The Black Heart Crypt

Zack and his friends decided to skip the costume competition.

Their poster-board “Bs” were torn during the hardware store scuffle, and now, instead of killer bees, they looked like a squashed “D,” a “P,” and a “3.”

“We probably wouldn’t have won anyway,” said Azalea. “We’re looking slightly B-draggled.”

Zack and Malik laughed. They were riding in the backseat with Aunt Ginny. Zipper was sound asleep in Zack’s lap.

“Good thing you wore your gym clothes,” said Malik, indicating Aunt Ginny’s purple tracksuit. “So how come you know so much about ghosts and how to vanquish them?”

“Oh, I just listened to a lot of folklore as a child. Studied the powers of herbs. We had an older cousin up in Great Barrington who knew everything about … herbology.” She reached over to pat Zack on the knee. “You did good in there, champ.”

“Thanks.”

“Azalea and I might have been seriously injured,” said Malik, “if Zack hadn’t pushed us out of the way like that.”

Zack shrugged. “I could see what the guy was doing; you two couldn’t.”

“Indeed,” said Malik. “You have an extremely rare and useful talent, Zack.”

“I guess.”

Azalea turned around to ask Aunt Ginny a question. “So how come this ghost could actually do junk like knock over shelves full of paint cans? Zack told us ghosts can’t do stuff like that.”

“Zack is correct,” said Aunt Ginny. “Ghosts are disembodied spirits, so on most days, they cannot do much in our realm. Tonight, however, is Halloween.”

“Ooh,” said Malik eagerly, “do they get special superpowers every October thirty-first?”

“Something like that,” said Aunt Ginny. “On Halloween, the border between this world and the next is so thin, spirits can more easily reach through the veil that separates the living from the dead.”

“They can reach out and touch someone,” said Azalea. “Whack ’em, too.”

“Well, it’s eight o’clock,” said Zack’s dad. “They only have four more hours to reach out and wreak havoc.”

“Actually,” said Aunt Ginny, “they have until sunup tomorrow.”

“The sun rises at 7:22 a.m. tomorrow,” said Azalea.

“It was on the front page of the newspaper this morning.”

“Great,” said Zack. “They’ve got eleven and a half hours to knock junk over.”

“Or try to knock people off,” added Azalea.