HALLOWEEN at the BEGONIA HOUSE!

Welcome to the Character Costume Party!

Hurray! Time to swap scary stories. Fairday and her friends invite you to explore the shadowy halls and cobb-webby corners of the infamous Begonia House. You'll find spooky tales and hidden secrets within its crumbling walls. Keep your wits and remember...

Fear not the unexpected.

FAIRDAY, MARCUS (AKA Brocket the Rocket), and LIZZY!

We're so excited you've come for tricks and treats! In three rooms of the Begonia House, you'll find a character waiting to tell you a story. Thanks to the authors who contributed and their characters who came for the fun. Mwahahaha! ~ DMS 

  

Want to devour CANDY and STORIES this HALLOWEEN?

Grab some goodies at TRICK-OR-REATERS! After all, there's more to Halloween than sweets! The stories bring the magic. So, hop on your broomstick and fly over. Download the flyer and invite your friends!

Ready for a story? To your right, you'll find the parlor. A room that was once filled with roses, until a gypsy's curse soured its sweetness...

My little sister, Margo, has invited Little Blue Bus to tell us a story that's scary and sweet! Follow the path of roses into the parlor and enjoy!

LITTLE BLUE BUS VS. MUMMY TRUCK  

A bonus tale of vroom and doom by Anika Denise, author of MONSTER TRUCKS (HarperCollins /ISBN: 9780062345226)

This is the tale 
of a bus, brave and true.
She's zippy! And peppy!

 (And a cute shade of blue.)

By day, she totes kids
to the park and the zoo.

By night, she fights
MONSTER TRUCKS
covered in goo!

Well... can you guess WHO? 

It's the LITTLE BLUE BUS!

She's revved up and ready!

So fasten your seat belts,

and hold the wheel steady.

On a dark stormy night,

a lightning bolt flashes,

as a new Monster Truck

rises up from the ashes.

It's MUMMY TRUCK, moaning.

His tires are tattered.

His mirrors are broken.

His ball bearings battered.

Down a lonesome roadway,

Mummy Truck RIDES.

Mummy Truck WAITS.

Mummy Truck HIDES.

He lurks in a tunnel,

a diesel of DOOM!

Awaiting fresh metal

to haul to his tomb.

With a flash of his headlights

and a sinister grin,

he lets his hook fly...

and reels her back in.

That mean MUMMY TRUCK!

He's zapped all her zoom!

Punctured her pep!

Vanquished her VROOM! 

Can anyone save her?

Yes!

How 'bout YOU?

Can you give her a boost?

A jolt and a JUMP?

Help our LITTLE BLUE BUS...

to get over the hump?

Okay!

Just say...

Vroom, vroom!

Louder!

VROOM, VROOM!!

One more time!

VROOM, VROOM, VROOM!!!

Pedal to medal.

Rubber to burn.

Hugging the side rail

in a dangerous turn—

our LITTLE BLUE BUS

is huffing and chugging.

Her tires are smokin'!

She's pulling and tugging!

VROOM, VROOM, VROOM! 

You did it!

She's free!

The tow rope has snapped.

You buried that mummy.

His evil's been zapped!

Now clap, clap, clap!

And take a victory lap.

Drawing Activity Prompt!

After the read aloud, ask children to draw MUMMY TRUCK, using details they heard in the story, and their imaginations, to create an all-new, original Monster Trucks character!

Visit the Little Crooked Cottage for some more treats today!

Up the staircase, turn left down the hall. Pass the crooked portraits hung on the wall. You'll find Thurston's study open for show. The velvet drapes closed, the light low. Joshua's here with a new tale to spin. Hold on to your pants and let's begin!

JOSHUA AND THE STORM MASTER:
A HALLOWEEN LIGHTNING ROAD ADVENTURE

The wind whipped up and shot cold air right through my thin costumed cloak. No way would I wear a bulky coat over my cool archer outfit. At least my feet were warm in my boots. I adjusted the bow Leandro gave me when I’d escaped as a slave from the world of Nostos. Fashioned for his lost son, my half-brother, Leandro had passed it on to me. Except here on Earth, plastic arrows filled my quiver. This was trick-or-treating not life-or-death.

And dang, it wasn’t supposed to be this cold on Halloween! But I was in Massachusetts now, living with Charlie’s family since they moved here from France–and since my grandfather disappeared. But tonight was for fun stuff not sad stuff and sleep was far away. Nighttime was the worst when my old life crept inside my head … and thoughts of Bo Chez.

