tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34893908912789388702024-02-07T20:32:16.932-08:00GoosebumpsGabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-26111605141573599512011-09-13T16:43:00.001-07:002011-09-13T16:44:52.176-07:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9JQt_qYRZ2CElMGxqU37t5GZfE733LoHDGl0yjI5FFZWMtT84mfZ4cCawh11SPiquRRLWxOHxUiW5EER4JP8cepzrZulgxeppPUt3pH7AiS03zgRljzQq4_T_-vU3WEMiD-jq3lPUukfP/s1600/goosebumps10-208x300.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 208px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9JQt_qYRZ2CElMGxqU37t5GZfE733LoHDGl0yjI5FFZWMtT84mfZ4cCawh11SPiquRRLWxOHxUiW5EER4JP8cepzrZulgxeppPUt3pH7AiS03zgRljzQq4_T_-vU3WEMiD-jq3lPUukfP/s320/goosebumps10-208x300.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651994207463861890" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(78, 140, 177); font-family: Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(239, 247, 255); ">O décimo livro da coleção, que se chama <em style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Socorro, temos estranhos poderes!</em> está à venda neste site (clique <strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><a href="http://loja.editorafundamento.com.br/lstSearch.aspx?sby=0&dsc=horror" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(63, 110, 157); ">AQUI</a></strong> para conferir) e nas livrarias de todo o país. Os irmãos gêmeos Jillian e Jackson são os protagonistas da história e contam o que acontece quando eles passam a ter superpoderes da noite para o dia. Só que, pelo jeito, isso não é tão legal quanto parece…</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(78, 140, 177); font-family: Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(239, 247, 255); ">Leia</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(78, 140, 177); font-family: Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(239, 247, 255); "> um trecho de <em style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Socorro, temos estranhos poderes</em>.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(78, 140, 177); font-family: Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(239, 247, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: italic; background-color: rgb(114, 152, 189); ">Por trás do vidro havia uma boneca de madeira sentada em frente a uma cortina vermelha. Era uma cartomante velha. Ela estava toda de roxo, com um lenço roxo comprido em cima da peruca preta. Suas bochechas eram de um vermelho bem vivo, seus olhos eram pretos, a pintura estava rachada, e uma das sobrancelhas da boneca estava lascada. A boneca estava inclinada em direção ao vidro. Parecia até que estava olhando diretamente para nós.<br />– Excelente – afirmei. – Vamos ver a nossa sorte. Onde você colocou o dinheiro?<br />Procuramos e achamos uma fenda na lateral da cabine. Jackson encontrou uma moeda no bolso e a enfiou no buraco. Ouvimos um rangido. A boneca de madeira começou a se mexer bem devagar. Madame Maldição piscou os olhos. Sua cabeça girou para trás e, depois, para a frente. Uma mão rosa e pesada surgiu ao lado dela. Uma carta branca deslizou para lá. Aí, devagar… bem devagar… rangendo alto… ela levantou a carta para nós.<br />(…)<br />– A mão dela emperrou – anunciei. – Não vai sair tudo o que tinha que sair.<br />Meu irmão me empurrou para fora do caminho.<br />– Deixe eu tentar.<br />Ele se apoiou na cabine. Em seguida, esticou-se (…) tentando chegar mais longe. Coloquei as mãos nos ombros dele e o empurrei um pouquinho. E… ZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAP!<br />Nós dois soltamos gritos agudos. Todo o meu corpo começou a tremer e a dançar ao sentir uma descarga de choque que me jogou para trás e fez meus braços e minhas pernas ficarem doloridos. Fechei os olhos e mordi a língua.<br />Jackson e eu caímos de joelho. A descarga elétrica havia parado, mas meu corpo todo latejava de dor. Cerrei os punhos. Inspirei o ar várias vezes. Abri os olhos – e vi a cartinha branca se revirando no chão.<br />Consegui ficar de pé, tremendo. Meu coração ainda estava batendo acelerado no peito.<br />– Você está bem? – perguntei para o meu irmão.<br />Ele fez que sim com a cabeça. Depois se levantou e esticou os braços bem para cima.<br />– Nossa, que baita choque – falou. – Mas está tudo bem.<br />Minha mão tremia ao pegar a carta.<br />Leia, Jillian – Jackson pediu. – O que diz aí?<br />Tive que segurar a carta com as duas mãos para ela parar de se mexer. As palavras estavam escritas nelas em letras pretas minúsculas. Li para mim mesma. Depois li em voz alta para o meu irmão.<br />– Bem-vindo ao Parque do Terror.”</span></span></div>Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-5445972641854242522011-09-07T10:35:00.001-07:002011-09-07T10:38:45.036-07:00Novos box de livros goosebumps :<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6XJ94Ngcr7Eg9xRfOB3xlPKmvYsbIIpgTZYBY5rSxlJCRKW6XuYc35JEg9JsarU91tF4JPrlxHSWOasp81CSy8oAJCCT-JtnC_DJ2tA-JqFjB7GD7QUQeBwycMMom03HmOhoU_1gn_bph/s1600/51xsCI9r1jL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6XJ94Ngcr7Eg9xRfOB3xlPKmvYsbIIpgTZYBY5rSxlJCRKW6XuYc35JEg9JsarU91tF4JPrlxHSWOasp81CSy8oAJCCT-JtnC_DJ2tA-JqFjB7GD7QUQeBwycMMom03HmOhoU_1gn_bph/s320/51xsCI9r1jL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649673265140030130" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgllfB0R1bCFUYPn_b4Ec5Nv8CXEva5WLE67arLf1cpS6t-497i7hcedIKulDMgc3RqkZwh2JYdeseKmn4a7W20lwjXGHr-iW5lzZFkHHCtpPCCx0ZUanDRi9X5QSSYEc-dOaZ7LRKfrYe1/s1600/g1.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgllfB0R1bCFUYPn_b4Ec5Nv8CXEva5WLE67arLf1cpS6t-497i7hcedIKulDMgc3RqkZwh2JYdeseKmn4a7W20lwjXGHr-iW5lzZFkHHCtpPCCx0ZUanDRi9X5QSSYEc-dOaZ7LRKfrYe1/s320/g1.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649673020260244162" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ZGfcCm1HBakx5QVyRGFqZHl9YUBwG6RmaAJZ_ecNhUAtXe7e3XsxMlpQtCRSpTfQzAgsjmowWEH3JW_0gTlV2CLRtUrDzbVRdZ5RY8w6Yu92nborvlvy8Vcm1yMpAeloolPFH1dCLLQ9/s1600/g2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 270px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ZGfcCm1HBakx5QVyRGFqZHl9YUBwG6RmaAJZ_ecNhUAtXe7e3XsxMlpQtCRSpTfQzAgsjmowWEH3JW_0gTlV2CLRtUrDzbVRdZ5RY8w6Yu92nborvlvy8Vcm1yMpAeloolPFH1dCLLQ9/s320/g2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649672961394737138" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxiAIl8TVagKANYINf0ol1WKm5WzndWXWTXo_1_MJP12ZlYumNwwHf5X16_D0n_UBstWrYSeNZoJaGPlsEk2MePL8zR1QLmCrb2xFWaxup7MTPgXm5aROyLfPqERQ0RjD3JGVn4LqPjAD/s1600/g3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxiAIl8TVagKANYINf0ol1WKm5WzndWXWTXo_1_MJP12ZlYumNwwHf5X16_D0n_UBstWrYSeNZoJaGPlsEk2MePL8zR1QLmCrb2xFWaxup7MTPgXm5aROyLfPqERQ0RjD3JGVn4LqPjAD/s320/g3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649672922133601346" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFCDkZ0uJ5LWtXJC1SbzLyOOCDhDN7GP23AI8VpeQk0-jSBVLFKzzM6A9fgAXS9UBPwl32Fm7AHwQPvi6pGUWsVD0ANjcFc8LLAD4tNTVvX1LoOaBD-QJYjMa8nK8N0RT7STw3yRxszOtT/s1600/g4.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFCDkZ0uJ5LWtXJC1SbzLyOOCDhDN7GP23AI8VpeQk0-jSBVLFKzzM6A9fgAXS9UBPwl32Fm7AHwQPvi6pGUWsVD0ANjcFc8LLAD4tNTVvX1LoOaBD-QJYjMa8nK8N0RT7STw3yRxszOtT/s320/g4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649672783668936290" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOyfzC6IEZSd4cVlzc63SVgMcxuSoW7VOgJwVM3lrn8theC0bQpFkv_MvfINEhOKtywLNbR5Z7wZWlkGyoGjai3pUbYsL203teKl7yq8nn3zE_4nPuyGjkIMiCi5-Yo9yXAKHIqd3hyHL7/s1600/g5.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: left;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOyfzC6IEZSd4cVlzc63SVgMcxuSoW7VOgJwVM3lrn8theC0bQpFkv_MvfINEhOKtywLNbR5Z7wZWlkGyoGjai3pUbYsL203teKl7yq8nn3zE_4nPuyGjkIMiCi5-Yo9yXAKHIqd3hyHL7/s320/g5.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649672738389390322" /></a></div>Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-341770986222842592011-08-10T10:04:00.000-07:002011-08-10T10:19:20.988-07:00Pessoal acabei de encontrar 20 livros para daownload :<div>São 20 livros da coleção confira a lista abaixo :<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(17, 34, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" ></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>Welcome to Dead House</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); "><i><b>Stay Out of the Basement</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>Monster Blood</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); "><i><b>Say Cheese and Die!</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); "><i><b>Let's Get Invisible!</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>Night of the Living Dummy</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); "><i><b>The Girl Who Cried Monster</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>Welcome to Camp Nightmare</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); "><i><b>The Ghost Next Door</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>The Haunted<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunted_Mask" title="The Haunted Mask" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(6, 69, 173); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "> </a>Mask</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>Piano Lessons Can Be Murder</b></i></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><b>The Werewolf of fever swamp
<br /></b></i></span></span><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>You Can't Scare Me!</b></i></span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); "><i><b>One Day at HorrorLand</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>Why I'm Afraid of Bees</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); "><i><b>Monster Blood II</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>Deep Trouble</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); "><i><b>The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>Go Eat Worms!</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); "><i><b>Ghost Beach</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>Return of the Mummy</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); "><i><b>Phantom of the Auditorium</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>Attack of the Mutant</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>Monster Blood III</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>Night of the Living Dummy II</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); "><i><b>The Barking Ghost</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>The Horror at Camp Jellyjam</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); "><i><b>The Haunted Mask II</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); "><i><b>Egg Monsters from Mars</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); "><i><b>The Beast from the East</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(17, 34, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?xydnjcdmmoz" target="_blank">http://www.mediafire.com/?xydnjcdmmoz</a></span></span></div><div>
<br /></div>Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-65101518326918111172011-07-16T13:51:00.000-07:002011-07-16T13:55:42.644-07:00Goosebumps Horrorland Hall of horrors # 5:Don’t Scream e , Goosebumps Horrorland Hall of horrors # 6: The Birthday Party of no return.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia2JeZB_IDJ2TskZdqMDJW17vta5h-IxWZ-Oba_bcRYZaHU6oa_ZYzyr-ws5I9wsjqzkZUJ_WV_zN6gwnfD_afIgzAYYXU3Pi0TcenvuTQgOI2QeWHdQ2XseM4oD5FyWKJ0HcMxFGDaJQx/s1600/97805452893821.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 219px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia2JeZB_IDJ2TskZdqMDJW17vta5h-IxWZ-Oba_bcRYZaHU6oa_ZYzyr-ws5I9wsjqzkZUJ_WV_zN6gwnfD_afIgzAYYXU3Pi0TcenvuTQgOI2QeWHdQ2XseM4oD5FyWKJ0HcMxFGDaJQx/s320/97805452893821.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630056350717689490" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(122, 122, 122); font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; "># 6 : Lee Hargrove deseja em seu aniversário ter a mesma sorte que seu amigo Cory Duckworth. Cory é o garoto mais sortudo do planeta. Ele até conseguiu que a Laura Groden, a garota que Lee tem uma queda, saísse com ele. Mas tudo bem, tudo o que o Lee quer mesmo na vida é uma bolsa para o Acampamento de Esportes de Verão, mas ele terá que competir com Cory e Laura. Mas então Lee recebe um amuleto da sorte, uma garra de abutre, mas ela além de não trazer sorte, esta trazendo azar para Lee. Lee tenta dar o amuleto para Cory mas ele não aceita. O que será que vai acontecer?</span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo71MEmO7HrGR-rgX39g9NiYq3_rsJF23BKfoOuF3ysgnqTtP9kD-8E6OhPW8lR1Ke25V1peJlnv9B_EvB8kM5ThgXD81iVw58nNTjLAPM8Y8UPlLHM43JzUr6hiPd_rxNeULMKBREGZ9Y/s1600/tscream1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 221px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo71MEmO7HrGR-rgX39g9NiYq3_rsJF23BKfoOuF3ysgnqTtP9kD-8E6OhPW8lR1Ke25V1peJlnv9B_EvB8kM5ThgXD81iVw58nNTjLAPM8Y8UPlLHM43JzUr6hiPd_rxNeULMKBREGZ9Y/s320/tscream1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630055969469363490" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(122, 122, 122); font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; "># 5 : </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(122, 122, 122); font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; ">Jack Harmon encontra um telefone celular no ônibus escolar. Ele levanta o telefone ao ouvido e ouve a voz de uma menina: ”.. Olá, Jack Não grite Eu estive esperando por você Eu sou seu novo amigo..”Jack acha que é uma piada. Ele tenta terminar a chamada, em seguida, desligar o telefone, mas a voz da menina não vai embora: ”. Não me faça ficar irritada, Jack estou avisando”.Jack fica perplexo e um pouco assustado. Ele deve obedecê-la todos os desejos. Ela aparece em todos os tipos de dispositivos eletrônicos, ele não pode escapar dela. ”Não grite, Jack. Eu sou apenas uma voz. Mas você vai ser o meu corpo.”Ela começa a forçá-lo a fazer coisas perigosas, como roubar uma laptop da escola. Mas Jack finalmente engana a voz quando ela pula no seu relógio de pulso. E ele entrega o relógio para o valentão da sua escola. O que será que vai acontecer?</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(122, 122, 122); font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; "><br /></span></div>Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-79827609645717977932011-06-27T12:54:00.000-07:002011-06-27T12:56:59.621-07:00Goosebumps Download :<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; "><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial; "><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; ">Primeira Temporada - Completa -</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; "> <a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ELBTRRGV" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); text-decoration: none; ">Download</a></span></div><div style="font-family: arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">Segunda Temporada - Completa - <b><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XSUKU97P" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); text-decoration: none; ">Download</a></b></span></div><div style="font-family: arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">Terceira Temporada - Completa - BREVE</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; ">Quarta </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; ">Temporada - Completa - BREVE</span>Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-73730719399056878542011-06-08T14:00:00.001-07:002011-06-08T14:04:42.947-07:00Otimas Noticias.Lançamento Goosebumps Horrorland 8 e 9:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSWiEWRmPcMWuMRlpwbvHF1qmh-EFMc_qyGuH8_dTKvVlEfg-Fxvs_IcGgrIqe_plDrxqtm2qQoWS0tkOAmMC8VLQaWGJK1YIbWdPoX-oPGM5ME5sT624DVZflHbfucLnJ7P0tequ8R3nZ/s1600/goosebumps09.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 221px; height: 318px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSWiEWRmPcMWuMRlpwbvHF1qmh-EFMc_qyGuH8_dTKvVlEfg-Fxvs_IcGgrIqe_plDrxqtm2qQoWS0tkOAmMC8VLQaWGJK1YIbWdPoX-oPGM5ME5sT624DVZflHbfucLnJ7P0tequ8R3nZ/s320/goosebumps09.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615957236026033522" /></a>Confira um trecho :<br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; ">"SABE aquela ansiedade que não deixa você ficar parado? Que o faz ter vontade de sair pulando, correr por aí ou fazer uma dancinha maluca?<br />Era isso que eu sentia enquanto embarcava no ônibus do acampamento. É, eu e a Heather, minha irmã, estávamos completamente empolgados.<br />A gente adora ir para acampamentos de verão passar um tempo ao ar livre e ficar com outras crianças – sem pais por perto. Eu e a Heather gostamos muito de animais e de aprender coisas sobre<br />insetos, cobras e todos os tipos de criaturas.<br />Nós temos dois coelhos numa jaula que fica atrás da garagem. E também um hamster, uma tartaruga e dois cachorros – Rusty e Max –, um para cada um, embora os dois gostem mais da Heather do que de mim.<br />O Acampamento Verdejante deve ser um ótimo acampamento de natureza selvagem. Bom, pelo menos foi isso que a minha mãe e o meu pai disseram. Então, eu e a Heather estávamos animados."</span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXdZoT0vX92PddM87k7yRZrKDBgigdy3LdSwX0_YD7ZFwMNfHCzAxHWhhGprnEWhyphenhyphenbBM63mlB4zxrAb69q7LjE6fHZXVQIFLxZjKZLL57P98QkFWC92AIDxw7vWQ-2ce5XqYUfQ4xk28Lp/s1600/goosebumps8.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 221px; height: 318px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXdZoT0vX92PddM87k7yRZrKDBgigdy3LdSwX0_YD7ZFwMNfHCzAxHWhhGprnEWhyphenhyphenbBM63mlB4zxrAb69q7LjE6fHZXVQIFLxZjKZLL57P98QkFWC92AIDxw7vWQ-2ce5XqYUfQ4xk28Lp/s320/goosebumps8.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615956951253624338" /></a>Confira um trecho :<br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; ">"TUDO BEM. Não foi uma explosão. Alguns segundos depois, comecei a enxergar novamente. E a imagem do David Blank foi se formando na minha frente. Ele estava ao lado do Webb, com a câmera levantada e um sorriso malicioso na sua cara de cenoura. – Aprenda direitinho, Julie – ele falou. – É assim que se pega alguém de surpresa. Ficou uma ótima foto espontânea. – David, você quase me deixou cega! – gritei, ainda vendo flashes brancos. O garoto olhava para a telinha na parte de trás da câmera. – Você tem que ver a sua expressão! – berrou, mostrando a foto para o Webb. – Parece até um monstro de filme de terror! Você é que é um monstro de filme de terror! – devolvi furiosa."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Dá vontade de ler mais, né? Então, não perca tempo gritando até morrer nem rastejando! Basta clicar <strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><a href="http://loja.editorafundamento.com.br/lstSearch.aspx?sby=0&dsc=horrorland" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(8, 89, 132); text-decoration: none; border-bottom-color: rgb(43, 62, 91); ">AQUI</a></strong> para entrar no site da Fundamento e adquirir esses lançamentos, que também estão disponíveis nas melhores livrarias.<br />Temos certeza de que, nos próximos dias, vocês vão ficar muito ocupados com a leitura desses livros.Bons pesadelos!!!</span></span></div></div>Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-54039275414749881082011-05-29T13:56:00.000-07:002011-05-29T14:15:35.067-07:00Brindes oferecidos na compra dos livros nos EUA :<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdBIWP8yk2Lotc1L3AUxh6qJf0YywxeT3saNsEJ8r7-XnCPG9nniDEO_i7tXFaBA1gV239ZmH7ptEjCn7L_lMX99nob5Au2-vkX1yQhb4t6JZWK6KK025fIO9GFA1uLFUlVqLAMsCfOoUS/s1600/goosebumpssmall.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 176px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdBIWP8yk2Lotc1L3AUxh6qJf0YywxeT3saNsEJ8r7-XnCPG9nniDEO_i7tXFaBA1gV239ZmH7ptEjCn7L_lMX99nob5Au2-vkX1yQhb4t6JZWK6KK025fIO9GFA1uLFUlVqLAMsCfOoUS/s320/goosebumpssmall.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612249719321234674" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyd_P-dVedZPqXs_0he1tMRZA2sdsD9Oa3cZm6ctg6HfWMQ6NGu5QSmzUpqO9yWr_vinQY672fhYS4YQN9hicG98hQ7mfuST-PXU0dtdTcKpsk1tNF3C7PjUkGdvGhH3XJxsqV3-VGCryX/s1600/Goosebumps-HorrorLand-7.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 226px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyd_P-dVedZPqXs_0he1tMRZA2sdsD9Oa3cZm6ctg6HfWMQ6NGu5QSmzUpqO9yWr_vinQY672fhYS4YQN9hicG98hQ7mfuST-PXU0dtdTcKpsk1tNF3C7PjUkGdvGhH3XJxsqV3-VGCryX/s320/Goosebumps-HorrorLand-7.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612249672507196706" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsiiclmuNQj5jG5c1Yd7apu60yXVkmkIVA-cBsjVq2ww2HqdgIhJVKpONg5PKyvRsRHq2hL6joNfX4Wk0NPbrgq4lqPxPfaA4AxM9aaH8HKJvzkgiCVXnDdR7YFIq8YH6pUcchYxsns-sM/s1600/Goosebumps_terror_in_the_graveyardsmall.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 174px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsiiclmuNQj5jG5c1Yd7apu60yXVkmkIVA-cBsjVq2ww2HqdgIhJVKpONg5PKyvRsRHq2hL6joNfX4Wk0NPbrgq4lqPxPfaA4AxM9aaH8HKJvzkgiCVXnDdR7YFIq8YH6pUcchYxsns-sM/s320/Goosebumps_terror_in_the_graveyardsmall.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612249616321691746" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXF972lMkwqBnL96KdQQyrp2Da8CBZeoUwUagVAWFmujTlJYsQ0t4vGF-NWHvQccQdL2jk6ea8oU_ulvDrI2S8LJ6dOD9XKefM0VAKTROvc-xScDC17R0Ee19BmFfHGdRXhW8d71gMpRr/s1600/C%25C3%25B3pia+de+814yOPe8N2L._AA1500_.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXF972lMkwqBnL96KdQQyrp2Da8CBZeoUwUagVAWFmujTlJYsQ0t4vGF-NWHvQccQdL2jk6ea8oU_ulvDrI2S8LJ6dOD9XKefM0VAKTROvc-xScDC17R0Ee19BmFfHGdRXhW8d71gMpRr/s320/C%25C3%25B3pia+de+814yOPe8N2L._AA1500_.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612249527377247234" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2i9SPUHIln3YTQK3bD_HZtdlJplYRzYGtw5QKAuabi5lgX2kyZ_D1OmYh5HKKdTm06jmUeSIzYOW_KI9RAsjVXz9LDWml925-L5oxY0uW487Z10t-38QRxzVv41XLR054b2OZLxfx6BQg/s1600/1155501402-00.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; 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margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0KKHiM8mlmFfugnTRPWHMbJl0WJgTPw6VnWtTVGc_KvHGFoV1s31VDOiCiqMg6lsQDItFMoBRHCMF63jx9C4QppmDzhargv-8EIkr2_as3zZeTk0PXMO75Eucgg_0BGkeWGBOXs9eTIJu/s320/918b1Pg80sL._AA1500_.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612249297025870002" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimCROqYGhv6JhyphenhyphenmmCXq7NoqcF5IV9oey0afaGcBJvwDRCWm12F0UvqEL1WGFZM5bYz2oNj5XOzGkELqFTqAjPYVnwOP4H55kjkHxU02jsZAc4e3s-gSxkS2GDeqdTB8PVyfGaaw46F738Y/s1600/812xLMheCwL._AA1340_+%25281%2529.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimCROqYGhv6JhyphenhyphenmmCXq7NoqcF5IV9oey0afaGcBJvwDRCWm12F0UvqEL1WGFZM5bYz2oNj5XOzGkELqFTqAjPYVnwOP4H55kjkHxU02jsZAc4e3s-gSxkS2GDeqdTB8PVyfGaaw46F738Y/s320/812xLMheCwL._AA1340_+%25281%2529.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612249232235565282" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_8fDa5FaEetfkTVjFpauYJLiMnt9twjx6ZoHao9lipWaUbgQJZzGOYwKnQPnKgbuAu8tGKYmin0RAzCVucQ_9fiu6Zbomr-_YFmR8umASKQOlNdJrgHJdxq2gvmjvlZbeSQ2S0N5hR-l/s1600/812xLMheCwL._AA1340_.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; 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margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz6RGvMhRI9sbaPdl4H3FONsvY7rDsazEfD-SU7D949vaVgB7EtFntkfwupnOSOaYLZSXsyuE_OrOynsm6ddDBAhcBq10hOWpK9oibFYR_pvdqQkTQIPwsNiJ0RbsqcVAJFyBU-0Ghcapz/s320/61-0lfVuseL.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612248711762423394" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVtYuoln3Z_mrvswZytUDQhWDanCpMg3U33LwRo6gWvvnxml2_ZEEr6ligV5DECwxhhbg9BEOl0K3gR7-G7asulOYYCM8A1IZM9YFwGuve1_upaK1G361F_zulTF2Edjpe4StYsNg-72_S/s1600/g6.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVtYuoln3Z_mrvswZytUDQhWDanCpMg3U33LwRo6gWvvnxml2_ZEEr6ligV5DECwxhhbg9BEOl0K3gR7-G7asulOYYCM8A1IZM9YFwGuve1_upaK1G361F_zulTF2Edjpe4StYsNg-72_S/s320/g6.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612245777827956402" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipf9aKzKPhiT6aBNtz8NUahuWEdJkV6Jwfy4urC0nSfNMkadFaGJqtWuISLxuE90C4e4KbUdIbtcCQhO68NJ1Z3iXQ504hT5V74EknHr7WtV76ZVqU4T2ogK7Xee8DOWMU0_gA22eDeUJ-/s1600/g5.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipf9aKzKPhiT6aBNtz8NUahuWEdJkV6Jwfy4urC0nSfNMkadFaGJqtWuISLxuE90C4e4KbUdIbtcCQhO68NJ1Z3iXQ504hT5V74EknHr7WtV76ZVqU4T2ogK7Xee8DOWMU0_gA22eDeUJ-/s320/g5.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612245719244468930" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinG3nymdQ0gi1ZY__nQ-98F0TZALeJT73ZktdE-lLaON-_Qg9lesJpzMKhtQ3tryLIfkNAPeazRwe9hECCgKX1cBJtir0cK5KjFA2g3FDWEFlfR2dGWWfZE10wdfLaKzqbYX6YVqvoJFLB/s1600/g4.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 234px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinG3nymdQ0gi1ZY__nQ-98F0TZALeJT73ZktdE-lLaON-_Qg9lesJpzMKhtQ3tryLIfkNAPeazRwe9hECCgKX1cBJtir0cK5KjFA2g3FDWEFlfR2dGWWfZE10wdfLaKzqbYX6YVqvoJFLB/s320/g4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612245671955287330" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><u><br /></u></span></div>Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-84693031973721636202011-05-22T07:20:00.000-07:002011-05-22T07:41:29.280-07:00Goosebumps Downloads :<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >1</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >° Temporada:</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">101 - The Haunted Mask, Pt1 (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I7P7RIEC</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">102 - The Haunted Mask, Pt2 (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=02NQG36J</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">103 - Cuckoo Clock of Doom (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q4HU63ZO</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">104 - The Girl Who Cried Monsters (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DO210VDQ</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">105 - Welcome to Camp Nightware, Pt1 (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KUK28R64</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">106 - Welcome to Camp Nightware, Pt2 (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7Y3MHTHM</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">107 - Phantom Of The Auditorium (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T88JST0L</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">108 - Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FUHEFFA0</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">109 - Return of The Mummy (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K1U1KRM0</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">110 - Night of the Living Dummy II (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YC81WCQV</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">111 - My hairiest adventure (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JXZMXIQQ</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">112 - Stay out of basement, Pt1 (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z7DYYW3R</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">113 - Stay out of basement, Pt2 (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7BJOD9N6</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">114 - It Came from Beneath the Sink! (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T7KAZZ08</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">115 - Say Cheese and Die (Dublado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=27AOZYNP</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">116 - A Night in Terror Tower pt1 (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YWGBZV8C</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">117 - A Night in Terror Tower pt2 (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IY4SZS8M</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">118/119 - The Werewolf of Fever Swamp Pt1 & Pt2 (Legendado):</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7O6N60PM</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x01 - Cuidado com o que deseja (Dublado)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z75AZ2SX</span></span><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >2° Temporada:</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x01 - Mutante Mascarado pt1 (Dublado)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z6JK3DEE</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x02 - Mutante Mascarado pt2 (Dublado)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=00D8YSYU</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x03 - Bad Hare Day! (Legendado)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=893G9772</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x04 - The Headless Ghost (Legendado)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KM5EPEWT</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x05 - Go Eat Worms! (Legendado)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9JEJZ4P7</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-family: arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; "><br /></span></span></span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-family: arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; ">2<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; ">x</span>06- You Can´t Scare Me ! (Legendado)</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D1SIZPZS">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D1SIZPZ</a>S </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; " >Novo!!!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x09 - The Jack on Lantern's (Legendado)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WZYSNYZ4</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; ">10 - A Mascara Assombrada 2, Pt1 (Dublado) </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ATB57GDK</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x11 - A Mascara Assombrada 2, Pt2 (Dublado)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IRI01UAJ</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-family: arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; "><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">2</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; ">x</span>13 <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; ">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; ">Scarecrow walks at midnight (Legendado)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; "> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; ">Novo!!!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0Q8WDY5C">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0Q8WDY5C</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x1 - O Espelho Mágico (Dublado)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5CKMJR4Q</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x14 - Monster Blodd (Legendado)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y54E3TOQ</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x17 - Monstro do Pântano (Dublado)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PISDEG8Z</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x18 - Chamando Todos os Vermes! (Dublado)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4T31U469</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x19 - Welcome to the Dead House, Pt1 (Legendado)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CABSCRSQ</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x20 - Welcome to the Dead House, Pt2 (Legendado)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DMQWLI65</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x21 - Don't Wake Mummy (Legendado)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DG7FJE23</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x23 - A Noite do Boneco Vivo III, Pt1 Dublado)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D8CAR80R</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">2x24 - A Noite do Boneco Vivo III, Pt2(Dublado)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NKHKBR7Q</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >3° Temporada:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">3x05 - O controle remoto (Dublado) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IEG403V4</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">3x06 - An Old Story (Legendado) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=B1T4HBKA</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">3x07 - O Fantasma que late (Dublado) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VQS5KQXA</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">3x08 - Um Dia no Parque do Terror, Pt1 (Legendado) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=985CN18Z</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">3x09 - Um Dia no Parque do Terror, Pt2 (Legendado) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0UL7810D</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">3x10 - The Haunted House Game (Legendado) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0Z5J49XC</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">3x13 - Pele de Lobisomem, Pt1 (Dublado) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=73VTMW64</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">3x14 - Pele de Lobisomem, Pt2 (Dublado) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BHPOPA6S</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">3x15 - Formigas Fantásticas (Dublado) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q7EXFBG5</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">3x17 - Strained Peas (Legendado) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MMT1EOYQ</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">3x19-20-21 - Chillogy ou Karlsville (Legendado) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IC5GJ72V</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br />4° Temporada:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">4x01 - Como consegui minha cabeça encolhida, Pt1 (Dublado)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KR4NDULY</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">4x02 - Como consegui minha cabeça encolhida, Pt2 (Dublado) http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3YXU8DWV</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">4x03 - O Fantasma da Casa Ao Lado, Pt.1 (Legendado) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://rapidshare.com/#!download|119l32|52780230|Goosebumps_-_O_Fantasma_da_Casa_ao_Lado_pt1_-_Legendado.part1.rar|64651</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">4x04 - O Fantasma da Casa Ao Lado, Pt.2 (Legendado) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">http://rapidshare.com/#!download|108l35|26730361|Goosebumps_-_O_fantasma_da_casa_ao_lado_pt2_-_Legendado.zip|97036</span></span></div></div>Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-8264630163578767192011-05-18T10:57:00.000-07:002011-05-18T11:03:52.622-07:00Goosebumps Horrorland Hall of horrors #4:Why I Quit Zombie School<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRZaZ2mkE1ao_u92Vtm6-8Gb3rhinKAk6y61pG0_8mp1sXovPAzp88HR2l2UWA04qh6dTs8sJ-8dIBLESZVxGltP_x5rB797QriBG4ye4l9DrwAN5BukkStkKDsNMegctsLeryJcrVEPi8/s1600/why-i-quit-zombie-school.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 186px; height: 271px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRZaZ2mkE1ao_u92Vtm6-8Gb3rhinKAk6y61pG0_8mp1sXovPAzp88HR2l2UWA04qh6dTs8sJ-8dIBLESZVxGltP_x5rB797QriBG4ye4l9DrwAN5BukkStkKDsNMegctsLeryJcrVEPi8/s320/why-i-quit-zombie-school.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5608118276651488034" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span lang="pt">Matt nunca foi um superstar na escola, mas ele é definitivamente o mais enérgico e rápido estudante aqui. </span><span lang="pt">Mas o que se passa com os outros? </span><span lang="pt">Finalmente, suas suspeitas são confirmadas quando Franny, seu novo amigo pergunta: "quanto tempo você está morto?" </span><span lang="pt">Para seu horror, Matt percebe que seus pais lhe matricularão inconscientemente em uma escola de zumbi. </span><span lang="pt">Quando Matt ouve os planos dos zumbis a transformar a toda a cidade de mortos-vivos, ele tem que fazer uma escolha assustador - proteger-se e continuar sua charada - ou revelar sua sobrevivência e tentar salvar as pessoas inocentes vivas na cidade.</span></span></div>Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-46016349316588261692011-05-15T13:20:00.000-07:002011-05-18T10:56:29.629-07:00Lançamento Horrorland 7:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQqVUs1J7oTFm8r6JV2HTJI0jH5SvCL3X-XIwpXvPJ-e5gIxlldlItLoUW7FpDrGkyEjZ5ubu8CF_tCwHPSFKtmGkgrT0PL3yZlwdI46LvrvunRSwLp-b_OUQgu-mp9PrjwUSUoFU0NSGg/s1600/goosebumps07.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 221px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 318px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5607040583450469586" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQqVUs1J7oTFm8r6JV2HTJI0jH5SvCL3X-XIwpXvPJ-e5gIxlldlItLoUW7FpDrGkyEjZ5ubu8CF_tCwHPSFKtmGkgrT0PL3yZlwdI46LvrvunRSwLp-b_OUQgu-mp9PrjwUSUoFU0NSGg/s320/goosebumps07.jpg" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; ">Nas melhores livrarias até início de junho.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; ">Para dar um gostinho, publicamos abaixo um trecho desse livro surpreendente! Veja só a confusão em que o Michael vai se meter…</p><blockquote style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 20px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; background-image: url(http://blog.editorafundamento.com.br/wp-content/themes/almost-boxes/images/blockquote_blue.png); background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(232, 239, 255); color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-size: 0.85em; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; ">Aquele gato preto estava sempre pela vizinhança. Ninguém sabia quem era o dono. Acho que ele tinha 107 vidas! Eu o via aonde quer que fosse.<br />Bom, pegamos o bichano e corremos para a casa da Hardesty depois da aula. Sabíamos que ela ia ficar na escola até mais tarde por causa de uma reunião com os pais. Nós nos certificamos de que seu Civic azul não estava na entrada da garagem. E de que nenhum vizinho nos espiava.<br />A porta dos fundos estava destrancada. Entramos e demos direto na cozinha.<br />Descemos para o porão. Tentamos não fazer barulho algum. O gato ficava indo para frente e para trás dentro da gaiola.<br />Nosso plano era fazer tudo bem rápido. Entrar. Soltar o gato. Sair.<br />Mas a coisa não foi bem assim.<br />Ouvimos passos, gemidos e grunhidos vindos de um dos quartos. Meu coração começou a bater acelerado no peito.<br />Tinha mais alguém lá embaixo.<br />Subimos a escada correndo. Algo caiu do bolso da minha calça jeans, mas não voltei para pegar. O gato estava miando feito louco.<br />Voltamos lá para cima quase sem fôlego. Será que estavam nos seguindo?</p></blockquote></span><br /><div></div>Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-8349628165226062202011-02-26T09:30:00.000-08:002011-02-26T09:34:46.597-08:00Lançamento Goosebumps Horrorland 6 :<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBaD9ZI-VZyiZyPcq06KinyhDfu0fJJOldHVEkzO_mvTYNJSsNfDzRIEmiiMltpzf7F0ENcP5TeqshAvGDtPEApOzUeEf64UM3LVJIcycg8LKn90yqN2BIIOr1IhDrb7LKqkTuoW_zTzV-/s1600/goosebumps06.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 221px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 318px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578052820098324178" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBaD9ZI-VZyiZyPcq06KinyhDfu0fJJOldHVEkzO_mvTYNJSsNfDzRIEmiiMltpzf7F0ENcP5TeqshAvGDtPEApOzUeEf64UM3LVJIcycg8LKn90yqN2BIIOr1IhDrb7LKqkTuoW_zTzV-/s320/goosebumps06.jpg" /></a> As continuações da série Goosebumps Horrorland são sempre aguardadas ansiosamente pelos leitores da Fundamento! Então temos uma boa notícia para vocês: o sexto livro da coleção, <em>A casa das múmias</em>, estará à venda em nosso site e nas livrarias em março. Falta muito pouco, mas, como não gostamos de deixar ninguém esperando, confiram um trecho do primeiro capítulo desta história de tirar o fôlego!<br /><br />"(…) Naquele dia, na sala da vó Vee, a gente estava correndo e se escondendo atrás dos móveis, rindo e gritando.<br />– Eeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiii! – falei bem alto ao sentir um jato de água fria na testa.<br />O Peter riu.<br />– Muito bem, Abby. Você ficou bem na mira!<br />(…) Inclinei-me para a frente, tensionei os músculos e esperei, com o dedo no gatilho de plástico. Meu irmão estava escondido atrás das cortinas de flores laranja e amarelas. Dava para ver seus tênis brancos aparecendo debaixo delas. Esperei… esperei… e disparei um jato longo e largo, assim que ele saiu. A água atingiu o peito dele, dando um banho na parte da frente da camiseta. Peter cambaleou para a janela. Sua pistola lançou um spray desenfreado em direção ao teto.<br />– Vocês estão se divertindo?<br />Nós dois nos viramos e vimos a vó Vee entrar na sala. Ela balançou a bengala preta no ar.<br />– Será que estou errada? – perguntou. – Achei que estava na minha casa, mas parece que fui parar num parque aquático.<br />Meu irmão se afastou da janela e abaixou a cabeça.<br />– Desculpe – murmurou.<br />– Já implorei para vocês não usarem essas arminhas de água dentro de casa – a vovó disse, olhando-nos através dos óculos grossos de armação quadrada.<br />– Desculpe – meu irmão repetiu.<br />De repente, dei um dos meus famosos cuspes de água de longo alcance e encharquei a nuca dele. O Peter soltou um grito agudo e deu um pulo.<br />– Ganhei! – falei, dando soquinhos no ar.<br />– Não valeu, Abby. Você trapaceou – a vovó declarou, sem conseguir ficar séria. (…)<br />– Não é justo! – meu irmão resmungou.<br />Ele tirou a camiseta ensopada, fez uma bola com ela e a jogou em mim. (…) Em seguida, saiu correndo da sala. Tem gente que não sabe perder, e o meu irmão é assim.<br />– Venha sentar aqui comigo, Abby – a vovó me chamou para o sofá.<br />Reparei que ela estava se apoiando na bengala de forma mais forte que de costume.<br />Apesar de os cabelos dela continuarem pretos e brilhantes, naquele dia vi umas mechas acinzentadas entre os fios. Além disso, sua pele estava tão pálida que dava para ver os ossos por baixo das maçãs do rosto. Ela se sentou ao meu lado e apertou minha mão. Seus dedos pareciam cubos de gelo!<br />– Preciso conversar com você – falou e olhou para o chão. – Eu não venho me sentindo muito bem.<br />Aquelas palavras me deram um frio na espinha. Cheguei a engasgar. A vovó Vee é o único parente que eu e o Peter temos. Moramos com ela desde que éramos bem pequenos. E, se alguma<br />coisa acontecer… Os olhos dela continuavam encarando o chão, e vi que os ombros estavam tremendo. Ela sempre foi o pilar que sustenta a família, mas, de repente, parecia tão frágil…<br />– Vou precisar ficar internada no hospital para fazer uns exames – disse de forma bem suave.<br />– Exames? – berrei. – Que tipo de exames?<br />Ela apertou minha mão novamente.<br />– Vai ficar tudo bem – a voz soava como um sussurro.<br />– Mas… o que vai acontecer comigo e com o Peter? – perguntei.<br />– Tenho um bom plano para vocês. Os dois vão ficar com seu tio Jonathan – revelou.<br />– Quem?<br />– Tio Jonathan. Ele não os vê desde que eram bebês – ela sorriu. – Ele é ótimo. Vocês vão ver.<br />– E onde… onde ele mora? – eu quis saber.<br />– Ele vive numa casa antiga, numa cidadezinha em Vermont chamada Cranford – a vovó respondeu. – Será uma grande mudança sair de Boston e ir para lá. Acho que vocês vão achar tudo muito interessante.<br />Meu coração batia acelerado. Eu queria fazer milhares de perguntas, mas não conseguia.<br />– O Jonathan mal pode esperar para vê-los – a vó Vee falou. – Mandei umas fotos de você e do Peter. Ele ficou muito animado.<br />Ela viu a expressão na minha cara.<br />– Vocês vão gostar dele, Abby. É um homem muito interessante. Além do mais, é só por duas semanas – completou.<br />– Mas estou preocupada com você, vó – eu disse. – Por que está nos mandando para uma cidadezinha distante? Eu e o Peter não devíamos ficar com você?<br />Ela apertou o topo da bengala. Sua mão era tão pequena e branca!<br />– O celular vai funcionar na cidade do Jonathan. Vamos nos falar sempre. Tenho certeza de que vai ficar tudo bem.<br />Mas nada ficaria bem. Nada mesmo."Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-54951198712470294782011-02-06T14:51:00.000-08:002011-02-06T14:56:46.727-08:00Goosebumps download :1° Temporada:<br />101 - The Haunted Mask, Pt1 (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I7P7RIEC<br /><br />102 - The Haunted Mask, Pt2 (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=02NQG36J<br /><br />103 - Cuckoo Clock of Doom (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q4HU63ZO<br /><br />104 - The Girl Who Cried Monsters (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DO210VDQ<br /><br />105 - Welcome to Camp Nightware, Pt1 (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KUK28R64<br /><br />106 - Welcome to Camp Nightware, Pt2 (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7Y3MHTHM<br /><br />107 - Phantom Of The Auditorium (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T88JST0L<br /><br />108 - Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FUHEFFA0<br /><br />109 - Return of The Mummy (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K1U1KRM0<br /><br />110 - Night of the Living Dummy II (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YC81WCQV<br /><br />111 - My hairiest adventure (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JXZMXIQQ<br /><br />112 - Stay out of basement, Pt1 (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z7DYYW3R<br /><br />113 - Stay out of basement, Pt2 (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7BJOD9N6<br /><br />114 - It Came from Beneath the Sink! (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T7KAZZ08<br /><br />115 - Say Cheese and Die (Dublado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=27AOZYNP<br /><br />116 - A Night in Terror Tower pt1 (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YWGBZV8C<br /><br />117 - A Night in Terror Tower pt2 (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IY4SZS8M<br /><br />118/119 - The Werewolf of Fever Swamp Pt1 & Pt2 (Legendado):<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7O6N60PM<br /><br />2° Temporada:<br />2x01 - Cuidado com o que deseja (Dublado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z75AZ2SX<br /><br />2x02 - Mutante Mascarado pt1 (Dublado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z6JK3DEE<br /><br />2x03 - Mutante Mascarado pt2 (Dublado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=00D8YSYU<br /><br />2x04 - Bad Hare Day! (Legendado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=893G9772<br /><br />2x05 - The Headless Ghost (Legendado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KM5EPEWT<br /><br />2x06 - Go Eat Worms! (Legendado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9JEJZ4P7<br /><br />2x10 - The Jack on Lantern's (Legendado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WZYSNYZ4<br /><br />2x11 - A Mascara Assombrada 2, Pt1 (Dublado) <br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ATB57GDK<br /><br />2x12 - A Mascara Assombrada 2, Pt2 (Dublado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IRI01UAJ<br /><br />2x13 - O Espelho Mágico (Dublado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5CKMJR4Q<br /><br />2x15 - Monster Blodd (Legendado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y54E3TOQ<br /><br />2x18 - Monstro do Pântano (Dublado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PISDEG8Z<br /><br />2x19 - Chamando Todos os Vermes! (Dublado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4T31U469<br /><br />2x20 - Welcome to the Dead House, Pt1 (Legendado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CABSCRSQ<br /><br />2x21 - Welcome to the Dead House, Pt2 (Legendado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DMQWLI65<br /><br />2x22 - Don't Wake Mummy (Legendado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DG7FJE23<br /><br />2x24 - A Noite do Boneco Vivo III, Pt1 Dublado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D8CAR80R<br /><br />2x25 - A Noite do Boneco Vivo III, Pt2(Dublado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NKHKBR7Q<br /><br />3° Temporada:<br />3x05 - O controle remoto (Dublado) <br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IEG403V4<br /><br />3x06 - An Old Story (Legendado) <br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=B1T4HBKA<br /><br />3x07 - O Fantasma que late (Dublado) <br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VQS5KQXA<br /><br />3x08 - Um Dia no Parque do Terror, Pt1 (Legendado) NOVO!!!!!<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=985CN18Z<br /><br />3x09 - Um Dia no Parque do Terror, Pt2 (Legendado) NOVO!!!!!<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0UL7810D<br /><br />3x10 - The Haunted House Game (Legendado) <br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0Z5J49XC<br /><br />3x13 - Pele de Lobisomem, Pt1 (Dublado) <br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=73VTMW64<br /><br />3x14 - Pele de Lobisomem, Pt2 (Dublado) <br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BHPOPA6S<br /><br />3x15 - Formigas Fantásticas (Dublado) NOVO!!!!!<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q7EXFBG5<br /><br />3x17 - Strained Peas (Legendado) <br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MMT1EOYQ<br /><br />3x19-20-21 - Chillogy ou Karlsville (Legendado) <br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IC5GJ72V<br /><br />4° Temporada:<br />4x01 - Como consegui minha cabeça encolhida, Pt1 (Dublado)<br />http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KR4NDULY<br /><br />4x02 - Como consegui minha cabeça encolhida, Pt2 (Dublado) http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3YXU8DWV<br /><br />4x03 - O Fantasma da Casa Ao Lado, Pt.1 (Legendado) NOVO!!!!!!<br />http://rapidshare.com/#!download|119l32|52780230|Goosebumps_-_O_Fantasma_da_Casa_ao_Lado_pt1_-_Legendado.part1.rar|64651<br /><br />4x04 - O Fantasma da Casa Ao Lado, Pt.2 (Legendado) NOVO!!!!!!<br />http://rapidshare.com/#!download|108l35|26730361|Goosebumps_-_O_fantasma_da_casa_ao_lado_pt2_-_Legendado.zip|97036Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-9794344404532279362011-02-05T06:09:00.000-08:002011-02-05T06:30:56.261-08:00Pessoal olha propagandas de Goosebumps da fundamento :<OBJECT id=BLOG_video-727ec168fec6bbe4 class=BLOG_video_class width=320 height=266 contentId="727ec168fec6bbe4"></OBJECT><br /><OBJECT id=BLOG_video-f2aef64d5b1416e7 class=BLOG_video_class width=320 height=266 contentId="f2aef64d5b1416e7"></OBJECT><br /><OBJECT id=BLOG_video-b167352ff6ab91fc class=BLOG_video_class width=320 height=266 contentId="b167352ff6ab91fc"></OBJECT><br /><OBJECT id=BLOG_video-ebaae70f583f3ce3 class=BLOG_video_class width=320 height=266 contentId="ebaae70f583f3ce3"></OBJECT>Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-85963111349303811352011-01-30T06:42:00.001-08:002011-02-06T14:57:16.121-08:00Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-16108844269211921982011-01-29T08:10:00.000-08:002011-01-29T08:22:15.912-08:00Goosebumps Horrorland Hall of horrors #3:The Five Masks of Dr. Screen<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-qhTw4Uf4eB-8d9WFPQmqWk9HthC8Q7yz1qdZPmkc6LKS55sII4OHb7yBet5Phb4hbn4zE98xywvhBcbjatuc1OYJqzrQ-Xvad6Yj1ZpJQP-wuDAEEOdjT13KUabF1KOJRzt1HjUfL1Q/s1600/n374884.