J

inx tore around her basement, checking and double-checking all her equipment. She was excited for the upcoming night—Emily or no, the opportunity for a real-life ghost was too much.

Jackson bumped into her. She’d forgotten that he’d tagged along.

“Well, what can I do?” he asked.

Jinx lifted a blanket, looking for her EVP recorder. Typical of her, she’d put it somewhere and forgot where.

“I don’t know,” Jinx mumbled, “Learn how to get rid of ghosts?”

Jackson plunked down on the blanket she’d just lifted up.

“Jackson, my equipment could have been there!” He glared at her and she sighed. “I guess you could research the place, see if there have been any deaths...”

Jinx bent down and looked under the couch, yanking out a flip-flop she’d lost over a year ago. “Huh,” she said and then threw it back under the couch. Meanwhile, Jackson’s face split in a huge grin. “I’m on it.” His smile vanished as quickly as it appeared. His shoulders slumped. “And then...I’ll research how to get rid of the ghosts. Honestly, Jinx, you were right. I’m not sure how to go about doing it.”

Jinx flopped down next to him. Jackson in pain was not an acceptable state.

“You’ll figure it out,” she said in her most soothing voice. Which, admittedly, wasn’t very soothing. Jinx wondered what Jane would have done but then quickly dismissed the thought. Jane was no longer welcome. “I guess, start where anyone starts,” she continued, “the Internet.”

“Duh,” Jackson said, “I’ve already done that. It’s all advice from crazies. You know, talk to the ghosts, chant, imagine a white light....Surely there’s a better way.”

Jinx shrugged. “I don’t know. If someone said ‘get out’ to me, I probably wouldn’t stay.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not the average person, Jinx.”

Jinx glowed. She wasn’t the average person. Not anymore.

“Let’s go up to my room. I’ll set things up on the laptop, and you can research on my desk computer.”

Jackson nodded and they tromped upstairs. On the way up, Jackson stopped at the kitchen and grabbed a soda and a fistful of Oreos. Jinx just shook her head. He was always eating. Then she grabbed a soda too.

As Jackson sat on the Ikea chair in her room, Jinx heard the downstairs door open and knew her mom was home.

She said to Jackson, “We also have to figure out how I can get away with a sleepover.”

“We?” He smiled big and threw an Oreo into his mouth. Jinx tossed a pillow at him, missing by a mile. Jackson chuckled to himself and fired up the computer.

“I’m home!” her mother called. Jinx answered back, “Hey, Mom.”

She appeared in the doorway. “What are you kids doing today? Homework?”

Jinx said, “Uh, yeah,” and huffed at the interruption.

Jackson grinned. “Hey, Mrs. W.”

Jinx’s mom smiled, her eyes crinkling up at the corners. Jinx would never tell her, but she thought her mom was beautiful. Long red hair, green eyes, and a face that could pass for twenty-five. She was still super old but younger than other moms anyway.

“Hey, Jackson, how are you?” Her eyes squinted. Jinx knew she was always concerned about Jackson. She liked that about her mom.

He shrugged. “Good.”

Jinx’s mom said, “OK, well, you guys don’t work too hard.” And then she disappeared.

“Finally.” Jinx opened her laptop and started typing up the plan. Only, she didn’t know what to write. She’d never had to write a plan before. She glanced at Jackson, who was engrossed at the desk computer. Then she looked back at the blinking cursor on her screen. Sitting up, she said, “What are you finding?”

Jackson looked at her. “I just started! It’s been like two seconds since your mom left. What, you have no preparation you can do?”

Jinx flopped back down. “As if. I have the hard job. I just wanted to make sure you aren’t screwing up.” She’d never say this to Jackson, but she did think she had the hard job. Who cared if they got rid of ghosts? She had given the job to him because she truly didn’t care about that part. Making contact, recording contact—that was the fun stuff. But he didn’t need to know that.

Jinx continued to look at the blinking cursor. How to organize the night? she wondered. Just when she thought the cursor would actually drive her insane, Jackson piped up.

“So you know how I just started the search? Well, Falcon Perch apartments is all over the place on the Web. As in, all over in the haunted section.”

Jinx’s pulse shot up. She sat up in bed again. “Really?”

Jackson nodded, still staring at the screen. Then he looked at her. “But that’s not all. The apartment that keeps coming up? Apartment 101.”