Is it worth looking Down Below?” she whispered.

  I frowned. The image of the basement of the mansion as an excellent hiding place for a murderous vampire and Dorian Deadly had in fact crossed my mind.

  “Maybe if we can’t find him,” I said. “Peter was adamant that he didn’t want any trouble from the Deadlys. I think he’d be pretty opposed to having one of that family held prisoner down there.”

  “Look, honey, be careful,” said Mom out of the blue, hurrying to get the words out as if she was nervous about saying them.

  “Sure, Mom,” I said. I was taken aback that she was even worrying so much that she’d say it out loud, but obviously I couldn’t think about that now regardless. She just nodded and went to join Meg in the search.

  I headed toward the back yard in Lark and Pep’s wake, thinking it would be a good idea to check with the skeletons, ghosts, le-haunts, owls, bats, and the like. As I reached the large barn door, Matthew appeared. Though he had originally been a guest in the house, he had started spending a lot of time with the skeletons. I wondered if he’d stay. I also wondered if he were the murderer. He wasn’t a vampire, though, and they were at the top of my list of suspects right now.

  “Hi, Jane,” he said. “Everything all right?” His jaw clattered as he spoke.

  “Of course,” I lied. There was no point in trying to explain everything to him.

  “Very good. I like it here,” he said. “This is a great place. Very responsibly run,” he added.

  “I’ll tell Mom you said so,” I promised.

  He clattered a bit more before managing to say, “You do that.”

  At a loss, I wandered in the direction of one of the picnic tables, which would have to come inside for the winter soon. Realistically they should already have been brought in, but we had all been busy with the holiday season, haunt hunting, visitors, and murder investigations.

  The drifting gray snow made me close my eyes against the cold, and I wished I’d thought to wear gloves when I went to get Cookie from jail. It hadn’t been snowing when I left for Shimmerfield, and I forgot her rule about always dressing for the coldest part of an outing. Not that I had known I’d return to a frantic search for Dorian Deadly because his whole family was in the crosshairs of a murderous supernatural.

  “We should have known!” I turned and saw Lark and Pep walking toward me, Pep still so furious that she was yelling loudly enough to be heard halfway across the yard.

  Lark was trying to calm her down but having minimal success. “How could we have known?” she demanded.

  “He was a target! His brothers were murdered! Then he showed up here, which is exactly what the murderer must have wanted,” Pep yelled. “He fell right into their trap, and we didn’t do anything to protect him!”

  “We couldn’t have known it was a family problem and not a younger brothers causing trouble problem,” said Lark.

  “He’s a man! He can’t take care of himself on his own!” Pep stormed.

  As they reached the spot where I was standing next to the picnic table, Lark shook her head. “I don’t know what to do with this one. We’re doing the best we can. Even Kip and the other hunters are searching. Lizzie is being helpful, a miracle in its own right.”

  “We should have known something would happen,” Pep shouted some more, stamping her foot. “Did either of you see him alone last night?” If she could have, she would probably have performed an enchantment where fire started coming out of her eyes to consume us if she didn’t
like our answers to her questions.

  I hadn’t seen him late the night before, and neither had Lark. That didn’t change the fact that we were clearly missing something in trying to think through the problem of where he’d gone.

  “He couldn’t have left the property, right? This estate is vast. He wouldn’t have left. Should we talk to the supernatural leaders and see if any of the supernaturals are missing?” asked Lark.

  “I doubt it,” I said. “The supernaturals are too splashy to kidnap a Deadly and then hide him. Could we have had an intruder on the property last night that we missed?”

  “It’s possible,” said Lark, “but not very likely. We have too many enchantments for that to just happen. I think we’re just missing something we’re going to think is obvious once we figure it out.”

  “Maybe Lizzie took him prisoner in a bid to make Kip jealous. I’m going to yell at her!” said Pep, starting

  Lark reached out to steady her sister. “As much as I’d like to see that, you need to relax. We’re going to find Dorian. He’s a giant warlock man who has spent his life dealing with unsavory characters. He’s fine.”

  Pep swallowed hard, trying to get herself in hand, but she was having a difficult time of it. “Okay. I’ll try to relax . . . I just,” She sighed and stared at the ground.

  Darkness had fallen, and the temperature was dropping quickly. High in the air owls wheeled and turned. The Deadly brothers had come here in a bid to fulfill what they thought was their dynasty. They had failed. Now one last Deadly brother trying to avenge his siblings was missing. We might already be too late.

  As I thought about it, I realized that this had been a banner year for Shimmerfield’s popularity. I had just seen Matthew. And then there was Marsha.

  My mind rushed around and around, pondering the murders and thinking one by one of everyone who was hanging around the house. I was trying to work out exactly when I had last seen each family member and each visitor.

  The guilty vampire was here even if we didn’t know it. And the guilty vampire wasn’t one of the Root.

  And then I knew.

  I took off.

  Chapter Twenty-Two