Free Halloween Party by R.L. Stine Page B

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    â€œIt’s not a trick!” Terry protested. “I saw him—we both did!”
    â€œHe was here,” David added. “And blood wasdripping.” He bent down and touched the closet floor. “It’s dry,” he said, sounding astonished.
    â€œI guess I’m not the only one who prepares ‘surprises,’ ” said Justine with a little smile. “Come on, Uncle Philip, let’s go back downstairs.”
    The others were about to follow them when Niki came into the room.
    â€œHas anyone seen Terry?” she asked. Then she spotted him. “What’s going on? What are all of you doing in here?”
    Quickly the others explained what had happened. “So we get up here,” Les finished, “and there’s not only no body, the closet’s completely empty. Obviously, they made the whole thing up.”
    â€œDid you make it up?” Niki asked Terry, her dark eyes searching his face.
    â€œ No, ” Terry repeated. “I saw the body. It was real. I don’t know where it is now, but it was here.”
    â€œCome to think of it,” said Ricky, starting to sound worried, “I haven’t seen Alex for quite a while. Has anyone?”
    â€œMaybe you just thought you saw something,” said Niki. “There are a lot of shadows in here.”
    â€œWhat we saw was real,” said David. “It was Alex.”
    â€œThen if he was—like you say— We’ve got to find him!” said Niki. “Come on, Terry, let’s look in the rest of the rooms.”
    No one felt like searching alone, so the six of them—Terry, Niki, Les, David, Ricky, and Trisha—carefully checked behind the boxes in the attic, then crept down the stairs and began to go through the rooms on the second floor.
    â€œThis is Justine’s room,” said Niki, opening the door. “Maybe he just—” She broke off with a shriek.
    The others crowded closer. Lying on Justine’s bed was the Silver Prince.
    But as soon as they got near, it became clear it wasn’t Alex.
    Ricky approached the bed first. “Hey!” he said. “This is just—”
    â€œA dummy!” Terry finished for him. The object lying on the bed was Alex’s silver costume, stuffed full of rags. The “blood” Terry and David had seen was streamers of red cellophane that had moved slightly to resemble dripping. In that light it was hard for Terry to believe he had been fooled so badly.
    It had been so real that he even imagined the sound of the blood dripping onto the floor. What an idiot he had been!
    â€œGotcha!” Alex jumped out of the bathroom, dressed in a blue robe, laughing so hard he could hardly breathe.
    â€œAre you all right?” Niki asked, wide-eyed.
    â€œHe’s fine!” said Terry in disgust. His voice was shaking again, but not from fear, from anger. “That was a rotten trick!” he told Alex. “We thought something had really happened to you!”
    â€œI’m touched by your concern,” said Alex with a pleased smirk. “Nice work, David.”
    â€œIt did look pretty real,” David said, also smirking.
    â€œYou mean you were in on it?” Terry asked David, furious.
    â€œSure he was,” said Alex. “How else could we convince you wimps to waste all that time searching for my body? While you were running around trying to find the Silver Prince, the rest of the jock team finished the treasure hunt. Too bad, guys, you lose again!”
    Niki turned to Alex, angry now herself. “That was really mean, Alex!” she said. “I never thought you could do something so rotten!”
    For a moment Alex looked hurt, then he smirked again. “Hey,” he said. “Don’t you know all’s fair in love and—Halloween tricks? Besides, Niki,” he added, “I gave you plenty of chances to join the winning team.”
    â€œCome on, Terry,”