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 220px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-qhTw4Uf4eB-8d9WFPQmqWk9HthC8Q7yz1qdZPmkc6LKS55sII4OHb7yBet5Phb4hbn4zE98xywvhBcbjatuc1OYJqzrQ-Xvad6Yj1ZpJQP-wuDAEEOdjT13KUabF1KOJRzt1HjUfL1Q/s320/n374884.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567641325494951714" /></a><br />É halloween e Monica Anderson e seu irmão menor irão se emvolver em uma aventura assustadora que irá fazer uma grande luta contra o Dr. evil screem que está procurando obter cinco máscaras sagradas com o poder de manipular o mundo à sua volta.Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-2104648674156920282011-01-26T15:18:00.000-08:002011-01-26T15:19:38.562-08:00Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-83564545003352889272011-01-24T10:11:00.001-08:002011-01-24T10:16:41.019-08:00Todos os DVD´s com capas em desenho da serie goosebumps :<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj08x5R0KOUYG0okG_sHN4wr0IW9YHjaoT14Fm2og8mW-SY-z1IMqaK_GuHgh47yoWmhuWWzZvHn9_ZpIuFB0sqDyQmIc4Yxq6mI0DJmSoGTMgQhWTsdu5-Olj8h-YSwZHo04NmFRzdOPKm/s1600/392650.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 144px; height: 203px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj08x5R0KOUYG0okG_sHN4wr0IW9YHjaoT14Fm2og8mW-SY-z1IMqaK_GuHgh47yoWmhuWWzZvHn9_ZpIuFB0sqDyQmIc4Yxq6mI0DJmSoGTMgQhWTsdu5-Olj8h-YSwZHo04NmFRzdOPKm/s320/392650.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565818037495113410" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLEeYgAnUkIuyyzHNYzL7i98zklsWM4MFYUZOJ-_g0xhXL2GDADGX8Hoch28062n-USIk9zlEpsqvEse03ZDZoceUfGubqlcU01UPhDZTNZ9xv0Su8_oWKjjuo09b7zDhezh959N7ubIv/s1600/5154JJZBJ9L.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 230px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLEeYgAnUkIuyyzHNYzL7i98zklsWM4MFYUZOJ-_g0xhXL2GDADGX8Hoch28062n-USIk9zlEpsqvEse03ZDZoceUfGubqlcU01UPhDZTNZ9xv0Su8_oWKjjuo09b7zDhezh959N7ubIv/s320/5154JJZBJ9L.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565817968890008306" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6WW0uQn-6NXNQVifN0zlX1AX-SHyNr6yeRhNn7p-19FXzqMa6mbXA_wtBTSCcr6HNFewkzkgXcW_e0XkLSa_ZBZgVWpwwchKQGNoeTIBCqqyeSbK66WxUgFOmYxc3FR5RCS5olRjy9MBy/s1600/512QMGW8DHL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 226px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6WW0uQn-6NXNQVifN0zlX1AX-SHyNr6yeRhNn7p-19FXzqMa6mbXA_wtBTSCcr6HNFewkzkgXcW_e0XkLSa_ZBZgVWpwwchKQGNoeTIBCqqyeSbK66WxUgFOmYxc3FR5RCS5olRjy9MBy/s320/512QMGW8DHL.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565817750987470434" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmHZzvQs_v-lc9Hkq6cJOHIPxZ8H7UkoeR63J6E2PPLiN6QI8gPbNFFzKk16sIHzuL800aruj_lLOfcOQXGEh-Zjt75Qevt8a5lALkvE8pHpv6d277bKNoHyStl4PwZhnw80uIT_BVRez/s1600/51ZFN0XCWGL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmHZzvQs_v-lc9Hkq6cJOHIPxZ8H7UkoeR63J6E2PPLiN6QI8gPbNFFzKk16sIHzuL800aruj_lLOfcOQXGEh-Zjt75Qevt8a5lALkvE8pHpv6d277bKNoHyStl4PwZhnw80uIT_BVRez/s320/51ZFN0XCWGL.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565817638005601538" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz4zIFFy1BqGjnsZnFch_YF99xTA7nsrBb9QV8rsvkiN_SFfC68gdP-I9j50LVSawlv3GRJaZZX1ToCXQHVazROubldlY2bgVqWyFzs7ZSM_yGvWH9LkBogCNbsstmNHhfGE2Kd7OeAMLm/s1600/51XCV5wHcnL.jpg"><img style="display:block; 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margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 234px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1l9zJ1-zpEPOtr1Co0u2LLcg2S7EOCci9cUtEVBrBzyLBiQylREaGnM72SYZaxCUZfWFIEaJSxIULN0YXqNLjqHtmIj6mrzP4cPmZHSXR_QxBfUtTN__UcCDzJAl35a8uSXxR97W9tDUf/s320/51pYp%252Bmw7fL.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565817178225459906" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfw5EPEp8KG0GiPTOGv24IfUcFQq-eX5ndywLzk8W69vzth4YL9CwLJLjrxMiaBVPVheYVFuXHtDGUH5S0uSCzF5Dr27BCEW5tpxKLPcVTcGoCBOzPGpKGa6A-EmZHZvPN8wVBnapLsnki/s1600/51GTF1CZMZL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 219px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfw5EPEp8KG0GiPTOGv24IfUcFQq-eX5ndywLzk8W69vzth4YL9CwLJLjrxMiaBVPVheYVFuXHtDGUH5S0uSCzF5Dr27BCEW5tpxKLPcVTcGoCBOzPGpKGa6A-EmZHZvPN8wVBnapLsnki/s320/51GTF1CZMZL.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565817080140588434" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbgDwnde48AdhcqPej3q2IdAozKaefKwRs4QHFP_Kknk3lLxMHsJicVF72M5TXitMStl04UL9HBGzmFkPud8kOlXDgjZ2H9zM6ChWt37oR5cBBuZ1kfi82uUqJn6vN88J_m2l090GofE-W/s1600/51FRJJRHDPL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 219px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbgDwnde48AdhcqPej3q2IdAozKaefKwRs4QHFP_Kknk3lLxMHsJicVF72M5TXitMStl04UL9HBGzmFkPud8kOlXDgjZ2H9zM6ChWt37oR5cBBuZ1kfi82uUqJn6vN88J_m2l090GofE-W/s320/51FRJJRHDPL.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565817004222012930" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH-xMLgVM95o4kmhrX4bB-rDsiWlvFO8MA7ymJ5BDBMPeWavYIrjb09EOMNejieLBen_0jr_3Cn63Vf3cNWZAemXtVBehZNkHTuMTE2bGEfqfBuQDFVjvfbY7eQuekTUH2BsfpAThb_z-3/s1600/51EPvih6SlL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 234px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH-xMLgVM95o4kmhrX4bB-rDsiWlvFO8MA7ymJ5BDBMPeWavYIrjb09EOMNejieLBen_0jr_3Cn63Vf3cNWZAemXtVBehZNkHTuMTE2bGEfqfBuQDFVjvfbY7eQuekTUH2BsfpAThb_z-3/s320/51EPvih6SlL.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565816931684187218" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUfgq_g8dg5QX48oH9EgPsYmYn32Jv8kO7PbW6PyyVfEYzo4nGonEkfBDfN3461Lb7o2yofrEHZ1BLCCkuvOpXHT_MJbzJq1BHnZIRpTAtu1OpDdNEWQM7xOkPIU96DDpXHoih46EA8Cg2/s1600/51E3ACY562L.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 219px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUfgq_g8dg5QX48oH9EgPsYmYn32Jv8kO7PbW6PyyVfEYzo4nGonEkfBDfN3461Lb7o2yofrEHZ1BLCCkuvOpXHT_MJbzJq1BHnZIRpTAtu1OpDdNEWQM7xOkPIU96DDpXHoih46EA8Cg2/s320/51E3ACY562L.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565816865319533538" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiea-g3brF8hJLUicxQ8GwwT09WCrEOcrCmXlqMAH_VDxhjknoK5x9KTutqF_APbiO1U-CJ4SDgW-MfWUnd9-jw2_VxI0hmFAY_xGObV3J-ZMEW60iUHr5RXfUYeU4BlXXZFk-EKm2pp814/s1600/51A052D10AL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 219px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiea-g3brF8hJLUicxQ8GwwT09WCrEOcrCmXlqMAH_VDxhjknoK5x9KTutqF_APbiO1U-CJ4SDgW-MfWUnd9-jw2_VxI0hmFAY_xGObV3J-ZMEW60iUHr5RXfUYeU4BlXXZFk-EKm2pp814/s320/51A052D10AL.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565816815547365202" /></a>Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-43440243691803813452011-01-24T10:06:00.000-08:002011-01-24T10:10:58.403-08:00Todos os DVD´s da serie goosebumps :<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinZDjh-HRq2EiS3RWHGYG7_HJf7uboONHsaI-SA6HUUtd5I9sLSOAxVqXfpD59RzB-jwJJ-XgcHD_rsC0jrw6WnbmvlEYf31Zoa1bcX3rKk6YhQgEoMLhzuqql4CZ486l3Ea1AZUUildiV/s1600/515Q-dENTCL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 235px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinZDjh-HRq2EiS3RWHGYG7_HJf7uboONHsaI-SA6HUUtd5I9sLSOAxVqXfpD59RzB-jwJJ-XgcHD_rsC0jrw6WnbmvlEYf31Zoa1bcX3rKk6YhQgEoMLhzuqql4CZ486l3Ea1AZUUildiV/s320/515Q-dENTCL.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565816505967733250" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMgyZeTKKP-ME8Khyphenhyphen4RNzEn8qAyRSM0ig2x7lJ4u0ouLo3cgUWN7pLqWxQYZvPHqrkmD8yv7fibOcL_p-LuCGpRLSnLeCAwcTzIq_JKMdkZitUizMVFxVQ5MMsvjLX4HoNZVvo4AsuZBRR/s1600/61Xwidq00ZL__SL500_AA300_.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMgyZeTKKP-ME8Khyphenhyphen4RNzEn8qAyRSM0ig2x7lJ4u0ouLo3cgUWN7pLqWxQYZvPHqrkmD8yv7fibOcL_p-LuCGpRLSnLeCAwcTzIq_JKMdkZitUizMVFxVQ5MMsvjLX4HoNZVvo4AsuZBRR/s320/61Xwidq00ZL__SL500_AA300_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565816423683595602" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmGRoMkUzSHDZ2SGMeTA1OYJ8PXGsf9QZ2lceTH-BDaJQyH9lmi9j4quySrKIs3nwhQnZH8rb78nG3wRkjqP6TiY8XO0It4G8mIb08EUNXv0Jqf2LuHlY-BbErPN6oimaw5HWVIpNLt_iG/s1600/51yyxiwrsHL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 234px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmGRoMkUzSHDZ2SGMeTA1OYJ8PXGsf9QZ2lceTH-BDaJQyH9lmi9j4quySrKIs3nwhQnZH8rb78nG3wRkjqP6TiY8XO0It4G8mIb08EUNXv0Jqf2LuHlY-BbErPN6oimaw5HWVIpNLt_iG/s320/51yyxiwrsHL.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565816338922518466" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifdcm_0QU9DzLz_aqVCUIJHs_I6CQZBmBlKr_X8e7rjBVtN5EsUlhELn5wQHo8ZlPnVsyWfJpJ6OKbOFsI6TI7G5936DoTBjzupIqp3LVwn90RA7jDVsVvX06LG8vhjD44v3Ca02quP4Zj/s1600/51TGnI4ZHJL__SL500_AA300_.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifdcm_0QU9DzLz_aqVCUIJHs_I6CQZBmBlKr_X8e7rjBVtN5EsUlhELn5wQHo8ZlPnVsyWfJpJ6OKbOFsI6TI7G5936DoTBjzupIqp3LVwn90RA7jDVsVvX06LG8vhjD44v3Ca02quP4Zj/s320/51TGnI4ZHJL__SL500_AA300_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565816252005904402" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg275OmbWDEwZ4XsOvB-XDVMNKvyLwxkDeOkyfw6ItZSSztEgaI-DzWgRsQQxmF7XCLicTF6d8QRusGEJVZhE6A6QkBAyJniduKmeiRBdFNBq01Ofs9hKsEWI27Z-SMEsiVjkd1zg4RYs01/s1600/51SXuG6wBRL__SL500_AA300_.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg275OmbWDEwZ4XsOvB-XDVMNKvyLwxkDeOkyfw6ItZSSztEgaI-DzWgRsQQxmF7XCLicTF6d8QRusGEJVZhE6A6QkBAyJniduKmeiRBdFNBq01Ofs9hKsEWI27Z-SMEsiVjkd1zg4RYs01/s320/51SXuG6wBRL__SL500_AA300_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565816178795244098" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKifqrKvUW-0ZdLgZkZz57j0E3P4AubJPTxGiqHhlHuuhvTt8bKQBONimXbAEB1rNLT_CgnsCbF0BD7nJtvAb_c1pnZ2t2xWPMPBmp8SfQBPLlK-I8roTpAsHkenFlgl-6vyLaiWppdl8T/s1600/51NM7j0U4HL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 235px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKifqrKvUW-0ZdLgZkZz57j0E3P4AubJPTxGiqHhlHuuhvTt8bKQBONimXbAEB1rNLT_CgnsCbF0BD7nJtvAb_c1pnZ2t2xWPMPBmp8SfQBPLlK-I8roTpAsHkenFlgl-6vyLaiWppdl8T/s320/51NM7j0U4HL.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565816092200384658" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioX-XcOFcMah53-7_HECtEvk4gy4Q0TBM-RteBRS2L4e5oXV6trWDfsGwntqwJRKbJAlJvvQ_OFjD_c6JhQgFh73mDG5iS0p0b6SLq7ovLSL8TPf-CTP1IaQiO1-DAnEcXtsE9E-PqCV_m/s1600/51LjnYefPUL__SL500_AA300_.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioX-XcOFcMah53-7_HECtEvk4gy4Q0TBM-RteBRS2L4e5oXV6trWDfsGwntqwJRKbJAlJvvQ_OFjD_c6JhQgFh73mDG5iS0p0b6SLq7ovLSL8TPf-CTP1IaQiO1-DAnEcXtsE9E-PqCV_m/s320/51LjnYefPUL__SL500_AA300_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565816007413390610" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDflQ1zvOAPgzKJqVy0wYByYGR6ccVvbCfaOgw0T32pkEDKnUGB4YKAja38ZEKJkRI5dXXugsO2h-PayWIcjd4-mEekoc63rU8qGACljsQrMadkPxxyk-1onMILyUvUyVUItegTAG3b7k8/s1600/51LJbq3muYL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 235px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDflQ1zvOAPgzKJqVy0wYByYGR6ccVvbCfaOgw0T32pkEDKnUGB4YKAja38ZEKJkRI5dXXugsO2h-PayWIcjd4-mEekoc63rU8qGACljsQrMadkPxxyk-1onMILyUvUyVUItegTAG3b7k8/s320/51LJbq3muYL.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565815933660568194" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5rJ_pxFUwrkiwYxkREDEoOhpkGseehwo6wpf-dnCUTmQr-d6CH64vXPfAlfYbkigNVtNTfX7M6wZHqQQfWVECgYZbotI9C6yqGOhvR9IqCtgJBKDexujHwzwOsLyp3cXHpIWEGG8_yWTG/s1600/51ELLWvSkIL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 234px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5rJ_pxFUwrkiwYxkREDEoOhpkGseehwo6wpf-dnCUTmQr-d6CH64vXPfAlfYbkigNVtNTfX7M6wZHqQQfWVECgYZbotI9C6yqGOhvR9IqCtgJBKDexujHwzwOsLyp3cXHpIWEGG8_yWTG/s320/51ELLWvSkIL.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565815858982305538" /></a>Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-37572382141979705002011-01-16T14:56:00.000-08:002011-01-16T14:57:08.347-08:00A Máscara Maldita - Parte 1 Parte 2<br />O Cuco - DOWNLOAD<br />A Garota que Inventava Monstros - DOWNLOAD<br />Bem-Vindos Ao Acampamento - Parte 1 Parte 2<br />O Fantasma do Teatro - DOWNLOAD<br />O Fantasma da Pianista - DOWNLOAD<br />Fotografia do Futuro (Dublado)- DOWNLOAD<br />A Noite na Torre do Terror - Parte 1 Parte 2<br />Tenha Cuidado Com O Que Você Deseja (Dublado) - DOWNLOAD<br />A Máscara Assombrada II (Dublado) - Parte 1 Parte 2<br />Monster Blodd - DOWNLOAD<br />A Casa da Morte - Parte 1 Parte 1Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-42167576314819688042010-12-18T09:59:00.000-08:002010-12-18T10:08:39.294-08:00Comunidade do blog no orkut :<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWHcxzV2Y-sXKufh-UXNPELmXgt6wzFg2RBi1h0d-KXVTRhhwgFJvmOt57CdGRcnztlHNNilLzyrulKcsVnMyIQ-0v1xWHZw6jvTrS2apXdlL1lExDH-Pm5S8JzgNuDTIjLz4xjUcBAth/s1600/of.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 128px; height: 73px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWHcxzV2Y-sXKufh-UXNPELmXgt6wzFg2RBi1h0d-KXVTRhhwgFJvmOt57CdGRcnztlHNNilLzyrulKcsVnMyIQ-0v1xWHZw6jvTrS2apXdlL1lExDH-Pm5S8JzgNuDTIjLz4xjUcBAth/s320/of.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552084941665999106" /></a><br />http://www.orkut.com.br/Main#Community?cmm=105588533<br />Vamos fazer parte da comunidade do medo,do terror,do GOOSEBUMPS......<br />Te esperamos lá.Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-88853851535652699022010-11-14T09:40:00.000-08:002010-12-14T11:08:46.125-08:00Noite de tudo gigante :<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7eIfSscxFkPAIlEnXhwbskYqh-hqVEtXhC9dUVWpt5VUIbLHrQoaChjnxl2CbPoyGSWJzCe33Z5TvpXH9zZKpsRZ2Y4XgFUmfRwPhyphenhyphenwpsRBJdmCyINlm9hvLl1TIIbVIPocGFYZ8Mb2G/s1600/51IrgzpPCwL__SL500_AA300_.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7eIfSscxFkPAIlEnXhwbskYqh-hqVEtXhC9dUVWpt5VUIbLHrQoaChjnxl2CbPoyGSWJzCe33Z5TvpXH9zZKpsRZ2Y4XgFUmfRwPhyphenhyphenwpsRBJdmCyINlm9hvLl1TIIbVIPocGFYZ8Mb2G/s320/51IrgzpPCwL__SL500_AA300_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550616969025936386" /></a><br /><br />Quando Steven Sweeney faz 11 anos é levado a beber uma estranha mistura de produtos químicos,e as coisas começam a ficar estranhas, pois ele começa a encolher e seu terror começa aconteçer através de bolas de poeira gigantesca, pássaros enormes, e outros depois de aparentemente inofensivo, os itens de todos os dias podem ficar muito perigosos e ele pescisa chegar à casa do seu melhor amigo para te ajudar. <br /><br />Mais um claws goosebumps horrorland 2<br />Data de lançamento do livro nos (EUA):1 maio 2011Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-80150246816980276522010-10-21T15:27:00.000-07:002010-10-21T15:36:23.728-07:00Ghost beach ( ingles )<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSkbb4ZmqMWQpNapGN7LROff_77P17qPz5WrVJ-gsC86EGi3qVsiZ4odsBaX1oyWNEy0-lDyVRRYnYGi4tEnQiDHv9j6F3xRs7-N-qnAd8As4o9QKCMTsfPg8WnTGXojHnWHfOcuab9AEU/s1600/51QYJRE996L__SL500_.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 221px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSkbb4ZmqMWQpNapGN7LROff_77P17qPz5WrVJ-gsC86EGi3qVsiZ4odsBaX1oyWNEy0-lDyVRRYnYGi4tEnQiDHv9j6F3xRs7-N-qnAd8As4o9QKCMTsfPg8WnTGXojHnWHfOcuab9AEU/s320/51QYJRE996L__SL500_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530631856630178882" /></a><br />1<br />I don't remember how we got to the graveyard.<br />I remember the sky grew dark — and we were there.<br />My sister Terri and I walked past rows of crooked, old tombstones,<br />cracked and covered with moss. Even though it was summer, a damp, gray<br />fog had settled on everything, sending a chill through the air.<br />I shivered and pulled my jacket closer. "Wait up, Terri!" I called. As<br />usual, she had plowed ahead. Graveyards get her all excited. "Where are<br />you?" I yelled.<br />I squinted into the gray fog. I could see her shadowy figure up ahead,<br />stopping every few seconds to examine a tombstone.<br />I read the words on the tombstone tilted at my feet:<br />In memory of John,<br />son of Daniel and Sarah Knapp,<br />who died March 25, 1766,<br />aged 12 years and 22 days.<br />Weird, I thought. That kid was about my age when he died. I turned twelve<br />in February. The same month Terri turned eleven.<br />I hurried on. A sharp wind swept in. I searched the rows of old graves<br />for my sister. She had disappeared into the thick fog. "Terri? Where did<br />you go?" I called.<br />Her voice floated back to me. "I'm over here, Jerry."<br />"Where?" I pushed forward through the mist and the leaves. The wind<br />swirled around me.<br />From nearby came a long, low howl. "Must be a dog," I murmured aloud.<br />The trees rattled their leaves at me. I shivered.<br />"Jer-ry." Terri's voice sounded a million miles away.<br />I walked a little further, then steadied myself against a tall tombstone.<br />"Terri! Wait up! Stop moving around so much!"<br />I heard another long howl.<br />"You're going the wrong way," Terri called. "I'm over here."<br />"Great. Thanks a lot," I muttered. Why couldn't I have a sister who liked<br />baseball instead of exploring old cemeteries?<br />The wind made a deep sucking noise. A column of leaves, dust, and dirt<br />swirled up in my face. I pinched my eyes shut.<br />When I opened them, I saw Terri crouched over a small grave. "Don't<br />move," I called. "I'm coming."<br />I zigzagged my way around the tombstones until I reached her side. "It's<br />getting dark," I said. "Let's get out of here."<br />I turned and took a step — and something grabbed my ankle.<br />I screamed and tried to pull away. But its grasp tightened.<br />A hand. Reaching up through the dirt beside the grave.<br />I let out a shrill scream. Terri screamed, too.<br />I kicked hard and broke free.<br />"Run!" Terri shrieked.<br />But I was already running.<br />As Terri and I stumbled over the wet grass, green hands popped up<br />everywhere. Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Pop! Pop!<br />The hands rose up. Reached for us. Grabbed at our ankles.<br />I darted to the left. Thwack! I dodged to the right. Pop!<br />"Run, Terri! Run!" I called to my sister. "Lift your knees!"<br />I could hear her sneakers pounding the ground behind me. Then I heard her<br />terrified cry: "Jerry! They've got me!"<br />With a loud gasp, I spun around. Two big hands had wrapped themselves<br />around her ankles.<br />I froze, watching my sister struggle.<br />"Jerry — help me! It won't let go!"<br />Taking a deep breath, I dove toward her. "Grab on to me," I instructed,<br />holding out my arms.<br />I kicked at the two hands that held her.<br />Kicked as hard as I could. But they didn't move, didn't let go.<br />"I — I can't move!" Terri wailed.<br />The dirt seemed to shake at my feet. I peered down to see more hands<br />sprouting up from the ground.<br />I tugged at Terri's waist. "Move!" I yelled frantically.<br />"I can't!"<br />"Yes, you can! You've got to keep trying!"<br />"Ohhh!" I let out a low cry as two hands grabbed my ankles.<br />Now I was caught.<br />We were both trapped.<br />2<br />"Jerry! What's your problem?" Terri asked.<br />I blinked. Terri stood beside me on a rocky strip of beach. I stared out<br />at the calm ocean water beyond us and shook my head. "Wow. That was<br />weird," I murmured. "I was remembering a bad dream I had a few months<br />ago."<br />Terri frowned at me. "Why now?"<br />"It was about a cemetery," I explained. I turned back to glance at the<br />tiny, old cemetery we'd just discovered at the edge of the pine woods<br />behind us. "In my dream, green hands were popping out of the ground and<br />grabbing our ankles."<br />"Gross," Terri replied. She brushed her dark brown bangs off her face.<br />Except for the fact that she is one inch taller than me, we look like a<br />perfect brother-sister combination. Same short brown hair, same freckles<br />across our nose, same hazel eyes.<br />One difference: Terri has deep dimples in her cheeks when she smiles, and<br />I don't. Thank goodness.<br />We walked along the ocean shore for a few minutes. Tall, gray boulders<br />and scraggly pines stretched all the way to the water.<br />"Maybe you remembered that dream because you're nervous," Terri said<br />thoughtfully. "You know. About being away from home for a whole month."<br />"Well, maybe," I agreed. "We've never been away this long. But what could<br />happen here? Brad and Agatha are really great."<br />Brad Sadler is our distant cousin. Ancient, distant cousin is more like<br />it. Dad said Brad and his wife, Agatha, were old when he was a kid!<br />But they're both fun, and really energetic despite their age. So when<br />they invited us to come up to New England and spend the last month of<br />summer with them in their old cottage near the beach, Terri and I eagerly<br />said yes. It sounded great — especially since our only other choice was<br />the cramped, hot apartment where we live in New Jersey.<br />We had arrived by train that morning. Brad and Agatha met us at the<br />platform and drove us along the pine woods to the cottage.<br />After we had a chance to unpack and have some lunch — big bowls of creamy<br />clam chowder — Agatha said, "Now why don't you kids have a look around?<br />There's lots to explore."<br />So here we were, checking things out. Terri grabbed my arm. "Hey, let's<br />go back and check out that little cemetery!" she suggested eagerly.<br />"I don't know . . ." My frightening dream was still fresh in my mind.<br />"Oh, come on. There won't be any green hands. I promise. And I bet I can<br />find some really cool gravestones for rubbings."<br />Terri loves exploring old graveyards. She loves all kinds of scary<br />things. She reads scary mysteries by the dozen. And the weird thing is,<br />she always reads the last chapter first.<br />Terri has to solve the mystery. She can't stand not knowing the answer.<br />My sister has a million interests, but gravestone rubbings is one of her<br />stranger hobbies. She tapes a piece of rice paper over the gravestone<br />inscription and then rubs the design onto the paper, using the side of a<br />special wax crayon.<br />"Hey! Wait up," I called to her.<br />But Terri was already jogging up the beach toward the cemetery. "Come on,<br />Jerry," she called. "Don't be a chicken."<br />I followed her off the beach and into the small forest. It smelled fresh<br />and piney. The cemetery was just inside, surrounded by a crumbly stone<br />wall. We squeezed through the narrow opening in the wall that led inside.<br />Terri began inspecting the tombstones. "Wow. Some of these markers are<br />really old," she announced. "Check out this one."<br />She pointed at a small gravestone. Engraved on the front was a skull with<br />wings sprouting on either side of its head.<br />"It's a death's-head," my sister explained. "Very old Puritan symbol.<br />Creepy, huh?" She read the inscription: " 'Here lies the body of Mr. John<br />Sadler, who departed this life March 18, 1642, in the 38th year of his<br />age.' "<br />"Sadler. Like us," I said. "Wow. I wonder if we're related." I did some<br />quick calculations. "If we are, John Sadler is our great-great-greatgreat-<br />grandsomething. He died over 350 years ago."<br />Terri had already moved on to another group of markers. "Here's one from<br />1647, and another from 1652. I don't think I've ever gotten rubbings this<br />old before." She disappeared behind a tall tombstone.<br />I knew where we'd be spending the month. I'd had enough of cemeteries for<br />today, though.<br />"Come on. Let's explore the beach, okay?" I checked around for Terri.<br />"Terri? Where'd you go?" I stepped over to the tall tombstone.<br />Not there.<br />"Terri?" The ocean breeze rustled the pine branches above us. "Terri, cut<br />it out, okay?"<br />I took a couple of steps. "You know I don't like this," I warned.<br />Terri's head popped up from behind a tombstone about ten feet away. "Why?<br />You scared?"<br />I didn't like the grin on her face. "Who, me?" I said. "Never!"<br />Terri stood up. "Okay, chicken. But I'm coming back here tomorrow." She<br />followed me out of the cemetery and onto the rocky beach.<br />"I wonder what's down here," I said, heading along the shoreline.<br />"Oh, look at this." Terri stooped to pluck a tiny yellow-and-white<br />wildflower that had sprouted up between two large rocks. "Butter-andeggs,"<br />she announced. "Weird name for a wildflower, huh?"<br />"Very," I agreed. Terri Sadler Hobby Number Two: wildflowers. She likes<br />to collect them and press them in a huge cardboard contraption called a<br />plant press.<br />Terri frowned. "Now what's your problem?"<br />"We keep stopping. I want to go exploring. Agatha said there's a small<br />beach down here where we can go swimming if we want."<br />"Okay, okay," she replied, rolling her hazel eyes.<br />We trudged on until we reached a small, sandy beach. It was really more<br />rock than sand. Staring out to the water, I saw a long rock jetty<br />stretching out into the ocean.<br />"Wonder what that's for," Terri said.<br />"It helps hold the beach together," I explained. I was just about to<br />launch into my explanation of beach erosion when Terri gasped.<br />"Jerry — look! Up there!" she cried. She pointed to a tall mound of rocks<br />just past the jetty along the shoreline. Nestled high into the rocks, on<br />top of a wide ledge, sat a large, dark cave.<br />"Let's climb up and explore it," Terri cried eagerly.<br />"No, wait!" I remembered what Mom and Dad had said to me that morning as<br />we boarded the train: Keep an eye on Terri and don't let her get too<br />carried away with things. "It might be dangerous," I said. I am the older<br />brother, after all. And I'm the sensible one.<br />She made a face. "Give me a break," she muttered. Terri made her way<br />across the beach and toward the cave. "At least let's get a closer look.<br />We can ask Brad and Agatha later whether or not it's safe."<br />I followed behind her. "Yeah, right. Like ninety-year-olds ever go cave<br />exploring."<br />As we came nearer, I had to admit it was an awesome cave. I'd never seen<br />one that large except in an old Boy Scout magazine.<br />"I wonder if someone lives in it," Terri said excitedly. "You know. Like<br />a beach hermit." She cupped her hands around her mouth and called:<br />"Whooooo!"<br />Sometimes Terri can be such a dork. I mean, if you were living inside a<br />cave, and you heard someone go "whoooo," would you answer back?<br />"Whoooo!" My sister did it again.<br />"Let's go," I urged.<br />Then, from inside the cave, a long, low whistle pierced the air.<br />We stared at each other.<br />"Whoa! What was that?" Terri whispered. "An owl?"<br />I swallowed. "I don't think so. Owls are only awake at night."<br />We heard it again. A long whistle floating out from deep inside the cave.<br />We exchanged glances. What could it be? A wolf? A coyote?<br />"I bet Brad and Agatha are wondering where we are," Terri said softly.<br />"Maybe we should go."<br />"Yeah. Okay." I turned to leave. But stopped when I heard a fluttering<br />sound. From behind the cave. Growing louder.<br />I shielded my eyes with my hand and squinted up at the sky.<br />"No!" I grabbed Terri's arm as a shadow swept over us — and an enormous<br />bat swooped down at us, red eyes flashing, its pointed teeth glistening,<br />hissing as it attacked.<br />3<br />The bat swooped low. So low, I could feel the air from its fluttering<br />wings.<br />Terri and I dropped to the hard ground. I covered my head with both<br />hands.<br />My heart was pounding so loudly, I couldn't hear the fluttering wings.<br />"Hey — where'd it go?" I heard Terri cry.<br />I peeped out. I could see the bat spiralling up into the sky. I watched<br />it swoosh and dip beyond us. Then suddenly it went into a wild spin.<br />It crashed onto the rocks nearby. I could see one black wing flapping<br />weakly in the breeze.<br />Slowly, I climbed to my feet, my heart still thudding. "What made it drop<br />like that?" I asked in a shaky voice. I started toward it.<br />Terri held me back. "Stay away. Bats can carry rabies, you know."<br />"I'm not going to get that close," I told her. "I just want to take a<br />look. I've never seen a real bat close up." I guess you could say that my<br />hobby is science, too. I love studying about all kinds of animals.<br />"Here. Check it out," I announced, scrambling over the smooth, gray<br />boulders.<br />"Careful, Jerry," warned Terri. "If you get rabies, you'll get me in<br />trouble."<br />"Thanks for your concern," I muttered sarcastically.<br />I stopped about four feet from the bat. "Whoa! I don't believe it!" I<br />cried.<br />I heard Terri burst out laughing.<br />It wasn't a bat. It was a kite.<br />I stared in disbelief. The two red eyes that had seemed so menacing were<br />painted on paper! One of the wings had been ripped to shreds when it<br />crashed on the rocks.<br />We both bent over to examine the wreckage.<br />"Look out! It bites!" a boy's voice called from behind us.<br />Startled, Terri and I leaped back. I turned and saw a boy about our age,<br />standing on a tall rock. He had a ball of string in his hand.<br />"Ha-ha. Great joke," Terri said sarcastically.<br />The boy grinned at us, but didn't reply. He stepped closer. I could see<br />that he had freckles across his nose just like me, and brown hair the<br />same shade as mine. He turned back toward the rocks and called, "You can<br />come out now."<br />Two kids, a girl about our age and a little boy about five, clambered<br />over the rocks. The little boy had light blond hair and blue eyes, and<br />his ears poked out. The girl's hair was auburn, and she wore it in<br />braids. All three of them had the same freckles across their noses.<br />"Are you all in the same family?" Terri asked them.<br />The tallest boy, the one who had come out first, nodded his head. "Yeah.<br />We're all Sadlers. I'm Sam. That's Louisa. That's Nat."<br />"Wow," I said. "We're Sadlers, too." I introduced Terri and myself.<br />Sam didn't seem impressed. "There're lots of Sadlers around here," he<br />muttered.<br />We stared at each other for a long moment. They didn't seem very<br />friendly. But then Sam surprised me by asking if I wanted to skip rocks<br />in the water.<br />We followed Sam to the water's edge.<br />"Do you live around here?" Terri asked.<br />Louisa nodded. "What are you doing here?" she asked. She sounded<br />suspicious.<br />"We're visiting our cousins for the month," Terri told her. "They're<br />Sadlers, too. They live in the little cottage just past the lighthouse.<br />Do you know them?"<br />"Sure," said Louisa without smiling. "This is a small place. Everyone<br />knows everyone else."<br />I found a smooth, flat stone and skipped it across the water. Three<br />skips. Not bad. "What do you do for fun around here?" I asked.<br />Louisa replied, staring out at the water. "We go blueberry picking, we<br />play games, we come down to the water." She turned to me. "Why? What did<br />you do today?"<br />"Nothing yet. We just got here," I told her. I grinned. "Except we were<br />attacked by a bat kite."<br />They laughed.<br />"I'm going to do gravestone rubbings and collect wildflowers," Terri<br />said.<br />"There are some beautiful flower patches back in the woods," Louisa told<br />her.<br />I watched Sam skip a stone across the water. Seven skips.<br />He turned to me and grinned. "Practice makes perfect."<br />"It's hard to practice in an apartment building," I muttered.<br />"Huh?" Sam said.<br />"We live in Hoboken," I explained. "In New Jersey. There aren't any ponds<br />in our building."<br />Terri pointed back at the cave. "Do you ever go exploring in there?" she<br />asked.<br />Nat gasped. Sam and Louisa's faces twisted in surprise. "Are you<br />kidding?" Louisa cried.<br />"We never go near there," Sam said softly, eyeing his sister.<br />"Never?" Terri asked.<br />All three of them shook their heads.<br />"Why not?" Terri asked. "What's the big deal?"<br />"Yeah," I demanded. "Why won't you go near the cave?"<br />Louisa's eyes grew wide. "Do you believe in ghosts?" she asked.<br />4<br />"Believe in ghosts? No way!" Terri told her.<br />I kept my mouth shut. I knew that ghosts weren't supposed to be real. But<br />what if all the scientists were wrong?<br />There are so many ghost stories from all around the world, how can ghosts<br />not be real?<br />Maybe that's why I sometimes get scared when I am in strange places. I<br />think I do believe in ghosts. Of course, I would never admit this to<br />Terri. She is always so scientific. She'd laugh at me forever!<br />The three Sadler kids had clustered together.<br />"Come on. Do you guys really believe in ghosts?' Terri asked.<br />Louisa took a step forward. Sam tried to pull her back, but she brushed<br />him off. "If you go near that cave, you might change your mind," she<br />said, narrowing her eyes.<br />"You mean there are ghosts in there?" I asked. "What do they do? Come out<br />at night or something?"<br />Louisa started to reply, but Sam interrupted. "We've got to go now," he<br />said, scooting his brother and sister past us.<br />"Hey — wait!" I called. "We want to hear about the ghosts!"<br />They hurried on. I could see Sam yelling angrily at Louisa. I guess he<br />was upset because she mentioned the ghosts.<br />They disappeared down the beach.<br />Then, from inside the cave we heard that long, low whistle again.<br />Terri stared at me.<br />"It's the wind," I said. I really didn't believe that. Terri didn't<br />believe it, either.<br />"Why don't we ask Brad and Agatha about the cave?" I suggested.<br />"Good idea," Terri said. Even she looked a little scared now.<br />Brad and Agatha's cottage was a short walk from the cave. It perched by<br />itself on the edge of the pine forest, looking out toward the lighthouse.<br />I ran up to the heavy wooden front door and pushed it open. I peered<br />around the tiny front parlor. The old house creaked and groaned as I<br />walked over the sagging floorboards. The ceiling hung so low, I could<br />touch it when I stood on tiptoe.<br />Terri came up beside me. "Are they here?"<br />"I don't think so," I answered, looking around.<br />We stepped past the old sofa and wide stone fireplace and into the<br />cramped kitchen. Off the kitchen stood an old storeroom where I was to<br />sleep. Upstairs was Brad and Agatha's room with a "crawl-through" passage<br />into the space above the storeroom, which would be Terri's room. A tiny<br />back staircase led from Terri's room down to the yard.<br />Terri turned to the window. "There they are!" she said. "In the garden!"<br />I could see Brad bent over a tomato stalk. Agatha was hanging some<br />clothes to dry on the clothesline.<br />We raced out the kitchen door. "Where have you two been?" Agatha<br />demanded. She and Brad both had white, white hair, and their eyes seemed<br />faded and tired. They were so frail and light. Between them I don't think<br />they weighed more than a hundred pounds.<br />"We explored the beach," I told them.<br />I knelt down beside Brad. He was missing the top part of two of his<br />fingers on his left hand. He told us they got caught in a wolf trap when<br />he was young.<br />"We found an old cave in some huge rocks. Have you ever seen it?" I<br />asked.<br />He gave a little grunt and kept searching for ripe tomatoes.<br />"It's right by the beach and the big rock jetty," Terri added. "You can't<br />miss it."<br />Agatha's sheets fluttered on the line. "It's nearly suppertime," she<br />said, ignoring our questions about the cave. "Why don't you come inside<br />and give me a hand, Terri?"<br />Terri glanced at me and shrugged.<br />I turned back to Brad. I was about to ask him about the cave again when<br />he handed me the basket of ripe tomatoes. "Take these to Agatha, okay?"<br />"Sure," I answered, following Terri inside. I set the basket on the small<br />counter. The kitchen was small and narrow. Counter and sink on one side.<br />Stove and refrigerator on the other. Agatha had already put Terri to work<br />in the corner of the living room, setting the table.<br />"Now Terri, dear," Agatha called from the kitchen, "if it's asters you're<br />after, the best place to find those is in the big meadow down past the<br />lighthouse. Of course they're just coming out about now, so you can take<br />your pick there. I believe that's where you can find plenty of goldenrod,<br />too."<br />"Great!" Terri called back with her usual enthusiasm. I don't know how<br />she could get so pumped about flowers.<br />Agatha noticed the basket of tomatoes on the counter. "Oh, gracious! All<br />those tomatoes!" She opened a rattley old drawer and pulled out a small<br />knife. "Why don't you cut these up for a big green salad?"<br />I must have made a face.<br />"Don't you like salad?" Agatha asked.<br />"Not really," I said. "I mean, I'm not a rabbit!"<br />Agatha laughed. "You're absolutely right," she said. "Why ruin a<br />homegrown tomato with lettuce? We'll have them plain, with maybe a little<br />dressing."<br />"Sounds good," I grinned, picking up the knife.<br />I listened to Agatha and Terri discuss wildflowers for a few minutes to<br />see if the subject of the cave would come up again. It didn't. I wondered<br />why my two old cousins didn't want to talk about it.<br />After dinner Brad pulled out an old deck of playing cards and taught<br />Terri and me how to play whist. It's an old-fashioned card game that I'd<br />never heard of before.<br />Brad got a kick out of teaching us the rules. He and I played against<br />Terri and Agatha. Every time I got mixed up, which was most of the time,<br />he'd wag his finger back and forth at me. I guess it saved him from<br />having to say anything.<br />We went to bed after the card game. It was early, but I didn't care. It<br />had been a long day, and I was glad to get some rest. The bed was hard,<br />but I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the scratchy feather pillow.<br />The next morning Terri and I made our way to the woods to collect plants<br />and wildflowers.<br />"What is it we're looking for again?" I asked Terri as I kicked aside<br />piles of dead leaves.<br />"Indian pipe," Terri replied. "It looks like small, pinkish-white bones<br />popping out of the ground. It's also called corpse plant because it lives<br />on the remains of dead plants."<br />"Yuck." I suddenly remembered the popping hands in my cemetery dream.<br />Terri laughed. "You should like these plants," she said. "They're a<br />scientific puzzle. They're white because they don't have any chlorophyll.<br />You know. The stuff that makes plants turn green."<br />"How interesting," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.<br />Terri continued her lecture anyway. "Agatha said Indian pipe only grows<br />in very dark places. They look more like a fungus than a plant."<br />She dug around for a few minutes. "The weirdest thing about them," she<br />continued, "is if they dry out, they turn black. That's why I want to try<br />pressing a few."<br />I poked around in the leaves some more. I have to admit she had me<br />hooked. I love freaks of nature.<br />I peered up at the heavy leaf canopy above us. "We're definitely as deep<br />into the woods as we can be. Are you sure this is where Agatha said you<br />can find them?"<br />Terri nodded. She pointed to a huge fallen oak tree. "That's our<br />landmark. Don't lose it."<br />I started toward the big tree. "Maybe I'll take a closer look over<br />there," I said. "There might be Indian pipe on that dead tree."<br />I knelt down by the snakelike tree roots and began carefully pushing dead<br />leaves aside. No wildflowers. Just bugs and worms. It was really gross.<br />I glanced back at Terri. She didn't seem to be having any luck, either.<br />Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something white sticking out<br />of the ground. I scurried over to examine it.<br />A short plant stem stuck up from the soft ground. The stem was covered<br />with rolled-up leaves. I tugged at the stem. It didn't come up.<br />I pulled harder.<br />The stem rose up a little, bringing a clump of soft dirt with it.<br />It isn't a stem, I realized. It's some kind of root. A root with leaves.<br />Weird.<br />I pulled more of it up from the ground. It was very long, I discovered.<br />A hard tug. Then another.<br />Another hard tug of the strange root brought up a huge mound of dirt.<br />I glanced down into the large hole I had made — and uttered a sharp cry.<br />"Terri — come here!" I managed to choke out. "I found a skeleton!"<br />5<br />"Huh?" Terri raced to my side.<br />We both stood and stared down at it in silence.<br />The skeleton I had uncovered lay curled on its side, every bone neatly in<br />place. The empty eye socket in its gray skull gaped up at us.<br />"Is it a h-human?" Terri stammered in a low whisper.<br />"Not unless the human has four legs, genius!" I replied.<br />Terri stared down at it, her mouth open in an O of surprise. "Well, then,<br />what is it?"<br />"Some kind of large animal," I told her. "Maybe a deer."<br />I stooped to take a closer look. "No. Not a deer. It has toe bones, not<br />hooves."<br />I studied the skull, which was fairly large and had sharp incisors or<br />teeth. When I was nine, I had a thing about skeletons. I must have read<br />every book ever written about skeletons.<br />"My guess is a dog," I announced.<br />"A dog?" said Terri. "Oh, poor little doggy." She stared at the skeleton.<br />"How do you think it died?"<br />"Maybe an animal attacked it."<br />Terri knelt down beside me. "Why would anyone want to eat a dog?"<br />"They're high in protein!" I joked.<br />She shoved me hard. "Jerry! I'm serious. What animal around here eats<br />dogs?"<br />"A wolf maybe. Or a fox," I replied thoughtfully.<br />"Wouldn't a wolf or fox have crunched a few of the bones and left more of<br />a mess?" Terri asked. "This skeleton is in perfect shape."<br />"Maybe it died of old age," I suggested. "Or maybe someone buried it here<br />beneath that weird root plant."<br />"Yeah. Maybe it wasn't attacked by anything," Terri said. I could see the<br />color returning to her face.<br />We sat silently over the skeleton for a minute, thinking about the dog.<br />A shrill animal howl made us both jump to our feet. The frightening sound<br />filled the forest, echoing through the trees.<br />We held our ears as the howling grew louder.<br />"Wh-what is it? What's making that horrible cry?" Terri shrieked.<br />I stared back at her. I didn't know.<br />I only knew it was moving closer.<br />6<br />The howls stopped as suddenly as they started.<br />When I turned around to make sure we were safe, I saw them.<br />Sam, Nat, and Louisa were huddled behind a nearby tree. Laughing.<br />I glared at them. I realized instantly that they had been making the<br />howls. Who did they think they were?<br />It took them a long time to stop laughing. I couldn't believe how much<br />they were enjoying their little joke.<br />I glanced at Terri. She was blushing. My face felt hot. I guess I was<br />blushing, too.<br />When they finally stopped laughing, I invited them over to see the<br />skeleton.<br />Now it was their turn to be startled.<br />Sam's eyes grew wide. Louisa let out a short cry. Nat, the little one,<br />grabbed on to his sister's sleeve and started to whimper.<br />Terri dug into her jeans pockets for a tissue. "Don't worry," she told<br />Nat. She dabbed at his cheeks with her tissue. "It's not a person<br />skeleton. It's only a dog skeleton."<br />Those words made Nat burst into tears.<br />Louisa put her arms around Nat's trembling shoulders. "Shush," she said.<br />"It's all right."<br />But Nat couldn't calm himself down. "I know what happened to this dog,"<br />he sobbed. "A ghost killed it. Dogs can tell if someone's a ghost. Dogs<br />always bark to warn about ghosts."<br />"Nat," Terri said softly, "there's no such thing as ghosts. They're<br />pretend."<br />Sam stepped forward, shaking his head. "You're wrong," he told Terri,<br />narrowing his eyes at her. "There are lots of skeletons in these woods.<br />All because of the ghost. He picks the bones clean and leaves them lying<br />here."<br />"Give me a break, Sam," Terri muttered. "Are you trying to tell us that<br />there's a ghost around here?"<br />Sam stared back, but didn't reply.<br />"Well, are you?" Terri demanded.<br />Suddenly Sam's expression changed. His eyes grew wide with terror. "There<br />it is!" he cried, pointing. "Right behind you!"<br />7<br />I let out a shriek and grabbed Terri's arm.<br />But I knew immediately that I'd been fooled again. When was I going to<br />stop falling for Sam's dumb jokes?<br />"You two are too easy to scare," Sam said, grinning.<br />Terri put her hands on her hips and glared at Sam. "How about a truce,<br />guys? These jokes are getting pretty lame."<br />All eyes were on Sam.<br />"Yeah. Okay. A truce," he murmured. But he had a grin on his face. I<br />couldn't tell if he meant it or not.<br />"Sam, tell Jerry and me more about the ghost," Terri demanded. "Were you<br />serious about a ghost killing the dog, or was that one of your fabulous<br />jokes?"<br />Sam kicked at a clump of dirt. "Maybe some other time," he muttered.<br />"Some other time? Why not now?" I asked.<br />Louisa started to say something — but Sam tugged her away. "Let's go," he<br />said sharply. "Now."<br />Terri's expression changed to confusion. "But I thought — "<br />Sam stalked off through the trees, dragging Louisa with him. Nat hurried<br />to catch up to them.<br />"Bye," Louisa called. "See you later."<br />"Did you see that?" Terri cried. "They really do believe there's a ghost<br />in these woods. They didn't want to talk about it, so they left."<br />I stared down at the animal skeleton, lying so clean and perfect on the<br />ground.<br />Picked clean.<br />Picked clean by a ghost.<br />The words rolled through my mind.<br />I stared hard at the jagged teeth in the pale skull. Then I turned away.<br />"Let's go back to the cottage," I murmured.<br />We found Brad and Agatha sitting in rocking chairs under a shady tree.<br />Agatha was slicing peaches into a large wooden bowl, and Brad watched<br />her.<br />"Do you two like peach pie?" Agatha asked.<br />Terri and I replied that it was one of our favorites.<br />Agatha smiled. "We'll have it tonight. I don't know if your dad mentioned<br />it, but peach pie is one of my specialties. So did you find the Indian<br />pipe?"<br />"Not exactly," I replied. "We found a dog skeleton instead."<br />Agatha began slicing more quickly, the knife blade slipping over her<br />thumb as the soft peach slices slid into the bowl. "Oh, my," she<br />muttered.<br />"What kind of an animal would go after a dog?" asked Terri. "Are there<br />wolves or coyotes around here?"<br />"Never seen any," Brad answered quickly.<br />"Then how do you explain that skeleton?" I demanded. "It was perfectly<br />arranged, and the bones were picked clean."<br />Agatha and Brad exchanged a worried glance. "Can't say as I know," said<br />Agatha. Slice. Slice. Slice. "Brad? Do you have any ideas?"<br />Brad rocked back and forth for a minute. "Nope."<br />Very helpful, Brad, I thought.<br />"We also met three kids," I said. I told them about Sam, Nat, and Louisa.<br />"They said they know you."<br />"Yep," Brad replied. "Neighbors."<br />"They told us a ghost must have killed the dog."<br />Agatha set down her paring knife and leaned her head back against the<br />chair, laughing softly to herself. "Is that what they said? Oh, my. Those<br />kids were teasing you. They love to make up ghost stories. Especially<br />that oldest boy, Sam."<br />"That's what I thought," Terri said, glancing at me.<br />Agatha nodded. "They're nice kids. You should invite them to do something<br />with you some time. Maybe you can all go blueberry picking."<br />Brad cleared his throat. His pale eyes studied me. "You're too smart to<br />fall for ghost stories, aren't you?"<br />"Yeah. I guess," I replied uncertainly.<br />We spent the rest of the afternoon helping Brad weed the garden. Weeding<br />isn't exactly my idea of a thrill. But after Brad showed us which were<br />the good plants and which weren't, Terri and I had fun spearing the bad<br />guys with the special weeding tools he lent us.<br />We ate the peach pie for dessert that night, and it was delicious. Agatha<br />and Brad wanted to hear all about our school and our friends.<br />After dinner, Brad challenged us to another game of whist. This time I<br />did much better. Brad only had to wiggle his finger at me a couple of<br />times.<br />Later, I had a tough time falling asleep. The window of my little room<br />off the kitchen had long, flimsy, white cotton curtains that allowed the<br />light of the full moon to shine onto my face. It felt like staring into a<br />flashlight.<br />I tried covering my face with the pillow, but I couldn't breathe. Then I<br />tried resting my arm over my eyes, but my arm quickly fell asleep.<br />I pulled the sheet up over my head. Better.<br />I closed my eyes. The crickets were making a real racket.<br />Then I heard something thump against the wall outside. Probably a tree<br />branch, I told myself.<br />Another thump. I slid a little further down in my bed.<br />The third time I heard the sound, I took a deep breath, sat up, and<br />tossed off the sheet.<br />I took a careful look around the room. Nothing. Nada. Zip.<br />I lay back down.<br />Near the doorway, the floorboards creaked.<br />I turned to the window.<br />Behind the curtains, something moved.<br />Something pale. Ghostly.<br />The floorboards creaked again as the pale figure moved toward me.<br />8<br />I 1<br />I don't remember how we got to the graveyard.<br />I remember the sky grew dark — and we were there.<br />My sister Terri and I walked past rows of crooked, old tombstones,<br />cracked and covered with moss. Even though it was summer, a damp, gray<br />fog had settled on everything, sending a chill through the air.<br />I shivered and pulled my jacket closer. "Wait up, Terri!" I called. As<br />usual, she had plowed ahead. Graveyards get her all excited. "Where are<br />you?" I yelled.<br />I squinted into the gray fog. I could see her shadowy figure up ahead,<br />stopping every few seconds to examine a tombstone.<br />I read the words on the tombstone tilted at my feet:<br />In memory of John,<br />son of Daniel and Sarah Knapp,<br />who died March 25, 1766,<br />aged 12 years and 22 days.<br />Weird, I thought. That kid was about my age when he died. I turned twelve<br />in February. The same month Terri turned eleven.<br />I hurried on. A sharp wind swept in. I searched the rows of old graves<br />for my sister. She had disappeared into the thick fog. "Terri? Where did<br />you go?" I called.<br />Her voice floated back to me. "I'm over here, Jerry."<br />"Where?" I pushed forward through the mist and the leaves. The wind<br />swirled around me.