The Black Heart Crypt (25 page)

“I sent Mrs. Emerson an email last night, after you guys went to bed,” she said. “I asked her if she knew anything about this Jack the Lantern.”

“What’d she find out?”

“Seems he was a notorious highwayman.”

“Is that a toll collector or something?”

“No. A highwayman, back in olden days, was a thief who preyed on travelers. They’d attack stagecoaches or mail wagons. Some were like Robin Hood. They stole from the rich and gave to the poor.”

“And Jack the Lantern?”

“Very un–Robin Hoodish. He dressed all in black and always wore a terrifying burlap mask with holes to make him look like a jack-o’-lantern.”

“Is that how he got his name? Jack the Lantern?”

“Partially. He also used to toss firebombs in front of
carriages to spook the horses so he could stop a coach, slay the driver, steal the passengers’ gold, and snatch baubles off the ladies.”

Judy hesitated.

Zack knew that whatever she said next wasn’t going to be good.

“Then he’d kidnap any children.”

Zack’s mouth went dry. “Why?”

“Well, if the families were wealthy, he’d ransom them back.”

“And if they weren’t so rich?”

“He’d sell the children as slave labor to factory owners and ship captains.”

“And nobody knew Jack was really Barnabas Ickleby?”

“Nope. He fooled everybody for nearly three hundred years.”

Suddenly, a horse whinnied out on the front lawn.

That was very bizarre.

Nobody in the neighborhood had a horse.

Aunt Ginny
had woken up before anybody else in the house.

She knew that the most evil Ickleby of them all was now controlling the body of Norman Ickes and that Barnabas would soon come gunning for Zachary.

So Virginia Jennings, who had battled foul spirits and bullying demons all her life, would be prepared.

She quickly lit the jack-o’-lanterns lined up on the front porch railings, and then, very calmly, sat down in a rocking chair with another glowing pumpkin on her lap.

Moments later, the villain showed himself.

His glimmering black stallion pawed its hooves in the front lawn and snorted loudly. But it wouldn’t move closer.

Not as long as the jack-o’-lanterns are lit. It can’t. The illuminated gourds protect the house from all evil spirits, human or equine
.

“Good morning, you wretched old woman!” shouted the rider with the hideously grinning face cut into his mask. “Where is the boy? Where is Zachary Jennings?”

A shiny black raven sat perched on the dark rider’s shoulder like a villainous parrot.

“Why are you so interested in Zack, Norman?”

“Why do you call me that inglorious name when you now know who I truly am?”

“You mean Barnabas the leech?”

“Leech?”

“That’s right. You’re nothing but a freeloading, life-sucking parasite. A dybbuk clinging on to your distant relative’s body because you’re too chicken to move on to your eternal reward or, in your case, eternal punishment!”

“You dare call me a coward?”

“Yes, Norman. I just did.”

“You shall pay for your words, you horrid hag.”

“How?” Ginny held up the glowing pumpkin. “Are you and your horsey going to come up here and hurt me? Of course not. You’re afraid of pumpkins, too!”

Hannah and Sophie came out on the porch.

“Oh, my,” gasped Sophie. “Is that him?”

“Yes, dear,” said Ginny in a tense stage whisper. “Did you bring the exorcism powders?”

Hannah was carrying Ginny’s carpetbag. “It’s all in here. For heaven’s sake, sister, why do you taunt him?”

“It amuses me.”

“Does he have the black heart stone?” asked Sophie.

“Aunt Ginny?” It was Zack. He and Judy were at the front door.

“Stay inside, dear. You too, Judy. We’ll take care of this.”

“I’m going to call the police,” said Judy.

“No. Not yet. Soon that creature on the horse will be nothing more than a dazed and confused hardware-store clerk who will, hopefully, remember where they had him hide the black heart stone. Give us a minute.”

“
One
minute,” said Judy.

Ginny stood up from the rocking chair and turned her back to Jack the Lantern so she could consult with her two sisters.

“We shall initiate the exorcism.”

“How?” asked Hannah.

“We can startle him with his false reflection from up here. I’ll work the mirror. Hannah, you take the horn. Sophie, stand by with the powder. Once we have spiritual separation, we can sage Barnabas and begin the banishment incantation.”

