 
Special Smashwords Edition

## The Adventures of

## Anna of

## Waverly Manor

### by

### Jack Sorenson
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, businesses, and incidents either are the products of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any similarity to events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and should be recognized as such.

Special Smashwords Edition

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this eBook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

First edition October 2011

Copyright © 2011 by Jack Sorenson

Cover Design Copyright 2011 © Magnolia Belle

All rights reserved

For updates on Jack and his books:

Website/Blog: http://jackrsorenson.blogspot.com/

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or means whatsoever (electronic, mechanical, or otherwise) without the prior written permission and consent of the author.

ABOUT JACK SORENSON

Jack R. Sorenson is an accomplished author who has published in many genres including fantasy, fiction, horror, and non-fiction. He lives in Los Gatos, a small town nestled between the Santa Cruz Mountains and San Jose, California, the heart of Silicon Valley. "The Adventures of Anna of Waverly Manor" makes Jack's 27th publication.
DEDICATIONS

Magnolia Belle, my special friend, saved the day for coming back to help me finish this little story. Belle took the time to pull herself away from her book for mine. They say there is a special place in heaven for people like her. Thank you, Belle. She is a book editor, author, best seller and song writer. In 2010 Belle worked with me on my novels: "Jacks School of Shines," and the Alana Weatherbee books series, including "Spooks and Magic."

_People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us_. ~Iris Murdoch, A Fairly Honourable Defeat

To a great lady, and friend, Laura Garcia Cannon, anchor of weekday mornings NBC News Today in the bay. Thank you for your praise and friendship shown so often to me. What a sweet, kind and wonderful lady you truly are.

Sweetness

Is the most powerful strength

of the heart.

And to my dear friends, Ralph and Sue, my true friends. I am surely the lucky one for all you do, wow. I am amazed by your talent and thank you for all your hard work that you do out of true kindness; I surly enjoy my time talking with you.

The Sacred Heart of the Moon smiles upon you.

"Spirituality encompasses everything; therefore, it includes human character, too. To have a good character is to have honesty, simplicity, spontaneity, absence of anger, pride and so forth. When an ordinary human being possesses all these qualities, we call him a man of good character".

Sri Chinmoy

Jerry Starr, thanks always for the glad tidings and encouragement. You're a true gentleman if I ever met one. I sure have in you.

_True love is just around the corner for you one day_.

To the staff at Viva Los Gatos, and to Jeff (the owner), thank you for all your kindness and friendships and, best of all, your smiles. You are truly the nicest people in my home town of Los Gatos. Great food and great drinks. It's all worthwhile to sit and watch the world go by outside of Viva's huge windows.

Thank you, Randy Froh. You are one wonderful, amazing guy and much appreciated for your words of kindness shown always to me.

Thank you, Amanda, Elizabeth, Steve, Jackie, Natasha and Jeff for being characters in this story.

Yulia Vólkova from t.A.T.u., thank you, my friend. It's been wonderful chatting with you and listening to your great music. It's fun to talk with you often as we have gotten the chance to.

Zahi Hawass, my friend. I always wish you well and the best of discoveries to come.

Shannon Nicole, best of luck with your new book. I'm glad to have you back in my life.

Darkness and Light

Darkness wants to devour light.

Light wants to transform darkness.

God says to darkness: "Darkness, stop!"

God says to light: "Light, start!

Lo, you have won the goal."

Daisy, thanks for your patience. "We could all stand to laugh a whole lot more in life!" We will grow old together, my dear, sweet kitty!

Maria Bartiromo, Anchor CNBC Closing Bell and host/managing editor of The Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo: thank you for the many talks and daily advice; you are the one of the few who really understands and knows the market.

A thank you goes out to Alizée, my friend. Love your hopes and dreams and your so-famous style.

Lisa Kelly from Ice Road Trucker, thanks for all the talks we have had. You have an amazing life.

Lindsay Lawler, singer-songwriter, keep a rocking. You're an amazing lady.

Jamie Lynn Spears, thanks for the many talks. I appreciate it. You're sweet and kind.

Oscar, we watched you grow to a handsome young cat. You climbed to the treetops and to the peaks of the two story building. I describe that for Logan's point of view in the "Alana Weatherbee" series, high atop a building, gazing up at the sky and far and away, sitting as a statue to admire the sun setting each and every day. Your freedom was marvelous. We loved you as much as your own family. It was fun to have the privilege to known you, my friend. I cherish that memory of our short time together with fondness and much love.

A huge thank you goes out to those who believe in me. To Mother and to Father, thank you for all you have done and said, and for your understanding kindness in standing by my side with reassurances and praises, compassion and for hearing the endless ramblings of book blurbs weekly only to respond with cheerfulness and reassuring comments and much congratulations no matter how big or small the steps I've taken that week.

One day someone will ask if you felt you lived your life well. In my case, I can safely say at this point, it's not how I lived it or enjoyed it as much as, when I left, did I leave the few behind who knew me and what I tried to achieve? Did I make you smile or laugh, did I love you enough, and was I mean or nice? Did I keep all my promises that I made? In my time remaining, I feel it best to say my true feelings daily to others, as what I have said will be truly most remembered.

Author Jack Sorenson, Los Gatos, CA

The two strongest women I've know in my life are my mother and Belle. The two men I feel have been the strongest are my father and Ralph.

### Who is Anna of Waverly Manor?

Anna had a short life, one that she loved and missed dearly. But her feelings ran cold when her thoughts turned to memories of her past life. She adored the feeling of a family bond when she was alive. But it was all in vain; her life was never to be what she truly wanted, and now she yearned to heal from her past scars.

She was not an unkind witch for a young girl, nor was she a brutal witch either, though her looks could be incredibly cruel and make a living person or ghosts shake in their boots. When Anna wanted to do something, no one stood in her way. That's just the way it was in the attic of Waverly Manor.

Anna was more thoughtful and caring than most people knew, and she watched over her ghost friends, Tomfoolery and little Boo. She was neither good, nor evil, but rather a sad, tormented and twisted creature, overrun with power and insatiable loneliness that would be unbearable if it weren't for Tomfoolery and Boo...and soon, for little Jackie McCaulou.

One night, Boo saw Anna stir and toss in her sleep. Tomfoolery and he hovered by the corner of the attic crawl space where they watched from a safe spot. Anna flipped wildly and flicked her wand at any general direction, scaring Tomfoolery and Boo, trying their hardest to stay away from any mislaid spell cast in Anna's sleep.

Anna woke up in a fright, half asleep, and screamed into the darkness like she was out of her mind.

She jumped out of bed and got onto her knees, crawling across the attic floor to where Boo and Tomfoolery rested. She felt much better having them with her as she tried to fight off remembering her terrible dream, still running loose in her mind. Anna trembled with a refreshed fear of her horrible past.

In Anna's recurring nightmares, she started to walk down a cobblestone road, but it was hard, and it hurt her bare feet.

Anna was poor and lived with her mother, a witch who barely made a living as a healer. Anna's father was murdered the previous spring by a man saying he owed him money. This deeply depressed her, being the one to find him lethally wounded so close to their cottage.

His last words were, "Be wary, daughter. The man on a dark horse, the Halloween Man, will collect payment regardless if I am alive or not. Live well and take good care of your mother. You are very special to me."

Every muscle in her body stiffened, thinking of that day. Anna loved her father as she did her mother. She winced whenever she put her feet down, stepping onto the sharp stones. She remembered how her boots were covered in his blood and how she could never wear them again. Anna went to the market to find this man who killed her father. Her wand lay hidden as she came to seek revenge.

After a few more steps, Anna stopped to recover her breath. As she did so, she heard voices from inside the nearest tent close to the market place in the small village. Anna pulled her oversized hat down over her eyes — her father's hat she wore with pride. It sounded as if they were arguing, but Anna could not catch the words.

But the mere sound of them made fear spike though her again. If there was even the slightest chance that the Halloween Man wanted to kill her mother or herself to regain some sort of payment, Anna had to kill this man. She had to get to the "Spirits' Curse" conjured from her wand, a feat of dark magic that she'd never tried before. It could kill many in one incantation.

Until she had delivered her curse, she would never be free of her father's death tormenting her mind.

Anna opened the tent flap and entered with her wand pointed, seeing the man who killed her father was not there. Three more were, though, who took payments for the man on the black horse as everyone had to pay a percentage for what they made at market.

The voices fell silent, and the men froze. How loud Anna heard all of the men's heartbeats! Anna stood with her wand drawn.

Her imagination raced, supplying horrid images of the truth from the men's minds. They were bad men.

Anna didn't know the Halloween Man was closing in on her, racing his great black horse through the night.

Anna looked again to the three men, and saw the blood-stained faces fall to the tent floor when the spell was said. Anna didn't remembering saying it in her time of grief. Then came teeth bared in a scream of fury while Anna stepped out of the tent. As she did so, an arrow shot past her, only narrowly missing her upper arm. The Halloween Man stood up in the saddle, raising his arm like a declaration of war, and bellowed something to Anna standing small compared to his huge mount and to him. Behind her were cries of shock from the villagers witnessing the events unfold.

Another arrow came, and Anna lunged and ran, but to where in the market square?

With a wild forced cry, Anna hurled her next wand blast at the man's horse. He rolled past as his mount was struck and fell.

Anna hit the ground, scraping the skin from her palms, but it would buy her no time. Not even The Halloween Man would attempt the "Spirits' Curse" spell, she thought, looking up, seeing him on foot and walking toward her. Behind him, his mount laid dead. Because even The Halloween Man values his own life more than you value yours, Anna thought. He may be the victor.

Anna's thoughts spoke in darkness and many eerie voices from the dead spirits floated around her, warning her that many good men had died trying the same feat as she.