<br />From nearby came a long, low howl. "Must be a dog," I murmured aloud.<br />The trees rattled their leaves at me. I shivered.<br />"Jer-ry." Terri's voice sounded a million miles away.<br />I walked a little further, then steadied myself against a tall tombstone.<br />"Terri! Wait up! Stop moving around so much!"<br />I heard another long howl.<br />"You're going the wrong way," Terri called. "I'm over here."<br />"Great. Thanks a lot," I muttered. Why couldn't I have a sister who liked<br />baseball instead of exploring old cemeteries?<br />The wind made a deep sucking noise. A column of leaves, dust, and dirt<br />swirled up in my face. I pinched my eyes shut.<br />When I opened them, I saw Terri crouched over a small grave. "Don't<br />move," I called. "I'm coming."<br />I zigzagged my way around the tombstones until I reached her side. "It's<br />getting dark," I said. "Let's get out of here."<br />I turned and took a step — and something grabbed my ankle.<br />I screamed and tried to pull away. But its grasp tightened.<br />A hand. Reaching up through the dirt beside the grave.<br />I let out a shrill scream. Terri screamed, too.<br />I kicked hard and broke free.<br />"Run!" Terri shrieked.<br />But I was already running.<br />As Terri and I stumbled over the wet grass, green hands popped up<br />everywhere. Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Pop! Pop!<br />The hands rose up. Reached for us. Grabbed at our ankles.<br />I darted to the left. Thwack! I dodged to the right. Pop!<br />"Run, Terri! Run!" I called to my sister. "Lift your knees!"<br />I could hear her sneakers pounding the ground behind me. Then I heard her<br />terrified cry: "Jerry! They've got me!"<br />With a loud gasp, I spun around. Two big hands had wrapped themselves<br />around her ankles.<br />I froze, watching my sister struggle.<br />"Jerry — help me! It won't let go!"<br />Taking a deep breath, I dove toward her. "Grab on to me," I instructed,<br />holding out my arms.<br />I kicked at the two hands that held her.<br />Kicked as hard as I could. But they didn't move, didn't let go.<br />"I — I can't move!" Terri wailed.<br />The dirt seemed to shake at my feet. I peered down to see more hands<br />sprouting up from the ground.<br />I tugged at Terri's waist. "Move!" I yelled frantically.<br />"I can't!"<br />"Yes, you can! You've got to keep trying!"<br />"Ohhh!" I let out a low cry as two hands grabbed my ankles.<br />Now I was caught.<br />We were both trapped.<br />2<br />"Jerry! What's your problem?" Terri asked.<br />I blinked. Terri stood beside me on a rocky strip of beach. I stared out<br />at the calm ocean water beyond us and shook my head. "Wow. That was<br />weird," I murmured. "I was remembering a bad dream I had a few months<br />ago."<br />Terri frowned at me. "Why now?"<br />"It was about a cemetery," I explained. I turned back to glance at the<br />tiny, old cemetery we'd just discovered at the edge of the pine woods<br />behind us. "In my dream, green hands were popping out of the ground and<br />grabbing our ankles."<br />"Gross," Terri replied. She brushed her dark brown bangs off her face.<br />Except for the fact that she is one inch taller than me, we look like a<br />perfect brother-sister combination. Same short brown hair, same freckles<br />across our nose, same hazel eyes.<br />One difference: Terri has deep dimples in her cheeks when she smiles, and<br />I don't. Thank goodness.<br />We walked along the ocean shore for a few minutes. Tall, gray boulders<br />and scraggly pines stretched all the way to the water.<br />"Maybe you remembered that dream because you're nervous," Terri said<br />thoughtfully. "You know. About being away from home for a whole month."<br />"Well, maybe," I agreed. "We've never been away this long. But what could<br />happen here? Brad and Agatha are really great."<br />Brad Sadler is our distant cousin. Ancient, distant cousin is more like<br />it. Dad said Brad and his wife, Agatha, were old when he was a kid!<br />But they're both fun, and really energetic despite their age. So when<br />they invited us to come up to New England and spend the last month of<br />summer with them in their old cottage near the beach, Terri and I eagerly<br />said yes. It sounded great — especially since our only other choice was<br />the cramped, hot apartment where we live in New Jersey.<br />We had arrived by train that morning. Brad and Agatha met us at the<br />platform and drove us along the pine woods to the cottage.<br />After we had a chance to unpack and have some lunch — big bowls of creamy<br />clam chowder — Agatha said, "Now why don't you kids have a look around?<br />There's lots to explore."<br />So here we were, checking things out. Terri grabbed my arm. "Hey, let's<br />go back and check out that little cemetery!" she suggested eagerly.<br />"I don't know . . ." My frightening dream was still fresh in my mind.<br />"Oh, come on. There won't be any green hands. I promise. And I bet I can<br />find some really cool gravestones for rubbings."<br />Terri loves exploring old graveyards. She loves all kinds of scary<br />things. She reads scary mysteries by the dozen. And the weird thing is,<br />she always reads the last chapter first.<br />Terri has to solve the mystery. She can't stand not knowing the answer.<br />My sister has a million interests, but gravestone rubbings is one of her<br />stranger hobbies. She tapes a piece of rice paper over the gravestone<br />inscription and then rubs the design onto the paper, using the side of a<br />special wax crayon.<br />"Hey! Wait up," I called to her.<br />But Terri was already jogging up the beach toward the cemetery. "Come on,<br />Jerry," she called. "Don't be a chicken."<br />I followed her off the beach and into the small forest. It smelled fresh<br />and piney. The cemetery was just inside, surrounded by a crumbly stone<br />wall. We squeezed through the narrow opening in the wall that led inside.<br />Terri began inspecting the tombstones. "Wow. Some of these markers are<br />really old," she announced. "Check out this one."<br />She pointed at a small gravestone. Engraved on the front was a skull with<br />wings sprouting on either side of its head.<br />"It's a death's-head," my sister explained. "Very old Puritan symbol.<br />Creepy, huh?" She read the inscription: " 'Here lies the body of Mr. John<br />Sadler, who departed this life March 18, 1642, in the 38th year of his<br />age.' "<br />"Sadler. Like us," I said. "Wow. I wonder if we're related." I did some<br />quick calculations. "If we are, John Sadler is our great-great-greatgreat-<br />grandsomething. He died over 350 years ago."<br />Terri had already moved on to another group of markers. "Here's one from<br />1647, and another from 1652. I don't think I've ever gotten rubbings this<br />old before." She disappeared behind a tall tombstone.<br />I knew where we'd be spending the month. I'd had enough of cemeteries for<br />today, though.<br />"Come on. Let's explore the beach, okay?" I checked around for Terri.<br />"Terri? Where'd you go?" I stepped over to the tall tombstone.<br />Not there.<br />"Terri?" The ocean breeze rustled the pine branches above us. "Terri, cut<br />it out, okay?"<br />I took a couple of steps. "You know I don't like this," I warned.<br />Terri's head popped up from behind a tombstone about ten feet away. "Why?<br />You scared?"<br />I didn't like the grin on her face. "Who, me?" I said. "Never!"<br />Terri stood up. "Okay, chicken. But I'm coming back here tomorrow." She<br />followed me out of the cemetery and onto the rocky beach.<br />"I wonder what's down here," I said, heading along the shoreline.<br />"Oh, look at this." Terri stooped to pluck a tiny yellow-and-white<br />wildflower that had sprouted up between two large rocks. "Butter-andeggs,"<br />she announced. "Weird name for a wildflower, huh?"<br />"Very," I agreed. Terri Sadler Hobby Number Two: wildflowers. She likes<br />to collect them and press them in a huge cardboard contraption called a<br />plant press.<br />Terri frowned. "Now what's your problem?"<br />"We keep stopping. I want to go exploring. Agatha said there's a small<br />beach down here where we can go swimming if we want."<br />"Okay, okay," she replied, rolling her hazel eyes.<br />We trudged on until we reached a small, sandy beach. It was really more<br />rock than sand. Staring out to the water, I saw a long rock jetty<br />stretching out into the ocean.<br />"Wonder what that's for," Terri said.<br />"It helps hold the beach together," I explained. I was just about to<br />launch into my explanation of beach erosion when Terri gasped.<br />"Jerry — look! Up there!" she cried. She pointed to a tall mound of rocks<br />just past the jetty along the shoreline. Nestled high into the rocks, on<br />top of a wide ledge, sat a large, dark cave.<br />"Let's climb up and explore it," Terri cried eagerly.<br />"No, wait!" I remembered what Mom and Dad had said to me that morning as<br />we boarded the train: Keep an eye on Terri and don't let her get too<br />carried away with things. "It might be dangerous," I said. I am the older<br />brother, after all. And I'm the sensible one.<br />She made a face. "Give me a break," she muttered. Terri made her way<br />across the beach and toward the cave. "At least let's get a closer look.<br />We can ask Brad and Agatha later whether or not it's safe."<br />I followed behind her. "Yeah, right. Like ninety-year-olds ever go cave<br />exploring."<br />As we came nearer, I had to admit it was an awesome cave. I'd never seen<br />one that large except in an old Boy Scout magazine.<br />"I wonder if someone lives in it," Terri said excitedly. "You know. Like<br />a beach hermit." She cupped her hands around her mouth and called:<br />"Whooooo!"<br />Sometimes Terri can be such a dork. I mean, if you were living inside a<br />cave, and you heard someone go "whoooo," would you answer back?<br />"Whoooo!" My sister did it again.<br />"Let's go," I urged.<br />Then, from inside the cave, a long, low whistle pierced the air.<br />We stared at each other.<br />"Whoa! What was that?" Terri whispered. "An owl?"<br />I swallowed. "I don't think so. Owls are only awake at night."<br />We heard it again. A long whistle floating out from deep inside the cave.<br />We exchanged glances. What could it be? A wolf? A coyote?<br />"I bet Brad and Agatha are wondering where we are," Terri said softly.<br />"Maybe we should go."<br />"Yeah. Okay." I turned to leave. But stopped when I heard a fluttering<br />sound. From behind the cave. Growing louder.<br />I shielded my eyes with my hand and squinted up at the sky.<br />"No!" I grabbed Terri's arm as a shadow swept over us — and an enormous<br />bat swooped down at us, red eyes flashing, its pointed teeth glistening,<br />hissing as it attacked.<br />3<br />The bat swooped low. So low, I could feel the air from its fluttering<br />wings.<br />Terri and I dropped to the hard ground. I covered my head with both<br />hands.<br />My heart was pounding so loudly, I couldn't hear the fluttering wings.<br />"Hey — where'd it go?" I heard Terri cry.<br />I peeped out. I could see the bat spiralling up into the sky. I watched<br />it swoosh and dip beyond us. Then suddenly it went into a wild spin.<br />It crashed onto the rocks nearby. I could see one black wing flapping<br />weakly in the breeze.<br />Slowly, I climbed to my feet, my heart still thudding. "What made it drop<br />like that?" I asked in a shaky voice. I started toward it.<br />Terri held me back. "Stay away. Bats can carry rabies, you know."<br />"I'm not going to get that close," I told her. "I just want to take a<br />look. I've never seen a real bat close up." I guess you could say that my<br />hobby is science, too. I love studying about all kinds of animals.<br />"Here. Check it out," I announced, scrambling over the smooth, gray<br />boulders.<br />"Careful, Jerry," warned Terri. "If you get rabies, you'll get me in<br />trouble."<br />"Thanks for your concern," I muttered sarcastically.<br />I stopped about four feet from the bat. "Whoa! I don't believe it!" I<br />cried.<br />I heard Terri burst out laughing.<br />It wasn't a bat. It was a kite.<br />I stared in disbelief. The two red eyes that had seemed so menacing were<br />painted on paper! One of the wings had been ripped to shreds when it<br />crashed on the rocks.<br />We both bent over to examine the wreckage.<br />"Look out! It bites!" a boy's voice called from behind us.<br />Startled, Terri and I leaped back. I turned and saw a boy about our age,<br />standing on a tall rock. He had a ball of string in his hand.<br />"Ha-ha. Great joke," Terri said sarcastically.<br />The boy grinned at us, but didn't reply. He stepped closer. I could see<br />that he had freckles across his nose just like me, and brown hair the<br />same shade as mine. He turned back toward the rocks and called, "You can<br />come out now."<br />Two kids, a girl about our age and a little boy about five, clambered<br />over the rocks. The little boy had light blond hair and blue eyes, and<br />his ears poked out. The girl's hair was auburn, and she wore it in<br />braids. All three of them had the same freckles across their noses.<br />"Are you all in the same family?" Terri asked them.<br />The tallest boy, the one who had come out first, nodded his head. "Yeah.<br />We're all Sadlers. I'm Sam. That's Louisa. That's Nat."<br />"Wow," I said. "We're Sadlers, too." I introduced Terri and myself.<br />Sam didn't seem impressed. "There're lots of Sadlers around here," he<br />muttered.<br />We stared at each other for a long moment. They didn't seem very<br />friendly. But then Sam surprised me by asking if I wanted to skip rocks<br />in the water.<br />We followed Sam to the water's edge.<br />"Do you live around here?" Terri asked.<br />Louisa nodded. "What are you doing here?" she asked. She sounded<br />suspicious.<br />"We're visiting our cousins for the month," Terri told her. "They're<br />Sadlers, too. They live in the little cottage just past the lighthouse.<br />Do you know them?"<br />"Sure," said Louisa without smiling. "This is a small place. Everyone<br />knows everyone else."<br />I found a smooth, flat stone and skipped it across the water. Three<br />skips. Not bad. "What do you do for fun around here?" I asked.<br />Louisa replied, staring out at the water. "We go blueberry picking, we<br />play games, we come down to the water." She turned to me. "Why? What did<br />you do today?"<br />"Nothing yet. We just got here," I told her. I grinned. "Except we were<br />attacked by a bat kite."<br />They laughed.<br />"I'm going to do gravestone rubbings and collect wildflowers," Terri<br />said.<br />"There are some beautiful flower patches back in the woods," Louisa told<br />her.<br />I watched Sam skip a stone across the water. Seven skips.<br />He turned to me and grinned. "Practice makes perfect."<br />"It's hard to practice in an apartment building," I muttered.<br />"Huh?" Sam said.<br />"We live in Hoboken," I explained. "In New Jersey. There aren't any ponds<br />in our building."<br />Terri pointed back at the cave. "Do you ever go exploring in there?" she<br />asked.<br />Nat gasped. Sam and Louisa's faces twisted in surprise. "Are you<br />kidding?" Louisa cried.<br />"We never go near there," Sam said softly, eyeing his sister.<br />"Never?" Terri asked.<br />All three of them shook their heads.<br />"Why not?" Terri asked. "What's the big deal?"<br />"Yeah," I demanded. "Why won't you go near the cave?"<br />Louisa's eyes grew wide. "Do you believe in ghosts?" she asked.<br />4<br />"Believe in ghosts? No way!" Terri told her.<br />I kept my mouth shut. I knew that ghosts weren't supposed to be real. But<br />what if all the scientists were wrong?<br />There are so many ghost stories from all around the world, how can ghosts<br />not be real?<br />Maybe that's why I sometimes get scared when I am in strange places. I<br />think I do believe in ghosts. Of course, I would never admit this to<br />Terri. She is always so scientific. She'd laugh at me forever!<br />The three Sadler kids had clustered together.<br />"Come on. Do you guys really believe in ghosts?' Terri asked.<br />Louisa took a step forward. Sam tried to pull her back, but she brushed<br />him off. "If you go near that cave, you might change your mind," she<br />said, narrowing her eyes.<br />"You mean there are ghosts in there?" I asked. "What do they do? Come out<br />at night or something?"<br />Louisa started to reply, but Sam interrupted. "We've got to go now," he<br />said, scooting his brother and sister past us.<br />"Hey — wait!" I called. "We want to hear about the ghosts!"<br />They hurried on. I could see Sam yelling angrily at Louisa. I guess he<br />was upset because she mentioned the ghosts.<br />They disappeared down the beach.<br />Then, from inside the cave we heard that long, low whistle again.<br />Terri stared at me.<br />"It's the wind," I said. I really didn't believe that. Terri didn't<br />believe it, either.<br />"Why don't we ask Brad and Agatha about the cave?" I suggested.<br />"Good idea," Terri said. Even she looked a little scared now.<br />Brad and Agatha's cottage was a short walk from the cave. It perched by<br />itself on the edge of the pine forest, looking out toward the lighthouse.<br />I ran up to the heavy wooden front door and pushed it open. I peered<br />around the tiny front parlor. The old house creaked and groaned as I<br />walked over the sagging floorboards. The ceiling hung so low, I could<br />touch it when I stood on tiptoe.<br />Terri came up beside me. "Are they here?"<br />"I don't think so," I answered, looking around.<br />We stepped past the old sofa and wide stone fireplace and into the<br />cramped kitchen. Off the kitchen stood an old storeroom where I was to<br />sleep. Upstairs was Brad and Agatha's room with a "crawl-through" passage<br />into the space above the storeroom, which would be Terri's room. A tiny<br />back staircase led from Terri's room down to the yard.<br />Terri turned to the window. "There they are!" she said. "In the garden!"<br />I could see Brad bent over a tomato stalk. Agatha was hanging some<br />clothes to dry on the clothesline.<br />We raced out the kitchen door. "Where have you two been?" Agatha<br />demanded. She and Brad both had white, white hair, and their eyes seemed<br />faded and tired. They were so frail and light. Between them I don't think<br />they weighed more than a hundred pounds.<br />"We explored the beach," I told them.<br />I knelt down beside Brad. He was missing the top part of two of his<br />fingers on his left hand. He told us they got caught in a wolf trap when<br />he was young.<br />"We found an old cave in some huge rocks. Have you ever seen it?" I<br />asked.<br />He gave a little grunt and kept searching for ripe tomatoes.<br />"It's right by the beach and the big rock jetty," Terri added. "You can't<br />miss it."<br />Agatha's sheets fluttered on the line. "It's nearly suppertime," she<br />said, ignoring our questions about the cave. "Why don't you come inside<br />and give me a hand, Terri?"<br />Terri glanced at me and shrugged.<br />I turned back to Brad. I was about to ask him about the cave again when<br />he handed me the basket of ripe tomatoes. "Take these to Agatha, okay?"<br />"Sure," I answered, following Terri inside. I set the basket on the small<br />counter. The kitchen was small and narrow. Counter and sink on one side.<br />Stove and refrigerator on the other. Agatha had already put Terri to work<br />in the corner of the living room, setting the table.<br />"Now Terri, dear," Agatha called from the kitchen, "if it's asters you're<br />after, the best place to find those is in the big meadow down past the<br />lighthouse. Of course they're just coming out about now, so you can take<br />your pick there. I believe that's where you can find plenty of goldenrod,<br />too."<br />"Great!" Terri called back with her usual enthusiasm. I don't know how<br />she could get so pumped about flowers.<br />Agatha noticed the basket of tomatoes on the counter. "Oh, gracious! All<br />those tomatoes!" She opened a rattley old drawer and pulled out a small<br />knife. "Why don't you cut these up for a big green salad?"<br />I must have made a face.<br />"Don't you like salad?" Agatha asked.<br />"Not really," I said. "I mean, I'm not a rabbit!"<br />Agatha laughed. "You're absolutely right," she said. "Why ruin a<br />homegrown tomato with lettuce? We'll have them plain, with maybe a little<br />dressing."<br />"Sounds good," I grinned, picking up the knife.<br />I listened to Agatha and Terri discuss wildflowers for a few minutes to<br />see if the subject of the cave would come up again. It didn't. I wondered<br />why my two old cousins didn't want to talk about it.<br />After dinner Brad pulled out an old deck of playing cards and taught<br />Terri and me how to play whist. It's an old-fashioned card game that I'd<br />never heard of before.<br />Brad got a kick out of teaching us the rules. He and I played against<br />Terri and Agatha. Every time I got mixed up, which was most of the time,<br />he'd wag his finger back and forth at me. I guess it saved him from<br />having to say anything.<br />We went to bed after the card game. It was early, but I didn't care. It<br />had been a long day, and I was glad to get some rest. The bed was hard,<br />but I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the scratchy feather pillow.<br />The next morning Terri and I made our way to the woods to collect plants<br />and wildflowers.<br />"What is it we're looking for again?" I asked Terri as I kicked aside<br />piles of dead leaves.<br />"Indian pipe," Terri replied. "It looks like small, pinkish-white bones<br />popping out of the ground. It's also called corpse plant because it lives<br />on the remains of dead plants."<br />"Yuck." I suddenly remembered the popping hands in my cemetery dream.<br />Terri laughed. "You should like these plants," she said. "They're a<br />scientific puzzle. They're white because they don't have any chlorophyll.<br />You know. The stuff that makes plants turn green."<br />"How interesting," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.<br />Terri continued her lecture anyway. "Agatha said Indian pipe only grows<br />in very dark places. They look more like a fungus than a plant."<br />She dug around for a few minutes. "The weirdest thing about them," she<br />continued, "is if they dry out, they turn black. That's why I want to try<br />pressing a few."<br />I poked around in the leaves some more. I have to admit she had me<br />hooked. I love freaks of nature.<br />I peered up at the heavy leaf canopy above us. "We're definitely as deep<br />into the woods as we can be. Are you sure this is where Agatha said you<br />can find them?"<br />Terri nodded. She pointed to a huge fallen oak tree. "That's our<br />landmark. Don't lose it."<br />I started toward the big tree. "Maybe I'll take a closer look over<br />there," I said. "There might be Indian pipe on that dead tree."<br />I knelt down by the snakelike tree roots and began carefully pushing dead<br />leaves aside. No wildflowers. Just bugs and worms. It was really gross.<br />I glanced back at Terri. She didn't seem to be having any luck, either.<br />Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something white sticking out<br />of the ground. I scurried over to examine it.<br />A short plant stem stuck up from the soft ground. The stem was covered<br />with rolled-up leaves. I tugged at the stem. It didn't come up.<br />I pulled harder.<br />The stem rose up a little, bringing a clump of soft dirt with it.<br />It isn't a stem, I realized. It's some kind of root. A root with leaves.<br />Weird.<br />I pulled more of it up from the ground. It was very long, I discovered.<br />A hard tug. Then another.<br />Another hard tug of the strange root brought up a huge mound of dirt.<br />I glanced down into the large hole I had made — and uttered a sharp cry.<br />"Terri — come here!" I managed to choke out. "I found a skeleton!"<br />5<br />"Huh?" Terri raced to my side.<br />We both stood and stared down at it in silence.<br />The skeleton I had uncovered lay curled on its side, every bone neatly in<br />place. The empty eye socket in its gray skull gaped up at us.<br />"Is it a h-human?" Terri stammered in a low whisper.<br />"Not unless the human has four legs, genius!" I replied.<br />Terri stared down at it, her mouth open in an O of surprise. "Well, then,<br />what is it?"<br />"Some kind of large animal," I told her. "Maybe a deer."<br />I stooped to take a closer look. "No. Not a deer. It has toe bones, not<br />hooves."<br />I studied the skull, which was fairly large and had sharp incisors or<br />teeth. When I was nine, I had a thing about skeletons. I must have read<br />every book ever written about skeletons.<br />"My guess is a dog," I announced.<br />"A dog?" said Terri. "Oh, poor little doggy." She stared at the skeleton.<br />"How do you think it died?"<br />"Maybe an animal attacked it."<br />Terri knelt down beside me. "Why would anyone want to eat a dog?"<br />"They're high in protein!" I joked.<br />She shoved me hard. "Jerry! I'm serious. What animal around here eats<br />dogs?"<br />"A wolf maybe. Or a fox," I replied thoughtfully.<br />"Wouldn't a wolf or fox have crunched a few of the bones and left more of<br />a mess?" Terri asked. "This skeleton is in perfect shape."<br />"Maybe it died of old age," I suggested. "Or maybe someone buried it here<br />beneath that weird root plant."<br />"Yeah. Maybe it wasn't attacked by anything," Terri said. I could see the<br />color returning to her face.<br />We sat silently over the skeleton for a minute, thinking about the dog.<br />A shrill animal howl made us both jump to our feet. The frightening sound<br />filled the forest, echoing through the trees.<br />We held our ears as the howling grew louder.<br />"Wh-what is it? What's making that horrible cry?" Terri shrieked.<br />I stared back at her. I didn't know.<br />I only knew it was moving closer.<br />6<br />The howls stopped as suddenly as they started.<br />When I turned around to make sure we were safe, I saw them.<br />Sam, Nat, and Louisa were huddled behind a nearby tree. Laughing.<br />I glared at them. I realized instantly that they had been making the<br />howls. Who did they think they were?<br />It took them a long time to stop laughing. I couldn't believe how much<br />they were enjoying their little joke.<br />I glanced at Terri. She was blushing. My face felt hot. I guess I was<br />blushing, too.<br />When they finally stopped laughing, I invited them over to see the<br />skeleton.<br />Now it was their turn to be startled.<br />Sam's eyes grew wide. Louisa let out a short cry. Nat, the little one,<br />grabbed on to his sister's sleeve and started to whimper.<br />Terri dug into her jeans pockets for a tissue. "Don't worry," she told<br />Nat. She dabbed at his cheeks with her tissue. "It's not a person<br />skeleton. It's only a dog skeleton."<br />Those words made Nat burst into tears.<br />Louisa put her arms around Nat's trembling shoulders. "Shush," she said.<br />"It's all right."<br />But Nat couldn't calm himself down. "I know what happened to this dog,"<br />he sobbed. "A ghost killed it. Dogs can tell if someone's a ghost. Dogs<br />always bark to warn about ghosts."<br />"Nat," Terri said softly, "there's no such thing as ghosts. They're<br />pretend."<br />Sam stepped forward, shaking his head. "You're wrong," he told Terri,<br />narrowing his eyes at her. "There are lots of skeletons in these woods.<br />All because of the ghost. He picks the bones clean and leaves them lying<br />here."<br />"Give me a break, Sam," Terri muttered. "Are you trying to tell us that<br />there's a ghost around here?"<br />Sam stared back, but didn't reply.<br />"Well, are you?" Terri demanded.<br />Suddenly Sam's expression changed. His eyes grew wide with terror. "There<br />it is!" he cried, pointing. "Right behind you!"<br />7<br />I let out a shriek and grabbed Terri's arm.<br />But I knew immediately that I'd been fooled again. When was I going to<br />stop falling for Sam's dumb jokes?<br />"You two are too easy to scare," Sam said, grinning.<br />Terri put her hands on her hips and glared at Sam. "How about a truce,<br />guys? These jokes are getting pretty lame."<br />All eyes were on Sam.<br />"Yeah. Okay. A truce," he murmured. But he had a grin on his face. I<br />couldn't tell if he meant it or not.<br />"Sam, tell Jerry and me more about the ghost," Terri demanded. "Were you<br />serious about a ghost killing the dog, or was that one of your fabulous<br />jokes?"<br />Sam kicked at a clump of dirt. "Maybe some other time," he muttered.<br />"Some other time? Why not now?" I asked.<br />Louisa started to say something — but Sam tugged her away. "Let's go," he<br />said sharply. "Now."<br />Terri's expression changed to confusion. "But I thought — "<br />Sam stalked off through the trees, dragging Louisa with him. Nat hurried<br />to catch up to them.<br />"Bye," Louisa called. "See you later."<br />"Did you see that?" Terri cried. "They really do believe there's a ghost<br />in these woods. They didn't want to talk about it, so they left."<br />I stared down at the animal skeleton, lying so clean and perfect on the<br />ground.<br />Picked clean.<br />Picked clean by a ghost.<br />The words rolled through my mind.<br />I stared hard at the jagged teeth in the pale skull. Then I turned away.<br />"Let's go back to the cottage," I murmured.<br />We found Brad and Agatha sitting in rocking chairs under a shady tree.<br />Agatha was slicing peaches into a large wooden bowl, and Brad watched<br />her.<br />"Do you two like peach pie?" Agatha asked.<br />Terri and I replied that it was one of our favorites.<br />Agatha smiled. "We'll have it tonight. I don't know if your dad mentioned<br />it, but peach pie is one of my specialties. So did you find the Indian<br />pipe?"<br />"Not exactly," I replied. "We found a dog skeleton instead."<br />Agatha began slicing more quickly, the knife blade slipping over her<br />thumb as the soft peach slices slid into the bowl. "Oh, my," she<br />muttered.<br />"What kind of an animal would go after a dog?" asked Terri. "Are there<br />wolves or coyotes around here?"<br />"Never seen any," Brad answered quickly.<br />"Then how do you explain that skeleton?" I demanded. "It was perfectly<br />arranged, and the bones were picked clean."<br />Agatha and Brad exchanged a worried glance. "Can't say as I know," said<br />Agatha. Slice. Slice. Slice. "Brad? Do you have any ideas?"<br />Brad rocked back and forth for a minute. "Nope."<br />Very helpful, Brad, I thought.<br />"We also met three kids," I said. I told them about Sam, Nat, and Louisa.<br />"They said they know you."<br />"Yep," Brad replied. "Neighbors."<br />"They told us a ghost must have killed the dog."<br />Agatha set down her paring knife and leaned her head back against the<br />chair, laughing softly to herself. "Is that what they said? Oh, my. Those<br />kids were teasing you. They love to make up ghost stories. Especially<br />that oldest boy, Sam."<br />"That's what I thought," Terri said, glancing at me.<br />Agatha nodded. "They're nice kids. You should invite them to do something<br />with you some time. Maybe you can all go blueberry picking."<br />Brad cleared his throat. His pale eyes studied me. "You're too smart to<br />fall for ghost stories, aren't you?"<br />"Yeah. I guess," I replied uncertainly.<br />We spent the rest of the afternoon helping Brad weed the garden. Weeding<br />isn't exactly my idea of a thrill. But after Brad showed us which were<br />the good plants and which weren't, Terri and I had fun spearing the bad<br />guys with the special weeding tools he lent us.<br />We ate the peach pie for dessert that night, and it was delicious. Agatha<br />and Brad wanted to hear all about our school and our friends.<br />After dinner, Brad challenged us to another game of whist. This time I<br />did much better. Brad only had to wiggle his finger at me a couple of<br />times.<br />Later, I had a tough time falling asleep. The window of my little room<br />off the kitchen had long, flimsy, white cotton curtains that allowed the<br />light of the full moon to shine onto my face. It felt like staring into a<br />flashlight.<br />I tried covering my face with the pillow, but I couldn't breathe. Then I<br />tried resting my arm over my eyes, but my arm quickly fell asleep.<br />I pulled the sheet up over my head. Better.<br />I closed my eyes. The crickets were making a real racket.<br />Then I heard something thump against the wall outside. Probably a tree<br />branch, I told myself.<br />Another thump. I slid a little further down in my bed.<br />The third time I heard the sound, I took a deep breath, sat up, and<br />tossed off the sheet.<br />I took a careful look around the room. Nothing. Nada. Zip.<br />I lay back down.<br />Near the doorway, the floorboards creaked.<br />I turned to the window.<br />Behind the curtains, something moved.<br />Something pale. Ghostly.<br />The floorboards creaked again as the pale figure moved toward me.<br />8<br />I1<br />I don't remember how we got to the graveyard.<br />I remember the sky grew dark — and we were there.<br />My sister Terri and I walked past rows of crooked, old tombstones,<br />cracked and covered with moss. Even though it was summer, a damp, gray<br />fog had settled on everything, sending a chill through the air.<br />I shivered and pulled my jacket closer. "Wait up, Terri!" I called. As<br />usual, she had plowed ahead. Graveyards get her all excited. "Where are<br />you?" I yelled.<br />I squinted into the gray fog. I could see her shadowy figure up ahead,<br />stopping every few seconds to examine a tombstone.<br />I read the words on the tombstone tilted at my feet:<br />In memory of John,<br />son of Daniel and Sarah Knapp,<br />who died March 25, 1766,<br />aged 12 years and 22 days.<br />Weird, I thought. That kid was about my age when he died. I turned twelve<br />in February. The same month Terri turned eleven.<br />I hurried on. A sharp wind swept in. I searched the rows of old graves<br />for my sister. She had disappeared into the thick fog. "Terri? Where did<br />you go?" I called.<br />Her voice floated back to me. "I'm over here, Jerry."<br />"Where?" I pushed forward through the mist and the leaves. The wind<br />swirled around me.<br />From nearby came a long, low howl. "Must be a dog," I murmured aloud.<br />The trees rattled their leaves at me. I shivered.<br />"Jer-ry." Terri's voice sounded a million miles away.<br />I walked a little further, then steadied myself against a tall tombstone.<br />"Terri! Wait up! Stop moving around so much!"<br />I heard another long howl.<br />"You're going the wrong way," Terri called. "I'm over here."<br />"Great. Thanks a lot," I muttered. Why couldn't I have a sister who liked<br />baseball instead of exploring old cemeteries?<br />The wind made a deep sucking noise. A column of leaves, dust, and dirt<br />swirled up in my face. I pinched my eyes shut.<br />When I opened them, I saw Terri crouched over a small grave. "Don't<br />move," I called. "I'm coming."<br />I zigzagged my way around the tombstones until I reached her side. "It's<br />getting dark," I said. "Let's get out of here."<br />I turned and took a step — and something grabbed my ankle.<br />I screamed and tried to pull away. But its grasp tightened.<br />A hand. Reaching up through the dirt beside the grave.<br />I let out a shrill scream. Terri screamed, too.<br />I kicked hard and broke free.<br />"Run!" Terri shrieked.<br />But I was already running.<br />As Terri and I stumbled over the wet grass, green hands popped up<br />everywhere. Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Pop! Pop!<br />The hands rose up. Reached for us. Grabbed at our ankles.<br />I darted to the left. Thwack! I dodged to the right. Pop!<br />"Run, Terri! Run!" I called to my sister. "Lift your knees!"<br />I could hear her sneakers pounding the ground behind me. Then I heard her<br />terrified cry: "Jerry! They've got me!"<br />With a loud gasp, I spun around. Two big hands had wrapped themselves<br />around her ankles.<br />I froze, watching my sister struggle.<br />"Jerry — help me! It won't let go!"<br />Taking a deep breath, I dove toward her. "Grab on to me," I instructed,<br />holding out my arms.<br />I kicked at the two hands that held her.<br />Kicked as hard as I could. But they didn't move, didn't let go.<br />"I — I can't move!" Terri wailed.<br />The dirt seemed to shake at my feet. I peered down to see more hands<br />sprouting up from the ground.<br />I tugged at Terri's waist. "Move!" I yelled frantically.<br />"I can't!"<br />"Yes, you can! You've got to keep trying!"<br />"Ohhh!" I let out a low cry as two hands grabbed my ankles.<br />Now I was caught.<br />We were both trapped.<br />2<br />"Jerry! What's your problem?" Terri asked.<br />I blinked. Terri stood beside me on a rocky strip of beach. I stared out<br />at the calm ocean water beyond us and shook my head. "Wow. That was<br />weird," I murmured. "I was remembering a bad dream I had a few months<br />ago."<br />Terri frowned at me. "Why now?"<br />"It was about a cemetery," I explained. I turned back to glance at the<br />tiny, old cemetery we'd just discovered at the edge of the pine woods<br />behind us. "In my dream, green hands were popping out of the ground and<br />grabbing our ankles."<br />"Gross," Terri replied. She brushed her dark brown bangs off her face.<br />Except for the fact that she is one inch taller than me, we look like a<br />perfect brother-sister combination. Same short brown hair, same freckles<br />across our nose, same hazel eyes.<br />One difference: Terri has deep dimples in her cheeks when she smiles, and<br />I don't. Thank goodness.<br />We walked along the ocean shore for a few minutes. Tall, gray boulders<br />and scraggly pines stretched all the way to the water.<br />"Maybe you remembered that dream because you're nervous," Terri said<br />thoughtfully. "You know. About being away from home for a whole month."<br />"Well, maybe," I agreed. "We've never been away this long. But what could<br />happen here? Brad and Agatha are really great."<br />Brad Sadler is our distant cousin. Ancient, distant cousin is more like<br />it. Dad said Brad and his wife, Agatha, were old when he was a kid!<br />But they're both fun, and really energetic despite their age. So when<br />they invited us to come up to New England and spend the last month of<br />summer with them in their old cottage near the beach, Terri and I eagerly<br />said yes. It sounded great — especially since our only other choice was<br />the cramped, hot apartment where we live in New Jersey.<br />We had arrived by train that morning. Brad and Agatha met us at the<br />platform and drove us along the pine woods to the cottage.<br />After we had a chance to unpack and have some lunch — big bowls of creamy<br />clam chowder — Agatha said, "Now why don't you kids have a look around?<br />There's lots to explore."<br />So here we were, checking things out. Terri grabbed my arm. "Hey, let's<br />go back and check out that little cemetery!" she suggested eagerly.<br />"I don't know . . ." My frightening dream was still fresh in my mind.<br />"Oh, come on. There won't be any green hands. I promise. And I bet I can<br />find some really cool gravestones for rubbings."<br />Terri loves exploring old graveyards. She loves all kinds of scary<br />things. She reads scary mysteries by the dozen. And the weird thing is,<br />she always reads the last chapter first.<br />Terri has to solve the mystery. She can't stand not knowing the answer.<br />My sister has a million interests, but gravestone rubbings is one of her<br />stranger hobbies. She tapes a piece of rice paper over the gravestone<br />inscription and then rubs the design onto the paper, using the side of a<br />special wax crayon.<br />"Hey! Wait up," I called to her.<br />But Terri was already jogging up the beach toward the cemetery. "Come on,<br />Jerry," she called. "Don't be a chicken."<br />I followed her off the beach and into the small forest. It smelled fresh<br />and piney. The cemetery was just inside, surrounded by a crumbly stone<br />wall. We squeezed through the narrow opening in the wall that led inside.<br />Terri began inspecting the tombstones. "Wow. Some of these markers are<br />really old," she announced. "Check out this one."<br />She pointed at a small gravestone. Engraved on the front was a skull with<br />wings sprouting on either side of its head.<br />"It's a death's-head," my sister explained. "Very old Puritan symbol.<br />Creepy, huh?" She read the inscription: " 'Here lies the body of Mr. John<br />Sadler, who departed this life March 18, 1642, in the 38th year of his<br />age.' "<br />"Sadler. Like us," I said. "Wow. I wonder if we're related." I did some<br />quick calculations. "If we are, John Sadler is our great-great-greatgreat-<br />grandsomething. He died over 350 years ago."<br />Terri had already moved on to another group of markers. "Here's one from<br />1647, and another from 1652. I don't think I've ever gotten rubbings this<br />old before." She disappeared behind a tall tombstone.<br />I knew where we'd be spending the month. I'd had enough of cemeteries for<br />today, though.<br />"Come on. Let's explore the beach, okay?" I checked around for Terri.<br />"Terri? Where'd you go?" I stepped over to the tall tombstone.<br />Not there.<br />"Terri?" The ocean breeze rustled the pine branches above us. "Terri, cut<br />it out, okay?"<br />I took a couple of steps. "You know I don't like this," I warned.<br />Terri's head popped up from behind a tombstone about ten feet away. "Why?<br />You scared?"<br />I didn't like the grin on her face. "Who, me?" I said. "Never!"<br />Terri stood up. "Okay, chicken. But I'm coming back here tomorrow." She<br />followed me out of the cemetery and onto the rocky beach.<br />"I wonder what's down here," I said, heading along the shoreline.<br />"Oh, look at this." Terri stooped to pluck a tiny yellow-and-white<br />wildflower that had sprouted up between two large rocks. "Butter-andeggs,"<br />she announced. "Weird name for a wildflower, huh?"<br />"Very," I agreed. Terri Sadler Hobby Number Two: wildflowers. She likes<br />to collect them and press them in a huge cardboard contraption called a<br />plant press.<br />Terri frowned. "Now what's your problem?"<br />"We keep stopping. I want to go exploring. Agatha said there's a small<br />beach down here where we can go swimming if we want."<br />"Okay, okay," she replied, rolling her hazel eyes.<br />We trudged on until we reached a small, sandy beach. It was really more<br />rock than sand. Staring out to the water, I saw a long rock jetty<br />stretching out into the ocean.<br />"Wonder what that's for," Terri said.<br />"It helps hold the beach together," I explained. I was just about to<br />launch into my explanation of beach erosion when Terri gasped.<br />"Jerry — look! Up there!" she cried. She pointed to a tall mound of rocks<br />just past the jetty along the shoreline. Nestled high into the rocks, on<br />top of a wide ledge, sat a large, dark cave.<br />"Let's climb up and explore it," Terri cried eagerly.<br />"No, wait!" I remembered what Mom and Dad had said to me that morning as<br />we boarded the train: Keep an eye on Terri and don't let her get too<br />carried away with things. "It might be dangerous," I said. I am the older<br />brother, after all. And I'm the sensible one.<br />She made a face. "Give me a break," she muttered. Terri made her way<br />across the beach and toward the cave. "At least let's get a closer look.<br />We can ask Brad and Agatha later whether or not it's safe."<br />I followed behind her. "Yeah, right. Like ninety-year-olds ever go cave<br />exploring."<br />As we came nearer, I had to admit it was an awesome cave. I'd never seen<br />one that large except in an old Boy Scout magazine.<br />"I wonder if someone lives in it," Terri said excitedly. "You know. Like<br />a beach hermit." She cupped her hands around her mouth and called:<br />"Whooooo!"<br />Sometimes Terri can be such a dork. I mean, if you were living inside a<br />cave, and you heard someone go "whoooo," would you answer back?<br />"Whoooo!" My sister did it again.<br />"Let's go," I urged.<br />Then, from inside the cave, a long, low whistle pierced the air.<br />We stared at each other.<br />"Whoa! What was that?" Terri whispered. "An owl?"<br />I swallowed. "I don't think so. Owls are only awake at night."<br />We heard it again. A long whistle floating out from deep inside the cave.<br />We exchanged glances. What could it be? A wolf? A coyote?<br />"I bet Brad and Agatha are wondering where we are," Terri said softly.<br />"Maybe we should go."<br />"Yeah. Okay." I turned to leave. But stopped when I heard a fluttering<br />sound. From behind the cave. Growing louder.<br />I shielded my eyes with my hand and squinted up at the sky.<br />"No!" I grabbed Terri's arm as a shadow swept over us — and an enormous<br />bat swooped down at us, red eyes flashing, its pointed teeth glistening,<br />hissing as it attacked.<br />3<br />The bat swooped low. So low, I could feel the air from its fluttering<br />wings.<br />Terri and I dropped to the hard ground. I covered my head with both<br />hands.<br />My heart was pounding so loudly, I couldn't hear the fluttering wings.<br />"Hey — where'd it go?" I heard Terri cry.<br />I peeped out. I could see the bat spiralling up into the sky. I watched<br />it swoosh and dip beyond us. Then suddenly it went into a wild spin.<br />It crashed onto the rocks nearby. I could see one black wing flapping<br />weakly in the breeze.<br />Slowly, I climbed to my feet, my heart still thudding. "What made it drop<br />like that?" I asked in a shaky voice. I started toward it.<br />Terri held me back. "Stay away. Bats can carry rabies, you know."<br />"I'm not going to get that close," I told her. "I just want to take a<br />look. I've never seen a real bat close up." I guess you could say that my<br />hobby is science, too. I love studying about all kinds of animals.<br />"Here. Check it out," I announced, scrambling over the smooth, gray<br />boulders.<br />"Careful, Jerry," warned Terri. "If you get rabies, you'll get me in<br />trouble."<br />"Thanks for your concern," I muttered sarcastically.<br />I stopped about four feet from the bat. "Whoa! I don't believe it!" I<br />cried.<br />I heard Terri burst out laughing.<br />It wasn't a bat. It was a kite.<br />I stared in disbelief. The two red eyes that had seemed so menacing were<br />painted on paper! One of the wings had been ripped to shreds when it<br />crashed on the rocks.<br />We both bent over to examine the wreckage.<br />"Look out! It bites!" a boy's voice called from behind us.<br />Startled, Terri and I leaped back. I turned and saw a boy about our age,<br />standing on a tall rock. He had a ball of string in his hand.<br />"Ha-ha. Great joke," Terri said sarcastically.<br />The boy grinned at us, but didn't reply. He stepped closer. I could see<br />that he had freckles across his nose just like me, and brown hair the<br />same shade as mine. He turned back toward the rocks and called, "You can<br />come out now."<br />Two kids, a girl about our age and a little boy about five, clambered<br />over the rocks. The little boy had light blond hair and blue eyes, and<br />his ears poked out. The girl's hair was auburn, and she wore it in<br />braids. All three of them had the same freckles across their noses.<br />"Are you all in the same family?" Terri asked them.<br />The tallest boy, the one who had come out first, nodded his head. "Yeah.<br />We're all Sadlers. I'm Sam. That's Louisa. That's Nat."<br />"Wow," I said. "We're Sadlers, too." I introduced Terri and myself.<br />Sam didn't seem impressed. "There're lots of Sadlers around here," he<br />muttered.<br />We stared at each other for a long moment. They didn't seem very<br />friendly. But then Sam surprised me by asking if I wanted to skip rocks<br />in the water.<br />We followed Sam to the water's edge.<br />"Do you live around here?" Terri asked.<br />Louisa nodded. "What are you doing here?" she asked. She sounded<br />suspicious.<br />"We're visiting our cousins for the month," Terri told her. "They're<br />Sadlers, too. They live in the little cottage just past the lighthouse.<br />Do you know them?"<br />"Sure," said Louisa without smiling. "This is a small place. Everyone<br />knows everyone else."<br />I found a smooth, flat stone and skipped it across the water. Three<br />skips. Not bad. "What do you do for fun around here?" I asked.<br />Louisa replied, staring out at the water. "We go blueberry picking, we<br />play games, we come down to the water." She turned to me. "Why? What did<br />you do today?"<br />"Nothing yet. We just got here," I told her. I grinned. "Except we were<br />attacked by a bat kite."<br />They laughed.<br />"I'm going to do gravestone rubbings and collect wildflowers," Terri<br />said.<br />"There are some beautiful flower patches back in the woods," Louisa told<br />her.<br />I watched Sam skip a stone across the water. Seven skips.<br />He turned to me and grinned. "Practice makes perfect."<br />"It's hard to practice in an apartment building," I muttered.<br />"Huh?" Sam said.<br />"We live in Hoboken," I explained. "In New Jersey. There aren't any ponds<br />in our building."<br />Terri pointed back at the cave. "Do you ever go exploring in there?" she<br />asked.<br />Nat gasped. Sam and Louisa's faces twisted in surprise. "Are you<br />kidding?" Louisa cried.<br />"We never go near there," Sam said softly, eyeing his sister.<br />"Never?" Terri asked.<br />All three of them shook their heads.<br />"Why not?" Terri asked. "What's the big deal?"<br />"Yeah," I demanded. "Why won't you go near the cave?"<br />Louisa's eyes grew wide. "Do you believe in ghosts?" she asked.<br />4<br />"Believe in ghosts? No way!" Terri told her.<br />I kept my mouth shut. I knew that ghosts weren't supposed to be real. But<br />what if all the scientists were wrong?<br />There are so many ghost stories from all around the world, how can ghosts<br />not be real?<br />Maybe that's why I sometimes get scared when I am in strange places. I<br />think I do believe in ghosts. Of course, I would never admit this to<br />Terri. She is always so scientific. She'd laugh at me forever!<br />The three Sadler kids had clustered together.<br />"Come on. Do you guys really believe in ghosts?' Terri asked.<br />Louisa took a step forward. Sam tried to pull her back, but she brushed<br />him off. "If you go near that cave, you might change your mind," she<br />said, narrowing her eyes.<br />"You mean there are ghosts in there?" I asked. "What do they do? Come out<br />at night or something?"<br />Louisa started to reply, but Sam interrupted. "We've got to go now," he<br />said, scooting his brother and sister past us.<br />"Hey — wait!" I called. "We want to hear about the ghosts!"