Author's Note:

Sorry about the mean hint from the last chapter. Telling you the first letter and then making you wait… so sorry. Well, I won't make you puzzle this any longer, for now, without any further ado, I present to you (teehee; that rhymed) :

Chapter 9 – Next Round! -or- The Terror! –or- Mwhaha (Edward: Not again!)

Collective gasps filled the space around the poster. There was a stunned silence than Jasper gave a cough that sounded suspiciously like a cover-up.

"Do tell what amuses you so, brother. Have you not seen that," Emmet started calmly, then burst out the rest, "I'm a wanted criminal now!"

"I know…" Jasper started explaining, "But you're only worth…" More stifled laughter, "four cotton candies…" He trailed of, unable to stop the laughter any longer. He was joined by the others.

"I'll have you know," Emmet said stiffly, "That the reward is five cotton candies, not four." He said, sounding disdainful.

"Of course… how silly of me." Jasper said.

"How very silly." Emmet agreed.

"They want you… unconscious…" Alice giggled.

"It's the only way they'd take me alive." Emmet said.

Bella raised her eyebrows at him. "Alive?"

"You know what I mean."

Momentary silence, then Emmet broke it by saying, "Now whose turn?"

Bella looked startled. "We have to leave now don't we?"

The vampires looked at her aghast.

"Bella," Emmet explained helpfully, "Where would we be if we could be frightened off by a bunch of mad conductors out for revenge?"

Bella shrugged. "I see your point."

Alice brought them back to Emmet earlier question. "How about we go in a different order this time? Draw straws again?"

"Capital idea!" Emmet beamed, hoping it would be his turn to choose again. Emmet could practically hear the thrill rides screaming his name. Oh wait, that was just the people riding the thrill rides.

Emmet was just at the point of holding out the straws when they heard an annoyingly familiar voice.

"Mommy, Mommy, look!" Screamed (drum roll please) 'the little kid', who was presently jumping up and down pointing at Emmet's poster. "I told you he was bad, didn't I. Bad, bad kid. We should find him and turn him in, right Mommy?"

Jasper and Rosalie quickly grabbed one of Emmet's arms and proceeded to pull him away, Alice, Edward and Bella following close behind.

"Err… we'll need new straws." Edward commented dryly.

Emmet held up the straws and was shocked to see the straws he had held in his fist had be crushed to… well, I'll just say they didn't look like straws anymore.

"Heh heh, look at that. Wonder how that happened. Heheh." Emmet said sheepishly.

Alice grinned, rolled her eyes and disappeared momentarily, only to reappear shortly holding up six new straws, one already shorter than the others.

"Promise you won't kill these ones?" Alice asked sternly.

Emmet nodded meekly and accepted the straws, shuffled them, and held them out. While they picked, Emmet took to randomly shouting out things like, "Not that one!" "Oh no!" and "Tsk, tsk."

Despite Emmet's helpfulness, Jasper picked out the short straw. While he had picked it, Emmet had called, "You wish that was the right straw."

Well, Jasper did wish, and the wish did come true.

"But he just went!" Emmet protested.

"And what if you had gotten it?" Rosalie asked, and Emmet paused to consider this new thought.

"Well, we could redraw…" Alice said, and Jasper turned to look at her, looking utterly betrayed. "But then Bella might get it and then… well, it's the merry-go-round thing all over again…"

"Jasper's turn it is!" Emmet agreed heartily.

"Thank you for you permission, oh mighty one." Jasper said.

"Enough sarcasm." Edward chided brightly (A/N: odd combination, but I'm sure Edward could pull it off) "What's your choice, Jasper?"

Jasper grinned evilly. "I have just the right one. Mwhahaha! Fear me."

The others blinked.

Edward had an outburst. "ENOUGH WITH THE MWHAHAHA-ING! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" (A/N: sorry if that was a bit ooc of Edward. It won't happen again)

The others blinked. Again.

Then Rosalie calmly said, "Edward, chill."

Edward blinked (A/N: and after this they'll stop blinking for a while, except Bella, of course).

"Where to?" Edward asked, as if he'd never had his outburst.

"There," Jasper announced, pointing to a building with a dramatic gesture.

Have you guessed it yet? Yes? Good job. No? Well, given my puny hints. I wouldn't have been able to guess either, so here 'tis.

-In the line-

"This ok, Bella?" Jasper asked.

"Uh, I thought you guys were going to try to scare me on rides. Does this count?"

