It was a long walk to Boone’s house. Every so often, Nogg stopped to sniff the air, making sure that no Humans were around.
They crossed Ripple Worm River by leaping from rock to rock where the river ran shallow. Mostly, though, they kept to the thickest part of the woods, walking without making a sound, as only Sasquatches can. Once, they even snuck up on a deer and her fawn as the pair were nibbling on buds from a tree. Hugo came so close to the deer that he reached out and petted the fawn’s spotted back. The mother deer snorted in surprise but didn’t run—animals know that Sasquatches won’t hurt them.
“Nogg,” Hugo said in his quietest voice when they were deep in the woods, “there’s something I’ve been wondering about.”
“What?” Nogg asked. He spoke in a voice so quiet that if you heard it, you would have thought it was just the sound of leaves stirring in the wind.
“Why did your clan have to leave your cavern so quickly?”
“I don’t think I should tell you,” Nogg said. “You might get scared.”
“Not me,” Hugo said stoutly.
For a moment Nogg was silent. Then he whispered, “Do you believe in ghosts, Hugo?”
Hugo was not sure that he did believe in ghosts. But he was not sure that he didn’t believe in them, either.
“I might believe in them,” he said.
“Well, Craggy Cavern was haunted,” Nogg said. “That’s why we left.”
“Shhh.”
“But how did you know it was haunted?” Hugo asked in a quieter voice.
“Well, about a month ago, our old cavern flooded, so we moved into Craggy Cavern. It was fine at first. But then strange things started happening. Stuff would go missing. My dad couldn’t find his whittling knife, and Mrs. Wikpik’s bracelet disappeared. My Ranger Scout sash with all my merit badges disappeared, too. If you were eating your lunch and walked away, your lunch would be gone when you came back.”
“Rats?” suggested Hugo.
“That’s what we thought at first. But then things got stranger. We started seeing an eerie blue light floating through dark passages and then vanishing.”
Hugo felt a shiver on his neck. “The ghost,” he murmured.
Nogg nodded. “Then came the weird sounds. We would suddenly hear this knocking sound. And right after the knocking, something bad would happen. One time, a stalactite in the school lunchroom fell and almost hit someone. Another time, a loose rock fell from a ledge during recess and broke a teacher’s foot.”
That shivery feeling on Hugo’s neck traveled down his back. He looked behind him, then all around. The woods suddenly felt very wild and sinister. He remembered what his mother had said—that anything could happen in the Big Wide World . . . and not good anythings.
“Then yesterday,” Nogg continued, “while we were sitting in class, we heard it again. Knock, knock, knock. Everyone got quiet. We knew something bad was about to happen. Even our teacher looked scared. Suddenly we heard a rumble, and we all jumped out of our seats a second before the back wall caved in. A big chunk of rock landed right on my desk and smashed it to bits. If I hadn’t jumped up in time . . .” Nogg shook his head grimly. “We left Craggy Cavern right then and there, before something even worse happened.”
All of a sudden, Nogg stopped walking. Crouching down, he squinted suspiciously through the trees, sniffing at the air.
“What is it?” Hugo whispered hoarsely, feeling a rush of panic.
“Right there.” Nogg pointed.
With his heart thumping in his chest, Hugo peered through the thick tangle of trees and brush. Nestled by the riverbank was a little blue house with a red roof.
They had arrived at Boone’s place.
