Rachel Manderson stood eagerly outside the Koopa Castle. It was Halloween night, and the Koopas were opening a part of their castle to the public for Creepy Castle Night, when special haunted tours were held.

Night had fallen, and Rachel shivered when she wondered what was waiting for her in the castle. Promptly at 8:45, the castle doors opened, and a Koopa servant called the waiting crowd of children into the castle. Rachel was jostled through the doorway, and stood in the castle lobby. She stared at the shiny, perfectly white tile floor, the huge crystal chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling, and the soft, colored, leather chairs standing against the clean walls.

A few minutes later, the children were shown into a huge auditorium. Rachel found a seat and waited. Soon Wendy Koopa walked onto the stage. Wendy was Rachel’s idol.

Wendy walked to the microphone and tapped for attention. When everyone was quiet, she announced:

"Welcome to Creepy Castle Night! In a few moments, you will be admitted to the tour area. Most of you will have a servant as a tour guide, but a lucky few will be in my group. All the Koopas have helped in the creation of the haunted house, and they’re just finishing it up now. Just relax, and we’ll let you in as soon as possible."

Soon Wendy began walking up the aisle, pointing to rows and showing them their tour guide. Each group lined up and walked to the haunted house entrance. Spaces were left between the groups so each group could be alone.

When Wendy got to the last row, where Rachel was sitting, she gestured for the row to stand up, but did not point to a servant. Rachel gasped as she realized she was in Wendy’s group.

Wendy made conversation with her group until it was time to enter the haunted house, but Rachel was speechless. Finally, they passed through the wide doorway and into the dark corridor at the beginning of the haunted house.

As they rounded the first corner, the group encountered the usual decorations: animated witches, ghosts, and monsters. Fake cobwebs and spider webs were hung along the ceiling and down the walls.

As the children walked down the hallway, a trapdoor opened and Morton Koopa, Jr. stepped out.

"Boo," he stated simply.

"No!" said Wendy. "You’re supposed to jump out and yell BOO!"

"Oh," said Morton apologetically. "I am very sorry. Deeply sorry. Sorrily sorry. If you want I could get back behind the trap door and try again to scare your group ‘cause I did a good job for the other groups and I really am sorry because..."

"Oh, stop talking," Wendy interrupted angrily. "Just forget about it."

"Yes, I’m forgetting. I’m good at forgetting but not good at remembering because remembering is so much harder and..."

The group moved away down the corridor.

"Scary, isn’t he?" commented Wendy. The children laughed.

Past the second corner, things got more exciting. A gigantic plant stood against the wall. The children filed past, looking curiously at the plant. Suddenly, the plant reached out a tentacle and grabbed a boy in the back. The boy screamed for Wendy. Wendy rushed back and tried to pull the boy free. She finally jerked him loose, and both flew into a giant cobweb on the opposite wall.

The group cautiously rounded the next corner and continued the tour. Suddenly Wendy stumbled and fell against the wall. Another trap door lay open behind her. Silently, it closed, and disappeared into the floor. As the children began to cross it, the trap door opened and closed again. The children ran across it one at a time. Each time, the trap door opened just behind them, then closed again. Soon the whole group was safely across, and Wendy led them deeper into the haunted house.

They passed a display of skeletons, which Rachel assumed and hoped were fake. Wendy stopped the group to look at the bones. Rachel thought she saw one move, but passed it off as her imagination running wild.

Suddenly, one of the skeletons began to speak. It looked at the children and asked them how they liked their tour so far.

"They love it," Wendy answered bravely.

"That is good," the skeleton replied. "I dislike children who dislike your excellent tours, Miss Wendy."

"Thank you very much," Wendy smiled. The children were shaking with fear.

"I won’t delay you any longer. Enjoy your tour," the skeleton fell silent.

The group reached the end of the hallway and came to a thick, heavy wooden door. Wendy pulled it open. The next hallway was very dark. Rachel entered and wrinkled her nose at the musty smell. When all the children were inside, Wendy followed. The door creaked shut with a bang.

As the group proceeded, a wind began to blow. The group was pelted with raindrops and hail. Rachel could hardly hear Wendy over the howl of the wind and the ping of the hail hitting the concrete floor, but she made out something about moving on.

At last the group reached another door. When they passed through it, the children found themselves in a brighter, though still dim, hallway. Rachel glanced back through the doorway and realized she was completely dry and unharmed. Her hair and clothes were neat. It was as if she had never passed through the wind tunnel.

Wendy led the group down the hallway. Suddenly, she stopped and gestured for the children to be quiet. Rachel strained her ears and heard a distant rumbling. She felt the floor shake.

Wendy let out a cry of alarm.

"Hurry, children! Get down and cover your heads!"

Rachel threw herself to the floor as Wendy crouched and put her hands over her head. Rachel kept her head up just enough to see what was happening. Then, a humongous green ball came into view, far down the hallway. Rachel could just make out an enormous yellow star on the ball. The whole room was shaking now, and Rachel couldn’t hear anything except the ball rolling over the stone floor. Rachel screamed but couldn’t hear herself.

The ball came closer and closer. Rachel was in the front of the group. She knew that she would be squashed first. She inched closer to Wendy, hoping that her idol’s magic would save her.

The ball filled the whole hallway, blotting from view anything beyond. Rachel curled up tighter and braced herself for the impact. The ball kept moving, picking up speed as it came closer. Just as Rachel was sure she was dead, the ball disappeared. The noise and shaking ceased. Rachel lifted her head and looked around, puzzled.

The group stood up. Feeling braver after this close encounter, Rachel looked ahead to see what was next on the tour. But there was nothing. She was in a large, round room. It was well lit, but there were no doors, no windows, and no hallways leading to somewhere else.

Rachel noticed everyone else, including Wendy, turning slowly around, looking for the exit. When Rachel had given up all hope and was about to cry, the whole floor opened up. Rachel fell, screamed, and grabbed at the air, but there was nothing to hold.

Then she was lying on something soft. Rachel bounced into the air, but now it was a slow, gentle float. Rachel giggled and wished she could float like this forever. She came to rest softly in a giant airbag.

All the children, who had fallen the same way, crawled out of the airbag and stood up. They were in a well-lighted hallway. Wendy led them down a small flight of steps to a doorway. Rachel wondered what could possibly come after such a scary thing as what had just happened. Wendy opened the door and Rachel saw it led back into the lobby.

Rachel began to walk out, but Wendy called her back. Wendy picked up some small bags sitting on a table by the exit, and gave one to each child. Rachel looked in the bag and saw it contained Wendy’s autograph and some candy. As Rachel skipped out of the castle, she knew she’d be back next year for Creepy Castle Night.

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