The Island Scaregrounds Read online

  The Island Scaregrounds

  Eldritch Black

  The Island Scaregrounds

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  PUBLISHED BY:

  Eldritch Black

  Copyright © 2020

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  http://eldritchblack.com/

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  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously

  Contents

  1. The Reaper

  2. Hades Awaits

  3. Wylde & Anders

  4. Zach Plans

  5. Of Unicycles and Ghosts

  6. Prophecies in Mustard

  7. The Taco Titanic

  8. Splendimendo’s Carnival

  9. A Terrible Reflection

  10. Into The Scaregrounds

  11. Unpleasantville

  12. A Cloud of Bats

  13. Molly Maloney

  14. The First Mission

  15. A Storm in a Teapot

  16. Flipping the Coin of Doom

  17. Lone Lake

  18. Of Phantoms and Fish

  19. A Black Cloud

  20. The Cloaks… The Daggers!

  21. Showdowns and Donuts

  22. A Most Fearsome Witch

  23. Shaded Lane

  24. Game Over

  25. The Prisoner

  26. Whidbey’s Most Haunted

  27. A Great Adventure

  28. Plans made by Moonlight

  29. The Trespassers

  30. A Giant in Darkness

  31. Into The Haunted House

  32. Bring Out Your Dead!

  33. The Slug Line

  34. A Tangled Web

  35. The Fidgeting Star

  A Preview of Krampus and The Thief of Christmas by Eldritch Black

  Krampus and The Thief of Christmas

  Books by Eldritch Black

  Afterword

  About the Author

  1

  The Reaper

  I ran hard. My chest grew tight and my arms and legs felt like they were full of lead.

  It was right behind me.

  I couldn't bring myself to look back. I didn't want to see it, I couldn't! But I heard it all the same.

  Woosh!

  I tried not to picture it, but it sprang into my mind like a jack-in-the-box. That long black cloak, the bone-white face, the ragged hood, the crooked silver scythe reflecting the red setting sun as if coated in blood. It was the Grim Reaper…

  The woods and bushes seemed to grow denser as I ran. I'd been looking for an escape but it was almost like the surrounding trees were deliberately slowing me down so it could get me.

  Whirrrr

  I slowed, desperate to catch a breath, and gazed back.

  It was floating above me, ten feet in the air, gazing down, its eyes as red as the sunset. The ragged black cloak obscuring its bony body riffled in the breeze. "Boyyyyyyyy!" it hissed.

  I plunged through the heavy brush, screaming as brambles snared my jeans and sleeves.

  The whir of the Grim Reaper bellowed from somewhere to my right. It must have lost me for the time being.

  I hunkered down behind a tree and my fingers sank into the spongy moss as I tried to catch my breath.

  What was going on? Was death itself stalking me? Did things like that happen on a Tuesday afternoon in August? I guessed it happened all year round, but nothing made sense. I was sure it involved Jamie and Marshall, although I had no idea how. Maybe they'd found some dusty old grimoire that had helped them raise the Ghoul. It was unlikely, sure, but anything was possible since we'd moved to Weirdbey Island.

  They'd been lurking on the road near our driveway when I was coming home from Jacob's. I'd been expecting them to say something mean or stupid, but before I reached them the Reaper had swept down from the sky, its shriek horrific as it plummeted toward me. I'd ditched my wheels and fled into the trees, figuring that would be the best place to lose it, but I was seriously regretting my decision now.

  "Boyyyyyyyy!"

  Goosebumps rippled along my arms as the voice hissed through the woods.

  "This is your final hour, Dylan Wylde. I've come to collect you."

  I wasn't ready to die. I guessed no one ever was, but it still felt too soon. We had things to do... places to go. We were the Society of the Owl and the Wolf, protectors of the island. But now I was toast.

  "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" The Reaper's voice was almost sing song in its mockery. Great, even Death was toying with me.

  Toy...

  A thought flashed across my muddled mind but before I could grasp it, it vanished. I was missing something... I knew that much, but my terror was clouding my judgement.

  The whirring drew closer as the setting sun filled the woods with gloom, making the Reaper's pulsing eyes stand out even clearer. It wound through the trunks toward me, its scythe swinging in its bony white hand.

  I jumped up, fled into a clearing, and ducked as the Reaper swooped at me. Its shadow trailed over the ground as I pressed my face into the pine needles and dirt. Then it slowed, the hem of its black cloak swinging just ahead of me.

  It was waiting, daring me to glance up. I almost did. Part of me wanted to get a closer look, to figure out if I was missing something, but my terror was too much. My arms and legs trembled as I pushed myself up and ran on, the whirring sound at my back, the scythe's shadow arcing across the ground toward me.

  2

  Hades Awaits

  “Boyyyyyyyy!"

  The Reaper was at my back! I leaped toward a fallen log, slipped, slapped my hand against a tree trunk, and raced on.

  Silence fell.

