Home, Sweet Haunt (5 page)

Nora was holding back laughter. Lucas was a creative storyteller. He could instantly invent stuff that sounded perfectly true. PTFD. Ha! No wonder he never got in trouble.

“Nora is stuck in the days before the fire, unable to focus on the future.”

Actually, that did sound like what she had. If it was a real psychological state, then they all had it.

“The only cure is for Nora to make new friends.” Lucas finished his speech.

Nora was ready to jump up off the sofa and give Lucas a standing ovation. She had to admit, her brother was truly an excellent actor. Riveted by his performance, Nora stayed in her seat, waiting for her parents' reaction.

The only thing Nora would have added to Lucas's argument was that she didn't only need new friends, but she also needed to get out and try new things: photography, music lessons, swimming, maybe even gymnastics. If she wanted to find out what she was good at and pursue it, then she had to try everything! Nora considered that maybe Lucas could teach her a few things about acting.

Her parents put their heads together to discuss their decision.

“I suppose it would be all right,” her father said loud enough for Nora to overhear.

“I don't know.” Her mother's voice was softer, and Nora couldn't hear anything else.

They went back and forth a few times, and Nora grew nervous.

“Don't worry,” Lucas told her. “I'm very good. Convincing is my specialty.”

Nora crossed her fingers and hoped he was right.

“Nora,” her father said at last. “Your mother and I agree, you may go to trick-or-treating.”

“Yes!” Nora threw herself into his arms. “Can I use the elevator to get there?”

“I suppose that would be okay,” her father said. “But you cannot sleep over. You have to be home by ten p.m.”

Nora pulled back. “Please, please, please,” she whined.

“That's the deal.” Her mother echoed her father's earlier words. “Take it or leave it.”

“I'll take it!” Nora said. Her parents weren't going to give her everything she wanted all at once.

It would be a while before things got back to the way they were before. Nora was willing to be patient. She'd take one victory at a time.

Nora dashed to her room. After what had happened with Hallie and Lindsay, there was no way she was going to dress up as a pop star. She began sorting through her clothes to see what else she could create.

“Throw a white sheet over your head and be a ghost,” Lucas said, sticking his head into her bedroom.

“That's silly,” Nora replied. “Everyone knows ghosts don't look like that.” She was pulling out paper and
colored pens to make a mask. Recalling the drawing he'd left on his bed, she added, “Real ghosts don't go around shouting ‘Boo' either.”

“Who made you a ghost expert?” Lucas asked as he made himself comfortable on her bed.

“Our building is haunted, you know,” Nora told him, as if she'd known it all along and not only just found out. “When I see the ghost on the ninth floor, I'll invite him over for dinner. You can ask him all your questions.”

“I'll make a list.” Lucas laughed. “So you're going trick-or-treating tonight.” He grinned. “Now you really
do
owe me.”

“Yes,” Nora admitted as she began to draw the outline of a face. “Yes, I do.”

Since Caitlin was going to be a zombie, Nora wanted to make a whole new costume in the same category of undead, superscary creatures of the night. She decided to be a vampire.

The mask she created had bloodshot eyes, sharp fangs, and blood dripping down the chin. Nora used a black ribbon to tie it around her head and then put on a black flowing nightgown of her mother's that had been partially burned in the fire. It was what her mother had been wearing when she fought the flames.

The nightgown had charred holes and frayed sleeves. It hung too big on Nora and still smelled like stale smoke. For a vampire costume, it was perfect.

Shoes, however, were a problem. Most of Nora's shoes had been in the living room and turned to ash. They'd never been replaced. She had the tennis shoes she'd worn to the park and a pair of bright pink flip-flops.

Nora looked at her bare feet and wished she wore the same size shoe as her mom. The bedrooms hadn't suffered as much damage as the living room and kitchen. If only Nora had kept her shoes in her room like she'd been told.

Oh well.

What shoes did vampires wear, anyway?

She decided on the flip-flops, hoping that Caitlin might have something better she could borrow. Then Nora checked the time, grabbed an empty pillowcase for candy, and left her apartment. Her ten o'clock curfew was a bummer, but at least she would be out for a while.

As the elevator passed the ninth floor, Nora cupped her ear and listened to the whir of the electric motor. In the apartment building hallway, she could hear a few kids beginning their rounds, knocking on doors and shouting, “Trick or treat,” but nothing to indicate a real ghost was roaming around. Not even a clank of chain or muffled, haunted moan.

Disappointed not to have seen a spirit float into the elevator on her way, Nora arrived at the second floor and knocked on Caitlin's door.

The door opened and before Nora had a chance to say hello, Caitlin grabbed her hand and dragged her inside. “Hey, Nora!”

“How'd you recognize me?” Nora asked with a chuckle.

Caitlin pointed down at Nora's shoes. “Fancy footwear for the undead.” She laughed.

Nora slipped off her mask. “They were all I could find. I was hoping you might lend me something more vampirey?”

“I have just the thing.” Caitlin led Nora to her bedroom. The apartment had the same floor plan as Nora's, but Caitlin lived in Lucas's room, and Nora's room had been decorated as a TV room with large flat screen on one wall, a fancy stereo system, and comfy-looking couches. Nora bet Caitlin had never been poked in the thigh by a broken couch spring.

The hallway was nice, and freshly painted. Family photos hung on the walls. When they reached Caitlin's room, Nora was shocked. It was a mess. Messier than
Lucas's room had ever been. Messier than their whole apartment had been after the firefighters broke down the door and soaked everything with water. Nora had never seen such a disaster.

Clothes were spread on the bed and on the floor, and the closet door couldn't close. School papers and books were scattered over the desk. There was a cleanish pathway through the room, from the bed to the desk to the door.

