The Howling Ghost Read online

  Cindy did what Watch instructed. Soon she was inching her way toward Adam. The ends of her blond hair brushed the tips of the small waves. Adam wanted to say something to encourage her, but couldn’t think of anything—especially with Sally glaring at him.

  Adam just didn’t understand Sally. She had been the one who wanted to help Cindy in the first place. Just because he said a few nice things about Cindy was no reason for Sally to get so jealous. Adam didn’t even know what there was to be jealous about. They were kids and weren’t into relationships. He wasn’t even sure what the word meant.

  “Just a few more feet,” Adam said finally when Cindy was almost across. When her feet were above the stones, he reached out and helped her off the rope. She stood beside him and caught her breath.

  “That was scary,” she said.

  “How long have you lived in Spooksville?” he asked.

  “Two months. How about you?”

  “Two weeks. We moved because of my dad’s job.”

  Cindy’s face fell. “We moved because my dad died.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry.”

  “His family had a house here that we stay in for free.” Cindy shrugged weakly. “We had nowhere else to go.”

  “You don’t have any other brothers or sisters? Beside Neil?”

  “No.”

  “Hey!” Sally called from across the water, her hand on the rope. “Stop talking and get ready to rescue me if I fall in.”

  “I can’t wait to rescue you again,” Adam called back.

  Sally took longer to cross than Cindy. Actually, she complained so much the whole way it was amazing she had enough strength left to hold on to the rope. But finally she was standing beside them.

  “I hope we’re not in a hurry on the way back,” Sally said.

  Watch was over in a few moments. The rope was strong; it hardly even sagged under Watch’s weight. As long as there were no great whites in the area, they decided, they should have a safe return trip.

  As a group, they entered the lighthouse. The ground floor was basically empty. Except for the storage area, and a bunch of spider webs, there was only dust. The spiral stairway seemed to wait for them, daring them, if they had the nerve, to climb its many steps into darkness. Adam gestured above.

  “I wish we had at least one flashlight,” he said.

  “When we left home we were just going for doughnuts,” Watch said. He tested the metal steps with both his hands. “The stairway appears strong enough. I bet it leads up to a door of some kind.”

  “Why do you say that?” Sally asked.

  “It’s dark in here,” Watch explained. “But the lighthouse windows are not boarded up. You can see that from the outside. There must be a floor of some kind above us that blocks us from the windows.” He stepped onto the stairway. “I guess we’ll see in a few minutes.”

  “Should we go up together?” Sally asked, glancing around nervously.

  “You can stay here all by yourself,” Adam said, following Watch onto the steps. “But you’ve seen enough horror films to know what happens when you’re all alone in a dark place.”

  “I grew up in this town,” Sally snapped. “I watch horror films to relax before I go to sleep.” She put a foot onto the stairway. “I just hope these steps don’t suddenly end.”

  “It would be a long fall,” Watch agreed, taking the lead.

  “I just hope my brother’s up there,” Cindy said quietly, walking a step behind Adam.

  The hike up the stairs was very hard. They were panting within a few minutes. And the floor looked so far away so quickly; it made Adam dizzy to look down. Also, it was unnerving to climb into blackness. Occasionally a spider web would settle over their faces and make them jump. Adam wished he had a Bic lighter or something to see with. The higher they climbed, the darker it got, and the warmer. Adam was about to call for Watch to stop and rest when Watch shouted, “Ouch!” He was practically invisible in the dark.

  “We’ve reached the top,” Watch said, rubbing the top of his head.

  “Is there a door?” Sally asked, crowding up between Adam and Cindy.

  “I smashed my head against something—I hope it’s a door,” Watch said. “Stay cool, I’m about to pound it with my fist to try to open it.”

  Watch pounded on what sounded like a wooden door several times without success.

  “You might want to use your head,” Sally suggested. “You had better luck with it.”

  “Maybe there’s a lock,” Cindy said, slipping past Adam, who could hardly see her. Adam listened for a moment while Watch and Cindy ran their fingers over the wooden door above them. Then suddenly there was a click and a ray of light struck Adam’s face. It was coming from outside, through the windows at the top of the lighthouse. Cindy and Watch had pushed open the trapdoor.

