Arthur

Halloween Hoax

Original Name: Melina Saramaku Tatakashi

Cover Name: May Maruka Akatsuki

Adoptive Name: May Read

Age: 8

Abilities: Morphing, Being able to see and hear Nadine and understand Babies, Animals and Toys

Attitude: Outgoing, Shy and Determined

Friends: Arthur, D.W., Mr. and Mrs. Read, Kate, Grandma Thora, Grandpa Dave, Pal, Nadine, Buster, Francine, The Brain, Sue Ellen, Muffy, Binky, Mei—Lin, Prunella, Jenna, Vecita, Alberto, Amigo, Bubby, etc.

Secret Agency Protection: C.R.U. Children Relocation Unit

Weapon: My Whole Body

Epilogue

Oh, hello, there. It's me, Pal. You know, ever since May became a part of the Read family, I've always had someone to talk to aside from Kate. Don't get me wrong, I love talking, playing and exploring with Kate, but someday she and I won't be able to talk with one another like we do now. May, it seems, will always be able to talk with me. But the thing I most enjoy about May is that she can become a dog just like me, whenever she wants. I remember back when she turned into a baby and couldn't change back for a long while. She really opened up to everyone. But I can't help but think that May's still holding on to her past. I now she wants to remember her parents from before, but if she doesn't let go of the past, she'll never truly be able to enjoy the future.

Halloween Hoax

'Hey, mom?' I said, looking up at her.

'Yes, May?' she said, smiling at me.

'Is it okay if I moved back into my old room, now?' I asked, looking up at her.

'Huh?' mom said, looking surprised.

We were sitting in the den, watching Supermarket Top Clerk. I didn't really like the show, but I needed to talk to mom so I was watching it, if only for this one time.

'I want to sleep in an ordinary bed again,' I said, looking up at her. 'I've been in the crib for so long since I turned into a three-year-old, so can I? Please?'

'Well...' mom said, thinking.

'Please, mom?' I said, looking up at her, giving her my puppy dog eyes.

'Oh, alright,' mom said, smiling. 'I guess you are getting too big for that crib now, anyway.'

'Yes,' I said, punching the air happily.

'I'm glad you're with us for Halloween, May,' D.W. said, grinning.

'Well, I'm glad I'm here for Halloween, too, D.W.,' I said, smiling. 'I wouldn't want to spend it in Japan, that's for sure.'

'Why not?' Arthur asked, looking confused.

He was on the computer, playing Fish Finder 6, with improved graphics.

'Well,' I said, shaking my head. 'The last few years I was in Japan, some strange things happened on Halloween.'

Mom and dad had bought a new car, so that we could all fit in it. They'd kept the family car. There were just too many memories in it for them to sell it. The new car was the same colour and design as the family car, but it was bigger. We could all fit in it at once now, with two seats left to spare.

When Arthur and I went to school on Monday we got a surprise.

'Attention, class,' Mr. Ratburn said at the start of homeroom. 'I have some very exciting news.'

'Maybe it'll be that we've got an extra test this Friday,' I whispered.

Arthur, Buster and Francine chuckled. Mr. Ratburn cleared his throat and we all quietened down.

'Now, as Halloween is this Friday,' Mr. Ratburn said, looking around at all of us. 'I am glad to say that there will be a Halloween party for the 3rd and 4th graders in the gymnasium.'

Everyone cheered, talking excitedly.

'The party will start at 6 O' clock,' Mr. Ratburn said, smiling. 'That will give you plenty of time to go home and change into your costumes. And, as an added bonus, you won't be getting any homework on Friday.'

Everyone cheered again, even louder this time. But my gut told me this was a "you think it's going to be great, but it's not" situation.

'And since you won't be getting any homework on Friday,' Mr. Ratburn said, pulling a large pile of papers out of his draws and placing them on his desk. 'You will all receive extra homework for tonight instead.'

A loud groan went across the room.

Yep. Looked like my gut had been right. There had been good news, followed by bad news.

As Arthur and I walked home after school, we talked about what our costumes were going to be.

'I'm not really sure what I'll goes as,' Arthur said as we crossed the street. 'I can't really think of anything. I was Franken-tist last year.'

