R. L. Stine_Mostly Ghostly 06 by Let's Get This Party Haunted! Page B

banister. He had a big grin on his face. “Nice trick, Maxie,” he said. “Do another one.”
    “No —please! No more tricks!” Mom cried.
    “No more tricks! No more tricks!” Billy and Willy and some other kids started to chant. “No more tricks! No more tricks!”
    “Okay, okay,” I muttered. I slammed my magic case shut.
    “Is the party over?” a boy shouted.
    “Can we go now?” a girl asked.
    “Yes. Can we go?”
    Well, score another success for Max, I thought. Kids are
begging
to leave.
    Awesome party.
    “Are you satisfied?” I screamed at Nicky andTara. I couldn't see them, but I knew they had to be there. “Are you happy now?”
    Kids stared at me.
    “Max, are you okay?” Mom called, hurrying over. “Did one of those bats bite you?”
    “I'm fine,” I said. “Just fine.”
    “He's rabid,” Colin called. “Look out, everyone. Maxie is rabid!” Laughing, he went back up to his room.
    I wanted to save the party. I didn't want everyone to go home now and tell their parents it was the worst day of their lives —and they'd been attacked by bats.
    “Wait. We're going to play Twister!” I shouted. “Come on, guys. I've got two Twister mats. Double Twister! Come on. Let's do it. I've got prizes for the winners!”
    Some kids were halfway to the door. But they stopped when I said the word “prizes.”
    “What kinds of prizes?” Willy Wilbur asked.
    I had to think fast. I didn't really have any prizes. “Uh … some new PlayStation games,” I said. Colin had every PlayStation game ever made. I could probably sneak some from his shelves.
    A few minutes later, everyone was playing Twister.
    I had two mats. We cleared away the furniture,and I spread them out side by side in the living room.
    The game was funny. Kids were climbing all over each other. Lots of laughing and groaning and joking.
    Then suddenly, the room grew silent.
    “I…can't move,” a girl said. She was on her hands and knees on the mat.
    “Whoa. Weird. I'm stuck here, too,” another girl said from down on the floor.
    “Hey, what's up with this?” a boy cried.
    I gazed around the room in horror. My friends had all frozen in place, as if they were locked in a photograph.
    “Max —help me up!” a boy shouted.
    “You're joking about this, right?” Billy Wilbur said. He was flat on his back between the mats. I watched him struggle and strain to sit up.
    “My back is
glued
to the floor!” he wailed.
    “I'm stuck to Sarah!” a girl named Susan shrieked. “Help us! We're totally stuck together!”
    “My shoes are glued to the rug! I can't move!” someone cried.
    I looked for my mom. I didn't see her.
    Kids were struggling and straining, grunting and groaning as they tried to stand up. A boy under a pile of kids started to cry. Other kids began screaming.
    “Let us up! Let us up!”
    “Help me! I can't move!”
    “We're all glued together!”
    Frozen in horror and disbelief, I stared at my friends as they screamed and struggled, unable to move. Finally, I shook off my fright.
    I reached down to pull a boy up —and realized I couldn't move either.
    My feet were glued to the floor!

22
    I M ADE A GRAB for my friend's hand. Missed. And fell facedown onto the carpet.
    I struggled to pull myself up.
    But now my hands and knees were glued down.
    “Help us!”
    “Somebody call 911!”
    “This is totally impossible!”
    “Max, is this one of your stupid magic tricks?”
    The cries and shouts rang against the walls as kids pulled and twisted themselves, pushed and strained. But no one could move.
    It wasn't one of
my
tricks, I knew.
    It had to be one of Nicky and Tara's.
    “Nicky! Tara! Let everyone go!” I shouted. “I'm sorry! Do you hear me? I'm sorry! I should have invited you!”
    A hush fell over the room.
    “Max? Who are you talking to?” the girl named Susan asked.
    “Nicky? Tara?” I cried. “I know you can hear me!”
    “Max, you're freaking us out!” Susan said. “There's no one here named Nicky or