  As a group, they climbed into the top of the lighthouse.

  It was dusty as well, and there were cobwebs everywhere. The dust lay particularly thick on the huge metal mirror that curved behind the giant searchlight that stood in the center of the room. Watch drew his finger over the mirror, and Adam was surprised to see how shiny the metal was beneath the dust. The twin bulbs that formed the heart of the searchlight were not covered by glass; they bulged near the center of the mirror like two watchful eyes. Watch studied the searchlight for a moment, checking on the wires that led to it.

  “This thing hasn’t been turned on in years,” he said finally.

  Cindy was disturbed. “It came on two days ago.”

  “Are you sure the light came from here?” Adam asked.

  “Positive,” Cindy said.

  Watch was doubtful. “These wires are worn. I don’t think they’re capable of carrying an electrical current.”

  “I know what I saw,” Cindy insisted. She scanned the rest of the room. “He must be here somewhere,” she said softly, desperately.

  Adam tried to make her feel better. “If a ghost did take your brother, it might have taken him somewhere else.”

  Cindy sighed. “So, you’re saying he could be anywhere, which is the same as saying we’re never going to find him.”

  “No,” Adam said quickly. “I meant we’ve only begun to search. Let’s look around some more.”

  There wasn’t much to the room. Besides the searchlight, there was a plain wooden desk and chair, a simple cot, and a bathroom that looked as if it hadn’t been used in years. The faucet in the sink didn’t even work. When they tried it, a faint smell of gas came out instead of water.

  But Sally did find something unusual on one side of the desk. Carved in the old wood, on opposite sides of a roughly shaped heart, were two words: Mommy and Rick. The words were probably carved by a child. Adam looked to Sally and Watch.

  “Do you know who operated the lighthouse last?” Adam asked.

  “I heard it was a bloodsucking sailor,” Sally said.

  Watch shook his head. “No. The bloodsucker was the guy who used to run the bait shop on the pier. Bum said the lighthouse was last run by a woman—an old woman.”

  “Is she dead now?” Cindy asked.

  “Most old people in Spooksville are dead,” Sally said.

  Watch nodded. “This was at least thirty years ago. I’m sure the woman is dead.”

  “You have to be dead to be a ghost,” Sally said, trying to encourage Cindy.

  “What about this Rick?” Adam asked.

  Watch shook his head. “I don’t know what happened to him. Bum might, if we can find him. There might also be records in the library that we could check.”

  Sally made a face. “We have to go to the library? Yuck!”

  “What’s wrong with the library?” Adam asked reluctantly.

  “The librarian’s a little strange,” Watch said.

  “A little?” Sally said. “His name’s Mr. Spiney and when he takes your picture for your library card, he actually takes an X-ray. He likes to see your bones when you check out a book, to make sure they’re healthy. If you go in the reference
room, he locks you inside. Just in case you’re thinking of stealing one of his precious magazines or papers. The last time I went in there I was a prisoner for two nights before he let me out. I read the last ten years of Time magazine and Fangoria.”

  “I’m glad you put the time to good use,” Watch said.

  “Mr. Spiney also forces you to drink milk when you’re at the library,” Sally said. “ ‘Don’t want to let those bones crumble before their time,’ he always says. I swear I saw that guy at the cemetery once digging up skeletons. I hear he’s got a whole closet full of bones at home.”

  “Let’s not worry about Mr. Spiney,” Adam said, not wanting to listen to another weird Sally-Watch conversation. “I want to go to the library.” He paused and turned to Cindy. “As long as that’s all right with you?”

  Cindy nodded sadly, still looking around. “I was hoping so hard I’d find Neil here, waiting for me.”

  Adam patted her on the back. “We’re making progress. That’s what’s important.”

  They started to follow Watch down the stairs.

  It was then that the searchlight came on.