I didn't have to ask. D.W. had told me all about Arthur's Franken-tist costume from last year. Frankenstein mixed with a dentist. It might have scared D.W. so much that it stopped her hiccupping, but it didn't really sound that scary to me. Though I'd probably seen and been through things in my life that most kids hadn't, so it wasn't really a surprise that not much scared me.

'Hey, you could go as Zack, the green Mega Ranger,' I suggested as we entered our street.

'He's a character from the TV show you told D.W. you use to watch back in Japan, right?' Arthur said, glancing at me.

'Yes and no,' I said, shaking my head. 'Zack is in the show: Mega Rangers: Eco Force, but Zack's not a guy, she's a girl. Her real name was Elisabeth. Everyone just called her Zack because she was a master at the arcade game, Zack Attack at the local arcade.'

'Oh,' Arthur said, feeling a little confused. 'Wait, you want me to go as a girl?'

'Or you could be William,' I said, shrugging. 'He was the Red Ranger. Plus he was the leader.'

'Okay then,' Arthur said, smiling. 'William, the Red Mega Ranger it is. What are you going as?'

'Oh, you'll see,' I said, grinning.

The week went by fairly quickly. Before we knew it, it was Friday.

'Alright, class,' Mr. Ratburn said after the bell went, signalling the end of the school day. 'Be back at 6 O' clock for the Halloween party of frights and scares. And remember, you're families are invited too.'

'How could we forget,' Arthur muttered under our breath.

'D.W. hasn't stopped talking about it since Monday,' I said, shaking my head.

D.W. had learned about the party from James, who'd learned it from Molly when she told her parents.

We hurried home and changed into our costumes. I'd given Arthur my old Red Ranger costume from when I'd been seven-years-old, back in Japan, on Monday. It fitted him almost perfectly. And the half helmet completed the costume. D.W. was dressed as a black cat. Mom was dressed as a gipsy fortune teller. Dad was dressed like a giant hotdog. Don't asked why he chose to wear another food costume for Halloween, because I have no idea why either. Kate was dressed as a little teddy bear.

'May, are you ready?' mom called up the stairs.

They were all waiting by the front door. Suddenly the lights went out and the house was cloaked in darkness.

'Hey, what happened to the lights?' D.W. asked, looking around, confused. 'I may be wearing a cat costume but that doesn't mean I can see in the dark.'

'Oh, be weary, good people of the Read family home,' a voice said from within the darkness.

'W-weary of what?' Arthur asked, looking around. 'Wait, May told me this costume came with a helmet that has high-beams on the top.'

Arthur flicked the switch on the helmet, turning on the high-beams. The light showed a small creature standing at the door with green skin, fangs, a pointy tail and two tiny horns on its head.

'Oni Kirkoshi! The Japanese Demon of Darkness!' it shouted, grinning, the light reflecting off its fangs.

Everyone screamed in fright.

The creature burst out laughing as the lights came back on.

'Oh, man,' it said, wiping its eyes. 'You all shoulda seen your faces. That was priceless.'

'May?' D.W. said, looking stunned. 'Is that you?'

'Whoa, cool costume, May,' Arthur said in amazement, seeming to forget that I'd almost scared him half to death. 'Where'd you get it?'

'I made it myself,' I said, pulling out the fake fangs and smiling.

'So this is what you've been working on, all week,' mom said, smiling.

'Nice job, kiddo,' dad said, giving me a thumbs up.

'Did you have to scare us like that?' D.W. asked, folding her arms and frowning.

'Sorry about that, D.W.,' I said, looking a little sheepish. 'I just wanted to know if it was really scary or not, so I decided to test it.'

D.W. huffed.

'Too scary, if you ask me,' she mumbled, folding her arms.

'Well, we're all ready now,' dad said, smiling. 'Let's head for the school.'

We got into the car and dad drove us to school. When we arrived the party was in full swing. There were all the Halloween games. Bobbling For Apples, The Slime Bowl, Pin the Wings on the Bat, etc. And everyone was wearing great costumes. Well... almost everyone. Principle Haney was dressed as a bottle of hand detergent and Mr. Ratburn had come as the Periodic Table of Elements.