Anna pushed herself to her feet, but her wrist held the wand crookedly. Only bruised, she thought as she clutched it with the other hand and pressed it to her chest. Anna started to run, scrambling along the slope of the street's gutter, slipping and sliding in the waste and garbage. Anna glanced over her shoulder and at the Halloween Man gaining on her. eHe Without his horse, he could be fought on the ground in hand to hand combat, but Anna was too young and very small. When he got close enough, he plunged his sword into her chest.

Now wounded and bleeding, she had no chance, but still she refused to give up.

There was a hollow in the side of the hill, up the main road, then a dip with a few small trees leaning together around a cluster of stones.

There, Anna thought. Halfway down, and running to take cover, her ankle turned on a stone. She fell again, not realizing she was mortally wounded, and then hauled herself up to crawl one-handed to the shelter of the trees.

The man got ahead of her and was there, waiting. The whole village saw this and no one lent a hand or warned her he was there waiting to strike the final blow. But Anna had known he would be there and would be victorious in the end. Even so, she acted on revenge and took the chance to come after him to seek justice.

To the onlookers, Anna looked as if she had been flung from the top of the hill and lay broken where she had landed, but a trail of crushed grass led to the place where she lay, showing that she had crawled, refusing to give up until her last breath.

"I'm here," Anna yelled in a half cry, intending to act tough, and then she touched the man's sword blade as it entered her flesh.

"I heard you. I've come."

Anna died that day—just another young girl murdered in a bad streets of the era. A crow flew by—the sunset came quickly. All thoughts of that day's events ended and a new day would begin tomorrow with new worries. Anna stood in darkness, looking at her broken body laying at her feet, and looking at the small light shining on her sweet little face in death. Someone stood beside her.

"Who are you?'

"My name is Boo. What's yours?"

"Anna."

### CHAPTER 1

Upstairs in the attic of Waverly Manor, Anna shouted to Boo, "What a disgustingly beautiful day outside today! Smell that fresh air!"

"Peeyuu!" Boo held his nose.

"Don't worry," Anna said. "I'll summon a gray cloud, or wait..." She thought to herself while she pressed the wooden wand tighter that she carried. "Dark rainy clouds to cover the old manor would be better." She turned to both ghosts. "Right guys?"

"We've done the gray day clouds a bit too much, Anna." Boo floated to the window and back.

"Oh! How about bats flying through the area by the thousands to block out the sun?" Her rich red hair glistened in the light streaming through the attic window and her delicate features lit up at the new idea.

Tomfoolery grumbled from the back of the room. "You done the bat routine already."

"Oh, right!" Anna coughed and blew a cobweb free of its nest, sending the spider on a downward swirl of silk and mesh and setting its trapped captives free. A newly freed moth flew by Anna and said _thanks_. Anna sneezed out a greenish mist with her hot breath that smelled like a dirty gym sock and then coughed and wheezed.

"Are you okay, Anna?" Boo asked.

Anna headed back to the dusty, stale air in the attic that bettered her condition. "Better now. Thanks, little Boo." Anna grumbled while she carried her wand at her side. "It's always so sunny these days. I can't put a stop to them all, now can I?"

"Smells awful," Tomfoolery shouted. "Do something about the air at least, Anna."

"Hey, Anna, don't give up," Boo said. "You can summon something wicked or invoke something terrific. How'd that be?"

Anna cringed. "How can the living stand it?"

"You know those humans," Tomfoolery said.

Anna grumbled. "Yeah, most I do."

Tomfoolery and Boo looked up to Anna and in unison asked, "What?"

"They think everything is just so wonderful. Well, I'll put a stop to that!"

"That's our girl, Anna. Do the world in. Invoke a huge hairy beast to rip apart the earth." Tomfoolery and Boo worried they'd gone too far with the _rip apart the earth_ bit and said, "We were just kidding."

"I've got it!" Anna shouted. "Where's my spell book?" She whistled for her trusted book. It rattled and shook from underneath its heavy load of piles of boxes.

"We hid it like you asked last time when your spell backfired and burned part of Tomfoolery's cloak," Boo said. "You really got a thing against the living, Anna."

"It's all that free goodwill," Anna commented, "that I can't stand. Happy little faces smiling at the world like they were somehow the creators of all its splendors. Ha-ha!"

Anna scrounged through the pile of old boxes filled with books, knickknacks, lamps, old clothes, shoes and winter boots, and looked at all the symbolic memories of time gone by. Memories had an almost magical power to evoke feelings, but she knew it was better not to stir up the emotions she once felt. They could inspire hope in a time of despair, courage in the face of danger, and belonging in the midst of loneliness—but they left her feeling nothing but hopeless.

***

Anna and the ghosts found it funny to spook the living, especially when it came to anyone who lived at the manor, like the Milfoils. One morning in early July, Anna started the witching hour a bit too early in the day. It had to be morning instead of night due to what was about to happen to the old place. Plans had been drawn out and men would be there soon with their machinery to bulldoze the old building down flat.

The old woman who lived there and her highfalutin, overpriced decorator wanted nothing more than to tear the manor down, board by board, stone by stone, and start from scratch with a new structure.

That would not happen in Anna, Tomfoolery and Boo's eyes. The threesome would lose their home. In the wee hours of the morning, they glued everything the family owned to the ceiling.

The Milfoils woke with a huge shock, seeing the bed they were in and their furnishings glued to the ceiling. Anna made sure their sheets were tucked in tightly so they wouldn't fall out, but that didn't stop the Milfoils from screaming.

Anna was aghast when the Milfoils ran into town that morning and placed an ad on the town bulletin board for a medium to exorcise the evil out of the manor.

When the Milfoils returned home, Anna went into a huff. She said to Tomfoolery, "I can't believe they didn't keep running away. What's the matter with the living lately? Aren't they scared anymore of a good old fashioned spook's trick?"

"This couple wants to destroy the manor regardless of ghosts," Boo worried.

"It's a downright shame. We'll be out on the streets if we don't act on a new plan right away," Tomfoolery said, tugging on the hem of his vest. "Anna!"

"I'm thinking one up, boys. Hold on, all right?"

"No need to worry," Tomfoolery said to Boo. "Anna will have a plan soon."

"Finding someone capable of talking to ghosts will be hard," Anna said. "We have time, but if we don't work on the skills that we need, it will be a disaster. We need to nip the idea in the bud before it gets to that point."

Anna thought for a minute. "Most of the living don't want to see, hear or feel a ghost's presence! It would be rather unnerving, if not terrifying, to show yourself for a few seconds during the night and have some blank-eyed human staring back at you, mouthing something like _eeek!"_

"Visions of ghosts will become all too real at that point and they won't want to mess with this old place anymore," Boo said.

"They need a good spooking," Tomfoolery agreed.

"Right, boys," Anna replied.

***

The next morning Anna, Tomfoolery and little Boo went right to work. The old man went mad when he tried to wash up in the morning and Tomfoolery obliged him by turning the tap on for him, making sure it was scalding hot.

The steam rose to the bathroom mirror and Tomfoolery wrote, _GOOD MORNING_ on it.

When that didn't work, Boo sharpened his razor, which was three inches long with a steel blade edge, on the leather strap. This made it sharper than a knife. In the meantime, Tomfoolery lathered up the old man's face, holding his nose out of the way so it would not be cut off. With the floating shaver's mug and brush, this was all too much for the man and made his hair stand on end and his eyes widen in sheer fright.

Tomfoolery wrote on the mirror a second time, WHAT FRIGHTENS YOU MAY JUST AS WELL EAT YOU UP. Then he grabbed the man by the collar and said, "What's a ghost's favorite fruit? Give up? A boo-berry. Wait, don't run away just yet. What do I call my ghost's mother and father when I call collect? Transparent!" Tomfoolery laughed out loud.

Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Anna had the old woman's clothes nicely laid out neat as a pin on her bed for her to be properly dressed for the day — in a straight jacket complete with glistening silver handcuffs and a glossy black coffin next to the bed all ready to go. Anna even had the old woman's false teeth in her night cup wired shut. She couldn't speak when she tried saying The Lord's Prayer when she saw Anna for the first time.

"The straight jacket is too tight," the old lady mumbled as Anna wrapped it around her body twice.

Anna gave her a wink and smirked while she placed her into a coffin filled with mice and a few fat rats. Anna closed the lid tight and sat on top of it. She dangled her foot over the coffin and said, "Another job well done."

The old man and women left the manor the next day, sold it to the Manchester Corporation, and never returned.

### CHAPTER 2

ONE YEAR LATER...

The rich aroma of coffee wafted through the small apartment, making Steve's nose twitch. He hurried to get dressed so he could get his first cup.

"Amanda, where are my black socks?" Steve yelled down the long hallway to the kitchen.

His wife yelled back, "In your third dresser drawer."

"Thanks." Steve opened the drawer. "Found them."

"Hurry," Amanda chided, "You're going to be late for work again." She took the oatmeal off the stove and spooned some into her daughter's cereal bowl. "Check on Jackie, ok? She's been in the bathroom all morning."

Steve headed to the bathroom door while knotting his tie. He turned the doorknob, but it wouldn't open.

"Jackie, you locked the bathroom door again. You know that's a no-no. Mommy and I talked to you about that before. You can't lock this door."

The special needs girl only hummed, sending her worried father into a frown.

"Birthday angel, are you in there?" he asked in a soft voice.

La da la da boo-dea

"Happy birthday, Jackie." He knocked. "Honey?"

"Yes?"

"It's Daddy. Let me in."

"In a minute...please!"

Steve grinned at how grown up she sounded just then. Her seventh birthday brought back memories of her birth. Steve and his wife, Amanda, had wanted a family from the day they married. At Jackie's birth, their joy was countered with the doctor's pronouncement. "Special needs child. Mentally challenged."

