Midnight at the Haunted Hotel Read online

  It was music—creepy organ music—as though the organ pipes were playing all by themselves!

  “Please, let me explain!” Juliette called after the guests, but they continued to leave.

  “This kind of commotion is very unprofessional,” said one of the men from the historical committee.

  “What happened?” Henry asked.

  “I don’t know,” Juliette said. “The pipe organ just started playing all by itself. I don’t know how this could happen without the keyboard!”

  “Wait a minute,” Jessie said. She made her way through the crowd, and Henry, Violet, and Benny followed. They stopped next to an old record player near the wall of the lobby. The needle was spinning around a record that said, “The Greatest Works of Charles Ivy.”

  “The music isn’t coming from the organ at all,” Jessie said. “Even though it sounds like organ music.” She lifted up the record needle, and the music stopped.

  “Well, even if it’s not a ghost, it looks like it worked,” Henry said.

  Henry sighed. The children watched helplessly as the last guest ran out of the lobby.

  THE END

  TO FOLLOW A DIFFERENT PATH, GO TO PAGE 23.

  STICKING TOGETHER

  “Let’s stay together, Benny,” Jessie said. “The work will be easier and get done faster that way. Then when we’re done, we can go down to the kitchen for snacks.”

  Benny was disappointed but only for a moment. If they could get the work done faster, then they could have snacks faster too.

  “Okay!” he said.

  They finished sweeping the hall and set the broom and dustpan aside. Then they walked up and down the halls looking at the locks on the doors. Each of the rooms had new locks. None of them matched the mystery key. Just when Benny was about to ask if they could go down to the kitchen, he heard a noise. It sounded like jingling!

  Benny grabbed Jessie’s hand. He remembered Alex’s ghost story and imagined the ghost of the boy wandering the halls and jangling his keys.

  “Jessie, do you hear that?” he asked.

  Jessie listened closely.

  “Yes, I do,” she said after a moment. “It sounds like keys, or maybe a little bell. I think it’s coming from the third floor. Let’s check it out.”

  Jessie and Benny followed the noise upstairs. The third floor was dark and quiet.

  “Hello?” Jessie called into the shadows. “Anyone up here?”

  “Shh!” said Benny. “I hear the jangling again!”

  Both of them covered their mouths and listened. They could hear the metallic sound of jingling. And not only that, but the clunking sounds of heavy footsteps.

  “The Lost Composer!” Benny whispered.

  “I’m not so sure,” Jessie said. She could hear something else besides the jingling and footsteps. It sounded like whispering. “Come on. Let’s check it out together.”

  Benny followed Jessie, holding on to her sleeve as she walked down the hall. In the dark, all the old furniture and paintings were much spookier than the ones downstairs. The children’s footsteps tap-tap-tapped on the wood floor. The jingling and stomping got louder.

  At the end of the hallway was a big mirror. It was very old and so dusty that Benny could hardly see his reflection in it. He stepped up to the mirror and wiped some of the dust away with his hand. Then he jumped when the mirror’s glass flickered, as if a shadow had passed through it! Before he could tell Jessie, she called to him.

  “Benny, over here,” she said. She was pointing to one of the doors closest to the end of the hall. It was cracked open, and Benny could see the lights flickering inside. The jingling became louder, and Benny could hear a deep voice coming from inside the room.

  “Oooooh! Oooooh!” said the voice in a low moan. It sounded just like a ghost!

  Benny shook Jessie’s hand. “It’s the ghost,” he said. “He’s in that room! What will happen if he finds us? Will he take the key?”

  Jessie wasn’t afraid. In fact, she walked right up to the door and opened it.

  “It’s not a ghost at all, Benny,” said Jessie.

  Benny peeked around the door.

  Inside were two teenagers with a video camera. One was filming while the other was standing near the light switch, flipping it on and off. They had a ring of keys hanging from the ceiling on a string so it looked like they were floating.

  “See, Benny? It’s just people making a video,” said Jessie.

  The teenagers were startled to see Jessie and Benny.