<br />They hurried on. I could see Sam yelling angrily at Louisa. I guess he<br />was upset because she mentioned the ghosts.<br />They disappeared down the beach.<br />Then, from inside the cave we heard that long, low whistle again.<br />Terri stared at me.<br />"It's the wind," I said. I really didn't believe that. Terri didn't<br />believe it, either.<br />"Why don't we ask Brad and Agatha about the cave?" I suggested.<br />"Good idea," Terri said. Even she looked a little scared now.<br />Brad and Agatha's cottage was a short walk from the cave. It perched by<br />itself on the edge of the pine forest, looking out toward the lighthouse.<br />I ran up to the heavy wooden front door and pushed it open. I peered<br />around the tiny front parlor. The old house creaked and groaned as I<br />walked over the sagging floorboards. The ceiling hung so low, I could<br />touch it when I stood on tiptoe.<br />Terri came up beside me. "Are they here?"<br />"I don't think so," I answered, looking around.<br />We stepped past the old sofa and wide stone fireplace and into the<br />cramped kitchen. Off the kitchen stood an old storeroom where I was to<br />sleep. Upstairs was Brad and Agatha's room with a "crawl-through" passage<br />into the space above the storeroom, which would be Terri's room. A tiny<br />back staircase led from Terri's room down to the yard.<br />Terri turned to the window. "There they are!" she said. "In the garden!"<br />I could see Brad bent over a tomato stalk. Agatha was hanging some<br />clothes to dry on the clothesline.<br />We raced out the kitchen door. "Where have you two been?" Agatha<br />demanded. She and Brad both had white, white hair, and their eyes seemed<br />faded and tired. They were so frail and light. Between them I don't think<br />they weighed more than a hundred pounds.<br />"We explored the beach," I told them.<br />I knelt down beside Brad. He was missing the top part of two of his<br />fingers on his left hand. He told us they got caught in a wolf trap when<br />he was young.<br />"We found an old cave in some huge rocks. Have you ever seen it?" I<br />asked.<br />He gave a little grunt and kept searching for ripe tomatoes.<br />"It's right by the beach and the big rock jetty," Terri added. "You can't<br />miss it."<br />Agatha's sheets fluttered on the line. "It's nearly suppertime," she<br />said, ignoring our questions about the cave. "Why don't you come inside<br />and give me a hand, Terri?"<br />Terri glanced at me and shrugged.<br />I turned back to Brad. I was about to ask him about the cave again when<br />he handed me the basket of ripe tomatoes. "Take these to Agatha, okay?"<br />"Sure," I answered, following Terri inside. I set the basket on the small<br />counter. The kitchen was small and narrow. Counter and sink on one side.<br />Stove and refrigerator on the other. Agatha had already put Terri to work<br />in the corner of the living room, setting the table.<br />"Now Terri, dear," Agatha called from the kitchen, "if it's asters you're<br />after, the best place to find those is in the big meadow down past the<br />lighthouse. Of course they're just coming out about now, so you can take<br />your pick there. I believe that's where you can find plenty of goldenrod,<br />too."<br />"Great!" Terri called back with her usual enthusiasm. I don't know how<br />she could get so pumped about flowers.<br />Agatha noticed the basket of tomatoes on the counter. "Oh, gracious! All<br />those tomatoes!" She opened a rattley old drawer and pulled out a small<br />knife. "Why don't you cut these up for a big green salad?"<br />I must have made a face.<br />"Don't you like salad?" Agatha asked.<br />"Not really," I said. "I mean, I'm not a rabbit!"<br />Agatha laughed. "You're absolutely right," she said. "Why ruin a<br />homegrown tomato with lettuce? We'll have them plain, with maybe a little<br />dressing."<br />"Sounds good," I grinned, picking up the knife.<br />I listened to Agatha and Terri discuss wildflowers for a few minutes to<br />see if the subject of the cave would come up again. It didn't. I wondered<br />why my two old cousins didn't want to talk about it.<br />After dinner Brad pulled out an old deck of playing cards and taught<br />Terri and me how to play whist. It's an old-fashioned card game that I'd<br />never heard of before.<br />Brad got a kick out of teaching us the rules. He and I played against<br />Terri and Agatha. Every time I got mixed up, which was most of the time,<br />he'd wag his finger back and forth at me. I guess it saved him from<br />having to say anything.<br />We went to bed after the card game. It was early, but I didn't care. It<br />had been a long day, and I was glad to get some rest. The bed was hard,<br />but I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the scratchy feather pillow.<br />The next morning Terri and I made our way to the woods to collect plants<br />and wildflowers.<br />"What is it we're looking for again?" I asked Terri as I kicked aside<br />piles of dead leaves.<br />"Indian pipe," Terri replied. "It looks like small, pinkish-white bones<br />popping out of the ground. It's also called corpse plant because it lives<br />on the remains of dead plants."<br />"Yuck." I suddenly remembered the popping hands in my cemetery dream.<br />Terri laughed. "You should like these plants," she said. "They're a<br />scientific puzzle. They're white because they don't have any chlorophyll.<br />You know. The stuff that makes plants turn green."<br />"How interesting," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.<br />Terri continued her lecture anyway. "Agatha said Indian pipe only grows<br />in very dark places. They look more like a fungus than a plant."<br />She dug around for a few minutes. "The weirdest thing about them," she<br />continued, "is if they dry out, they turn black. That's why I want to try<br />pressing a few."<br />I poked around in the leaves some more. I have to admit she had me<br />hooked. I love freaks of nature.<br />I peered up at the heavy leaf canopy above us. "We're definitely as deep<br />into the woods as we can be. Are you sure this is where Agatha said you<br />can find them?"<br />Terri nodded. She pointed to a huge fallen oak tree. "That's our<br />landmark. Don't lose it."<br />I started toward the big tree. "Maybe I'll take a closer look over<br />there," I said. "There might be Indian pipe on that dead tree."<br />I knelt down by the snakelike tree roots and began carefully pushing dead<br />leaves aside. No wildflowers. Just bugs and worms. It was really gross.<br />I glanced back at Terri. She didn't seem to be having any luck, either.<br />Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something white sticking out<br />of the ground. I scurried over to examine it.<br />A short plant stem stuck up from the soft ground. The stem was covered<br />with rolled-up leaves. I tugged at the stem. It didn't come up.<br />I pulled harder.<br />The stem rose up a little, bringing a clump of soft dirt with it.<br />It isn't a stem, I realized. It's some kind of root. A root with leaves.<br />Weird.<br />I pulled more of it up from the ground. It was very long, I discovered.<br />A hard tug. Then another.<br />Another hard tug of the strange root brought up a huge mound of dirt.<br />I glanced down into the large hole I had made — and uttered a sharp cry.<br />"Terri — come here!" I managed to choke out. "I found a skeleton!"<br />5<br />"Huh?" Terri raced to my side.<br />We both stood and stared down at it in silence.<br />The skeleton I had uncovered lay curled on its side, every bone neatly in<br />place. The empty eye socket in its gray skull gaped up at us.<br />"Is it a h-human?" Terri stammered in a low whisper.<br />"Not unless the human has four legs, genius!" I replied.<br />Terri stared down at it, her mouth open in an O of surprise. "Well, then,<br />what is it?"<br />"Some kind of large animal," I told her. "Maybe a deer."<br />I stooped to take a closer look. "No. Not a deer. It has toe bones, not<br />hooves."<br />I studied the skull, which was fairly large and had sharp incisors or<br />teeth. When I was nine, I had a thing about skeletons. I must have read<br />every book ever written about skeletons.<br />"My guess is a dog," I announced.<br />"A dog?" said Terri. "Oh, poor little doggy." She stared at the skeleton.<br />"How do you think it died?"<br />"Maybe an animal attacked it."<br />Terri knelt down beside me. "Why would anyone want to eat a dog?"<br />"They're high in protein!" I joked.<br />She shoved me hard. "Jerry! I'm serious. What animal around here eats<br />dogs?"<br />"A wolf maybe. Or a fox," I replied thoughtfully.<br />"Wouldn't a wolf or fox have crunched a few of the bones and left more of<br />a mess?" Terri asked. "This skeleton is in perfect shape."<br />"Maybe it died of old age," I suggested. "Or maybe someone buried it here<br />beneath that weird root plant."<br />"Yeah. Maybe it wasn't attacked by anything," Terri said. I could see the<br />color returning to her face.<br />We sat silently over the skeleton for a minute, thinking about the dog.<br />A shrill animal howl made us both jump to our feet. The frightening sound<br />filled the forest, echoing through the trees.<br />We held our ears as the howling grew louder.<br />"Wh-what is it? What's making that horrible cry?" Terri shrieked.<br />I stared back at her. I didn't know.<br />I only knew it was moving closer.<br />6<br />The howls stopped as suddenly as they started.<br />When I turned around to make sure we were safe, I saw them.<br />Sam, Nat, and Louisa were huddled behind a nearby tree. Laughing.<br />I glared at them. I realized instantly that they had been making the<br />howls. Who did they think they were?<br />It took them a long time to stop laughing. I couldn't believe how much<br />they were enjoying their little joke.<br />I glanced at Terri. She was blushing. My face felt hot. I guess I was<br />blushing, too.<br />When they finally stopped laughing, I invited them over to see the<br />skeleton.<br />Now it was their turn to be startled.<br />Sam's eyes grew wide. Louisa let out a short cry. Nat, the little one,<br />grabbed on to his sister's sleeve and started to whimper.<br />Terri dug into her jeans pockets for a tissue. "Don't worry," she told<br />Nat. She dabbed at his cheeks with her tissue. "It's not a person<br />skeleton. It's only a dog skeleton."<br />Those words made Nat burst into tears.<br />Louisa put her arms around Nat's trembling shoulders. "Shush," she said.<br />"It's all right."<br />But Nat couldn't calm himself down. "I know what happened to this dog,"<br />he sobbed. "A ghost killed it. Dogs can tell if someone's a ghost. Dogs<br />always bark to warn about ghosts."<br />"Nat," Terri said softly, "there's no such thing as ghosts. They're<br />pretend."<br />Sam stepped forward, shaking his head. "You're wrong," he told Terri,<br />narrowing his eyes at her. "There are lots of skeletons in these woods.<br />All because of the ghost. He picks the bones clean and leaves them lying<br />here."<br />"Give me a break, Sam," Terri muttered. "Are you trying to tell us that<br />there's a ghost around here?"<br />Sam stared back, but didn't reply.<br />"Well, are you?" Terri demanded.<br />Suddenly Sam's expression changed. His eyes grew wide with terror. "There<br />it is!" he cried, pointing. "Right behind you!"<br />7<br />I let out a shriek and grabbed Terri's arm.<br />But I knew immediately that I'd been fooled again. When was I going to<br />stop falling for Sam's dumb jokes?<br />"You two are too easy to scare," Sam said, grinning.<br />Terri put her hands on her hips and glared at Sam. "How about a truce,<br />guys? These jokes are getting pretty lame."<br />All eyes were on Sam.<br />"Yeah. Okay. A truce," he murmured. But he had a grin on his face. I<br />couldn't tell if he meant it or not.<br />"Sam, tell Jerry and me more about the ghost," Terri demanded. "Were you<br />serious about a ghost killing the dog, or was that one of your fabulous<br />jokes?"<br />Sam kicked at a clump of dirt. "Maybe some other time," he muttered.<br />"Some other time? Why not now?" I asked.<br />Louisa started to say something — but Sam tugged her away. "Let's go," he<br />said sharply. "Now."<br />Terri's expression changed to confusion. "But I thought — "<br />Sam stalked off through the trees, dragging Louisa with him. Nat hurried<br />to catch up to them.<br />"Bye," Louisa called. "See you later."<br />"Did you see that?" Terri cried. "They really do believe there's a ghost<br />in these woods. They didn't want to talk about it, so they left."<br />I stared down at the animal skeleton, lying so clean and perfect on the<br />ground.<br />Picked clean.<br />Picked clean by a ghost.<br />The words rolled through my mind.<br />I stared hard at the jagged teeth in the pale skull. Then I turned away.<br />"Let's go back to the cottage," I murmured.<br />We found Brad and Agatha sitting in rocking chairs under a shady tree.<br />Agatha was slicing peaches into a large wooden bowl, and Brad watched<br />her.<br />"Do you two like peach pie?" Agatha asked.<br />Terri and I replied that it was one of our favorites.<br />Agatha smiled. "We'll have it tonight. I don't know if your dad mentioned<br />it, but peach pie is one of my specialties. So did you find the Indian<br />pipe?"<br />"Not exactly," I replied. "We found a dog skeleton instead."<br />Agatha began slicing more quickly, the knife blade slipping over her<br />thumb as the soft peach slices slid into the bowl. "Oh, my," she<br />muttered.<br />"What kind of an animal would go after a dog?" asked Terri. "Are there<br />wolves or coyotes around here?"<br />"Never seen any," Brad answered quickly.<br />"Then how do you explain that skeleton?" I demanded. "It was perfectly<br />arranged, and the bones were picked clean."<br />Agatha and Brad exchanged a worried glance. "Can't say as I know," said<br />Agatha. Slice. Slice. Slice. "Brad? Do you have any ideas?"<br />Brad rocked back and forth for a minute. "Nope."<br />Very helpful, Brad, I thought.<br />"We also met three kids," I said. I told them about Sam, Nat, and Louisa.<br />"They said they know you."<br />"Yep," Brad replied. "Neighbors."<br />"They told us a ghost must have killed the dog."<br />Agatha set down her paring knife and leaned her head back against the<br />chair, laughing softly to herself. "Is that what they said? Oh, my. Those<br />kids were teasing you. They love to make up ghost stories. Especially<br />that oldest boy, Sam."<br />"That's what I thought," Terri said, glancing at me.<br />Agatha nodded. "They're nice kids. You should invite them to do something<br />with you some time. Maybe you can all go blueberry picking."<br />Brad cleared his throat. His pale eyes studied me. "You're too smart to<br />fall for ghost stories, aren't you?"<br />"Yeah. I guess," I replied uncertainly.<br />We spent the rest of the afternoon helping Brad weed the garden. Weeding<br />isn't exactly my idea of a thrill. But after Brad showed us which were<br />the good plants and which weren't, Terri and I had fun spearing the bad<br />guys with the special weeding tools he lent us.<br />We ate the peach pie for dessert that night, and it was delicious. Agatha<br />and Brad wanted to hear all about our school and our friends.<br />After dinner, Brad challenged us to another game of whist. This time I<br />did much better. Brad only had to wiggle his finger at me a couple of<br />times.<br />Later, I had a tough time falling asleep. The window of my little room<br />off the kitchen had long, flimsy, white cotton curtains that allowed the<br />light of the full moon to shine onto my face. It felt like staring into a<br />flashlight.<br />I tried covering my face with the pillow, but I couldn't breathe. Then I<br />tried resting my arm over my eyes, but my arm quickly fell asleep.<br />I pulled the sheet up over my head. Better.<br />I closed my eyes. The crickets were making a real racket.<br />Then I heard something thump against the wall outside. Probably a tree<br />branch, I told myself.<br />Another thump. I slid a little further down in my bed.<br />The third time I heard the sound, I took a deep breath, sat up, and<br />tossed off the sheet.<br />I took a careful look around the room. Nothing. Nada. Zip.<br />I lay back down.<br />Near the doorway, the floorboards creaked.<br />I turned to the window.<br />Behind the curtains, something moved.<br />Something pale. Ghostly.<br />The floorboards creaked again as the pale figure moved toward me.<br />8<br />I opened my mouth in a low, terrified scream. Then I pulled the sheet<br />back over my head.<br />The room grew silent. I was trembling all over.<br />Where was the ghost?<br />I peeked out from the sheet.<br />Terri stepped out from behind the curtain. "Gotcha," she whispered.<br />"You creep," I choked out. "How could you do that to me?"<br />"Easy," she replied, grinning. "All this ghost talk has you freaked out —<br />hasn't it."<br />I let out an angry growl, but didn't reply. My heart was still thudding<br />in my chest.<br />Terri sat down on the edge of the bed. She pulled her robe around her<br />more tightly. "I just couldn't resist," she said, still grinning. "I came<br />down to talk to you, and I saw you lying there with the sheet over your<br />head. It was too tempting."<br />I glared at her. "Next time pick on someone your own size," I said<br />angrily. "I had the sheet pulled up because I was having trouble falling<br />asleep."<br />"Me, too," Terri said. "My mattress is really lumpy." She stared out the<br />window. "And, besides, I was thinking about that ghost."<br />"Hey — you're the one who doesn't believe in them — remember?" I<br />insisted.<br />"I know. I really don't believe in ghosts. But Sam, Louisa, and Nat<br />obviously do."<br />"So?"<br />"So I want to find out why. Don't you?"<br />"Not really. I don't care if I ever see those kids again," I said.<br />Terri yawned. "Louisa seems nice. Much more friendly than Sam. I think we<br />can get Louisa to tell us more about the ghost if we ask her. She almost<br />told us today."<br />"Terri, I don't believe you," I replied, pulling the sheet up to my chin.<br />"You heard what Agatha said. Sam likes to make up stories."<br />"I don't think this is a story," Terri said. "I know I'm supposed to be<br />the scientific one in the family. But I think something strange is going<br />on here, Jerry."<br />I didn't answer. I was picturing the animal skeleton.<br />"I'm going to ask them about the ghost again tomorrow," Terri announced.<br />"How do you know they'll show up?"<br />Terri grinned. "They always do, don't they? Haven't you noticed? No<br />matter where we are, they always seem to be there." She paused. "Do you<br />think they're following us?"<br />"I hope not," I said.<br />Terri laughed. "You're such a wimp."<br />I threw off the covers. "Am not!"<br />Terri started tickling me. "Wimp! Wimp! Wimp!"<br />I grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her. Then I started tickling her<br />back. "Take it back," I said.<br />"Okay, okay!" she cried. "I didn't mean it."<br />"And you'll never call me a wimp again?"<br />"Never!"<br />As soon as I let go of her arm, she ran to the doorway. "See you in the<br />morning — wimp!" she called. She disappeared through the kitchen.<br />At breakfast the next morning, Agatha asked, "What do you kids have<br />planned for today?"<br />"A swim, I guess," I replied, glancing at Terri. "Down at the beach."<br />"Be careful of the tide down there," Brad warned. "It can sweep a fullgrown<br />man off his feet."<br />Terri and I glanced at each other. I don't think we'd ever heard Brad put<br />two full sentences together before.<br />"We will," Terri promised. "We'll probably do more wading than swimming."<br />Agatha handed me a banged-up metal pail. "Might want to pick up some sea<br />urchins or sea stars."<br />A few minutes later, I took the pail and a couple of old beach towels,<br />and Terri and I headed down the twisty path along the shoreline.<br />We scrambled up and down the rocks until we came to a spot not far from<br />the sandy beach and the cave.<br />We slid down the giant rock underneath us and then climbed on all fours<br />across a few smaller rocks until we reached a wide, mossy, tide pool<br />about three feet from the water's edge. The tide pool was about the size<br />of a kiddie pool.<br />"Wow, Jerry!" Terri exclaimed, staring into the water. "I see tons of<br />stuff in here." She reached into the green, slimy water and pulled out a<br />sea star. "It's so tiny. Not even the size of my palm. Maybe it's a<br />baby."<br />She turned it over. Its legs wiggled. "Hello, cute little sea star," she<br />sang.<br />Yuck. "I'll go get the pail, okay?" I said. I climbed back over the rocks<br />to where we left our things.<br />Guess who was bent over our stuff? Snooping. "Find anything good?" I<br />called sharply.<br />Sam glanced up slowly. "I was wondering whose towels these were," he said<br />casually.<br />Nat and Louisa came bounding over the rocks. "Where's Terri?" Louisa<br />asked.<br />I motioned toward the water. "Down by the tide pool." I grabbed the pail.<br />They followed me back down. Terri smiled when she saw us. I could tell<br />she was happy to see Louisa and her brothers. "Look at all the cool stuff<br />I found in here," Terri declared.<br />Along the smooth surface of a large, flat rock she lined up the baby sea<br />star, two sea urchins, and a hermit crab.<br />We crowded together to see. Terri held out the sea star. "Aren't its feet<br />cute?" she asked Nat.<br />He giggled.<br />We spent a few minutes examining everything. Nat started rattling off<br />everything he'd ever learned about crabs. Louisa finally had to cut him<br />off.<br />"I want to hear more about the ghost," Terri told Louisa.<br />"Nothing more to tell," Louisa replied softly. She glanced nervously at<br />Sam.<br />Had he warned her not to talk about it anymore?<br />Terri refused to give up. "Where does the ghost live?" she demanded.<br />Louisa and Sam exchanged glances again.<br />"Come on, guys. It has to live somewhere!" Terri teased.<br />Nat gazed toward the beach and the cave. A breeze fluttered his fine,<br />blond hair. He slapped a green fly on his skinny bare arm.<br />"Does the ghost live on the beach?" Terri asked.<br />Nat shook his head.<br />"In the cave?" I guessed.<br />Nat pinched his lips together.<br />"I thought so," Terri said. "In the cave." She flashed me a triumphant<br />grin. "What else?"<br />Nat's face turned red. He hid behind Louisa. "I didn't mean to tell," he<br />whispered.<br />"It's okay," Louisa told him, petting his hair. She turned to Terri and<br />me. "The ghost is very old. No one has ever seen him come out."<br />"Louisa!" Sam said sharply. "I really don't think we should talk about<br />this."<br />"Why not?" Louisa shot back. "They have a right to know."<br />"But they don't even believe in ghosts," Sam insisted.<br />"Well, maybe you can change my mind," Terri replied. "Are you guys sure<br />there's a ghost? Have you really seen it?"<br />"We've seen the skeletons," Louisa said solemnly.<br />Nat peeked his head out from behind Louisa's leg. "The ghost comes out<br />during the full moon," he announced.<br />"We don't know that for sure," Louisa corrected. "He's been in the cave<br />up there forever. Some people say for three hundred years."<br />"But if you haven't seen him," I said, "how do you know he's in the<br />cave?"<br />"You can see a light flickering," Sam replied.<br />"A light?" I hooted. "Give me a break! That could be anything. It could<br />be a guy in there with a flashlight."<br />Louisa shook her head. "It's not that kind of light," she insisted. "It's<br />different from that."<br />"Well, a flickering light and a dog skeleton aren't enough to convince<br />me," I said. "I think you're just trying to scare us again. This time,<br />I'm not falling for it."<br />Sam scowled. "No problem," he muttered. "You don't have to believe it.<br />Really."<br />"Well, I don't," I insisted.<br />Sam shrugged. "Have fun," he said softly. He led his brother and sister<br />back toward the woods.<br />As soon as they were out of sight, Terri punched me in the side. "Jerry,<br />why did you do that? I was just starting to weasel some good stuff out of<br />them."<br />I shook my head. "Can't you see they're trying to scare us? There's no<br />ghost. It's another dumb joke."<br />Terri stared hard at me. "I'm not so sure," she murmured.<br />I gazed up at the enormous black hole of the cave. Despite the morning<br />heat, a chill ran down my back.<br />Was there an ancient ghost in there?<br />Did I really want to find out?<br />Agatha made a really great old-fashioned chicken potpie for dinner. I ate<br />all of mine except for the peas and carrots. I'm not into vegetables.<br />Terri and I were helping Agatha with the dishes after dinner when she<br />said, "Jerry, I seem to be missing one of the beach towels. Didn't you<br />take two with you this morning?"<br />"I guess we did," I replied.<br />"Did we leave one at the beach?" Terri asked.<br />I tried to remember. "I don't think so. I can go take a look."<br />"Don't bother," Agatha said. "It's getting dark out. You can look<br />tomorrow."<br />"I don't mind," I told her. I threw down my dish towel and bolted out the<br />back door before she could say anything else.<br />I was glad for an excuse to escape. That tiny kitchen was suffocating me.<br />There was hardly any room to turn around in there.<br />I walked along the path to the water's edge, happy to be alone for a<br />change. Terri is okay, especially for a kid sister. We get along<br />amazingly well. But sometimes I like to be by myself.<br />I found the big rock where we'd left our towels that morning. No sign of<br />the missing towel. Maybe Sam took it, I thought. Maybe he planned to<br />drape it over his head and jump out at us.<br />I gazed up at the big cave, dark against the blue-black sky.<br />"Huh?"<br />I blinked — and took a step closer.<br />Was that a light flickering in the cave?<br />I took another step. It had to be the reflection of the moon, just rising<br />over the pine trees.<br />No. Not the moon, I realized.<br />I took another few steps. I couldn't take my eyes off the flickering<br />light, so pale, so ghostly pale, in the black cave opening.<br />Sam! I told myself. Yes, it's Sam. He's up there right now, lighting<br />matches. Hoping I'll fall for his trick.<br />Should I climb up there?<br />My sneakers sank into the sand as I took a few more steps toward the<br />cave.<br />The light glimmered in the cave opening. It hovered so near the entrance.<br />Floating. Flickering. Dancing slowly.<br />Should I go up there? I asked myself.<br />Should I?<br />9<br />Yes. I had to climb up there.<br />The light glimmered brighter, as if calling to me.<br />I took a deep breath, then jumped across a tide pool and over some mossy<br />rocks. Then I started up.<br />The cave stood high above me, embedded in the boulders. I leaped and<br />scrambled over slippery, small rocks until I reached the next big<br />boulder.<br />A halo of yellow moonlight shone down on the rocks, making it easy to<br />see. What was it Nat said about the moon? Something about the ghost<br />coming out when it was full?<br />I scaled the next rock, and kept climbing.<br />I could see the ghostly light floating above me in the cave entrance.<br />Up, up I climbed over the scraggly rocks, slippery from the evening dew.<br />"Oh!" I cried out as I felt my legs give way. A mini-landslide had<br />started under my feet. Small rocks and sand tumbled down the hill behind<br />me.<br />Desperately, I grabbed at a fat root growing out between the rocks. I<br />held on long enough to get my footing.<br />Whew! I took a moment to catch my breath.<br />Then I pulled myself up onto a sturdy boulder and gazed up to the cave.<br />Now it was right above my head. Only another ten feet or so to go.<br />I stood up — and gasped.<br />Whoa! What was that noise behind me?<br />I stood frozen. Waiting. Listening.<br />Was someone else there?<br />Was the ghost there?<br />I didn't have long to wonder. A cold, clammy hand grabbed my neck.<br />10<br />I uttered a choking sound and struggled to turn around.<br />The cold fingers relaxed their grip. "Ssssh," Terri whispered. "It's me."<br />I let out an angry growl. "What do you think you're doing?"<br />"Never mind that," she shot back. "What do you think you're doing?"<br />"I — I'm looking for that beach towel," I stammered.<br />Terri laughed. "You're looking for a ghost, Jerry. Admit it."<br />We both raised our eyes to the cave. "Do you see the light?" I whispered.<br />"Huh? What light?" Terri demanded.<br />"The light flickering in the cave," I replied impatiently. "What's wrong<br />with you? Do you need glasses?"<br />"I'm sorry. I don't see any light," Terri insisted. "It's completely<br />dark."<br />I stared up at the cave opening. Stared up into total darkness.<br />She was right. The flickering light in the cave had vanished.<br />As I lay in bed later that night, I tried to use what Mr. Hendrickson, my<br />science teacher, calls my "critical thinking skills." That's when you<br />have to put together whatever facts you have and those you don't, and<br />then draw a logical conclusion.<br />So I asked myself: What do I know?<br />I know I saw a light. Then the light went out.<br />So what was the explanation? An optical illusion? My imagination? Sam?<br />Outside the window, a dog began to bark.<br />That's weird, I thought. I hadn't seen any dogs around here before.<br />I stuffed my pillow over my ears.<br />The barking grew louder, more emotional. It sounded as if it were right<br />outside my window.<br />I sat up, listening.<br />And remembered what Nat had told us. Dogs recognize ghosts.<br />Was that why the dog was barking so excitedly?<br />Had the dog spotted the ghost?<br />With a shiver, I climbed out of bed and crept to the window.<br />I peered down to the ground.<br />No dog.<br />I listened.<br />The barking had stopped.<br />Crickets chirped. The trees whispered.<br />"Here, doggy," I called softly.<br />No reply. I shivered again.<br />Silence now.<br />What's going on here? I wondered.<br />"Sssshhh. You'll scare them," Terri whispered.<br />The morning sun was still a red ball, low in the sky, as we approached<br />the seagull nest Terri had spotted the day before.<br />Bird-watching was Terri Sadler Hobby Number Three. Unlike gravestone<br />rubbings and wildflower collecting, she could do this one back at home,<br />right from our apartment window.<br />We crouched down to watch. About fifteen feet away, the mother seagull<br />was trying to herd her three babies back into the nest. She squawked<br />noisily and chased them first in one direction, then another.<br />"Aren't the babies cute?" whispered Terri. "They look like fuzzy gray<br />stuffed animals, don't they?"<br />"Actually they remind me of rats," I replied.<br />Terri poked me with her elbow. "Don't be a creep."<br />We watched them in silence for a few minutes. "So tell me again about the<br />dog barking last night," Terri asked. "I can't believe I didn't hear it."<br />"There's nothing more to tell," I replied edgily. "When I went to the<br />window, it stopped."<br />Down the beach I saw the three Sadler kids, in shorts and sleeveless Tshirts,<br />walking barefoot along the shore. I jumped up and started jogging<br />toward them.<br />"What's your hurry?" Terri called after me.<br />"I want to tell them about the flickering light," I called back.<br />"Wait up!" Terri shouted, scrambling after me.<br />We stumbled along the rocky beach toward the three kids. I saw that Sam<br />was carrying a couple of old fishing poles, and Louisa had a bucket<br />filled with water.<br />"Hi," Louisa said warmly, setting down the bucket.<br />"Catch anything?" I asked.<br />"Nope," Nat replied. "We didn't go fishing yet."<br />"What's in the bucket, then?" I asked.<br />Nat reached in and pulled out a small, silver fish. "Bunker. We use 'em<br />for bait."<br />I leaned down and peered into the pail. Dozens of little silver-gray fish<br />swarmed around inside. "Wow."<br />"Want to come?" Louisa asked.<br />Terri and I traded glances. Fishing sounded like fun. And maybe it would<br />give us a chance to ask casually about the light in the cave. "Sure," I<br />said. "Why not?"<br />We followed them down the sandy path to a shady spot on the water. "We<br />usually have good luck here," Sam announced.<br />He grabbed a bait fish out of the bucket, then steadied his fishing pole<br />against his leg. He expertly threaded the fish onto the hook, then handed<br />me the pole. The fish flipped back and forth on the hook.<br />"Want to try?" he asked. I wondered why he was suddenly acting so nice to<br />me now. Had Louisa gotten on his case? Or was he setting me up for<br />another joke?<br />"Sure, I'll try," I told him. "What do I do?"<br />Sam showed me how to cast the line out. My first try wasn't great. The<br />line landed about a foot from the shore.<br />Sam laughed and cast it for me again. "Don't worry," he said, handing the<br />pole back to me. "It takes a lot of practice to learn to cast."<br />This Sam was certainly different from the Sam we had seen before. Maybe<br />it just takes him a while to get friendly, I told myself.<br />"Now what do I do?" I asked him.<br />"Keep casting out and reeling in," he said. "And if you feel a tug,<br />yell."<br />Sam turned to Terri. "Do you want to try, too?" he asked.<br />"Of course!" she replied.<br />Sam started to grab a bunker for Terri from the bucket.<br />"That's okay," Terri said. "I can do it."<br />Sam stepped back and let Terri do the honors. I think she must have been<br />showing off. I'd never seen her bait a live fish before. She always hated<br />slimy things.<br />Terri started to cast out her line without any help. I was about to<br />accuse her again of showing off. But then her fishing line got tangled in<br />the tree branches above us.<br />That got everyone laughing — especially when the bait fish squirmed off<br />the hook and dropped down into Terri's hair. Terri shrieked, thrashed her<br />arms, and swatted the fish into the water.<br />Sam collapsed with laughter on the rock. The rest of us laughed, too. We<br />were all sprawled out on a big flat rock.<br />This seemed a good time to bring up the cave. "Guess what?" I started.<br />"Last night I came down to the beach, and I saw that flickering light you<br />were talking about in the cave."<br />Sam's smile faded instantly. "You did?"<br />Louisa's eyes grew wide with concern. "You . . . you didn't go in there,<br />did you? Please say no."<br />"No, I didn't go inside," I told them.<br />"It's really dangerous," Louisa said. "You shouldn't climb up there.<br />Really."<br />"Yeah. Really," Sam quickly agreed. His eyes burned into mine.<br />I glanced at Terri. I could tell what she was thinking. These three kids<br />really were frightened. They didn't want to admit it. They didn't want to<br />talk about it.<br />But they were terrified of the cave.<br />Why?<br />I only knew one thing for sure: I had to find out.<br />11<br />At dinner, we sat at the round table in the living room off the kitchen.<br />Brad was tackling a piece of corn on the cob with his knife, trying to<br />saw off all the little niblets so he could eat them with a fork.<br />"Brad . . . uh . . . I was wondering about the cave," I started, fiddling<br />with my silverware.<br />I felt Terri's foot nudge mine under the table.<br />"What about it?" Brad asked.<br />"Well . . . uh . . . the strangest thing . . ." I hesitated.<br />Agatha's head turned sharply. "You didn't go into that cave, did you?"<br />"No," I replied.<br />"You really shouldn't go into the cave," she warned. "It isn't safe."<br />"Well, that's what I wanted to talk about," I continued. I saw that<br />everyone had stopped eating. "Last night when I went to look for the<br />beach towel, there was a light flickering inside the cave. Do you know<br />what it was?"<br />Brad narrowed his eyes at me. "Just an optical illusion," he said curtly.<br />Then he picked up his corn and began sawing again.<br />"I don't understand," I told him. "What do you mean?"<br />Brad patiently put down his corn. "Jerry, did you ever hear of the<br />northern lights? Aurora borealis?"<br />"Sure," I said. "But . . ."<br />"That's what that flickering light was," he said, cutting me off. He<br />picked up his corn again.<br />"Oh," I replied. I turned to Agatha, hoping she'd help fill in the<br />blanks. She did.<br />"It happens at certain times of the year," she explained. "Something<br />electric gets in the air. The whole sky lights up in streamers."<br />She reached for the bowl of mashed potatoes. "More potatoes?"<br />"Sure, thanks." I felt Terri's foot bump me again from across the table.<br />I shook my head at her. Brad and Agatha were wrong. That couldn't have<br />been the northern lights. The light was coming from the cave, not the<br />sky.<br />Were they mistaken?<br />Or were they deliberately lying to me?<br />After dinner, Terri and I walked along the beach. Wisps of gray clouds<br />floated over the full moon. Shadows stretched and shifted in front of us<br />as we made our way over the pebbly sand.<br />"They lied to me," I insisted to Terri, my hands shoved deep into the<br />pockets of my cutoffs. "Brad and Agatha are hiding something. They don't<br />want us to know the truth about the cave."<br />"They're just worried," my sister replied. "They don't want us to get<br />hurt up there. They feel responsible, and — "<br />"Terri, look — !" I cried. I pointed up to the cave.<br />This time Terri saw the flickering light, too.<br />As we watched it floating above our heads in the cave entrance, the<br />clouds covered the moon and the sky darkened.<br />"It's not the northern lights," I whispered. "There's someone up there."<br />"Let's check it out," Terri whispered back.<br />Before we even realized what we were doing, we were climbing the rocks,<br />pulling ourselves up toward the cave. It felt as if I were being pulled<br />by a magnet.<br />I had to get closer, close enough to see what was causing that strange,<br />floating light.<br />Behind us, the ocean waves crashed against the lowest rocks, spraying<br />surf in every direction.<br />We were almost to the mouth of the cave. I glanced back and saw that the<br />beach lay far below. In the cave mouth, the light still flickered and<br />floated.<br />We pulled ourselves up the last few rocks and stood up.<br />We found ourselves standing on a wide ledge. The dark cave loomed up<br />ahead, towering over us.<br />I peered into the cave opening. How deep was the cave? I couldn't tell.<br />Squinting into the dim light, I thought I saw a tunnel leading off to one<br />side.<br />I took a step closer. Terri moved up close beside me. I could see the<br />fear on her face. She bit her lower lip. "Well?" she asked in a hushed<br />whisper.<br />"Let's go in," I said.<br />12<br />My heart thudded as we stepped into the darkness. Our sneakers slid on<br />the smooth, damp cave floor. I nearly choked on the sour, musty smell.<br />"Hey — !" I cried out as Terri grabbed my arm.<br />"The light — look!" she whispered.<br />It flickered near the back of the cave.<br />Staying close together, we took a few steps toward it. Our sneakers<br />squished loudly. The air grew warmer.<br />"It — it's a tunnel," I stammered.<br />The cave narrowed, then curved away. The dim light flickered from around<br />the corner, from somewhere deeper in the cave.<br />I swallowed hard. "Let's just go a little farther," I urged.<br />Terri lingered behind me. "That tunnel looks creepy," she uttered in a<br />tiny voice.<br />I heard a soft chittering sound somewhere up ahead.<br />"We've come this far," I urged. "Might as well go just a little bit<br />farther."<br />Following the light, we lowered our heads and stepped into the tunnel. I<br />could hear the drip drip drip of water nearby. The air grew even warmer,<br />steamy.<br />The tunnel curved, then suddenly widened into a deep, round chamber.<br />I stopped as I heard the chittering sound again. A soft flapping,<br />fluttering sound. Growing louder.<br />"What's that noise?" Terri cried. Her shrill voice echoed against the<br />cave walls.<br />Before I could answer, the fluttering became a deafening clatter.<br />"Nooooo!" My cry was drowned out by the horrifying roar.<br />I raised my eyes in time to see the black cave ceiling crumble and fall<br />over us.<br />13<br />"Noooooo!"<br />I was still wailing as I hit the wet cave floor. I covered my head with<br />both hands.<br />And waited. Waited for the crashing pain.<br />The clatter swirled over me. A shrill whistle rose up over the sound.<br />My heart thudding, I raised my eyes — and saw the bats.<br />Thousands of black bats, flapping and fluttering, swooping back and forth<br />across the chamber, darting low, then twisting away.<br />The ceiling hadn't fallen.<br />By entering their chamber, Terri and I had awakened the bats. They<br />whistled and hissed as they swooped wildly over our heads.<br />"L-let's get out of here!" I cried, helping Terri to her feet. "I hate<br />bats!"<br />"This is why Brad and Agatha warned us away," Terri cried, shouting over<br />the roar of fluttering wings.<br />We both turned to leave. But the flickering light at the far end of the<br />chamber made me stop.<br />Just a few feet farther. If we made our way a few feet deeper into the<br />chamber, we could solve the mystery.<br />And never have to think about this frightening cave again.<br />"Come on," I shouted. I grabbed Terri's hand and tugged.<br />The bats swooped and darted over our heads, chittering and whistling. We<br />ducked our heads as we ran under them.<br />To the back wall of the chamber. Into another narrow, curving tunnel. I<br />pressed my back against the tunnel wall and edged forward, still holding<br />Terri's hand.<br />The pale light grew brighter.<br />We were getting close.<br />The tunnel opened into another large chamber, about the same size as the<br />first chamber. Terri and I had to shield our eyes. The entrance glowed<br />with a bright, flickering light.<br />I took a few slow steps in, giving my eyes a chance to adjust to the<br />light.<br />Then I saw them.<br />Candles. Dozens of short white candles perched around the chamber on rock<br />ledges.<br />All of them lighted. All of them flickering.<br />"So that explains it," I whispered. "Flickering candlelight."<br />"It doesn't explain anything!" Terri protested, shadows dancing over her<br />pale face. "Who put the candles here?"<br />We both saw the man at the same time.<br />An old man with long, stringy, white hair and a beaklike nose. He sat<br />hunched over a crude table made from a log of driftwood.<br />Pale and terribly thin, his worn shirt hung loosely on him. His eyes were<br />closed. Shadows played over him. He seemed to flicker in and out with the<br />candlelight.<br />As if he were part of the light.<br />Part of the ghostly light.<br />Terri and I froze, staring at him. Did he see us? Was he alive?<br />Was he a ghost?<br />His eyes opened. Large, dark eyes sunk deep in their sockets.<br />He turned to us, stared back at us with those frightening sunken eyes.<br />Slowly he curled a bony, gnarled finger. "Come here." His voice was a dry<br />whisper. Dry as death.<br />And before we could move, he rose up from the chair and began to come for<br />us.<br />14<br />I wanted to run. But my feet felt glued to the floor.<br />As if the ghostly figure were holding me there, keeping me from escaping.<br />Terri let out a low cry. She bumped me from behind.<br />I think she had stumbled. But her bump got us both moving.<br />I took one last glance back at the pale, flickering figure. His bony<br />frame shimmered in the eerie candlelight.<br />He started toward us, his mouth twisted into a strange grin. The dark<br />eyes gazed at us blankly, like black buttons on a snowman.<br />Then we turned and ran.<br />Terri sprinted ahead of me through the tunnel, her sneakers slapping the<br />wet floor. Slipping and stumbling, I struggled to keep up with her.<br />My legs felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds. The blood pulsed so<br />hard at my temples, I thought my head might explode.<br />"Go! Go! Go!" I shouted all the way.<br />I turned and glanced back.<br />He was coming after us!<br />"Noooo!" I screamed.<br />I shouldn't have turned back.<br />I stumbled over a jagged rock — and went sprawling on the hard floor.<br />I landed hard on my elbows and knees.<br />Gasping for breath, I spun around.<br />In time to see the ghost's bony hands reach out for my throat.<br />15<br />I let out a terrified howl, scrambled to my feet, and lurched away from<br />his bony, outstretched hands.<br />A few feet up ahead, Terri watched in horror, her mouth open, her eyes<br />wide with fright.<br />I heard the ghost groan as he reached out with both arms.<br />Somehow I found the strength to run.<br />Terri and I were both running now. Through the narrow, curving tunnel.<br />Through the bat chamber, silent and empty now.<br />To the mouth of the cave.<br />And then we were slipping and sliding, scrambling down the dew-wet<br />boulders. Down, down to the rocky, moonlit beach.<br />I turned back once. I couldn't help it.<br />The cave opening was dark now, I saw. Darker than the night sky.<br />We ran along the shore, then turned into the woods. We were both<br />breathing hard, panting loudly as we reached the cottage.<br />I pushed open the door, stumbled in after Terri, then slammed it hard<br />behind us.<br />"Terri? Jerry? Is that you?" Agatha's voice floated from the kitchen. She<br />came in, wiping her hands on a checkered dish towel. "Well?" she<br />demanded. "Did you find it?"<br />"Huh?" I gaped at her, still struggling to catch my breath.<br />Did we find the ghost?<br />Is that what Agatha was asking?<br />"Did you find it?" Agatha repeated. "Did you find the beach towel?"<br />She stared at us in bewilderment as Terri and I burst out in relieved<br />laughter.<br />I couldn't get to sleep that night. I kept picturing the ghost. His<br />stringy, white hair. His sunken eyes. His bony fingers reaching out for<br />me.<br />And I kept wondering if Terri and I had done the right thing by not<br />telling Agatha and Brad about him.<br />"We'll only get in trouble for going into the cave," I had told my<br />sister.<br />"They probably won't believe us anyway," Terri added.<br />"And why should we get them upset?" I said. "They've been so nice to us.<br />And we went into the cave when they told us not to."<br />So we hadn't told them about the frightening ghost surrounded by candles<br />in the creepy cave.<br />And now as I lay in bed, tossing and turning, my mind tossed and turned,<br />too. And I wondered if Terri and I should confess to our cousins what we<br />had done and seen.<br />Despite the summer heat, I pulled the covers up to my chin and stared at<br />the window. Behind the billowing curtains, pale white moonlight shimmered<br />brightly.<br />The moonlight didn't cheer me. It reminded me of the ghost's pale skin.<br />Suddenly, my troubled thoughts were interrupted by a soft tapping.<br />Tap tap. Tap tap tap.<br />I sat up quickly.<br />The sound was repeated. Tap tap. Tap tap tap.<br />And then I heard a ghostly whisper: "Come here."<br />Tap tap tap.<br />"Come here."<br />And I knew that the ghost had followed me home.<br />16<br />"Come here."<br />Sitting up in bed, rigid with fear, I stared helplessly as a face rose up<br />in the moonlit window.<br />First I saw a pale tuft of hair. Then a broad forehead. A pair of dark<br />eyes, gleaming blue in the bright light.<br />Nat!<br />He grinned at me through the window.<br />"Nat! It's you!" I cried gratefully, jumping out of bed, pulling my robe<br />over my pajamas, and lurching to the open window.<br />He giggled.<br />I peered out. Sam had Nat on his shoulders and was lowering him to the<br />ground. Louisa, in white tennis shorts and a loose-fitting gray sweater,<br />stood beside them.<br />"Wh-what are you guys doing out here?" I stammered. "You scared me to<br />death."<br />"We weren't trying to scare you," Sam replied, his hands on Nat's slender<br />shoulders. "We saw you and your sister running on the beach. We wondered<br />what happened."<br />"You won't believe it!" I exclaimed.<br />I realized that my voice was probably carrying up to Brad and Agatha's<br />room. I didn't want to wake them.<br />I motioned to the three kids. "Come into my room. We can talk in here."<br />Sam lifted Nat up to the windowsill. I pulled him in. Then the other two<br />climbed in after him.<br />They sat down on the bed. I paced excitedly in front of them.<br />"Terri and I went into the cave," I told them in a low voice. "We saw the<br />ghost. He was sitting in a back chamber filled with candles."<br />All three of them showed surprise on their faces.<br />"He was very old and scary-looking," I continued. "He didn't walk. He<br />kind of floated. When he saw us, he started to chase us. I fell, and he<br />nearly grabbed me. But I got away."<br />"Wow," Sam muttered. The other two continued to stare at me in amazement.<br />"Then what?" Nat asked.<br />"Then we ran back here as fast as we could," I told him. "That's it."<br />They stared at me for a long moment. I tried to figure out what they were<br />thinking. Did they believe me?<br />Finally, Sam climbed off the bed and walked to the window. "We didn't<br />want you to know about the ghost," he said softly, tossing back his brown<br />hair.<br />"Why not?" I demanded.<br />Sam hesitated. "We didn't want to scare you."<br />I let out a scornful laugh. "You scared Terri and me just about every<br />time we saw you."<br />"That was just for fun," Sam explained. "But we knew if you found out<br />about the ghost . . ." His voice trailed off.<br />"Have you seen him, too?" I asked, pulling my robe tighter around me.<br />All three of them nodded.<br />"We stay away from there," Nat told me, scratching his arm. "The ghost is<br />too scary."<br />"He's really dangerous," Louisa revealed. "I think he wants to kill us<br />all." Her eyes locked on mine. "Even you. You and Terri."<br />I shuddered. "Why? Terri and I didn't do anything to him."<br />"It doesn't matter. Nobody's safe," Sam said softly, glancing nervously<br />out the window. "You saw the skeleton in the woods, right? That's what<br />the ghost will do to you if he catches you."<br />I shuddered again. I was really scared now.<br />"There's a way to get rid of the ghost," Louisa said, breaking into my<br />troubled thoughts. She was nervously clasping and unclasping her hands in<br />her lap. "But we need your help," she continued. "We can't do it without<br />you and Terri."<br />I swallowed hard. "What can Terri and I do?" I asked.<br />Before she could answer, we heard creaking above our heads. Voices.