  By mysterious chance, the light was pointed not out to sea but toward the stairway. Watch was already several steps down the stairs when the light blazed to life, but Cindy was just stepping down into it. Like the rest of them, the sudden light blinded Cindy. Rather than stepping onto the stairway, she stumbled and slid over the side. Adam saw a falling blur off to his left and heard her scream. Not sure what he was doing, he dove to catch her.

  The searchlight went off.

  Adam saw stars, not much else. But after a second or two he realized he was holding on to one of Cindy’s hands, and that she was struggling desperately at the end of it. If she let go, or if he let go of her, she would plunge over a hundred feet to the floor of the lighthouse. Adam screamed for Watch to help.

  “Pull her over toward you on the stairway!” Adam called.

  “I can’t reach her!” Watch shouted back, cleaning his glasses on his shirt. He did have the worst eyes of all of them.

  “I’m right here!” Cindy cried. The trapdoor that led into the upper room was fairly wide. Cindy had stumbled off the side opposite the stairway. As Adam’s vision cleared, he saw her feet kicking in midair. Sally kneeled by his side and tried to grab Cindy’s other hand.

  “We won’t let you go!” Sally cried.

  “You’re knocking my hand loose!” Cindy screamed.

  “Oh,” Sally said, and sat back on her knees. “Sorry.”

  “Watch,” Adam said anxiously, losing his grip on Cindy, “put your glasses back on and reach out and grab her feet. I’m going to lose her.”

  Watch rubbed his eyes. “I really can’t see yet. Cindy, keep talking or screaming or something. I’ll hone in on you.”

  “OK, I can talk,” Cindy said breathlessly. “What should I talk about? I’ve always been afraid of heights. I don’t like ghosts much either. But I like ice cream. I like school. I like singing. Some boys.”

  “Which boys?” Sally asked, climbing back up on her knees.

  “Gotcha,” Watch said, reaching out and grabbing Cindy’s feet.

  “Are you sure you’ve got her?” Adam asked.

  “Don’t let go of her yet if that’s what you’re asking,” Watch said, pulling Cindy closer.

  “That’s exactly what he’s asking,” Cindy said frantically. But just then her feet touched something solid. “Oh. Thank goodness. Is that the stairs below my feet?”

  “It better be,” Watch said, pulling Cindy farther over. “It’s what I’m standing on. But I still can’t see.” Watch pulled her all the way on the stairs. “You’re safe.”

  Adam let go of Cindy’s hand. “Whew,” he said. “That was close.” He turned back toward the searchlight and complained to Watch. “I thought you said the light couldn’t come on?”

  Watch came back up the steps, Cindy by his side. Watch studied the wires that led to the searchlight, but once more shook his head.

  “Did you guys touch anything?” Watch asked.

  “No,” Adam and Sally said.

  “I don’t see how it turned on,” Watch said. “These wires are shot.”

  “Could it have another source of power?” Cindy wondered aloud.

  They all looked at one another.

  Then they heard a sound.

  A faint howling sound.

  It seemed to come from far off. From somewhere out over the ocean. But it wasn’t so far away that it didn’t scare them. They hurried down the stairs and out of the lighthouse. Actually, they ran out of the place and worked their way back to the jetty on the rope. They could check it out later, they decided.

  5

  Watch couldn’t find Bum, so they ended up at the library. To Adam, the place looked more like a ghost house than a place for books. But he was getting used to such things since moving to Spooksville.

  Mr. Spiney met them at the door. He had to be the thinnest man Adam had ever seen. Tall and bent, he looked as if his skinny bones were about to burst through his wrinkled skin. He had large hands that looked like claws. He wore an outdated black suit, with vest, and he bowed slightly as he let them inside his library. His voice, when he spoke, made him sound like an old fish.

  “Hello children, and welcome,” he said. “I do hope your hands are clean and your minds are not dirty. Would you like a glass of milk?”

  “No thank you,” Sally said quickly. “We’re just here to check a few reference materials.”

  “Sally Wilcox,” Mr. Spiney said, peering a little closer. “How nice of you to visit me again.” He reached out with one of his clawlike hands. “How are your bones feeling these days?”