'Hey, Arthur, May,' Buster said, hurrying over from the Bobbing For Apples game. He was dressed as a cowboy. 'Wow, May. Cool costume. What are you meant to be?'

'Oni Kirkoshi! The Japanese Demon of Darkness!' I said, leering, the fangs glinting in the light.

'Cool,' Buster said, impressed. 'Come on. We just started Bobbing For Apples.'

'Can we, dad?' Arthur and I asked at the same time, looking up at him.

'Sure, why not?' dad said, smiling. 'Go have fun.'

'Yeah,' I said, grinning.

'Alright,' Arthur said, grinning too as we hurried over to the Bobbling For Apples game with Buster.

We didn't notice the black hooded figure walk into the gymnasium and hide behind some of the sports equipment. If only we had.

'Go for it, May,' Francine said, grinning as I stood in front of the large barrel of apples floating in water. She was dressed as an avian princess.

I plunged me head into the barrel of apples and pulled myself up, an apple with a small plastic bat attached to it firmly in my mouth.

'Way to go, May,' Arthur said, as everyone started clapping.

I took the apple out of my mouth.

'It's all in the fangs,' I said, grinning, showing the plastic fangs.

'Hey,' Muffy said, grinning. She was dressed as a mermaid princess. 'That's cheating.'

We all laughed.

Just then, the lights went out.

'Huh?' Buster's voice said in the darkness.

'Hey, what's going on?' Francine's voice said in the darkness.

'Who turned out the lights?' Muffy's voice said in the darkness.

'Nothing to worry about, everyone,' Mr. Ratburn's voice said somewhere in the darkness. 'I'm sure it's just a faulty circuit. I'll just find the circuit box and-'

There was a bright light at the far end of the gymnasium. People cried out in alarm. Smoke surrounded that side of the gymnasium. Suddenly the light had a shape. It looked like a ghost.

'You have disturbed my slumber!' it said in a ghostly voice. 'Leave now, or you will all pay...'

The light and smoke faded away and the ghost with it. Suddenly the lights came back on.

'What was that all about?' Arthur asked, looking confused.

'Probably someone's idea of a Halloween joke,' Francine said, waving her hand lazily. 'It wasn't very good, if you ask me.'

'Arthur! May!' D.W. cried, running over to us.

'What's the matter, D.W.?' Arthur asked, noting the look of worry on D.W.'s face.

'Mom and dad and Kate are gone,' D.W. said, fear all over her face.

'Huh?' Arthur said, looking confused.

'What do you mean, D.W.?' Francine asked kindly.

'They were standing next to me, before the lights went out,' D.W. said, looking around anxiously. 'And when the lights came back on, they were gone.'

'Maybe they just went somewhere else in the gym,' Muffy suggested.

I quickly looked around the gymnasium. I'd know dad right away. How many other adult men would be wearing a hotdog costume tonight? I couldn't see mom and dad anywhere.

'I don't see them anywhere,' I said, looking at Francine. 'And a man wearing a hotdog costume in a school gymnasium is pretty hard to miss.'

'Hmm,' Fern said, frowning. She was dressed as a detective. 'This is interesting.'

'Hey, didn't the ghost thing say we'd all pay for disturbing it?' Francine said frowning.

'Ghosts don't exist, Francine,' Brain said, shaking his head. He was dressed as Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One half of his face was normal and the other side was green.

'Have you forgotten about that ghost from back at Mr. Crosswire's Scary Your Pants Off Party?' Francine said, putting her hands on her hips.

'Oh, yeah,' Brain said, looking a little sheepish. 'I had forgotten.'

'Do you think it took my mom and dad and Kate?' D.W. asked, looking horrified.

'Don't worry, D.W.,' I said, looking at her. 'We'll find them. We've the two best detectives in Elwood City.'

I pointed at Buster and Fern.

'Us?' they said together, looking confused.

'Well Francine told me about how the two of you proved Binky innocent when the words "Binky Rules" started appearing around the school,' I said, smiling.

'And Buster did prove that those people at Rabid Dog were selling kids candy bars that were addictive,' Arthur said, nodding.