  Had I lost it? I gazed up. My heart froze. It hung in the air, turning this way and that, as it searched for me. And then its arm creaked up and a bony white finger pointed right at me. "There you are, boyyyyyyyy!"

  It swept down, its cloak cracking like a flag in a hurricane.

  "Your moment's arrived, Dylan. I'm here to take you with me."

  "Where?" My voice trembled madly.

  "To the other side." A sly grin crept over its cadaverous face. "And I don't mean the mainland."

  "I... I don't want to go."

  "Of course you don't. No one ever does, Dylan. I wish it wasn't so, I wish I could grant you a long life, but alas, your time is up." Its eyes blazed like pools of lava as it drew closer, its scythe raised to strike me down.

  "What are you doing?" It was Mom's voice... had it come from the Reaper?

  "Nothing!" I heard Jamie reply before the sound cut out. I looked around, expecting to find them standing there in the woods. Maybe they'd come to pay their last respects.

  There was no one there. I was alone with the Reaper.

  Fear gave way to confusion as I stared at the creature and it stared back. Somehow it was less sinister now it wasn't speaking or moving, but I could still hear that weird hum.

  "Hello?" I said. I felt my face burning red. Why was I being so polite? That thing was about to take me to Hades, or Valhalla, or who knew where? Maybe heaven, maybe hell, I had no idea. Anything seemed possible, anything except me managing to stay alive for much longer...

  The Reaper remained silent. I almost stepped toward it. I was missing something, but I couldn't figure out what. And then its eyes flashed, and it hissed. Terror struck me. I turned and ran, smack into a tree. Bark bit the side of my face and a hollow crack rang in my ears. My legs gave out and I landed hard on the ground.

&nb
sp; I rubbed my head and glanced back as the Reaper watched me. Slowly, I climbed to my feet and backed away, waiting for it to lunge, but it remained stock still. As I slunk from its field of vision, I expected its head to turn or its eyes to follow me, but they didn't.

  It was like it was... frozen?

  "I'm going," I said, still rubbing the side of my face. My cheek felt hot, gritty and numb, and it seemed I most likely had a headache in the mail. "Did you hear me?" Maybe if I sounded like I had places to be, it would buzz off and give me a few more years to live. Maybe it would forget me altogether...

  I walked through the trees, forcing myself not to hurry, glancing back to see if it was following. It wasn't.

  Finally, I stumbled from the brush back onto the road. My bike lay where I'd left it. I picked it up and wheeled it toward the house. Everything felt unreal, dreamlike. Nightmarish.

  Jamie and Marshall strode down the lane toward me. Marshall's craggy face glowed as he stared down at the black box clasped in his hands. What was it? I could just make out a screen and radial stick. Jamie nodded to me. A twisted smile spread over his lips and he gave me that stupid super-villain laugh. "Here he is!"

  Marshall giggled but his dead eyes were still glued to the box. And then I saw the antenna sticking up from the side and realized what it was...

  3

  Wylde & Anders

  A low whir came from above me as the Reaper descended from the air. It stopped before me, its eyes boring into mine and now I could see that the crimson light in its gaze were from two tiny LED bulbs. It was an old Halloween decoration mounted to a drone. That's where the weird humming was coming from...

  "So stupid," I said. I wanted to fly at Jamie and Marshall but they'd beat me to the ground, and we all knew it.

  "Yep. You're definitely that, Dylaboo," Jamie agreed.

  "Did my widdle toy scare you, Dylan?" Marshall asked. His lips turned in a wide grin and his horribly pale face shone red in the fading daylight.

  "Not really." I tried to sound unfazed.

  "Oh, no?" Marshall flipped the controller around, showing me the screen in its center. Then he tapped it and the footage from the drone appeared. He started it from the beginning when I was riding towards them on my way home. The drone hovered high, watching me. I saw myself cycling down the lane, oblivious to the creature as it swooped down. The footage was choppy as the drone shot after me through the trees.

  Now and then static crackled across the screen, but it was crystal clear when the Reaper spoke to me. Marshall had done a good job of masking his voice, I'd give him that at least.

  My whole face burned even hotter when he forwarded to the part where I turned and ran into the tree.

  "Ohhhhh!" Jamie cried.

  "That had to hurt!" they both said at the same time.

  "Yeah, you looked plenty scared to me," Marshall said, glancing my way.

  I clenched the grips on my handlebars. There was nothing to say. They'd won, and I'd lost. Again.

  "Don't be so sad, Dylaboo." Jamie made a fist and tapped his knuckles on the side of my head. "It seemed like you'd almost figured it out at one point. So there's gotta be something in there."

  I almost blurted out everything me and Jacob, Emily and Zach had achieved over the last few weeks. All the Owl and the Wolf secrets. Defeating Captain Grimdire, his pirates, and the Jackalope that had hypnotized Jamie and the whole town.

  But I didn't. Members of The Society were forbidden from talking about Whidbey Island's secrets, or Weirdbey Island as we called it. I felt honorable, like a knight of old. Silent, stony faced and strong. It didn't take long for them to break my illusion.