<br />Had we awakened Agatha and Brad?<br />Louisa and her two brothers hurried to the window and lowered themselves<br />to the ground. "Meet us at the beach — tomorrow morning," Sam instructed.<br />I stood at the window and watched them disappear into the woods.<br />The room fell quiet again. The curtains fluttered gently. I stared out<br />into the gently swaying pine trees.<br />How can Terri and I help to get rid of an ancient ghost? I wondered.<br />What can we do?<br />17<br />I woke up the next morning to the sound of rain. I jumped out of bed and<br />ran to the window. The rain swirled in a gusting wind. In the garden,<br />narrow rivulets of water had formed between the vegetable rows and<br />trickled off into the yard. A thick fog had settled on the trees.<br />"Do you believe this weather?" Terri asked, coming into my room.<br />I spun away from the window. "Terri — listen. I have something to tell<br />you." I told her about my late-night talk with the three Sadlers.<br />When I finished, Terri stared out the window. "So what do we do now? How<br />can we meet them on the beach if it's raining this hard?"<br />"We can't," I said. "We have to wait till it stops."<br />"I hate suspense!" Terri moaned. She hurried back to her room to get<br />dressed.<br />I pulled on my old faded jeans, torn at both knees, and a gray<br />sweatshirt, and hurried to join everyone for breakfast. Agatha cooked us<br />oatmeal with big lumps of brown sugar and butter on top.<br />After breakfast Brad built a big cozy fire and Terri worked on her<br />wildflower collection on the floor in front of the fireplace.<br />While Terri glued dried flower samples onto sheets of cardboard, I sat<br />around and waited for the rain to stop. Stupid rain.<br />The sun didn't come out until after lunch. As soon as we could get away,<br />Terri and I hurried to the beach.<br />We waited there for nearly an hour. I practiced skipping stones, and<br />Terri scrounged around for shells. No sign of Sam, Nat, and Louisa.<br />"Now what?" I asked, kicking at a small rock. The whole day had been a<br />big waste.<br />"I brought my gravestone-rubbing stuff," Terri replied. "Let's go over to<br />the cemetery."<br />We made our way to the small graveyard, climbed over the old stone wall,<br />and took a good look around. The graves were so old. Many of the<br />gravestones had been knocked over, or broken, or covered with weeds.<br />The forest had started taking over. A couple of big trees had sprouted on<br />top of graves, and one giant tree had crashed across the wall, knocking<br />over several tombstones.<br />"I'm going to look for something interesting by that big fallen tree,"<br />Terri announced.<br />Terri ran ahead, and I poked along at my own speed. The last time we were<br />here, we stuck to the edge of the cemetery. Now I made my way into the<br />middle.<br />I started reading the names on the tombstones. The first one I stopped at<br />read: HERE LIES THE BODY OF MARTIN SADLER.<br />That's strange, I thought. Another Sadler. I remembered that Sam had told<br />us Sadler was a common name around here. Maybe this was the Sadler family<br />section or something.<br />The gravestone next to Martin Sadler belonged to Mary Sadler, his wife.<br />Then a couple of Sadler kids, Sarah and Miles.<br />I moved to the next row and continued reading the inscriptions. Another<br />Sadler. This one was named Peter. Beside Peter lay Miriam Sadler.<br />Whoa! I thought, starting to get the creeps. Didn't anyone else ever die<br />around here?<br />I moved to another section. All Sadlers, too. Hiram, Margaret, Constance,<br />Charity . . .<br />Was this a whole cemetery of Sadlers?<br />Terri's scream cut through the air. "Jerry! Come here!"<br />I found her near the fallen pine tree. Her face was twisted in confusion.<br />"Look!" she instructed, pointing to a cluster of gravestones at her feet.<br />I lowered my glance to two large stones. THOMAS SADLER, DIED FEBRUARY 18,<br />1641, and PRISCILLA SADLER, WIFE OF THOMAS. DIED MARCH 5, 1641.<br />"Yeah, I know," I told Terri. "The whole cemetery is filled with Sadlers.<br />Creepy, huh?"<br />"No. No. Check out the kids' graves," Terri said impatiently.<br />I saw three small, identical stones lined up beside the parents. The<br />three stones stood up straight. They were clean and easy to read. As if<br />someone had taken care of them.<br />I hunched down to read the names. "Sam Sadler, son of Thomas and<br />Priscilla."<br />I straightened back up. "So?"<br />"Read the next one," Terri instructed.<br />I lowered myself again. "Louisa Sadler."<br />"Uh-oh," I murmured. "I bet I can guess the last name."<br />"I bet you can, too," Terri replied in a trembling whisper.<br />My eyes moved to the last marker. "Here lies Nat Sadler, who died in his<br />fifth year of life."<br />18<br />I stared at the three stones until they blurred before my eyes.<br />Three stones. Three kids.<br />Sam, Louisa, and Nat.<br />All dead in the early 1600s.<br />"I don't get it," I murmured. I felt dizzy as I climbed to my feet. "I<br />just don't get it."<br />"We have to ask Brad and Agatha about this," Terri said. "This is just<br />too weird!"<br />We ran back to the cottage. I kept seeing those three stones as we ran.<br />Sam, Louisa, and Nat.<br />We found Brad and Agatha out back, under the trees in their matching<br />rocking chairs.<br />Agatha laughed as we came running up to them breathlessly. "You kids run<br />everywhere, don't you? Wish I had your pep."<br />"We were in the cemetery," I blurted out. "We have to ask you about<br />something."<br />She raised her eyebrows. "Oh? Were you working on gravestone rubbings?"<br />"We didn't get that far," Terri told her. "We were reading the stones.<br />They were all Sadlers. All of them."<br />Agatha's chair rocked back and forth steadily. She nodded, but didn't say<br />anything.<br />"You know those kids we met on the beach?" I broke in. "Well, we found<br />tombstones for Sam, Louisa, and Nat Sadler. They died in 1640-something.<br />But those are the same names as the kids we met!"<br />Agatha and Brad rocked in unison. Back and forth. Back and forth. Agatha<br />smiled up at me. "Well, what's your question, Jerry?"<br />"How come there are so many Sadlers in that graveyard?" I asked. "And how<br />come those stones have our friends' names on them?"<br />"Good questions," Brad muttered quietly.<br />Agatha smiled. "It's nice to see you're both so observant. Sit down. It's<br />sort of a long story."<br />Terri and I dropped down onto the grass. "Tell us," I urged impatiently.<br />Agatha took a deep breath and began. "Well, in the winter of 1641, a<br />large group of Sadlers, practically the whole family, sailed from England<br />and settled here. They were Pilgrims who came to start a new life."<br />She glanced at Brad, who continued to rock, staring out at the shimmering<br />trees. "It was one of the worst winters in history," Agatha continued.<br />"And, sadly, tragically, the Sadlers were unprepared for the cold. They<br />died, one by one, and were buried in the little cemetery. By 1642, there<br />were almost none left."<br />Brad tsk-tsked and shook his head.<br />Agatha, rocking in a steady rhythm, continued. "Your friends Sam, Nat,<br />and Louisa are your distant cousins. Like Brad and me. They were named<br />for their ancestors, the children buried in the cemetery. We were named<br />for our ancestors, too. You'll find gravestones for an Agatha and<br />Bradford Sadler in the cemetery, too."<br />"We will?" Terri cried.<br />Agatha nodded solemnly. "That's right. But your cousin and I aren't quite<br />ready for the boneyard, yet. Are we, Brad?"<br />Brad shook his head. "No, ma'am!" he replied, grinning.<br />Terri and I laughed.<br />Relieved laughter.<br />I was so glad there was a good explanation for what we had seen. I<br />suddenly felt tempted to tell Brad and Agatha about the ghost in the<br />cave.<br />But Terri started talking about wildflowers, and I settled onto the grass<br />and kept my thoughts to myself.<br />We finally ran into Sam, Louisa, and Nat on the beach the next morning.<br />"Where were you guys?" I asked. "We waited for you here all afternoon."<br />"Hey, give us a break," Sam protested. "It was raining. We weren't<br />allowed outside."<br />"We were at the little graveyard yesterday," Terri told them. "We saw<br />three old gravestones with your names on them."<br />Louisa and Sam exchanged glances. "Those are our ancestors," Sam said.<br />"We were named after them."<br />"Jerry said you have a plan to get rid of the ghost," Terri broke in. My<br />sister always likes to get down to business.<br />"We do," Sam said, his expression turning serious. "Come with us." He<br />began walking quickly over the pebbly sand toward the cave.<br />I hurried to catch up. "Whoa! Where are we going? I'm not climbing back<br />inside that cave again. No way!" I cried.<br />"Me either," Terri agreed. "Being chased once by a ghost was enough for<br />me."<br />Sam's hazel eyes locked on mine. "You don't have to go into the cave<br />again. I promise."<br />He led us to the rocks below the cave. I gazed up, shielding my eyes<br />against the bright sunlight.<br />The cave looked a little less frightening in the daytime. The smooth,<br />white stone gleamed. The dark entrance didn't seem as deep and<br />forbidding.<br />Sam pointed up at the mouth. "See all those big rocks piled on top of the<br />cave?"<br />I squinted. "What about them?"<br />"All you have to do is climb up there and push those rocks down. The<br />rocks will cover the mouth of the cave, and the old ghost will be trapped<br />inside forever."<br />Terri and I stared at the enormous, white rocks. Each one must have<br />weighed about two hundred pounds. "You're kidding, right?" I said.<br />Louisa shook her head. "We're very serious," she murmured.<br />"We cover the cave mouth with rocks?" I repeated, staring up at it. The<br />dark hole seemed to stare back at me like a giant, black eye. "And that<br />will keep the ghost inside? What will stop him from floating out? He's a<br />ghost, remember. He can float right through the rocks."<br />"No, he can't," Louisa explained. "The old legends say that the cave is a<br />sanctuary. That means that if something evil gets trapped inside, it<br />can't escape through the ancient rocks. The ghost will be trapped inside<br />forever."<br />Terri frowned. "So why didn't you ever go up and push the rocks down?"<br />"We're too scared," Nat blurted out.<br />"If we mess up, the ghost could come after us," Sam said. "We live here.<br />He could find our house — and get revenge."<br />"We've been waiting for outsiders to come help us," Louisa added, gazing<br />at me with pleading eyes. "We've been waiting for someone we could<br />trust."<br />"But what about us?" I demanded. "If we try to trap the ghost tonight and<br />we mess up, won't he come out looking for us?"<br />"We won't mess up," Sam replied solemnly. "We'll all work together. If<br />the ghost comes out, Nat, Louisa, and I will distract him. We won't let<br />him see that you're up on top."<br />"Will you help us? Please?" Louisa begged. "Our whole lives, the old<br />ghost has terrified us."<br />"You would make everyone around here happy if you agreed to help trap<br />him," Sam added.<br />I hesitated. So many things could go wrong.<br />What if the rocks wouldn't budge? What if the ghost floated out and found<br />Terri and me up there? What if one of us slipped and fell off the top of<br />the cave?<br />No, I decided. No way. We can't do it. It's just too risky.<br />I turned to tell them my decision.<br />"Of course we'll help you," I heard Terri say.<br />19<br />We spent the afternoon picking blueberries with Agatha. Then we made<br />blueberry ice cream using an old-fashioned churn. It tasted better than<br />any ice cream I'd ever eaten. Agatha said it was because we picked the<br />blueberries ourselves.<br />As it got closer to suppertime, I started feeling more and more<br />frightened. Were we really going to try to trap a ghost tonight?<br />Dinnertime finally came. I hardly ate a thing. When Agatha stared at me,<br />I explained I had filled up on ice cream.<br />After dinner, Terri and I helped Agatha with the dishes. Then Brad<br />insisted on showing me how to tie sailor knots. By this time, my stomach<br />felt more knotted up than Brad's rope!<br />Finally, Terri and I said we were going to the beach to get some fresh<br />air. And we hurried out to meet our three friends.<br />It was a clear, cloudless night. Thousands of stars twinkled overhead. A<br />heavy dew was falling. The full moon made it easy to see without a<br />flashlight.<br />Terri and I padded in silence along the path down to the beach. Neither<br />of us felt like talking. I kept thinking about Mom and Dad's warning to<br />me before we left home to keep Terri from getting into trouble.<br />Well, we're in trouble now, I thought grimly. Deep trouble. Both of us.<br />Maybe all five of us.<br />Sam, Louisa, and Nat stood waiting at the edge of the shore. The<br />moonlight made the dark water sparkle. I suddenly wished it weren't so<br />bright out. What we were about to do needed darkness.<br />The knots in my stomach seemed to tighten as I greeted our three friends.<br />Sam raised a finger to his lips and motioned for us to follow him.<br />Silently, we picked our way across the rocks to the base of the cave.<br />"Hey — look," I whispered, staring up at the cave. The light flickered<br />brightly in the entrance.<br />The ghost was home.<br />I stared up at the cave and planned our route. We'd go up the same way we<br />had the other night. But instead of entering the cave, we'd keep climbing<br />around the side until we reached the top.<br />Terri fidgeted beside me. "Ready?" I whispered.<br />She nodded grimly.<br />"We'll wait down here," Sam whispered. "If the ghost comes out, we'll be<br />ready to distract him. Good luck."<br />The three of them stood huddled together. Their expressions were tense,<br />frightened. Nat gripped Louisa's hand. "Bye, Terri," he said in a tiny<br />voice. I think he had a little crush on her.<br />"See you in a few minutes," Terri whispered back to him. "Don't worry,<br />Nat. We'll get rid of that bad ghost. Come on, Jerry."<br />My legs felt rubbery as Terri and I made our way over the rocks. We<br />climbed steadily. Carefully.<br />I glanced back at Terri, a few feet behind me. She was breathing hard,<br />her eyes narrowed in concentration.<br />We reached the mouth of the cave. The light inside shone brightly.<br />I pointed to our right. Terri nodded. She followed me up the rocks on the<br />side of the cave.<br />The rocks were damp from the evening dew, and slippery. We were hunched<br />on all fours as we climbed. It was steeper than I had thought.<br />I struggled to keep from trembling. I knew that one slip could cause a<br />rock slide. The ghost would know something was up.<br />Hand over hand we climbed.<br />Carefully. Steadily.<br />I stopped to catch my breath and gazed down to the beach. Our three<br />friends hadn't moved.<br />Holding on to a rock with one hand, I waved to them with my other. Nat<br />waved back. The other two remained still, staring up at Terri and me.<br />I reached the smooth rock surface of the top of the cave. Turning, I held<br />out my hand and helped Terri up onto the narrow ledge.<br />Together we checked out the situation. The rocks we were supposed to roll<br />over the mouth of the cave weren't as big as I'd thought. They were piled<br />in a solid wall. It didn't seem that difficult to get behind them and<br />push them over.<br />As I started to move behind the rock wall, I caught a glimpse of our<br />three friends down below. To my surprise, Sam was waving his arms and<br />jumping up and down. Louisa and Nat were also motioning frantically.<br />"What's wrong?" Terri cried. "Why are they doing that?"<br />"They're trying to tell us something," I replied, feeling a chill of<br />terror freeze every muscle.<br />Had the ghost appeared in the cave mouth?<br />Were Terri and I caught already?<br />I took a deep breath and, ignoring my fear, leaned over the edge to peer<br />down at the mouth of the cave.<br />No one there.<br />"Jerry — stand up!" Terri cried. "You'll fall!"<br />I stood back up and peered down at the three kids. "Hey — !" I cried out<br />as I saw them running to the woods.<br />A stab of terror made me gasp. "Something's gone wrong," I croaked.<br />"Let's get out of here!"<br />I turned in time to see the ghost step up behind us.<br />His entire body shimmered, pale in the bright moonlight. His vacant,<br />sunken eyes glared angrily at us.<br />He grabbed me by the shoulder and wrapped his other bony hand around<br />Terri's waist.<br />"Come with me," he said in a dry whisper, a whisper of doom.<br />20<br />He dragged us down to the cave entrance.<br />He's so strong, I thought. So strong for someone old and frail-looking.<br />The rocks slid under my feet, a gray blur. The ground appeared to tilt<br />and sway. Long shadows seemed to reach out to me, to pull me down.<br />I tried to cry out, but my breath caught in my throat.<br />I tried to jerk free of his grasp. But he was too strong for me.<br />Terri uttered loud, sobbing gasps. She thrashed her arms, struggling to<br />free herself.<br />But the old ghost held her tightly.<br />Before I knew it, we were stumbling through the dark, twisting tunnels.<br />The flickering candlelight grew brighter up ahead. We were too frightened<br />to fight him, too frightened to break away.<br />My shoulder scraped against the narrow tunnel wall. Terror tightened my<br />throat. I couldn't even cry out from the pain.<br />The ghost released us as we reached the candlelit chamber. Glaring at us<br />sternly, he motioned with a bony finger for us to follow him to his<br />driftwood table.<br />"Wh-what are you going to do to us?" Terri managed to choke out.<br />He didn't reply.<br />He brushed the long, stringy white hair from over his face. Then he<br />motioned for us to sit down on the floor.<br />I dropped down quickly. My legs were shaking so hard, I was grateful not<br />to have to stand.<br />I glanced at my sister. Her lower lip was trembling. Her hands were<br />clasped tightly in her lap.<br />The old ghost cleared his throat. He leaned heavily against the crude<br />table. "You are both in serious trouble," he said in a thin, reedy voice.<br />"We — we didn't mean to do any harm," I blurted out.<br />"It is dangerous to get involved with ghosts," he said, ignoring my<br />words.<br />"We'll go away," I offered desperately. "We'll never come back."<br />"We didn't mean to disturb you," Terri added in a shrill voice.<br />His sunken eyes suddenly widened in surprise. "Me?" A strange smile<br />played across his pale face.<br />"We won't tell anyone we saw you," I told him.<br />His smile grew wider. "Me?" he repeated. He leaned forward on the large<br />chunk of driftwood. "I'm not a ghost!" he cried. "Your three friends<br />are!"<br />21<br />"Huh?" I gaped at the old ghost in disbelief.<br />His smile faded. "I'm telling you the truth," he said softly, rubbing his<br />pale cheek with a bony hand.<br />"You're trying to trick us," Terri replied. "Those three kids — "<br />"They're not kids," the old man interrupted sharply. "They're over 350<br />years old!"<br />Terri and I exchanged glances. The blood was pounding so hard at my<br />temples, I couldn't think clearly.<br />"Allow me to introduce myself," the old man said, lowering himself onto<br />the table edge. His lined face flickered in the shifting candlelight.<br />"I'm Harrison Sadler."<br />"Another Sadler?" I blurted out.<br />"We're Sadlers, too!" Terri cried.<br />"I know," he said softly. He coughed, a dry, hacking cough. "I came here<br />from England quite a while ago," he told us.<br />"In 1641?" I demanded.<br />He is a ghost, I realized with a shudder.<br />My question seemed to amuse him. "I haven't been here that long," he<br />replied dryly. "After college, I traced my ancestors here. I study ghosts<br />and the occult." He sighed. "It turned out there was plenty to study<br />here."<br />I stared hard at him, studying him. Could he possibly be telling the<br />truth? Was he human — not a ghost?<br />Or was this an evil trick?<br />His black, sunken eyes didn't reveal anything to me.<br />"Why did you drag us in here?" I demanded, climbing to my knees.<br />"To warn you," Harrison Sadler replied. "To warn you about the ghosts.<br />You are in great danger here. I have studied them. I have seen their<br />evil."<br />Terri let out a low cry. I couldn't tell if she believed the old man or<br />not.<br />I realized that I didn't believe him at all. His story didn't make any<br />sense.<br />I climbed to my feet. "If you are a scientist studying the occult," I<br />said, "why are you shut up here in this weird cave?"<br />He slowly raised his hand and motioned toward the shadowy ceiling. "This<br />cave is a sanctuary," he murmured.<br />Sanctuary? That was the word that Sam had used.<br />"Once inside this cave," Harrison explained, "ghosts cannot escape<br />through the rocks."<br />"So that means you are trapped in here," I insisted.<br />His eyes narrowed at me. "My plan is to trap the ghosts in here," he<br />replied softly. "That is why I stacked the rocks above the entrance. I<br />hope some day to trap them in here forever."<br />I turned to my sister. She stared thoughtfully at Harrison.<br />"But why are you living here?" I demanded.<br />"I am safe here," he replied. "The sanctuary keeps me safe. The ghosts<br />cannot surprise me by coming through the rocks. Didn't you wonder why<br />they sent you up here instead of coming up themselves?"<br />"They sent us up here because they're terrified of you!" I shouted,<br />forgetting my fear. "They sent us up here because you're the ghost!"<br />His expression changed. He pushed himself away from the driftwood table<br />and moved quickly toward Terri and me. His deep, sunken eyes glowed like<br />dark coals.<br />"What are you going to do?" I cried.<br />22<br />Harrison took another menacing step toward us. "You don't believe me, do<br />you?" he accused.<br />Terri and I were too frightened to answer.<br />"Wh-what are you going to do?" I repeated, my voice tiny and shrill.<br />He glared at us for a long moment, the candlelight flickering over his<br />pale face. "I'm going to let you go," he said finally.<br />Terri let out a cry of surprise.<br />I edged back, toward the tunnel.<br />"I'm going to let you go," Harrison Sadler repeated. "So that you can<br />examine the east corner of the old graveyard." He waved a bony hand. "Go.<br />Go now. To the graveyard."<br />"You — you're really letting us go?" I stammered.<br />"Once you've seen the east corner, you'll come back," Harrison replied<br />mysteriously. "You'll come back."<br />No way, I thought, my heart pounding.<br />No way I'll ever come near this frightening cave again.<br />"Go!" the old ghost cried.<br />Terri and I spun around and scrambled out of his chamber. Neither of us<br />looked back.<br />As we hurried out of the cave and down the rocks, I couldn't get<br />Harrison's face out of my mind. I kept picturing his glowing, evil eyes,<br />his long, stringy hair, his yellow teeth when he flashed us that eerie<br />smile. With a shudder, I remembered the inhuman strength of his grip as<br />he dragged Terri and me into his chamber.<br />I also couldn't stop thinking about Sam, Louisa, and Nat. There was no<br />way they were ghosts. They were our friends. They had tried to warn Terri<br />and me that the ghost was sneaking up behind us.<br />They said they'd been terrified of Harrison their whole lives. And I<br />remembered Nat's sad face as he told us how much he was scared of ghosts.<br />Harrison Sadler is a liar, I thought bitterly.<br />A 350-year-old ghost of a liar.<br />Down on the beach, Terri and I stopped to catch our breath. "He — he's so<br />scary!" Terri gasped.<br />"I couldn't believe he let us go," I replied, bending over, pressing my<br />hands against my knees, waiting for the sharp pain in my side to fade.<br />I searched for our three friends. But they were nowhere to be seen.<br />"Are we going to the graveyard?" I asked.<br />"I know what he wants us to see," Terri replied, gazing back up at the<br />dark cave. "I know why he wants us to check out the east corner. That's<br />where we found the gravestones for Louisa, Nat, and Sam."<br />"Yeah, so?"<br />"Harrison is just trying to scare us. He thinks if we see the old graves,<br />it will prove to us that Louisa, Nat, and Sam are ghosts."<br />"But we already know the truth about those old graves," I said.<br />We stepped off the beach and into the trees. The air grew cooler.<br />Moonlight trickling through the branches overhead made strange shadows<br />stretch across our path.<br />We reached the cemetery entrance and stopped.<br />"Might as well check it out," Terri murmured. I followed her through the<br />graveyard, stepping over footstones and loose brush as we made our way to<br />the east corner.<br />A pale beam of moonlight played over the three old Sadler kids' graves.<br />"See anything strange?" Terri whispered.<br />My eyes roamed the area. "Nope."<br />We stepped up to the Sadler kids' graves. "These look the same as<br />yesterday," I said. "Neat, square . . . whoa!"<br />Something caught my eye in the corner.<br />"What's your problem?" Terri demanded.<br />My eyes struggled to see in the pale light. "I think there's something .<br />. ."<br />"Huh? Do you see something?" Terri cried.<br />"Some fresh dirt," I said. "In the corner. On the other side of that<br />fallen tree. It looks like a fresh grave."<br />"No way," said Terri. "I've checked out all these gravestones. No one's<br />been buried in here for the last fifty years."<br />We took a couple of steps toward the fallen tree.<br />"Jerry! You're right! It is a grave," Terri whispered. "A fresh grave."<br />We stepped over the fallen tree trunk, keeping close together. A narrow<br />shaft of moonlight lit up the freshly dug ground.<br />"It's two graves!" I gasped. "Two fresh graves with little markers on<br />them."<br />I squatted down to try to read them. Terri moved behind me. "What do they<br />say, Jerry?"<br />My mouth went dry. I couldn't answer her.<br />"Jerry? Can you read them?"<br />"Yes," I finally choked out. "It's us, Terri. The names on these markers<br />read, 'Jerry Sadler and Terri Sadler.' "<br />23<br />"Wh-what does this mean?" I stammered.<br />"Who dug these graves?" Terri asked. "Who put up these markers?"<br />"Let's get out of here," I urged, grabbing her arm. "Let's go tell Agatha<br />and Brad."<br />Terri hesitated.<br />"We have to," I insisted. "We have to tell them everything. We should<br />have told them a long time ago."<br />"Okay," Terri agreed.<br />I turned to leave — and gasped when I saw the three figures staring at us<br />from the shadows.<br />Sam stepped quickly over the fallen tree. "Where are you going?" he<br />asked. "What are you doing here?"<br />Louisa and Nat followed close behind him.<br />"We — we're going back to the cottage," I told them. "It's late, and — "<br />"Did you kill the ghost?" Nat demanded. His eyes peered up at me<br />hopefully.<br />I patted his hair. It felt real. His head was warm. He didn't feel<br />ghostlike at all. He was a real little boy.<br />Harrison Sadler is a total liar, I thought.<br />"Did you kill the old ghost?" Nat repeated eagerly.<br />"No. We couldn't," I told him. Nat let out a disappointed sigh.<br />"Then how did you get away?" Sam demanded suspiciously.<br />"We ran away," Terri told him.<br />It was almost the truth.<br />"Where were you guys?" I demanded.<br />"Yeah. You didn't do a very good job of distracting him," Terri added<br />sharply.<br />"We — we tried to warn you," Louisa replied, tugging nervously at a<br />strand of long, auburn hair. "Then we got scared. We ran into the woods<br />and hid."<br />"When we didn't hear the rocks fall, we got even more scared," Sam added.<br />"We were afraid the ghost got you. We were afraid we would never see you<br />again."<br />Nat uttered a frightened sob and took Louisa's hand. "We have to kill the<br />ghost," the little guy whimpered. "We have to."<br />Sam and Louisa tried to comfort their little brother. I gazed down at the<br />two fresh graves. A cool wind made the trees whisper and shake.<br />I started to ask Sam about the two graves. But he spoke before I had a<br />chance. "Let's try again," he said, staring hard at Terri then me with<br />pleading eyes.<br />Louisa rested her hands on Nat's tiny shoulders. "Yes," she agreed<br />softly. "Let's go back and try again."<br />"No way!" I cried. "Terri and I got away from there once. I'm not going<br />back and — "<br />"But it's the perfect time!" Louisa insisted. "He'll never expect you to<br />come back tonight. We'll catch him completely offguard. It will be a<br />total surprise."<br />"Please!" Nat begged in a tiny voice.<br />I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. I couldn't believe they were<br />asking us to do this.<br />Terri and I had risked our lives by climbing up there. We could have been<br />killed by that lying old ghost. We could look like that horrible dog<br />skeleton right now.<br />And here they were, asking us to climb right back up there and try again.<br />It was a ridiculous idea. No way I would agree to it. No way!<br />"Okay," I heard my sister say. "We'll do it."<br />Louisa and her brothers burst into happy cheers.<br />Terri had done it to me again.<br />24<br />Terri led the way to the beach. I scrambled to catch up with her. The<br />three Sadlers, talking excitedly among themselves, trailed behind.<br />The night suddenly seemed darker, as if someone had dimmed the lights. I<br />raised my eyes, searching for the full moon. But it had disappeared<br />behind heavy clouds.<br />I felt a large raindrop on my shoulder, then another on the top of my<br />head. The wind picked up as we neared the ocean.<br />"Are you totally crazy?" I whispered to my sister as we made our way over<br />the pebbly sand toward the cave. "How could you agree to do this?"<br />"We have to solve the mystery," Terri replied, glancing up at the cave.<br />It sat darkly above the rocks. No flickering light. No sign of the old<br />ghost.<br />"This isn't one of your dumb mystery books," I told her angrily. "This is<br />real life. We could be in terrible danger."<br />"We already are," she replied mysteriously. She said something else, but<br />the strong wind off the ocean carried her words away.<br />The raindrops started to come down faster. Large, heavy drops.<br />"Stop, Terri," I demanded. "Let's turn back. Let's tell the kids we<br />changed our minds."<br />She shook her head.<br />"Let's at least go back to the cottage and tell Agatha and Brad," I<br />pleaded. "We can trap the ghost tomorrow. During the day, maybe . . ."<br />Terri kept walking. She picked up the pace. "We have to solve the<br />mystery, Jerry," she said again. "Those two fresh graves — they really<br />scared me. I have to find out the truth."<br />"But, Terri — the truth is, we might get killed!" I cried.<br />She didn't seem to hear me. I brushed raindrops from my eyebrows. The<br />gusting winds were swirling the rain around us. The rain pattered against<br />the rocks, sounding like sharp drumbeats.<br />We stopped at the bottom of the rocks. Up above, the cave stood over us,<br />still completely dark.<br />"We'll wait down here," Sam said. His eyes kept darting up to the cave. I<br />could tell he was really frightened. "This time we'll do a better job of<br />distracting the ghost if he comes out."<br />"He better not come out," I muttered, lowering my head against the<br />falling rain.<br />A jagged bolt of white lightning crackled across the sky.<br />I shivered.<br />"Come up with us," Terri told the three of them. "You can't help us way<br />down here."<br />They hung back. I could see the fear on their faces.<br />"Come up to the cave entrance," Terri urged. "You can always run down the<br />rocks if the ghost appears."<br />Louisa shook her head. "We're too afraid," she confessed.<br />"We need your help," Terri insisted. "We don't want the ghost to know<br />we're on top of the cave. Come stand on the ledge in front of the cave.<br />Then — "<br />"No! He'll hurt us! He'll eat us up!" Nat cried.<br />"Jerry and I can't go up there again unless you come up to help us,"<br />Terri insisted firmly.<br />Louisa and Sam exchanged frightened glances. Nat clung to Louisa,<br />trembling. The rain swept down harder.<br />Finally Sam nodded. "Okay. We'll wait for you at the cave mouth."<br />"We don't mean to be so frightened," Louisa added. "It's just that we've<br />been afraid of him our whole lives. He — he — " Her voice trailed off.<br />We turned and started our climb. It was much harder this time. It was so<br />much darker without the moon. Rain kept blowing into my eyes. And the<br />rocks were slippery and wet.<br />I stumbled twice, fell forward, scraping my knees and elbows. The wet<br />rocks kept sliding under my sneakers, rolling down toward the beach.<br />Another jagged bolt of lightning stretched across the sky, making the<br />cave glow white above us.<br />We stopped at the ledge in front of the dark cave mouth. My entire body<br />trembled. From the rain. From the cold. From fear.<br />"Let's just warm up inside for a moment," Terri suggested.<br />The three Sadlers clung together. "No, we can't. We're too scared,"<br />Louisa replied.<br />"Just for a second," Terri insisted. "Just to wipe the rain from our<br />eyes. Look — it's coming down in sheets."<br />She practically shoved Louisa and her brothers into the cave. Nat began<br />to cry. He held on tightly to his sister.<br />A roar of thunder made us all jump.<br />This is the dumbest thing I have ever done, I thought, shivering.<br />I will never forgive Terri for this. Never.<br />And then a yellow light flared in front of us at the mouth of the cave.<br />And under the yellow light, the old ghost flickered into view. He carried<br />a flaming torch in one hand. A strange smile played over his pale face.<br />"Well, well," he uttered in a voice just loud enough to be heard over the<br />rain. "Here we all are."<br />25<br />"Nooo!" Nat let out a terrified wail and tried to bury his head in his<br />sister's wet T-shirt. Sam and Louisa froze like statues. The flickering<br />light of the torch revealed expressions of horror on their faces.<br />Harrison Sadler stood in the cave entrance blocking our escape. His dark,<br />sunken eyes peered from one of us to the next.<br />Behind him, the rain crashed down, glowing eerily from flashes of bright<br />lightning.<br />He turned his attention to Terri and me. "You brought the ghosts to me,"<br />he said.<br />"You're the ghost!" Sam cried.<br />Nat wailed, his arms wrapped tightly around Louisa's waist.<br />"You have terrified people long enough," the old man told the three<br />trembling kids. "More than three hundred years. It is time for you to<br />leave this place. Time for you to rest."<br />"He's crazy!" Louisa cried to me. "Don't listen to him!"<br />"Don't let him fool you," Sam added with emotion. "Look at him! Look at<br />his eyes! Look where he lives — all alone in this dark cave! He's the<br />three-hundred-year-old ghost. And he's lying to you!"<br />"Don't hurt us!" Nat wailed, clinging to Louisa. "Please don't hurt us!"<br />The rain suddenly slowed. Water splattered off the rocks outside and<br />dripped steadily from the top of the cave. Thunder rumbled, but in the<br />distance. The storm was moving out to sea.<br />I turned and caught the strangest expression on my sister's face. To my<br />surprise, Terri was actually smiling.<br />She caught me staring at her. "The solution," she whispered.<br />And I suddenly realized why she had agreed to come back to this<br />frightening cave, to face the frightening old man again.<br />Terri wanted to solve the mystery. She needed to solve it.<br />Who was the ghost?<br />Was it Harrison Sadler? Or was Harrison telling us the truth? Were our<br />three friends the ghosts?<br />My sister is really crazy, I thought, shaking my head. She risked our<br />lives because she had to solve the mystery.<br />"Let us go," Sam told the old man, breaking into my thoughts. "Let us go,<br />and we won't tell anyone we saw the ghost."<br />The torchlight dipped low as a strong gust of wind invaded the cave.<br />Harrison's eyes seemed to grow darker. "I've waited too long to get you<br />here," he said quietly.<br />Louisa suddenly reached out to Terri. "Help us!" she cried. "You believe<br />us — don't you?"<br />"You know we're alive, not ghosts," Sam said to me. "Help us get away<br />from him. He's evil, Jerry. We've seen his evil our whole lives."<br />I turned from Harrison to the three kids.<br />Who was telling the truth? Who was alive? And who had been dead for over<br />three hundred years?<br />Harrison's face hovered darkly in the dipping, waving torchlight. He<br />pushed his long, stringy hair off his forehead with his free hand. And<br />then he startled us all by puckering his dry lips and letting out a long,<br />high-pitched whistle.<br />My heart skipped a beat. I gasped. What was he doing? Why was he making<br />that shrill sound?<br />He stopped. Then whistled again.<br />I heard the scraping of footsteps, rapid footsteps on the stone cave<br />floor.<br />And then a low, dark figure came loping toward us out of the darkness.<br />26<br />A monster! I thought.<br />A ghost monster.<br />It uttered low, menacing growls as it neared. Its head bobbed low, and<br />two red eyes flared as the creature bounded into the light of the flaming<br />torch.<br />"Oh!" I cried out as I saw that it was a dog. A long, lean German<br />shepherd.<br />The dog stopped a few feet in front of us. When it saw Harrison, it bared<br />its teeth. Its growl became a ferocious snarl.<br />Dogs can recognize ghosts, I remembered.<br />Dogs can recognize ghosts.<br />The dog's red eyes caught the light of the torch as it turned to Louisa<br />and her two brothers.<br />It reared back on its hind legs — and began to howl and bark.<br />"They're the ghosts!" Harrison Sadler cried triumphantly to Terri and me,<br />pointing.<br />Snarling, the big dog leaped at Sam.<br />With a cry of fright, Sam raised both arms to shield himself.<br />The three kids edged deeper into the cave.<br />The dog barked fiercely, baring its jagged teeth.<br />"You — you really are ghosts?" I cried out.<br />Louisa let out a pained sigh. "We never had a chance to live!" she cried.<br />"The first winter — it was so horrible!" Tears rolled down her cheeks. I<br />saw that Nat was crying, too.<br />The dog continued to snarl and rage. The three kids backed farther into<br />the dark chamber.<br />"We sailed here with our parents to start a new life," Sam explained in a<br />trembling voice. "But we all died in the cold. It wasn't fair! It just<br />wasn't fair!"<br />The rain started up again. The wind blew sheets of water into the cave<br />entrance. The torch flame dipped and nearly blew out.<br />"We never had a life at all!" Louisa cried.<br />Thunder roared. The cave seemed to shake. The dog growled and snarled.<br />And as I stared at the three kids in the wavering light, they began to<br />change.<br />Their hair dropped off first. It fell in clumps to the cave floor.<br />And then their skin peeled away, curling up and falling off — until three<br />grinning skulls stared at Terri and me through empty eye sockets.<br />"Come stay with us, cousins!" Louisa's skull whispered. Her bony fingers<br />reached out toward us.<br />"Join usssss!" Sam hissed. His fleshless jaw slid up and down. "We dug<br />such nice graves for you. So close to ours."<br />"Play with me," Nat's skull pleaded. "Stay and play with me. I don't want<br />you to go. Ever!"<br />The three ghosts moved toward us, their skeleton hands outstretched,<br />reaching, reaching for Terri and me.<br />I gasped and stumbled back.<br />I saw a frightened Harrison stagger back, too.<br />And then the torch blew out.<br />27<br />The torchlight flickered and died.<br />The heavy darkness made me gasp.<br />I could feel bodies moving, scraping over the wet stone cave floor.<br />I could hear the whispered pleas of the three ghosts.<br />Closer. Closer.<br />And then a cold hand gripped mine.<br />I screamed before I heard her whispered voice: "Jerry — run!"<br />Terri!<br />Before I could catch my breath, my sister was pulling me through the<br />darkness.<br />Into the rain. Onto the slippery rock ledge.<br />"Run! Run!" Terri cried, her eyes wild, her cold hand still gripping<br />mine.<br />"Run! Run!"<br />The word became a desperate chant.<br />"Run! Run!"<br />But as we struggled to lower ourselves down the rocks, the roar of<br />thunder drowned out Terri's shouts.<br />The ground shook.<br />My legs nearly slid out from under me.<br />I cried out when I realized the roar in my ears wasn't thunder.<br />Half-blinded by the rain, Terri and I spun around in time to see the<br />rocks topple from the top of the cave.<br />The rain and wind must have loosened them. And now the big boulders<br />rumbled down, cracking, knocking against each other, bumping, and<br />rolling.<br />Rock after rock, thudding onto the stone ledge.<br />Until the dark cave mouth was completely covered.<br />Shielding my eyes from the rain with both hands, I peered up at the cave,<br />and waited.<br />Waited to see if anyone would come out.<br />But no one did.<br />No ghostly kids.<br />No old man.<br />Harrison Sadler had given his life to capture the ghosts.<br />The cave glimmered white in a flash of lightning.<br />Now it was my turn to pull Terri away. "Let's go," I pleaded.<br />But she didn't budge. She stood staring through the rain at the closed-up<br />cave.<br />"Terri — please. Let's go. It's over," I said, tugging her away. "The<br />mystery is solved. The terror — it's all over."<br />28<br />A few minutes later, Agatha threw open the front door of the cottage and<br />rushed out to greet us. "Where were you? Brad and I were worried sick!"<br />She ushered us in, fussing over us, shaking her head, talking excitedly,<br />glad we were back safe and sound.<br />Terri and I got dried off and into clean clothes.<br />The rain had stopped by the time we joined Brad and Agatha in the kitchen<br />for steaming mugs of hot cider. Outside the kitchen window, the wind<br />still blew the trees, sending water cascading down from the leaves.<br />"Now tell us what happened to you," Brad said. "Agatha and I really were<br />terribly upset that you were out in this storm."<br />"It's kind of a long story," I told them, warming my hands on the hot<br />cider mug. "I don't know where to start."<br />"Start at the beginning," Brad said quietly. "That's usually the best<br />place."<br />Terri and I did our best to tell them the whole story of the three<br />ghostly kids, the old man, and the frightening cave. As we talked, I<br />could see their expressions changing.<br />I could see how worried they were for Terri and me. And I could see how<br />unhappy they were that we had ignored their wishes and ventured into the<br />cave.<br />When I finished the story, the room grew quiet. Brad stared out the<br />window at the dripping rainwater on the glass. Agatha cleared her throat,<br />but didn't speak.<br />"We're really sorry," Terri said, breaking the silence. "I hope you're<br />not angry at us."<br />"The important thing is that you're both safe and sound," Agatha replied.<br />She stood up, stepped over to Terri, and gave her a warm hug.<br />Agatha started toward me, her arms outstretched — when a sound outside<br />made her stop.<br />Barking. Loud dog barking.<br />Terri lunged for the back door and pulled it open. "Jerry — look!" she<br />cried. "It's Harrison Sadler's dog. He got out of the cave. He must have<br />followed us here."<br />I moved to the open doorway. The dog had been drenched in the rain. Its<br />wet gray fur was matted to its back.<br />Terri and I reached out to pet the dog.<br />But to our surprise, it reared back and growled.<br />"Easy, boy," I said. "You must be really frightened, huh?"<br />The dog snarled at me and started to bark.<br />Terri bent down and tried to soothe the animal. But it backed away from<br />her, barking ferociously.<br />"Whoa!" I cried. "I'm your friend — remember? I'm no ghost!"<br />Terri turned to me, her expression puzzled. "You're right. We're not<br />ghosts. Why is it carrying on like that?"<br />I shrugged. "Whoa. Easy, boy. Easy."<br />The dog ignored my pleas, barking and howling.<br />I turned back to see Brad and Agatha huddled against the kitchen wall,<br />their faces tight with fear.<br />"That's only Brad and Agatha," I told the dog. "They're nice people. They<br />won't hurt you."<br />And then I swallowed hard. My heart began to throb.<br />I realized why the dog was barking like that. He was barking at Brad and<br />Agatha.<br />Agatha stepped into the doorway, shaking her finger at the snarling<br />animal. "Bad dog!" she cried. "Bad dog! Now you've given away our secret,<br />too!"<br />Terri gasped. She realized what Agatha was saying.<br />Agatha slammed the kitchen door hard and turned back to Brad. "What a<br />pity that dog had to show up," she said, shaking her head fretfully. "Now<br />what do we do with these two kids, Brad? What do we do with the kids?"Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-42951655375429511952010-10-20T10:02:00.000-07:002010-10-20T10:16:39.287-07:00Sorria e morra ( ingles )<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz6iGND1FLnzH9MaCaRkBi09TWqBCwfIiVGGL1yzTkw7oHxAxaTAWEbH4ks9vVLcJJXU8NnNjan016Qhgu_llp5MPIwZSQ35PFvIxFXuHMW7u6w4XmOUVdEbO9NMBWyidJsrVD1XFbpaZG/s1600/Say_cheese_and_Die_Again_(Goosebumps)___by__R__L_Stine.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 185px; height: 269px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz6iGND1FLnzH9MaCaRkBi09TWqBCwfIiVGGL1yzTkw7oHxAxaTAWEbH4ks9vVLcJJXU8NnNjan016Qhgu_llp5MPIwZSQ35PFvIxFXuHMW7u6w4XmOUVdEbO9NMBWyidJsrVD1XFbpaZG/s320/Say_cheese_and_Die_Again_(Goosebumps)___by__R__L_Stine.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530178319000566146" /></a><br />1<br />"There's nothing to do in Pitts Landing," Michael Warner said, his hands<br />shoved into the pockets of his faded denim cutoffs.<br />"Yeah. Pitts Landing is the pits," Greg Banks said.<br />Doug Arthur and Shari Walker muttered their agreement.<br />Pitts Landing is the Pits. That was the town slogan, according to Greg<br />and his three friends. Actually, Pitts Landing wasn't much different from<br />a lot of small towns with quiet streets of shady lawns and comfortable,<br />old houses.<br />But here it was, a balmy fall afternoon, and the four friends were<br />hanging around Greg's driveway, kicking at the gravel, wondering what to<br />do for fun and excitement.<br />"Let's go to Grover's and see if the new comic books have come in," Doug<br />suggested.<br />"We don't have any money, Bird," Greg told him.<br />Everyone called Doug "Bird" because he looked a lot like a bird. A better<br />nickname might have been "Stork." He had long, skinny legs and took long,<br />storklike steps. Under his thick tuft of brown hair, which he seldom<br />brushed, he had small, birdlike brown eyes and a long nose that curved<br />like a beak. Doug didn't really like being called Bird, but he was used<br />to it.<br />"We can still look at the comics," Bird insisted.<br />"Until Grover starts yelling at you," Shari said. She puffed out her<br />cheeks and did a pretty good imitation of the gruff store owner: "Are you<br />paying or staying?"<br />"He thinks he's cool," Greg said, laughing at her imitation. "He's such a<br />jerk."<br />"I think the new X-Force is coming in this week," Bird said.<br />"You should join the X-Force," Greg said, giving his pal a playful shove.<br />"You could be Bird Man. You'd be great!"<br />"We should all join the X-Force," Michael said. "If we were super-heroes,<br />maybe we'd have something to do."<br />"No, we wouldn't," Shari quickly replied. "There's no crime to fight in<br />Pitts Landing."<br />"We could fight crabgrass," Bird suggested. He was the joker in the<br />group.<br />The others laughed. The four of them had been friends for a long time.<br />Greg and Shari lived next door to each other, and their parents were best<br />friends. Bird and Michael lived on the next block.<br />"How about a baseball game?" Michael suggested. "We could go down to the<br />playground."<br />"No way," Shari said. "You can't play with only four people." She pushed<br />back a strand of her crimped, black hair that had fallen over her face.<br />Shari was wearing an oversized yellow sweatshirt over bright green<br />leggings.<br />"Maybe we'll find some other kids there," Michael said, picking up a<br />handful of gravel from the drive and letting it sift through his chubby<br />fingers. Michael had short red hair, blue eyes, and a face full of<br />freckles. He wasn't exactly fat, but no one would ever call him skinny.<br />"Come on, let's play baseball," Bird urged. "I need the practice. My<br />Little League starts in a couple of days."<br />"Little League? In the fall?" Shari asked.<br />"It's a new fall league. The first game is Tuesday after school," Bird<br />explained.<br />"Hey — we'll come watch you," Greg said.<br />"We'll come watch you strike out," Shari added. Her hobby was teasing<br />Bird.<br />"What position are you playing?" Greg asked.<br />"Backstop," Michael cracked.<br />No one laughed. Michael's jokes always fell flat.<br />Bird shrugged. "Probably the outfield. How come you're not playing,<br />Greg?"<br />With his big shoulders and muscular arms and legs, Greg was the natural<br />athlete of the group. He was blond and good-looking, with flashing graygreen<br />eyes and a wide, friendly smile.<br />"My brother Terry was supposed to go sign me up, but he forgot," Greg<br />said, making a disgusted face.<br />"Where is Terry?" Shari asked. She had a tiny crush on Greg's older<br />brother.<br />"He got a job Saturdays and after school. At the Dairy Freeze," Greg told<br />her.<br />"Let's go to the Dairy Freeze!" Michael exclaimed enthusiastically.<br />"We don't have any money — remember?" Bird said glumly.<br />"Terry'll give us free cones," Michael said, turning a hopeful gaze on<br />Greg.<br />"Yeah. Free cones. But no ice cream in them," Greg told him. "You know<br />what a straight-arrow my brother is."<br />"This is boring," Shari complained, watching a robin hop across the<br />sidewalk. "It's boring standing around talking about how bored we are."<br />"We could sit down and talk about how bored we are," Bird suggested,<br />twisting his mouth into the goofy half-smile he always wore when he was<br />making a dumb joke.<br />"Let's take a walk or a jog or something," Shari insisted. She made her<br />way across the lawn and began walking, balancing her white high-tops on<br />the edge of the curb, waving her arms like a high-wire performer.