What?
I said, the suspense is killing me. Are you actually using the earplugs?
Of course. You're not?
I don't want to miss anything.
Are you crazy?
I'm not tired at all, he said. Are you?
Not much.
Dare me to look out the window?
Don't be stupid!
It's barely sunset. What better time to look?
How about never.
You're a bigger chicken than Goldilocks.
You've got less brains than Hugo.
The wind rose again, steadily gaining force. Warbling moans echoed on the breeze, groaning in different pitches, forming eerie, discordant harmonies. A long, birdlike scream overpowered the ghostly chorus of moans, starting at one side of the house, passing overhead, and finally fading.
In the distance, a bell began to toll.
Seth no longer looked quite so brave. Maybe we should try to get some sleep, he said, putting in the earplugs.
Kendra did likewise. The sounds were muffled, but continued: the haunted wind lamenting, the house shuddering, an increasing assortment of shrieks, screams, howls, and wild bursts of gibbering laughter. The pillow grew warm, so Kendra flipped it over to the cold side.
The only light in the room had been filtering through the curtains. As twilight dimmed, the room darkened.
Kendra pressed her hands over her ears, trying to augment the dampening power of the earplugs. She told herself the sounds were just a storm.
A deep, throbbing beat joined the cacophony, keeping a steady rhythm. As the pulsing percussion increased in volume and tempo, it was accompanied by chanting in a wailing language. Kendra resisted otherworldly images of vicious demons on the hunt.
A pair of hands closed around her throat. She jumped and flailed, smacking Seth across the cheek with the back of her hand.
Jeez! Seth complained, stumbling away.
You asked for it! What's the matter with you?
You should have seen your face, he laughed, recovering from the slap.
Get back in bed.
He sat on the side of her bed. You should take out your earplugs. The noise isn't so bad after a while. It reminds me of that CD Dad plays on Halloween.
She removed them. Except it's shaking the house.
And it isn't make-believe.
Don't you want to look out the window?
No! Stop talking about it!
Seth leaned over and turned on the nightlight - - a glowing statuette of Snoopy. I don't see the big deal. I mean, there are all sorts of cool things out there right now.
What's wrong with just taking a little peek?
Grandpa said not to get out of your bed!
Grandpa lets people look when they get older, Seth said. Dale told me. So it can't be that dangerous. Grandpa just thinks I'm an idiot.
Yeah, and he's right!
Think about it. You wouldn't want to run across a tiger out in the wilderness. You'd be scared to death. But at a zoo, who cares? It can't get you. This room is safe.
Peeking out the window will be like looking at a zoo full of monsters.
More like looking out of a shark cage.
A sudden, staccato flurry of pounding shook the roof, as if a team of horses were galloping across the shingles.
Seth flinched, raising his arms protectively. Kendra heard the creak and rattle of wagon wheels.
Don't you want to see what that was? Seth asked.
Are you trying to tell me that didn't scare you?
I expect to be scared. That's the whole point!
If you don't get back in bed, warned Kendra, I'm telling Grandpa in the morning.
Don't you want to see who's playing the drums?
Seth, I'm not kidding. You probably won't even be able to see anything.
We have a telescope.
Something outside roared, a thunderous bellow of bestial ferocity. It was enough to silence the conversation. The night continued to rage. The roar came again, if anything with greater intensity, momentarily drowning out all the other commotion.
Kendra and Seth eyed one another. I bet it's a dragon, he said breathlessly, running over to the window.
Seth, no!
Seth pulled aside the curtain. The four jack-o-lanterns shed a mellow illumination across the portion of the roof directly beyond the window. For a moment Seth thought he saw something swirling in the darkness at the edge of the light, a whirling mass of silky black fabric. Then he saw only blackness.
No stars, he reported.
Seth, get away from there. Kendra had her sheets pulled up to her eyes.
He squinted through the window a moment longer.
Too dark; I can't see anything. A glimmering fairy floated up from one of the jack-o-lanterns, peering at Seth through the slightly warped windowpane. Hey, a fairy came out.
The tiny fairy waved an arm and was joined by three others.
One made a face at Seth, and then all four streaked away into the night.
Now he could see nothing. Seth closed the curtain and backed away from the window. You had your look, Kendra said. Are you satisfied?
The fairies in the jack-o-lanterns flew away, he said.
Nice work. They probably saw who they were guarding.
Actually, I think you're right. One made a face at me.
Get back in bed, Kendra ordered.
The drumming ceased, along with the chanting. The ghostly wind grew quiet. The howls and screams and laughter diminished in volume and frequency. Something pattered across the roof. Then... silence.
Something's wrong, Seth whispered.
They probably saw you; get back in bed.
I have a flashlight in my emergency kit. He went to the nightstand by his bed and withdrew a small flashlight from the cereal box.
Kendra kicked off her sheets and lunged at Seth, tackling him onto his bed. She wrenched the flashlight from his grasp and pushed off him to regain her feet. He charged her. Twisting, she used his momentum to shove him onto her bed.
Quit it, Seth, or I'll go get Grandpa right now!
I'm not the one starting a fight! His expression was a portrait of wounded resentment. She hated when he tried to act like the victim after initiating trouble.
Neither am I.
First you hit me, then you jump on me?
You stop breaking the rules or I'm going straight downstairs.
You're worse than the witch. Grandpa should build you a shack.
Get in your bed.
Give me my light. I bought it with my own money.
They were interrupted by the sound of a baby crying.
There was nothing desperate about it, just the bawling of an upset infant. The crying seemed to emanate from outside the darkened window.
A little baby, Seth said.
No, it's some trick.
Maaamaaaaaaa, the baby whined.
Sounds pretty real, Seth said. Let me take a look.
It's going to be a skeleton or something.
Seth grabbed the flashlight from Kendra. She neither gave it to him nor prevented him from taking it. He jogged over to the window. Holding the front of flashlight against the windowpane, and cupping a hand around it to minimize reflection, he switched it on.