Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns by R. L. Stine

Author:R. L. Stine [Stine, R.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2018-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

Our screams echoed down the block.

The fire flashed in the pumpkin heads’ eyes.

I turned to Tabby and Lee. The light from the fiery jack-o’-lantern faces flickered over their faces. They stood calmly, staring at the grinning pumpkin heads.

Tabby turned to me. “Is this your idea of a joke? Were you trying to scare us?”

“We know it’s Shane and Shana,” Lee said. He tugged at one of the dark, loose, flowing costumes. “Hey, Shane — how’s it going?”

The two pumpkin heads remained silent.

“How did you get the fire to work? Do you have candles in there?” Tabby demanded. “How can you see?”

The pumpkin heads grinned back in silence. A lick of fire darted out from one of the jagged mouths.

I shivered. These costumes were too good. I could hear the flames hiss inside the big orange heads. The costumes were dark green, like pumpkin vines.

Why aren’t Tabby and Lee frightened? I wondered.

I expected Shane and Shana to appear in something frightening. But I didn’t expect anything as good as these fiery jack-o’-lantern heads.

The costumes were great. But I felt so disappointed. Tabby and Lee were definitely not frightened.

This Halloween is going to be a disaster — like the others, I thought.

I stepped up beside Walker. I couldn’t see his expression under his ski mask.

“How do they do the fire?” he whispered. “It’s really awesome!”

I nodded. “But it didn’t scare Tabby and Lee,” I whispered back.

“It’s early,” Walker whispered. “Shane and Shana have just started.”

My cape had become tangled around my legs. I tugged it free and tossed it behind me.

The two pumpkin heads still hadn’t said a word.

Tabby picked up her trick-or-treat bag and turned to me. “You’ll have to do better than this if you want to scare Lee and me,” she said with a sneer.

“We’re not scaredy-cats like you two,” Lee boasted.

Flames darted out of the pumpkin heads’ eyes. They both tilted their big heads as they stared at Tabby and Lee.

How do they do that? I wondered. How do they control the flames? Do they have some kind of remote control?

“Well, are we going to stand here and freeze? Or are we going to trick-or-treat?” Tabby demanded.

“Let’s do your block,” I suggested to her.

Tabby started to reply — but a hiss of fire from the nearest pumpkin head made her stop.

“Let’s go somewhere else,” the jack-o’-lantern said from somewhere inside the pumpkin head. His voice came out in a hoarse crackle. Too harsh to be a whisper. A dry, choked sound.

“Somewhere else,” his partner echoed. Her voice also came out in a hoarse crackle. Like dry, dead leaves being crinkled together.

“Excuse me?” Lee cried.

“We know a better neighborhood,” the first pumpkin head crackled. The jagged mouth, cut through the thick pumpkin flesh, didn’t move. The voice hissed from inside. The orange and yellow flames tossed in rhythm to the words.

“We know a better neighborhood.”

“A neighborhood you won’t forget.”

Tabby laughed. She rolled her eyes. “Oh, wow. Scary voices!” she said sarcastically.

“Oooh, I’m shaking! I’m shaking!” Lee teased.

He and Tabby laughed together.

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