I stopped walking. I grabbed Buzzy’s shoulder. “Look.”

He followed my gaze to the top of the house. "Do you see it?” I whispered. "A green light? In that

window up there?”

Buzzy stopped, and his mouth dropped open.

The front windows of the house were all dark. Except for the top window, where a pulsing green

light floated out. And inside the light, I could see a shadow, very still. The shadow of someone peering out

from the eerie green.

“Do you see it, too?” I whispered.

Buzzy nodded. “Yes. I see it.”

“You see it, too. I’m not making it up. Th-that’s the same window,” I stammered. "Do you think—?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Buzzy said.

We stood frozen, staring up at the window. The green light flickered and shifted, but the shadow

inside it didn’t move.

Suddenly, I had an idea. My dad’s GoPro. I pulled it out from my coat pocket. “I... I can take a video,”

I said.

Buzzy lowered his eyes to the camera. “What is that?”

“It’s a GoPro Hero. My dad’s.”

“Awesome. Hurry. Maybe we can make a video of the ghost before we even go into the house. The

others won’t believe it.”

I couldn’t stop the little camera from shaking. I had to grip it in both hands to keep it steady. My

heart began to pound in my chest, and a chill froze the back of my neck.

I pointed the lens to the top of the house. My finger fumbled for the RECORD button.

In the tiny window, the pulsing green light appeared to grow brighter. The shadow inside the light

still didn’t move.

The wind suddenly stopped. A hush fell over the street.

"Are you getting it?” Buzzy asked, his eyes raised to the window. "Are you recording it?”

“I... think so,” I said. I kept the camera raised in front of me. Held it there for at least another minute.

Then I stopped recording and lowered the camera to my side.

“Let’s see it,” Buzzy said. He grabbed for the camera. "This is so awesome. Let’s see what you got.”

I swung the camera out of his reach. "Don’t grab. Take it easy. You almost made me drop it.”

He took a step back. “Sorry. Just excited. Come on. Play the video.”

I raised the camera and turned the screen so we both could see it. I reached for the PLAY button.

I let out a cry as something smacked my hand. “OWWWW!"

The camera went flying.

Pain stung my hand and shot up my arm.

I heard a sick craaaack as the camera smashed into a tree trunk. Buzzy and I watched it slide to the

ground.

Buzzy spun me around. “Sammy, why did you do that? Why did you throw your camera?”

"I didn’t,” I said, trying to shake the pain from my hand. “Something hit me. Something slapped me

hard and knocked the camera out.”

Buzzy stared hard at me. "I didn’t see anything."

We both turned to the tree. “Is the camera okay?”

8

I dove toward the camera.

My hand still stung from the slap. I dropped to my knees. "It’s totally destroyed,” I told Buzzy. "Look.

It’s completely bent.” The lens had broken off and lay in the dirt beside the mangled camera body.

Buzzy stepped up beside me, shaking his head. "It had to be the wind,” he murmured.

"No way,” I said. “Something hit my hand. I mean, like, a real hard slap. It still stings.”

“It looked like you threw the camera,” Buzzy said. “It hit the tree so hard ...”

I reached for it. "Whoa.” I pulled my hand back. “It’s ice-cold, Buzzy. Like it’s frozen or something.”

He reached down and rubbed his fingers over it. “Weird.”

I reached for it again. The camera was too cold to pick up.

I climbed to my feet. “Buzzy, I think I’m going home.”

He grabbed my shoulder. “Look." He pointed to the top window of Marple House.

Completely dark now.

A chill ran down my back. A gust of wind sent a pack of dead leaves scuttling along the street like

small animals. “I'm definitely going home,” I said. "This is too weird.”

I started to walk away, but Buzzy raced ahead of me, turned, and blocked my path. "You can’t wimp

out now. I just realized what the eerie green light in the window up there was about.”

"It was a ghost,” I said. "A ghost warning us. Letting us know that he’s watching us, waiting for us.”

Buzzy shook his head. "No. it wasn’t a ghost, Sammy. It was Rubin.”

