“I’ve rigged up a remote-controlled black cat that can cross right in the path of the people who are thinking about buying your house,” Alex told Julianna later that day as the kids sat at their lunch table in the cafeteria. “And two remote-controlled rats. That’ll scare them!”

George flicked a piece of hardened blue icing out of his nose and rubbed it on his napkin. “I have lots of dust bunnies under my bed,” George added. “We can hang them from some of the shelves in the house. Haunted houses always have lots of dust around.”

“I’ve got dust bunnies, too,” Chris said. “I’ll bring them over. My mom will be glad to get rid of them. And I’m working hard on my painting,” he continued. “I’m drawing the eyes so it seems like they follow you around the room. I learned how to do it from an art book my dad gave me.”

“Georgie, your idea is brilliant,” Sage said. She batted her eyelashes up and down. “You’re brilliant.”

“STOP! STOP! STOP!” Louie shouted suddenly.

George stared at him. He couldn’t believe it. He’d been wanting to tell Sage to stop calling him Georgie. And here, Louie had just done it for him.

“Stop talking about Julianna’s house,” Louie continued.

Or maybe not.

“There’s something much more important happening,” Louie continued.

“What could be more important than my family moving?” Julianna wanted to know.

“My party,” Louie said. He sounded as if he couldn’t believe she was even asking. “Halloween is almost here, and no one is even thinking about what costume to wear to my party. And you’re going to be sorry, because the prizes my mom is getting for the costume contest are really, really expensive!”

“I’m thinking about my costume,” Max assured Louie. “It’s the only thing on my mind.”

“Me too,” Mike said. “I’ve got lots of ideas. I just can’t remember any of them right now.”

Louie grinned. “Well, you guys are just lucky I can’t win the costume contest,” he told everyone. “Because my space-alien-creature costume is going to be the coolest. It’s coming all the way from Hollywood. One of my dad’s clients knew a guy whose uncle was the assistant costume designer on a scary movie. He’s sending me a costume from his latest film—Slimy Space Salamanders from Saturn. I know none of you can beat that, but I’m sure you can come up with something that’s pretty good—if you start thinking about it now!”

“We’ll get right on it,” George told Louie. “As soon as we stop these people from buying Julianna’s house on Friday.”

Louie shook his head. “Your stupid idea will never work. Nobody believes in haunted houses anymore. And nobody believes in ghosts, either.”

“Sure they do,” Julianna shot back. “My house is filled with masks that people from all around the world have made to scare away evil spirits, including ghosts.”

“None of those were made in Beaver Brook,” Louie told her. “Because no one in Beaver Brook believes in evil spirits.”

George opened his mouth to argue with Louie. But then he stopped. Unfortunately, Louie had a point. And to make things worse, there was a point that even Louie hadn’t brought up. What if the masks thought the made-up ghosts were real? Would they do something to scare the fake ghosts away?

Oh no. No way. George was not going to start thinking about that. Not now. This wasn’t the time to think bad thoughts.

Unless of course you were Louie. He didn’t seem to have any trouble thinking bad thoughts. “Face it, Julianna,” Louie continued. “You’re moving. But there’s a bright side.”

Julianna scowled angrily and glared at him. “What bright side?” she demanded.

“Your last memory of Beaver Brook will be my party,” Louie told her. “The best party ever. Of course it can’t be your going-away party, because it’s my Halloween party. But still, you will always remember it because of its awesomeness.”

“Wrong, Louie,” George told him.

“Are you saying my party won’t be awesome?” Louie demanded angrily.

“No. I’m saying it won’t be Julianna’s last party in Beaver Brook,” George told him. “Because Julianna isn’t going anywhere. Her parents aren’t going to sell her house. Our plan is going to work.”

“I sure hope so,” Julianna told him. “My whole life depends on it.”