I followed her gaze. A window at the corner of the house appeared to be partly open. Summer led the

way. Our shoes slid on the rain-wet grass. A jagged bolt of lightning crackled over the roof.

Again I thought of the boy, struck by lightning so long ago. Struck by lightning inside the house and

set aflame.

Rubin stepped up to the window and slid his hands under the opening. The whole window appeared

to tremble. I guess it was loose in its frame. Rubin grunted as he gave a hard push—and the window slid

up with a squeal.

“I’ll climb in first,” he said. “Then, Shamequa, hoist up the suitcase.” He handed me one of his

flashlights. “Shine a light into the house as I climb in. If you see a ghost coming for me, scream.”

“No problem," I said. I raised the flashlight. It was heavier than I thought it would be. I clicked it on

and aimed the white beam of light through the opening in the window.

The light cut through the dark as I waved it around. I could see a large chandelier hanging from the

ceiling and some furniture in the center of the room draped in sheets.

Rubin gripped the stone window ledge and lifted himself up to the opening. He grabbed the bottom

of the window, then carefully slid his legs into the house. I heard his shoes land with a thud on hardwood.

Another jagged bolt of lightning flashed, reflected in the window glass. I gasped. It was as if the

whole house suddenly lit up.

“Smells kind of sour in here,” Rubin reported, sticking his head out the window. “Like maybe

somebody died.” He had his eyes on me. He was trying to scare me again. The guy was relentless. He never

quit.

Shamequa handed up her suitcase to Rubin, and he helped pull her into the house. Todd slid his

spotlights in and climbed in after them. Summer scrambled in next. Buzzy followed.

I grabbed the window ledge and started to pull myself up when I heard Rubin say, “Are we all in?” He

slid the window shut.

I pulled my fingers away just in time and dropped back to the ground. “Hey!"

The rain swept down, heavier now. I was getting soaked.

“Hey!” I shouted again. "I don’t believe you, Rubin! Open it! Open up, you jerk!”

The window squealed back up. Rubin grinned out at me. “Just messing with you, Sammy.”

"Rubin—give him a break!” Buzzy and Summer shouted at once.

"Okay, okay,” Rubin muttered. He held out a hand and helped pull me in.

I landed hard, shivering. I tossed my head back, trying to shake the rainwater off. I waved the

flashlight around the room. The white light danced over the dark wallpaper, the cracked ceiling, the

ghostly chairs and couch covered in dust-smeared sheets.

Tall bookshelves lined the walls. They were empty except for mounds of dust. I figured we were in

some kind of den.

Summer hugged herself. “It’s colder in here than outside,” she said. “I’m frozen right through my

coat.”

“Our coats are wet,” Shamequa said. “We’ll be warmer if we take them off.”

We obediently pulled off our coats and hats and gloves and piled them on the floor in the corner of

the room. Then, without a word, Todd grabbed Rubin’s other flashlight, spun away from us, and took off,

running toward the doorway.

“Hey!”

"Where are you going?”

“Todd—come back!”

We all shouted after him.

He didn’t turn back. I heard his shoes thudding rapidly on the bare floorboards. I could see the beam

of light shooting up and down crazily as he ran.

Rubin took off after him. “Todd—what are you doing? Where are you going?”

Gripping the flashlight tightly, I followed them to the next room. Todd stood in the front entryway.

He spun to face us. "What’s your problem? I went to see if that ghost was still at the front door.”

I shone the light up and down over the door. Nothing there.

“Hey, Todd—ghosts are usually invisible,” Shamequa said quietly. She stepped up behind Rubin and

me.

"I just wanted to see for myself,” Todd said.

"Why didn’t you tell us first?” Shamequa asked.

Todd shrugged in reply.

“We have to keep together,” I said. “For safety.”

"But I don’t feel safe in the same room withj/<?«!” Rubin said. His idea of a joke. He head-butted me in

the stomach. His other idea of a joke.