My mouth fell open. "Huh?”

“It had to be one of Rubin’s jokes,” Buzzy said. “He got here early, and he set the whole thing up to

scare us. The green light... the dark shadow ... So typical Rubin, right?”

I gazed up at the front of Marple House, now completely dark. My mind was spinning.

“Rubin always has to be first,” Buzzy said. "Always has to be better than everyone else. Always has to

prove how he’s so much smarter than everyone else. It’s a typical Rubin joke.”

I let out a long breath. "You really think so? He just wanted to get the first scare in?”

"For sure,” Buzzy said. “I’ll bet you anything he’s in that house right now, laughing about what a good

scare he gave us.”

"Maybe you’re right,” I said.

"Let’s go find out.” Buzzy gave me a gentle push, and we began walking toward Marple House. "We’ll

tell Rubin his little trick in the window didn’t scare us at all,” Buzzy said.

My heartbeat returned to normal. Maybe the windjust blew the camera out of my hand, I thought. We

were at the edge of the front lawn when I stopped. I heard a shout behind us.

Buzzy and I spun around—and I saw Rubin halfway down the block, waving to us, followed by

Summer and Todd.

“Hey, guys, wait up!” Rubin called. "See any ghosts yet?”

9

“It... it wasn’t Rubin,” I stammered to Buzzy.

He nodded. “Weird. Really weird.”

Our three classmates came hurrying up to us. Rubin carried two long halogen flashlights, one in each

hand. Todd had two spotlights on poles over his shoulder. He wore a mask with a big nose, a black

mustache, and glasses.

Summer wore a blue down parka, and kept clapping her white fuzzy gloves together. “It’s ... cold,"

she said.

“It’ll be colder in the house," Buzzy said. "Ghosts always make the air colder. It’s a scientific fact.”

Rubin stepped up to me, lowered his head, and bit me in the neck.

I let out a cry and jumped back.

Rubin grinned. He had a set of rubber fangs in his mouth.

I rubbed my neck. “Ow. That hurt.”

“Of course it hurt. I’m a vampire.”

Summer rolled her eyes. “I told these two guys it’s not a costume party. We’re here to do serious

work.”

Todd cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted up to the house. “Hey, ghosts—look out. We’re coming to haunt you!”

Rubin shoved him hard, causing him to topple off the curb. Todd struggled to keep hold of his

spotlights.

“Hey, shut up, Todd,” Rubin snapped. "What do you want to do? Scare the ghosts away?”

“You can’t scare ghosts,” Todd mumbled. “It’s their'ydo to scarejyoiA Duh.”

I thought about the boy who died in the house. The boy who burned so completely no ashes were left.

Nothing left at all. And then I thought again about skipping this whole thing and going home.

But Summer was watching me. “I thought maybe you wouldn’t come tonight,” she said.

“I'm not here. It’s my ghost,” I said.

She laughed.

Hey!I made her laugh!

Rubin pulled his phone out. "Give me your number, Sammy,” he said.

I hesitated. "What for?”

He grinned that awful grin. “So when you get scared and wet yourself, I can call your mommy to

come bring you a new pair of jeans.”

Todd heehawed at that. Summer just shook her head.

"Rubin, give him a break,” Buzzy said.

“Hey, guys.” Shamequa came trotting across the street. She carried a large gray suitcase. The words

official ghost hunter kit were stenciled on the side.

Shamequa wore an oversized black wool sweater over black tights. She had a blue wool ski cap pulled

low over her forehead. Her breath steamed up in front of her. "Were you waiting for me?”

"Yeah. Sure,” Rubin said. "Actually, we were giving Sammy a last chance to chicken out.”

Shamequa smiled at me. "Is Rubin on your case already?”

“I can handle him,” I lied.

Rubin pulled the wet rubber fangs from his mouth and wiped them on the side of my face. “Thanks,

Sammy. I didn’t bring a Kleenex.”

Summer clapped her furry white gloves together. “Can we go inside? I’m freezing.”