Steve had to swallow the lump in his throat and all his dreams for his first born, his daughter, crashed to his feet. But, her sweet smile and beautiful face brought the joy back and now, he stood outside the door, anxious to give her a birthday hug.

Amanda called through the kitchen door, "Hurry, you two. Breakfast is ready!"

"Did you hear that? Breakfast is ready." When he got no response, he jiggled the doorknob. "Daughter, let me in!"

"In a minute...please!" He heard her giggle, then say, "Trick or treat!"

"What? Jackie, let me in!"

"Trick or treat! It's Halloween, Daddy. When can we go out trick-or-treating?"

"Later, sweetie."

"Can we go after breakfast?"

"No, dear, later tonight. Open the door."

"In a minute, please."

"But it's somebody's birthday."

"Whose birthday, Daddy?"

"Sweetie, it's _your_ birthday."

"Aw, outdoodles!"

"What's the matter?"

"Can we go trick-or-treating, Daddy?"

"After your birthday party. All right...Jackie?"

"Oh, rat farts!"

"Well, happy birthday."

"Thank you, Daddy."

Hickup pop!

"And besides your birthday, it's also Halloween," Steve said.

"Yes, candy plus cake — score!"

"Yes, you scored big time, sweetie," Steve said, then added, frustrated by the locked door, "It's the day I have my heart attack."

"Can I tell you want I want for my birthday?"

"Sure, daughter, go right ahead and I'll bring it home right after work. Jackie?"

"Yes...I don't want Daddy to have a heart attack."

"Aww, thank you, sweetie."

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Jackie."

"Call Mommy, I'm done in the bathroom."

"Honey," Steve shouted.

"What?"

"Your daughter needs you."

"Oh, _my_ daughter now, huh?"

"Yes, of course. Hey, before you go in, I have to tell you something," Steve said.

"Mommy, help. Mommy, help me, Mommy!"

"Dear," Amanda said to the door, "I'm kinda busy right now." She turned to Steve. "Can your news wait until you get home with Jackie's birthday cake?"

"Oh, the cake. Thanks for reminding me. I just wanted to say I'll have a surprise when I come home."

"Okay."

"Mommy, help. Mommy. M-O-M-M-Y!"

"What is it?"

"Daddy is going to have a heart attack."

"What are you filling her head with anyways, Steve?" Amanda asked.

"Look, I was just ranting and she overheard me."

"Yeah, I bet."

"Are you trick-or-treating?" Jackie asked through the door.

"No, dear. Mommy will be right there. I'm talking to Daddy."

"Daddy is having a heart attack. Can I have a heart attack, too?"

"No," her father answered.

"Why not?"

"You're too young, that's why."

"I want to go along to make sure."

Steve and Amanda looked at each other, puzzled.

"Go along to make sure of what?"

"That you make it to heaven."

"Aww, isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever heard?" Amanda touched her husband's chest.

"I guess. Hey, I'll be home a tad late, okay?"

"Try not to," Amanda said. "I have friends coming over to help celebrate Jackie's birthday and then we'll go out trick-or-treating."

"Are there any real goblins hanging around?" Jackie asked.

"No, dear. Please flush."

"I did, Mommy. The water just flows over the seat."

"Oh brother, that's just great. You have the number to the plumber?" Steve asked Amanda.

"Yes. No worries."

Jackie opened the door to the bathroom and came out.

"Hello, Daddy and Mommy. Is breakfast ready?"

"Hey, here's our big girl," Steve said. "Happy birthday, sweetie."

"Are you going to give me some candy for breakfast?"

"No. No candy until tonight and then only one piece before bedtime, all right? You'll be full from your birthday cake."

Amanda led her daughter by the hand to the kitchen, where her brown sugar and oatmeal waited for her.

With all the delay, Steve managed one gulp of his cooling coffee, then dashed out the door to work.

### CHAPTER 3

In his office, Steve looked up when a man walked in.

"I've seen you around before, haven't I?" Steve asked.

"I'm Jeff. I just transferred here. I mean, my girlfriend, Natasha, and I have just joined Tristan Corporation."

"Oh, hello. Welcome to the company." The two men shook hands over the desk.

"Thanks. I wanted to let you know that I'm all packed."

"Packed? I don't understand. For what?" Steve asked, one eyebrow lifting in confusion.

"You mean no one's said anything?"

"No." Steve crossed his arms. "What's going on?"

"The manager, Mike Travers, should have notified you by now, but as you know, the company is growing fast, so maybe the old boy had no time," Jeff said. "He's asked Natasha and me to take your place. That's what the office party today is for."

_Just like that, I'm finished_ , Steve thought to himself.

"I can't believe this," Steve said, glancing out the door toward the manager's office. "This is all I need now during a downturn in the stock market, and my bills are piling up. Life is bad enough..."

"Wait, friend, you have it all wrong. Let me explain. You've been moved up. You're taking over the Stammered Family job from Manchester Corporation."

"Oh, really?" The pressure in Steve's chest eased and his shoulders relaxed. "That's great!" his phone rang on his desk. "Hang on a minute, Jeff. I need to answer this. Someone from my house is calling."

Steve picked up the phone. "Hello? Hi, honey, what are you doing?... You had a bath? Wow, what a good girl...and now coloring. That's nice...What's on the kitchen wall?...No, dear, call Mommy." After a pause Steve said, "Honey, are you there?"

"One minute please."

"Honey, Daddy's at work. I don't have the time. What, dear?...No, ask Mommy for that...She's what?...Busy at the front door with whom, sweetie?...You don't know?"

Jackie held the phone out and shouted, "Mommy! Daddy wants to know who you are busy with at the front door?" A minute later she said, "Daddy, Mommy says wait!"

"Honey, I'm at work. Have Mommy call me back...hello, Jackie? Are you still there?" Steve heard a giggle on the other end of the line. "Jackie?" Another giggle. "Jackie, Daddy has to hang up. He's at work, okay? Bye-bye."

"Daddy, Daddy wait!"

"Yes?"

"Can I be a scary monster tonight?"

"Yes, dear. You can be dressed up like a scary monster for Halloween. You already picked out your costume with Mommy last week, remember? It was a Frankenstein monster or something."

Steve's wife took the phone. "Hi, honey," Amanda said.

"Who was at the door?"

"The mailman. Okay, dear? I'm too busy with Jackie right now, but...hello?"

"Hello?...hello?" Steve said. "Hmmm, lost connection." He looked at Jeff. "Sorry about that. My wife and daughter are at home alone all day, and I worry."

"Understandable."

"How come my boss never told me about the change, or didn't send a memo?"

Jeff shrugged. "I'm not sure, but you also have to move to the old company-owned house right away."

"Good grief, really?" Steve's mind spun at the news. "I think it's the old farmland none of us wanted to go to when we visited Manchester Falls."

Jeff smiled and said, "You'll get used to it, ol' boy!"

"Why the promotion?" Steve asked.

"Be happy. I wish I would have been so lucky, but I'm not married. They needed a family man for the new position."

"You came over from England, right?" Steve asked.

Jeff nodded. "Right."

"And they don't celebrate Halloween in England?"

"No."

"It's a big day here," Steve said, "and happens to be my daughter's birthday so I'll be skipping the office party to get home early. I have to buy a cake and something special for my daughter."

"Halloween?"

"It's when all the kids get dressed up in costumes and masks," Steve said.

Jeff snapped his fingers. "Yeah. The kids shout trick-or-treat and you're supposed to act scared. If you don't give them a treat, they pull some dirty trick on you."

"That's right."

"What does your daughter want to be tonight?"

"A Frankenstein monster," Steve said. "She likes the bolts that come out of her neck and the forehead scar. Don't ask me why, but that's what she picked."

"Really? I know what a trick is, but what's considered a treat?"

"Candy, popcorn, gum—anything like that. Anything that kids today will eat. Well, I have to get back to work," Steve said. "On second thought, I better pack up my office."

"Good luck with the new job and the company house that comes along with it."

***

Steve walked in the door from work, bearing a bakery box. He ducked the twirled red crepe paper draped from the ceiling to the corners and smiled at the colored balloons hanging from string.

"Honey, I'm home. Hey, the place looks great, and the party decorations are fantastic...Where is everyone? Where's the birthday girl? I bought her a teddy bear. And I didn't forget the cake."

"What a funny cake," Amanda said, taking the box from Steve and opening the lid. "Happy birthday, _Marcia?_ Nice one, honey. You picked up the wrong cake."

"It's all they had left. I am so tired of the lack of caring this big city brings, along with its overpricing."

"And you!"

_"Me?"_ Steve drew his head back. "What have I done?"

"You and your work. There's never any time for your daughter."

"I didn't come home to be lectured, and besides, I have some news that will let all those worries go," Steve said. "Where is our birthday girl?"

"She's out playing in the patio with the Henderson kids. Well, she's watching them play anyway. Jackie doesn't seem interested in interacting with the kids who live in the apartment complex. Tell me about your big news."

"My big news was _going_ to be that my office loan came through and now we can send Jackie to that special school. But I've got even bigger news, something more permanent than a loan."

Amanda raised her eyebrows. "What?"

"I was given a promotion, which means we'll be moving to a great new place and a huge old home."

"What!" Her hand flew to her throat and she stared wide-eyed at her husband. "When?"

"It seems like you're the one who's going to have a heart attack now." Steve tweaked her nose and grinned. "We need to start packing right away. I've already got my last check and picked up a road map. I also spoke with a realtor we'll be meeting when we get there."

"Where to, honey?"

"Manchester Falls, and we'll be living in a place owned by the company called Waverly Manor."