  "Yep," Marshall agreed, "he almost worked it out. I'll have to figure out how to fix the mechanism so it doesn't freeze up again."

  "There won't be a next time," I said.

  "Oh yes there will," Marshall laughed.

  "Maybe not for you, Dylaboo, but this prank is too good to retire." Jamie placed a patronizing hand on my shoulder. "Anyway, don't be so mad about it. You've only got yourself to blame." He took the controller from Marshall and rewound the footage to where I'd stood in the clearing and considered approaching the Reaper. "If you'd faced it when the controls got stuck, like you wanted to, you'd have seen it for what it was. But you gave in to fear and ran like the coward you are."

  "Right into a tree," Marshall added. "And boy am I glad you did. That last piece of footage is the best." He scrubbed through the video and showed me running into the tree repeatedly. "It's going to be priceless."

  "Priceless?" I asked before I could stop myself. A low, sinking feeling passed through the pit of my stomach.

  "Priceless is probably the wrong word," Jamie said.

  "Yeah," Marshall said. "We do actually have a price."

  "A cool hundred," Jamie said. "Per month."

  "For what?" I glanced to our house behind them. I wanted to be back in my room, to put the day behind me, but curiosity got the better of me just like it always did.

  "That's how much it'll cost to keep the footage... private," Marshall explained.

  "Basically, if you don't pay up, we'll be uploading this little gem for the whole world to see." Jamie gave another slow, exaggerated laugh.

  "Life won't look so good when everyone on the island's seen it," Marshall added.

  "Everyone?" I asked. "It's impossible."

  "Maybe not everyone," Jamie conceded, "but it won't take long for word to spread."

  "We'll post links to all the local groups," Marshall said. "Not to mention forums and pages."

  "Yep," Jamie said. "We'll dominate the hashtags for Weirdbey Island too."

  "Sounds like you've thought this through," I said.

  "We did," Marshall agreed. "You're going to be famous, Dylan. Everyone at school's going to know your face before you even start."

  I had no words. The nightmare my life had become was getting worse by the moment. I almost pinched myself to make sure it was real. I'd been having anxiety riddled dreams about the first day of school for the last couple of weeks. And now...

  "So you better get to washing cars or whatever it is you're going to do to raise the cash, Dylan. And get to it quickly, because we'll need paying by the end of the week."

  "We're going to be rich," Marshall howled.

  "And you're going to be poor," Jamie finished. "Now go out and get our money, and don't fool around because the clock's ticking."

  I wheeled my bike past them. It felt like I was holding onto thin air.

  "Hey, Dylan," Marshall called.

  I turned back, half expecting the Grim Reaper to fly at me, but it didn't. "What?"

  "You were only our test run. We're planning to film as many dorks as we can."

  "So what?" All I cared about was going to my room, pulling the blankets over my head and hopefully waking from this nightmare.

  "Well, it makes you a pioneer," Marshall said. "And the start of what might become a multinational business concern." He turned to Jamie. "Anders and Wylde. I like it."

  "Wylde and Anders," Jamie replied. They started arguing as I walked toward the garage. I was almost as numb as the side of my face, because as much as it pained me to admit it, Jamie was right. If I'd faced down the drone when I'd wanted to they'd never have gotten the footage of me running into the tree. But I hadn't, I'd ran away. And now I was going to pay the price for it. And that price was a hundred dollars, every month for the rest of my miserable life.

  4

  Zach Plans

  I woke tangled in my sheets, and as I gazed at the shadows of the trees on the curtains, the memory of the previous night hit me like a brick...

  The Grim Reaper and the footage Marshall had taken of me running full pelt into the tree. The price Jamie'd demanded in return for not showing the entire world my stupidity...

  "Great," I mumbled rolling out of bed. I left the shower to find our super-enthusiastic fox-hound, Wilson waiting outside. I fed him, herded him into the yard and scowled at the
trees as if my predicament was their fault, rather than my own terror and idiocy.

  I left the house before Jamie got up. I didn't want to see his smug grin or deal with all the nasty remarks he'd probably been working on overnight.

  The day was warm, the sky blue, but it might as well have been pouring rain. I felt horrible as I cycled down the hill and even worse by the time I dropped my bike on the lawn outside Zach and Emily's house. It sounded like everyone was already in the treehouse, or The Towering Lair of Eternal Secrets as we called it.

  Zach lay curled on his hammock reading a comic. Jacob and Emily sat in the middle of the floor playing chess. Emily seemed to be winning while Jacob was trying to hide his discomfort with the approaching defeat. I was pretty certain he rarely lost anything he put his mind to, but Emily was no slouch either. It was like a polite clash of the titans.

  "What's the matter with you?" Zach asked as I stood there. "You look like someone just ate your sandwich and left you the crusts."

  I took a deep breath and explained everything that had happened.

  "Well," Jacob said, "we'll have to get a hold of that drone control as soon as possible."

  "Should be doable." Zach sat up, threw his comic down, and swept his wild russet hair from his hazel eyes.