We made our way through the opening in the tall hedge and walked up the driveway, our shoes

crunching on the gravel. The whole world appeared to grow darker as we stepped into the deep shadow of the house. And the air grew at least ten degrees colder, so cold it burned my face.

Is it this cold because there are ghosts nearby?

I promised myself I wouldn’t ask questions like that. But... I couldn’t help it.

Three broken, cracked steps led up to the front porch. The porch floorboards creaked under our

shoes. I helped Shamequa drag the suitcase onto the porch.

Through the front window, I could see only solid black. The front door was tall and wide, painted

dark brown, the paint cracked and peeling. Rubin stepped up to the door.

"Anyone home?” Todd shouted. His voice rang out through the frozen air.

Rubin spun around angrily. "Are you going to shut up? Can’t you be serious?”

“No, I can’t.” Todd did a crazy tap dance, his shoes scraping the porch floor. It looked more like

stumbling than dancing. I told you, he’s a nutcase.

Shamequa laughed. “Todd is right,” she said. "It’s Halloween night. We should have some fun.”

"I thought we wanted to trap some ghosts and get an A for our Science study,” Summer said.

"Sure. And have some fun,” Shamequa insisted.

Rubin grabbed the large doorknob on the front door. The others huddled close behind him. I hung

back at the bottom of the porch stairs.

I watched Rubin turn the knob and lower his shoulder to the door. He groaned as he pushed forward.

The door made a creaking sound.

Rubin jumped back. “Hey!” he uttered a sharp cry.

He lowered his shoulder to the door and gave another push.

I saw the door start to move. But Rubin uttered another cry and leaped back again. He turned to us,

his eyes wide with surprise.

"What’s wrong?” Buzzy asked.

Rubin swallowed. "Someone is pushing back,” he said breathlessly.

I gasped. “Huh? What do you mean?”

Rubin replied in a low voice, almost a whisper. “Someone on the other side of the door is pushing

back.”

Summer edged away from the group. Shamequa let the suitcase drop to the porch floor. Everyone

was suddenly silent, all staring hard at the front door.

I knew what Rubin was doing. It was obvious he was pretending he couldn’t open the door just to

scare us. Typical Rubin joke. Clever. But not clever enough to fool me.

I gazed at Summer, who was biting her bottom lip, shivering from the cold. This was my chance to

impress her.

"Let me try the door,” I said. I climbed onto the porch and pushed through the others. "Rubin, that’s a

dumb joke.” I shoved him out of my way.

I took a deep breath and grabbed the doorknob. I twisted it and gave the door a hard push. I felt it

slide open. Then it slammed back shut.

I jerked my hand off the knob and staggered to the steps. “Oh, wow. Oh, wow,” I murmured.

“Someone pushing back on the door!”

10

Shamequa shuddered. “This is getting scary, and we’re not even in the house yet!" She turned and stepped

off the porch, and everyone followed her.

“One thing is sure. The ghost doesn’t want us to come in,” I said. My voice sounded hollow in the wet

night air. I kept my eyes on the door, expecting it to swing open and the ghost to come roaring out. My

body was tensed, ready to run.

“Look on the bright side,” Summer said. “If there is a ghost in there, we’ll all get As on our report.”

Summer is a straight-A student. But I never realized she was so obsessed about grades. Didn’t she even stop

for a second and think how dangerous this ghost could be?

A rumble of thunder high overhead made me jump. I felt cold raindrops on my forehead.

Todd squinted from Rubin to me. “You two aren’t joking? You really felt someone pushing back on

the door?”

Rubin motioned to the door. “You try it.”

Todd shook his head. “No. I believe you.”

Maybe we should call the whole thing off. That was my next thought. But I didn’t want to be the one to

say it.

Another rumble of thunder, this one closer. Raindrops pattered the tall grass of the front lawn. The

trees bent and shivered.

“This is why they make so many horror movies about Halloween night,” I said.

Rubin grinned at me. “Scared, Sammy? Want someone to hold your hand?”

“Why are we standing here in the rain?" Summer demanded. She pointed. “Let’s try that window

down there.”