"It's in the country? Oh brother. Well, give me a week and we'll be packed and ready."

"Wow, I'm married to such a great wife."

"My mother told you so, remember?" Amanda said and laughed.

### CHAPTER 4

At 7:30 in the morning, a red 1978 Ford car pulled into the main street of Manchester Falls. Steve, Amanda and their daughter, Jackie, parked in front of the café where they were to meet the realtor, Sal. They needed to get the key and to finalize the paperwork to the old house.

Steve got out of the car and walked up to a man. "Hello. Are you Sal?" The man nodded. "I'm Steve McCaulou, and this," he turned to the woman who exited the car, "is my lovely wife, Amanda, and there is my daughter, Jackie."

"Look." Jackie pointed to a new discovery, a hopscotch course freshly laid out in chalk on the sidewalk by some kids.

"Hopscotch? Oh boy," Steve laughed. "This has made her whole day."

"I'm the first player, Mommy," Jackie said. "I need to find something to toss. Do you have a coin?"

"Yes, dear." Amanda dug through her purse for change. "Here you go."

Jackie tossed the penny into the first square and turned to Amanda. "The penny has to stay in the square without bouncing out, Mommy."

"Yes, Jackie, I used to play when I was your age. It's fun."

"Now watch, Mommy. I'm pretty good."

"Yes, dear, I'm watching."

Jackie hopped out of the square and bumped into Sal. "Whoops, sorry."

"Hello, little one," Sal said. He turned to Steve and Amanda. "In this town there are a lot of small children. Your daughter should fit right in."

Jackie did a single hop and skip and then she was safe. "I'm close to home square now, Mommy."

"Very good, Jackie," Amanda commented with a smile.

"I need to toss the coin one more time."

"Wait until later, dear. We need to go in and talk with Sal."

"Here's your coin back."

"Thanks. A whole penny. I'm rich."

"Rich as in money, Mommy? What does that mean?"

"I have lots of money. It's a joke."

"I have a penny. Am I rich?"

"Save your pennies, daughter. One day you, too, will be rich."

"Okay, Mommy."

"Funny," Steve said. "Good one!"

Sal gestured toward the café. "Are you folks hungry?"

In the town-and-country kitchen, local diners were joking about the new folks moving into the haunted house and wondering how long they'd last. When Steve and his family walked in, the chattering ceased. With Sal being the only realtor in town, the locals knew it had to be them.

Heading toward a corner table, Steve asked, "So, Sal, how far out is Waverly Manor? We're anxious to move in."

At the mention of Waverly Manor, one man quit eating and turned to stare at Steve as he passed.

The large man stood and announced, "Hey, everyone, look who's taking over the old manor." All eyes fell on the family seated in the corner.

Jackie looked to her parents. "What's the matter, Daddy? Why is everyone laughing at us?"

"Shhh, don't worry," Amanda said. "Someone just told a joke."

The large man had a huge belly laugh and remarked, "They won't last the first night. Not at the haunted manor!" The laughter died down once the waitress, Belle, came out from behind the counter and stared the big man down.

"Enough, everyone. Big Ralph, you've had your fun, now sit down."

The waitress proceeded to the table with the new family and put one hand on her hip. "Hey, Sal, using my booth as your office again?"

"Oh, sorry. It's cramped at my place." Sal explained to Steve and Amanda that he shared his office space with the laundromat and only photocopy place in town.

Jackie's bright, happy face with her button nose and dimpled grin came into the waitress' view.

"Hi," Jackie said.

Steve interrupted. "Coffee, please."

"Juice-juice-juice, pretty please," Jackie sang.

The waitress smiled at Jackie. "Hello, darling. Would you like some juice?"

"Yes, please."

The waitress spoke to Steve. "And I'll bring your coffee, sir." She tilted her head toward Jackie again. "How about a cup of hot cocoa first to warm you up. It's a chilly morning."

"Mmm. You betcha, chickie baby," Jackie answered.

"What?" Belle put one hand on her hip and looked surprised.

"Sorry," Amanda spoke up. "She had an open minded babysitter where we used to live and picked up all _kinds_ of things."

"Okay." Belle chuckled. "One hot cocoa coming right up. Miss, coffee for you, too?"

"Please. That would be great." Amanda sighed and relaxed her shoulders.

"Been driving all night?"

"Yes. Can you tell?"

The waitress laughed. "Yes, a little." She turned to Jackie. "Hey, young lady, do you like happy faces on your pancakes?"

"Umm, yes I do."

"Well then, you've come to the right place. It's named Smiling Pancakes for a reason." The waitress looked at Jackie's father. "Don't worry about this morning's coffee rabble. The town folk like to tease everyone new. Sal, anything for you?"

"No thanks. Heading back to the office." Sal handed the house key to Steve and stood. "Well, folks, if you need anything, call, okay?"

Steve and Amanda shook his hand and said goodbye.

"Goodbye, little girl," Sal said, then looked to Amanda. "Best of luck in your new home. Oh, by the way, we use your garden and the huge field on your property for our town's pumpkin patch and also our town Christmas lot. The money we earn goes into the repair kitty. Hope you don't mind the headache, but it's just seasonal."

Amanda nodded. "That will be fine. We love the activities and besides, we'll get a chance to meet the rest of the townsfolk."

Sal turned toward the front door. "See you then if not before."

Everyone in the restaurant called out, "Bye, Sal!"

Amanda said, "Wave bye, Jackie," and Jackie waved.

Jackie caught some of the people staring at her in the restaurant. She smiled and waved to them.

One of them, an old lady, said, "Hi, cutie. Too bad you won't like your new home."

"Why?" Jackie asked.

The old lady grinned, showing her coffee-stained teeth. "It's haunted, that's why."

"Please, ma'am," Steve said. "My daughter is not humored by your dislike of our new home."

"Of course. Just trying to be friendly."

"Friendly, huh?" Steve huffed.

"Shhh," Amanda said to her husband.

The family endured close inspection, chuckles and rude comments from the diners about their new house. Steve and Amanda sunk down into their seats, feeling self-conscious. Belle saw their trouble and stopped in the middle of the restaurant, holding a coffee pot in one hand.

"Say, Ralph?" she spoke in a loud voice. "How's your hemorrhoids doing? That ointment work yet?"

Ralph turned beat red and slumped over his plate, not looking at anyone. Everyone else fell quiet, knowing better than to make fun of Belle's customers.

Once the McCaulou's breakfast came, the place emptied out as everyone had to go to work.

The waitress said, "Now you can eat in peace and quiet."

"Wow," Steve said. "Is it always this crowded?"

The waitress nodded. "It's how we all get together and talk. We can't afford a local paper yet, and we're not part of any other town's news since nothing ever happens around here, unless of course you count Jim's old cow Betsy getting loose and running down the main drag." She turned to Jackie. "How are the pancakes, dear?"

"I love them! I like choo-chooing on the bacon that makes the smiley part of the face."

"Thanks," Amanda said to the waitress. "That's the most breakfast I've seen her eat in a long time."

"About that manor you're moving into." The waitress rested one hand on Jackie's shoulder. "Word is it's a real doozy filled with mysterious unknowns. It gets everyone a little off their rocker around here, but soon you'll see that we just tease and mean no harm. That's how it is — sad, but we're a happy town. Any one of us would break their back to help the other person out. More coffee?"

"Yes," Steve said. "It's good, the best I've had."

"Thanks a lot." Amanda bumped her husband's shoulder.

"Just kidding, dear," Steve said. He nodded to the waitress. "About the manor. What concerns should I have?"

She leaned in close to him and whispered, "Ghosts."

"Aww, nonsense," Steve argued. "There's no such thing, right?" He looked at his wife, but she just shrugged.

"Have it your way, then," the waitress said, "but watch out for the witching hour. That's when the old owners said it got really wicked inside of that old place."

Steve glanced at a photo on the wall. The sign on it said it was the oldest building in town. The three-story Victorian house had a large front porch and above the porch, a balcony, all lined with wooden railing. White paint covered the old house with blue paint on the trim, and a cupola, complete with four spires, crowned the third floor. The porch and eaves were trimmed with copious amounts of gingerbread. On one end, a brick chimney went from the ground to tower above the roof.

A bare, weather beaten trellis leaned between two windows on the front, and Steve wondered what had grown there. Roses? Lilacs? Honeysuckles? Overgrown bushes almost hid the porch steps and front door, and huge trees surrounded the house.

When he read the name, he saw it was none other than Waverly Manor. A brass plaque on the oversized wooden frame read: most haunted place in town.

Amanda said, "I just love the look of the old place. It looks like it's filled with so much charm. How on earth can it be thought of so badly? I don't care what anyone else says, I like it."

Steve whispered back, "There's something about it that spooks me, and I feel it might be trouble."

"Spooky? I thought you said there was no such thing."

"Well, if all these townspeople think so, then it might be true."

Jackie stared at the old photo. She couldn't take her eyes off it.

### CHAPTER 5

After that meeting in the cafe, the family paid their bill and said goodbye to Belle. They started the long, lonely drive down the road filled with rows of many oak and maple trees dotted here and there.

The family looked doubtful after being laughed at by the town, but their hopes were definitely high as they came closer to the manor. The front view of Waverly Manor looked normal to anyone who dared come down the old dirt road and take a good look. When the McCaulou family first saw their home, they were swept up in its haunting beauty. But that's what the ghosts from the attic allowed them to think. A spell had been cast by Anna the witch so no one would know who hid in the attic.

On this fall day, the trees' red, gold and burnt orange leaves loosened in the breeze and settled on the manor, and all living things in the garden became barren for the season. A creepy, large shadow appeared in the yard, then moved into the manor quiet and slow. The old mighty oak that stood in front of the manor for hundreds of years, where the owl resided, seemed to move forward just for the newcomers, offering some light to the old place for the day.