'I can't think of any other two people better qualified for solving this mystery,' I said, folding my arms and smiling at them.

Fern and Buster looked at each other. After two seconds they nodded.

Suddenly the lights went out again.

'D.W., grab my hand,' I yelled quickly.

'Okay,' D.W.'s voice said and I felt her hand grab mine.

'Everyone, grab someone else's hand,' I called out.

There was a shuffling noise as everyone tried to find someone else's hand. Suddenly the lights came back on.

'Is everyone still here?' I asked, looking around.

'I am,' Arthur said, letting go of Francine's hand.

'Me too,' Francine said, looking around. 'So are Fern, Muffy... Hey where're Brain and Buster?'

We all looked around quickly. Buster and Brain were gone.

'Oh, no,' D.W. cried, looking terrified. 'The ghost got Brain and Buster too.'

'May!'

I turned around. Molly and Sue Ellen were running towards us. Molly wasn't wearing much of a costume. She was just wearing her usual jacket with the sleeves ripped off and her torn jeans. The only different thing she was wearing was a navy coloured headband. Sue Ellen was dressed as a vampire. They both looked worried.

'Molly, what's wrong?' I asked, concerned.

Molly was a Tough Customer. Usually, she didn't worry about anything. What could have gotten her so spooked?

'I can't find James anywhere,' Molly said, looking around anxiously.

'What?' Arthur, Francine and I cried.

'The ghost got James too?' D.W. cried, looking more terrified than before.

Suddenly I noticed something twinkling in the light, near where the ghost had appeared.

'Wait a minute,' I said, walking across the room to where the twinkle was coming from. 'What's that?'

'What's what?' Arthur asked, looking confused.

I bent down, stood up again and turned around.

'What's this doing here?' I said, holding out my hand.

Everyone looked at it. It was a leans cap. Like the kind you put on a video camera or projector when you're not using it.

'What would a leans cap be doing here, in the gymnasium?' Fern thought out loud, taking it from me and looking closely at it.

'Maybe it has something to do with the ghost,' I said, folding my arms and frowning. 'It was near where the ghost appeared.'

'Come on, gang,' Fern said, heading for the gymnasium doors. 'We've got a mystery to solve.'

'And our friends and family to find,' I said, as we all hurried after her.

'I swear if that ghost has hurt one hair on James's head I'll-' Molly began.

Fern stopped abruptly. None of us had expected it so we all bumped into her and toppled over.

'Could you give a little warning before you stop, Miss Marple junior?' Molly said from underneath Muffy and Francine.

'S-sorry,' Fern said, getting up and dusting herself off. 'But l-look at that.'

We all looked where she was pointing. Suddenly the lights started flicking on and off. On the wall there was something writing in a dripping red liquid. It read:

'Leave now?' Muffy whispered, her voice shaking.

'Is that-' Molly gulped. 'Is that blood?'

Fern and I walked up to it. I frowned. It didn't look quite like blood. The colour was too light. I put my finger on the E and pulled it away. A small dot of red was on my finger. I lifted it to my nose and sniffed.

'Well?' Arthur asked nervously.

'Is it blood?' Muffy asked, quivering.

'No,' I said, shaking my head, a confused look on my face. 'It's paint.'

'Paint?' everyone asked, looking confused.

'Red acrylic paint, to be precise,' I said, sniffing it again and wiping my finger on my shirt.

'Why would a ghost use red paint to scare us?' Muffy asked, looking confused. 'Don't ghosts usually use blood? That's what I saw in the movies.'

'Maybe we're not dealing with a ghost,' Fern said, thinking.

'What do you mean?' Francine asked, staring at Fern. 'It has to be a ghost. How else could all of these things happened?'

'Simple,' Fern said, folding her arms and smiling. 'Special Affects.'

'More special than you know!' a voice wailed from down the corridor behind us.

We all whirled around. The ghost was hurrying down the hall. It was heading right for us.

'Run!' Molly cried.

No one objected. We all ran, screaming down the corridor. The ghost was right behind us, cackling maniacally.

'Wait a minute,' I said, stopping and turning around to face the ghost.

