59 - The Haunted School (8 page)

Kids laughed and cheered.

Ben turned to me, his face twisted in fear. “It—it’s boiling hot down
there,” he stammered, gazing into the bubbling pit below. “And it smells like
dead animals!”

“Jump! Jump! Jump!” kids began to chant.

My eyes swept over them. Laughing. Cheering. The black goo running down their
faces, down their clothes. The kids tossed their heads back and spewed gobs of
black liquid into the air.

“Jump! Jump! Jump!”

Suddenly, the chanting and laughter stopped. I heard screams.

Strong hands grabbed me around the waist from behind. And shoved me hard—into the steaming pit.

No.

I didn’t fall. I didn’t go over the side.

The hands held on to me. Spun me around.

I squinted into a familiar face. Seth!

“Run!” he cried. “We came to rescue you!”

I turned and saw Mary and Eloise guiding Ben down the hill.

“Let’s go!” Seth cried.

We started to run. But we didn’t get far.

The other kids had been startled at first. But they quickly got over their
surprise. And formed a tight circle around us.

“They’ve trapped us!” I cried. “How can we break through?”

We stopped and stared at them as they began to circle us, moving silently,
their faces smeared with the black liquid, their clothing drenched and stained.

“I thought we could outrun them,” Seth started. “But—”

1 lowered my gaze to a pile of dead leaves on the ground. And an idea flashed
into my mind.

I shoved my hand into the pocket of my khakis.

“Get ready,” I warned the others.

Ben turned to me. “Get ready for what?” he demanded.

“Get ready,” I repeated. “Get ready to move.”

“Okay!” I cried.

I raised the lighter. Clicked it once. Twice.

A yellow flame shot up.

“Owww!” a girl cried.

Several other kids cried out. Some shielded their eyes or turned away from
the flame.

“Too bright!” a girl screamed.

“My eyes! It hurts my eyes!”

“Grab it! Grab it!” a boy wailed.

But I wasn’t finished.

I lowered the flame to the pile of leaves at our feet. The leaves caught
instantly, with a loud
WHOOOOSH.
Bright orange flames roared up.

“Nooooo!” The kids covered their eyes and cried out in pain.

“Let’s go!” I called to Ben and the others. But I didn’t need to say it. They
were already running over the dark grass. I lowered my head and ran after them.

I heard kids screaming and crying behind us.

“I can’t see! I can’t see!”

“Somebody—do something!”

“Put out the fire!”

I glanced back. The pile of burning leaves sent up a darting wall of
red-orange light. So bright against the black night sky.

Covering their eyes, the kids were scrambling away, running in all
directions. No one was chasing after us.

Trotting hard through the foggy night, Seth and the two girls led us away
from the hill. “We tried to warn you about the others,” Mary said breathlessly.
“But you ran away. You wouldn’t listen.”

“They’ve lost their minds,” Seth added sadly. “They can’t think straight
anymore.”

“They’re like some kind of wild gang now,” Eloise added. “They have their own
laws. Their own strange traditions. They cover themselves in black goo every
night. It’s—it’s really frightening.”

“That’s why the five of us stay in the school,” Eloise explained. “We’re
afraid of them too.”

“They do horrible, crazy things,” Mary said. “They’ve given up all hope. They
don’t care what they do.”

I shivered. The gray moon had disappeared behind clouds again, and the air
grew cold. The three gray kids seemed to fade with the moonlight.

I heard shouts. From nearby. Excited voices.

“They’re coming back!” I cried.

“We’d better hurry,” Seth said. “Follow us.”

He and the two girls turned and began running toward the street. Ben and I
followed, keeping in the deep shadow of the tall hedges that lined the yards.

I heard the shouts again, from close behind us.

“Where are you taking us?” Ben asked in a breathless whisper.

“Back to the school,” Seth replied.

“To help us get out of this place?” I cried. “To help us back to our own
world?”

“No,” Seth replied without slowing his stride. “We told you, Tommy. We can’t
help you go back. But you’ll be safer in the school with us.”

“A lot safer,” Mary added.

