29

“You know where we have to look first, don’t you?” said Lucy, chewing anxiously on the end of her ponytail.

“Not the cellar!” Steve protested.

I nodded—Lucy was right. “That’s where the witch hangs out,” I said. “There must be a good reason.”

“The nanny-ghost-witch doesn’t want us to find the ruby,” said Lucy. “That’s why it’s so scary down there.”

Steve picked up my baseball bat and hefted it. “This time will be different,” he vowed. “If that old beast comes after me, I’ll swing for the bleachers. Pow!”

He took a cut with the bat that made the air whistle.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

Mom had sent Sally off to some play group so we only had to lie low until my parents had shut themselves in their office.

“Everybody be as quiet as possible,” I whispered as we gathered in the kitchen.

We roped ourselves together like mountain climbers, just like the last time we made an expedition into the cellar.

“It may look silly,” said Lucy, double-knotting the rope at her waist, “but it sure worked.”

Lucy and Steve both had baseball bats as weapons. A sudden inspiration made me take the fire extinguisher from the kitchen wall.

“Here goes nothing,” I whispered, opening the basement door.

We all clicked on our flashlights and the beams sprang into the darkness.

I started down, the extinguisher held out in front of me like a machine gun. Let the old witch come for me! I’d blast her into smithereens.

The basement was as silent as a tomb.

“We’ll have to look in every box, every toe of every shoe,” I said, dumping a boxful of old boots onto the floor. “If that stolen ruby is here, we’ll find it.”

“That’s right,” said Lucy, a little more loudly than necessary. “And we’ll just stay right here until we do find it.”

“What if it’s not here?” Steve said, alarmed, but Lucy and I didn’t answer.

Lucy was sure we’d find the ruby. And I was sure the witch-nanny couldn’t bear for us to be messing in her things.

We searched in silence for a few minutes, our ears tensed for any sound.

“Hey, Jason, get a load of this,” teased Steve, pulling a battered straw hat from a box. “Just your size. You’ll have to wear it on our next expedition.”

I looked up and a movement behind Steve caught my eye.

But before I could get a better look there was a flash of light, a loud POP! and the sharp tinkle of shattering glass.

We were plunged into blackness.