“I’ll ask you one last time, ladies!” shouted Jack the Lantern. “Where is the boy? Where is young Zachary Jennings?”

Ginny twirled around.

“He’s busy!”

“Doing what?”

“Getting ready for school!” shouted Sophie. “The bus will be coming along shortly to pick him up.”

Jack tugged up on the reins. His black stallion pranced sideways. “Why, thank you, Sophia. How silly of me to forget. The big yellow carriage full of children that I have seen pass Haddam Hill so many times.”

“Oops,” peeped Sophie, putting her hand to her mouth. “I think I just made a boo-boo.”

Jack pulled a pistol out of his belt, aimed it at Ginny.

“And just who do you think you’re scaring with that, coward?” said Aunt Ginny defiantly.

“Your glowing gourds might stop
me
from coming up on that porch, sorceress, but they cannot stop my bullet!”

The raven perched on the masked man’s shoulder squawked and flapped its wings.

Ginny reached into her carpetbag. Whipped out the stainless steel signal mirror.

Before she could use it, she heard a gun explode.

The pistol ball smacked Ginny hard.

The silvery mirror fell from her hand with a clatter.

Ginny felt a searing pain in her chest as the world began to spin.

“Oh, my,” she squeaked.

And then she toppled to the floor.

As the
old crone fell to her knees, Jack the Lantern threw back his head and cackled his lunatic laugh. Satan reared up on his hind legs and roared triumphantly.

“Away!” the masked highwayman cried. “Away!”

He tugged up on the reins hard. The horse wheeled right.

“Back to the crypt! Fly!”

He gave a swift kick, and with a jangle of stirrups, the horse broke into a full gallop.

Jack the Lantern would kidnap all the children crammed into the yellow carriage when it passed Haddam Hill.

He would demand a king’s ransom for their safe return.

And once he had the money?

He would slay them all so none could bear witness against him.

But he would slay Zachary Jennings first!

Zack was
kneeling on the porch, holding Aunt Ginny’s hand.

“Don’t worry, dear,” she mumbled, a pained smile on her face. “It’s only a flesh wound.”

“The ambulance is on its way!” shouted Judy, who had called 911.

“Put this poultice on it,” said Hannah, pressing a moist mass of cloth and herbs on the bloody bullet hole.

Aunt Ginny winced. “Ouch. Not so much pressure, dear.”

“Hush,” said Aunt Sophie. “Save your strength.”

“Malik,” mumbled Zack.

“What?” said Judy.

Zack motioned for his mom to join him where the aunts couldn’t hear what they were talking about.

“What if, somehow, Jack the Lantern knows about the gold and the reward? What if Norman, somehow, told him? Malik will definitely be one of the kids he grabs first!”

“Run inside. You call Malik. I’ll call your dad. Hurry!”

“Hello?”

“Malik?”

“Hi, Zack. Everything okay?”

“Don’t go to school today.”

“Why not?”

“Norman Ickes may be coming to get you.”

“What?”

“Well, he’s not really Norman right now.”

“But …”

“Look, I gotta run. The ambulance is here.”

“Ambulance?”

“Yeah. Norman just shot Aunt Ginny. I’ll call you again when we’re at the hospital. Bye.”

Zack clicked off.

Malik stared at the phone.

Norman Ickes, his puzzle pal, had shot Zack’s elderly aunt?

Malik turned on the early-morning TV news.

“This just in,” said the reporter, “Norman Ickes strikes
again. Moments ago, the local hardware-store clerk, wanted for yesterday’s robberies at Stansbury Stables and the Hi-Way 31 Eat and Run, appeared on horseback and shot an elderly woman who …”

Malik snapped off the TV.

Zack was right.

He needed to stay home from school today.

At Aunt
Ginny’s request, Zack and Judy rode in the back of the ambulance with her and the paramedic who had bandaged her shoulder wound.

A police car carrying Aunts Hannah and Sophie was right behind them.

“Do I look like a scuba diver, Zack?” asked Aunt Ginny, her voice weak. She had an oxygen tube stuck up her nostrils.

Zack smiled. “Sort of.”

“Good. I always wanted to go scuba diving.”

“Ma’am?” said the paramedic, who was holding her wrist, checking her pulse. “You need to take it easy, okay?”

“Yes, dear. Of course.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“Judy?”