  “Oh!” said the girl with the camera. “You scared me! I didn’t see you there.”

  “You scared me too!” Benny said. “I thought you were a ghost.”

  “I wish,” said the boy standing by the light switch. He was wearing heavy shoes, and when he stepped away from the switch, his steps were loud and clunking. Just like Benny had heard from the hallway. “Then we could film a real ghost instead of having to fake it.”

  “Sorry we scared you,” added the girl. “I’m Kylie, and this is my brother, Luke.”

  “You’re making a movie about ghosts?” Jessie asked.

  Luke nodded. “Yeah. Our aunt Anita works here and told us all about the stories of the Lost Composer. We wanted to get footage of a real ghost…but we haven’t had any luck.”

  “So we decided to make a video anyway,” Kylie said. “Have you heard about the Lost Composer?”

  “Yeah, I know all about the Lost Composer!” Benny said. “But the keys are supposed to be invisible. The ghost story says whenever people hear the keys, they look in the hallway but no one’s there!”

  Luke sighed again, and Kylie made a smug face.

  “I told you they were supposed to be invisible,” she said.

  “I think we’ll get more likes on our video if the keys are floating,” said Luke. “It’s more dramatic.”

  “Not if you can see the string. I told you we should have used fishing line!” said Kylie.

  “Say,” Jessie said, trying to get their attention. “You two didn’t write a message to Juliette about some keys, did you?”

  “What?” Kylie asked. “No, what do you mean?”

  “Someone wrote a message trying to frighten Juliette into giving over some keys.”

  Luke frowned. “No way. We’d never try to scare Juliette.”

  “I think they’re telling the truth,” Benny whispered to Jessie. “Plus, Juliette would never be tricked by keys hanging from the ceiling on string.”

  Benny was right. It didn’t seem like Luke and Kylie had written the message, so Jessie waved good-bye. “Well, we’ll let you get back to your ghost movie,” she said. “Good luck getting a lot of likes.”

  As they left the room, Benny looked at the big mirror at the end of the hallway again. This time, instead of a shadow, he saw a cat!

  “Jessie, the mirror!” he said.

  Jessie gasped. She saw it too! Kylie and Luke hurried over. All four of them could see the shape of a cat in the reflection of the mirror, but there was no cat in the hallway. The cat in the mirror had long, black fur and bright yellow eyes. And it was staring right at them!

  “I’ve got to get this on film!” Kylie said. But before she could start recording on her camera, the cat jumped away and disappeared.

  “Did you guys do that?” Jessie asked. “Is that part of your ghost video?”

  “No way! We don’t have the technology for that!” said Luke. His eyes were big like he’d seen a ghost. Maybe they had. “I think we just saw a real one!”

  “This is Room 322, after all,” Kylie whispered. “It’s right above Room 222, where Aunt Anita says guests used to report loud knocking and jangling noises in the night. We were hoping if we stayed here we’d hear them, but now I don’t know if I want to!”

  Jessie and Benny glanced at each other when Kylie mentioned Room 222. That was the room they were supposed to take the keys to, according to the message Juliette had received.

  “Let’s all start by going downstairs a
nd away from this creepy mirror,” Jessie said.

  Benny nodded. Jessie always had good ideas, and that was the best one he’d heard that day. The four of them left the dark hallway and went downstairs. When they reached the grand staircase on the second floor, they could see down into the lobby. Guests were slowly arriving.

  “I’ve changed my mind,” said Luke. “If this hotel really is haunted, I don’t think I want to stay here.”

  “Me either,” said Kylie. “It was nice meeting you two, but I think we’re going to go home. See you.”

  Kylie and Luke waved and hurried down the stairs. Jessie shook her head. She and her siblings had seen some pretty amazing things in the past, but she still couldn’t explain the sight of the cat in the mirror. She reminded herself there had to be a reasonable explanation.

  Benny saw Henry and Violet putting away their cleaning supplies and heading toward the kitchen.

  “Jessie, look. Henry and Violet are going to the kitchen,” Benny said.

