Ghost Invasion Read online

  “Okay,” Carlos said a few seconds later. “Let’s go.” He took the first step and the others followed close behind. At the barn door he turned and put his finger to his lips before he began to ease it open.

  Inside the barn it was very dark. As Carlos began to feel his way down the aisle that ran between the stalls, he could feel Eddy and Bucky close behind him. A few feet farther on he stopped and listened. Except for the distant moan of the wind and a shuffling noise up in the loft, it was very silent.

  “What’s that noise?” Bucky breathed in his ear.

  “Pigeons,” Carlos whispered back. “I think it’s just the pigeons.”

  “I don’t hear Kate and Aurora,” Eddy said. “Do you suppose they’re not here yet?”

  “Maybe not,” Carlos said. “Maybe they’re waiting till midnight or something.”

  “It’s dark in here,” Bucky said. “Let’s go on up in the loft. It’s lighter up there. We can wait for them in the loft.”

  “Okay,” Carlos said. “We can wait up there. But remember. Be very quiet.”

  Bucky was the first one up the ladder, but Eddy and Carlos were close behind. Bucky was right—it was lighter up in the loft. Pale reddish rays of sunset light filtered in through gaping holes in the roof and walls and slanted down between pools of darkness. Pigeons cooed and shuffled on the roof beams. And—high above their heads small dark shadows flittered and flickered everywhere.

  “Bats,” Eddy said in a whisper that turned into a squeak.

  “Yeah, I see them,” Bucky said. “You’re not afraid of—” Suddenly Bucky’s voice faded away and then returned in a frantic squeal. “Look!”

  Carlos followed Bucky’s pointing finger downward, down to the floor of the loft, where something ghostly white was rising. Rising right through the floorboards. As the three of them watched, horror-stricken, a round head with huge dark eyes, followed by a shapeless white body, rose through the floor—rose above it—and continued to rise right up toward the roof of the barn.

  As if frozen to the spot, they went on staring as the unearthly shape drifted silently upward. But when the ghost suddenly began to twist and turn and flail the air, the spell was broken and, as one person, they broke and ran. Ran for the ladder as if their lives depended on it.

  Carlos got there first, but Bucky jerked him away and started down ahead of him. His feet must have slipped halfway down, because Eddy and Carlos, coming down more or less at the same time, found him lying on the floor. They found him by landing on top of him. A second later all three of them were racing madly for the barn door.

  Chapter 16

  AS SHE FOLLOWED AURORA down the front steps of the Andersons’ house, Kate was boiling inside. She was so mad that when Aurora turned to wave good-bye to Mrs. A., she almost didn’t. But she finally did, because actually she was a lot angrier at Aurora than she was at Mrs. A.

  At the front gate Aurora turned again. “Look,” she said. “Mrs. A. blew out her jack-o’-lantern. I guess she thinks Halloween is over.”

  Kate didn’t look back, but she didn’t look at Aurora either. She was too mad. She was still staring off into space when she realized that Aurora had changed direction. Instead of going out the gate, she was heading across the lawn toward the backyard—and the old barn.

  “Hey,” Kate said, “where do you think you’re going?”

  Aurora stopped and turned around. “To the barn.” She sounded surprised. “We’re going to the barn, aren’t we?”

  “Why?” Kate’s voice was high and tight. “Why should we go all that way to see ghosts that aren’t going to be there? And never were going to be there.”

  Aurora didn’t answer. Instead she just stood very still, looking thin and pale and almost ghostly herself. Ghostlike or angel-like, in her flowing white robe, with her huge mop of hair exploding out from under the wreath of olive leaves like a crinkly halo.

  “What are you angry about?” she asked finally in her soft, breathy voice. “I didn’t know for sure whether the Addie ghost was real or not. Not till Mrs. A. told us.” She paused for a minute. “Most of the time I thought Bettina had made it all up, but sometimes I wasn’t sure.”

  “You should have told me you thought she was lying,” Kate said. “Why didn’t you?”

  Aurora didn’t answer right away. When she did, all she said was “I don’t know. There was something there, though. Someone …” Aurora’s face got the faraway, dreamy look it always got when she was having a mysterious feeling. “Not someone who died there, though. Someone who was happy there.” She paused, staring into space with cloudy eyes. “Yes. Where she was happiest.”

