The Howling Ghost (3 page)

“I thought you said he was close to shore when he was attacked,” Adam said, glancing back the way they had come. Jumping from rock to rock to reach the end of the jetty had not been difficult, but they were nevertheless pretty far from the beach. Adam wouldn't like to be out on the jetty when the surf was up. The waves would crash right over them.

“I can't remember every detail,” Sally replied. “All I know is if you go in this water, you will probably come out with pieces missing.”

Adam turned to Watch. “The bridge looks as if it's about to fall. I don't know if we should risk it.”

“The girls weigh less,” Watch said. “We should send one of them across first to see how it holds up.”

“Watch!” Sally yelled. “You miserable coward!”

“I was just making a logical suggestion,” Watch said.

“I'll go first,” Cindy said quietly. “If my brother's in the lighthouse, I should be the one to take the biggest risks.”

Sally patted her on the back. “I wish I had a sister as devoted as you.”

Adam stepped between them. “Wait a second. This isn't right. One of us guys should go first.”

“Are you forgetting that there are only two of us
guys
here?” Watch asked.

“Why are you being such a coward?” Adam asked. “It's not like you.”

Watch shrugged. “I don't want to hurt Cindy's feelings, but I think the chances that her brother is locked in the lighthouse are lousy. For that reason I don't want to lose a leg or an arm.” He paused and glanced at Cindy, who had lowered her head at his words. “But if you all want to give it a try, I'll go first.”

Watch took a step toward the rickety bridge. Adam stopped him.

“I'm lighter than you,” Adam said. “I'll go first.”

Watch glanced down at the blue water, which had begun to churn slightly since they arrived. “All right,”
Watch said. “If the bridge breaks, get out of the water as quick as you can.”

Adam nodded and felt his heart pound in his chest. He was about to take his first step onto the bridge when a hand touched his arm. It was Cindy. Her face was creased with worry. For the second time that day he thought how beautiful her blue eyes were, how bright the sun shone in her blond hair.

“Be careful, Adam,” Cindy whispered.

Adam smiled. “I'm used to danger. It doesn't faze me.”

“Yeah,” Sally said sarcastically. “Mr. Kansas City grew up wrestling great white sharks in his backyard swimming pool.”

Adam ignored Sally and turned back to the bridge. It had handrails that were made of rope and looked every bit as old as the wooden planks beneath them. Carefully placing his weight on the first plank, Adam took a step above the water. He had to try hard not to glance down at the water. It looked awfully cold and deep. If he stared real hard he could imagine huge shapes just below the surface.

Adam took another step forward. The bridge creaked uneasily and sagged beneath him. He now had his entire weight on it. A third step forward caused the bridge to sink even more. It was only
twenty feet from the end of the jetty to the pile of stones that supported the lighthouse, but at the rate he was going, he wouldn't reach it till next month. The thought came to him that perhaps if he hurried, the bridge wouldn't feel his weight as much. It was a brave idea, but a bit foolish.

Adam took off running across the bridge.

He was inches from the other side when it broke.

The bridge didn't just break in one spot. The whole thing collapsed. One second Adam was running for his life and the next he was swimming for it. He hit the water hard and went under. His timing was bad. He was sucking in a breath when he slipped under the surface. As a result he came up choking. He could hear the others yelling, but he couldn't answer them. Saltwater stung his eyes. He coughed hard and flayed with his arms. The water was freezing!

“Swim!” Sally cried. “A shark's coming!”

Adam almost had a heart attack right then. The day he moved to Spooksville, a tree had almost swallowed him. But in his mind getting eaten by a shark would be a thousand times worse. Frantically he spun around, trying to get his bearings. He didn't know if he was closer to the lighthouse or the jetty, and at the moment he really didn't care. He just wanted to get out of the water.

“I don't see any shark!” he heard Cindy yell.

“You don't see them till it's too late!” Sally yelled back. “Adam! Save yourself!”

