The Demon God Yoth-Ziggurat might want to chop your soul up into little pieces, but at least he doesn't tell you that you haven't got one.

And at least you've got half a chance of finding a magic sword.

He kept thinking about Mr Grimm. Even the dead kept away from him.

He woke up to hear Wobbler say, 'We could go Trick or Treating.'

'My mother says that's no better than begging,' said Yo-less.

'Hah, it's worse than that around Joshua N'Clement,' said Bigmac. 'It's called, "Giss five quid or kiss your tyres night-night".'

'We could do it around here,' said Wobbler. 'Or we could go down the mall.'

'That'll just be full of kids in costume running around screaming.'

'A few more won't hurt, then,' said Johnny.

'All right, then, everybody,' Wobbler said. 'Come on ...'

In fact Neil Armstrong Mall was full of all the other people who'd run out of ideas at Halloween parties. They wandered around in groups look- ing at one another's clothes and talking, which was pretty much what people did normally in

any case, except that tonight the mall looked like Transylvania on late-shopping night.

Zombies lurched under the sodium lights. Witches walked around in groups and giggled at the boys. Grinning pumpkins bobbed on the escalators. Vampires gibbered among the sad indoor trees, and kept fumbling their false fangs back in. Mrs Tachyon rummaged for tins in the litter bins.

Johnny's pink ghost outfit caused a lot of interest.

'Seen any dead around lately?' said Baron Yo- less, when Wobbler and Bigmac had gone off to buy some snacks.

'Hundreds,' said Johnny.

'You know what I mean.'

'No. Not them.'

'I'm worried something may have happened to them.'

'They're dead. If they exist, that is,' said Yo-less. 'It's not as though they could get run over or something. If you've saved their cemetery for them, they probably just aren't bothering to talk to you any more. That's probably what it is. I think—'

'Anyone want a raspberry snake?' said Wobbler, rustling a large paper bag. 'The skulls are good, too.'

'I'm going home,' said Johnny. 'There's some- thing wrong, and I don't know what it is.'

A ten-year-old Bride of Dracula flapped past.

'I've got to admit, this isn't big fun,' said Wobbler. 'Tell you what ... there's Night of the Vampire Nerds on TV. We could go and watch that.'

'What about everyone else?' said Bigmac. The rest of the party had drifted off.

'Oh, well, they know where I live,' said Wobbler philosophically, as a blood-streaked ghoul went by eating an ice cream.

'I don't believe in vampire nerds,' said Bigmac, as they stepped into the night air. It was a lot colder now, and the mist was coming back.

'Oh, I dunno,' said Wobbler. 'It's the sort we'd have round here.'

'They'd suck fruit juice,' said Yo-less.

'Their mum'd make them go to bed late,' said Bigmac, but they had to think about that.

'Why are we going this way?' said Wobbler. 'This isn't the way back.'

'It's foggy, too,' said Bigmac.

'It's just the mist off the canal,' said Johnny.

Wobbler stopped.

'Oh, no,' he said.

'It's quicker this way,' said Johnny.

'Oh, yes. Quicker. Oh, yes. Because I'm gonna raw!'

'Don't be daft.'

'It's Halloween!'

' So what? You 're dressed up as Dracula - what 're you worried about!'

'I'm not going past there tonight!'

'It's no different than going past during the day.'

'All right, it's the same, but I'm different!'

' Scared?' said Bigmac.

'What? Me? Scared? Huh? Me? I'm not scared.'

'Actually, it is a bit risky,' said Baron Yo-less.

'Yes, risky,' said Wobbler hurriedly.

'I mean, you never know,' said Yo-less.

'Never know,' Wobbler echoed.

'Look, it's a street in our town. There's lights and a phone box and everything,' said Johnny. 'I just... I won't be happy until I've checked, OK? Anyway, there's four of us, after all.'

'That just means something bad can happen four times,' said Wobbler.

But they'd been walking as they talked; now the little light in the phone box loomed in the fog like a blurred star.

The other three went quiet. The fog hushed all sounds.

Johnny listened. There wasn'vt even that blotting- paper silence that the dead made.

'See?' he whispered. 'I said—'

Someone coughed, a long way off. All four boys suddenly tried to occupy the same spot.

'Dead people don't cough!' hissed Johnny.

'Then someone's in the cemetery!' said Yo-less.

'Body snatchers!' said Wobbler.

'Burke 'n Head!' said Bigmac.

'I've read about this in the papers!' whispered Wobbler. 'People digging up graves for satanic rites!'

'Shutup!' said Johnny. They sagged. 'Sounded to me like it came from the old boot factory,' he said.

'But it's the middle of the night,' said Yo-less.

They crept forward. There was a dim shape pulled on to the pavement where the streetlights barely shone.

'It's a van,' said Johnny. 'There. Count Dracula never drove a van.'

Bigmac tried to grin. 'Unless he was a Vanpire—'

There was a metallic clink somewhere in the fog.

'Wobbler?' said Johnny, in what he hoped was a calm voice.

'Yes?'

'You said you were going to run. Go round to Mr Atterbury's house right now and tell him to come here.'

'What? By myself?'

'You'll run faster if you're by yourself.'

'Right!'

Wobbler gave them a frightened look and vanished.

'What, exactly, are we doing?' said Yo-less, as the other three peered into the fog.

There was no mistaking the noise this time. It was wrapped about with fog, but it was definitely the sound of a big diesel engine starting up.

'Someone's nicking a bulldozer!' said Bigmac.

'I wish that's what they were doing,' said Johnny, 'but I don't think they are. Come on, will you?'

'Listen, if someone's driving a bulldozer without lights in the fog, I'm not hanging around!' said Yo-less.

Lights came on, fifty metres away. They didn't show much. They just lit up two cones of fog.

'Is that better?' said Johnny.

'No.'

The lights ground forward. The machine was bumping towards the cemetery railings. Old buddleia bushes and dead stinging nettles

smashed under the treads, and there was a clang as the blade hit the low wall.

Johnny ran alongside the machine and shouted, 'Oi!'

The engine stopped.

'Run away!' hissed Johnny to Yo-less. 'Go on! Tell someone what's happening!'

A man unfolded himself from the cab and jumped down. He advanced towards the boys, waving a finger.

'You kids,' he said, 'are in real trouble.'

Johnny backed away, and someone grabbed his shoulders.

'You heard the man,' said a voice by his ear. 'It's your fault, this. So you'd better not have seen anything, right? Because we know where you live— Oh, no you don't.' A hand shot out and grabbed Yo-less as he tried to back away.

'Know what I think?' said the man who had been driving the bulldozer. 7 think it's lucky we happened to be passing and found 'em messing around, eh? Shame they'd driven it right through the place already, eh? Kids today, eh?'

A half-brick sailed past Johnny's face and hit the man beside him on the shoulder.

'What the—'

Til smash your **** head in! I'll smash your **** head in!'

Bigmac emerged from the fog. He looked ter- rifying. He reached beside him, yanked a railing from the broken wall and started to whirl it round his head as he advanced.

'You what? You what? You what? I'm MENTAL, me!'

Then he started to run forward.

'Aaaaaaamrrr—'

And it dawned on all four people at once that he wasn't going to stop.