  Kate found herself nodding—believing in Aurora’s feelings, like always. But then she remembered why she was angry. She made a huffing noise and said, “Well, anyway. You should have told me.” She huffed again and yanked her gypsy kerchief farther down over her forehead. She glanced at her watch and then looked up at the darkening sky. “It’s probably too late to go trick-or-treating, anyway. Do you want to go to the barn or not? I’ve got a flashlight.”

  “Yes,” Aurora said without hesitating. “I want to go to the barn. I think we should—”

  “Should what?”

  “I think we should be there. Soon. I think we should be there very soon.”

  They hurried then, through the Andersons’ backyard and into the old pine forest. They were almost to the barn when Aurora stopped suddenly and clutched Kate’s arm. “Listen,” she said. “Someone’s coming.”

  At that very moment Kate began to hear it too. Running feet, pounding louder and louder, and then other sounds—breathless gasps and pants and wheezes. And suddenly there they were. Three terrible, gruesome figures, with large inhuman heads, were running through the forest. Running so fast they almost crashed into Kate and Aurora before they came to a frantic, sliding stop.

  “Ghost!” gasped one of them, pointing back the way they had come. His weird skull-shaped head swiveled around and then turned back. “Ghost!” he gurgled once more, and then they were running again—this time in three different directions. The pounding feet and breathless panting faded away into the distance, leaving Kate and Aurora staring after them, clutching each other’s arms.

  When Kate found her voice she whispered, “Who—Who—What was that?”

  Aurora made a strange noise that almost sounded like a giggle. “I’m not sure, but I think one of them was Bucky Brockhurst.”

  “Bucky?” Kate was amazed. She considered the possibilities and then went on. “Yeah, maybe it was. The PROs. All three of them. But they weren’t dressed like that before. Remember? They were just crummy-looking tramps.”

  “I know. They weren’t dressed like that before,” Aurora agreed. “But I’m pretty sure they are now. The big one—you know—the one with all the bloody bones? The one that said ‘Ghost’? I’m pretty sure that was Bucky Brockhurst.”

  “How do you know?” Kate asked.

  “I don’t know. I guess it must have sounded like him.”

  They stared at each other for several seconds before Kate said, “Those crummy PROs. What were they doing out here? I thought they went off trick-or-treating with the rest of the Castle Court kids.”

  Aurora nodded. “I thought so too.” She thought for a moment. “Why do you suppose Bucky said ‘Ghost’?”

  “Yeah. I was wondering that too.”

  They both turned then, toward the barn. “Ghost?” Kate whispered again and Aurora nodded. Then they both started walking swiftly toward the barn.

  In the first passageway it was even darker than usual. Kate took out her flashlight and turned it on. “Okay?” she whispered. Aurora nodded.

  As they approached the big stall across from the ladder, Kate found herself tiptoeing and holding her breath. They were almost there, the tiny spot of light was shining on the stall door, when they both stopped in midstep.

  “Voices,” Aurora breathed.

  Kate nodded. She had heard them too.

 
; “In the loft,” Aurora said. “Someone’s in the loft.” They both turned toward the ladder.

  “I’ll go first,” Kate said, but Aurora was already on her way up.

  It was dark everywhere now, even in the loft. Almost as dark as down below. At first Kate could see nothing. She moved the narrow beam of her flashlight from side to side, watching the spot of light moving across familiar wooden walls and bales of straw.

  But then suddenly she heard Aurora say something. What she said was “Ari?”

  Kate brought the beam of her flashlight back to Aurora’s face and then followed her wide-eyed stare to where … to where it was shining on two small figures standing side by side in the middle of the loft—a small caveman and an even smaller astronaut.

  “Ari?” Aurora said again. “What are you doing here?”

  “Aurora.” Ari sounded a little bit frantic, but also relieved. “Come on, Web. It’s just my sister.”

  As the two of them came toward Kate and Aurora, Kate shone her light on their faces. They looked nervous—twitchy-faced and jumpy.