Jogging hard, Ben and I followed them through dark yards and over empty
streets. The bare trees cracked and groaned overhead. The only other sound was
the steady
THUD
of our shoes as we ran.

I didn’t hear the other kids’ voices. But I knew they had to be nearby. Still
searching for us.

I breathed a sigh of relief when the little school building came into view.
Ben and I hurried inside. We followed Seth and the two girls back to the large
classroom. Mona and Eddie were waiting there for us.

I sat down at a desk and struggled to catch my breath. When I looked up, I
found all five kids staring wide-eyed at Ben and me.

“What’s wrong?” I demanded.

They didn’t answer for a long moment. Then, finally, Eloise said, “You’d
better check yourself out in the mirror.” She pointed to a tall mirror near the
elevator alcove.

Ben and I made our way quickly to the mirror.

My heart was pounding by the time I stepped in front of it. A heavy feeling
of dread swept over me.

I knew what I was about to see.

But I prayed I was wrong.

I took a deep breath—and gazed into the mirror.

“Nooooo.” Ben opened his mouth in a sorrowful moan.

We stared at two gray figures.

My khakis, my shirt. Gray now. My hair. My eyes. All of me. All in shades of
gray.

“We’re almost one of them,” Ben murmured. He uttered another moan. “What are
the school colors here? Gray and gray?” He tried to laugh. But I saw his whole
body tremble.

“No—wait!” I cried. “Ben, look. We still have a little time!”

I pointed into the mirror.

My ears were gray. And the gray had spread over my lips and chin. But my
cheeks still held their color. My cheeks and my nose.

Ben’s face was the same. “That’s all that’s left,” he sighed. “The front of
my face.”

“We’re sorry,” Mary said, stepping up behind us. “We’re really sorry. In a
few minutes, you’ll be gray like us.”

“No—!” I insisted, spinning away from the mirror. “There’s got to be a way.
Hasn’t
anyone
ever escaped?”

Seth’s answer shocked me.

“Yes,” he said softly. “One girl escaped from Grayworld. Just a few weeks
ago.”

“After fifty years, one of us made it back to the world,” Mona sighed.

“How?” Ben and I cried at the same time.

“How did she do it?” I demanded.

They all shook their heads. “We don’t know,” Eloise replied sadly. “She just
disappeared. We’ve been waiting for her to come back for us.”

“When the elevator opened tonight, we thought it was her,” Eddie said. “We
thought she had come back to rescue us.”

Greta!

Her face flashed into my mind.

Of course! Greta, that strange girl with her gray eyes, her white-blond hair,
her all-black outfits.

Greta had escaped from Grayworld. Greta had returned to the world of color.
No wonder she was so eager to get her hands on Thalia’s bright lipstick!

Greta…

Why
hadn’t
she returned to rescue her friends?

How did she make her escape?

My eyes traveled to the elevator at the back of the room.
Open!
I
ordered it silently.
Open up—now! Please open!

But, of course, the gray doors remained shut.

I shoved my hands into my khakis pockets. Thinking hard, trying to fight down
my panic, I started to walk to the front of the room.

Ben slumped into a chair, shaking his head sadly. “This can’t be happening,”
he muttered. He pounded the desktop angrily. “This can’t be happening!”

“Think, Tommy. Think,” I instructed myself out loud. “There’s got to be a way
to stop the gray. There’s got to be a way to bring the color back. Think!”

My mind raced. I was too frightened to think clearly.

Every muscle in my body tensed.

Thinking hard, I pulled out the plastic lighter from my pocket. Nervously, I
twirled it between my fingers. Slid it from hand to hand.

Think!
Think!

I fumbled with the lighter. It fell out of my hand and clattered onto the
floor.

I stared at it as I bent to pick it up. The lighter had been bright red. But
now the plastic had faded to gray.

But the flame…

Suddenly, I had an idea.

I stood up and turned to the others. I raised the lighter. “What if…” I
started, thinking hard. Excited by my flash of hope.

“What if I lit up the room with yellow light from the other world? Do you think the color—the yellow light—would wash away
the gray?”

“You already tried it—outside,” Ben reminded me.