Steve parked the car and craned his neck to look through the windshield and up at the house.

"We're here." He pushed open his car door and pulled the front door key from his pocket. "You ready to see your new home?"

Jackie clapped her hands and bounced on the backseat. "Yes! Yes! Where's my room?"

"We don't know yet, sweetheart," her mother answered. "Let's go look."

Steve's shoes thudded on the wooden porch, and the screen door squeaked when he opened it, disturbing a cobweb stretched across one corner.

Unlocking the door, he paused at the sounds from the old house. Within the manor walls hummed a grandfather clock's peaceful heartbeat. The living, dwelling inner sanctum was snug and secure. The grandfather clock stood against the wall inside the front hall and could be heard outside as it marked every second with its pendulum. _Tick...tock_ echoed down the hallway with the clock's measured sounds of silence and time.

_Sal must have started the clock,_ Steve thought.

He took a deep breath, smelling dust and old wood and memories. Jackie bumped into him from behind, in a hurry to see her new house.

"Slow down, honey," he warned and took her hand. "Wait for your mother."

Amanda walked up and stopped to look at the entry way and the staircase winding up to the second floor. Floral wallpaper decorated the walls, though it had started to peel at the top. She could see the living room on her right, with its high ceiling and huge windows. Their old apartment could fit into this one room.

"I'm going exploring outside," she announced. "I want to look at the gardens."

"Me, too, Mommy." Jackie followed her mother outside again.

A few minutes passed when Steve called from inside the house, "Umm, honey?"

"Yes, dear, I'm outside," Amanda said.

"I just fell!" He struggled to stand and rubbed his sore head.

"Holy moly. I'm so sorry. What happened in there? Come out to the light and let's get a good look at you. Are you okay?"

"Which question do you want me to answer first?" Steve laughed and walked to the front yard to stand next to her. "Sorry, just joking in my time of pain. I was walking in the front room and, when I stepped into the kitchen, a loose floorboard flew up and hit me in the face. Pow!"

"Pow?" Amanda repeated with a grin.

"It was more like wham, actually. My head is pounding. That's not the worst part though."

"Oh?"

"I heard whispers — millions of them, like voices hiding in the walls, except it sounded like it was coming from one person, a young girl. She was speaking right above me, echoing around me. It made me dizzy just trying to keep up with the sound of her voice, and then the room rumbled. It was the strangest thing."

"Really?" Amanda wasn't sure what to make of the voices. Maybe he'd hit his head harder than he realized.

"And then there was howling and it sounded like a bell clanged or a horn blew and it kept getting closer to me."

"That must have been terrible for you."

"It made me so afraid I wanted to run, but I couldn't. I'm a man. I shouldn't get spooked by this, but when the door creaked, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up straight."

"What did you do next?"

"I-I didn't see anything. You probably think I'm going crazy but, I'm little scared."

"I don't have to think..."

"What was that?" Steve asked, thinking he heard something.

"Nothing."

"What if those people weren't kidding in the restaurant?"

"Aw, come on now, you can't take the word of a group of whackos. You're just tired from driving all night and you've been deprived of T.V. for a few days, too."

"Well, I am a little stressed. I could use some sack time," Steve said.

"Poor baby!"

"Oh, come on. Don't be that way in front of Jackie. All right? Speaking of her," Steve said while he looked around, "where's she at?"

Amanda shrugged. "Probably with her teddy bear somewhere."

"Oh, okay." He jabbed a finger toward the house. "I want to fix that floor board first thing."

The door slammed and a creaking sound came from inside the kitchen.

"Did you hear that?" Steve asked.

"It's probably just the wind. You worry too much. Old places creak!"

"Doors mysteriously slam and bang and make sounds like the walls are filled with ghosts or demons, huh?"

"I'm from the country. Old homes always have character. Face it, you're a city boy. Scaredy cat."

Steve wanted to change the subject. "Our daughter is sitting by the swing tied to that big oak. She's talking to a pretend friend. How cute." He turned to Amanda. "What the townspeople feel about this place is just the fear of the unknown, and once they see us enjoying ourselves here, they'll feel different about the old place. Right?"

"Right. This is a beautiful house." Amanda saw the concern on her husband's face. "I think maybe you're deeply upset about moving here and you secretly hate this place. You miss the big, smoggy, overcrowded city."

"I don't secretly hate this place, geez. We just got here," Steve said.

"I'm sorta happy to be here because we are together."

Steve laughed. "That's the main thing, honey."

"Bats..."

"What?"

"Probably just bats — the noises you heard."

"Oh brother, bats she tells me now. Yes, dear, it was bats!" Steve pointed toward the third floor. "Bats trapped up in the attic. That's that sound I heard, like a little girl's voice. She flapped her wings and hung upside down from the rafters."

"I didn't mean it in that way, but yes, each new sound can mean something different to us."

Steve put his arm around his wife's waist and pulled her close. They both stared at the front of the manor.

"Don't worry, baby," Steve said. "I'll protect you from those nasty, blood sucking old bats."

The front door of the house opened by itself and then closed. Steve noticed it, but Amanda didn't. Steve stiffened and backed up one step, gulping loudly.

"Honey, are you okay?" Amanda asked. "You're acting odd."

"I'm fine. No ghost or demons, it was just bats — I'm sure you're right," Steve said. "I just want to unpack and get the T.V. set up."

"Yep, the big game is on tonight."

"I don't see an antenna on the roof. Hope I can get some sort of television reception out here with a coat hanger and tin foil."

"Let's get the car unpacked then."

### CHAPTER 6

Anna, Tomfoolery and Boo were hanging out in the attic when they heard the key turn in the front door. Anna was less than pleased.

"Who on earth could that be?" she said. "Boo! Watch the door."

"Yes, Anna."

Boo slipped through the floorboards and took a long peek through the wallboard and the old flaky paint, and then came back to the attic with a frightful look on his face.

"What is it?" Anna asked. "Did you see anything?"

"Probably just a traveling salesman," Tomfoolery said.

Boo didn't answer. He kept rubbing his eyes and shaking his head.

Anna yelled at the top of her voice, "Who was at the door, Boo?"

"I...I can't believe it," Boo shuttered.

"What?" Tomfoolery asked.

"Human alert!"

"What!"

"Humans at twelve o'clock," Boo yelled. "Everyone take cover! And they have a child, too. Oh no!"

Anna walked over to the floorboard and grumbled. Boo and Tomfoolery hid while she got down to her knees with the dust flittering around her. Spying with her right eye through the crack in the floor, she watched the family enter the manor with suitcases and boxes.

"Good grief, they're humans all right!" she said. "The beloved living keep reappearing, don't they?"

There were only three of them, and no pets, thank goodness.

Anna smelled trouble right away as the little girl played with the doorbell until her mother made her stop and come into the living area where her father stood. The little girl swirled around, carrying her teddy, and danced on her tiptoes. While she danced, she sang a song. It was faint, but Anna could hear:

Four little pumpkins sitting on the gate. The first one says, "Oh my, it's getting late. Close the gate. Don't let the witches out!"

The second one says, "There are witches in the air on a broomstick, I do declare. How will we get them all down? It's past their dinnertime."

The third one says, "But we don't care. The witching hour has begun. They are up to so much fun despite the sun and feast later."

The fourth one says, "Let them have some fun. Cast the sun into the moon and let's cruise onwards to Mars to see the Martians."

Then whoosh went the wind and out went the light and four little pumpkins rolled out of sight! And the witches came to get us instead...woo-hooo.

Anna laughed and found the little wonder refreshing and very sweet.

"Hey, guys," Anna said. "The little girl won't be any trouble."

Boo hovered next to Anna. "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure. Time will tell."

"Right!"

All of them went back to watching through the knothole.

"They have a child, and you know what that means," Tomfoolery shouted. "Nothing but trouble!"

Boo looked at Tomfoolery and disagreed. "But Anna said it would be all right."

"Aw, what does she know?" Tomfoolery grumbled. "Anna is a mere child herself. Humans are nothing but problems. That's a fact."

The three heard odd sounds of laughter and talking that echoed up to the attic. On one occasion that day they even heard the child giggling.

"What was that?" Boo asked.

Anna answered, "It was laughter from that little girl."

"Why?"

"It's a way of feeling good, or she found something was funny."

"This child laughs and giggles all the time. Is she simple-minded?"

"No," Anna replied. "Just happy in her own world. She is living her life to the fullest."

Tomfoolery and Boo raised their eyebrows and opened their eyes wider.

"Happy humans, good grief," Tomfoolery grinned.

"I'll have them out in a week," Anna said with her wand in hand.

The little girl bounced her rubber ball off her bedroom walls, shaking dust loose from the attic rafters.

What's your plan, Anna?" Tomfoolery asked eagerly.

"Hmm, I want to see a bit more before I make my final plan. There are three this time, which might prove to be difficult."

"Oh, goodie." Tomfoolery sneered through the knothole. "We're going for the countdown to a new witching hour." He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

Boo looked to Anna and then to Tomfoolery and said, "Really, Anna, so soon? We haven't had a chance to see what they have in their icebox."

Tomfoolery grumbled, "You always worry about your belly. Must you fret?"

Boo defended himself. "It's been over a year since I last ate. The icebox has been empty since the Milfoils left."

The father to the family set down his suitcase. He was a tall, thin man with brown hair and a beard. His wife, an eye-catching blonde, had a body meant for beauty and grace. And then their little daughter had playful, loving eyes that glowed and a face that livened up the old place. Anna saw right off that she was of no harm.

The father spoke to the mother. "Honey, what do you think? Is it home for the next few years? I'll make enough money with this new job to send little Jackie to a good school."