  “Was that you?” Ari asked. “Just a minute ago. Was all that noise just the two of you?”

  “What noise?” Aurora asked.

  “Running,” Ari said. “Running and shouting and a lot of bangs and thuds. Like somebody falling down the ladder. We heard all this noise coming from up here. It sounded like a lot of people, but when we got here we didn’t see anything. All we heard were footsteps—running away.”

  Kate chuckled. “That,” she said, “was probably the PROs. We saw them just before we got here, and they were running, all right. Boy! Were they ever running.”

  “Yes,” Aurora said. “I wonder what scared them. Do you know what scared them, Ari?”

  “Well,” Ari said. “Hmmm. Well, I guess …” He paused and started over again. “Well, it might have been …”

  While Ari was deciding what not to say, Kate had gone back to flashing her light around the loft. Across the bales of straw and up to where the pigeons were making their usual evening noises. The beam moved on across the ceiling, but all of a sudden it stopped and came back. Back to where …

  “Carson!” Kate yelled. “You come down from there. This very minute.”

  Chapter 17

  WHEN KATE YELLED FOR Carson to come down, the ghostly figure jerked, kicked, and twisted. And then Carson’s funny, squeaky voice floated down from way up above their heads. “I can’t!” he yelled. “I can’t find the button.”

  “The button?” Kate yelled back. “What are you talking about? What button?” She turned to Ari and Web and her voice sounded super-angry.

  Grabbing Web, Ari pulled him back out of reach of a karate chop. “Tell her, Web,” he said hastily. “Tell her about the escape button.”

  “I made it special,” Web said quickly. “All you have to do is push it a little and the helium is released. You know. From the balloon. It’s released very slowly, so you just float down to earth.”

  “Balloon?” Kate said. “What balloon?” She shone the beam of her flashlight up again to where the ghostly white figure seemed to be hanging in open space. And then on up to where, even in the direct beam of the flashlight, it was just barely possible to see a shiny black blob a couple of feet above the ghostly Carson’s head.

  “There. That black plastic thing,” Web said. “It’s a weather balloon. It’s full of helium.”

  Kate grabbed Web by the shoulder. “Look,” she said. “What do you think you’re doing? Using Carson for one of your crazy experiments. I ought to—”

  “It wasn’t my idea,” Web said quickly. “All I asked Carson was if he wanted to help me with my atmospheric studies. It was his idea to use the balloon for bat catching.” Web squirmed in Kate’s grasp and tried to look up to where Carson was still twisting and kicking beneath the black balloon. “Tell her, Carson,” Web called. “Tell her it was your idea.”

  Suddenly Kate began to get it. Bat catching. Yeah, she should have guessed. She should have remembered how Carson had freaked out the day she and Aurora took him to the barn. He’d gotten the same look in his eyes that he’d had when he’d first seen Slinky in the pet shop. So it really wasn’t entirely Web’s fault. She knew from experience that arguing with Carson when he got that look in his eyes was about as useful as trying to argue a bone away from a pit bull.

  “Okay,” she said. She turned loose of Web’s shoulder and lowered her karate-chopping hand. “So it was Carson’s idea. But it’s your balloon. You got him up there so you get him down. And I mean right now!”

  Just at that moment Aurora gasped—and then giggled.

  “What?” Kate said. “What’s funny?”

  “That’s why they were running,” Aurora said. “The PROs. I’ll bet they saw Carson floating up there and—”

  Ari started to laugh too. “Yeah,” he said between snickers. “And it must have been them we heard yelling and falling down the ladder. They must have been up here in the loft when Carson came floating up the hay chute and—”

  “The hay chute?” Aurora asked.

  “Yes. Not this one. That one over there. Web and I were going to launch Carson from up here in the loft, but we couldn’t get the helium tank up the ladder. So then I thought of inflating the balloon down there in the stable and letting Carson float right on up the chute. It worked great too. Didn’t it, Web?”

  Ari stopped and thought for a minute and then chuckled. “The PROs must have seen him come floating up out of the chute and—”

  They all cracked up then, even Kate. And when Aurora told how Bucky had pointed back over his shoulder and gasped, “Ghost!” they broke up all over again. Kate laughed as hard as anybody, but after a minute she stopped and said, “Yeah. And now all we have to do is find a way to get him back down. Preferably in one piece.”