'May, what are you doing?' Arthur cried, stopping and staring at me.

'If this isn't a ghost, than we should be able to scare it too,' I said, grinning.

'You shall all pay!' the ghost wailed, just a few metres from me.

'Molly, kill the lights!' I yelled.

Molly did so, not quite sure what I had planned.

Once the lights were out I morphed. I turned into a huge lioness and roared.

'AH!' the ghost's voice cried and we heard the sound of something quickly moving away from us.

Molly turned the lights back on and everyone saw the lioness change back into me.

'Well, this proves one thing's for curtain,' Fern said, folding her arms. 'That was no ghost.'

'Yeah,' Francine said, frowning. 'A real ghost wouldn't be scared of a lioness.'

'So if it's not a real ghost,' I said, frowning. 'Then what was it, and what did it do with our friends and family?'

'Hey, what's this?' D.W. said, bending down.

'What did you find, D.W.?' Arthur asked.

D.W. stood up and held out her hand. She was holding a ring of keys.

'Hey, those look like Mr. Morass's keys,' Arthur said, frowning.

'But hasn't Mr. Morass been off sick for the last four days?' I said, frowning.

'Yeah, but we've got a substitute janitor,' Molly said, looking at me. 'Mr. Marelez. He's a real jerk though. Nothing like Mr. Morass.'

'You know, now that I think about it, it's odd that Mr. Morass got sick,' Arthur said, frowning. 'He's a pretty healthy guy.'

'But why would the ghost have Mr. Marelez's keys?' Fern thought out loud, taking the keys from D.W. and looking closely at them. 'And what connection does it have to Mr. Morass getting sick?'

'Uh, guys?' Francine said, nervously.

'Yeah, what is it, Francine?' Arthur asked, looking at her.

Francine gulped.

'Do chairs usually float in the air, by themselves?' she asked, pointing.

We all looked up. There were ten chairs floating on the ceiling in front of us. The chairs zoomed down towards us. We all screamed and ran down the corridor.

We stopped when we couldn't see the chairs anymore.

'Okay,' Francine said, gasping for breath. 'I think we lost them.'

'Hey, guys,' Muffy called from down the hall. 'This door's unlocked.'

We hurried over to where she was. She was right. It was the door into the assembly room and it was unlocked.

'That can't be right,' Molly said, frowning. 'The assembly room should have been locked.'

Muffy opened the door. Just as it started opening I heard a shuffling sound from the other side.

'Muffy, wait,' I said, putting my hand on hers. 'I'll go in first.'

'Huh?' Muffy said, looking confused. 'But why?'

'I have a hunch,' I said, nodding.

Muffy backed away.

I morphed into a Velociraptor and walked through the door. Almost at once someone jumped out at me, grapping me around the neck. I roared, shaking my head back and forth wildly. I heard a cry of surprise and grinned, shaking my head even harder. The person holding my neck lost their grip and was thrown across the room. I heard them hit the wall with a thud. I morphed back to myself again.

'Okay, guys, come on in,' I called, feeling along the wall, finding the light switch and flicking it on.

The others came in as the room lit up. With all the light, I saw the person who had tried to grab me. It was a dog-like man, wearing a black business suit. He was slumped against the wall at the far end of the assembly room.

'Who is that?' D.W. asked, looking confused.

'Whoever he is,' Molly said, walking over and tying his hands behind his back and his legs together with her headband. 'He's going to tell us everything he knows about the ghost.'

'Hey, look at this,' Muffy called.

We all turned to look where she was. She was on the left side of the room. She was standing next to what looked like a smoke machine.

'What's a smoke machine doing in the assembly room?' she asked as we came over to her.

'Maybe this was what made all that smoke in the gymnasium,' Francine said, frowning.

'And look,' Fern said, pointing to the air duct next to the smoke machine. 'That air duct leads directly to another two air ducts in the gymnasium.'

'Wait, so what does that mean?' Molly asked, looking at Fern.

'Think about what we've found so far,' Fern said, taking the leans cap I'd found in the gymnasium out of her pocket. 'May found this leans cap for a camera or projector, we've learned that the ghost can be scared by a lioness, D.W. found Mr. Marelez's keys after the ghost ran away and now we've found a smoke machine next to an air duct linked to the ones in the gymnasium.'

