J

inx swallowed her bite and tried to keep her bored expression up. Overdramatic much? she thought. But despite herself, she leaned in.

“Kill you how?” Jackson leaned in too. The boy was a sucker for these kinds of stories. Undoubtedly he was having white knight fantasies as Emily spoke.

Emily twisted the hem of her shirt, back and forth, back and forth. “Well, my parents just got divorced in May, and my mom moved to Seattle.”

Jinx had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Nowadays, it was worse if your parents were still together, in her view.

Emily went on as Jackson leaned in closer. “So we couldn’t afford the house anymore, and my dad had to find an apartment.”

“That must have been so hard for you,” Jackson said.

Emily’s eyes softened. “It really was because—”

Jinx didn’t have time for a sob story. “So you got an apartment...”

Emily’s big blue eyes trained on Jinx again. She nodded. “At the Falcon Perch apartments. It’s kind of close to the school and near my dad’s work, so it totally fit.”

Jinx nodded impatiently.

“We didn’t move until the end of July because we had to pack the house and everything,” Emily continued. “So when we moved in, we were both really ready to get out of that house.” Her eyes turned downward. “With all those memories...anyway, we both loved the apartment at first. Number 101. It’s smaller, but it’s got these cool old cupboards and like a laundry chute and even a door for an ice block. Plus there are the old radiators and the wood floors...”

Jinx rattled the Twizzlers package as loud as she could as she took another strand out. Boring, she thought. Jackson kicked her under the table. She frowned and kicked him back. Hard. Emily went on as if they weren’t sitting in front of her. Typical of her kind; it’s all about her, her, her, Jinx thought. Finally, she stopped rambling on about the old apartment and said something interesting.

“It started the third night. We were all unpacked, and I was just settling down to sleep. That’s when I heard it.”

“Heard what?” Jackson asked.

“The voice, coming from the wall.”

Jinx couldn’t help it—she snorted so loud she thought she might have broken something. “Like another tenant, maybe?”

Emily’s face was white. “Not another tenant. This was inside the wall near my bed. And the voice whispered my name.”

Jinx felt goose bumps form on her arms. She tried to shake them off—that could be explained away for a million different reasons.

“OK, what else?”

“That same night, after I heard the whisper, I told myself I was imagining it. So I went to the kitchen to get a drink of water, and all the cupboard doors were open.” Emily looked at Jinx and Jackson, “Every single one.”

Creepier, but there still could be a reason. Jinx nodded her on.

“From that night on, the things started getting worse. My dad has seen things happen too. Sometimes our furniture is moved in the middle of the night. One night I could feel something breathing on my neck. Noises happen constantly—banging, bumping, and even this loud wailing...” Tears started forming in her eyes. “The worst thing happened a couple of days ago, though. I went into the bathroom, and there was a note in my red lipstick on the mirror. It said, ‘Get out.’ And right underneath it, ‘Or join us.’”

Jinx couldn’t help it. She was seriously creeped out. She noticed a shiver travel through Jackson too. Maybe, just maybe, this was a real haunting. To ease the tension, Jinx said, “Maybe you’re being haunted by a girl group and they need a soprano. Can you dance?”

Jackson glared at her, but Emily gave a small smile. “I wish.”

From out of her backpack, Jinx pulled out a notebook. Though she’d never tell Jackson, she had prepared for the meeting. If it was a real case, she wanted to be sure to do it right. She took out a pen and stared at Emily again.

“OK, let’s go through these questions. Any cold spots in your place?” Emily nodded. “Where?” Jinx asked.

Emily looked taken aback by the question, then said, “It changes.”

“OK. You’ve already said things have been moved, yes?”

Emily nodded again.

“Do you sense evil in the house? Feel an impending sense of doom?”

Emily teared up. Jackson put his hand on hers and quickly took it away.

“OK, finally, do you know of any people who have been killed in your apartment?” Jinx asked.

Emily’s blue eyes widened. “I don’t think so.”

Jinx laughed. “You’re getting haunted and you don’t check the history of your place?” Under her breath she said to Jackson, “Amateur hour,” then went on talking to Emily. “Well, here’s the deal: we’ll take the case.”

Emily’s eyes lit up, and Jinx could almost feel the happy energy wafting off Jackson. Jinx continued, “Bring the $200 tomorrow, and get your dad out of the house this Saturday somehow. I don’t care how, but that’s when we’ll come over and stay the night and figure out what’s going on.” She looked sideways at Jackson and added, “And we’ll do some research to see if there were any weird deaths at your place.”

“Of course. Thank you, thank you!” Emily said. Jackson smiled big at her.

Jinx rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t thank us yet. In the meantime, you could be killed by a ghost.”

Emily’s face turned paler and Jinx smiled inwardly to herself. Maybe it would be fun working with her after all.