The wife replied, "I feel it has potential. We can fix it up, and it will be a nice place for the three of us. I can hardly wait to see the kitchen."

The child said, "Mommy, can we make cookies tonight?"

Anna's eyes followed them and Boo hovered closer and said, "Someone say cookies?"

The father scratched his beard, looked around and muttered, "What a creepy old place. Of all the places for the company to send me to...good grief."

Anna stood. "Creepy, huh?" She stomped her boot heel on the attic floor and it rained down dust and old cobwebs onto the father below. "I'll show you how creepy things can be," she said, winking at Boo and Tomfoolery. "Tonight starts the witching hour."

"Oh boy," Boo said. "Fresh souls to play with on a dark spooky night." He fell backward into Tomfoolery.

"Hey!" Anna shouted. "Watch where you're falling! We have to be quiet now that there are humans downstairs. Wait until it gets dark before we monkey about."

Boo said, "Sorry."

Tomfoolery yelled, "Another fine mess you got me into! Can you get off me?"

### CHAPTER 7

Anna was fun loving and sweet for a girl of sixteen. Boo and Tomfoolery knew she could be wild and reckless at times, but her temperament wasn't meant to harm anyone she haunted or spelled. For a young witch, she disliked many of the normal addictions of the living, which possibly stemmed from her own life when she was alive.

For anyone who inhabited the manor, they were all free game to Anna to haunt, spell and spook. Anna liked to use her magic to annoy her human occupants, and this time was no exception.

Anna jumped on her broom and flew around the attic, thinking to herself, _We have had the manor for a year or more. It will be hard to get use to the living once again_. "You can run, but you can't hide!"

She sped past Boo for the fourth time on her broomstick.

Boo asked Tomfoolery, "Who's hiding?"

"No one, silly. Anna is thinking. She's got a new plan, I bet!"

"I hope it's nothing too drastic," Boo said. "I'm hungry!"

Anna said, "Boo, you and that bellyache of yours for the living's food never stops."

When night finally came, she asked the boys to come over and she waved her wand around them three times, which conjured spooky voices from both of them. The sounds of wicked laughter grew up around the floorboards of the manor.

"Hey, that was great, Anna," Tomfoolery said. "I had no idea I could reach notes at that level."

"Human inhabitants hiding under their sheets yet?" Anna asked.

Tomfoolery made his first round down the hallways, rattling his chains. Anna cast her wand again to produce bats on the ceiling, hoping to drive the residents out. Steve and Amanda shivered and shook in their bed. All they wanted to do was close their eyes tight and dream that they were somewhere else.

The night crept on slowly for them. Something yanked their bed covers back to reveal shivering bodies. Even the grandfather clock quit ticking for the night. The resident mice locked up their mouse holes with keys hidden under their little pillows. The owl that hooted sat in the tree and watched the horror begin with his big, round, yellow eyes.

Boo flew around the halls and Tomfoolery floated throughout the rafters, knocking at the walls and banging and rattling his chains. Boo got his horn next and when he blew into it, the sound seemed to shake the whole house like it overflowed with thousands of ghosts. Then he went to the basement and shook the pipes, making everyone think the old manor was being knocked down board-by-board.

Anna, Tomfoolery and Boo found out that Jackie was a special child who lived in her own world and had a greater imagination than theirs. That night, in her bare feet and nightgown, she made her way up to the attic with her teddy bear named Russell to see where the sounds came from.

### CHAPTER 8

Brave little Jackie held Russell close and came to a small pinhole of light in the attic. She stood up on her tiptoes and peered into a room no one knew about. The room looked dusty, filled with old boxes and trunks and furniture nobody wanted. In a moment, though, a noise made her look in the corner.

A witch!

She blinked and looked again.

The witch wore a black dress with a lacy ruffled white blouse, striped orange and black stockings, black boots with a pointed toe, and a dark cloak. An oversized hat helped keep her thick red hair out of her face. But nothing could hide her brilliant green eyes.

Two ghosts stood beside the witch — one, tall and thin, and another, short and dumpy, wearing a tailored vest. To Jackie's amazement, they straddled the broomstick behind the witch and took off out the oval window. Running to another window, Jackie could see their silhouette against the moon.

From then on, Jackie enjoyed spying on the two ghosts and the little witch girl. Late at night when the moon came across the yard big, beautiful and round, Jackie would smile at the old man in the moon and his magic, sparkling eyes. She knew precisely when the attic residents would take off to the night sky on another joyous broomstick ride. Watching the three get ready for their nightly ride was something she marveled over. Jackie would lie in bed and wait for the old grandfather clock to strike midnight. _Tick...tock_ _—_ _Bong!_ the clock would sound twelve times. She would grab her sleepy bedtime buddy, Russell, and head upstairs, tiptoeing to the knothole night after night.

Jackie would whisper to Russell, "Shhh. We must step quietly so the ghosts will not hear us." Russell would only stare back with his brown button eyes.

After they disappeared in the night sky, Jackie gasped at the many new things she saw. "Wahoo-wee!" She'd go back to bed, tuck Russell in beside her, and wonder where they went and what magic they did.

Jackie was smart enough not to say a word to her parents about the magical place in the attic. When each morning arrived, Jackie came downstairs to eat her breakfast without a word about what went on the night before. She enjoyed watching Anna, Tomfoolery and Boo leave the attic by broomstick and wondered if she would be able to go on a ride. This was her deepest hope and prayer as she giggled to herself while she imagined being on that broom.

* * *

One night, close to midnight, Anna knew it was time to fly. Each and every time was a joyous adventure as they rode on Anna's broomstick.

Anna dusted off her witch's hat and placed a new owl feather in the band, first flopping it back on top of her head and then letting it fall past her eyes. She would blow on it and, like a puff of air, the feather would push its way back into the hat again. Anna told Tomfoolery and Boo that the owl feather helped with magical spells and made the broomstick come alive and fly.

Tomfoolery shook and rattled his chains and Boo cleaned and shined his earth shattering brass horn that made the living's hair stand on end when he blew it on the back of Anna's broomstick. Anna knew to wait until everyone in the manor was fast asleep, checking through all the floorboards first. Jackie played along and kept her eyes shut until she saw the witch's shadow move across her ceiling, peeking with one eye half opened.

When Anna, Tomfoolery and Boo felt it was safe, they opened the attic's oval, stained-glass window, making sure the hinges didn't squeak. They stepped out to the ledge and readied themselves for takeoff. Anna waited for the owl sitting across the way to signal with three hoots that all was clear in the neighborhood.

Jackie heard the owl and knew they were on another adventure. She wondered about the three occupants, who they might be and why they were here. Then she sat up in bed with an idea bouncing around her mind. What if...what if she met them? The idea both thrilled and scared her. She didn't normally like meeting people. But, these weren't really people...they were _ghosts_. Giving Russell a tight hug, she made up her mind. As soon as she could, she would talk to them!

### CHAPTER 9

Early one Saturday morning, Anna woke up to find an attic bat upside down over her bed, staring at her. She sighed, rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. While she lay there, she thought back on the past two weeks and smiled to herself. With just a little more work, the father would be scared enough to pack up and leave. That thought made her want to get up and see what the family was doing.

It rained heavily the night before and her two friends were feeling a little cooped up. Keeping everyone quiet during the daylight hours was hard work, even after making dozens of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for Boo and Tomfoolery to keep them still.

Anna looked at the wall mirror that day when she passed it. "Oh my! What a fright my hair has become after the rain. The humidity is dreadful for my wavy long locks." The damp air made her red hair frizzy under her big, black, pointy hat and sprawl out in many different directions. Boo laughed, seeing Anna worried about her red hair. When she scowled at him and pointed her spell-casting finger, he decided to go downstairs and check on the McCaulou's refrigerator. He was still hungry.

_A ride on my broom tonight will straighten that mess right out,_ Anna thought. When Boo returned, he and Tomfoolery hovered over the stained glass window and watched the outside world go by. Dark gray clouds filled the sky as far as they could see. Bare tree branches dripped. The house eaves dripped. They preferred cloudy days, but they hated dripping raindrops! Time was so slow it almost seemed to come to a stop.

Anna said, "Look to the clouds, boys. They are swimming past us, getting farther and farther away. Soon it will be clear, then we'll have our fun. Maybe down the road we'll do some haunting in that small white cottage where that young family lives. Would that be fun? If they run, we can chase them on the broomstick into the forest and have some real fun playing hide-and-seek witchery style."

They shrugged and didn't answer, looking bored as they watched Jackie outside with her mother, playing in her yellow rain slicker on her slide and jungle gym.

"Are you all right?" Anna asked. She took out her wand, walked over to the table and cast a spell. "How about this, guys?" A huge pizza, the size of the table, appeared. Tomfoolery hovered by to take a look.

"No, huh?" She sounded disappointed.

He just shook his head and went back to the window.

"What about this?" Anna tapped the tip of her yellow and orange wand three times onto the wooden table and the pizza became a checker board.

Boo hovered by, took a look, moved one checker piece and flew away.

"Tough crowd today, boys. What's the matter?"

Tomfoolery and Boo went back to the window and watched Jackie and her mother having fun on the slide and the double swing.

"Do you want to sneak out there tonight and play on the swing like the little girl does?" Anna asked.

"Can Jackie come, too?" Tomfoolery said.

"It would be too late for Jackie to come out and play. Besides, she doesn't know we exist."

Boo didn't want to tell Anna that he already met the little girl last week when he went down to the icebox for his daily raid. He had lifted the ice cream out of the freezer and while it hovered in the air, he took a spoon from the kitchen counter. When he turned around, he heard a tiny voice too sweet and darling to be scared.

Jackie looked up to Boo with her big blue eyes and said, "May I have some ice cream too, please?" with her hand reached out.