'You're right,' Francine said, thinking. 'They all fit together. But why did all of this happen in the first place?'

'Maybe our new friend here can tell us,' Molly said, walking over to the man by the wall. I went with her.

'Hey,' Molly said, slapping the guy on the face. 'Wake up.'

The man stirred. When he saw Molly and me he tried to jump at us. But, with his arms and legs tied up, he wasn't going to be able to any time soon. He started talking angrily at us in another language.

'Hey, what language is this guy speaking?' Molly said, looking around at everyone.

'He's speaking in Spanish,' I said, frowning at the man.

'Can you understand him?' Arthur asked, walking over to us with the rest of the gang.

'Not completely,' I said, shaking my head. 'Back when I was travelling with my parents in Japan I only stayed in places where they spoke Spanish for a few days at a time, so my Spanish isn't very good. But I think I can pretty much get what he's saying.'

The man was still talking angrily at us.

'He's saying that he can't believe a bunch of kids took him by surprise,' I said, grinning.

'Where's my brother?' Molly said angrily, pointing at the man. 'And who's behind all this?'

He spoke to Molly in Spanish with a sneer on his face.

'You won't tell us, huh?' I said, glaring at the man.

I morphed into a Velociraptor again and roared at him. He cried out in fright.

'Now, will you tell us?' Molly said firmly, grinning. 'I'm not sure if we can control her or not.'

The man started talking fearfully, looking from Molly to Velociraptor me. I changed back to myself again.

'Well,' Molly said, looking at me. 'What did he say?'

I sighed.

'He says he doesn't know who's behind this,' I said, shaking my head. 'He says he was just offered a job on the phone and he took it.'

Everyone looked down sadly.

I grinned.

'But,' I said, still grinning. 'He says he does know where James, Buster, Brain and mom dad and Kate are.'

Everyone cheered up at that.

'Come on!' dad said angrily, slamming his shoulder into the door again.

'David, give it up,' mom said, holding get in her arms. 'You're not going to knock down that door.'

'Indeed, Mr. Read,' Brain said, nodding. 'All you're going to achieve by slamming yourself into the door in a repetitive fashion is in spraining your shoulder.'

Dad sighed.

'Maybe you're right,' dad said, slumping against the wall.

They were in the cafeteria. The doors were locked from the outside and so were the windows. They were trapped. Just then they heard the sound of the door unlocking. Dad backed away, ready to jump. The door opened and we were all standing there.

'Kids,' dad cried happily.

'Mommy, daddy!' D.W. cried, running in hugging dad's legs.

'Molly!' James cried, running to his big sister and hugging her.

'Hey, little bro,' she said, hugging him back. 'I'm glad that you're safe.'

'How did you find us?' Brain asked, slapping high-fives with Arthur, Buster and Francine.

'We couldn't have done it without Fern,' I said, smiling at her. 'She put all the clues together.'

'Hey, what's this?' Molly said, bending down and picking up a piece of paper.

'Let me see that,' Fern said, taking the paper from Molly.

It was an old news paper clipping, dating back to the early nineteen hundreds. It was part of a story involving some missing jewels that vanished, somewhere near where Lakewood had been built.

'But why did all of this happen in the first place?' mom asked, hugging me and Arthur.

'All will become clear,' Fern said, holding up one finger. 'But first, we must capture the ghost.'

'And I've got just the plan,' Molly said, smiling.

I was standing in the hall, tapping my foot impatiently. A walkie-talkie in my left hand.

'Okay, here he comes,' Molly's voice said from the walkie talkie.

I looked up and sure enough, I could see the ghost coming around the corner.

'I'd better not lose my reputation for this,' I thought grumpily, putting the walkie talkie in the back of my belt.

'La, la, la, lala,' I said, skipping down the hall. 'I am so happy. So not afraid.'

'Oh, really?' the ghost said, hurrying towards me. 'I'll bet I can change that.'

I screamed and ran down the hall, heading towards the cafeteria.

