Chapter 7

In English, Madeleine whispered to Kayley, “Where are we going to be hunting this ‘ghost’?”

Kayley shrugged. “Ophelia loves to be dramatic.”

As if she could hear them from the other side of the room, Ophelia squinted at them. Kayley pulled out a Tootsie Pop and gnawed on it.

“Do you think there are ghosts here?”

“Something is weird here. I don’t know what it is, but this place isn’t right. I don’t know if it’s a ghost, but I know something feels strange.”

Madeleine nodded. “I felt that way my very first night.”

At that moment, Mr. Barnes appeared in the doorway with Ms. Jamison, both of them staring at each other intently.

Kayley pointed at them with the Tootsie Pop. “We can’t even keep teachers here. Both of those guys are new, and so is our physics teacher.”

Mr. Barnes and Ms. Jamison seemed to be arguing with each other, Ms. Jamison throwing her hands up and Mr. Barnes shaking his head. Madeleine kept one eye on them, feeling a little protective of Mr. Barnes, and said, “Do you think Mr. Barnes is OK? He seems so nice, but he looks, like strung out.”

Mr. Barnes walked in the room as Madeleine finished her sentence.

Before Kayley turned back around, she said, “Yeah, he’s my favorite teacher here. But he definitely seems strung out. We’ll have to solve that mystery after we catch the ghost! … So Ophelia told you where to meet tonight, right?”

Madeleine shook her head.

“Duh. She probably doesn’t have your number yet. She texted us. Which is kind of dumb because texts don’t go through the walls of this place most of the time. The reception is all wonky. Anyway, we’re meeting at the end of the hall on the second floor. By those French doors.”

Madeleine shivered. She remembered the doors and echoes of running footsteps behind them.

“What time?”

“What other time?” Kayley grinned. “Midnight, of course.”

Just then, Mr. Barnes said, “All right, class. Let’s jump into some Poe. As you know, he was obsessed with death, and most of his poetry reflects this. But who doesn’t like a little bit of death on a fall afternoon?”

The class laughed a little, and Mr. Barnes’s eyes twinkled. Even so, Madeleine still thought he looked like death warmed over. His eyes were red rimmed, and his nose had that same raw look underneath as before. He looked tired. They would definitely have to figure out what was going on with him next. Madeleine knew good teachers were hard to come by.

Nothing in this place was normal, Madeleine thought. Then she chuckled to herself. Instead of running away, she was going hunting for danger. At midnight.

When the clock struck 11:56, Madeleine’s nerves hit an all-time high. At dinner, she’d sat with Kayley, Emma, Sophie, and Ophelia, and they’d formulated a barebones plan.

Meet at midnight at the end of the hall.

Make sure no hall monitors were out.

Bring a flashlight.

Wear a sweatshirt.

Bring a phone in case of emergency.

Bring chalk.

Madeleine double-checked her bag. She had everything.

When she’d asked Ophelia during dinner why they needed chalk, Ophelia said, “In case we need to write arrows to figure out the way back.”

Kayley, in what Madeleine was beginning to consider her signature move, rolled her eyes again. “God, Ophelia, it’s just the basement. We’re not exploring caves or anything.”

“It’s the deep basement, Kayley, not the props basement,” Ophelia had replied. “I’m talking boiler room. I’ve seen the stairs on the far side of the props room.”

Sophie chimed in, “Why are we going to the boiler-room basement?”

Then it had been Ophelia’s turn to roll her eyes. “Because, where else would a ghost hide?”

Emma shook her head. “I’m not so sure …”

“Look, it’s not going to hurt to check it out, right?” Ophelia pleaded. “And anyway, it will give us some adventure. We can figure out a hiding place down there or something if we need it.” Her eyes flashed. “Plus, how secret agent will this be?”

Kayley snorted. “Yeah. Fun.”

Ophelia glared at her. “Then don’t come.”

Kayley shrugged. Madeleine had been able to tell there was no way she’d miss this adventure. “I should come just so you losers don’t get into trouble.”

Madeleine had to hide a smile. She could almost feel Ophelia’s need for some sort of action. And why would it hurt to go exploring? Besides the expulsion that would obviously take place if they got caught …

Madeleine shook off that thought. Anyway, if their stolen things weren’t in the basement, maybe they’d be in the prop room. Besides, she really wanted to see what all the school held. And she had friends now. No way was she giving that up.

“So, midnight then?” she said to Ophelia.

“Midnight. Bring the stuff we talked about. And no telling anyone about this. It’s just for us.”

As the clock moved to 11:57, Madeleine wondered if she’d made the right decision.

She took a deep breath and patted her bag. “Well, it’s too late to duck out now,” she said. “Time to hunt a ghost.”

And then she stepped out the door into the dark, endless hallway, toward the door of her nightmares.