I shivered and walked faster to keep up with Charlie. Not fair he had super long legs. Also unlike me, he was all warm in a heavy, white robe over sweatpants and a sweater. He adjusted his gold crown and shook his wooden lightning bolt. “No one dare mess with Zeus, king of the gods!

“Or Charlie, king of the goobers.” I jabbed his shoulder.

“Non! That’s you, Joshua, freezing in that outfit.” He jabbed me back with a laugh, adjusting his white wig and fake beard.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I said, dragging him toward our next neighborhood. Blustery wind swirled leaves around us and the clouds blocked out the moon, casting us in shadows, our flashlights pitiful twin spots of light. The cemetery rose up fast, between houses. I suddenly realized all the other kids had moved on. We were alone.

Lightning flashed, freezing us both in place. Charlie looked down at me, his mouth a wide ‘O’ in his thin face. Twice lightning had stolen us to another world. Not again. Not tonight. Not after losing so much.

“Come on,” I said, sprinting toward the next block where the safety of streetlights glowed and kids ran about.

He took off with me but then lightning flashed so bright, I ran right into a tree. Thunder boomed. Wind shrieked, sucking me up in a tunnel of mad gusts. Dead leaves slapped me. I stumbled, dizzy, when lightning bolt struck a tombstone. With an ear-splitting wail it cracked in two. Marble smashed down. Smoke filled the air. The bitter smell of burnt stone and decayed leaves invaded my nose.

Through the smoke a figure appeared. Then another.

“Mon dieu!” Charlie grabbed my arm, his hair and eyes wild. We ran toward the Halloween crowd. Lightning flashed twice more, forcing our feet to fly. Soon we pushed through a throng of monsters, skeletons, pirates, and witches. Kids from school called out but we kept moving, my heart hammering in my chest unable to explain who–or what–just appeared.

Charlie and I’d had enough adventures down the Lightning Road to last a lifetime. And we both knew who could be after us. As the Oracle who could give powers back to the powerless–and very real–Greek Olympians of Nostos, I was wanted by many–especially Zeus.

“The lightning’s gone,” I said, not answering him and moving on, but Charlie yanked me back. His eyebrows arched inward with a nervous twitch and he tugged on his wig, tilting his crown askew. The streetlight shot dark shadows under his wide eyes.

“If it was a real storm it would still be lightning out,” he said, peering up at the clear starry sky. “You did see them.”

I couldn’t deny it. My brain scrambled with what to do and hoping so badly that a Child Collector was not here to steal us again. 

A group of princesses screamed with fun as a mummy pretended to stalk them. Just past the kids a hulking shape moved by the edge of the woods. Something with red eyes. They glowed like coals. I blinked and they disappeared. A cadmean beast? Those giant fire-breathing foxes couldn’t be here!

Charlie let go of me. “Where do we go?”

“To get my lightning orb!”

We took off again. This time to Charlie’s house to grab the one weapon Bo Chez had left behind. As a great Storm Master from Nostos, he’d earned the lightning orb in training as an elite soldier of Zeus before he deserted to Earth.

Ghosts and wizards and fiery pumpkins whizzed in a blur all around us. A glance over my shoulder revealed a towering figure lumbering along. A tail flicked. Horns rose from a lion’s face. A cretan beast! How many other beasts were after us? No one would even notice them on Halloween!

“Charlie,” I gripped his robe. “They’re after us!

We dropped our bags and raced through the trick-or-treaters. The houses ended. We’d made a circle right back to the cemetery. No choice but to go through. It was the shortest route to Charlie’s house.

A dark shadow crossed the moon, this time growing larger. It was coming for us!

Caw. Caw.

A korax from Nostos!

The giant raven dove for us. On its back sat a boy, his white hair like fire in the moonlight. He threw his hand in the air. Hail fell, pounding us. 

Charlie tripped over a fallen tombstone. I dragged him into a stone archway when the boy threw out his other hand whipping up a tornado. It spun to life imprisoning us in its vortex. I bashed up against the wind walls but couldn’t bust through. Charlie and I shuddered together as the monster bird headed right for us.

The korax dropped fast but its wing tilted in landing. The boy slid to one side. He held on by fistfuls of feathers as he zoomed toward us trying to pull himself up. He almost made it when the bird flapped its wings.

“By the gods!” the boy cried out then fell. He crashed on an angel statue, bounced off and landed hard beside us. The tornado whirled away. Charlie and I took off but not before the boy swept the air with his hands.

Flash! Flash!