"Haunted houses are never all they're cracked up to be," Rosalie said, her tone that of boredom.

"Oh come on," Jasper said hyperly. "It'll be fun!"

Rosalie shrugged.

Before long, they were at the front.

There were two people here. One at the entrance and one walking up and down the haunted house, making sure all went well.

"Enter if you dare," said the person at the entrance in a flat tone.

"Truly terrifying," Rosalie said sarcastically. The others were beginning to think she did not approve this ride.

The entrance person shrugged and waved them inside.

They entered in a dark corridor. Bella's eyes widened in an attempt to see better. The Cullens had no trouble seeing, of course, and promptly told Bella about the person lurking at the halls edge.

The hiding guy, dressed in black, spluttered indignantly, but they paid him no heed.

Next, they entered a room with freaky red light. A guy held a whirring chainsaw up and was laughing manically, pointing the chainsaw at Bella. Wrong move.

Edward snarled and in an instant had taken the chainsaw from him and turned it off.

"It's not nice to play with possibly deadly things." Edward snarled. "You might hurt someone… like Bella!"

The guy looked shocked at the lecturing. He hastened to explain it wasn't real.

"Come on Edward, you're holding us up." Alice said.

Edward glared at the guy, and then they continued.

The haunted house proceed like this, the vampires highly amused at the stuff that scared Bella.

After a while, they were walking down once more, another long twisting dark passage.

They found it the perfect place for conversation as they walked along.

"Hey, here's a thought." Alice said brightly. "How about while we're here, we sneak into the make-up room and disguise Emmet! That way no one will try to bring him in."

"That could be fun." Rosalie said.

"Whatcha think of that Emmet?" Jasper asked. He glanced at Emmet. But there was no Emmet.

"Uh Emmet?" He called. "Where are you, dude?"

"Where is Emmet?" Alice asked.

"Over there," Rosalie said nonchalantly, "Up ahead there, scaring the socks off that kid."

Sure enough, when they glanced ahead, they saw a kid running away, screaming in horror, while behind him a smirking Emmet retreated back into a fake coffin.

"Oh." Edward said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

As they passed the coffin, they heard a suspicious "Mwhahaha! The old vampire that was here scares too easy for this job," from within.

They shrugged and continued down the corridor.

They had only gotten so far when the heard noises behind them.

Emmet's voice: "Boo!"

Unidentified voice: "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Unidentified Voice: Hey. Wait a second! You're HIM! The cause of havoc, turmoil, mayhem, chaos, disorder, confusion and pandemonium! ARGH!

A pause.

Emmet: Uh oh.

Feet clambered up the corridor behind them as Emmet appeared behind them.

"Hey guys," He panted (only for dramatic effect of course) "The conductor's after us. Again. I think we better go now."

The vampires and Bella (minus Emmet) laughed, then hastened to leave as the conductor started after them, yelling, "HALT! FREEZE! STOP AT ONCE!"

Finally, they burst back out into the cloudy daylight.

"Emmet, how could you?" Alice giggled.

Emmet only grinned sheepishly.

"Hey, there's the makeup room." Rosalie saved him from having to answer by pointing.

The headed in that direction and were there momentarily.

"I'll help!" Alice said.

"That's quite alright." Emmet said. "I do think I can handle it." Then he disappeared into the trailer, which was luckily empty.

A moment later he emerged again.

Dressed like… a vampire. Not a Cullen vampire. A Dracula vampire.

He had a huge black cloak covering his clothes, a weird black wig, and makeup that made him look positively white. And of course, plastic fangs.

While the others stood gaping, Alice merely tsked and turned him back around.

When the two emerged later, he looked normal, like a different person. Not a vampire. He was no longer pale. Emmet was not recognizable; except for his clothes were the same as before. If anyone compared him to the poster though, they would think it a coincidence he wore the same clothes.

"How do I look?" Emmet said striking a pose.

"Wow." Edward said.

Emmet beamed. "Let's go do something else now, shall we?" He asked.

"Yeah." Rosalie agreed.

But, Fate did not want them to walk away from a ride. No, fate wanted them to run.

"Hey. What're you guys doing around the makeup trailers?" Shouted a ghostly person who had just come over for a break.

Edward sighed. "Let's go…"

And so they disappeared running into the crowd.

And as they did so, Emmet glanced around to check no one was looking. Then, he slipped the plastic fangs into his pocket. Now he had a souvenir too.