Wanted by R. L. Stine

hot face. Except for the clapping of the leaves, the pumpkin field was silent. No night birds. The crickets of summer were all gone.
    â€œCome on. Into the house,” I said. “Enough thrills and chills for one night.”
    That’s when a long creature rose up in front of me and attacked my face.
    â€œSnake! Snake!” Dolly shrieked.
    I screamed.
    The girls burst out laughing. Dale waved the vine in my face. She had it gripped in both hands.
    I should have known she was moving the vine. But I was freaked from my fall.
    â€œYou two are about as funny as moldy pumpkin guts,” I said.
    That made them laugh even harder. Okay. Fine. Let them enjoy their joke.
    I didn’t feel like laughing. I was pretty miserable.
    I mean, I had to spend a whole week on this farm. A whole week of caring for the pumpkins, and hauling them to peoples’ cars, and helping guide the visitors, and working the cash register, and just general farm work.
    A whole week away from school and my friends.
    As soon as we came inside, I phoned Lu-Ann to see how she was doing back in our neighborhood.
    â€œI’m still dreading Polly Martin’s party,” she said. “It’s going to be so lame. Brad and Marcus and I are thinking hard. But we can’t come up with any good ideas to help make the party exciting.”
    â€œI know what you can do,” I said, rubbing the bump on my forehead. “You can come here. There’s plenty of extra rooms. And you can do all of my jobs! Fun, right?”
    She didn’t laugh. “You know I can’t come there, Devin. No way my parents would let me miss school so I can go pick pumpkins on your farm.”
    â€œBut, Lu-Ann,” I said, “this farm is less than an hour from your house. Maybe you could —”
    â€œForget it, Devin. No way. Not happening.” She shouted something to her mom. I heard them talking for a minute.
    Then she came back to the phone. “Are you hating it there?”
    â€œ Hating isn’t the right word,” I said. “I think maybe despising is the perfect word.” Lu-Ann and I are always looking for perfect words.
    â€œWell, when you start to feel bad, just think about how lucky you are to be missing Polly’s party.”
    I started to answer, but something caught my eye. A reflection in my bedroom window. Something bright and fiery.
    I stared hard at the reflection in the window. It took me a few seconds to realize it was a large jack-o’-lantern. The reflection of a flaming, grinning jack-o’-lantern. Floating inside my room!

I let out a shocked cry. I spun around.
    Nothing in my room. No jack-o’-lantern. No floating pumpkin.
    I turned back to the window. And saw the grinning pumpkin in the glass. It flickered brightly. A reflection from my room.
    I spun around again. No jack-o’-lantern in the room.
    Then, as I turned my eyes to the window, I saw the pumpkin slowly fade in the dark glass. It faded to nothing. Disappeared as I stared, my heart pounding.
    Whoa.
    How can there be a reflection of something that isn’t here?
    â€œDevin? Devin? What’s wrong? Why did you scream?”
    I heard Lu-Ann’s alarmed voice in my phone.
    â€œI … I’ve got to go,” I said. I kept my eyes on the window. Black as the night now.
    â€œBut are you okay?”
    â€œYeah. I guess. Later,” I said. I clicked the phone off and tossed it onto my bed. Then I bolted out of my room. Ran down the hall and out the back door.
    A burst of freezing wind blew me back. But I ran to the side of the house, my eyes searching the darkness for the bright jack-o’-lantern.
    No. Not out here.
    Not in my room. And not outside. But I didn’t imagine it. No way I imagined it.
    I rubbed the bump on my head. It hurt a lot.
    Was it causing me to see things?
    Hallucinate. That’s a perfect word.
    â€œAnyone out here?” I called. My voice sounded strangely hollow in the heavy