The Land of the Dead: Book Four of the Oz Chronicles by R.W. Ridley Page B

room. It was empty, and the walls were covered with a weird mural: a woman in a black veil, a fat friar or knight or something. It didn’t help make the room fell less spooky.
    We quickly made it to the other side of the room and entered a long narrow room. It took us a second to realize it was a two-lane bowling alley.
    “Cool,” April said.
    “Yeah…” I was about to agree when I spotted something at the very edge of the light beam. I opened and closed my eyes to try to adjust them. It was a little girl in a black and white dress. She stood motionless. She was so still I thought I might be looking at another mural. I took a step. She didn’t move. I turned to see if April saw her. The petrified look on her face told me she did. Of course, Mimic donned the same expression.
    I continued walking toward the little girl. “Hello.”
    She darted back into the darkness.
    “Let’s go,” April said. “Please.”
    I turned to argue, but had to suppress a gasp when I saw what was standing behind her. A snarling old man dressed in gray painters overalls stared at April with a… hunger in his eyes. I had no doubt he literally wanted to eat her.
    “Step this way,” I said restraining the panic that was building up inside of me. I tried desperately not to look shocked or horrified.
    “Let’s just go back,” she said. Clearly, she had no idea what was behind her.
    The old man took one lumbering step toward her.
    “April,” I said slightly louder. “Come here, now.”
    “No,” she said.
    The old man took another step.
    Kimball growled and barked in his direction.
    “Oh, that’s nice,” April said smugly. “You going to sic your dog on me?”
    “He’s not barking at you,” I said.
    She stiffened and finally caught on that I was staring over her shoulder. “What… what’s behind me?” She swallowed. I could tell her mouth had gone dry.
    “Never mind,” I said. “Just walk this way, quickly!”
    She took one step toward me when the old man reached out and grabbed her shoulder. She screamed bloody murder. Before I could move, Mimic hissed and shoved the old man, causing him to lose his grip on April. April barreled toward me wailing like a crazy person.
    I moved my flashlight to illuminate her path. She nearly knocked me to the ground as she wrapped her arms around me, crying madly. I regained my balance and shined the light back to where Mimic and the old man were… They were gone.
    “Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!” April pleaded.
    “Where’d they go?”
    She mustered up the courage to look in the direction I was pointing the flashlight. “She didn’t follow me?”
    Kimball started barking at something behind us. I turned to see the little girl standing in a doorway at the opposite side of the room. She smiled and motioned for us to follow her. I hesitated. We couldn’t leave Mimic.
    A low miserable moaning came from the Halloween room. The old man emerged from the room. Seething, he stomped toward us.
    “Go, go, go,” April said rapidly pounding my shoulder with the palm of her hand.
    I thought about sending her on without me, but the old man scared the hell out of me. I couldn’t explain it, but I was more terrified of him at that moment than I had been of anything we’d faced up to that point. He wasn’t just menacing. It was as if he was hell itself. I didn’t want to abandon Mimic, but there was no way I was going to confront the old man. I grabbed April’s hand, and we ran toward the little girl. She had disappeared from the doorway, but that didn’t matter. She was showing us the way out. I was sure we would see her again.
    We bolted through the door with Kimball sprinting in front of us. We had entered a large room that was made up of a series of small dressing rooms. The old man was on our heels. I could hear him heaving and snorting. When I looked to see exactly where he was, I just saw a glimpse of shadows moving across dark corners.
    We exited the dressing room area and