Party On!

“Why is the spider on the folder? ” Amara asked, wrinkling her brow.

Nancy opened the folder. The papers inside all had a silver spider in the top corner. And the words: “Slinky Spider Special Effects Company.”

“What are special effects? ” Mari asked, looking over Nancy’s shoulder.

Nancy knew. She had seen a show about special effects on TV.

“Special effects make weird things look real, ” Nancy explained. “Like people flying and animals talking in the movies.”

“You mean like magic? ” Bess asked.

“Sort of, ” Nancy said. She pulled out the next page. It was a list of special effects — an overflowing cauldron, squirting portholes, a cracking mirror!

Nancy read each one out loud.

“So that’s it, ” George said. “It was the Slinky Spider Company that made all those things happen.”

“And they left silver spider stickers to sign their work! ” Nancy decided.

Bess sighed with relief. “So the house isn’t spooked! ” she said.

“And my aunt Ellen planned the whole thing, ” Amara said. She turned to Nancy. “I’m sorry I acted mad. But why didn’t my aunt tell us in the first place? ”

“I don’t know, ” Nancy said. “Why don’t we ask her? ”

Nancy put the folder under her arm. Then she and her friends left the tower.

They searched the rooms on the second floor. No Aunt Ellen. As they climbed down to the main floor they called Aunt Ellen’s name. No answer.

“Now, where did she go? ” Amara asked on the staircase.

Nancy heard footsteps. She looked down and saw a flash of red running down the hall. The person wore a red cape, a red hood, and Mary Jane shoes. She carried a basket over her arm.

“It looks like Little Red Riding Hood! ” Nancy said, racing down the stairs.

“Little Red Riding Hood? ” Bess asked. “She’s not a villain! ”

“Raaak! ” Lester screeched. He flew off of Katie’s shoulder and toward the figure in red.

“Lester! ” Katie shouted. “Come back! ”

Lester landed on top of the red hood and it dropped down.

“Hey! That’s not Little Red Riding Hood! ” Amara cried. ”It’s my aunt Ellen! ”

With Lester perched on her head, Aunt Ellen walked over. She held up the basket.

“I was going to leave these donuts for you in the wolf’s cottage, ” Aunt Ellen said. “But you caught me jelly-handed! ”

Nancy peeked inside. The basket was filled with yummy-looking jelly donuts.

“Thanks for the neat surprises, Aunt Ellen, ” Nancy said. “But there were lots of other surprises we didn’t expect.”

“Oh? ” Aunt Ellen asked. Her eyes twinkled. “Like what? ”

Nancy told Aunt Ellen about the bubbling cauldron, the cracked mirror, the squirting portholes....

“And, ” Nancy went on, “the little silver spider.”

“What spider? ” Aunt Ellen asked.

Nancy held up the folder. “The Slinky Spider! ” she replied.

Aunt Ellen stared at the folder. Then she threw back her head and laughed.

“Whoops! ” Aunt Ellen said. “I guess the cat is out of the bag! ”

She put two fingers in her mouth and gave a shrill whistle. All the doors opened. Curious villains peeked out.

“Meeting in the library now! ” Aunt Ellen hollered. “Be there! ”

The girls followed the witch, the goats, the pirate, and the troll into the library.

“Psst, ” the troll whispered. “You didn’t rat on me, did you? ”

“Don’t worry, ” Nancy whispered back. “Your secret is safe with us.”

Nancy giggled to herself. The troll was in his costume — but forgot to change his sneakers!

When everyone was inside the library Aunt Ellen began to speak.

“I was the one who planned all those strange effects, ” she announced.

“Why didn’t you tell us? ” Amara asked.

Aunt Ellen smiled at Amara.

“I did it for you, Amara, ” she said. “You knew this house so well. So I wanted to really surprise you and your friends.”

“Shiver me timbers! ” the pirate exclaimed. He waved his hook hand. “She wasn’t the only one who was surprised! ”

“I wanted everyone to be surprised, ” Aunt Ellen said. “That’s why I gave you two weeks off last month. So you wouldn’t see the Slinky Spider Company at work.”

“Did Ernest know? ” Amara asked.

“Ernest was the only one who knew my plans, ” Aunt Ellen said. She looked around. “By the way. Where is Ernest? ”

One of the bookcases began to move. The secret door opened and Ernest stepped out. He was wearing his baseball cap — and the troll’s shoes.

“What’s up? ” Ernest asked cheerily.

Aunt Ellen turned to the girls. “I hope you weren’t too scared.”

“If we weren’t, ” Nancy said with a smile, “it wouldn’t be Scarytales! ”

“And we still had a blast! ” George admitted.

“Well, the fun has just begun, ” Aunt Ellen declared. “The villains have agreed to work overtime so we can party on! ”

“Yaaay! ” the girls cheered.

Nancy had a lot to cheer about. She had solved another case. And there was still plenty of time for sleepover fun.

The girls bobbed for apples in the witch’s cauldron. They learned pirate songs from Captain Hook. They even posed for Mari’s camera in fairy-tale costumes.

But when the clock struck midnight, Nancy and her friends began to yawn.

“So much for staying up all night, ” George said after they changed into their pajamas and snuggled into their sleeping bags.

“I can’t believe we made friends with a troll, a pirate — even a witch! ” Bess said with a yawn.

“And look! ” Katie said, pointing. “Lester made a new friend, too.”

Nancy looked to see where Katie was pointing. Perched on the mantel were Lester and the mechanical parrot, Sophie.

“Who’s a pretty bird? ” Lester squawked. “Arrrk! ”

Nancy laughed. But when she glanced back at her friends they were all asleep!

Nancy was sleepy too, but she had work to do. She took out her notebook and opened it to a clean page. Then by the light of an electric jack-o’-lantern, she began to write….

Amara’s sleepover was a big success! And Katie has Lester back, too. Okay… I was a little scared. But in the end we all lived happily ever after.

And that’s what really counts!

CASE CLOSED!

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