  “We both know what that means,” Jessie said. She was excited to share what they’d seen with Henry and Violet. “Snack time!”

  CONTINUE TO PAGE 53

  THE BASEMENT

  Henry carried the vacuum to the lobby, and Violet brought window cleaner and paper towels. While Henry vacuumed the entryway carpets, Violet cleaned the windows that faced the driveway until they were sparkling and clear. Then they both helped Alex prop open the front doors so the hotel would be inviting when the guests arrived.

  “Do you really think the hotel is haunted?” Violet asked Alex as they stood back and looked at the entrance to the hotel. With the doors open and all the decorations, it looked fabulous. Henry finished tying some balloons to the handrails leading up to the doors.

  “I don’t know,” said Alex. “I grew up in town, so we always told ghost stories about the mansion when we were kids. It’s very well known in the area, and a lot of teens would sneak in searching for ghosts back when it was old Charles Gardner running the hotel.”

  “Did you ever hear the jingling of the Lost Composer’s keys?” Henry asked.

  Alex laughed. “No,” he said. “But I did get lost in the hedge maze once.”

  “The hedge maze!” Violet said. “What’s that?”

  Henry and Violet followed him around to the side of the mansion. The back of the hotel reminded Henry of Grandfather’s garden, where their boxcar was. The Gardner Hotel had a big garden filled with well-trimmed hedges that formed a maze. The green walls of the maze were tall enough that when Henry stood next to one, the hedge came up to his shoulders.

  “Wow!” said Henry. “I’ve never seen a real hedge maze.”

  “It’s just like something out of Alice in Wonderland,” Violet said. She was shorter than Henry, so the hedge was almost as tall as she was. She reached out and touched the waxy green leaves. The walls were made out of holly and were quite prickly.

  “Maybe we can explore it tomorrow morning,” Henry said. “Grandfather said we could spend the night. But for now, we should probably get back inside and keep looking for the lock that matches this key. I’d like to get to the bottom of this mystery well before midnight.”

  They headed back toward the front entrance of the hotel. As they came around the side of the hotel, Violet noticed a strange wooden door that looked like it might open right into the ground. “What’s that?” she asked

  “I think that’s a cellar door,” Henry said. “Grandfather’s house has one too, out in the garden.”

  “Yes, the door leads to an old cellar in the basement. But no one uses the cellar anymore,” Alex said. Then he checked his watch. “Uh-oh, I should get back to work.”

  “Is there another way to get into the basement?” Henry asked. “I thought we could search there to see if this key goes to anything.”

  “Yes, there’s another door that goes to the basement inside the hotel,” said Alex. “But we keep that door locked too. I’ll try to find Juliette and ask if she’ll give me the keys so I can let you in. I’ll come find you then.”

  Henry was about to follow Alex inside when Violet tapped him on the arm. She walked over to the old cellar door.

  “Look,” she said. Violet pointed at the door’s latch. It was hanging open. “The latch is open, but didn’t Alex just say no one uses the cellar anymore?”

  “Hmm, you’re right,” Henry said. “Let’s take a look.”

  Henry stooped and pulled open the heavy door. Behind it was a set of stairs leading down into cellar.

  “Are you sure it’s safe?” Violet asked.

  “Yes. Just be careful on the stairs,” Henry said.

  The two of them felt their way down into the dark and damp cellar. The room was empty, like Alex had said—no secret locks for the mysterious old keys. Using the light streaming in from the open door, Henry and Violet made their way across the room to another door, which opened into the basement hallway.

  Henry found a light switch and turned it on. Even with the light, it was dim. The hallway smelled musty and reminded Henry of Grandfather’s basement. The walls were gray brick, and the floor was concrete. There were cobwebs in every corner.

  On one end of the hallway, stairs led up into the hotel. At the other end was a big metal door.

  Violet saw a spider scurry across the floor and took a step closer to Henry.

  “Don’t worry,” said Henry. “Even in old mansions, all basements seem the same, don’t they? Dark and a bit creepy. Other than that, it’s just like any old basement. If we can find what the mystery keys unlock, we’ll be one step closer to finding out who wrote that message and what they want.”