<br />The boys followed, imitating her in an impromptu game of Follow the<br />Leader, all of them balancing on the curb edge as they walked.<br />A curious cocker spaniel came bursting out of the neighbors' hedge,<br />yapping excitedly. Shari stopped to pet him. The dog, its stub of a tail<br />wagging furiously, licked her hand a few times. Then the dog lost<br />interest and disappeared back into the hedge.<br />The four friends continued down the block, playfully trying to knock each<br />other off the curb as they walked. They crossed the street and continued<br />on past the school. A couple of guys were shooting baskets, and some<br />little kids played kickball on the practice baseball diamond, but no one<br />they knew.<br />The road curved away from the school. They followed it past familiar<br />houses. Then, just beyond a small wooded area, they stopped and looked up<br />a sloping lawn, the grass uncut for weeks, tall weeds poking out<br />everywhere, the shrubs ragged and overgrown.<br />At the top of the lawn, nearly hidden in the shadows of enormous, old oak<br />trees, sprawled a large, ramshackle house. The house, anyone could see,<br />had once been grand. It was gray shingle, three stories tall, with a<br />wraparound screened porch, a sloping red roof, and tall chimneys on<br />either end. But the broken windows on the second floor, the cracked,<br />weather-stained shingles, the bare spots on the roof, and the shutters<br />hanging loosely beside the dust-smeared windows were evidence of the<br />house's neglect.<br />Everyone in Pitts Landing knew it as the Coffman house. Coffman was the<br />name painted on the mailbox that tilted on its broken pole over the front<br />walk.<br />But the house had been deserted for years — ever since Greg and his<br />friends could remember.<br />And people liked to tell weird stories about the house: ghost stories and<br />wild tales about murders and ghastly things that happened there. Most<br />likely, none of them were true.<br />"Hey — I know what we can do for excitement," Michael said, staring up at<br />the house bathed in shadows.<br />"Huh? What are you talking about?" Greg asked warily.<br />"Let's go into the Coffman house," Michael said, starting to make his way<br />across the weed-choked lawn.<br />"Whoa. Are you crazy?" Greg called, hurrying to catch up to him.<br />"Let's go in," Michael said, his blue eyes catching the light of the late<br />afternoon sun filtering down through the tall oak trees. "We wanted an<br />adventure. Something a little exciting, right? Come on — let's check it<br />out."<br />Greg hesitated and stared up at the house. A cold chill ran down his<br />back.<br />Before he could reply, a dark form leapt up from the shadows of the tall<br />weeds and attacked him!<br />2<br />Greg toppled backwards onto the ground. "Aah!" he screamed. Then he<br />realized the others were laughing.<br />"It's that dumb cocker spaniel!" Shari cried. "He followed us!"<br />"Go home, dog. Go home!" Bird shooed the dog away.<br />The dog trotted to the curb, turned around, and stared back at them, its<br />stubby tail wagging furiously.<br />Feeling embarrassed that he'd become so frightened, Greg slowly pulled<br />himself to his feet, expecting his friends to give him grief. But they<br />were staring up at the Coffman house thoughtfully.<br />"Yeah, Michael's right," Bird said, slapping Michael hard on the back, so<br />hard Michael winced and turned to slug Bird. "Let's see what it's like in<br />there."<br />"No way," Greg said, hanging back. "I mean, the place is kind of creepy,<br />don't you think?"<br />"So?" Shari challenged him, joining Michael and Bird, who repeated her<br />question: "So?"<br />"So . . . I don't know," Greg replied. He didn't like being the sensible<br />one of the group. Everyone always made fun of the sensible one. He'd<br />rather be the wild and crazy one. But, somehow, he always ended up<br />sensible.<br />"I don't think we should go in there," he said, staring up at the<br />neglected old house.<br />"Are you chicken?" Bird asked.<br />"Chicken!" Michael joined in.<br />Bird began to cluck loudly, tucking his hands into his armpits and<br />flapping his arms. With his beady eyes and beaky nose, he looked just<br />like a chicken.<br />Greg didn't want to laugh, but he couldn't help it.<br />Bird always made him laugh.<br />The clucking and flapping seemed to end the discussion. They were<br />standing at the foot of the broken concrete steps that led up to the<br />screened porch.<br />"Look. The window next to the front door is broken," Shari said. "We can<br />just reach in and open the door."<br />"This is cool," Michael said enthusiastically.<br />"Are we really doing this?" Greg, being the sensible one, had to ask. "I<br />mean — what about Spidey?"<br />Spidey was a weird-looking man of fifty or sixty they'd all seen lurking<br />about town. He dressed entirely in black and crept along on long, slender<br />legs. He looked just like a black spider, so the kids all called him<br />Spidey.<br />Most likely he was a homeless guy. No one really knew anything about him<br />— where he'd come from, where he lived. But a lot of kids had seen him<br />hanging around the Coffman house.<br />"Maybe Spidey doesn't like visitors," Greg warned.<br />But Shari was already reaching in through the broken windowpane to unlock<br />the front door. And after little effort, she turned the brass knob and<br />the heavy wooden door swung open.<br />One by one, they stepped into the front entryway, Greg reluctantly<br />bringing up the rear. It was dark inside the house. Only narrow beams of<br />sunlight managed to trickle down through the heavy trees in front,<br />creating pale circles of light on the worn brown carpet at their feet.<br />The floorboards squeaked as Greg and his friends made their way past the<br />living room, which was bare except for a couple of overturned grocery<br />store cartons against one wall.<br />Spidey's furniture? Greg wondered.<br />The living room carpet, as threadbare as the one in the entry way, had a<br />dark oval stain in the center of it. Greg and Bird, stopping in the<br />doorway, both noticed it at the same time.<br />"Think it's blood?" Bird asked, his tiny eyes lighting up with<br />excitement.<br />Greg felt a chill on the back of his neck. "Probably ketchup," he<br />replied. Bird laughed and slapped him hard on the back.<br />Shari and Michael were exploring the kitchen. They were staring at the<br />dust-covered kitchen counter as Greg stepped up behind them. He saw<br />immediately what had captured their attention. Two fat, gray mice were<br />standing on the countertop, staring back at them.<br />"They're cute," Shari said. "They look just like cartoon mice,"<br />The sound of her voice made the two rodents scamper along the counter,<br />around the sink, and out of sight.<br />"They're gross," Michael said, making a disgusted face. "I think they<br />were rats — not mice."<br />"Rats have long tails. Mice don't," Greg told him.<br />"They were definitely rats," Bird muttered, pushing past them and into<br />the hallway. He disappeared toward the front of the house.<br />Shari reached up and pulled open a cabinet over the counter. Empty. "I<br />guess Spidey never uses the kitchen," she said.<br />"Well, I didn't think he was a gourmet chef," Greg joked.<br />He followed her into the long, narrow dining room, as bare and dusty as<br />the other rooms. A low chandelier still hung from the ceiling, so brown<br />with caked dust, it was impossible to tell that it was glass.<br />"Looks like a haunted house," Greg said softly.<br />"Boo," Shari replied.<br />"There's not much to see in here," Greg complained, following her back to<br />the dark hallway. "Unless you get a thrill from dustballs."<br />Suddenly, a loud crack made him jump.<br />Shari laughed and squeezed his shoulder.<br />"What was that!" he cried, unable to stifle his fear.<br />"Old houses do things like that," she said. "They make noises for no<br />reason at all."<br />"I think we should leave," Greg insisted, embarrassed again that he'd<br />acted so frightened. "I mean, it's boring in here."<br />"It's kind of exciting being somewhere we're not supposed to be," Shari<br />said, peeking into a dark, empty room — probably a den or study at one<br />time.<br />"I guess," Greg replied uncertainly.<br />They bumped into Michael. "Where's Bird?" Greg asked.<br />"I think he went down in the basement," Michael replied.<br />"Huh? The basement?"<br />Michael pointed to an open door at the right of the hallway. "The stairs<br />are there."<br />The three of them made their way to the top of the stairs. They peered<br />down into the darkness. "Bird?"<br />From somewhere deep in the basement, his voice floated up to them in a<br />horrified scream: "Help! It's got me! Somebody — please help! It's got<br />me!"<br />3<br />"It's got me! It's got me!"<br />At the sound of Bird's terrified cries, Greg pushed past Shari and<br />Michael, who stood frozen in open-mouthed horror. Practically flying down<br />the steep stairway, Greg called out to his friend. "I'm coming, Bird!<br />What is it!"<br />His heart pounding, Greg stopped at the bottom of the stairs, every<br />muscle tight with fear. His eyes searched frantically through the smoky<br />light pouring in from the basement windows up near the ceiling.<br />"Bird?"<br />There he was, sitting comfortably, calmly, on an overturned metal trash<br />can, his legs crossed, a broad smile on his birdlike face. "Gotcha," he<br />said softly, and burst out laughing.<br />"What is it? What happened!" came the frightened voices of Shari and<br />Michael. They clamored down the stairs, coming to a stop beside Greg.<br />It took them only a few seconds to scope out the situation.<br />"Another dumb joke?" Michael asked, his voice still trembling with fear.<br />"Bird — you were goofing on us again?" Shari asked, shaking her head.<br />Enjoying his moment, Bird nodded, with his peculiar half-grin. "You guys<br />are too easy," he scoffed.<br />"But, Doug — " Shari started. She only called him Doug when she was upset<br />with him. "Haven't you ever heard of the boy who cried wolf? What if<br />something bad happens sometime, and you really need help, and we think<br />you're just goofing?"<br />"What could happen?" Bird replied smugly. He stood up and gestured around<br />the basement. "Look — it's brighter down here than upstairs."<br />He was right. Sunlight from the back yard cascaded down through four long<br />windows at ground level, near the ceiling of the basement.<br />"I still think we should get out of here," Greg insisted, his eyes moving<br />quickly around the large, cluttered room.<br />Behind Bird's overturned trash can stood an improvised table made out of<br />a sheet of plywood resting on four paint cans. A nearly flat mattress,<br />dirty and stained, rested against the wall, a faded wool blanket folded<br />at the foot.<br />"Spidey must live down here!" Michael exclaimed.<br />Bird kicked his way through a pile of empty food boxes that had been<br />tossed all over the floor — TV dinners, mostly. "Hey, a Hungry Man<br />dinner!" he exclaimed. "Where does Spidey heat these up?"<br />"Maybe he eats them frozen," Shari suggested. "You know. Like Popsicles."<br />She made her way toward a towering oak wardrobe and pulled open the<br />doors. "Wow! This is excellent" she declared. "Look!" She pulled out a<br />ratty-looking fur coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Excellent!"<br />she repeated, twirling in the old coat.<br />From across the room, Greg could see that the wardrobe was stuffed with<br />old clothing. Michael and Bird hurried to join Shari and began pulling<br />out strange-looking pairs of bell-bottom pants, yellowed dress shirts<br />with pleats down the front, tie-dyed neckties that were about a foot<br />wide, and bright-colored scarves and bandannas.<br />"Hey, guys — " Greg warned. "Don't you think maybe those belong to<br />somebody?"<br />Bird spun around, a fuzzy red boa wrapped around his neck and shoulders.<br />"Yeah. These are Spidey's dress-up clothes," he cracked.<br />"Check out this baad hat," Shari said, turning around to show off the<br />bright purple, wide-brimmed hat she had pulled on.<br />"Neat," Michael said, examining a long blue cape. "This stuff must be at<br />least twenty-five years old. It's awesome. How could someone just leave<br />it here?"<br />"Maybe they're coming back for it," Greg suggested.<br />As his friends explored the contents of the wardrobe, Greg wandered to<br />the other end of the large basement. A furnace occupied the far wall, its<br />ducts covered in thick cobwebs. Partially hidden by the furnace ducts,<br />Greg could see stairs, probably leading to an outside exit.<br />Wooden shelves lined the adjoining wall, cluttered with old paint cans,<br />rags, newspapers, and rusty tools.<br />Whoever lived here must have been a real handyman, Greg thought,<br />examining a wooden worktable in front of the shelves. A metal vise was<br />clamped to the edge of the worktable. Greg turned the handle, expecting<br />the jaws of the vise to open.<br />But to his surprise, as he turned the vise handle, a door just above the<br />worktable popped open. Greg pulled the door all the way open, revealing a<br />hidden cabinet shelf.<br />Resting on the shelf was a camera.<br />4<br />For a long moment, Greg just stared at the camera.<br />Something told him the camera was hidden away for a reason.<br />Something told him he shouldn't touch it. He should close the secret door<br />and walk away.<br />But he couldn't resist it.<br />He reached onto the hidden shelf and took the camera in his hands.<br />It pulled out easily. Then, to Greg's surprise, the door instantly<br />snapped shut with a loud bang.<br />Weird, he thought, turning the camera in his hands.<br />What a strange place to leave a camera. Why would someone put it here? If<br />it were valuable enough to hide in a secret cabinet, why didn't they take<br />it with them?<br />Greg eagerly examined the camera. It was large and surprisingly heavy,<br />with a long lens. Perhaps a telephoto lens, he thought.<br />Greg was very interested in cameras. He had an inexpensive automatic<br />camera, which took okay snapshots. But he was saving his allowance in<br />hopes of buying a really good camera with a lot of lenses.<br />He loved looking at camera magazines, studying the different models,<br />picking out the ones he wanted to buy.<br />Sometimes he daydreamed about traveling around the world, going to<br />amazing places, mountaintops and hidden jungle rivers. He'd take photos<br />of everything he saw and become a famous photographer.<br />His camera at home was just too crummy. That's why all his pictures came<br />out too dark or too light, and everyone in them had glowing red dots in<br />their eyes.<br />Greg wondered if this camera was any good.<br />Raising the viewfinder to his eye, he sighted around the room. He came to<br />a stop on Michael, who was wearing two bright yellow feather boas and a<br />white Stetson hat and had climbed to the top of the steps to pose.<br />"Wait! Hold it!" Greg cried, moving closer, raising the camera to his<br />eye. "Let me take your picture, Michael."<br />"Where'd you find that?" Bird asked.<br />"Does that thing have film in it?" Michael demanded.<br />"I don't know," Greg said. "Let's see."<br />Leaning against the railing, Michael struck what he considered a<br />sophisticated pose.<br />Greg pointed the camera up and focused carefully. It took a short while<br />for his finger to locate the shutter button. "Okay, ready? Say cheese."<br />"Cheddar," Michael said, grinning down at Greg as he held his pose<br />against the railing.<br />"Very funny. Michael's a riot," Bird said sarcastically.<br />Greg centered Michael in the viewfinder frame, then pressed the shutter<br />button.<br />The camera clicked and flashed.<br />Then it made an electronic whirring sound. A slot pulled open on the<br />bottom, and a cardboard square slid out.<br />"Hey — it's one of those automatic-developing cameras," Greg exclaimed.<br />He pulled the square of cardboard out and examined it. "Look — the<br />picture is starting to develop."<br />"Let me see," Michael called down, leaning on the railing.<br />But before he could start down the stairs, everyone heard a loud<br />crunching sound.<br />They all looked up to the source of the sound — and saw the railing break<br />away and Michael go sailing over the edge.<br />"Noooooo!" Michael screamed as he toppled to the floor, arms<br />outstretched, the feather boas flying behind him like animal tails.<br />He turned in the air, then hit the concrete hard on his back, his eyes<br />frozen wide in astonishment and fright.<br />He bounced once.<br />Then cried out again: "My ankle! Owwww! My ankle!" He grabbed at the<br />injured ankle, then quickly let go with a loud gasp. It hurt too much to<br />touch it.<br />"Ohhh — my ankle!"<br />Still holding the camera and the photo, Greg rushed to Michael. Shari and<br />Bird did the same.<br />"We'll go get help," Shari told Michael, who was still on his back,<br />groaning in pain.<br />But then they heard the ceiling creak.<br />Footsteps. Above them.<br />Someone was in the house.<br />Someone was approaching the basement stairs.<br />They were going to be caught.<br />5<br />The footsteps overhead grew louder.<br />The four friends exchanged frightened glances. "We've got to get out of<br />here," Shari whispered.<br />The ceiling creaked.<br />"You can't leave me here!" Michael protested. He pulled himself to a<br />sitting position.<br />"Quick — stand up," Bird instructed.<br />Michael struggled to his feet. "I can't stand on this foot." His face<br />revealed his panic.<br />"We'll help you," Shari said, turning her eyes to Bird. "I'll take one<br />arm. You take the other."<br />Bird obediently moved forward and pulled Michael's arm around his<br />shoulder.<br />"Okay, let's move!" Shari whispered, supporting Michael from the other<br />side.<br />"But how do we get out?" Bird asked breathlessly.<br />The footsteps grew louder. The ceiling creaked under their weight.<br />"We can't go up the stairs," Michael whispered, leaning on Shari and<br />Bird.<br />"There's another stairway behind the furnace," Greg told them, pointing.<br />"It leads out?" Michael asked, wincing from his ankle pain.<br />"Probably."<br />Greg led the way. "Just pray the door isn't padlocked or something."<br />"We're praying. We're praying!" Bird declared.<br />"We're outta here!" Shari said, groaning under the weight of Michael's<br />arm.<br />Leaning heavily against Shari and Bird, Michael hobbled after Greg, and<br />they made their way to the stairs behind the furnace. The stairs, they<br />saw, led to wooden double doors up on ground level.<br />"I don't see a padlock," Greg said warily. "Please, doors — be open!"<br />"Hey — who's down there?" an angry man's voice called from behind them.<br />"It's — it's Spidey!" Michael stammered.<br />"Hurry!" Shari urged, giving Greg a frightened push. "Come on!"<br />Greg set the camera down on the top step. Then he reached up and grabbed<br />the handles of the double doors.<br />"Who's down there?"<br />Spidey sounded closer, angrier.<br />"The doors could be locked from the outside," Greg whispered, hesitating.<br />"Just push them, man!" Bird pleaded.<br />Greg took a deep breath and pushed with all his strength.<br />The doors didn't budge.<br />"We're trapped," he told them.<br />6<br />"Now what?" Michael whined.<br />"Try again," Bird urged Greg. "Maybe they're just stuck." He slid out<br />from under Michael's arm. "Here. I'll help you."<br />Greg moved over to give Bird room to step up beside him. "Ready?" he<br />asked. "One, two, three — push!"<br />Both boys pushed against the heavy wooden doors with all their might.<br />And the doors swung open.<br />"Okay! Now we're outta here!" Shari declared happily.<br />Picking up the camera, Greg led the way out. The back yard, he saw, was<br />as weed-choked and overgrown as the front. An enormous limb had fallen<br />off an old oak tree, probably during a storm, and was lying half in the<br />tree, half on the ground.<br />Somehow, Bird and Shari managed to drag Michael up the steps and onto the<br />grass. "Can you walk? Try it," Bird said.<br />Still leaning against the two of them, Michael reluctantly pushed his<br />foot down on the ground. He lifted it. Then pushed it again. "Hey, it<br />feels a little better," he said, surprised.<br />"Then let's go," Bird said.<br />They ran to the overgrown hedge that edged along the side of the yard,<br />Michael on his own now, stepping gingerly on the bad ankle, doing his<br />best to keep up. Then, staying in the shadow of the hedge, they made<br />their way around the house to the front.<br />"All right!" Bird cried happily as they reached the street. "We made it!"<br />Gasping for breath, Greg stopped at the curb and turned back toward the<br />house. "Look!" he cried, pointing up to the living room window.<br />A dark figure stood in the window, hands pressed against the glass.<br />"It's Spidey," Shari said.<br />"He's just — staring at us," Michael cried.<br />"Weird," Greg said. "Let's go."<br />They didn't stop till they got to Michael's house, a sprawling redwood<br />ranch-style house behind a shady front lawn.<br />"How's the ankle?" Greg asked.<br />"It's loosened up a lot. It doesn't even hurt that much," Michael said.<br />"Man, you could've been killed!" Bird declared, wiping sweat off his<br />forehead with the sleeve of his T-shirt.<br />"Thanks for reminding me," Michael said dryly.<br />"Lucky thing you've got all that extra padding," Bird teased.<br />"Shut up," Michael muttered.<br />"Well, you guys wanted adventure," Shari said, leaning back against the<br />trunk of a tree.<br />"That guy Spidey is definitely weird," Bird said, shaking his head.<br />"You see the way he was staring at us?" Michael asked. "All dressed in<br />black and everything? He looked like some kind of zombie or something."<br />"He saw us," Greg said softly, suddenly feeling a chill of dread. "He saw<br />us very clearly. We'd better stay away from there."<br />"What for?" Michael demanded. "It isn't his house. He's just sleeping<br />there. We could call the police on him."<br />"But if he's really crazy or something, there's no telling what he might<br />do," Greg replied thoughtfully.<br />"Aw, he's not going to do anything," Shari said quietly. "Spidey doesn't<br />want trouble. He just wants to be left alone."<br />"Yeah," Michael agreed quickly. "He didn't want us messing with his<br />stuff. That's why he yelled like that and came after us."<br />Michael was leaning over, rubbing his ankle. "Hey, where's my picture?"<br />he demanded, straightening up and turning to Greg.<br />"Huh?"<br />"You know. The picture you snapped. With the camera."<br />"Oh. Right." Greg suddenly realized he still had the camera gripped<br />tightly in his hand. He set it down carefully on the grass and reached<br />into his back pocket. "I put it in here when we started to run," he<br />explained.<br />"Well? Did it come out?" Michael demanded.<br />The three of them huddled around Greg to get a view of the snapshot.<br />"Whoa — hold on a minute!" Greg cried, staring hard at the small, square<br />photo. "Something's wrong. What's going on here?"<br />7<br />The four Mends gaped at the photograph in Greg's hand, their mouths<br />dropping open in surprise.<br />The camera had caught Michael in midair as he fell through the broken<br />railing to the floor.<br />"That's impossible!" Shari cried.<br />"You snapped the picture before I fell!" Michael declared, grabbing the<br />photo out of Greg's hand so that he could study it close up. "I remember<br />it."<br />"You remembered wrong," Bird said, moving to get another look at it over<br />Michael's shoulder. "You were falling, man. What a great action shot." He<br />picked up the camera. "This is a good camera you stole, Greg."<br />"I didn't steal it" — Greg started — "I mean, I didn't realize — "<br />"I wasn't falling!" Michael insisted, tilting the picture in his hand,<br />studying it from every angle. "I was posing, remember? I had a big, goofy<br />smile on my face, and I was posing."<br />"I remember the goofy smile," Bird said, handing the camera back to Greg.<br />"Do you have any other expression?"<br />"You're not funny, Bird," Michael muttered. He pocketed the picture.<br />"Weird," Greg said. He glanced at his watch. "Hey — I've got to get<br />going."<br />He said good-bye to the others and headed for home. The afternoon sun was<br />lowering behind a cluster of palm trees, casting long, shifting shadows<br />over the sidewalk.<br />He had promised his mother he'd straighten up his room and help with the<br />vacuuming before dinner. And now he was late.<br />What was that strange car in the drive? he wondered, jogging across the<br />neighbor's lawn toward his house.<br />It was a navy-blue Taurus station wagon. Brand new.<br />Dad picked up our new car! he realized.<br />Wow! Greg stopped to admire it. It still had the sticker glued to the<br />door window. He pulled open the driver's door, leaned in, and smelled the<br />vinyl upholstery.<br />Mmmmmm. That new-car smell.<br />He inhaled deeply again. It smelled so good. So fresh and new.<br />He closed the door hard, appreciating the solid clunk it made as it<br />closed.<br />What a great new car, he thought excitedly.<br />He raised the camera to his eye and took a few steps back off the drive.<br />I've got to take a picture of this, he thought. To remember what the car<br />was like when it was totally new.<br />He backed up until he had framed the entire profile of the station wagon<br />in the viewfinder. Then he pressed the shutter button.<br />As before, the camera clicked loudly, the flash flashed, and with an<br />electronic whirr, a square undeveloped photo of gray and yellow slid out<br />of the bottom.<br />Carrying the camera and the snapshot, Greg ran into the house through the<br />front door. "I'm home!" he called. "Down in a minute!" And hurried up the<br />carpeted stairs to his room.<br />"Greg? Is that you? Your father is home," his mother called from<br />downstairs.<br />"I know. Be right down. Sorry I'm late!" Greg shouted back.<br />I'd better hide the camera, he decided. If Mom or Dad see it, they'll<br />want to know whose it is and where I got it. And I won't be able to<br />answer those questions.<br />"Greg — did you see the new car? Are you coming down?" his mother called<br />impatiently from the foot of the stairs.<br />"I'm coming!" he yelled.<br />His eyes searched frantically for a good hiding place.<br />Under his bed?<br />No. His mom might vacuum under there and discover it.<br />Then Greg remembered the secret compartment in his headboard. He had<br />discovered the compartment years ago when his parents had bought him a<br />new bedroom set. Quickly, he shoved the camera in.<br />Peering into the mirror above his dresser, he gave his blond hair a quick<br />brush, rubbed a black soot smudge off his cheek with one hand, then<br />started for the door.<br />He stopped at the doorway.<br />The snapshot of the car. Where had he put it?<br />It took a few seconds to remember that he had tossed it onto his bed.<br />Curious about how it came out, he turned back to retrieve it.<br />"Oh, no!"<br />He uttered a low cry as he gazed at the snapshot.<br />8<br />What's going on here? Greg wondered.<br />He brought the photo up close to his face.<br />This isn't right, he thought. How can this be!<br />The blue Taurus station wagon in the photo was a mess. It looked as if it<br />had been in a terrible accident. The windshield was shattered. Metal was<br />twisted and bent. The door on the driver's side was caved in.<br />The car appeared totaled!<br />"This is impossible!" Greg uttered aloud.<br />"Greg, where are you?" his mother called. "We're all hungry, and you're<br />keeping us waiting."<br />"Sorry," he answered, unable to take his eyes off the snapshot. "Coming."<br />He shoved the photo into his top dresser drawer and made his way<br />downstairs. The image of the totaled car burned in his mind.<br />Just to make sure, he crossed the living room and peeked out of the front<br />window to the driveway.<br />There stood the station wagon, sparkling in the glow of the setting sun.<br />Shiny and perfect.<br />He turned and walked into the dining room where his brother and his<br />parents were already seated. "The new wagon is awesome, Dad," Greg said,<br />trying to shake the snapshot's image from his thoughts.<br />But he kept seeing the twisted metal, the caved-in driver's door, the<br />shattered windshield.<br />"After dinner," Greg's dad announced happily, "I'm taking you all for a<br />drive in the new car!"<br />9<br />"Mmmm. This is great chicken, Mom," Greg's brother Terry said, chewing as<br />he talked.<br />"Thanks for the compliment," Mrs. Banks said dryly, "but it's veal — not<br />chicken."<br />Greg and his dad burst out laughing. Terry's face grew bright red.<br />"Well," he said, still chewing, "it's such excellent veal, it tastes as<br />good as chicken!"<br />"I don't know why I bother to cook," Mrs. Banks sighed.<br />Mr. Banks changed the subject. "How are things at the Dairy Freeze?" he<br />asked.<br />"We ran out of vanilla this afternoon," Terry said, forking a small<br />potato and shoving it whole into his mouth. He chewed it briefly, then<br />gulped it down. "People were annoyed about that."<br />"I don't think I can go for the ride," Greg said, staring down at his<br />dinner, which he'd hardly touched. "I mean — "<br />"Why not?" his father asked.<br />"Well . . ." Greg searched his mind for a good reason. He needed to make<br />one up, but his mind was a blank.<br />He couldn't tell them the truth.<br />That he had taken a snapshot of Michael, and it showed Michael falling.<br />Then a few seconds later, Michael had fallen.<br />And now he had taken a picture of the new car. And the car was wrecked in<br />the photo.<br />Greg didn't really know what it meant. But he was suddenly filled with<br />this powerful feeling, of dread, of fear, of . . . he didn't know what.<br />A kind of troubled feeling he'd never had before.<br />But he couldn't tell them any of that. It was too weird. Too crazy.<br />"I . . . made plans to go over to Michael's," he lied, staring down at<br />his plate.<br />"Well, call him and tell him you'll see him tomorrow," Mr. Banks said,<br />slicing his veal. "That's no problem."<br />"Well, I'm kind of not feeling very well, either," Greg said.<br />"What's wrong?" Mrs. Banks asked with instant concern. "Do you have a<br />temperature? I thought you looked a little flushed when you came in."<br />"No," Greg replied uncomfortably. "No temperature. I just feel kind of<br />tired, not very hungry."<br />"Can I have your chicken — I mean, veal?" Terry asked eagerly. He reached<br />his fork across the table and nabbed the cutlet off Greg's plate.<br />"Well, a nice ride might make you feel better," Greg's dad said, eyeing<br />Greg suspiciously. "You know, some fresh air. You can stretch out in the<br />back if you want."<br />"But, dad — " Greg stopped. He had used up all the excuses he could think<br />of. They would never believe him if he said he needed to stay home and do<br />homework on a Saturday night!<br />"You're coming with us, and that's final," Mr. Banks said, still studying<br />Greg closely. "You've been dying for this new wagon to arrive. I really<br />don't understand your problem."<br />Neither do I, Greg admitted to himself.<br />I don't understand it at all. Why am I so afraid of riding in the new<br />car? Just because there's something wrong with that stupid camera?<br />I'm being silly, Greg thought, trying to shake away the feeling of dread<br />that had taken away his appetite.<br />"Okay, Dad. Great," he said, forcing a smile. "I'll come."<br />"Are there any more potatoes?" Terry asked.<br />10<br />"It's so easy to drive," Mr. Banks said, accelerating onto the entry ramp<br />to the freeway. "It handles like a small car, not like a station wagon."<br />"Plenty of room back here, Dad," Terry said, scooting low in the back<br />seat beside Greg, raising his knees to the back of the front seat.<br />"Hey, look — there's a drink holder that pulls out from the dash!" Greg's<br />mother exclaimed. "That's neat."<br />"Awesome, Mom," Terry said sarcastically.<br />"Well, we never had a drink holder before," Mrs. Banks replied. She<br />turned back to the two boys. "Are your seat belts buckled? Do they work<br />properly?"<br />"Yeah. They're okay," Terry replied.<br />"They checked them at the showroom, before I took the car," Mr. Banks<br />said, signaling to move into the left lane.<br />A truck roared by, spitting a cloud of exhaust behind it. Greg stared out<br />the front window. His door window was still covered by the new car<br />sticker.<br />Mr. Banks pulled off the freeway, onto a nearly empty four-lane highway<br />that curved toward the west. The setting sun was a red ball low on the<br />horizon in a charcoal-gray sky.<br />"Put the pedal to the metal, Dad," Terry urged, sitting up and leaning<br />forward. "Let's see what this car can do."<br />Mr. Banks obediently pressed his foot on the accelerator. "The cruising<br />speed seems to be about sixty," he said.<br />"Slow down," Mrs. Banks scolded. "You know the speed limit is fiftyfive."<br />"I'm just testing it," Greg's dad said defensively. "You know. Making<br />sure the transmission doesn't slip or anything."<br />Greg stared at the glowing speedometer. They were doing seventy now.<br />"Slow down. I mean it," Mrs. Banks insisted. "You're acting like a crazy<br />teenager."<br />"That's me!" Mr. Banks replied, laughing. "This is awesome!" he said,<br />imitating Terry, ignoring his wife's pleas to slow down.<br />They roared past a couple of small cars in the right lane. Headlights of<br />cars moving towards them were a bright white blur in the darkening night.<br />"Hey, Greg, you've been awfully quiet," his mother said. "You feeling<br />okay?"<br />"Yeah. I'm okay," Greg said softly.<br />He wished his dad would slow down. He was doing seventy-five now.<br />"What do you think, Greg?" Mr. Banks asked, steering with his left hand<br />as his right hand searched the dashboard. "Where's the light switch? I<br />should turn on my headlights."<br />"The car's great," Greg replied, trying to sound enthusiastic. But he<br />couldn't shake away the fear, couldn't get the photo of the mangled car<br />out of his mind.<br />"Where's that stupid light switch? It's got to be here somewhere," Mr.<br />Banks said.<br />As he glanced down at the unfamiliar dashboard, the station wagon swerved<br />to the left.<br />"Dad — look out for that truck!" Greg screamed.<br />11<br />Horns blared.<br />A powerful blast of air swept over the station wagon, like a giant ocean<br />wave pushing it to the side.<br />Mr. Banks swerved the station wagon to the right.<br />The truck rumbled past.<br />"Sorry," Greg's dad said, eyes straight ahead, slowing the car to sixty,<br />fifty-five, fifty . . .<br />"I told you to slow down," Mrs. Banks scolded, shaking her head. "We<br />could've been killed!"<br />"I was trying to find the lights," he explained. "Oh. Here they are. On<br />the steering wheel." He clicked on the headlights.<br />"You boys okay?" Mrs. Banks asked, turning to check them out.<br />"Yeah. Fine," Terry said, sounding a little shaken. The truck would have<br />hit his side of the car.<br />"I'm okay," Greg said. "Can we go back now?"<br />"Don't you want to keep going?" Mr. Banks asked, unable to hide his<br />disappointment. "I thought we'd keep going to Santa Clara. Stop and get<br />some ice cream or something."<br />"Greg's right," Mrs. Banks said softly to her husband. "Enough for<br />tonight, dear. Let's turn around."<br />"The truck didn't come that close," Mr. Banks argued. But he obediently<br />turned off the highway and they headed for home.<br />Later, safe and sound up in his room, Greg took the photograph out of his<br />dresser and examined it. There was the new station wagon, the driver's<br />side caved in, the windshield shattered.<br />"Weird," he said aloud, and placed the photo in the secret compartment in<br />his headboard where he had stashed the camera. "Definitely weird."<br />He pulled the camera out of its hiding place and turned it around in his<br />hands.<br />I'll try it one more time, he decided.<br />He walked to his dresser and aimed at the mirror above it.<br />I'll take a picture of myself in the mirror, he thought.<br />He raised the camera, then changed his mind. That won't work, he<br />realized. The flash will reflect back and spoil the photo.<br />Gripping the camera in one hand, he made his way across the hall to<br />Terry's room. His brother was at his desk, typing away on his computer<br />keyboard, his face bathed in the blue light of the monitor screen.<br />"Terry, can I take your picture?" Greg asked meekly, holding up the<br />camera.<br />Terry typed some more, then looked up from the screen. "Hey — where'd you<br />get the camera?"<br />"Uh . . . Shari loaned it to me," Greg told him, thinking quickly. Greg<br />didn't like to lie. But he didn't feel like explaining to Terry how he<br />and his friends had sneaked into the Coffman house and he had made off<br />with the camera.<br />"So can I take your picture?" Greg asked.<br />"I'll probably break your camera," Terry joked.<br />"I think it's already broken," Greg told him. "That's why I want to test<br />it on you."<br />"Go ahead," Terry said. He stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes.<br />Greg snapped the shutter. An undeveloped photo slid out of the slot in<br />front.<br />"Thanks. See you." Greg headed to the door.<br />"Hey — don't I get to see it?" Terry called after him.<br />"If it comes out," Greg said, and hurried across the hall to his room.<br />He sat down on the edge of the bed. Holding the photo in his lap, he<br />stared at it intently as it developed. The yellows filled in first. Then<br />the reds appeared, followed by shades of blue.<br />"Whoa," Greg muttered as his brother's face came into view. "There's<br />something definitely wrong here."<br />In the photo, Terry's eyes weren't crossed, and his tongue wasn't<br />sticking out. His expression was grim, frightened. He looked very upset.<br />As the background came into focus, Greg had another surprise. Terry<br />wasn't in his room. He was outdoors. There were trees in the background.<br />And a house.<br />Greg stared at the house. It looked so familiar.<br />Was that the house across the street from the playground?<br />He took one more look at Terry's frightened expression. Then he tucked<br />the photo and the camera into his secret headboard compartment and<br />carefully closed it.<br />The camera must be broken, he decided, getting changed for bed.<br />It was the best explanation he could come up with.<br />Lying in bed, staring up at the shifting shadows on the ceiling, he<br />decided not to think about it anymore.<br />A broken camera wasn't worth worrying about.<br />Tuesday afternoon after school, Greg hurried to meet Shari at the<br />playground to watch Bird's Little League game.<br />It was a warm fall afternoon, the sun high in a cloudless sky. The<br />outfield grass had been freshly mowed and filled the air with its sharp,<br />sweet smell.<br />Greg crossed the grass and squinted into the bright sunlight, searching<br />for Shari. Both teams were warming up on the sides of the diamond,<br />yelling and laughing, the sound of balls popping into gloves competing<br />with their loud voices.<br />A few parents and several kids had come to watch. Some were standing<br />around, some sitting in the low bleachers along the first base line.<br />Greg spotted Shari behind the backstop and waved to her. "Did you bring<br />the camera?" she asked eagerly, running over to greet him.<br />He held it up.<br />"Excellent," she exclaimed, grinning. She reached for it.<br />"I think it's broken," Greg said, holding on to the camera. "The photos<br />just don't come out right. It's hard to explain."<br />"Maybe it's not the photos. Maybe it's the photographer," Shari teased.<br />"Maybe I'll take a photo of you getting a knuckle sandwich," Greg<br />threatened. He raised the camera to his eye and pointed it at her.<br />"Snap that, and I'll take a picture of you eating the camera," Shari<br />threatened playfully. She reached up quickly and pulled the camera from<br />his hand.<br />"What do you want it for, anyway?" Greg asked, making a halfhearted<br />attempt to grab it back.<br />Shari held it away from his outstretched hand. "I want to take Bird's<br />picture when he comes to bat. He looks just like an ostrich at the<br />plate."<br />"I heard that." Bird appeared beside them, pretending to be insulted.<br />He looked ridiculous in his starched white uniform. The shirt was too<br />big, and the pants were too short. The cap was the only thing that fit.<br />It was blue, with a silver dolphin over the bill and the words: PITTS<br />LANDING DOLPHINS.<br />"What kind of name is 'Dolphins' for a baseball team?" Greg asked,<br />grabbing the bill and turning the cap backwards on Bird's head.<br />"All the other caps were taken," Bird answered. "We had a choice between<br />the Zephyrs and the Dolphins. None of us knew what Zephyrs were, so we<br />picked Dolphins."<br />Shari eyed him up and down. "Maybe you guys should play in your street<br />clothes."<br />"Thanks for the encouragement," Bird replied. He spotted the camera and<br />took it from her. "Hey, you brought the camera. Does it have film?"<br />"Yeah. I think so," Greg told him. "Let me see." He reached for the<br />camera, but Bird swung it out of his grasp.<br />"Hey — are you going to share this thing, Greg?" he asked.<br />"Huh? What do you mean?" Greg reached again for the camera, and again<br />Bird swung it away from him.<br />"I mean, we all risked our lives down in that basement getting it,<br />right?" Bird said. "We should all share it."<br />"Well . . ." Greg hadn't thought about it. "I guess you're right, Bird.<br />But I'm the one who found it. So — "<br />Shari grabbed the camera out of Bird's hand. "I told Greg to bring it so<br />we could take your picture when you're up."<br />"As an example of good form?" Bird asked.<br />"As a bad example," Shari said.<br />"You guys are just jealous," Bird replied, frowning, "because I'm a<br />natural athlete, and you can't cross the street without falling on your<br />face." He turned the cap back around to face the front.<br />"Hey, Bird — get back here!" one of the coaches called from the playing<br />field.<br />"I've got to go," Bird said, giving them a quick wave and starting to<br />trot back to his teammates.<br />"No. Wait. Let me take a fast picture now," Greg said.<br />Bird stopped, turned around, and struck a pose.<br />"No. I'll take it," Shari insisted.<br />She started to raise the camera to her eye, pointing it toward Bird. And<br />as she raised it, Greg grabbed for it.<br />"Let me take it!"<br />And the camera went off. Clicked and then flashed.<br />An undeveloped photo slid out.<br />"Hey, why'd you do that?" Shari asked angrily.<br />"Sorry," Greg said. "I didn't mean to — "<br />She pulled the photo out and held it in her hand. Greg and Bird came<br />close to watch it develop.<br />"What the heck is that!" Bird cried, staring hard at the small square as<br />the colors brightened and took shape.<br />"Oh, wow!" Greg cried.<br />The photo showed Bird sprawled unconscious on his back on the ground, his<br />mouth twisted open, his neck bent at a frightening angle, his eyes shut<br />tight.<br />12<br />"Hey — what's with this stupid camera?" Bird asked, grabbing the snapshot<br />out of Snarl's hand. He tilted it from side to side, squinting at it.<br />"It's out of focus or something."<br />"Weird," Greg said, shaking his head.<br />"Hey, Bird — get over here!" the Dolphins' coach called.<br />"Coming!" Bird handed the picture back to Shari and jogged over to his<br />teammates.<br />Whistles blew. The two teams stopped their practicing and trotted to the<br />benches along the third base line.<br />"How did this happen!" Shari asked Greg, shielding her eyes from the sun<br />with one hand, holding the photo close to her face with the other. "It<br />really looks like Bird is lying on the ground, knocked out or something.<br />But he was standing right in front of us."<br />"I don't get it. I really don't," Greg replied thoughtfully. "The camera<br />keeps doing that."<br />Carrying the camera at his side, swinging it by its slender strap, he<br />followed her to a shady spot beside the bleachers.<br />"Look how his neck is bent," Shari continued. "It's so awful."<br />"There's something definitely wrong with the camera," Greg said. He<br />started to tell her about the snapshot he took of the new station wagon,<br />and the snapshot of his brother Terry. But she interrupted him before he<br />could get the words out.<br />" — And that picture of Michael. It showed him falling down the stairs<br />before he even fell. It's just so strange."<br />"I know," Greg agreed.<br />"Let me see that thing," Shari said and pulled the camera from his hand.<br />"Is there any film left?"<br />"I can't tell," Greg admitted. "I couldn't find a film counter or<br />anything."<br />Shari examined the camera closely, rolling it over in her hands. "It<br />doesn't say anywhere. How can you tell if it's loaded or not?"<br />Greg shrugged.<br />The baseball game got under way. The Dolphins were the visiting team. The<br />other team, the Cardinals, jogged out to take their positions on the<br />field.<br />A kid in the bleachers dropped his soda can. It hit the ground and<br />spilled, and the kid started to cry. An old station wagon filled with<br />teenagers cruised by, its radio blaring, its horn honking.<br />"Where do you put the film in?" Shari asked impatiently.<br />Greg stepped closer to help her examine it. "Here, I think," he said,<br />pointing. "Doesn't the back come off?"<br />Shari fiddled with it. "No, I don't think so. Most of these automaticdeveloping<br />cameras load in the front."<br />She pulled at the back, but the camera wouldn't open. She tried pulling<br />off the bottom. No better luck. Turning the camera, she tried pulling off<br />the lens. It wouldn't budge.<br />Greg took the camera from her. "There's no slot or opening in the front."<br />"Well, what kind of camera is it, anyway?" Shari demanded.<br />"Uh . . . let's see." Greg studied the front, examined the top of the<br />lens, then turned the camera over and studied the back.<br />He stared up at her with a surprised look on his face. "There's no brand<br />name. Nothing."<br />"How can a camera not have a name?" Shari shouted in exasperation. She<br />snatched the camera away from him and examined it closely, squinting her<br />eyes against the bright afternoon sunshine.<br />Finally, she handed the camera back to him, defeated. "You're right,<br />Greg. No name. No words of any kind. Nothing. What a stupid camera," she<br />added angrily.<br />"Whoa. Hold on," Greg told her. "It's not my camera, remember? I didn't<br />buy it. I took it from the Coffman house."<br />"Well, let's at least figure out how to open it up and look inside,"<br />Shari said.<br />The first Dolphin batter popped up to the second baseman. The second<br />batter struck out on three straight swings. The dozen or so spectators<br />shouted encouragement to their team.<br />The little kid who had dropped his soda continued to cry. Three kids rode<br />by on bikes, waving to friends on the teams, but not stopping to watch.<br />"I've tried and tried, but I can't figure out how to open it," Greg<br />admitted.<br />"Give me it," Shari said and grabbed the camera away from him. "There has<br />to be a button or something. There has to be some way of opening it. This<br />is ridiculous."<br />When she couldn't find a button or lever of any kind, she tried pulling<br />the back off once again, prying it with her fingernails. Then she tried<br />turning the lens, but it wouldn't turn.<br />"I'm not giving up," she said, gritting her teeth. "I'm not. This camera<br />has to open. It has to!"<br />"Give up. You're going to wreck it," Greg warned, reaching for it.<br />"Wreck it? How could I wreck it?" Shari demanded. "It has no moving<br />parts. Nothing!"<br />"This is impossible," Greg said.<br />Making a disgusted face, she handed the camera to him. "Okay, I give up.<br />Check it out yourself, Greg."<br />He took the camera, started to raise it to his face, then stopped.<br />Uttering a low cry of surprise, his mouth dropped open and his eyes gaped<br />straight ahead. Startled, Shari turned to follow his shocked gaze.<br />"Oh no!"<br />There on the ground a few yards outside the first base line, lay Bird. He<br />was sprawled on his back, his neck bent at an odd and unnatural angle,<br />his eyes shut tight.<br />13<br />"Bird!" Shari cried.<br />Greg's breath caught in his throat. He felt as if he were choking. "Oh!"<br />he finally managed to cry out in a shrill, raspy voice.<br />Bird didn't move.<br />Shari and Greg, running side by side at full speed, reached him together.<br />"Bird?" Shari knelt down beside him. "Bird?"<br />Bird opened one eye. "Gotcha," he said quietly. The weird half-smile<br />formed on his face, and he exploded in high-pitched laughter.<br />It took Shari and Greg a while to react. They both stood open-mouthed,<br />gaping at their laughing friend.<br />Then, his heart beginning to slow to normal, Greg reached down, grabbed<br />Bird with both hands, and pulled him roughly to his feet.<br />"I'll hold him while you hit him," Greg offered, holding Bird from<br />behind.<br />"Hey, wait — " Bird protested, struggling to squirm out of Greg's grasp.<br />"Good plan," Shari said, grinning.<br />"Ow! Hey — let go! Come on! Let go!" Bird protested, trying<br />unsuccessfully to wrestle free. "Come on! What's your problem? It was a<br />joke, guys."<br />"Very funny," Shari said, giving Bird a playful punch on the shoulder.<br />"You're a riot, Bird."<br />Bird finally freed himself with a hard tug and danced away from both of<br />them. "I just wanted to show you how bogus it is to get all worked up<br />about that dumb camera."<br />"But, Bird — " Greg started.<br />"It's just broken, that's all," Bird said, brushing blades of recently<br />cut grass off his uniform pants. "You think because it showed Michael<br />falling down those stairs, there's something strange with it. But that's<br />dumb. Real dumb."<br />"I know it," Greg replied sharply. "But how do you explain it?"<br />"I told you, man. It's wrecked. Broken. That's it."<br />"Bird — get over here!" a voice called, and Bird's fielder's glove came<br />flying at his head. He caught it, waved with a grin to Shari and Greg,<br />and jogged to the outfield along with the other members of the Dolphins.