Just as the front door started to shut behind us, Mara twirled around and caught it.
She pulled a chopstick from her hair and placed it between the door and the frame.
“We want to be able to run out of here if the ghost attacks us,” she said.
“Good idea,” said Brian. “It took me a whole hour to get out of my house once.”
We all looked at him.
“Did you forget where the door was?” Kelly asked.
“No. I knew where it was.”
“Then why did it take you an hour to get out of your house?” Mara asked.
“My mom wouldn’t let me play outside until I finished my homework,” he said. “It took me a whole hour.”
As we stared at Brian, I realized that he was talking extra goofy because he was scared.
I realized that I was scared, too.
“Flashlight time,” said Mara. She flicked on her blue one, but I guess it was mostly for style, because it didn’t light up very much.
“Sparky,” I said. He trotted over and I flicked on his collar light, too.
Brian took out his big magnifying glass. “Now let’s bust some ghosts!” he said.
As Sparky sniffed around and his tiny collar light moved with him, we made out a big room. It was old and dusty. A few pieces of furniture—a chair, a floor lamp, a short table—were all covered with sheets.
“They look like ghosts,” said Mara.
“Sheets keep dust off the furniture,” I said.
“What’s going to keep the dust off us?” asked Kelly. “You know I’m allergic.…”
She suddenly cupped her hands over her mouth and nose. “Ah … ah … choooooo!”
Oooo … ooo!
We froze where we stood.
“The ghost!” Brian whispered.
“Or just an echo,” said Kelly.
The echo faded. I took a deep breath. “Joey saw a blob in the parlor,” I said. “Let’s find the parlor.”
We crept step by step to one door and opened it. There was another door behind it. We opened that. There, we found a hallway with a door at the end. We went through it.
“This house is a maze,” said Mara.
“Ing,” said Brian. “Amaz—ing.”
Sparky snorted a sneeze. “Ah-Goof!”
“I’m going to draw the layout of these rooms,” I said, opening my cluebook. “So we can find our way out. This house is scary.”
“We have Joey to thank for that,” said Brian. “Instead of a ghost he should have seen a green pepper, like I said in the word game. A green pepper is not scary at all. Plus if you eat one, it’s good for you. But you know what’s not good for you? A ghost. Especially a floating blobby one like Lavinia Hyde.…”
“Is … someone … there?”
A voice echoed from wall to wall and door to door, and we stopped dead.
“That was not a sneeze,” I said.
“It’s Lavinia Hyde!” whispered Mara.
“I’m in here!” the voice echoed.
We were just about to run out of the house when the thumping started.
Thump! Thump!
“Just like Joey heard!” Mara gasped. “It’s coming from the haunted parlor!”
“It’s probably just the plumbing,” said Kelly.
“There is no plumbing!” I said. “No one’s lived in this house for years.…”
Thump! Thump!
“Except the ghost of Lavinia Hyde!” cried Brian, heading back for the front door.
“Goofballs, look,” Kelly insisted, grabbing Brian by the sleeve. “The only mystery is what Joey saw. And if we don’t solve that, we may never get another case.”
With that, she took Mara’s flashlight, yanked open the nearest door, and marched into the darkness. The door closed behind her.
I stared at Brian and Mara. “I don’t know if Kelly’s right, but we have to follow her.”
“Not without a ghost-trapping trap,” Brian said. “Good thing I brought a net with me.”
Mara looked around. “Annette who? I don’t see her.”
“No, no,” he said. “A net. I brought a net with me. Understand? A net!”
Mara frowned. “I still don’t see her.”
All at once, Kelly screamed a blood-tingling scream from behind the parlor door.
“Akkkkkk!”
“The ghost of Lavinia Hyde got her!” said Brian. He fell to his knees. “Don’t let her take me! I’m too young to be an ex-person!”
We threw open the parlor door. Then the second parlor door. Then the third parlor door. Finally we were in the parlor.
And there it was. A white blob, floating across the beam of the flashlight Kelly was holding.
“Look!” Kelly said. “It’s … it’s …”
“Now do you believe in ghosts?” said Brian.
But the moment we tried to go to Kelly, the flashlight hit the floor and—wham!—so did we.
All at once, there was a puff of cold air, a tiny squeak, and a faint gasp.
By the time Mara picked up the flashlight, Kelly had vanished!