I doubled over and staggered back to the wall.

Summer rolled her eyes. "Very mature.”

Rubin stuck his tongue out at her.

"Rubin, we’re wasting time,” I said, rubbing my stomach.

“Sammy is right. Let’s go back in the den and make a plan,” Shamequa said. “Where are we going to

set up our equipment?”

An explosion of thunder shook the house. The flashlight fell from my hand and hit the floor. The

light went out. I picked it up and slapped it. I let out a relieved sigh as the light flashed back on.

“Sammy and I think we saw a ghost in the attic window," Buzzy said. “Maybe we should try up

there.”

“No way," Todd said. “I'm not going up in the attic. That’s where lightning strikes first.”

“He’s right,” Shamequa said. “We should stay downstairs. It’s safer.”

Outside, a wave of rain washed against the front window. Lightning flickered in the distance.

“Maybe a bedroom,” Summer said. “Ghosts have to sleep, don’t they? Or a room in back. Somewhere a

ghost would hide.”

Todd pointed. “Let’s explore that back hall. See where it leads.”

Our shoes scraped the dusty floorboards as we stepped into the narrow hallway. I aimed the beam of

light in front of us. It caught a thick nest of cobwebs hanging down over the hallway door.

“Watch out for spiders, Sammy," Rubin warned. I couldn’t see his face in the dark, but I knew he was

grinning.

Rooms on both sides of the hall had their doors closed. The walls were dark and stained. I moved the

light along the molding near the ceiling. More cobwebs stretched out like a fisherman’s net.

The webs were covered with dead flies. I stopped to see if I could spot any spiders crawling through

the tangles. When I turned, I saw that my friends were far ahead of me.

I started to call to them—but stopped when I felt a rush of cold air at my side. Something soft and

cold brushed my face.

And I gasped when I heard a harsh, whispered voice in my ear:

“Sammy, I’m watching you."

11

A chill of fear shook my body. I turned toward the voice.

“Rubin—you’re not funny,” I growled. "You’vegotXo stop picking on me.”

No Rubin. No one there.

I raised the light and spun it in a complete circle. "Rubin? Where are you? I know it was you.”

I aimed the light into the corners, into the doorways. No one in sight.

The tingle of cold lingered on my face. I could still hear that harsh, raspy whisper in my ear.

“Hey, guys—” I called, my voice shrill and echoing in the long, empty hallway. "Guys?”

My mouth dropped open. A silent cry escaped.

They were gone.

Vanished.

The flashlight trembled in my hand. I raised it and sent the white beam of light to the end of the hall.

Vanished without a trace.

My mind went crazy. They were swallowed by the house ... Captured by a ghost ... Pulled by whoever

haunts this hall into an alternate dimension ... Goneforever ...All of them ...

I held my breath. And forced the frightening horror-movie ideas from my mind.

"Guys? Where are you?” My voice came out tiny, like a little kid’s cry.

Then I heard voices. Someone laughed.

I saw an open door near the end of the hall. A light flickered in the doorway.

My overactive imagination had struck again. They hadn’t disappeared. They’d stepped into a room.

My heart was still racing as I hurried to find them. I stepped into the doorway and stopped. I peered

into the small, square room. A couch against one wall had a cushion missing and stuffing poking from the

back. A low table stood at a tilt because it had only three legs.

My friends were already setting up the ghost-hunting equipment. Shamequa had her suitcase open

and was pulling out meters and audio recorders. Todd was standing up his spotlights, one on each side of

the room.

Summer turned toward me. “Sammy? Where were you? We thought maybe you decided to leave.”

“Huh? Me? Leave?” I said. “Just when the fun is starting?”

Buzzy was helping Shamequa pull out her ghost-hunting tools. "Oops. Just one problem,” he said,

holding a video monitor between his hands. “Why didn’t we think of this? No electricity in this house.”

“Not a problem,” Shamequa said. "These meters and recorders are all battery-powered. I charged

them all before I brought them.”

