“AHHH!” yelled Teddy.

“AHHH!” yelled Jack.

“AHHH!” yelled Annie.

Still screaming, they all ran toward the door. The bone came after them.

Teddy led the way as they tore through the archway and scrambled up the winding staircase.

Jack looked behind them.

“It’s still coming!” he shrieked.

“AHHH!” they all screamed again.

On the next landing, Teddy charged into a nearby room.

“Make haste!” he yelled.

He pulled Jack and Annie into the room and slammed the door behind them. Out of breath, they all leaned against the door, panting and trembling.

“Safe—” Teddy gasped. “Safe from the bone!” Then he started laughing.

Jack laughed, too. He laughed out of sheer terror. He couldn’t stop.

“Listen, guys! Listen!” said Annie. “I hear a noise!”

Teddy stopped laughing. Jack clapped his hand over his mouth. He listened. He heard a faint clicking sound, but he couldn’t see anything.

Teddy used the fire from his lantern to light torches near the door. Then they all looked about.

“Looks like a nursery,” said Teddy.

The torchlight showed a kids’ room. The room had three small beds. Wooden toys were scattered across the floor. A long white curtain fluttered from an open window.

The clicking noise seemed to be coming from a dark corner.

“What is that?” whispered Annie. She started toward the noise.

Jack and Teddy followed her. Teddy held up his lantern. His light shone on a child-sized spinning wheel. It sat in the corner near a basket of wool and a tall, dusty mirror.

The spinning wheel was spinning thread. But no one was touching it. It was spinning all by itself.

“Look!” whispered Annie.

She pointed to a low table near the spinning wheel. On the table was a chessboard. Large wooden chess pieces sat on the squares of the board.

But some of the pieces weren’t just sitting!

As Jack, Annie, and Teddy watched, a horse piece slid slowly from one square to another. Then a queen piece did the same!

“Yikes!” said Annie.

“Ghosts!” said Teddy.

“Let’s get out of here!” said Jack.

They bolted across the room. Teddy threw open the door. The white bone was hanging in the air, right outside the door!

“AHHH!” they all screamed.

Teddy slammed the door shut. They huddled together, afraid to leave and afraid to stay. Jack’s heart was beating wildly. He couldn’t breathe.

“I—I thought you weren’t afraid of ghosts!” he said to Teddy, gasping.

“Yes, well, I believe I just discovered that I am!” said Teddy.

“What’ll we do?” said Jack.

“A rhyme—a rhyme,” said Teddy. He gave Annie his lantern. He threw out his arms and started a rhyme:

Spirits of the earth and air!

He looked at Jack and Annie. “Quick, what rhymes with air?”

“Bear!” said Jack.

Teddy shook his head. “I fear a bear might make things worse.”

Jack tried hard to think of a better word to rhyme with air.

“Wait a minute!” said Annie. “I get it now! I get it!” She grinned at Jack and Teddy.

Has she lost her mind? Jack wondered.

“Remember what old Maggie said?” asked Annie. Then she recited:

“Where is the girl
who spins wool into thread?”

Annie pointed at the spinning wheel in the corner. “There she is!” she said. “She’s spinning at that wheel.”

Annie recited more:

“Where are the boys
who play chess before bed?”

Annie pointed at the chess table. “There they are!” she said. “They’re probably her brothers! They’re playing chess!”

She recited more:

“Where is the hound
who waits to be fed?”

Annie threw open the door to the nursery.

The bone was still hanging in the air. Jack and Teddy jumped back in fear.

“Don’t be afraid!” said Annie. “It’s just a dog—a hound! He’s carrying a bone in his mouth. Don’t you see? The girl, the boys, the hound—they’re all here! They’re just invisible!”