Chapter 7

Sam said, "What about Stephanie Creeper and her haunted house?" Kevin and Rachel both looked at each other and laughed. Kevin said, "After we scared Zack, we dressed Zoey up like an old lady and put her in that old, abandoned house that you guys came across." Zoey said, "And once you found the door that led to the basement, I pulled a lamp down like a lever, making the staircase turn into a ramp. And when the door slammed, it locked. When I heard you calling for help, I helped you out." Kevin said, "And then we let them in on the secret, too." Gwen said, "What about the green glow, the UFO, and the aliens?" Chris said, "After we got taken into the house and let in on the secret, Linda, Sam, and I all dressed up as aliens to scare you." Linda said, "The green glow came from a giant green spotlight projected down from the ship." Sam said, "As for the ship itself, we convinced Kevin's dad's scientists to disguise one of their helicopters like a UFO. And they also re-modeled three ordinary scooters into those hover scooters we chased you on."

Lou said, "What about Kristina's disappearance?" Linda said, "After you guys walked into the house, I grabbed her." Heather said, "Wait, wait, wait. The house never was haunted? Sam said, "Nope. After you walked in, I pulled an invisible wire attached to the doorknob, slamming it shut." Chris said, "And after it slammed shut, I locked it from the outside." Gwen said, "That explains why I couldn't open the door." Cindy said, "And the portrait that watched your every move when you walked in was just me behind the portrait." Gwen said, "What about the drawers opening themselves and my magazine vanishing?" Kristina said, "I snuck from under the bed and pulled an invisible wire which opened the drawer. While you were distracted, I grabbed your magazine and took it under the bed to look like it had disappeared. Then, I pulled another invisible wire to open another drawer. After you closed it, I pulled another invisible wire to open another drawer. After you closed it, I pulled another invisible wire to open another drawer, and then I pulled more to make them all open." Gwen said, "Well, that was annoying." Lou said, "OK, what about the kitchen mishaps?" Rachel said, "Once you guys entered the kitchen, I cut the power from the circuit breaker in the basement." Lou said, "That explains why the lights didn't work." Carl said, "What about the blood on the wall?" Linda said, "That wasn't blood on the wall. It was just a bunch of ketchup. Would you guys like some blood on your hot dogs?" Chris said, "I also attached a controller to the paint bucket and used a remote control to make it levitate.

I then used the remote to tilt the bucket and spread the paint over the floor to spell out 'Angry' to scare you." Gwen said, "What about the suit of armor that chased us?" Linda said, "While Chris was spelling out 'Angry' on the kitchen floor, I climbed into the suit of armor and waited for you to come out. When you did, I walked towards you, so it looked like the suit of armor came to life." Heather said, "OK, but my pigtails floated up. How did you pull that off?" Cindy said, "I climbed into the air vent and used invisible wires to control your hair like puppets. Heather said, "That explains why it hurt so much." Carl said, "The strange noises that woke us up?" Chris said, "Played back on a tape recorder." Cody said, "What about the talking painting?" Zoey said, "I used a microphone to say what the painting said and replaced the real painting with a fake one with an open mouth, so it looked like it was talking." Heather said, "What about the haunted candle?" Cody said, "That was a remote-control candle that I operated. And the trick candle that wouldn't go out was just an ordinary one you can find in any party store."

Gwen said, "Wait, Rachel tried to kill us in the house?" Kevin said, "Yep, and Sam turned off the kitchen lights and turned on the stove." Rachel said, "After Lou came out of the bathroom, we grabbed her and let her in on her secret." Kevin said, "And I wrote the message on the fogged-up mirror." Carl said, "What about the headless horseman?" Mike said, "That was me. I took an actual horse, hid my head in a coat, and carried a pumpkin head to dress like a headless horseman."

Carl said, "What about the skeletons that dropped from the ceiling and shook their bones at us?" Lou said, "I dropped them down from the ceiling, and they were just puppets that I controlled with puppet controllers. The strings attached to them made them shake their bones." Gwen said, "The spooky mist and the vanishing tracks?" Zoey said, "I operated a mist machine, and once we had Cody, they hid so the footprints would stop." Gwen said, "What about the scarecrow with the giant sword that carried me off?" Rachel said, "That was a robot scarecrow with me controlling it."

Kevin said, "And the psycho killer that carried Carl away was me, who went back for Heather." Everybody clapped for Kevin and Rachel after they finished explaining everything. Mike said, "You guys put on an awesome scare." Zoey said, "Yeah, joining in was fun." Gwen said, "Who wants to party?" Heather said, "Wait. There's still one thing I don't get." Kevin said, "What's that?" Heather said, "How did you pull off the laughing cat?" Rachel thought about it and said, "Laughing cat?" Gwen said, "Yeah, the cat that jumped ahead of us in the fog." Kevin said, "We planned lots of stuff, but we don't know anything about a laughing cat." Everyone got scared and then looked out the window. Then the cat jumped in, laughed evilly, turned its eyes red, and vanished. Then the lights in the house flickered and went out, and Everybody screamed in terror. After the laughing cat left and the lights came back on, everyone stopped panicking and continued the Halloween party Kevin and Rachel had planned.

The End