Free The Haunting by E.M. MacCallum Page A

Robin out of there. You said that Frankenstein was the name of the scientist, not the monster.”
    Read nodded. “His creator was Victor Frankenstein.”
    “It wasn’t green,” Claire said suddenly, stopping our conversation cold.
    After a pause, Phoebe asked, “What did you say?”
    “Well,” Claire’s eyes darted from face to face, “in the old movies, he had green skin.”
    “It was black and white movies, Claire,” Joel pointed out.
    Read held up his hands. “No, no. She’s right. The actor wore green paint for skin. The posters also showed him with green skin.”
    I lowered myself beside Read and Phoebe. It was obvious we wouldn’t be springing into action right away. Joel and Claire sat opposite us beside the niche’s opening. Cody stayed standing, tensed and cautious.
    Read touched his lip with his thumb for a second as he thought it over. “Um…Victor was supposed to be rich. He went to school and started experimenting with reviving dead matter. I think it was Darwin’s theory or achievement or something at the time. Not ‘evolution Darwin,’ his grandpa, I think. I wrote this paper like three years ago.”
    “It’s ok, Read, keep going,” Phoebe encouraged.
    The corner of his mouth twitched as Read began again. “Hollywood really started this whole pieces of different corpses and stitching them together thing. There isn’t a reference to that in the book. I think that Shelley called him a golem.”
    “Golem?” Joel asked.
    “Yeah, kind of a big head, big shoulders, dumb…kind of like you, Joel.”
    Oh, so they did know each other. I smirked and pretended my nose was itchy.
    Claire grabbed Joel’s hand before he could get up.
    “A golem is this creature being created from matter. Something living out of something…inanimate. Usually they’re rocks and sometimes stupid.” Read’s eyes flickered towards Joel but restrained from striking the punch line we were all waiting for.
    “Unlike a golem, the monster became intelligent,” Read continued. “It hid and watched a family for a year. It learned from them and became self-aware. In the end, it sought revenge on its maker, Victor. It killed his younger brother, a maid, and then his bride on their wedding night.”
    “So what kills it?” Cody asked. “Fire?”
    “Maybe,” Read said with a grimace. “But that’s mostly Hollywood again. In the book, Victor chased the monster to the Arctic and eventually died aboard the ship. The monster finds his dead maker and disappears into the tundra.”
    “What about Franken…the monster’s bride?” Phoebe asked.
    “Hollywood,” Read answered. “I mean, the monster demanded that Victor make him a companion, but Victor had been so disgusted by the idea that he refused. That was kind of the end of it.”
    “Then why does that one want a wife?” Claire pointed towards the niche behind Cody. “He told me what he was doing with us. There was…bits all over the table.”
    “Bits?” Phoebe threw up her arms to stop Claire from explaining further. “So this thing that got Robin. It was sewed together and wants a bride. But it didn’t have green skin or a square head. It’s like a mix of the two, the book and movies.”
    “Looks that way,” Read agreed.
    “So,” I said, clasping my hands together, “we have to find Victor.”
    Read stared at me, dumbfounded. “What?”
    “When he dies, the monster does too.” I glanced at Cody to see his eyes wide with hope. “I mean, it makes sense. Doesn’t it? It walked off into the Arctic, probably to die, and maybe Victor can help us find it.”
    Phoebe nodded at me with a smirk. “Okay, let’s go see what we can find.”
    Phoebe and I stood up together. Read was slower. Claire and Joel helped each other to their feet, whispering softly to each other. Looking back, I saw Cody striding down the hallway. I tried my best to keep up with him. Cody rounded the corner and staggered back with a yell. His face reddened with fury as he ran back