Todd let out a sigh. He shook his head. “Whoa. I’m an idiot. Why didn’t I think of it? These spotlights

won’t work unless I can plug them in.”

Rubin laughed. "You’re a jerk. You carried them here for nothing.” He gave Todd a shove with both

hands.

"You’re a jerk, too,” Todd snapped back. "You didn’t think of it, either.” He raised his fist and took a

step toward Rubin.

Summer rolled her eyes. "Boys, please don’t fight.”

A flash of lightning filled the window, the light spilling over the room.

"Ghosts probably don’t like bright light. I know they like the dark,” Shamequa said.

Todd scowled at her. "I guess you know everything about ghosts.”

"I know you can’t plug in lights in an old abandoned haunted house,” Shamequa replied.

Why was this going so badly? Why weren’t we getting along?

It’s true we weren’t really friends. Buzzy and I were friends. But the rest of us ... well, we were in the

same class, but we didn’t exactly hang out together.

Miss Flake assigned everyone to this group. Maybe she didn’t know that Todd and Rubin hate each other. Maybe she didn’t know how much Rubin likes to torture me. Maybe she didn’t know that Summer is

in the popular girls’ group and usually totally ignores the rest of us.

Or maybe Miss Flake did know. Maybe she didn’t care. Or maybe part of the assignment was for kids

who weren’t friends to get along and do the work.

Or maybe we weren’t getting along because we were scared.

“Let’s all pitch in and get started,” I said. “I know we can do this. I know we can get proof there’s a

ghost here. This is going to be fun. So come on—let’s stop messing around. Let’s do it, guys.”

Rubin laughed. "Listen to Sammy the cheerleader.”

“He’s just saying we should get our act together,” Buzzy said.

Rubin sneered. "Big whoop.” He crossed the room and snapped his fingers on my nose.

I tried not to cry out, but it hurt.

Buzzy grabbed Rubin by the shoulders and pulled him back. "Sammy is right. Let’s stop fighting and

do the work. Do we want to find a ghost or not?”

While this went on, Shamequa and Summer had been quietly working. They had set up the audio and

video recorders and the meters and ghost detectors. They lined them up facing the back wall of the room.

Shamequa took the flashlight from me and propped it against one of the meters so it cast its light on

the wall. Behind us, the storm raged outside the window. The glass rattled as wind gusts roared and

rainwater pounded the house.

“Sit down, everyone,” Summer said. “We’re ready to start.”

Thunder boomed, shaking the house.

Buzzy dropped down on the floor beside me. "Is this the coolest Halloween ever?” he said.

“I guess,” I replied.

"Definitely the scariest,” Buzzy said.

I started to agree, but Rubin pretended to trip over my legs, and he fell on top of me. “Hey—watch

where you’re going!” he shouted.

I struggled to squirm out from under him. "You’re crushing me!” I cried.

"It was an accident,” Rubin insisted. He laughed.

It took us a while to settle down. We sat in a line behind the equipment, our legs crossed, hugging

ourselves to try to stay warm.

Shamequa stood, her eyes on the meter and the thermometer. Rubin kept a beam of light from his

flashlight steady on the wall.

We sat silently. The only sound now was the howl of the wind outside and the hard patter of rain on

the window.

I shifted from side to side. The floor was cold, and the cold seeped up into my legs and my whole

body. I gazed at the wall until it became a pale blur in front of my eyes.

Beside me, Buzzy wiped his nose with the sleeve of his sweater. "My nose is numb from the cold,” he

whispered to me. “Hope the ghost shows himself soon.”

“This was all your idea,” I whispered back.

Shamequa lowered her head to the digital thermometer. “The temperature is going down,” she

reported. “It’s thirty-two in here.”

“That’s why we can see our breath,” I said.

Summer raised a finger to her lips. We grew silent again.

The windowpane rattled in a sharp blast of wind. Outside, the purple sky had darkened to charcoal

black.