Lightning whizzed by, striking stone. Bits of rock bit us as we dashed back and forth between tombstones. The boy stood, screamed in agony, and fell on his side. Freedom! But then the cadmean beast leapt over our heads and landed before us, blasting its fiery breath in the air. Its red eyes burned into mine. From behind the trees the cretan beast raced up, shaking its mighty mane with a roar.

Nowhere to run now.

The cadmean beast panted faster, its snout quivering. The cretan beast chimed in with snorting bellows while the korax snapped its beak, fixing its beady electric green eyes on me.

“Call off your beasts and we’ll help you,” I said to the boy.

Charlie looked at me like I was crazy. “We will?”

The boy threw a shaky hand up. It crackled with lightning, but I stood my ground. He dropped his hand and inhaled sharply as if in great pain and nodded, his leg twisted beneath him. “Stand down.” The beasts sat back on their haunches while the korax preened its black feathers.

Charlie and I knelt beside the boy. He was older than me by a couple of years, fifteen or so. “You need a brace,” I said.

He tried to speak but his face crinkled in pain and he lay back on the ground, his gray cloak popping open to reveal a Lightning Road transport belt. No way was I going back to his world with that again. The cold ground seeped through my pants, adding to my chill.

“Get a long flat piece of wood to make a brace and some vines from those trees,” I said to Charlie, pointing to the woods. He shuffled backwards, shaking his head. There was no Grand Tree from Nostos to help us here. We had to help ourselves–and this kid.

“Trust me,” I said.

He looked from me to the boy then nodded and ran to the woods.

“Who are you and why are you here?” I said, gently straightening out the boy’s leg. He moaned, and tossed his white hair back across his shoulders, his thin, angled face pinched with agony. The beasts pawed the ground but he waved a hand at them and they relaxed.

“A Storm Master in training. This was my first travel mission using my powers.”

“To bring me back?”

He froze and held my gaze. “To kill you.”

Charlie returned with all we needed and I busied myself tying the board snug to the boy’s leg. He bit his lip, gasping, but when I was through he muttered a thank you. “How do you know how to do all this?”

“The Wild Childs taught me survival when I lived in the Wilds Lands.”

He grasped my arm, his face full of questions. “You lived with the Wild Childs? What was it like to be free amongst them in the trees?”

“Like having a family I’d never had.”

He smiled softly. If he weren’t here to kill me, I might like this kid. “Family is everything.”

Charlie helped me lean the kid against a tombstone, his face protesting every bit of it.

“Zeus sent you to get rid of me, I mean …the Oracle, because he doesn’t want the other Olympians to get back their powers, right?”

“Zeus rules all and always will!” The boy’s nostrils flared and he clenched his fists. In the shaft of moonlight, his green-blue eyes glowered at me.

“Mon dieu! Joshua just helped you,” Charlie burst out. “Be cool, storm-boy.”

“My name is Galen,” he said in a tired voice, letting the anger go. “Who are you, in that ridiculous outfit?”

“Zeus, of course.” Charlie drew out the fake lightning bolt from his robe’s pocket.

The boy frowned, rising up on his elbows. “That’s not Zeus. He’s a giant with black hair and wears a gray cloak. His hands could crush your head. Everyone fears him!”

The beasts inched forward with their master’s renewed anger and I held Charlie back. We could make our own graves here tonight. I didn’t want to.

“Why do you care so much, Galen?” I asked, changing the subject, eager to save ourselves from being munched on … or breathed on wrong.

He collapsed. “Because Zeus is my father.”

Charlie dragged off his wig and crown at this news and we darted looks at each other.

Zeus’s kid!

“He sent his own son?”

“Oui! To do his dirty work.” Charlie huffed.

“I would do it gladly!” Galen said, stabbing a finger at Charlie. “Zeus adopted me when I was young. Saved me from wild beasts and certain death! If I complete this mission I earn my lightning orb and serve in my father’s service. Get it?”

He closed his eyes, the effort of his words too much. The cretan beast moaned and the cadmean beast grunted as if they understood.

I got it. I’d grown up without a father. Mine was somewhere on Nostos. I may never find him or my lost brother I’d never met, but I could help this kid get back to his family–even if he was my enemy.

I urged Charlie to help Galen up. “Go home. Tell your father you killed me in battle. Tell him … that’s how you broke your leg. And you made your own brace.”

He considered that, looking at us and his beast army then sighed. “I cannot lie to my father but I will say I found you and put you in your place for now, so to speak.” His mouth twisted up in a resigned smile. “But I need a token.” The korax shook its feathers and squawked as if this plot was a bad idea. The beasts paced around us in agreement, snorting and chuffing, their breaths exploding in the autumn air.

I drew the bow from my shoulder. “Take this.”