"You shouldn't have ice cream before dinner," Boo told her.

Jackie argued with Boo, but he said he was the adult in the room and therefore in charge.

"But I'm hunnnggrryyy!" she wailed and focused those sweet blue eyes on him.

"Oh, all right. Get yourself a spoon and a bowl and sit at the table."

Jackie gave him a big smile and did as she was told. Boo and Jackie sat at the breakfast table and enjoyed their ice cream together, but Boo could tell something was wrong.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

She tried to respond with the spoon in her mouth, but only mumbled.

"You would speak clearer if you took the spoon out of your mouth," he said.

"I'm not allowed to go in the haunted attic, am I? I've been up there and I can see all of you having so much fun."

Boo winced. "Are you by yourself when you see us?"

"Yes, of course. Well, me and Russell."

"Russell? Who's he?"

"My teddy bear."

Boo was relieved. "I'll have to ask Anna first."

"Who's that?" Jackie asked.

"She's the witch that lives with us. She's our friend."

"The witch I've seen? With long red hair?"

"Yes," Boo answered, careful not to say too much to Jackie. Anna would be upset if she knew he told Jackie about their hidey hole in the attic.

"Best to put that out of your mind. Anna will be mad if you go in there without her permission. It's scary in there!"

"Oh, all right." Jackie swung her feet back and forth from the chair and took another bite of bubblegum ice cream. "Well, play out here with me then."

"What do you want to do?" Boo asked.

"I don't know. You're a ghost, right?"

"Yup!"

"Can you do any magic tricks?"

"Nope, but Anna can."

"Really?" Jackie said, "I'd like to meet her."

"Well maybe one day," Boo said, cleaning up the bowls and spoons, placing them back where he found them so no one know he and Jackie ate together.

"That would be neat!"

Boo took Jackie back to the living room and placed her in front of the T.V.

"Bye for now," he said and floated up the stairs.

* * *

But now, at the rainy window, he stayed silent, wondering about Jackie and how long he could keep their secret from Anna.

### CHAPTER 10

Late one Friday night, Jackie and Boo sat in the kitchen, sneaking ice cream before Jackie went to bed...the second time. Her parents had already tucked her in once. But Boo gave the secret signal and she hurried down the stairs to meet him.

"What flavor?" he asked, holding up two types, Rocky Road and cherry vanilla.

"Mmm, I think cherry vanilla." Jackie pointed to the box in his right hand.

Boo dished up the creamy treat, then sat beside her and dug into his. After taking the first big bite, he looked across the table.

"What's the matter?" he mumbled through a full mouth. "Not hungry?"

Jackie pushed the ice cream around with her spoon, her mouth in a pout.

"I had a bad day. That's all," she explained.

"What happened?" He took another big bite.

"Somebody made fun of me at school. They called me stupid. I _hate_ being called that!"

"You're not stupid!" Boo plunked his spoon into the bowl. "You're the smartest person I know. _They're_ the ones who are stupid."

Her mouth relaxed and she took a small bite, making sure it had a cherry in it.

"They think I'm stupid because I don't talk to anyone. But I don't like talking to people. I don't like them touching me, either." She shuddered.

"Don't you like talking to me?" Boo started to get up and leave.

"No. I love talking to you. You're different. Just like I'm different. I don't have to worry that you'll call me names and whisper behind my back."

"Oh. Okay then." He picked his spoon up again and a thought crossed his mind. "Is that why you don't have any friends come over?"

"Yeah, I guess. There are some nice kids in my class, but I'd rather just watch them play."

"Aren't you lonely?"

"I used to be, until we moved here. Now I sneak up to the attic and watch you and your friends fly out the window on a broomstick."

Boo drew back, looking worried. "You...you know about the broomstick rides?"

"Yep." She giggled. "One day, I hope I get to ride on one. I imagine what it must be like, flying so high you could touch the moon."

"It _is_ a lot of fun," he admitted. "But you shouldn't come up to the attic all alone, especially at night. Those stairs are tricky and you could fall."

"Oh. But I've been fine so far."

"So far," he warned.

They ate in silence for a moment, their spoons scraping the bottom of the bowls.

Jackie tilted her head while she let ice cream melt in her mouth, then said, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why are you here? I mean you're a ghost, but who were you...before?"

Boo grew serious, his face pursed in thought. "I don't remember very much."

"What _do_ you remember?"

"My family was at a lake for a picnic or a party or...something. Anyway, I was supposed to wait for my big sister to take me to the water."

"And?"

"And that's all. I don't know what happened. I've been looking for my sister ever since."

"How long ago was that?"

Boo shrugged. "It's been a while, I guess. We didn't have cars or TV or anything like you do."

"You mean you got to ride horses?" Jackie's eyes shone at the thought. "I wish I had a horse. I'd name it Lightning...or Prince."

Boo giggled at her dreamy face. He glanced behind her to the ceiling and saw Anna glaring at him, motioning with her index finger to come to her.

"Uh...uh, Jackie, I need to go now. Are you done with your ice cream?"

"Yes."

He took the bowls and cleaned up the kitchen, then escorted her to her room.

"Goodnight," he said at the door.

"Night night, Boo." Jackie went in and fell fast asleep.

But...in the attic...Boo floated in and met one very angry Anna.

"What are you _doing?"_ she yelled. "Talking with _humans?"_ Her right foot tapped on the floor and her green eyes blazed.

"I, uh..."

"How long has this been going on?"

"Well..."

"Who else have you been talking to?" Anna didn't give him a chance to answer any questions.

"Nobody. I..."

"I can't _believe_ you did this. We are in so much trouble!" She stormed around the room, little fires starting up where she stepped.

Tomfoolery inched closer to Boo and whispered, "I've never seen her this mad."

"Me, either." Boo's eyes went wide and he kept gulping, afraid of what she'd do next.

"What if she tells her parents!" Anna stopped pacing.

"She won't!" Boo protested.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because she hasn't yet."

"It's one thing to be spooking the house, but to make friends...I mean to _talk_ to her?" Anna closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, like her head hurt.

"You said she was all right. When they first moved in, you said..."

"I know what I said. And she is a sweet girl, but this is serious. She could tell her friends and they'll start poking around, looking for us."

"She doesn't have any friends. Nobody except us." Boo spoke in a soft, sad voice.

"Nobody? At all?" Anna didn't look mad anymore.

"Nobody. They pick on her at school because she's different." Boo glanced at Tomfoolery, then back at Anna. "I think we should invite her up here so she can meet you two."

_"What?"_ Anna stepped back one step, her expression one of concern and surprise.

Before she could argue, Boo added, "She's already been up here, watching us. She's seen us fly out the window and everything."

Anna plopped down in a chair, completely overwhelmed with the news. "You mean the broomstick?"

"Yep." Boo floated next to her and stopped. "She wants to go on a ride sometime."

"No. Absolutely not!" Anna frowned and pointed a finger at him.

"Okay. But I still say she should come up here and meet you and Tomfoolery. She'll keep the secret. I promise."

Anna bit her bottom lip and sighed. "Let me think about it."

* * *

A few nights later, a slippery, silvery voice echoed while Jackie slept.

Jackie awoke with the sweats and wondered who'd called her. No one stood beside her bed and the voice didn't sound like her parents. Instead of yelling for them, she waited to see what would happen next.

"Hello! Anyone there?" Jackie paused and tried again. "Hello. I'm Jackie."

Anna crept into the darkness of Jackie's bedroom and tripped over two shoes neatly by the bed.

"Ouch," Anna whispered.

"Who's there?" Jackie kindly asked again. "Boo, is that you? Come to play?"

Only wisps of cold air flew in the room and knocked over her glass of juice.

"Boo, quit teasing me. What will it be tonight — checkers or crossword puzzles, or how about your favorite, Tic-Tac-Toe?...Boo?"

Jackie blinked. Her bed transformed magically into the rug of the red parlor down the hall. She felt her soft pillow and warm blanket and Russell tucked under her arm. Jackie didn't know that Anna was in her room, preparing her for a meeting with the gang from the attic. With a new moon in the sky, the manor would be in total darkness.

"Don't be afraid."

Jackie heard those words in her mind, not in the room and promptly fainted. Anna cast a spell to get out of the room and down the hall, past her parents' bedroom without a sound.

When she woke, Jackie held her head up as far as she could without feeling dizzy. She still lay on the rug, but saw branches from the magical trees growing in the middle of the room. Plates, cups and bowls, baskets of food and treats sat by each placemat, with spring flowers adorning the trimmings. She could have sworn she saw Boo hovering beside her, saying, "Anna, now be careful. Don't drop her. Ok?"

"W-what?" Jackie breathed. Two or three faces swirled above her. "GHOSTS. Boo, are they your friends from the attic?" Jackie muttered, still half in Anna's spell trance. "Are you ghosts?"

Their features were a blur of eyes and mouths grinning in delight. Jackie saw Boo's great big smile.

Jackie expressed, "Oh goodness, this is the moment I've waited for to meet all of you. I've woken up from my dream." There was no such a dream in Jackie's childlike mind... All of it was real!

The eerie voice that earlier came into Jackie's head faded to a soft sweet one by Anna. "Ok, little one."

They all sat on the floor with a placemat in front of each. Anna said, "You met Boo." Anna pointed, "This is Tomfoolery and I am..."

Jackie interrupted, "Anna, yes. The little girl witch in the attic.

"Right," Anna said. "Hope I didn't kill your appetite with that spell. Boo went through so much trouble planning all of this big surprise for you to meet Tomfoolery and me." She looked at Boo and fussed, "Boo, wait till we all eat together. All right?"

Boo was reaching for the sweets in front of his placemat. "Ok, sorry. My bad, Anna."