'You can't out run me forever,' the ghost cackled, just as I pushed through the doors. 'Wait didn't I lock that?'

'Yep,' I said as he burst through the doors. I was just standing there, smirking. 'And I don't need to out run you either. Now, guys!'

'Huh?' the ghost said looking up and a net dropped down on top of him.

'Yeah, we got him,' Buster cheered from above the door.

'Alright,' Arthur said, slapping him a high-five.

'How dare you!' the ghost yelled angrily, glaring at me. 'You will pay for trapping me, mortal child.'

'Oh, cut the act,' I said, glaring at him.

'Low tech,' Molly said, standing next to me, folding her arms and smiling. 'But it works.'

We dragged him and the man we'd found in the assembly room back to the gymnasium.

'We've caught the ghost,' Francine called as we pulled them through the doors.

Everyone in the room started talking anxiously amongst themselves. Not sure wether to believe us or not.

'Here is our ghost,' Fern said, pulling the head off of the ghost.

Everyone gasped. Underneath the mask was a mouse-like man with brown skin and short gray hair.

'Mr. Marelez?' Mr. Haney cried, staring in shock. 'But, why?'

'Mr. Marelez isn't really a substitute school janitor,' Fern said, walking over to a spot next to me. 'He's really a treasure hunter.'

'A treasure hunter?' Mr. Ratburn said, looking shocked. 'But why did he try to scare us all away from the school.'

'Because, thanks to this news paper clipping, he knew that this is where he knew he could find a stash of jewels from the early nineteen hundreds,' Fern said, holding up the news paper clipping. Then she bent down and lifted the plank of wood in front of her.

She reached in and pulled out a small bag. She tipped it upside down and several huge rubies, sapphires, diamonds and emeralds dropped out and onto the floor.

Everyone gasped.

'My goodness,' Mr. Ratburn exclaimed, staring at the jewels.

'When Mr. Marelez learned that the jewels were stashed here all those years ago, he tried to scare us all off by making us think that the school was haunted,' Fern said, turning to look at Mr. Marelez again. 'With everyone too afraid to return to Lakewood Elementary, he would have been free to find the jewels and take them for himself. He wouldn't have needed to work as a janitor ever again.'

'And I'd have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling children,' Mr. Marelez said angrily.

'Well,' Mr. Haney said firmly, walking up to Mr. Marelez. 'You didn't get away with it, Mr. Marelez. You're fired.'

Mr. Marelez hung his head sadly.

I looked at Fern and smiled.

'I just want to know something,' Molly said, frowning at Mr. Marelez. 'How did you make those chairs float in the air?'

'What chairs?' Marelez said grumpily, looking up at Molly. 'I didn't do anything with chairs. Just the smoke and lights.'

'Huh?' Molly said, looking confused.

'But... if you didn't make those chairs float in the air, than who did?' Arthur asked, looking around nervously.

Above the school, the ghost of a little aardvark-like girl smiled, looking out at the night sky.

'Best Halloween in my entire afterlife,' she said, flying off into the sky.

Later, the police came by and took Mr. Marelez away.

'You did it, Fern,' I said, smiling at her, as we watch the police drive off.

'No,' she said, looking at all of us and smiling. 'We did it.'

'Yeah, but you solved the mystery,' Francine said, smiling.

'Now you really are a real detective,' Buster said, giving her a thumbs-up.

'Come on, you lot,' Molly said, indicating to the gymnasium. 'Let's get back to the party.'

'Yeah,' Buster said, smiling and running inside. 'It's my turn at Bobbing For Apples.'

'It is not,' Francine cried, running after him. 'It's my turn. You had you turn before Arthur and May got here.'

I looked at Arthur and smiled.

'Well, it might not have been my quietest Halloween ever,' I said, as we walked back into the party. 'But it has been the most fun.'

'Yeah,' Arthur said, smiling. 'But it's not over yet.'

'You're right,' I said, smiling. 'After this, we've still got our trick or treating to do. Oh, man. We're going to have to go with D.W., aren't we?'

'Please,' Arthur said, covering his eyes with his right hand. 'Don't remind me.'

We both laughed, walking back inside.