Free R. L. Stine_Mostly Ghostly 06 by Let's Get This Party Haunted!

about I go home and get my swim trunks?”
    “You pushed me in when I was wearing my best suit,” he replied. “I'm just trying to be fair, Max. You can't criticize me for trying to be fair, can you?”
    “It's hard to say what's fair and what's not fair,” I said. “Maybe we should sit down somewhere. You know. In a nice, dry place. And talk about it.”
    “Nice try,” the mayor said, narrowing his tiny eyes at me.
    “He made me do everything,” Quentin whispered. “I had found an old spell book in your house. He made me use a spell from it to call up those two shades. I was so frightened.”
    “Me too,” I muttered.
    “I'm really sorry I messed up your party,” Quentin said.
    I gazed over my shoulder at the sparkling water.
    “No way can I swim all those laps,” I told Quentin.
    “My dad really holds a grudge,” Quentin whispered. “It's one of his biggest faults.”
    “What are you two yakking about?” Mayor Stank cried angrily. “Shut up and push him in. Then I've got a good job for you, Quentin. You can be the official scorekeeper. You get to count the laps.”
    “That'll be an easy job,” I muttered. “You only have to count to three or four. And then you can watch me
drown
!”
    “I'm really sorry, Max,” Quentin whispered. “I hope you'll accept my apology.”
    He spun me around and gave me a hard push.
    I searched for my ghost friends. “Nicky? Tara?” I shouted. “Are you here? Help me!”

27
    “N ICKY ? T ARA ?”
    My voice echoed off the tile walls.
    I shut my eyes, praying to hear their voices. But no. The only sound was my harsh breathing and the soft splash of the water in front of me.
    “Nicky? Tara?”
    “That's an old trick!” Mayor Stank shouted. “You're trying to make me think someone else is here. I'm smarter than that, Max. I'm the mayor. I didn't get the job by being dumb.”
    I had to stall. I had to think of a way to escape. “Uh … my dad voted for you!” I called.
    “I met your dad once,” Mayor Stank said. “He's a jerk.”
    Quentin tightened his grip on my arms. I was seconds away from drowning time.
    “Go ahead, Quentin,” the mayor said, motioning with both hands. “One more push. Time for the entertainment to start.”
    He narrowed his eyes at me. “I'm sure youunderstand, Max. I don't want to hurt you. I just want to get even.”
    “Sorry,” Quentin whispered one more time.
    He pushed me forward.
    The water rose up in front of me.
    And in that instant, I had an idea. An idea to rescue myself.
    It was a crazy idea. Totally insane.
    No way could it possibly work …

28
    I TWISTED MY BODY. Spun around to face Quentin. Raised my hands —and dug them into his armpits.
    I remembered that afternoon in my room when Colin had started to tickle me. He'd tickled me until I screamed. And when we looked across the room, Quentin had frozen.
    Quentin had gone into some kind of trance.
    Later, he said he had a strange reaction to tickling. He just couldn't
stand
it. It always put him in a weird frozen state.
    As Quentin shoved me toward the pool, I remembered that afternoon. And I thought, Maybe … Maybe like son, like father.
    Would Quentin's dad have the same strange reaction to tickling?
    I dug my fingers hard into Quentin's armpits. “Tickle! Tickle!” I screamed. “Are you ticklish?”
    “Stop!”
Quentin cried, twisting and squirming, frantic to escape.
    I lowered my hands to his ribs and tickled hard. “Tickle, tickle! Who's ticklish?”
    “Stop. …Oh…oh…” Quentin fell backward, kicking his legs in the air. Helpless. Like a turtle on its back.
    I dug my fingers into his ribs. Into his belly.
    “Stop … Please —Max!”
    I tickled harder. Tickled his ribs, his stomach, his armpits.
    Quentin froze. Eyes wide open. His whole body just went stiff.
    He was in that strange trance again.
    Gasping for breath, I jumped to my feet. And turned to the mayor.
    Was it working? Did Mayor Stank have the same weird reaction as his son?
    Yes!
    My heart