No Trick-or-Treating! by P.J. Night

Author:P.J. Night
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Spotlight

CHAPTER 8

No one said much on the way back to Ashley’s house, but once they were in the barn, all the girls seemed to relax. The flickering jack-o’-lanterns, the wispy veils hanging from the rafters—they all helped Ashley start feeling deliciously scared—but not terrified—once more, which was precisely how she wanted to feel on Halloween.

“Let’s check out our haul,” Ashley suggested as she turned over her treat bag and dumped her candy on the floor. The other girls did the same.

“I can’t believe we got so much candy!” Danielle exclaimed. “And that people just stick it out on their porch for us to take! That’s crazy!”

Ashley just smiled at her. In reality, their candy haul was incredibly disappointing. Pathetic, even. They’d probably only gotten six or seven pieces each. But they don’t know how weak that is, Ashley reminded herself. They’ve never had Halloween before.

“And we have birthday cake, too,” Ashley said quickly. “And ice cream. And more candy in the house.”

“So what do you want to do now, birthday girl?” Mary Beth asked. “I kind of don’t want to take off my costume yet. I love wearing it!”

“Me too.” Ashley laughed, twirling a snake skin around her finger as if it were a lock of her own hair. The other girls shrieked.

“Ooh, I know!” Ashley exclaimed. “Have you guys ever played Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board?”

As she expected, the other girls looked at her blankly.

“It’s a really spooky game that’s perfect for sleepovers,” Ashley continued.

“What do you do?” asked Mary Beth.

“So, one person lies down, and everyone else gathers around her, and you can actually make her levitate,” Ashley said. “It really works, too. I played it once in Atlanta, and my friend Rachel was totally floating, like, three inches off the ground!”

“That sounds awesome!” cried Danielle. “Let’s do it!”

“Okay, who wants to go first?” Ashley asked. She turned to Stephanie, who’d been strangely quiet since they had returned to the barn. “How about you, Steph? You already look like a ghost.”

“Sure,” Stephanie said with a shrug. “Do I just lie down here? On the floor?”

“Yup,” Ashley replied. Then she knelt down on one side of Stephanie. “Mary Beth and Danielle, you go take the other side.”

When everyone was in position, Ashley dropped her voice to a hush. “Everyone put two fingers under Stephanie,” she explained. “Now close your eyes. When I start saying ‘light as a feather, stiff as a board,’ you repeat after me, okay?”

Mary Beth and Danielle, their eyes already shut, nodded silently.

“And, Stephanie, don’t move, not even a little bit. You’ve got to stay completely still,” Ashley continued. “Everybody ready?”

Mary Beth and Danielle nodded again, but Stephanie didn’t move.

Ashley slipped her index fingers under Stephanie’s side, feeling the fine, soft lace at the end of Stephanie’s veil. An image of the witch reaching for it flitted through her mind, but Ashley pushed it away as she closed her eyes. Focus, she told herself. Focus.

After several minutes of silence, during which Ashley could only hear her friends’ quiet breathing, she started to speak, setting up the game.

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