“But that was outside,” I replied. “What if I light it near the wall? Do you
think the bright color will make the gray wall fade away so that we can escape
to the other side, the side of color?”

They stared back at me, their eyes locked on the lighter in my hand.

I didn’t wait for their reply.

“I’m going to try it,” I announced.

I raised the plastic lighter high.

Their eyes followed the lighter as I raised it high.

“Good luck,” Ben whispered. “Good luck to us all.”

I clicked the lighter.

Clicked it again.

Clicked it.

Clicked it hard.

It wouldn’t light.

I slammed the lighter onto the desktop.

“It’s out!” I wailed. “I used it up. It’s out of fluid.”

“No—” Ben cried. “Try it again, Tommy. Please—give it one more try.”

I groaned and picked up the lighter. My hand was trembling. My throat
suddenly felt so dry.

It seemed like such a good idea. If only I could get it to flame.

“Here goes,” I murmured, raising the lighter again. “One more try.”

My palm slippery from sweat, I nearly dropped the lighter again. I tightened
my grip on it. Raised my thumb.

Clicked it.

Clicked it again, harder.

And the flame shot up.

“Yesssss!” Ben cried.

But his happy cry faded quickly.

The flame leaping up from the lighter was gray.

Everyone groaned.

I stared at the gray flame, dancing on top of the gray lighter. Held tight in
my gray fist. “It’s no use,” I choked out.

I clicked off the flame and shoved the lighter back into my pocket. I turned
to Ben. “Sorry,” I muttered glumly. “I tried.”

Ben nodded, swallowing hard.

I gasped. “Ben—your face! Your cheeks!”

“Gray?” he asked softly.

I nodded. “Your nose is all that’s left,” I told him. “Your nose has the only
color.”

“Yours too,” he reported.

The five gray kids stood in silence across the room. Seth shook his head
sadly.

What could they say?

This had already happened to them. They had lived in a black-and-white world
for fifty years.

And now Ben and I were doomed to be part of that cold, gloomy world.

I rubbed my nose. How long would it keep its color? I wondered.

How long until I became one of them?

My eyes wandered to the elevator. If only Ben and I had taken the
stairs
to the art room. If only…

Too late to think about that now.

I stared hard at the elevator doors. Once again, I silently ordered them to
open.

I let out a startled cry when I heard a loud, rumbling sound.

Everyone jumped up. Alert. Listening.

The rumble grew to a roar. “What’s happening?” Ben cried.

“The elevator!” Eloise gasped, pointing.

We all hurried across the room. We were just a few feet away—when the
elevator doors slid open.

We all stepped up to see who was inside.

“Greta!” I cried.

No. Not Greta.

To my shock,
Thalia
stood in the elevator doorway.

She peered out tensely. Her blond hair gleamed in the elevator light. Her
blue dress sparkled brightly. The color almost hurt my eyes.

A red-lipped smile spread over her face. “I found you! I
did
it!” she
cried happily.

She came running out of the elevator. With a happy cry, she threw her arms
around Mary and hugged her tight. Then she hugged Eloise and Seth, Mona and
Eddie.

Happy cries rang out from everyone.

“Thalia—you came back!”

“Are you okay?”

“We’ve been waiting for you!”

“Whoa—wait—the elevator!” I cried. “Don’t let it go!”

I made a frantic dive.

Too late.

The doors slid shut.

I crashed into them and bounced off. “Nooooo!” I let out a long, frantic
wail. “Nooooooo! The elevator! The elevator!” I banged on the doors with both
fists.

I spun around to face Thalia.

She gasped and raised a hand to her mouth. “Oh—I’m so sorry!” she cried.
Her blue eyes grew wide. “I—I was so happy to see my friends, I forgot!”

“But—but—” I sputtered.

Trembling, I slumped against the wall. Our one chance to escape. Too late…
too late…

The five gray kids circled around Thalia, hugging her, laughing, asking her a
thousand questions.

“We missed you so much!” Eloise cried. “We waited for you to come back and
rescue us.”

“I missed you guys too,” Thalia told them. “I tried to come back. But I
couldn’t find the way. I didn’t know how to get back here—until tonight.”