<br />Carrying the camera tightly in one hand, Greg led the way to the<br />bleachers. He and Shari sat down on the end of the bottom bench.<br />Some of the spectators had lost interest in the game already and had<br />left. A few kids had taken a baseball off the field and were having their<br />own game of catch behind the bleachers. Across the playground, four or<br />five kids were getting a game of kickball started.<br />"Bird is such a dork," Greg said, his eyes on the game.<br />"He scared me to death," Shari exclaimed. "I really thought he was hurt."<br />"What a clown," Greg muttered.<br />They watched the game in silence for a while. It wasn't terribly<br />interesting. The Dolphins were losing 12-3 going into the third inning.<br />None of the players were very good.<br />Greg laughed as a Cardinal batter, a kid from their class named Joe<br />Garden, slugged a ball that sailed out to the field and right over Bird's<br />head.<br />"That's the third ball that flew over his head!" Greg cried.<br />"Guess he lost it in the sun!" Shari exclaimed, joining in the laughter.<br />They both watched Bird's long legs storking after the ball. By the time<br />he managed to catch up with it and heave it towards the diamond, Joe<br />Garden had already rounded the bases and scored.<br />There were loud boos from the bleachers.<br />The next Cardinal batter stepped to the plate. A few more kids climbed<br />down from the bleachers, having seen enough.<br />"It's so hot here in the sun," Shari said, shielding her eyes with one<br />hand. "And I've got lots of homework. Want to leave?"<br />"I just want to see the next inning," Greg said, watching the batter<br />swing and miss. "Bird is coming up next inning. I want to stay and boo<br />him."<br />"What are friends for?" Shari said sarcastically.<br />It took a long while for the Dolphins to get the third out. The Cardinals<br />batted around their entire order.<br />Greg's T-shirt was drenched with sweat by the time Bird came to the plate<br />in the top of the fourth.<br />Despite the loud booing from Shari and Greg, Bird managed to punch the<br />ball past the shortstop for a single.<br />"Lucky hit!" Greg yelled, cupping his hands into a megaphone.<br />Bird pretended not to hear him. He tossed away his batter's helmet,<br />adjusted his cap, and took a short lead off first base.<br />The next batter swung at the first pitch and fouled it off.<br />"Let's go," Shari urged, pulling Greg's arm. "It's too hot. I'm dying of<br />thirst."<br />"Let's just see if Bird — "<br />Greg didn't finish his sentence.<br />The batter hit the next ball hard. It made a loud thunk as it left the<br />bat.<br />A dozen people — players and spectators — cried out as the ball flew<br />across the diamond, a sharp line drive, and slammed into the side of<br />Bird's head with another thunk.<br />Greg watched in horror as the ball bounced off Bird and dribbled away<br />onto the infield grass. Bird's eyes went wide with disbelief, confusion.<br />He stood frozen in place on the base path for a long moment.<br />Then both of his hands shot up above his head, and he uttered a shrill<br />cry, long and loud, like the high-pitched whinny of a horse.<br />His eyes rolled up in his head. He sank to his knees. Uttered another<br />cry, softer this time. Then collapsed, sprawling onto his back, his neck<br />at an unnatural angle, his eyes closed.<br />He didn't move.<br />14<br />In seconds, the two coaches and both teams were running out to the fallen<br />player, huddling over him, forming a tight, hushed circle around him.<br />Crying, "Bird! Bird!" Shari leapt off the bleachers and began running to<br />the circle of horrified onlookers.<br />Greg started to follow, but stopped when he saw a familiar figure<br />crossing the street at a full run, waving to him.<br />"Terry!" Greg cried.<br />Why was his brother coming to the playground? Why wasn't he at his afterschool<br />job at the Dairy Freeze?<br />"Terry? What's happening?" Greg cried.<br />Terry stopped, gasping for breath, sweat pouring down his bright red<br />forehead. "I . . . ran . . . all . . . the . . . way," he managed to<br />utter.<br />"Terry, what's wrong?" A sick feeling crept up from Greg's stomach.<br />As Terry approached, his face held the same frightened expression as in<br />the photograph Greg had snapped of him.<br />The same frightened expression. With the same house behind him across the<br />street.<br />The snapshot had come true. Just as the snapshot of Bird lying on the<br />ground had come true.<br />Greg's throat suddenly felt as dry as cotton. He realized that his knees<br />were trembling.<br />"Terry, what is it?" he managed to cry.<br />"It's Dad," Terry said, putting a heavy hand on Greg's shoulder.<br />"Huh? Dad?"<br />"You've got to come home, Greg. Dad — he's been in a bad accident."<br />"An accident?" Greg's head spun. Terry's words weren't making any sense<br />to him.<br />"In the new car," Terry explained, again placing a heavy hand on Greg's<br />trembling shoulder. "The new car is totaled. Completely totaled."<br />"Oh," Greg gasped, feeling weak.<br />Terry squeezed his shoulder. "Come on. Hurry."<br />Holding the camera tightly in one hand, Greg began running after his<br />brother.<br />Reaching the street, he turned back to the playground to see what was<br />happening with Bird.<br />A large crowd was still huddled around Bird, blocking him from sight.<br />But — what was that dark shadow behind the bleachers? Greg wondered.<br />Someone — someone all in black — was hiding back there.<br />Watching Greg?<br />"Come on!" Terry urged.<br />Greg stared hard at the bleachers. The dark figure pulled back out of<br />sight.<br />"Come on, Greg!"<br />"I'm coming!" Greg shouted, and followed his brother toward home.<br />15<br />The hospital walls were pale green. The uniforms worn by the nurses<br />scurrying through the brightly lit corridors were white. The floor tiles<br />beneath Greg's feet as he hurried with his brother towards their father's<br />room were dark brown with orange specks.<br />Colors.<br />All Greg could see were blurs of colors, indistinct shapes.<br />His sneakers thudded noisily against the hard tile floor. He could barely<br />hear them over the pounding of his heart.<br />Totaled. The car had been totaled.<br />Just like in the snapshot.<br />Greg and Terry turned a corner. The walls in this corridor were pale<br />yellow. Terry's cheeks were red. Two doctors passed by wearing lime-green<br />surgical gowns.<br />Colors. Only colors.<br />Greg blinked, tried to see clearly. But it was all passing by too fast,<br />all too unreal. Even the sharp hospital smell, that unique aroma of<br />rubbing alcohol, stale food, and disinfectant, couldn't make it real for<br />him.<br />Then the two brothers entered their father's room, and it all became<br />real.<br />The colors faded. The images became sharp and clear.<br />Their mother jumped up from the folding chair beside the bed. "Hi, boys."<br />She clenched a wadded-up tissue in her hand. It was obvious that she had<br />been crying. She forced a tight smile on her face, but her eyes were redrimmed,<br />her cheeks pale and puffy.<br />Stopping just inside the doorway of the small room, Greg returned his<br />mother's greeting in a soft, choked voice. Then his eyes, focusing<br />clearly now, turned to his father.<br />Mr. Banks had a mummylike bandage covering his hair. One arm was in a<br />cast. The other lay at his side and had a tube attached just below the<br />wrist, dripping a dark liquid into the arm. The bedsheet was pulled up to<br />his chest.<br />"Hey — how's it going, guys?" their father asked. His voice sounded<br />fogged in, as if coming from far away.<br />"Dad — " Terry started.<br />"He's going to be okay," Mrs. Banks interrupted, seeing the frightened<br />looks on her sons' faces.<br />"I feel great," Mr. Banks said groggily.<br />"You don't look so great," Greg blurted out, stepping up cautiously to<br />the bed.<br />"I'm okay. Really," their father insisted. "A few broken bones. That's<br />it." He sighed, then winced from some pain. "I guess I'm lucky."<br />"You're very lucky," Mrs. Banks agreed quickly.<br />What's the lucky part? Greg wondered silently to himself. He couldn't<br />take his eyes off the tube stuck into his father's arm.<br />Again, he thought of the snapshot of the car. It was up in his room at<br />home, tucked into the secret compartment in his headboard.<br />The snapshot showing the car totaled, the driver's side caved in.<br />Should he tell them about it?<br />He couldn't decide.<br />Would they believe him if he did tell them?<br />"What'd you break, Dad?" Terry asked, sitting down on the radiator in<br />front of the windowsill, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets.<br />"Your father broke his arm and a few ribs," Mrs. Banks answered quickly.<br />"And he had a slight concussion. The doctors are watching him for<br />internal injuries. But, so far, so good."<br />"I was lucky," Mr. Banks repeated. He smiled at Greg.<br />"Dad, I have to tell you about this photo I took," Greg said suddenly,<br />speaking rapidly, his voice trembling with nervousness. "I took a picture<br />of the new car, and — "<br />"The car is completely wrecked," Mrs. Banks interrupted. Sitting on the<br />edge of the folding chair, she rubbed her fingers, working her wedding<br />ring round and around, something she always did when she was nervous.<br />"I'm glad you boys didn't see it." Her voice caught in her throat. Then<br />she added, "It's a miracle he wasn't hurt any worse."<br />"This photo — " Greg started again.<br />"Later," his mother said brusquely. "Okay?" She gave him a meaningful<br />stare.<br />Greg felt his face grow hot.<br />This is important, he thought.<br />Then he decided they probably wouldn't believe him, anyway. Who would<br />believe such a crazy story?<br />"Will we be able to get another new car?" Terry asked.<br />Mr. Banks nodded carefully. "I have to call the insurance company," he<br />said.<br />"I'll call them when I get home," Mrs. Banks said. "You don't exactly<br />have a hand free."<br />Everyone laughed at that, nervous laughter.<br />"I feel kind of sleepy," Mr. Banks said. His eyes were halfway closed,<br />his voice muffled.<br />"It's the painkillers the doctors gave you," Mrs. Banks, told him. She<br />leaned forward and patted his hand. "Get some sleep. I'll come back in a<br />few hours."<br />She stood up, still fiddling with her wedding band, and motioned with her<br />head toward the door.<br />"Bye, Dad," Greg and Terry said in unison.<br />Their father muttered a reply. They followed their mother out the door.<br />"What happened!" Terry asked as they made their way past a nurses'<br />station, then down the long, pale yellow corridor. "I mean, the<br />accident."<br />"Some guy ran right through a red light," Mrs. Banks said, her red-rimmed<br />eyes straight ahead. "He plowed right into your father's side of the car.<br />Said his brakes weren't working." She shook her head, tears forming in<br />the corners of her eyes. "I don't know," she said, sighing. "I just don't<br />know what to say. Thank goodness he's going to be okay."<br />They turned into the green corridor, walking side by side. Several people<br />were waiting patiently for the elevator at the far end of the hall.<br />Once again, Greg found himself thinking of the snapshots he had taken<br />with the weird camera.<br />First Michael. Then Terry. Then Bird. Then his father.<br />All four photos had shown something terrible. Something terrible that<br />hadn't happened yet.<br />And then all four photos had come true.<br />Greg felt a chill as the elevator doors opened and the small crowd of<br />people moved forward to squeeze inside.<br />What was the truth about the camera? he wondered.<br />Does the camera show the future?<br />Or does it actually cause bad things to happen?<br />16<br />"Yeah. I know Bird's okay," Greg said into the phone receiver. "I saw him<br />yesterday, remember? He was lucky. Real lucky. He didn't have a<br />concussion or anything."<br />On the other end of the line — in the house next door — Shari agreed,<br />then repeated her request.<br />"No, Shari. I really don't want to," Greg replied vehemently.<br />"Bring it," Shari demanded. "It's my birthday."<br />"I don't want to bring the camera. It's not a good idea. Really," Greg<br />told her.<br />It was the next weekend. Saturday afternoon. Greg had been nearly out the<br />door, on his way next door to Shari's birthday party, when the phone<br />rang.<br />"Hi, Greg. Why aren't you on your way to my party?" Shari had asked when<br />he'd run to pick up the receiver.<br />"Because I'm on the phone with you," Greg had replied dryly.<br />"Well, bring the camera, okay?"<br />Greg hadn't looked at the camera, hadn't removed it from its hiding place<br />since his father's accident.<br />"I don't want to bring it," he insisted, despite Shari's high-pitched<br />demands. "Don't you understand, Shari? I don't want anyone else to get<br />hurt."<br />"Oh, Greg," she said, talking to him as if he were a three-year-old. "You<br />don't really believe that, do you? You don't really believe that camera<br />can hurt people."<br />Greg was silent for a moment. "I don't know what I believe," he said<br />finally. "I only know that first, Michael, then, Bird — "<br />Greg swallowed hard. "And I had a dream, Shari. Last night."<br />"Huh? What kind of dream?" Shari asked impatiently.<br />"It was about the camera. I was taking everyone's picture. My whole<br />family — Mom, Dad, and Terry. They were barbecuing. In the back yard. I<br />held up the camera. I kept saying, 'Say Cheese, Say Cheese,' over and<br />over. And when I looked through the viewfinder, they were smiling back at<br />me — but . . . they were skeletons. All of them. Their skin was gone, and<br />— and . . ."<br />Greg's voice trailed off.<br />"What a dumb dream," Shari said, laughing.<br />"But that's why I don't want to bring the camera," Greg insisted. "I<br />think — "<br />"Bring it, Greg," she interrupted. "It's not your camera, you know. All<br />four of us were in the Coffman house. It belongs to all four of us. Bring<br />it."<br />"But why, Shari?" Greg demanded.<br />"It'll be a goof, that's all. It takes such weird pictures."<br />"That's for sure," Greg muttered.<br />"We don't have anything else to do for my party," Shari told him. "I<br />wanted to rent a video, but my mom says we have to go outdoors. She<br />doesn't want her precious house messed up. So I thought we could take<br />everyone's picture with the weird camera. You know. See what strange<br />things come out."<br />"Shari, I really don't — "<br />"Bring it," she ordered. And hung up.<br />Greg stood for a long time staring at the phone receiver, thinking hard,<br />trying to decide what to do.<br />Then he replaced the receiver and headed reluctantly up to his room.<br />With a loud sigh, he pulled the camera from its hiding place in his<br />headboard. "It's Shari's birthday, after all," he said aloud to himself.<br />His hands were trembling as he picked it up. He realized he was afraid of<br />it.<br />I shouldn't be doing this, he thought, feeling a heavy knot of dread in<br />the pit of his stomach.<br />I know I shouldn't be doing this.<br />17<br />"How's it going, Bird?" Greg called, making his way across the flagstone<br />patio to Shari's back yard.<br />"I'm feeling okay," Bird said, slapping his friend a high five. "The only<br />problem is, ever since that ball hit me," Bird continued, frowning, "from<br />time to time I start — pluuccck cluuuck cluuuuck! — clucking like a<br />chicken!" He flapped his arms and started strutting across the back yard,<br />clucking at the top of his voice.<br />"Hey, Bird — go lay an egg!" someone yelled, and everyone laughed.<br />"Bird's at it again," Michael said, shaking his head. He gave Greg a<br />friendly punch on the shoulder. Michael, his red hair unbrushed as usual,<br />was wearing faded jeans and a flowered Hawaiian sports shirt about three<br />sizes too big for him.<br />"Where'd you get that shirt?" Greg asked, holding Michael at arm's length<br />by the shoulders to admire it.<br />"In a cereal box," Bird chimed in, still flapping his arms.<br />"My grandmother gave it to me," Michael said, frowning.<br />"He made it in home ec," Bird interrupted. One joke was never enough.<br />"But why did you wear it?" Greg asked.<br />Michael shrugged. "Everything else was dirty."<br />Bird bent down, picked up a small clump of dirt from the lawn, and rubbed<br />it on the back of Michael's shirt. "Now this one's dirty, too," he<br />declared.<br />"Hey, you — " Michael reacted with playful anger, grabbing Bird and<br />shoving him into the hedge.<br />"Did you bring it?"<br />Hearing Shari's voice, Greg turned towards the house and saw her jogging<br />across the patio in his direction. Her black hair was pulled back in a<br />single braid, and she had on an oversized, silky yellow top that came<br />down over black spandex leggings.<br />"Did you bring it?" she repeated eagerly. A charm bracelet filled with<br />tiny silver charms — a birthday present — jangled at her wrist.<br />"Yeah." Greg reluctantly held up the camera.<br />"Excellent," she declared.<br />"I really don't want — " Greg started.<br />"You can take my picture first since it's my birthday," Shari<br />interrupted. "Here. How's this?" She struck a sophisticated pose, leaning<br />against a tree with her hand behind her head.<br />Greg obediently raised the camera. "Are you sure you want me to do this,<br />Shari?"<br />"Yeah. Come on. I want to take everyone's picture."<br />"But it'll probably come out weird," Greg protested.<br />"I know," Shari replied impatiently, holding her pose. "That's the fun of<br />it."<br />"But, Shari — "<br />"Michael puked on his shirt," he heard Bird telling someone near the<br />hedge.<br />"I did not!" Michael was screaming.<br />"You mean it looks like that naturally!" Bird asked.<br />Greg could hear a lot of raucous laughing, all of it at Michael's<br />expense.<br />"Will you take the picture!" Shari cried, holding on to the slender trunk<br />of the tree.<br />Greg pointed the lens at her and pressed the button. The camera whirred,<br />and the undeveloped, white square rolled out.<br />"Hey, are we the only boys invited?" Michael asked, stepping up to Shari.<br />"Yeah. Just you three," Shari said. "And nine girls."<br />"Oh, wow." Michael made a face.<br />"Take Michael's picture next," Shari told Greg.<br />"No way!" Michael replied quickly, raising his hands as if to shield<br />himself and backing away. "The last time you took my picture with that<br />thing, I fell down the stairs."<br />Trying to get away, Michael backed right into Nina Blake, one of Shari's<br />friends. She reacted with a squeal of surprise, then gave him a playful<br />shove, and he kept right on backing away.<br />"Michael, come on. It's my party," Shari called.<br />"What are we going to do? Is this it?" Nina demanded from halfway across<br />the yard.<br />"I thought we'd take everyone's picture and then play a game or<br />something," Shari told her.<br />"A game?" Bird chimed in. "You mean like Spin the Bottle?"<br />A few kids laughed.<br />"Truth or Dare!" Nina suggested.<br />"Yeah. Truth or Dare!" a couple of other girls called in agreement.<br />"Oh, no," Greg groaned quietly to himself. Truth or Dare meant a lot of<br />kissing and awkward, embarrassing stunts.<br />Nine girls and only three boys.<br />It was going to be really embarrassing.<br />How could Shari do this to us? he wondered.<br />"Well, did it come out?" Shari asked, grabbing his arm. "Let me see."<br />Greg was so upset about having to play Truth or Dare, he had forgotten<br />about the snapshot developing in his hand. He held it up, and they both<br />examined it.<br />"Where am I?" Shari asked in surprise. "What were you aiming at? You<br />missed me!"<br />"Huh?" Greg stared at the snapshot. There was the tree. But no Shari.<br />"Weird! I pointed it right at you. I lined it up carefully," he<br />protested.<br />"Well, you missed me. I'm not in the shot," Shari replied disgustedly.<br />"But, Shari — "<br />"I mean, come on — I'm not invisible, Greg. I'm not a vampire or<br />something. I can see my reflection in mirrors. And I do usually show up<br />in photos."<br />"But, look — " Greg stared hard at the photograph. "There's the tree you<br />were leaning against. You can see the tree trunk clearly. And there's the<br />spot where you were standing."<br />"But where am I?" Shari demanded, jangling her charm bracelet noisily.<br />"Never mind." She grabbed the snapshot from him and tossed it on the<br />grass. "Take another one. Quick."<br />"Well, okay. But — " Greg was still puzzling over the photo. Why hadn't<br />Shari shown up in it? He bent down, picked it up, and shoved it into his<br />pocket.<br />"Stand closer this time," she instructed.<br />Greg moved a few steps closer, carefully centered Shari in the<br />viewfinder, and snapped the picture. A square of film zipped out the<br />front.<br />Shari walked over and pulled the picture from the camera. "This one<br />better turn out," she said, staring hard at it as the colors began to<br />darken and take form.<br />"If you really want pictures of everyone, we should get another camera,"<br />Greg said, his eyes also locked on the snapshot.<br />"Hey — I don't believe it!" Shari cried.<br />Again, she was invisible.<br />The tree photographed clearly, in perfect focus. But Shari was nowhere to<br />be seen.<br />"You were right. The dumb camera is broken," she said disgustedly,<br />handing the photo to Greg. "Forget it." She turned away from him and<br />called to the others. "Hey, guys — Truth or Dare!"<br />There were some cheers and some groans.<br />Shari headed them back to the woods behind her back yard to play. "More<br />privacy," she explained. There was a circular clearing just beyond the<br />trees, a perfect, private place.<br />The game was just as embarrassing as Greg had imagined. Among the boys,<br />only Bird seemed to be enjoying it. Bird loves dumb stuff like this, Greg<br />thought, with some envy.<br />Luckily, after little more than half an hour, he heard Mrs. Walker,<br />Shari's mom, calling from the house, summoning them back to cut the<br />birthday cake.<br />"Aw, too bad," Greg said sarcastically. "Just when the game was getting<br />good."<br />"We have to get out of the woods, anyway," Bird said, grinning.<br />"Michael's shirt is scaring the squirrels."<br />Laughing and talking about the game, the kids made their way back to the<br />patio where the pink-and-white birthday cake, candles all lit, was<br />waiting on the round umbrella table.<br />"I must be a pretty bad mom," Mrs. Walker joked, "allowing you all to go<br />off into the woods by yourselves."<br />Some of the girls laughed.<br />Cake knife in her hand, Mrs. Walker looked around. "Where's Shari?"<br />Everyone turned their eyes to search the back yard. "She was with us in<br />the woods," Nina told Mrs. Walker. "Just a minute ago."<br />"Hey, Shari!" Bird called, cupping his hands to his mouth as a megaphone.<br />"Earth calling Shari! It's cake time!"<br />No reply.<br />No sign of her.<br />"Did she go in the house?" Greg asked.<br />Mrs. Walker shook her head. "No. She didn't come by the patio. Is she<br />still in the woods?"<br />"I'll go check," Bird told her. Calling Shari's name, he ran to the edge<br />of the trees at the back of the yard. Then he disappeared into the trees,<br />still calling.<br />A few minutes later, Bird emerged, signaling to the others with a shrug.<br />No sign of her.<br />They searched the house. The front yard. The woods again.<br />But Shari had vanished.<br />18<br />Greg sat in the shade with his back against the tree trunk, the camera on<br />the ground at his side, and watched the blue-uniformed policemen.<br />They covered the back yard and could be seen bending low as they climbed<br />around in the woods. He could hear their voices, but couldn't make out<br />what they were saying. Their faces were intent, bewildered.<br />More policemen arrived, grim-faced, businesslike.<br />And then, even more dark-uniformed policemen.<br />Mrs. Walker had called her husband home from a golf game. They sat<br />huddled together on canvas chairs in a corner of the patio. They<br />whispered to each other, their eyes darting across the yard. Holding<br />hands, they looked pale and worried.<br />Everyone else had left.<br />On the patio, the table was still set. The birthday candles had burned<br />all the way down, the blue and red wax melting in hard puddles on the<br />pink-and-white icing, the cake untouched.<br />"No sign of her," a red-cheeked policeman with a white-blond mustache was<br />telling the Walkers. He pulled off his cap and scratched his head,<br />revealing short, blond hair.<br />"Did someone . . . take her away?" Mr. Walker asked, still holding his<br />wife's hand.<br />"No sign of a struggle," the policeman said. "No sign of anything,<br />really."<br />Mrs. Walker sighed loudly and lowered her head. "I just don't understand<br />it."<br />There was a long, painful silence.<br />"We'll keep looking," the policeman said. "I'm sure we'll find . . .<br />something."<br />He turned and headed toward the woods.<br />"Oh. Hi." He stopped in front of Greg, staring down at him as if seeing<br />him for the first time. "You still here, son? All the other guests have<br />gone home." He pushed his hair back and replaced his cap.<br />"Yeah, I know," Greg replied solemnly, lifting the camera into his lap.<br />"I'm Officer Riddick," he said.<br />"Yeah, I know," Greg repeated softly.<br />"How come you didn't go home after we talked with you, like the others?"<br />Riddick asked.<br />"I'm just upset, I guess," Greg told him. "I mean, Shari's a good friend,<br />you know?" He cleared his throat, which felt dry and tight. "Besides, I<br />live right over there." He gestured with his head to his house next door.<br />"Well, you might as well go home, son," Riddick said, turning his eyes to<br />the woods with a frown. "This search could take a long time. We haven't<br />found a thing back there yet."<br />"I know," Greg replied, rubbing his hand against the back of the camera.<br />And I know that this camera is the reason Shari is missing, he thought,<br />feeling miserable and frightened.<br />"One minute she was there. The next minute she was gone," the policeman<br />said, studying Greg's face as if looking for answers there.<br />"Yeah," Greg replied. "It's so weird."<br />It's weirder than anyone knows, Greg thought.<br />The camera made her invisible. The camera did it.<br />First, she vanished from the snapshot.<br />Then she vanished in real life.<br />The camera did it to her. I don't know how. But it did.<br />"Do you have something more to tell me?" Riddick asked, hands resting on<br />his hips, his right hand just above the worn brown holster that carried<br />his pistol. "Did you see something? Something that might give us a clue,<br />help us out? Something you didn't remember to tell me before?"<br />Should I tell him? Greg wondered.<br />If I tell him about the camera, he'll ask where I got it. And I'll have<br />to tell him that I got it in the Coffman house. And we'll all get in<br />trouble for breaking in there.<br />But — big deal. Shari is missing. Gone. Vanished. That's a lot more<br />important.<br />I should tell him, Greg decided.<br />But then he hesitated. If I tell him, he won't believe me.<br />If I tell him, how will it help bring Shari back?<br />"You look very troubled," Riddick said, squatting down next to Greg in<br />the shade. "What's your name again?"<br />"Greg. Greg Banks."<br />"Well, you look very troubled, Greg," the policeman repeated softly. "Why<br />don't you tell me what's bothering you? Why don't you tell me what's on<br />your mind? I think it'll make you feel a lot better."<br />Greg took a deep breath and glanced up to the patio. Mrs. Walker had<br />covered her face with her hands. Her husband was leaning over her, trying<br />to comfort her.<br />"Well . . ." Greg started.<br />"Go ahead, son," Riddick urged softly. "Do you know where Shari is?"<br />"It's this camera," Greg blurted out. He could suddenly feel the blood<br />throbbing against his temples.<br />He took a deep breath and then continued. "You see, this camera is<br />weird."<br />"What do you mean?" Riddick asked quietly.<br />Greg took another deep breath. "I took Shari's picture. Before. When I<br />first arrived. I took two pictures. And she was invisible. In both of<br />them. See?"<br />Riddick closed his eyes, then opened them. "No. I don't understand."<br />"Shari was invisible in the picture. Everything else was there. But she<br />wasn't. She had vanished, see. And, then, later, she vanished for real.<br />The camera — it predicts the future, I guess. Or it makes bad things<br />happen." Greg raised the camera, attempting to hand it to the policeman.<br />Riddick made no attempt to take it. He just stared hard at Greg, his eyes<br />narrowing, his expression hardening.<br />Greg felt a sudden stab of fear.<br />Oh, no, he thought. Why is he looking at me like that?<br />What is he going to do?<br />19<br />Greg continued to hold the camera out to the policeman.<br />But Riddick quickly climbed to his feet. "The camera makes bad things<br />happen?" His eyes burned into Greg's.<br />"Yes," Greg told him. "It isn't my camera, see? And every time I take a<br />picture — "<br />"Son, that's enough," Riddick said gently. He reached down and rested a<br />hand on Greg's trembling shoulder. "I think you're very upset, Greg," he<br />said, his voice almost a whisper. "I don't blame you. This is very<br />upsetting for everyone."<br />"But it's true — " Greg started to insist.<br />"I'm going to ask that officer over there," Riddick said, pointing, "to<br />take you home now. And I'm going to have him tell your parents that<br />you've been through a very frightening experience."<br />I knew he wouldn't believe me, Greg thought angrily.<br />How could I have been so stupid?<br />Now he thinks I'm some kind of a nut case.<br />Riddick called to a policeman at the side of the house near the hedge.<br />"No, that's okay," Greg said, quickly pulling himself up, cradling the<br />camera in his hand. "I can make it home okay."<br />Riddick eyed him suspiciously. "You sure?"<br />"Yeah. I can walk by myself."<br />"If you have anything to tell me later," Riddick said, lowering his gaze<br />to the camera, "just call the station, okay?"<br />"Okay," Greg replied, walking slowly towards the front of the house.<br />"Don't worry, Greg. We'll do our best," Riddick called after him. "We'll<br />find her. Put the camera away and try to get some rest, okay?"<br />"Okay," Greg muttered.<br />He hurried past the Walkers, who were still huddled together under the<br />umbrella on the patio.<br />Why was I so stupid? he asked himself as he walked home. Why did I expect<br />that policeman to believe such a weird story?<br />I'm not even sure I believe it myself.<br />A few minutes later, he pulled open the back screen door and entered his<br />kitchen. "Anybody home?"<br />No reply.<br />He headed through the back hall towards the living room. "Anyone home?"<br />No one.<br />Terry was at work. His mother must have been visiting his dad at the<br />hospital.<br />Greg felt bad. He really didn't feel like being alone now. He really<br />wanted to tell them about what had happened to Shari. He really wanted to<br />talk to them.<br />Still cradling the camera, he climbed the stairs to his room.<br />He stopped in the doorway, blinked twice, then uttered a cry of horror.<br />His books were scattered all over the floor. The covers had been pulled<br />off his bed. His desk drawers were all open, their contents strewn around<br />the room. The desk lamp was on its side on the floor. All of his clothes<br />had been pulled from the dresser and his closet and tossed everywhere.<br />Someone had been in Greg's room — and had turned it upside down!<br />20<br />Who would do this? Greg asked himself, staring in horror at his ransacked<br />room.<br />Who would tear my room apart like this?<br />He realized that he knew the answer. He knew who would do it, who had<br />done it.<br />Someone looking for the camera.<br />Someone desperate to get the camera back.<br />Spidey?<br />The creepy guy who dressed all in black was living in the Coffman house.<br />Was he the owner of the camera?<br />Yes, Greg knew, Spidey had done it.<br />Spidey had been watching Greg, spying on Greg from behind the bleachers<br />at the Little League game.<br />He knew that Greg had his camera. And he knew where Greg lived.<br />That thought was the most chilling of all.<br />He knew where Greg lived.<br />Greg turned away from the chaos in his room, leaned against the wall of<br />the hallway, and closed his eyes.<br />He pictured Spidey, the dark figure creeping along so evilly on his<br />spindly legs. He pictured him inside the house, Greg's house. Inside<br />Greg"s room.<br />He was here, thought Greg. He pawed through all my things. He wrecked my<br />room.<br />Greg stepped back into his room. He felt all mixed up. He felt like<br />shouting angrily and crying for help all at once.<br />But he was all alone. No one to hear him. No one to help him.<br />What now? he wondered. What now?<br />Suddenly, leaning against the doorframe, staring at his ransacked room,<br />he knew what he had to do.<br />21<br />"Hey, Bird, it's me."<br />Greg held the receiver in one hand and wiped the sweat off his forehead<br />with the other. He'd never worked so hard — or so fast — in all his life.<br />"Did they find Shari?" Bird asked eagerly.<br />"I haven't heard. I don't think so," Greg said, his eyes surveying his<br />room. Almost back to normal.<br />He had put everything back, cleaned and straightened. His parents would<br />never guess.<br />"Listen, Bird, I'm not calling about that," Greg said, speaking rapidly<br />into the phone. "Call Michael for me, okay? Meet me at the playground. By<br />the baseball diamond."<br />"When? Now?" Bird asked, sounding confused.<br />"Yeah," Greg told him. "We have to meet. It's important."<br />"It's almost dinnertime," Bird protested. "I don't know if my parents — "<br />"It's important," Greg repeated impatiently. "I've got to see you guys.<br />Okay?"<br />"Well . . . maybe I can sneak out for a few minutes," Bird said, lowering<br />his voice. And then Greg heard him shout to his mother: "It's no one, Ma!<br />I'm talking to no one!"<br />Boy, that's quick thinking! Greg thought sarcastically. He's a worse liar<br />than I am!<br />And then he heard Bird call to his mom: "I know I'm on the phone. But I'm<br />not talking to anyone. It's only Greg."<br />Thanks a lot, pal, Greg thought.<br />"I gotta go," Bird said.<br />"Get Michael, okay?" Greg urged.<br />"Yeah. Okay. See you." He hung up.<br />Greg replaced the receiver, then listened for his mother. Silence<br />downstairs. She still wasn't home. She didn't know about Shari, Greg<br />realized. He knew she and his dad were going to be very upset.<br />Very upset.<br />Almost as upset as he was.<br />Thinking about his missing friend, he went to his bedroom window and<br />looked down on her yard next door. It was deserted now.<br />The policemen had all left. Shari's shaken parents must have gone inside.<br />A squirrel sat under the wide shade of the big tree, gnawing furiously at<br />an acorn, another acorn at his feet.<br />In the corner of the window, Greg could see the birthday cake, still<br />sitting forlornly on the deserted table, the places all set, the<br />decorations still standing.<br />A birthday party for ghosts.<br />Greg shuddered.<br />"Shari is alive," he said aloud. "They'll find her. She's alive."<br />He knew what he had to do now.<br />Forcing himself away from the window, he hurried to meet his two friends.<br />22<br />"No way," Bird said heatedly, leaning against the bleacher bench. "Have<br />you gone totally bananas?"<br />Swinging the camera by its cord, Greg turned hopefully to Michael. But<br />Michael avoided Greg's stare. "I'm with Bird," he said, his eyes on the<br />camera.<br />Since it was just about dinnertime, the playground was nearly deserted. A<br />few little kids were on the swings at the other end. Two kids were riding<br />their bikes round and around the soccer field.<br />"I thought maybe you guys would come with me," Greg said, disappointed.<br />He kicked up a clump of grass with his sneaker. "I have to return this<br />thing," he continued, raising the camera. "I know it's what I have to do.<br />I have to put it back where I found it."<br />"No way," Bird repeated, shaking his head. "I'm not going back to the<br />Coffman house. Once was enough."<br />"Chicken?" Greg asked angrily.<br />"Yeah," Bird quickly admitted.<br />"You don't have to take it back," Michael argued. He pulled himself up<br />the side of the bleachers, climbed onto the third deck of seats, then<br />lowered himself to the ground.<br />"What do you mean?" Greg asked impatiently, kicking at the grass.<br />"Just toss it, Greg," Michael urged, making a throwing motion with one<br />hand. "Heave it. Throw it in the trash somewhere."<br />"Yeah. Or leave it right here," Bird suggested. He reached for the<br />camera. "Give it to me. I'll hide it under the seats."<br />"You don't understand," Greg said, swinging the camera out of Bird's<br />reach. "Throwing it away won't do any good."<br />"Why not?" Bird asked, making another swipe for the camera.<br />"Spidey'll just come back for it," Greg told him heatedly. "He'll come<br />back to my room looking for it. He'll come after me. I know it."<br />"But what if we get caught taking it back?" Michael asked.<br />"Yeah. What if Spidey's there in the Coffman house, and he catches us?"<br />Bird said.<br />"You don't understand," Greg cried. "He knows where I live! He was in my<br />house. He was in my room! He wants his camera back, and — "<br />"Here. Give it to me," Bird said. "We don't have to go back to that<br />house. He can find it. Right here."<br />He grabbed again for the camera.<br />Greg held tightly to the strap and tried to tug it away.<br />But Bird grabbed the side of the camera.<br />"No!" Greg cried out as it flashed. And whirred.<br />A square of film slid out.<br />"No!" Greg cried to Bird, horrified, staring at the white square as it<br />started to develop. "You took my picture!"<br />His hand trembling, he pulled the snapshot from the camera.<br />What would it show?<br />23<br />"Sorry," Bird said. "I didn't mean to — "<br />Before he could finish his sentence, a voice interrupted from behind the<br />bleachers. "Hey — what've you got there?"<br />Greg looked up from the developing snapshot in surprise. Two toughlooking<br />boys stepped out of the shadows, their expressions hard, their<br />eyes on the camera.<br />He recognized them immediately — Joey Ferris and Mickey Ward — two ninthgraders<br />who hung out together, always swaggering around, acting tough,<br />picking on kids younger than them.<br />Their specialty was taking kids' bikes, riding off on them, and dumping<br />them somewhere. There was a rumor around school that Mickey had once<br />beaten up a kid so badly that the kid was crippled for life. But Greg<br />believed Mickey made up that rumor and spread it himself.<br />Both boys were big for their age. Neither of them did very well in<br />school. And even though they were always stealing bikes and skateboards,<br />and terrorizing little kids, and getting into fights, neither of them<br />ever seemed to get into serious trouble.<br />Joey had short blond hair, slicked straight up, and wore a diamondlike<br />stud in one ear. Mickey had a round, red face full of pimples, stringy<br />black hair down to his shoulders, and was working a toothpick between his<br />teeth. Both boys were wearing heavy metal T-shirts and jeans.<br />"Hey, I've gotta get home," Bird said quickly, half-stepping, halfdancing<br />away from the bleachers.<br />"Me, too," Michael said, unable to keep the fear from showing on his<br />face.<br />Greg tucked the snapshot into his jeans pocket.<br />"Hey, you found my camera," Joey said, grabbing it out of Greg's hand.<br />His small, gray eyes burned into Greg's as if searching for a reaction.<br />"Thanks, man."<br />"Give it back, Joey," Greg said with a sigh.<br />"Yeah. Don't take that camera," Mickey told his friend, a smile spreading<br />over his round face. "It's mine!" He wrestled the camera away from Joey.<br />"Give it back," Greg insisted angrily, reaching out his hand. Then he<br />softened his tone. "Come on, guys. It isn't mine."<br />"I know it isn't yours," Mickey said, grinning. "Because it's mine!"<br />"I have to give it back to the owner," Greg told him, trying not to<br />whine, but hearing his voice edge up.<br />"No, you don't. I'm the owner now," Mickey insisted.<br />"Haven't you ever heard of finders keepers?" Joey asked, leaning over<br />Greg menacingly. He was about six inches taller than Greg, and a lot more<br />muscular.<br />"Hey, let him have the thing," Michael whispered in Greg's ear. "You<br />wanted to get rid of it — right?"<br />"No!" Greg protested.<br />"What's your problem, Freckle Face?" Joey asked Michael, eyeing Michael<br />up and down.<br />"No problem," Michael said meekly.<br />"Hey — say cheese!" Mickey aimed the camera at Joey.<br />"Don't do it," Bird interrupted, waving his hands frantically.<br />"Why not?" Joey demanded.<br />"Because your face will break the camera," Bird said, laughing.<br />"You're real funny," Joey said sarcastically, narrowing his eyes<br />threateningly, hardening his features. "You want that stupid smile to be<br />permanent?" He raised a big fist.<br />"I know this kid," Mickey told Joey, pointing at Bird. "Thinks he's hot<br />stuff."<br />Both boys stared hard at Bird, trying to scare him.<br />Bird swallowed hard. He took a step back, bumping into the bleachers.<br />"No, I don't," he said softly. "I don't think I'm hot stuff."<br />"He looks like something I stepped in yesterday," Joey said.<br />He and Mickey cracked up, laughing high-pitched hyena laughs and slapping<br />each other high fives.<br />"Listen, guys. I really need the camera back," Greg said, reaching out a<br />hand to take it. "It isn't any good, anyway. It's broken. And it doesn't<br />belong to me."<br />"Yeah, that's right. It's broken," Michael added, nodding his head.<br />"Yeah. Right," Mickey said sarcastically. "Let's just see." He raised the<br />camera again and pointed it at Joey.<br />"Really, guys. I need it back," Greg said desperately.<br />If they took a picture with the camera, Greg realized, they might<br />discover its secret. That its snapshots showed the future, showed only<br />bad things happening to people. That the camera was evil. Maybe it even<br />caused evil.<br />"Say cheese," Mickey instructed Joey.<br />"Just snap the stupid thing!" Joey replied impatiently.<br />No, Greg thought. I can't let this happen. I've got to return the camera<br />to the Coffman house, to Spidey.<br />Impulsively, Greg leapt forward. With a cry, he snatched the camera away<br />from Mickey's face.<br />"Hey — " Mickey reacted in surprise.<br />"Let's go!" Greg shouted to Bird and Michael.<br />And without another word, the three friends turned and began running<br />across the deserted playground towards their homes.<br />His heart thudding in his chest, Greg gripped the camera tightly and ran<br />as fast as he could, his sneakers pounding over the dry grass.<br />They're going to catch us, Greg thought, panting loudly now as he raced<br />toward the street. They're going to catch us and pound us. They're going<br />to take back the camera. We're dead meat. Dead meat.<br />Greg and his friends didn't turn around until they were across the<br />street. Breathing noisily, they looked back — and cried out in relieved<br />surprise.<br />Joey and Mickey hadn't budged from beside the bleachers. They hadn't<br />chased after them. They were leaning against the bleachers, laughing.<br />"Catch you later, guys!" Joey called after them.<br />"Yeah. Later," Mickey repeated.<br />They both burst out laughing again, as if they had said something<br />hilarious.<br />"That was close," Michael said, still breathing hard.<br />"They mean it," Bird said, looking very troubled. "They'll catch us<br />later. We're history."<br />"Tough talk. They're just a lot of hot air," Greg insisted.<br />"Oh, yeah?" Michael cried. "Then why did we run like that?"<br />"Because we're late for dinner," Bird joked. "See you guys. I'm gonna<br />catch it if I don't hurry."<br />"But the camera — " Greg protested, still gripping it tightly in one<br />hand.<br />"It's too late," Michael said, nervously raking a hand back through his<br />red hair.<br />"Yeah. We'll have to do it tomorrow or something," Bird agreed.<br />"Then you guys will come with me?" Greg asked eagerly.<br />"Uh . . . I've gotta go," Bird said without answering.<br />"Me, too," Michael said quickly, avoiding Greg's stare.<br />All three of them turned their eyes back to the playground. Joey and<br />Mickey had disappeared. Probably off to terrorize some other kids.<br />"Later," Bird said, slapping Greg on the shoulder as he headed away. The<br />three friends split up, running in different directions across lawns and<br />driveways, heading home.<br />Greg had run all the way to his front yard before he remembered the<br />snapshot he had shoved into his jeans pocket.<br />He stopped in the driveway and pulled it out.<br />The sun was lowering behind the garage. He held the snapshot up close to<br />his face to see it clearly.<br />"Oh, no!" he cried. "I don't believe it!"<br />24<br />"This is impossible!" Greg cried aloud, gaping at the snapshot in his<br />trembling hand.<br />How had Shari gotten into the photo?<br />It had been taken a few minutes before, in front of the bleachers on the<br />playground.<br />But there was Shari, standing close beside Greg.<br />His hand trembling, his mouth hanging open in disbelief, Greg goggled at<br />the photo.<br />It was very clear, very sharp. There they were on the playground. He<br />could see the baseball diamond in the background.<br />And there they were. Greg and Shari.<br />Shari standing so clear, so sharp — right next to him.<br />And they were both staring straight ahead, their eyes wide, their mouths<br />open, their expressions frozen in horror as a large shadow covered them<br />both.<br />"Shari?" Greg cried, lowering the snapshot and darting his eyes over the<br />front yard. "Are you here? Can you hear me?"<br />He listened.<br />Silence.<br />He tried again.<br />"Shari? Are you here?"<br />"Greg!" a voice called.<br />Uttering a startled cry, Greg spun around. "Huh?"<br />"Greg!" the voice repeated. It took him a while to realize that it was<br />his mother, calling to him from the front door.<br />"Oh. Hi, Mom." Feeling dazed, he slid the snapshot back into his jeans<br />pocket.<br />"Where've you been?" his mother asked as he made his way to the door. "I<br />heard about Shari. I've been so upset. I didn't know where you were."<br />"Sorry, Mom," Greg said, kissing her on the cheek. "I — I should've left<br />a note."<br />He stepped into the house, feeling strange and out-of-sorts, sad and<br />confused and frightened, all at the same time.<br />Two days later, on a day of high, gray clouds, the air hot and smoggy,<br />Greg paced back and forth in his room after school.<br />The house was empty except for him. Terry had gone off a few hours before<br />to his after-school job at the Dairy Freeze. Mrs. Banks had driven to the<br />hospital to pick up Greg's dad, who was finally coming home.<br />Greg knew he should be happy about his dad's return. But there were still<br />too many things troubling him, tugging at his mind.<br />Frightening him.<br />For one thing, Shari still hadn't been found.<br />The police were completely baffled. Their new theory was that she'd been<br />kidnapped.<br />Her frantic, grieving parents waited home by the phone. But no kidnappers<br />called to demand a ransom.<br />There were no clues of any kind.<br />Nothing to do but wait. And hope.<br />As the days passed, Greg felt more and more guilty. He was sure Shari<br />hadn't been kidnapped. He knew that somehow, the camera had made her<br />disappear.<br />But he couldn't tell anyone else what he believed.<br />No one would believe him. Anyone he tried to tell the story to would<br />think he was crazy.<br />Cameras can't be evil, after all.<br />Cameras can't make people fall down stairs. Or crash their cars.<br />Or vanish from sight.<br />Cameras can only record what they see.<br />Greg stared out of his window, pressing his forehead against the glass,<br />looking down on Shari's back yard. "Shari — where are you?" he asked<br />aloud, staring at the tree where she had posed.<br />The camera was still hidden in the secret compartment in his headboard.<br />Neither Bird nor Michael would agree to help Greg return it to the<br />Coffman house.<br />Besides, Greg had decided to hold on to it a while longer, in case he<br />needed it as proof.<br />In case he decided to confide his fears about it to someone.<br />In case . . .<br />His other fear was that Spidey would come back, back to Greg's room, back<br />for the camera.<br />So much to be frightened about.<br />He pushed himself away from the window. He had spent so much time in the<br />past couple of days staring down at Shari's empty back yard.<br />Thinking. Thinking.<br />With a sigh, he reached into the headboard and pulled out two of the<br />snapshots he had hidden in there along with the camera.<br />The two snapshots were the ones taken the past Saturday at Shari's<br />birthday party. Holding one in each hand, Greg stared at them, hoping he<br />could see something new, something he hadn't noticed before.<br />But the photos hadn't changed. They still showed her tree, her back yard,<br />green in the sunlight. And no Shari. No one where Shari had been<br />standing. As if the lens had penetrated right through her.<br />Staring at the photos, Greg let out a cry of anguish.<br />If only he had never gone into the Coffman house.<br />If only he had never stolen the camera.<br />If only he had never taken any photos with it.<br />If only . . . if only . . . if only . . .<br />Before he realized what he was doing, he was ripping the two snapshots<br />into tiny pieces.<br />Panting loudly, his chest heaving, he tore at the snapshots and let the<br />pieces fall to the floor.<br />When he had ripped them both into tiny shards of paper, he flung himself<br />facedown on his bed and closed his eyes, waiting for his heart to stop<br />pounding, waiting for the heavy feeling of guilt and horror to lift.<br />Two hours later, the phone by his bed rang.<br />It was Shari.<br />25<br />"Shari — is it really you?" Greg shouted into the phone.