A black cat had made itself comfortable on a pile of Caitlin's clothing and was snoozing happily. When Nora walked in, the cat shot to attention, arched its back, and hissed, teeth bared.

“Whoa,” Nora said, backing away. “You have an attack cat?”

“I wish. An attack cat would be cool. Bitsy has no nerves at all,” Caitlin said. “She's a true-to-life scaredy cat.” She clapped her hands and the cat scurried into the corner, where it curled up under a few used towels and immediately went back to sleep.

Nora had to move a stack of gymnastics leotards to sit on Caitlin's beanbag chair, while Caitlin crawled under her bed. “I know they're here somewhere,” she
said. Her legs stuck out into the room as her head disappeared. “I have these cute black lace-up boots I wore last year when I dressed like a witch. They'd be perfect.” Caitlin scooted farther under the bed until she vanished entirely.

“Caity!” A red-haired girl wearing glasses entered the room and dodged around an empty laundry hamper. She was petite and thin and dressed up as a witch. Behind her was a mummy. Nora had no clue what the mummy girl really looked like because she was wrapped head to toe in white gauze. Only her eyes and lips peeked through.

“Hi,” the witch said. “You must be Nora.”

“Hi,” Nora responded. She never felt nervous about meeting new people, but the costumes threw her off a bit.

“I'm Lilly Loughlin. Everyone calls me LL.” The witch pointed to the mummy. “That's Aleah.”

“Everyone calls me Aleah,” the mummy said totally deadpan. Nora giggled and the mummy giggled back.

“Where's Caity?” LL asked.

“Under there.” Nora tipped her head toward the bed.

“Figures.” LL shook her head. “I worry that she
might get lost in here and never find her way to the door.” She waved her hand around the room. “I mean, if anyone ever puts something down and blocks the pathway, Caitlin won't know which way to go.”

Nora laughed. She liked Caitlin's friends already.

“I call here every night after practice to make sure Caity made it from the door to the bed,” LL said.

“I should write a Halloween story about a girl who gets buried alive, trapped under the weight of her own dirty clothes. That would be scaaarrrryyyy.” Aleah chuckled. She explained that she did gymnastics because her parents wanted her to exercise. Aleah's real love was writing stories. She wanted to be a novelist, or maybe a journalist. Or maybe both at the same time. “Do you like being scared?” Aleah asked Nora.

“Love it!” Nora said. “You?”

“Horror stories are my specialty,” Aleah said.

“Ridiculous.” LL put her hands on her hips. “I don't believe in ghosts or zombies or aliens or any of that. My mom is a scientist and she taught me only to believe in what can be proven.” She added, “I'm going to be a scientist too. Gymnastics is just for fun.”

“Did Caitlin tell you about the ninth floor?” Nora
asked LL. Scaring someone who didn't believe was the best kind of scaring.

“What about it?” LL asked.

“Shoes!” Caitlin thrust her arm out from under the bed. She was holding two long black boots. Nora reached down to take them. Caitlin was right. They were perfectly vampirey.

Caitlin slithered to the center of the room.

“When I write my story,” Aleah told Caitlin, “you'll be trapped under the bed forever, never to return. Ha-ha-ha-ha.” She cackled like a witch.

“Hey, that's my laugh,” LL said, adjusting her black pointy hat and giving Aleah a small shove. Aleah's legs were wrapped together, so she tumbled back onto the bed, asking, “What sound do mummies make, then?”

“Uh, uh?” Nora suggested.

“That's a zombie,” Caitlin said. She stood up and shoved out her hands in a dead walk. She had a fresh layer of under-bed dust covering her already mud-crusted zombie outfit. “Uhhh. Uhhh.” Lowering her arms back to her sides, she said, “See? I think the mummy goes, ‘Oooooh, oooohhh.' ”

“Oooh?” Aleah replied. “That's definitely a ghost.”

“No way.” Nora was reminded of her conversation with Lucas. “I've never heard a ghost sound like that.”

“You've never heard a ghost say anything at all,” LL put in. “Because they don't exist.”

“Oh yes they do!” Caitlin went to her closet to get the last pieces of her zombie costume. “The ninth floor of this building is totally haunted!”

While Caitlin slipped on a ratty jacket that looked like her father had run over it with the car, Aleah went to the desk and searched for a pen and paper. When she was ready, Aleah told Caitlin, “Tell us what you know and I'll write it up.”

“I don't know much,” Caitlin admitted.

“Because there isn't anything to know,” LL tossed out.

“Spoilsport! Don't ruin the fun!” Aleah turned away from LL and asked Caitlin to give every possible detail. “Go on.”

“Okay. I overheard my parents talking the other night. They recently met the people who live in 9G,” she began. Caitlin didn't move her clothing off the bed, just sat on top of a pile. “They've lived here for a few years and love the building, but lately some strange things have been happening.”

She paused to let the spookiness of the moment sink in. “They hear things through the walls.”

“What kind of things?” Nora said. She could feel the hairs on her arms standing on end.

“Pounding, scraping, and squeaking,” Caitlin said, wrapping her arms around herself and shivering.

“Ghosts?” Aleah asked.

“It's mice.” LL was certain.

“They'd have to be huge mice to make these kinds of noises,” Caitlin said.

“Okay, then rats,” LL corrected the analysis. “There are extra-big rats in the city. I saw pictures once in one of my mom's
Science Monthly
magazines.”

“Eww.” Nora would totally rather see a ghost than a rat.

“It's time for trick-or-treating,” Caitlin interjected into the conversation.

Aleah said, “There's only one way to know if there's a ghost on the ninth floor or not.”

Nora slipped on her mask and picked up her empty pillowcase.

Aleah suggested, “While we are out, we should check out Caitlin's story. They said they heard the sounds
through the walls?” She held up the notebook and pen, as if she were a detective ready to investigate a mystery.