The Black Heart Crypt

Barnabas wanted one of the Ickleby ghosts to venture out of the Haddam Hill Cemetery and go into North Chester to scout it out, since none of the thirteen souls were familiar with the town.

“We need a spy,” he said. “To locate the Jennings boy. He will be the one to pay for what the three women did to us!”

Eddie quickly volunteered.

“I can scope things out better than anybody else,” he argued. “The last man into the tomb should be the first ghost out, because, unlike the rest of you freaky-deakies, I’m hip to the modern lingo, dig?”

“You make an excellent point, Edward,” said Barnabas. “Return by midnight.”

So Eddie Boy’s soul drifted down the highway toward town. He tried hitching a ride, but nobody could see him.

“At night, you can will yourself to become visible to whomever you choose, even those who are not ghost seers,” Barnabas had told Eddie before he set out.

So he tried that.

And totally freaked out a truck driver, who drove his rig into a ditch when he saw Eddie Boy’s ghost materialize in the middle of the highway. So Eddie went back to being invisible and walked into town. It didn’t take too long, maybe fifteen minutes. When you’re a ghost, you move fast. Very little friction.

Since it was Halloween, kids were out everywhere, dressed up as characters Eddie didn’t recognize. Back in his day, the big costumes were Casper, Kiss, and Charlie’s Angels. He did see one kid dressed up as a Star Wars Stormtrooper. Dy-no-mite. Eddie had dug that movie back in 1977. He wondered if they had ever made a sequel.

Soon he was on Main Street.

No one could see him, because he did not wish to be seen.

He stuffed his hands into his wool peacoat and watched three “Bs” in sombreros scoot into Ickes & Son Hardware, where dozens of jack-o’-lanterns glowed in the windows.

A jet-black raven, wings outstretched, swooped down out of the darkness, then perched on a street sign.

“Haw!” it croaked.

And suddenly, Eddie recognized one of the kids going into the hardware store. The one wearing glasses.

It was the punk who had brushed up against their crypt.

It was Zack Jennings!