Free Perilous Pranks (Renaissance Faire Mystery) by Joyce Lavene, Jim Lavene

fake pistols. If visitors were lucky, the pirates kidnapped one or two of them and gave them a ride on the Queen’s Revenge. It was something every visitor longed for.
    Ginny told me to pull up the trap door as she stuck the knife to my side. “Be quick about it too.”
    I peeked around us. There were no residents in the tavern. Even the visitors who were there didn’t seem interested in what we were doing. My dawdling caused Ginny to prick me through my blouse with the knife. It hurt, and I felt a drop of blood slide down my side. I knew she was serious.
    “I said get a move on it, Jessie!” Ginny hissed.
    The staircase was narrow, but she managed to keep one arm around my middle with the knife threatening to rip my gut. The trap door fell closed above us. We were alone in the cave overlooking Mirror Lake.
    The cave was filled with props that the pirates used—smoke bombs, fake pistols, and swords. There were plastic skeletons hanging from the ceiling and pinned to the walls as a warning to trespassers who might stumble upon the space. A few visitors had done that in the past, mostly teenagers.
    Ginny pushed a fake skeleton out of the hangman’s noose that was always drooping down from the ceiling. “Use that rock and haul yourself up there, my lady. The pirates aren’t due back for at least thirty minutes. By the time they find you, you’ll be another ghost to add spice to their legend. People will think you hanged yourself because you killed poor Wanda.”
    “They’ll think that because you tried to frame me with her bracelet!”
    “What of it?” She prodded me forward with the knife again. “Everyone knows the two of you were headed for a showdown. It was only a matter of time.”
    I stared hard at her. “I’ve known you for years, Ginny Stewart. You might be scared right now, but killing me won’t help. Who do you think the police will ask about my death? And even though the visitors upstairs didn’t seem like they were paying much attention, when Detective Almond and Chase question them, they’ll remember what they saw.”
    “Is that the best you can do?” Wanda demanded. “Fight for your life. Rush at her. She might cut you up a little, mostly because you’re a slow moving giantess, but you’ll probably survive. I need you to tell my story.”
    “Aye.” Ginny wielded her knife with skill, and she was strong. “I know you, too, Jessie Morton. Always standin’ between me and the Bailiff. He would’ve been mine years ago, if not for you. I have a lover now, but once you’re gone—and you’ve taken those infernal wedding plans with you—who knows but that Chase and I might enjoy a spell together.”
    “ You do something, Wanda.” I looked right into her anxious blue face. “Maybe you can’t make her see you, but I know you can make her see other things.”
    “Bah!” Ginny poked me again with her knife. “You can’t scare me with any hocus-pocus. Get up there on that rock, and put your head in the noose.”
    “Oh! I know what you mean.” Wanda’s grin was frightening. “I can do something, all right! Hold on, dearie.”
     

Chapter Eleven
     
    I climbed up on the rock and steadied myself. If Wanda didn’t do anything to help, I figured I could kick Ginny in the face the next time she came close to me with that knife.
    I didn’t have to worry about it. Suddenly, it was as though the cave was alive. The noose began swinging as though storm winds were affecting it.
    Ginny looked up and paled. “What’s going on?”
    I shrugged. “I told you Wanda’s ghost is here with us, and she’s really mad.”
    Ginny reached for me. I kicked the knife out of her hand and climbed down off the rock. Now we were on a more level playing field.
    Wanda set the fake skeletons whirling like demons in the air about the cave. Ginny shrieked and ran for the ladder to go back upstairs. The skeletons converged on her and pulled her down to the cave’s rocky floor with their fake, bony