Adam stopped choking long enough to look back at his friends. “Is there really a shark?” he gasped, treading water.

Watch shook his head. “I don't see one.”

“Yeah, but you're almost blind,” Adam said.

“I don't see one either,” Cindy said.

“This is a big ocean and there are sharks in it somewhere,” Sally said impatiently. “If you don't hurry and get out of the water, I'm sure you will see one soon enough.”

“Oh brother,” Adam grumbled, tired of Sally. He saw he was closer to the lighthouse than the jetty and decided to swim for it. A few seconds later he was out of the water and shivering beside the front door of the lighthouse. Now he knew why the police hadn't bothered to check out Cindy's story. What was left of the bridge smashed back and forth against the jetty as the surf played with the wooden planks. In a sense, he was trapped, unless he wanted to get back in the water and wait for Sally's next shark attack.

“Can you feel your legs?” Sally called across the distance.

“Yes,” Adam called back. “They're still attached to my body, thank you.”

“Try the door to the lighthouse,” Watch said. “There might be a rope inside that you can throw to us.”

The door—no surprise—was locked. Adam looked around for a large rock to break the handle. He doubted that the ghost inside would sue him for damaging his property.

But this was Spooksville. He probably should have thought more about what he was doing. But he was cold; his clothes were soaked. He just wanted to get inside, so he could dry off. Picking up a stone as big as his head, he brought it down hard on the doorknob. The knob broke off, and the door swung open.

It was dark inside. How clever of them to forget flashlights. Adam took several steps forward, once again feeling his heart pound. There was a musty smell; the place had been locked up a long time. His shoes left clear prints in the dust on the wooden floor. Water dripped from his clothes, smearing the dust. From the light that poured in through the door, he was able to see a spiral staircase that wound up to the top of the lighthouse. The very top was lost in shadows, and the stairway seemed to vanish into unnatural night.

“Hello,” he called.

The word echoed back to him.

Hello. Hello. Hello.

Each repetition was heavier than the one before, more spooky.

Hollo. Hollo. Hollo.

Actually, it sounded as if a ghost were talking.

Olio. Olio. Olio

But not a friendly ghost. Not one welcoming him.

Ogo. Ogo. Ogo.

Adam shivered as he listened to the sound.

Go. Go. Go.

There was a small storage room off to his left. Inside was a shovel, a wheelbarrel, several metal containers that smelled of kerosene, and a rope. Surprisingly, the rope was fairly new, in better shape than the other equipment. He hurried back outside and held it up for the others to see. Watch spoke for all of them with his next questions.

“Do you want to use it to get back here?” he asked. “Or do you want us to come over there?”

Cindy stepped forward. “I want to search the lighthouse,” she said. “I have to.”

Sally eyed the water uneasily. “If the rope breaks, we'll all end up in a shark's belly.”

“Is there a good place to tie it on your side?” Watch called to Adam.

Adam glanced back at the winding stairway. He had at least a couple hundred feet of rope in his hands. It would reach, he decided. “Yeah,” he said. “Do you have anything to tie it to on the jetty?”

Watch studied the boulders. “Sure,” he said. “But we'll be dangling just above the waterline.”

“I wonder how high a shark can reach out of the water?” Sally muttered.

Adam threw one end of the rope over to Watch, who wrapped it around a boulder. Before Watch tied his end off, Adam reentered the lighthouse and secured his end to the stairway. He knew it was ridiculous, but he thought he heard his
hello
still echoing. It was only a faint moan though.

Oooooo.

Adam went back outside. Watch had drawn the rope tight and tied it. It stretched only three feet above the water. “Who's going first?” Adam called.

Cindy grabbed hold of the rope. “I will.” Then she paused. “What do I do?”

“Start with your back to the lighthouse,” Watch explained. “Grab the rope tightly with your hands and pull yourself out slowly. When you're above the
water, throw your feet around the rope, too. And don't fall off.”

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.