7. Where Is Officer Fallon

Chapter 7 Where Is Officer Fallon? "That's one of the weird noises!" Nate said. "Gives me goose bumps," Officer Fallon said. They moved slowly forward. "Watch out for the snake!" Lucy said when they came to the snake tree. "But it's only a rubber one." Officer Fallon tickled the snake's belly as he walked past it.

"Where's this zombie you told me about?" he whispered. "I don't know," Bradley said. "We don't know where the witch and ghost are, either," Lucy said. "Everyone is disappearing," Nate muttered. The green footprints led them to the couch. The fake-fur blanket was still there, but it was neatly folded. The cowboy hat sat on top of the blanket. "This looks different," Bradley said. "Who folded the blanket?" "Not me!" Nate said. "I never fold anything. Just ask my mother." "I didn't do it, either," Lucy said. "Is this Luke's hat?" Officer Fallon asked. "Yes," Nate said. Officer Fallon hitched up his pants. "Take me to this ogre head!" They crept through the foggy mist to the black curtain. Lucy opened it at the crack. "There it is!" Nate said. He pointed at the giant ogre's head. "Oh my gosh!" Officer Fallon said. "It sure is big!"

"Come and see this!" Nate said. He took Officer Fallon's hand and led him to the other opening in the curtain. He showed him the cauldron of bubbling water. "It's a witch stew!" Officer Fallon went right to the recipe. "Three small children!" he said. "Goodness, do you think the witch wants to cook some kids?" "Yes!" Nate said. "No," Lucy said. She put her hand on the pot. "The water isn't even hot." Officer Fallon peeked into the pot. "It's dry ice," he said. "What's that?" Bradley asked. "Dry ice is made from carbon dioxide instead of water," Officer Fallon said. "When you drop it in warm water, the water and carbon dioxide make steam. Like in this pot. The water bubbles, but it never gets hot." They all heard a voice. It sounded as if it came from underwater. The voice was moaning. Nate grabbed Bradley's arm. Lucy grabbed his other arm. "Who is it?" Nate whispered.

Bradley gulped. He had heard that voice before. "I think it's Brian," he whispered. "How can you tell?" Lucy asked. "It's just a moaning sound." "I know Brian's voice," Bradley said. "It's the same as mine!" Bradley made the same sound. "See, we sound just alike," he said. "Sometimes at night Brian and I hide under our beds and make creepy noises to scare Josh." "Yeah, I tried doing that once to scare Ruth Rose," Nate said. "But she's not scared of anything!" They heard the moan again. "Did you hear that, Officer Fallon?" Nate asked. But Officer Fallon was gone. "Where is he?" Lucy asked. "He was right behind us." "Well, he's not here now!" Bradley said. They dashed back through the black curtain. The giant ogre head was still staring at them. The basket of candy was still inside the ogre's mouth. But Officer Fallon was nowhere to be seen.

Bradley stepped on something that crinkled under his foot. He picked it up. "It's a candy wrapper," he said. "Here's another one!" Nate said, grabbing a wrapper off the floor. "They're the same as the candies in the ogre's basket!" Bradley stared at the basket of candy. "Officer Fallon loves candy," he said. "But he would never throw the wrappers on the floor. He's always picking up litter!"

"Maybe he left the wrappers as clues," Lucy said. "What good are clues?" asked Nate. "The ogre got him, like he got Brian and Luke and those other kids!"