Charlie gasped. “Non, mon ami! Leandro gave you that.”

“It’s the only thing I have from Nostos to give.”

Except the lightning orb. It had been Bo Chez’s. I touched the pendant under my shirt. Or the picture of my mother and brother. No one would get either of them from me except over my dead body. 

I placed the bow in Galen’s hand. He rubbed a finger over the name engraved in its arc. “Evander. Who is this?”

“Leandro’s son. He’s been lost to him for years. Leandro gave it to me. He’s a good friend. I’ve used it to fight on Nostos. Your father will know it’s mine.”

Galen slung it over his shoulder then waved to the beasts. They lined up beside him.

He hobbled to the korax. “Help me up, Joshua?” His words came in gasps of pain. It was the first time he’d said my name. His whole world knew my name and with that thought, I understood they’d never stop seeking me–even in death. I could kill Zeus’s son now, but I knew what it was like to lose family. Besides, the beasts would most likely kill me and Charlie if I did.

Charlie and I helped Galen up onto the massive bird, careful of his leg. The raven ruffled its black gleaming feathers, a familiar rotten stench rising from it. “Hold on tight now,” I said. “There’s not much space on the Lightning Road.”

“And there’s nowhere to go but the Great Beyond if you fall off,” Galen said, with a grim smile. “My bird will carry me home, and the other beasts will run ahead of me.”

The wind whistled through the bare trees. Fog crept through the graveyard, slinking cold over our feet. Galen looked down at us. The korax clicked its beak urging him on his way as Charlie tugged on my cloak doing the same.

“Thank you,” Galen said with a bow. “Twice tonight I’ve said that and twice tonight I’ve tried to kill you, and am now in your debt. I must honor that.” He patted the bow.

“I will return this to you. In another time. After that, we shall be enemies again.”

“No,” I said.

He raised an eyebrow at me.

“Forget me, Galen. And don’t come back. I will forget you–and Nostos.”

He peered down at me, snowy white hair shimmering in the moonlight. “You belong there. You can never forget family.”

He raised his fist in the air, the moonlight shining bright on it. In that moment his cloak and sleeve slipped down his arm. A dark birthmark blazed sharp on his fair skin. An arrow! He pressed a finger to his belt. “May the gods be with you until we meet again!”

“Wait!” I lunged for him but he and his beasts flashed away in the sky on the Lightning Road. Daggers of light struck the air and the wind roared, flattening us on the ground. Then all was quiet.

“Come back, Galen,” I whispered into wet leaves and twigs.

Charlie hauled me up in the rolling fog. “You okay?”

The moon glowed soft. The wind fell to a gentle breeze. Laughter from far away trick-or-treaters floated on the air. It was as if this night had never happened.

I shivered. I would never be okay. Not until I found Galen again. His arrow, that white hair, those blue-green eyes. And most of all–his honor. There was only one person who could have all of these things. Leandro’s son.

“He’s my brother.”

A half-brother who’d come to kill me. By the gods!

And now my half-brother had his father’s bow, meant for him all along.

Evander.

Charlie clutched my arm with wonder and we stared at the sky. Nostos was up there waiting for me. My brother was right. I could never forget family. I would find him again no matter what–or who–I had to face.

Visit Joshua's blog for more treats!
Find more books by Donna Galanti 

Climb the spiral staircase up to the top. The room to the right is your next stop. There's covered furniture and a wardrobe with surprises. Reach in and grab your disguises! Pete and Weasel have a story to share, it's a bit scary, so do beware!

Halloween in Hadleyville

Halloween in Hadleyville isn’t like Halloween anyplace else. It’s all about the cemetery and an old swamp curse that keeps most kids in on this night. Me and Weasel wouldn’t be out, but the Whisper Circle has it that Paula Teener, the town baker, is frying up fresh doughnuts and the Wartgob sisters are giving out pumpkin shakes. It’s a most excellent sugar-high night, and we aren’t missing it for nothing. So I grab one of Aunt Lizzie’s flashlights and bike to Weasel’s.

When I get there, he comes down the front steps wearing a long while coat, the sleeves rolled up and the bottom dragging in the dirt.

“What’s that?” I point at the weird thing he has on.

“My dad’s lab coat. What’s wrong with it?”

“Kind of dorky. What are you supposed to be?”

He pushes his glasses higher on his nose and rolls his eyes. “Try scientist.” He looks me up and down. “What are you?”

“I’m a king.” I touch my crown and hold up my sword and shield.

“Right,” he says and starts down the street.

I catch up. “I hate it when you give me that look.”

