“Hello,” I squeak. I clear my throat. “Hello.”
“Sherry!” The Ruler says fast and high. “Is Amber still there?”
“Amber?” I’m confused.
“See if she can bring you and Junie home.”
“See if Amber can bring me and Junie home?” I repeat like a just-woke-up, clueless person.
“Why?” Junie says to me.
“Why?” I parrot into the phone.
“It’s my car.” Now The Ruler’s voice is shaky. “The tires, Sherry. Someone slashed my tires.”
“Someone slashed your tires?” I’m squeaking again.
Junie’s eyes are round as hubcaps.
Polly’s eyes are fixed on me.
“With a knife?” I say. “Did they slash them with a knife?”
“That would be my guess.” The Ruler takes a rattly breath. “Right now I’m waiting at home for the police to show up.”
Junie’s on her cell, texting Amber. She gives me a thumbs-up.
“It works for Amber,” I tell The Ruler.
“Good, good,” she says.
“Why don’t you have a cup of that chamomile tea stuff. That’s the calming one, right?” I say. “And call Dad.”
Of course, now is the time my dad picks to be out of town. Right when freaky-deaky things are happening. Like stalkers going after The Ruler. Like psychic readings coming true. Like car tires getting slashed.
I slowly press the End button. “Polly, who slashed the tires?”
“I don’t know. I’m sorry.” She really does look sorry. “I told you exactly what I was seeing. You know everything I know.”
Junie pokes me in the side. “We better meet up with Amber.”
Suddenly, I feel in a hurry to get home. I wanna check out the tire situation and The Ruler. “Where is Amber?” I stand and push in my chair.
Her eyebrows up in a question, Junie looks at Polly. “At a ghost hunter’s booth. Where’s that?”
“The other side of the park. In a tent. Kitty-corner to here.” Polly stands. She hands me her business card. “Sherry, you need to be careful.”
“Whaddya mean?”
“I didn’t see anything specific. Just this general dark cloud of danger around you.” Polly moves her chair. “You’re not psychic. But you’ve got something, Sherry. You know it, right?”
I shrug. “Yeah.”
“Call me if you need me.” Polly touches my shoulder.
“Come on.” Junie grabs my hand and we take off through the exhibits, dodging people and tables. We jog past the food tent to one with a handwritten sign: THE GHOST HUNTER.
Inside the tent, Amber, Dana and a guy are huddled over a table. Their backs are to us.
The guy says, “It’s a gaussmeter. Brand-new and very expensive. I use it to determine paranormal presences when I’m on a ghost call.”
“Amber,” Junie calls.
The three of them straighten and turn around.
Can you say “Cutie-Pie Ghost Hunter”? No wonder Amber’s hanging out here. Mr. Ghost Hunter’s the most adorable older guy in history. He’s, like, twenty and very Hollywood, with blond-brown hair and piercing dark eyes. Granted, the whole ghost-hunter persona is bizarro, but you kind of forget about that when you’re looking at him.
He glides over to us. “I’m Zane.”
He shakes our hands. Too odd. I mean, we’re thirteen. Usually twenty-year-olds ignore us. “What can I do for you two?” His voice is like fondue chocolate.
“Uh, nothing.” Junie looks around him to Amber. His cuteness is not sidetracking her. “Amber, let’s go. You gotta take us to Sherry’s house.”
Smoothing out her T-shirt, Amber steps toward Zane. “What’s the rush? The tires are already wrecked.”
Junie shakes her head with impatience. “The rush is you need to drive us back to Sherry’s before you and Dana go to the movies.”
“Movies?” Amber says, ogling Zane like she doesn’t have a boyfriend. Which she does, but she likes to have more than one. That way she always has a guy to hang out with that she’s not tired of. Of course, if she had a high-caliber boyfriend like Josh, she wouldn’t be going for quantity over quality.
Junie’s freckles are 3-D, standing out like they always do when she gets frustrated. “The movie you and Dana are going to. You know, the reason you couldn’t give us a ride home in the first place.”
“Oh, that movie.” Amber sidles up close to Zane. “We’re not going anymore. Instead, we’re learning all about the ghost-hunting business. Right, Dana?”
“I guess.” Dana isn’t smiling.