  “It does seem like the kind of place we might find something with an old lock,” she said, nodding.

  “Wow, look at these footprints,” Henry said. The prints were muddy gray and led right up to the big metal door. Henry crouched down and noticed hot air blowing across the floor. It was coming from the metal door, which was open slightly. “I think these prints are fresh,” he said.

  Violet crouched next to him. “How do you know?”

  “If the prints were old, the mud would have dried a long time ago from this hot air,” he said. “But the mud is still wet.”

  Henry pushed the door open. “Hello?” he called. “Anybody down here?”

  There was a big metal boiler at the far end of the room. On the wall were electrical panels and a fuse box.

  “The hot air must be coming from the boiler,” Violet said, looking at the big metal contraption. “It doesn’t seem like it should be blowing all that air and making those sounds.”

  “Let’s check it out,” Henry said. “If the boiler’s broken, that would be pretty bad. And I bet Juliette is probably too busy with the grand opening to notice.”

  The air got hotter as they got closer. A wrench was hanging from a bolt on the boiler, as if someone had been trying to adjust it, and the doors to the fuse boxes were open.

  “Maybe that’s why the cellar door was open. Was someone trying to fix the boiler?” Henry wondered out loud. It was quite warm.

  Violet didn’t see anything that had a lock on it.

  “Let’s go back upstairs and find Jessie and Benny,” said Violet. “There’s something weird going on down here, and I don’t like it.”

  “There are just a few nuts loose,” said Henry. “I think I might be able to tighten them myself.” Then he hesitated. He had helped Grandfather fix some things in their boiler room at home, but he wasn’t sure if he knew what he was doing.

  Henry turned to Violet. “Maybe you’re right and we should go back and tell Juliette. What do you think?”

  IF HENRY TRIES TO FIX THE BOILER, GO TO PAGE 50.

  IF HENRY AND VIOLET SHUT THE BOILER ROOM DOOR AND GO BACK UPSTAIRS, GO TO PAGE 53.

  FIXING THE BOILER

  “You really think you can fix it?” Violet asked.

  “I’ll give it a try,” Henry decided. He picked up the wrench. Suddenly, the lights went out. It was
pitch dark! Violet grabbed Henry’s hand. Through the inky shadows she heard something. It sounded like the jingling of keys!

  “Could it be the Lost Composer?” she whispered.

  “That’s just a ghost story,” Henry said. He held Violet’s hand and felt along the wall with his other hand. He was calm. He called into the shadows, “Who’s up there? Hello?”

  “Bring the keys to Room 222 by midnight,” came a deep, low whisper. “Or I’ll scare all the guests out of the hotel!”

  “Who are you?” Henry called. “Why do you want to ruin the grand opening?”

  The voice didn’t answer. Henry and Violet both heard the jangling of keys again, and then wood creaking from the cellar door. A moment later there was a loud SLAM.

  “Oh no, Henry!” Violet said. “The cellar door!”

  They found the door, but it was too late. They heard someone close the latch from the outside. The door into the garden was locked shut. Henry grunted and felt along the wall for the light switch. After a moment, he found it. They both let out sighs of relief. Violet felt her heart pounding.

  “That was scary!” she said.

  “I know,” said Henry. “I’m glad we’re all right, even if the door out is shut. Come on. Let’s try the door at the top of the stairs. The one that goes into the hotel.”

  Violet followed Henry up the old, creaky stairs. Henry tried the door, but it was locked, just like Alex had said. Through the door, they could hear distant voices of people inside the hotel, but no one was close enough to hear them when Henry pounded on the thick door.

  “Whoever was down here sure didn’t want us to find out who they were,” Henry said. “We were so close! Now we’ll have to wait for Alex to find those keys and hope he tries looking for us down here. But with the party going on, it could be a while.”

  Henry and Violet sat down on the stairs to wait until they heard someone come by. They would never solve the mystery now!

  THE END