“Wow,” I breathed.
White paper cutouts dangled all over the faceted round room, hinting at layers of spiderwebs. Thea, a paper artist, was no doubt behind this design. The beautifully cut paper webs were enhanced by string and strips of gauze hanging from the ceiling and crisscrossing the space. All of this white material was lit up by blacklights, making it all glow intensely blue-purple.
From behind the layers emerged a glowing fluorescent spider. That’s right, a multicolored spider — Duncan dressed up with extra legs and crazy glasses that made him look like he had bugged-out mirror eyes.
I realized that in the middle of all the webs, Thea herself was laid out on a chaise lounge. She looked like a virgin sacrifice. While her curly red hair was loose and long, she was dressed all in white, with her hands folded over her chest, so she glowed, too.
Duncan approached her, ominous with all his legs. In two of them — his hands — he held a dagger high above her chest, poised to strike. And then her eyes flew open, she sat straight up, and she screamed that demon-raising scream.
I couldn’t help it. I screamed, too. Then Landon and Duncan started laughing, and Thea grinned.
“I told you it would be a surprise,” she said.
Jace took us down the back staircase. “The library is the last stop on our little tour,” he said. “The librarian loves visitors.”
The library was very dimly lit with fake candelabras, and scattered all around us were stacks of books much taller than we were, corkscrewing toward the ceiling in ways that defied physics. They looked like they could fall over at any minute. With a quick glance, I was assured they hadn’t been taken from the mansion’s shelves.
“How are those supported?” I murmured to Landon.
“Some kind of bendy pole stuck up through them, I think,” he murmured back, and then a violent “SHHHH!” drew our attention to the library table.
There, a ghostly librarian — Penelope, I realized, dressed in greenish-white with matching makeup, all aglow — was holding a finger to her lips.
“Your books are overdue,” she intoned in a chilling voice. “Come here and pay the fine.”
I hadn’t been a very good sport with all these beckoning spirits, so I took a tentative step forward.
And then the stacks of books began to fall over right on top of us.
I screamed and jumped back, was actually pulled back by Landon, and then we saw the three main stacks, while leaningreallyfar over, weren’t going anywhere. They slowly resumed their erect position, thanks to a cable system controlled by a few people I finally saw hiding beneath and behind the furniture.
The ghostly librarian took a step toward us as we chuckled.
“Thank you for freaking us out,” I told her.
And then she yanked an ax from behind her and screamed, “I TOLD YOU TO BE QUIET!”
I almost ejected from my Skechers as I screamed in answer, and Jace was laughing as he pulled us out of the room. Landon was grinning, too.
“Oh, shut up,” I said, but then I had to smile back. “That was pretty great.”
“It’s my favorite,” Jace said, back in his Jace voice. “Damien again. He has a gift for mechanicals. And of course Penelope isstunning.”
With Penelope’s screech, the various ghouls began materializing in the foyer as themselves, turning off music and lights, stripping off costumes, laughing and going over what they’d done and what they could do better for the VIP opening the next night.
“I’m just looking forward to doing my vlog in that crazy spider outfit,” Duncan said.
“You all are completely fantastic,” I gushed. “How can I ever thank you enough?”
“Alcohol?” Damien said.
“Millie told you, right? First round on me at The Junction Box,” Landon said.
As everyone scrambled to get back into their civilian clothes and shut down the theatrics, I looked at Landon. “What do you think?”
“It’s really awesome. Once word gets out about this weekend, next weekend’s ticket sales are a lock.”
“Will it be enough?”