<br />"Yeah. It's me!" She sounded as surprised as he did.<br />"But how? I mean — " His mind was racing. He didn't know what to say.<br />"Your guess is as good as mine," Shari told him. And then she said, "Hold<br />on a minute." And he heard her step away from the phone to talk to her<br />mother. "Mom — stop crying already. Mom — it's really me. I'm home."<br />A few seconds later, she came back on the line. "I've been home for two<br />hours, and Mom's still crying and carrying on."<br />"I feel like crying, too," Greg admitted. "I — I just can't believe it!<br />Shari, where were you?"<br />The line was silent for a long moment. "I don't know," she answered<br />finally.<br />"Huh?"<br />"I really don't. It was just so weird, Greg. One minute, there I was at<br />my birthday party. The next minute, I was standing in front of my house.<br />And it was two days later. But I don't remember being away. Or being<br />anywhere else. I don't remember anything at all."<br />"You don't remember going away? Or coming back?" Greg asked.<br />"No. Nothing," Shari said, her voice trembling.<br />"Shari, those pictures I took of you — remember? With the weird camera?<br />You were invisible in them — "<br />"And then I disappeared," she said, finishing his thought.<br />"Shari, do you think — ?"<br />"I don't know," she replied quickly. "I — I have to get off now. The<br />police are here. They want to question me. What am I going to tell them?<br />They're going to think I had amnesia or flipped out or something."<br />"I — I don't know," Greg said, completely bewildered. "We have to talk.<br />The camera — "<br />"I can't now," she told him. "Maybe tomorrow. Okay?" She called to her<br />mother that she was coming. "Bye, Greg. See you." And then she hung up.<br />Greg replaced the receiver, but sat on the edge of his bed staring at the<br />phone for a long time.<br />Shari was back.<br />She'd been back about two hours.<br />Two hours. Two hours. Two hours.<br />He turned his eyes to the clock radio beside the phone.<br />Just two hours before, he had ripped up the two snapshots of an invisible<br />Shari.<br />His mind whirred with wild ideas, insane ideas.<br />Had he brought Shari back by ripping up the photos?<br />Did this mean that the camera caused her to disappear? That the camera<br />caused all of the terrible things that showed up in its snapshots?<br />Greg stared at the phone for a long time, thinking hard.<br />He knew what he had to do. He had to talk to Shari. And he had to return<br />the camera.<br />He met Shari on the playground the next afternoon. The sun floated high<br />in a cloudless sky. Eight or nine kids were engaged in a noisy brawl of a<br />soccer game, running one way, then the other across the outfield of the<br />baseball diamond.<br />"Hey — you look like you!" Greg exclaimed as Shari came jogging up to<br />where he stood beside the bleachers. He pinched her arm. "Yeah. It's you,<br />okay."<br />She didn't smile. "I feel fine," she told him, rubbing her arm. "Just<br />confused. And tired. The police asked me questions for hours. And when<br />they finally went away, my parents started in."<br />"Sorry," Greg said quietly, staring down at his sneakers.<br />"I think Mom and Dad believe somehow it's my fault that I disappeared,"<br />Shari said, resting her back against the side of the bleachers, shaking<br />her head.<br />"It's the camera's fault," Greg muttered. He raised his eyes to hers.<br />"The camera is evil."<br />Shari shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know what to think. I really don't."<br />He showed her the snapshot, the one showing the two of them on the<br />playground staring in horror as a shadow crept over them.<br />"How weird," Shari exclaimed, studying it hard.<br />"I want to take the camera back to the Coffman house," Greg said<br />heatedly. "I can go home and get it now. Will you help me? Will you come<br />with me?"<br />Shari started to reply, but stopped.<br />They both saw the dark shadow move, sliding toward them quickly,<br />silently, over the grass.<br />And then they saw the man dressed all in black, his spindly legs pumping<br />hard as he came at them.<br />Spidey!<br />Greg grabbed Shari's hand, frozen in fear.<br />He and Shari gaped in terror as Spidey's slithering shadow crept over<br />them.<br />26<br />21<br />"Hey, Bird, it's me."<br />Greg held the receiver in one hand and wiped the sweat off his forehead<br />with the other. He'd never worked so hard — or so fast — in all his life.<br />"Did they find Shari?" Bird asked eagerly.<br />"I haven't heard. I don't think so," Greg said, his eyes surveying his<br />room. Almost back to normal.<br />He had put everything back, cleaned and straightened. His parents would<br />never guess.<br />"Listen, Bird, I'm not calling about that," Greg said, speaking rapidly<br />into the phone. "Call Michael for me, okay? Meet me at the playground. By<br />the baseball diamond."<br />"When? Now?" Bird asked, sounding confused.<br />"Yeah," Greg told him. "We have to meet. It's important."<br />"It's almost dinnertime," Bird protested. "I don't know if my parents — "<br />"It's important," Greg repeated impatiently. "I've got to see you guys.<br />Okay?"<br />"Well . . . maybe I can sneak out for a few minutes," Bird said, lowering<br />his voice. And then Greg heard him shout to his mother: "It's no one, Ma!<br />I'm talking to no one!"<br />Boy, that's quick thinking! Greg thought sarcastically. He's a worse liar<br />than I am!<br />And then he heard Bird call to his mom: "I know I'm on the phone. But I'm<br />not talking to anyone. It's only Greg."<br />Thanks a lot, pal, Greg thought.<br />"I gotta go," Bird said.<br />"Get Michael, okay?" Greg urged.<br />"Yeah. Okay. See you." He hung up.<br />Greg replaced the receiver, then listened for his mother. Silence<br />downstairs. She still wasn't home. She didn't know about Shari, Greg<br />realized. He knew she and his dad were going to be very upset.<br />Very upset.<br />Almost as upset as he was.<br />Thinking about his missing friend, he went to his bedroom window and<br />looked down on her yard next door. It was deserted now.<br />The policemen had all left. Shari's shaken parents must have gone inside.<br />A squirrel sat under the wide shade of the big tree, gnawing furiously at<br />an acorn, another acorn at his feet.<br />In the corner of the window, Greg could see the birthday cake, still<br />sitting forlornly on the deserted table, the places all set, the<br />decorations still standing.<br />A birthday party for ghosts.<br />Greg shuddered.<br />"Shari is alive," he said aloud. "They'll find her. She's alive."<br />He knew what he had to do now.<br />Forcing himself away from the window, he hurried to meet his two friends.<br />22<br />"No way," Bird said heatedly, leaning against the bleacher bench. "Have<br />you gone totally bananas?"<br />Swinging the camera by its cord, Greg turned hopefully to Michael. But<br />Michael avoided Greg's stare. "I'm with Bird," he said, his eyes on the<br />camera.<br />Since it was just about dinnertime, the playground was nearly deserted. A<br />few little kids were on the swings at the other end. Two kids were riding<br />their bikes round and around the soccer field.<br />"I thought maybe you guys would come with me," Greg said, disappointed.<br />He kicked up a clump of grass with his sneaker. "I have to return this<br />thing," he continued, raising the camera. "I know it's what I have to do.<br />I have to put it back where I found it."<br />"No way," Bird repeated, shaking his head. "I'm not going back to the<br />Coffman house. Once was enough."<br />"Chicken?" Greg asked angrily.<br />"Yeah," Bird quickly admitted.<br />"You don't have to take it back," Michael argued. He pulled himself up<br />the side of the bleachers, climbed onto the third deck of seats, then<br />lowered himself to the ground.<br />"What do you mean?" Greg asked impatiently, kicking at the grass.<br />"Just toss it, Greg," Michael urged, making a throwing motion with one<br />hand. "Heave it. Throw it in the trash somewhere."<br />"Yeah. Or leave it right here," Bird suggested. He reached for the<br />camera. "Give it to me. I'll hide it under the seats."<br />"You don't understand," Greg said, swinging the camera out of Bird's<br />reach. "Throwing it away won't do any good."<br />"Why not?" Bird asked, making another swipe for the camera.<br />"Spidey'll just come back for it," Greg told him heatedly. "He'll come<br />back to my room looking for it. He'll come after me. I know it."<br />"But what if we get caught taking it back?" Michael asked.<br />"Yeah. What if Spidey's there in the Coffman house, and he catches us?"<br />Bird said.<br />"You don't understand," Greg cried. "He knows where I live! He was in my<br />house. He was in my room! He wants his camera back, and — "<br />"Here. Give it to me," Bird said. "We don't have to go back to that<br />house. He can find it. Right here."<br />He grabbed again for the camera.<br />Greg held tightly to the strap and tried to tug it away.<br />But Bird grabbed the side of the camera.<br />"No!" Greg cried out as it flashed. And whirred.<br />A square of film slid out.<br />"No!" Greg cried to Bird, horrified, staring at the white square as it<br />started to develop. "You took my picture!"<br />His hand trembling, he pulled the snapshot from the camera.<br />What would it show?<br />23<br />"Sorry," Bird said. "I didn't mean to — "<br />Before he could finish his sentence, a voice interrupted from behind the<br />bleachers. "Hey — what've you got there?"<br />Greg looked up from the developing snapshot in surprise. Two toughlooking<br />boys stepped out of the shadows, their expressions hard, their<br />eyes on the camera.<br />He recognized them immediately — Joey Ferris and Mickey Ward — two ninthgraders<br />who hung out together, always swaggering around, acting tough,<br />picking on kids younger than them.<br />Their specialty was taking kids' bikes, riding off on them, and dumping<br />them somewhere. There was a rumor around school that Mickey had once<br />beaten up a kid so badly that the kid was crippled for life. But Greg<br />believed Mickey made up that rumor and spread it himself.<br />Both boys were big for their age. Neither of them did very well in<br />school. And even though they were always stealing bikes and skateboards,<br />and terrorizing little kids, and getting into fights, neither of them<br />ever seemed to get into serious trouble.<br />Joey had short blond hair, slicked straight up, and wore a diamondlike<br />stud in one ear. Mickey had a round, red face full of pimples, stringy<br />black hair down to his shoulders, and was working a toothpick between his<br />teeth. Both boys were wearing heavy metal T-shirts and jeans.<br />"Hey, I've gotta get home," Bird said quickly, half-stepping, halfdancing<br />away from the bleachers.<br />"Me, too," Michael said, unable to keep the fear from showing on his<br />face.<br />Greg tucked the snapshot into his jeans pocket.<br />"Hey, you found my camera," Joey said, grabbing it out of Greg's hand.<br />His small, gray eyes burned into Greg's as if searching for a reaction.<br />"Thanks, man."<br />"Give it back, Joey," Greg said with a sigh.<br />"Yeah. Don't take that camera," Mickey told his friend, a smile spreading<br />over his round face. "It's mine!" He wrestled the camera away from Joey.<br />"Give it back," Greg insisted angrily, reaching out his hand. Then he<br />softened his tone. "Come on, guys. It isn't mine."<br />"I know it isn't yours," Mickey said, grinning. "Because it's mine!"<br />"I have to give it back to the owner," Greg told him, trying not to<br />whine, but hearing his voice edge up.<br />"No, you don't. I'm the owner now," Mickey insisted.<br />"Haven't you ever heard of finders keepers?" Joey asked, leaning over<br />Greg menacingly. He was about six inches taller than Greg, and a lot more<br />muscular.<br />"Hey, let him have the thing," Michael whispered in Greg's ear. "You<br />wanted to get rid of it — right?"<br />"No!" Greg protested.<br />"What's your problem, Freckle Face?" Joey asked Michael, eyeing Michael<br />up and down.<br />"No problem," Michael said meekly.<br />"Hey — say cheese!" Mickey aimed the camera at Joey.<br />"Don't do it," Bird interrupted, waving his hands frantically.<br />"Why not?" Joey demanded.<br />"Because your face will break the camera," Bird said, laughing.<br />"You're real funny," Joey said sarcastically, narrowing his eyes<br />threateningly, hardening his features. "You want that stupid smile to be<br />permanent?" He raised a big fist.<br />"I know this kid," Mickey told Joey, pointing at Bird. "Thinks he's hot<br />stuff."<br />Both boys stared hard at Bird, trying to scare him.<br />Bird swallowed hard. He took a step back, bumping into the bleachers.<br />"No, I don't," he said softly. "I don't think I'm hot stuff."<br />"He looks like something I stepped in yesterday," Joey said.<br />He and Mickey cracked up, laughing high-pitched hyena laughs and slapping<br />each other high fives.<br />"Listen, guys. I really need the camera back," Greg said, reaching out a<br />hand to take it. "It isn't any good, anyway. It's broken. And it doesn't<br />belong to me."<br />"Yeah, that's right. It's broken," Michael added, nodding his head.<br />"Yeah. Right," Mickey said sarcastically. "Let's just see." He raised the<br />camera again and pointed it at Joey.<br />"Really, guys. I need it back," Greg said desperately.<br />If they took a picture with the camera, Greg realized, they might<br />discover its secret. That its snapshots showed the future, showed only<br />bad things happening to people. That the camera was evil. Maybe it even<br />caused evil.<br />"Say cheese," Mickey instructed Joey.<br />"Just snap the stupid thing!" Joey replied impatiently.<br />No, Greg thought. I can't let this happen. I've got to return the camera<br />to the Coffman house, to Spidey.<br />Impulsively, Greg leapt forward. With a cry, he snatched the camera away<br />from Mickey's face.<br />"Hey — " Mickey reacted in surprise.<br />"Let's go!" Greg shouted to Bird and Michael.<br />And without another word, the three friends turned and began running<br />across the deserted playground towards their homes.<br />His heart thudding in his chest, Greg gripped the camera tightly and ran<br />as fast as he could, his sneakers pounding over the dry grass.<br />They're going to catch us, Greg thought, panting loudly now as he raced<br />toward the street. They're going to catch us and pound us. They're going<br />to take back the camera. We're dead meat. Dead meat.<br />Greg and his friends didn't turn around until they were across the<br />street. Breathing noisily, they looked back — and cried out in relieved<br />surprise.<br />Joey and Mickey hadn't budged from beside the bleachers. They hadn't<br />chased after them. They were leaning against the bleachers, laughing.<br />"Catch you later, guys!" Joey called after them.<br />"Yeah. Later," Mickey repeated.<br />They both burst out laughing again, as if they had said something<br />hilarious.<br />"That was close," Michael said, still breathing hard.<br />"They mean it," Bird said, looking very troubled. "They'll catch us<br />later. We're history."<br />"Tough talk. They're just a lot of hot air," Greg insisted.<br />"Oh, yeah?" Michael cried. "Then why did we run like that?"<br />"Because we're late for dinner," Bird joked. "See you guys. I'm gonna<br />catch it if I don't hurry."<br />"But the camera — " Greg protested, still gripping it tightly in one<br />hand.<br />"It's too late," Michael said, nervously raking a hand back through his<br />red hair.<br />"Yeah. We'll have to do it tomorrow or something," Bird agreed.<br />"Then you guys will come with me?" Greg asked eagerly.<br />"Uh . . . I've gotta go," Bird said without answering.<br />"Me, too," Michael said quickly, avoiding Greg's stare.<br />All three of them turned their eyes back to the playground. Joey and<br />Mickey had disappeared. Probably off to terrorize some other kids.<br />"Later," Bird said, slapping Greg on the shoulder as he headed away. The<br />three friends split up, running in different directions across lawns and<br />driveways, heading home.<br />Greg had run all the way to his front yard before he remembered the<br />snapshot he had shoved into his jeans pocket.<br />He stopped in the driveway and pulled it out.<br />The sun was lowering behind the garage. He held the snapshot up close to<br />his face to see it clearly.<br />"Oh, no!" he cried. "I don't believe it!"<br />24<br />"This is impossible!" Greg cried aloud, gaping at the snapshot in his<br />trembling hand.<br />How had Shari gotten into the photo?<br />It had been taken a few minutes before, in front of the bleachers on the<br />playground.<br />But there was Shari, standing close beside Greg.<br />His hand trembling, his mouth hanging open in disbelief, Greg goggled at<br />the photo.<br />It was very clear, very sharp. There they were on the playground. He<br />could see the baseball diamond in the background.<br />And there they were. Greg and Shari.<br />Shari standing so clear, so sharp — right next to him.<br />And they were both staring straight ahead, their eyes wide, their mouths<br />open, their expressions frozen in horror as a large shadow covered them<br />both.<br />"Shari?" Greg cried, lowering the snapshot and darting his eyes over the<br />front yard. "Are you here? Can you hear me?"<br />He listened.<br />Silence.<br />He tried again.<br />"Shari? Are you here?"<br />"Greg!" a voice called.<br />Uttering a startled cry, Greg spun around. "Huh?"<br />"Greg!" the voice repeated. It took him a while to realize that it was<br />his mother, calling to him from the front door.<br />"Oh. Hi, Mom." Feeling dazed, he slid the snapshot back into his jeans<br />pocket.<br />"Where've you been?" his mother asked as he made his way to the door. "I<br />heard about Shari. I've been so upset. I didn't know where you were."<br />"Sorry, Mom," Greg said, kissing her on the cheek. "I — I should've left<br />a note."<br />He stepped into the house, feeling strange and out-of-sorts, sad and<br />confused and frightened, all at the same time.<br />Two days later, on a day of high, gray clouds, the air hot and smoggy,<br />Greg paced back and forth in his room after school.<br />The house was empty except for him. Terry had gone off a few hours before<br />to his after-school job at the Dairy Freeze. Mrs. Banks had driven to the<br />hospital to pick up Greg's dad, who was finally coming home.<br />Greg knew he should be happy about his dad's return. But there were still<br />too many things troubling him, tugging at his mind.<br />Frightening him.<br />For one thing, Shari still hadn't been found.<br />The police were completely baffled. Their new theory was that she'd been<br />kidnapped.<br />Her frantic, grieving parents waited home by the phone. But no kidnappers<br />called to demand a ransom.<br />There were no clues of any kind.<br />Nothing to do but wait. And hope.<br />As the days passed, Greg felt more and more guilty. He was sure Shari<br />hadn't been kidnapped. He knew that somehow, the camera had made her<br />disappear.<br />But he couldn't tell anyone else what he believed.<br />No one would believe him. Anyone he tried to tell the story to would<br />think he was crazy.<br />Cameras can't be evil, after all.<br />Cameras can't make people fall down stairs. Or crash their cars.<br />Or vanish from sight.<br />Cameras can only record what they see.<br />Greg stared out of his window, pressing his forehead against the glass,<br />looking down on Shari's back yard. "Shari — where are you?" he asked<br />aloud, staring at the tree where she had posed.<br />The camera was still hidden in the secret compartment in his headboard.<br />Neither Bird nor Michael would agree to help Greg return it to the<br />Coffman house.<br />Besides, Greg had decided to hold on to it a while longer, in case he<br />needed it as proof.<br />In case he decided to confide his fears about it to someone.<br />In case . . .<br />His other fear was that Spidey would come back, back to Greg's room, back<br />for the camera.<br />So much to be frightened about.<br />He pushed himself away from the window. He had spent so much time in the<br />past couple of days staring down at Shari's empty back yard.<br />Thinking. Thinking.<br />With a sigh, he reached into the headboard and pulled out two of the<br />snapshots he had hidden in there along with the camera.<br />The two snapshots were the ones taken the past Saturday at Shari's<br />birthday party. Holding one in each hand, Greg stared at them, hoping he<br />could see something new, something he hadn't noticed before.<br />But the photos hadn't changed. They still showed her tree, her back yard,<br />green in the sunlight. And no Shari. No one where Shari had been<br />standing. As if the lens had penetrated right through her.<br />Staring at the photos, Greg let out a cry of anguish.<br />If only he had never gone into the Coffman house.<br />If only he had never stolen the camera.<br />If only he had never taken any photos with it.<br />If only . . . if only . . . if only . . .<br />Before he realized what he was doing, he was ripping the two snapshots<br />into tiny pieces.<br />Panting loudly, his chest heaving, he tore at the snapshots and let the<br />pieces fall to the floor.<br />When he had ripped them both into tiny shards of paper, he flung himself<br />facedown on his bed and closed his eyes, waiting for his heart to stop<br />pounding, waiting for the heavy feeling of guilt and horror to lift.<br />Two hours later, the phone by his bed rang.<br />It was Shari.<br />25<br />"Shari — is it really you?" Greg shouted into the phone.<br />"Yeah. It's me!" She sounded as surprised as he did.<br />"But how? I mean — " His mind was racing. He didn't know what to say.<br />"Your guess is as good as mine," Shari told him. And then she said, "Hold<br />on a minute." And he heard her step away from the phone to talk to her<br />mother. "Mom — stop crying already. Mom — it's really me. I'm home."<br />A few seconds later, she came back on the line. "I've been home for two<br />hours, and Mom's still crying and carrying on."<br />"I feel like crying, too," Greg admitted. "I — I just can't believe it!<br />Shari, where were you?"<br />The line was silent for a long moment. "I don't know," she answered<br />finally.<br />"Huh?"<br />"I really don't. It was just so weird, Greg. One minute, there I was at<br />my birthday party. The next minute, I was standing in front of my house.<br />And it was two days later. But I don't remember being away. Or being<br />anywhere else. I don't remember anything at all."<br />"You don't remember going away? Or coming back?" Greg asked.<br />"No. Nothing," Shari said, her voice trembling.<br />"Shari, those pictures I took of you — remember? With the weird camera?<br />You were invisible in them — "<br />"And then I disappeared," she said, finishing his thought.<br />"Shari, do you think — ?"<br />"I don't know," she replied quickly. "I — I have to get off now. The<br />police are here. They want to question me. What am I going to tell them?<br />They're going to think I had amnesia or flipped out or something."<br />"I — I don't know," Greg said, completely bewildered. "We have to talk.<br />The camera — "<br />"I can't now," she told him. "Maybe tomorrow. Okay?" She called to her<br />mother that she was coming. "Bye, Greg. See you." And then she hung up.<br />Greg replaced the receiver, but sat on the edge of his bed staring at the<br />phone for a long time.<br />Shari was back.<br />She'd been back about two hours.<br />Two hours. Two hours. Two hours.<br />He turned his eyes to the clock radio beside the phone.<br />Just two hours before, he had ripped up the two snapshots of an invisible<br />Shari.<br />His mind whirred with wild ideas, insane ideas.<br />Had he brought Shari back by ripping up the photos?<br />Did this mean that the camera caused her to disappear? That the camera<br />caused all of the terrible things that showed up in its snapshots?<br />Greg stared at the phone for a long time, thinking hard.<br />He knew what he had to do. He had to talk to Shari. And he had to return<br />the camera.<br />He met Shari on the playground the next afternoon. The sun floated high<br />in a cloudless sky. Eight or nine kids were engaged in a noisy brawl of a<br />soccer game, running one way, then the other across the outfield of the<br />baseball diamond.<br />"Hey — you look like you!" Greg exclaimed as Shari came jogging up to<br />where he stood beside the bleachers. He pinched her arm. "Yeah. It's you,<br />okay."<br />She didn't smile. "I feel fine," she told him, rubbing her arm. "Just<br />confused. And tired. The police asked me questions for hours. And when<br />they finally went away, my parents started in."<br />"Sorry," Greg said quietly, staring down at his sneakers.<br />"I think Mom and Dad believe somehow it's my fault that I disappeared,"<br />Shari said, resting her back against the side of the bleachers, shaking<br />her head.<br />"It's the camera's fault," Greg muttered. He raised his eyes to hers.<br />"The camera is evil."<br />Shari shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know what to think. I really don't."<br />He showed her the snapshot, the one showing the two of them on the<br />playground staring in horror as a shadow crept over them.<br />"How weird," Shari exclaimed, studying it hard.<br />"I want to take the camera back to the Coffman house," Greg said<br />heatedly. "I can go home and get it now. Will you help me? Will you come<br />with me?"<br />Shari started to reply, but stopped.<br />They both saw the dark shadow move, sliding toward them quickly,<br />silently, over the grass.<br />And then they saw the man dressed all in black, his spindly legs pumping<br />hard as he came at them.<br />Spidey!<br />Greg grabbed Shari's hand, frozen in fear.<br />He and Shari gaped in terror as Spidey's slithering shadow crept over<br />them.<br />26<br />Greg had a shudder of recognition. He knew the snapshot had just come<br />true.<br />As the dark figure of Spidey moved toward them like a black tarantula,<br />Greg pulled Shari's hand. "Run!" he cried in a shrill voice he didn't<br />recognize.<br />He didn't have to say it. They were both running now, gasping as they ran<br />across the grass toward the street. Their sneakers thudded loudly on the<br />ground as they reached the sidewalk and kept running.<br />Greg turned to see Spidey closing the gap. "He's catching up!" he managed<br />to cry to Shari, who was a few steps ahead of him.<br />Spidey, his face still hidden in the shadows of his black baseball cap,<br />moved with startling speed, his long legs kicking high as he pursued<br />them.<br />"He's going to catch us!" Greg cried, feeling as if his chest were about<br />to burst. "He's . . . too . . . fast!"<br />Spidey moved even closer, his shadow scuttling over the grass.<br />Closer.<br />When the car horn honked, Greg screamed.<br />He and Shari stopped short.<br />The horn blasted out again.<br />Greg turned to see a familiar young man inside a small hatchback. It was<br />Jerry Norman, who lived across the street. Jerry lowered his car window.<br />"Is this man chasing you?" he asked excitedly. Without waiting for an<br />answer, he backed the car towards Spidey. "I'm calling the cops, mister!"<br />Spidey didn't reply. Instead, he turned and darted across the street.<br />"I'm warning you — " Jerry called after him.<br />But Spidey had disappeared behind a tall hedge.<br />"Are you kids okay?" Greg's neighbor demanded.<br />"Yeah. Fine," Greg managed to reply, still breathing hard, his chest<br />heaving.<br />"We're okay. Thanks, Jerry," Shari said.<br />"I've seen that guy around the neighborhood," the young man said, staring<br />through the windshield at the tall hedge. "Never thought he was<br />dangerous. You kids want me to call the police?"<br />"No. It's okay," Greg replied.<br />As soon as I give him back his camera, he'll stop chasing us, Greg<br />thought.<br />"Well, be careful — okay?" Jerry said. "You need a lift home or<br />anything?" He studied their faces as if trying to determine how<br />frightened and upset they were.<br />Greg and Shari both shook their heads. "We'll be okay," Greg said.<br />"Thanks."<br />Jerry warned them once again to be careful, then drove off, his tires<br />squealing as he turned the corner.<br />"That was close," Shari said, her eyes on the hedge. "Why was Spidey<br />chasing us?"<br />"He thought I had the camera. He wants it back," Greg told her. "Meet me<br />tomorrow, okay? In front of the Coffman house. Help me put it back?"<br />Shari stared at him without replying, her expression thoughtful, wary.<br />"We're going to be in danger — all of us — until we put that camera<br />back," Greg insisted.<br />"Okay," Shari said quietly. "Tomorrow."<br />27<br />Something scurried through the tall weeds of the unmowed front lawn.<br />"What was that?" Shari cried, whispering even though no one else was in<br />sight. "It was too big to be a squirrel."<br />She lingered behind Greg, who stopped to look up at the Coffman house.<br />"Maybe it was a racoon or something," Greg told her. He gripped the<br />camera tightly in both hands.<br />It was a little after three o'clock the next afternoon, a hazy, overcast<br />day. Mountains of dark clouds threatening rain were rolling across the<br />sky, stretching behind the house, casting it in shadow.<br />"It's going to storm," Shari said, staying close behind Greg. "Let's get<br />this over with and go home."<br />"Good idea," he said, glancing up at the heavy sky.<br />Thunder rumbled in the distance, a low roar. The old trees that dotted<br />the front yard whispered and shook.<br />"We can't just run inside," Greg told her, watching the sky darken.<br />"First we have to make sure Spidey isn't there."<br />Making their way quickly through the tall grass and weeds, they stopped<br />at the living room window and peered in. Thunder rumbled, low and long,<br />in the distance. Greg thought he saw another creature scuttle through the<br />weeds around the corner of the house.<br />"It's too dark in there. I can't see a thing," Shari complained.<br />"Let's check out the basement," Greg suggested. "That's where Spidey<br />hangs out, remember?"<br />The sky darkened to an eerie gray-green as they made their way to the<br />back of the house and dropped to their knees to peer down through the<br />basement windows at ground level.<br />Squinting through the dust-covered windowpanes they could see the<br />makeshift, plywood table Spidey had made, the wardrobe against the wall,<br />its doors still open, the colorful, old clothing spilling out, the empty<br />frozen food boxes scattered on the floor.<br />"No sign of him," Greg whispered, cradling the camera in his arm as if it<br />might try to escape from him if he didn't hold it tightly. "Let's get<br />moving."<br />"Are — are you sure?" Shari stammered. She wanted to be brave. But the<br />thought that she had disappeared for two days — completely vanished, most<br />likely because of the camera — that frightening thought lingered in her<br />mind.<br />Michael and Bird were chicken, she thought. But maybe they were the smart<br />ones.<br />She wished this were over. All over.<br />A few seconds later, Greg and Shari pushed open the front door. They<br />stepped into the darkness of the front hall. And stopped.<br />And listened.<br />And then they both jumped at the sound of the loud, sudden crash directly<br />behind them.<br />28<br />Shari was the first to regain her voice. "It's just the door!" she cried.<br />"The wind — "<br />A gust of wind had made the front door slam.<br />"Let's get this over with," Greg whispered, badly shaken.<br />"We never should've broken into this house in the first place," Shari<br />whispered as they made their way on tiptoe, step by creaking step, down<br />the dark hallway toward the basement stairs.<br />"It's a little late for that," Greg replied sharply.<br />Pulling open the door to the basement steps, he stopped again. "What's<br />that banging sound upstairs?"<br />Shari's features tightened in fear as she heard it, too, a repeated,<br />almost rhythmic banging.<br />"Shutters?" Greg suggested.<br />"Yeah," she quickly agreed, breathing a sigh of relief. "A lot of the<br />shutters are loose, remember?"<br />The entire house seemed to groan.<br />Thunder rumbled outside, closer now.<br />They stepped onto the landing, then waited for their eyes to adjust to<br />the darkness.<br />"Couldn't we just leave the camera up here, and run?" Shari asked, more<br />of a plea than a question.<br />"No. I want to put it back," Greg insisted.<br />"But, Greg — " She tugged at his arm as he started down the stairs.<br />"No!" He pulled out of her grasp. "He was in my room, Shari! He tore<br />everything apart, looking for it. I want him to find it where it belongs.<br />If he doesn't find it, he'll come back to my house. I know he will!"<br />"Okay, okay. Let's just hurry."<br />It was brighter in the basement, gray light seeping down from the four<br />ground-level windows. Outside, the wind swirled and pushed against the<br />windowpanes. A pale flash of lightning made shadows flicker against the<br />basement wall. The old house groaned as if unhappy about the storm.<br />"What was that? Footsteps?" Shari stopped halfway across the basement and<br />listened.<br />"It's just the house," Greg insisted. But his quivering voice revealed<br />that he was as frightened as his companion, and he stopped to listen,<br />too.<br />Bang. Bang. Bang.<br />The shutter high above them continued its rhythmic pounding.<br />"Where did you find the camera, anyway?" Shari whispered, following Greg<br />to the far wall across from the enormous furnace with its cobwebbed ducts<br />sprouting up like pale tree limbs.<br />"Over here," Greg told her. He stepped up to the worktable and reached<br />for the vise clamped on the edge. "When I turned the vise, a door opened<br />up. Some kind of hidden shelf. That's where the camera — "<br />He cranked the handle of the vise.<br />Once again, the door to the secret shelf popped open.<br />"Good," he whispered excitedly. He flashed Shari a smile.<br />He shoved the camera onto the shelf, tucking the carrying strap under it.<br />Then he pushed the door closed. "We're out of here."<br />He felt so much better. So relieved. So much lighter.<br />The house groaned and creaked. Greg didn't care.<br />Another flash of lightning, brighter this time, like a camera flash, sent<br />shadows flickering on the wall.<br />"Come on," he whispered. But Shari was already ahead of him, making her<br />way carefully over the food cartons strewn everywhere, hurrying towards<br />the steps.<br />They were halfway up the stairs, Greg one step behind Shari, when, above<br />them, Spidey stepped silently into view on the landing, blocking their<br />escape.<br />29<br />Greg blinked and shook his head, as if he could shake away the image of<br />the figure that stared darkly down at him.<br />"No!" Shari cried out, and fell back against Greg.<br />He grabbed for the railing, forgetting that it had fallen under Michael's<br />weight during their first unfortunate visit to the house. Luckily, Shari<br />regained her balance before toppling them both down the stairs.<br />Lightning flashed behind them, sending a flash of white light across the<br />stairway. But the unmoving figure on the landing above them remained<br />shrouded in darkness.<br />"Let us go!" Greg finally managed to cry, finding his voice.<br />"Yeah. We returned your camera!" Shari added, sounding shrill and<br />frightened.<br />Spidey didn't reply. Instead, he took a step towards them, onto the first<br />step. And then he descended another step.<br />Nearly stumbling again, Greg and Shari backed down to the basement floor.<br />The wooden stairs squeaked in protest as the dark figure stepped slowly,<br />steadily, down. As he reached the basement floor, a crackling bolt of<br />lightning cast a blue light over him, and Greg and Shari saw his face for<br />the first time.<br />In the brief flash of color, they saw that he was old, older than they<br />had imagined. That his eyes were small and round like dark marbles. That<br />his mouth was small, too, pursed in a tight, menacing grimace.<br />"We returned the camera," Shari said, staring in fear as Spidey crept<br />closer. "Can't we go now? Please?"<br />"Let me see," Spidey said. His voice was younger than his face, warmer<br />than his eyes. "Come."<br />They hesitated. But he gave them no choice.<br />Ushering them back across the cluttered floor to the worktable, he<br />wrapped his large, spidery hand over the vise and turned the handle. The<br />door opened. He pulled out the camera and held it close to his face to<br />examine it.<br />"You shouldn't have taken it," he told them, speaking softly, turning the<br />camera in his hands.<br />"We're sorry," Shari said quickly.<br />"Can we go now?" Greg asked, edging towards the stairs.<br />"It's not an ordinary camera," Spidey said, raising his small eyes to<br />them.<br />"We know," Greg blurted out. "The pictures it took. They — "<br />Spidey's eyes grew wide, his expression angry. "You took pictures with<br />it?"<br />"Just a few," Greg told him, wishing he had kept his mouth shut. "They<br />didn't come out. Really."<br />"You know about the camera, then," Spidey said, moving quickly to the<br />center of the floor.<br />Was he trying to block their escape? Greg wondered.<br />"It's broken or something," Greg said uncertainly, shoving his hands into<br />his jeans pockets.<br />"It's not broken," the tall, dark figure said softly. "It's evil." He<br />motioned toward the low plywood table. "Sit there."<br />Shari and Greg exchanged glances. Then, reluctantly, they sat down on the<br />edge of the board, sitting stiffly, nervously, their eyes darting towards<br />the stairway, towards escape.<br />"The camera is evil," Spidey repeated, standing over them, holding the<br />camera in both hands. "I should know. I helped to create it."<br />"You're an inventor?" Greg asked, glancing at Shari, who was nervously<br />tugging at a strand of her black hair.<br />"I'm a scientist," Spidey replied. "Or, I should say, I was a scientist.<br />My name is Fredericks. Dr. Fritz Fredericks." He transferred the camera<br />from one hand to the other. "My lab partner invented this camera. It was<br />his pride and joy. More than that, it would have made him a fortune.<br />Would have, I say." He paused, a thoughtful expression sinking over his<br />face.<br />"What happened to him? Did he die?" Shari asked, still fiddling with the<br />strand of hair.<br />Dr. Fredericks snickered. "No. Worse. I stole the invention from him. I<br />stole the plans and the camera. I was evil, you see. I was young and<br />greedy. So very greedy. And I wasn't above stealing to make my fortune."<br />He paused, eyeing them both as if waiting for them to say something, to<br />offer their disapproval of him, perhaps. But when Greg and Shari remained<br />silent, staring up at him from the low plywood table, he continued his<br />story.<br />"When I stole the camera, it caught my partner by surprise.<br />Unfortunately, from then on, all of the surprises were mine." A strange,<br />sad smile twisted across his aged face. "My partner, you see, was much<br />more evil than I was."<br />Dr. Fredericks coughed into his hand, then began to pace in front of Greg<br />and Shari as he talked, speaking softly, slowly, as if remembering the<br />story for the first time in a long while.<br />"My partner was a true evil one. He dabbled in the dark arts. I should<br />correct myself. He didn't just dabble. He was quite a master of it all."<br />He held up the camera, waving it above his head, then lowering it. "My<br />partner put a curse on the camera. If he couldn't profit from it, he<br />wanted to make sure that I never would, either. And so he put a curse on<br />it."<br />He turned his gaze on Greg, leaning over him. "Do you know about how some<br />primitive peoples fear the camera? They fear the camera because they<br />believe that if it takes their picture, it will steal their soul." He<br />patted the camera. "Well, this camera really does steal souls."<br />Staring up at the camera, Greg shuddered.<br />The camera had stolen Shari away.<br />Would it have stolen all of their souls?<br />"People have died because of this camera," Dr. Fredericks said, uttering<br />a slow, sad sigh. "People close to me. That is how I came to learn of the<br />curse, to learn of the camera's evil. And then I learned something just<br />as frightening — the camera cannot be destroyed."<br />He coughed, cleared his throat noisily, and began to pace in front of<br />them again. "And so I vowed to keep the camera a secret. To keep it away<br />from people so it cannot do its evil. I lost my job. My family. I lost<br />everything because of it. But I am determined to keep the camera where it<br />can do no harm."<br />He stopped pacing with his back towards them. He stood silently,<br />shoulders hunched, lost in thought.<br />Greg quickly climbed to his feet and motioned for Shari to do the same.<br />"Well . . . uh . . . I guess it's good we returned it," he said<br />hesitantly. "Sorry we caused so much trouble."<br />"Yeah, we're very sorry," Shari repeated sincerely. "Guess it's back in<br />the right hands."<br />"Good-bye," Greg said, starting towards the steps. "It's getting late,<br />and we — "<br />"No!" Dr. Fredericks shouted, startling them both. He moved quickly to<br />block the way. "I'm afraid you can't go. You know too much."<br />30<br />"I can never let you leave," Dr. Fredericks said, his face flickering in<br />the blue glow of a lightning flash. He crossed his bony arms in front of<br />his black sweatshirt.<br />"But we won't tell anyone," Greg said, his voice rising until the words<br />became a plea. "Really."<br />"Your secret is good with us," Shari insisted, her frightened eyes on<br />Greg.<br />Dr. Fredericks stared at them menacingly, but didn't reply.<br />"You can trust us," Greg said, his voice quivering. He cast a frightened<br />glance at Shari.<br />"Besides," Shari said, "even if we did tell anyone, who would believe<br />us?"<br />"Enough talk," Dr. Fredericks snapped. "It won't do you any good. I've<br />worked too long and too hard to keep the camera a secret."<br />A rush of wind pushed against the windows, sending up a low howl. The<br />wind carried a drumroll of rain. The sky through the basement windows was<br />as black as night.<br />"You — can't keep us here forever!" Shari cried, unable to keep the<br />growing terror from her voice.<br />The rain pounded against the windows now, a steady downpour.<br />Dr. Fredericks drew himself up straight, seemed to grow taller. His tiny<br />eyes burned into Shari's. "I'm so sorry," he said, his voice a whisper of<br />regret. "So sorry. But I have no choice."<br />He took another step towards them.<br />Greg and Shari exchanged frightened glances. From where they stood, in<br />front of the low plywood table in the center of the basement, the steps<br />seemed a hundred miles away.<br />"Wh-what are you going to do?" Greg cried, shouting over a burst of<br />thunder that rattled the basement windows.<br />"Please — !" Shari begged. "Don't — !"<br />Dr. Fredericks moved forward with surprising speed. Holding the camera in<br />one hand, he grabbed Greg's shoulder with the other.<br />"No!" Greg screamed. "Let go!"<br />"Let go of him!" Shari screamed.<br />She suddenly realized that both of Dr. Frederick's hands were occupied.<br />This may be my only chance, she thought.<br />She took a deep breath and lunged forward.<br />Dr. Fredericks' eyes bulged, and he cried out in surprise as Shari<br />grabbed the camera with both hands and pulled it away from him. He made a<br />frantic grab for the camera, and Greg burst free.<br />Before the desperate man could take another step, Shari raised the camera<br />to her eye and pointed the lens at him.<br />"Please — no! Don't push the button!" the old man cried.<br />He lurched forward, his eyes wild, and grabbed the camera with both<br />hands.<br />Greg stared in horror as Shari and Dr. Fredericks grappled, both holding<br />onto the camera, each trying desperately to wrestle it away from the<br />other.<br />FLASH!<br />The bright burst of light startled them all.<br />Shari grabbed the camera. "Run!" she screamed.<br />31<br />The basement became a whirring blur of grays and blacks as Greg hurtled<br />himself towards the stairs.<br />He and Shari ran side by side, slipping over the food cartons, jumping<br />over tin cans and empty bottles.<br />Rain thundered against the windows. The wind howled, pushing against the<br />glass. They could hear Dr. Fredericks' anguished screams behind them.<br />"Did it take our picture or his?" Shari asked.<br />"I don't know. Just hurry!" Greg screamed.<br />The old man was howling like a wounded animal, his cries competing with<br />the rain and wind pushing at the windows.<br />The stairs weren't that far away. But it seemed to take forever to reach<br />them.<br />Forever.<br />Forever, Greg thought. Dr. Fredericks wanted to keep Shari and him down<br />there forever.<br />Panting loudly, they both reached the dark stairway. A deafening clap of<br />thunder made them stop and turn around.<br />"Huh?" Greg cried aloud.<br />To his shock, Dr. Fredericks hadn't chased after them.<br />And his anguished cries had stopped.<br />The basement was silent.<br />"What's going on?" Shari cried breathlessly.<br />Squinting back into the darkness, it took Greg a while to realize that<br />the dark, rumpled form lying on the floor in front of the worktable was<br />Dr. Fredericks.<br />"What happened?" Shari cried, her chest heaving as she struggled to catch<br />her breath. Still clinging to the camera strap, she gaped in surprise at<br />the old man's still body, sprawled on its back on the floor.<br />"I don't know," Greg replied in a breathless whisper.<br />Reluctantly, Greg started back towards Dr. Fredericks. Following close<br />behind, Shari uttered a low cry of horror when she clearly saw the fallen<br />man's face.<br />Eyes bulged out, the mouth open in a twisted O of terror, the face stared<br />up at them. Frozen. Dead.<br />Dr. Fredericks was dead.<br />"What — happened!" Shari finally managed to say, swallowing hard, forcing<br />herself to turn away from the ghastly, tortured face.<br />"I think he died of fright," Greg replied, squeezing her shoulder and not<br />even realizing it.<br />"Huh? Fright?"<br />"He knew better than anyone what the camera could do," Greg said. "When<br />you snapped his picture, I think . . . I think it scared him to death!"<br />"I only wanted to throw him off-guard," Shari cried. "I only wanted to<br />give us a chance to escape. I didn't think — "<br />"The picture," Greg interrupted. "Let's see the picture."<br />Shari raised the camera. The photo was still half-inside the camera. Greg<br />pulled it out with a trembling hand. He held it up so they could both see<br />it.<br />"Wow," he exclaimed quietly. "Wow."<br />The photo showed Dr. Fredericks lying on the floor, his eyes bulging, his<br />mouth frozen open in horror.<br />Dr. Fredericks' fright, Greg realized — the fright that had killed him —<br />was there, frozen on film, frozen on his face.<br />The camera had claimed another victim. This time, forever.<br />"What do we do now?" Shari asked, staring down at the figure sprawled at<br />their feet.<br />"First, I'm putting this camera back," Greg said, taking it from her and<br />shoving it back on its shelf. He turned the vise handle, and the door to<br />the secret compartment closed.<br />Greg breathed a sigh of relief. Hiding the dreadful camera away made him<br />feel so much better.<br />"Now, let's go home and call the police," he said.<br />Two days later, a cool, bright day with a gentle breeze rustling the<br />trees, the four friends stopped at the curb, leaning on their bikes, and<br />stared up at the Coffman house. Even in bright sunlight, the old trees<br />that surrounded the house covered it in shade.<br />"So you didn't tell the police about the camera?" Bird asked, staring up<br />at the dark, empty front window.<br />"No. They wouldn't believe it," Greg told him. "Besides, the camera<br />should stay locked up forever. Forever! I hope no one ever finds out<br />about it."<br />"We told the police we ran into the house to get out of the rain," Shari<br />added. "And we said we started to explore while we waited for the storm<br />to blow over. And we found the body in the basement."<br />"What did Spidey die of?" Michael asked, gazing up at the house.<br />"The police said it was heart failure," Greg told him. "But we know the<br />truth."<br />"Wow. I can't believe one old camera could do so much evil," Bird said.<br />"I believe it," Greg said quietly.<br />"Let's get out of here," Michael urged. He raised his sneakers to the<br />pedals and started to roll away. "This place really creeps me out."<br />The other three followed, pedaling away in thoughtful silence.<br />They had turned the corner and were heading up the next block when two<br />figures emerged from the back door of the Coffman house. Joey Ferris and<br />Mickey Ward stepped over the weed-choked lawn onto the driveway.<br />"Those jerks aren't too bright," Joey told his companion. "They never<br />even saw us the other day. Never saw us watching them through the<br />basement window."<br />Mickey laughed. "Yeah. They're jerks."<br />"They couldn't hide this camera from us. No way, man," Joey said. He<br />raised the camera and examined it.<br />"Take my picture," Mickey demanded. "Come on. Let's try it out."<br />"Yeah. Okay." Joey raised the viewfinder to his eye. "Say cheese."<br />A click. A flash. A whirring sound.<br />Joey pulled the snapshot from the camera, and both boys eagerly huddled<br />around it, waiting to see what developed.Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-84749732465351876982010-10-18T13:38:00.001-07:002010-10-18T13:46:44.321-07:00Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3489390891278938870.post-3517998548216476982010-10-14T16:56:00.000-07:002010-10-14T17:02:18.847-07:00Noite de tudo gigante :Quando Steven Sweeney faz 11 anos é levado a beber uma estranha mistura de produtos químicos,e as coisas começam a ficar estranhas, pois ele começa a encolher e seu terror começa aconteçer através de bolas de poeira gigantesca, pássaros enormes, e outros depois de aparentemente inofensivo, os itens de todos os dias podem ficar muito perigosos e ele pescisa chegar à casa do seu melhor amigo para te ajudar. <br /><br />Ainda não há imagem do livro mais estamos atentos.<br />Data de lançamento do livro nos (EUA):1 maio 2011Gabi Bertéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02066920013112298888noreply@blogger.com2