  For a minute they all stood looking up to where Carson was still twisting and squirming in the beam of Kate’s flashlight.

  “Come on, you guys,” Kate said. “You better put your heads together and come up with something. And I mean fast!”

  So they tried. Standing around in a circle, they all scratched their heads and chewed on their fingernails, but for several minutes no one had anything to say. At last Web said, “My dad has this really tall painter’s ladder in our garage. Maybe we could bring it over here and climb up and—”

  “Sure,” Kate said. “It would be morning by that time. And what are you going to tell your dad when he hears us opening your garage door?”

  Web shrugged and nodded. “Yeah. You’re right, I guess.”

  Then Ari had an idea. “Hey,” he said. “I could go to the Brockhursts’ and ask Bucky for …” He stopped and considered and went on, “I could go find Athena”—Athena was the only Castle Court kid whom Bucky had never slugged—“and get her to go to the Brockhursts’ and ask Bucky for his BB gun. And then I could bring it back here and shoot—”

  “And shoot Carson?” Kate finished for him. “Because that’s what you’d probably do. No thanks, Pappas. Any other good ideas? Because I’m about to run out of patience.”

  Just then there was a soft thud only a few feet away. As they all whirled around, Kate’s flashlight beam shone right on a short white ghost. It was Carson, back on the loft floor, safe and sound, still wearing his ghost costume and clutching his butterfly net.

  “I found the button,” he said. “Can we do it again? I didn’t catch anything.”

  Chapter 18

  WHEN CARSON SAID, “CAN we do it again?” Kate grabbed him by the back of his sheet and began to shove him across the loft floor, trailing leather straps and the big black balloon behind them. “You’re going right home, Carson Nicely. Right this minute.”

  “Hey, wait a second,” Web said. “I want my balloon back.”

  “Well, come and get it, then,” Kate said, and she stopped long enough for Web to unbuckle the leather straps. But when Web said, “Carson promised to help me. Can’t he help me get my helium tank home?
” Kate only grabbed Carson again and pushed him toward the ladder.

  “Not a chance,” she said over her shoulder. “This kid is through with helium forever. I mean, he is a reformed helium user.”

  “I’ll help you, Web,” Ari said. “We got it over here by ourselves. We can get it back.”

  So Web followed Kate and Carson down the ladder and Ari followed Web. Aurora came last.

  Ari and Web disappeared into the second row of stalls and Kate was pushing Carson out through the barn door when she suddenly realized that Aurora wasn’t right behind her. Pulling Carson to a stop, she went back into the barn and shone her flashlight all around the dark passageway—but still ho Aurora.

  “You stay here,” she told Carson. “I’m going back to get Aurora. I’ll be right back.”

  “Where is Aurora?” Carson asked.

  “I don’t know,” Kate said, but she really did. At least she had a pretty good idea.

  Sure enough, there Aurora was, standing on tiptoe peering over the door of the big box stall. When the beam of the flashlight found her she turned to face Kate.

  “I’m coming,” she said, and then turned quickly back toward the dark stall.

  “Good-bye,” Kate heard her whisper. “Goodbye, Liza.”

  Turn the page to continue reading from the Castle Court Kids series

  Chapter 1

  KATE NICELY CHECKED HER watch for the umpteenth time and then twisted around to look out the back window of the car. And for the umpteenth time Fifi had to look too. Standing on her skimpy hind legs, she shoved a face full of apricot-colored fuzz under Kate’s nose and yipped mournfully. “Cool it, you dumb poodle” Kate told her. “Whining isn’t going to help.”

  Kate looked at her watch again and frowned—a fierce Karate Kate scowl. She was getting more frustrated by the minute, and having a frantic poodle whining in her ear wasn’t helping any either. Fifi always hated it when Kate’s mom went off and left her in the car, but this time she seemed more hysterical than usual. And, to make matters worse, Carson, Kate’s eight-year-old worrywart of a brother, had been slightly hysterical too—at least until a few minutes ago.