“I’d really like to get home. I’m kinda worried about The Ruler.” I pull my phone from my pocket and glance at the time. “How about five more minutes here, then we head out?”
Zane springs with enthusiasm back to the table of equipment. He carefully picks up a yellow rectangular box with a plastic handle on top. A rubber hose with a metal end snakes out from the back. Totally reminds me of my old Fisher-Price cassette player + microphone.
“This is a Geiger counter. It scientifically measures electromagnetic radiation,” Zane says. “So I can tell if there’s ghost activity in a particular setting.” He holds it like it’s real gold. “I made it myself.”
Amber’s hanging on his every word. Dana looks less convinced.
Junie’s up close at the table, examining the equipment. “This is the gaussmeter?” She points to a black box about the size of a calculator, but thicker.
Zane carefully lays down the Geiger counter, coiling the hose around its base. He lovingly picks up the gaussmeter. “It is.”
“Is it the same thing as a magnetometer?”
Zane’s eyes open wide in surprise. He’s not used to dealing with people like Junie who’re chock-full of engineering genes. “It is.”
“Can I see what it looks like on?”
“Sure. It’s charged.” He prods the switch to On and the skinny needle on the screen wiggles like a hula dancer, then settles in at zero.
Ack. Eek. Ike. I smell coffee. It’s my mother. Apparently she found the note I left her about the psychic fair. I stuck it under a pile of espresso beans in our usual meeting place, the pear tree in our backyard.
The gaussmeter needle starts hopping.
“I don’t believe it!” Zane says. “We’re showing activity.” He starts striding around the room, the meter cradled in his palm.
On the table, a couple of metal rods clang against each other.
“Grab the Geiger counter!” Zane says to Junie, his voice quivering with excitement.
She picks it up and turns it on. The rubber hose bounces in the air. She grabs it.
“What can I do? What can I do?” Amber’s pogoing up and down, minus the pogo stick.
“Camera!” Zane’s gone bug-eyed. “I haven’t seen activity this strong in a while. Watch for ectoplasmic mist, Amber.” He’s walking toward me.
“Hi, Sherry,” Mom says. “What’s going on?”
I whiz to the corner of the tent, figuring she’ll follow me. I turn my back on everyone. “The equipment’s sensing you, Mom. You gotta get outta here.”
“Dana,” Zane says, “close the flap. Beginner ghosts have trouble with thresholds. Let’s see if we can trap this one in here.”
“What makes you think this is a beginner ghost?” I call over my shoulder, doing my best to not sound defensive.
“Coming here, with all this equipment.” Zane doesn’t even look up from the meter. “A seasoned ghost would know better.”
“I can’t get out.” Mom’s panicking.
“Junie.” I wave her over to me.
As she gets closer, the Geiger counter clicketyclicks like it’s having seizures. Junie’s fighting with the hose, which surges and sways around her face.
“It’s my mom!” I whisper.
She goes still. All it takes is a millisecond. A millisecond of not paying attention to the excited rubber hose.
Whap. It smacks her ear.
“Ow!” Junie yells. She drops the Geiger counter.
I scoop it up before it hits the floor. I turn it off and set it down.
Then I cover my mouth with my hand and, doubled over, race across the room. “Gonna barf. Gonna barf.”
I throw open the tent flap.
Mom whooshes out with a breathy “Catch you later.”
I sink down to the grass; my head flops against my knees. I’m sweating buckets.
Finally, Junie comes out and sits next to me. “You okay, Sherry?”
“That call was too crazy close, Junie. He knew my mom was there. He wanted to trap her. Who knows what he would’ve done to her. Yikes.”
“Your mother needs to stay way far away from Zane and his equipment.” Junie rubs my back. “Definitely.”
Amber and Dana arrive. “You’re not going to throw up in my car, are you?” Amber asks.
That girl has about as much sympathy as a rock. I shake my head. “I’m good now.”
Junie stands and pulls me to my feet.
While we’re driving, Amber says to Dana, “Sherry is, like, Junie’s weirdest friend. You have no idea.”
I don’t even have the energy to tell her to be quiet.
Amber’s plan is to drop me off first, then Junie.
Junie, however, has other ideas.