  Sally took a step back. “Fine, thank you. We don’t want any milk and our bones are all perfectly hard and strong. Can we please look at your old newspapers? And can you promise not to lock us inside the reference room?”

  Mr. Spiney took a step back and eyed them with a trace of suspicion. “What are you going to do with my newspapers?”

  “Just read them,” Watch said. “But I wouldn’t mind a glass of milk.”

  Mr. Spiney smiled and nodded. “If you don’t drink your milk, you’re bound to get osteoporosis.” He looked at Cindy and Adam. “Do you know what that is?”

  “No,” Cindy said.

  “And we don’t want to know,” Adam said.

  Mr. Spiney huffed. “Very well. But don’t come running to me when your bones begin to crumble. It will be much too late then.”

  Mr. Spiney led them to a dark room located on the second floor of the library, and then he went to fetch Watch’s milk. Sally, of course, believed the milk would be poisonous, but Watch said he was thirsty and didn’t care.

  Spooksville’s official paper was called The Daily Disaster. Adam was amazed by how large the obituary section was for such a small town. In each issue, it took up half the paper. Sally was right about one thing: not everyone stayed for long in Spooksville. The cause of death was often listed as simply disappeared.

  Watch believed they should start searching for information about the lighthouse from thirty years ago.

  “Do you know for sure that it closed then?” Cindy asked, helping him get the papers down from the shelves.

  “According to Bum it was about then,” Watch said.

  “What are we looking for anyway?” Sally grumbled. “They don’t write about ghosts in the paper. Not even in The Daily Disaster.”

  “I assume we’re looking for the person who turned into the ghost that stole Cindy’s brother,” Adam said. He glanced at Watch. “Is that right?”

  Watch nodded. “I’d be happy to find out who Mommy and Rick were,” Watch replied, spreading the papers out on a table in the center of the small dark room.

  They searched the papers for more than an hour. During that time Mr. Spiney appeared three times with glasses of milk for everyone. Sally refused to drink any, but Adam and Cindy finally decided to have a little so they woul
dn’t be rude. Mr. Spiney stood nearby while they sipped. Adam made a face and almost spit out his milk.

  “This tastes like it’s got sand in it,” he complained.

  “It’s not sand,” Mr. Spiney explained. “It’s calcium powder. It will make your bones so hard that even when you’ve been dead and buried twenty years, they’ll still be nice and white.” He grinned at Cindy and Adam, and for the first time they both noticed what big teeth Mr. Spiney had. “You’ll both make beautiful corpses,” he said with feeling.

  Cindy set her glass down and coughed. “I think I’m getting a milk allergy.”

  Mr. Spiney finally left them alone, and not long after that Watch uncovered a paper that had an article about the lighthouse.

  Double Tragedy at Sea

  Last Saturday there was a power failure at the lighthouse. Not long afterward a ship, the Halifax, smashed into the reef off Springville and sank. Its captain was listed as Dwayne Pillar. Captain Pillar went down with his ship; his body has yet to be found. What caused the power failure at the lighthouse has not been determined. But the absence of a light was clearly responsible for the wreck of the ship.

  By unfortunate chance, the following evening the son of Mrs. Evelyn Maey, the lighthouse keeper, was playing on the jetty beside the lighthouse when a wave washed him out to sea. Five-year-old Rick has yet to be found, and the authorities fear he has drowned. Evelyn Maey was unavailable for comment.

  “That’s it!” Sally exclaimed.

  Everyone looked at her. “What’s it?” Watch finally asked.

  Sally was excited. “Don’t you see? The ghost of Captain Pillar stole Rick because his mother messed up the searchlight and caused the captain’s ship to crash. It was his way of getting back at her.”

  Watch nodded. “That’s logical. But what does this ghost have to do with Neil?”

  “Yeah,” Adam said. “He didn’t do anything to the sailor.”

  Sally spoke with strained patience. “That doesn’t matter. Rick was five years old. Neil was five years old. The sailor ghost just likes five-year-old boys. Also, note the time of day Rick was swiped. Near sunset. It was the same time of day Neil disappeared.”