He doesn’t answer me. I know he’s bent on snagging those doughnuts and shakes, then making it back to his house. The sun’s sliding lower by the second. There’s still light to see, but the shadows are getting long and the kids we pass are walking fast. They glance over their shoulders and stay clumped together, clutching their Trick- or-Treat bags. Nobody wants to be out when everything goes really dark.

We get to the corner and cross Cemetery Lane to be on the other side as far away from the iron fenced graveyard as we can get. At the curb, Weasel trips on the lab coat and sprawls on the sidewalk, his glasses skittering right down the gutter and into the drain.

“No!” He lunges after them. Without his glasses, Weasel can’t see more than an inch in front of him.

I switch on the flashlight and peer into the drain. I can see the glasses, but I can’t fish them out--even with a stick.

“Look,” I get to my feet, “let’s go to Paula’s and ask her for a long-handled fork. That way we can snag us some doughnuts anyway.” I glance up as the last sunlight flickers across the sidewalk and the October night turns icy and black. Hadlyville has three street lights, but none of them are on Cemetery Lane.

With Weasel holding onto my sleeve, I walk as fast as I can, the beam from my flashlight showing me the way. Weasel stumbles, but keeps up.

And then we hear it--a brittle noise.

“Clack. Clackety.”

We freeze and Weasel squeezes my arm so tight my hand goes numb.

“We should make a run for it,” Weasel whispers.

“No way. You can’t see a thing. Hold on, just ease up on the grip, okay?” I speed up as much as I can with Weasel stumbling beside me.

“Clack. Clack. Clackety.” More rattling sounds come from behind us and closer than before.

 

Aunt Lizzie told me about the curse, about how three Hadleyville witches got into a terrible fight over who was the head witch in town. They hurled spells until the swamp water came to a boil. That’s when the alligators got riled and worked a few spells of their own. They turned the witches into headstones and set them in the old graveyard. The only time they’re free to roam is All Hallows Eve after sunset. Their bones rise up out of the stones and they clack their way around Hadleyville, making sure nobody enjoys Trick or Treating. Even the alligators stay deep in the swamp.

The clacking sound is getting closer. I’m out of breath. Weasel’s gasping for air and we haven’t reached the end of Cemetery Lane yet.

Those doughnuts and pumpkin shakes are not worth this.

I have to do something. What? Magic? I let that idea go because every time I work a spell I screw up and cause more trouble. I’m really trying to be a better wizard, but under this kind of pressure that’s not happening.

I whirl to face whatever’s behind us and . . .

I’m leaving Pete and Weasel in a predicament. What’s creeping up behind Pete and Weasel? If it’s the skeletal remains of those nasty witches, will Pete work a spell? If he does, is he going to cause another major disaster?

The best guess as to what’s following these two and what happens next, wins a digital copy of Alligators Overhead.  

Leave your comment on Lee's blog to enter the giveaway!

Find more books by C.Lee Mckenzie

*Enter the rafflecopter giveaway below for a chance to win a digital copy of The Great Time Lock Disaster!

We hope you had fun at our party! Here's a spinetingler from my mom to send you off... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Hello everyone! Fairday asked me to tell you my story about the Ouija board incident that I experienced with my older sister, Isabel. When we were young, we decided to have a secret party one cold afternoon in October, right around Halloween time. We turned out the lights, pulled down the shades to set the scene, and she dressed up in an old cloak that we found in the attic. We pulled out the Ouija board and set it up next to this fascinating crystal ball that was held by a rusty claw. Isabel is four years older than I am, and I always believed every word she ever said. So, given that, I was convinced that it really was a crystal ball, and that she actually did find it in the graveyard near our house. We lit a candle and began to play. We asked the board all sorts of gossipy things, nonsensical and mystical, and then the phone rang. Isabel went out to answer it, leaving me alone in the room. I sat there for a few minutes in silence, watching the glass ball glimmer in the candlelight. It was very still for a moment, and then suddenly the shades flew up, and a breeze blew back my hair. At that same moment, a piece of the crystal ball splintered and cracked off, then flew across the room. It's one of the craziest moments I can remember. To this day, Isabel still thinks I'm making it all up. I'm not sure who we were communicating with, but what I experienced that day happened just the way I told you! ~ Pru

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Signed hardcover of THE SECRET FILES OF FAIRDAY MORROW & A Mystery Book Box from the DMS

Signed edition of MONSTER TRUCKS & (6) MONSTER TRUCK Trading Cards

Paperback edition of JOSHUA AND THE LIGHTNING ROAD

Digital copy of THE GREAT TIME LOCK DISASTER

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