Jackie giggled. "Boo, you make me laugh." "O-oh." She pressed a hand to her forehead, her face a mask of discomfort. "I-I mean I don't know what I am saying or thinking. You know, I can see you like in a wavy fog — two ghosts and a little witch. Anna, your hat and red hair and green eyes do stand out." Anna smiled sheepishly. "Have you seen my teddy?" Jackie asked.

Tomfoolery handed over Russell to Jackie. "Here you go, little darling."

Anna asked sharply, "What are you doing with that stuffed pet?"

"It ain't a pet," Tomfoolery argued. "It's a special, sleepy time, stuffed thing-a-ma-jig. I've never seen one before. It's soft and smells good like cupcakes with vanilla icing."

"Thanks, Tomfoolery," Jackie said, holding Russell tightly. "Oh, it's so nice to meet all of you. And you made this room like..."

"Yes, that's right. Anna's so proud of her handiwork. A forest for our picnic, of course."

"It's nice and special."

"Thanks." Anna glowed, smiling at Boo, happy that they all could get together.

Jackie said, "You know magic, all right. Boo said you know how to do tricks..."

"Yes, but first, as Boo is always starving, let's begin our picnic, ok?"

"All right," Jackie said.

Anna poured Jackie milk in a teacup and did the same for her friends.

"Pinkies out, guys," Anna strongly suggested. "That is manners."

"Yes, Anna," Tomfoolery said. They all first had some sips of milk in yellow flowered, painted old teacups and then Anna placed the cupcakes next to Boo. He just _had_ to inhale his and finished first, wiping crumbs off his mouth and looking wistfully at the others.

"Yummy," Jackie said. "I love cupcakes."

"Good," Anna said. "We have cookies and jelly beans, too. Boo didn't know what you would prefer, and for dessert we have banana splits."

"Oh my," Jackie said happily. "Thank you for inviting me." She passed Boo the cookie plate. "I hope I can come again and that we can be friends."

Anna swallowed a bite of cupcake and nodded. "We already are friends, Jackie. You're welcome here any time."

### CHAPTER 11

Steve and Amanda stared down the old manor road from their kitchen window one morning.

"Willies," Steve said.

"What?"

"This place gives me the willies."

"I truly don't understand your outlook sometimes, dear." She looked down the driveway that led to the old manor cemetery.

"What a lonely, grim view. That on top of the creepy shadows and the howling winds at night." Steve sounded unhappy.

"It's only the hoot of the night owl. I just love it here," Amanda said.

"What about the laughter at night that comes down through the pipes or the many footsteps I hear running up and down the halls? Or what about the ghostly, floating eyes that peek in at us, then close the bedroom door and lock it from the outside?"

"It's just an old, creaky house. The foundation shifts." Amanda shrugged and drank her coffee.

"You don't have to be mad to live here, but it helps," Steve said, only halfway joking.

He took a sip of his coffee and choked. It was hotter than normal.

"Ouch! Every time I speak ill of this place it attacks me."

"Oh dear. Come on now. It's not that bad."

"It's bad, especially for me." Steve wiped his mouth with a tea towel. "There's been nothing but problems since we moved in. The T.V. shorts out, the radio comes on by itself, and the tap in the sinks turns on and off. Remember last Sunday when you cooked that huge pot roast? We were getting ready to sit down at the dinner table and the roast floated up in the air and headed upstairs, followed by the gravy. What was that all about, huh?"

Steve choked on his next sip of coffee, but it felt more like someone slapped him on the back causing him to choke again.

"Sorry," he said. "It must have gone down the wrong pipe!" He stood by the counter and saw a shadow hover by his eyes. Steve said coldly, "I hate it here!"

"What was that...what, dear?"

"That noise. I hear children speaking, and it sounds like it's coming though the walls. It's driving me crazy."

"Is it always at night?"

"Yeah," Steve said. "I can't get any sleep."

"Well, when I reach over, you're asleep. I don't hear it."

"You never hear it; you refuse to. I feel, for Jackie's sake, you dismiss it completely."

"That noise might just be our daughter playing with her dolls upstairs. You know she has trouble sleeping the whole night."

"Do you think all that racket is just Jackie? I beg to differ, dear!"

Amanda laughed. "Aww, honey. I've enjoyed my time here so far, and I know Jackie has too. We love this old place so much and you will too. It just needs to grow on you and then you will feel what we feel."

"And that is?"

"Well, the peace and quiet. It's a simple way of life. I've been exploring all the rooms. Did you know that the last seven families who owned this wonderful old place left each and every room furnished? There are so many different types of historical furnishings to look at, and some of them date over a hundred years. I saw some from the First World War. So many pretty antiques." She paused for a moment. "Besides, look how happy Jackie is. She has tons of imaginary friends here to fill her day. Going to that new school has been tough on her. There's only one class for special education children. The teacher is having a hard time getting her to pay attention. She rambles on about this witch named Anna and a short, fat ghost named Boo. And then there's another one. Let see if I can remember — oh, yes. Tomfoolery. Isn't that cute, dear?"

"Does she have any _real_ friends?" Steve asked. "Real people, I mean."

"Jackie has come a long way according to all the doctors we've seen, even though she is slow in some of her behavioral skills."

"But does she act like the rest of the kids in her class?"

"Yes, she does."

"Oh really? Then why do we have so many teachers meetings?" Steve asked. He didn't wait for Amanda's answer. "I'll tell you why. They don't know what's wrong. Doctors give her test after test and are just guessing."

His wife waved a hand to calm him down. "She kept to herself and was too sheltered when we lived in the city. But I explained to the doctors and her teacher that she's been happy since the move to this old place. I want to continue to see that in our daughter. Before, she would never talk or interact with anyone other than you and me."

Amanda took another sip of coffee, then continued. "But I told them, dear, if you'd been listening, now there's a secret world she lives and survives in. It's bringing her out of her shell. Getting her help at this young age is the key to successful treatment, from what her teacher told me at our last meeting."

"Oh, really?" Steve said. "Successful treatment of _what_ , exactly? I feel our daughter is fine, just acting like all of the rest of the kids her age. If that's enough for me, then why would they emphasize her shyness? Why the labeling if she's only seven?"

"The class has four special needs kids amongst the other children, and the teacher said she gets along with both groups. She needs to pass some test to be allowed in a normal class one day. That will be an advancement for her. However, stress could affect her, or another move, or us fighting — anything that's not normal daily life to her could make her react differently than we would."

"So..." Steve crossed his arms. "If she passes the entire test and went to that normal class, she could be wigged out by what another student might do to her or say to her, not to mention how overloaded she could get with all the homework."

"Yes, a new class and a new teacher might prove hard to handle."

"Sadly it's all part of today's life lessons," Steve said, fearful for his baby girl.

"Jackie's safe here, but if the world pushes too fast, that could be a hardship for her. She's been doing well so far."

"Even if it _is_ with pretend friends. Can we take her out of school and homeschool her then?"

"No, she will not be prepared for the world and what it brings with it. Jackie would be too sheltered then."

"I see. Well, time will tell, right?" Steve said.

Amanda giggled, remembering something Jackie told to her the day before.

"You know I love this kitchen's huge old cast-iron stove. Well, I asked Jackie if she wanted some cookies and she agreed, of course. Jackie loves homemade cookies when they come out of the oven fresh and warm. She likes to have the first one as soon as they're ready. But then she said she needed a plate afterwards so she could take some up to the attic ghost. I laughed and thought she was joking. But once the cookies were finished, she told me I needed to hurry so they would still be warm for her friend."

"So what did you do?" Steve asked.

"I gave her the plate of cookies and she trotted off up the stairs and came back down later with the plate empty. She must have been full eating all those cookies in her room, but the funny thing was, she still had a huge appetite for dinner that night."

Amanda looked at Steve. "I think about it this way. So maybe this old place is a little haunted and we're here for your work. Jackie is our main concern and her happiness is our main goal. If she is well cared for and kept happy, that's all that counts. That's what we agreed on when we left the city."

"Yeah, I know." He put his empty mug in the sink. "I need to get to work soon."

"I'll make your lunch. You go get dressed."

When Steve went upstairs, he walked by his daughter's room. The door was open and he heard Jackie chatting away to someone.

Steve poked his head into the room. "Is everything all right, honey? You get ready for school, okay? Mommy has your breakfast waiting for you."

"Yes, Daddy," Jackie answered. She stopped talking toward the ceiling to look at him.

"Playing with your dolls, dear?"

"No, just sitting here."

She sat on the edge of her bed, and returned her stare to the ceiling. He walked away and heard his daughter giggle. Then he swore he heard someone asking her questions.

"Yes, that was my father," Jackie answered the voice. "I have to go and eat now. See you on the way out."

"Ok!"

_Odd,_ he thought. Steve disliked his new situation. Why did his house have to be so darn creepy? But then Amanda's words came to his mind again: _look how happy Jackie is!_

***

Later that afternoon Anna was thinking of ways to entertain Tomfoolery and Boo. She decided a broom ride that night would do the trick.

Boo said, "The old man of the bleu cheese moon will be at his fullest tonight."

"Yes," Anna agreed, seeing Boo very excited. He always wanted Anna to fly high enough to carve out a slice of bleu cheese from the moon.

Tomfoolery and Boo hovered about in their side of the attic. It would be a relief for them to get out into the cold night air one more time before the snow set in.

Anna said, "We will wait for darkness to come and the man on the moon to rise high up into the night sky." Anna walked up to Boo and said, "What is that all over your vest?"

He looked down. "What? Oh nothing," he lied. He knew it was melted ice cream dripped onto his clothes from eating with Jackie earlier.

***

Across the backyard that night, Anna flew with the two ghosts behind her, screaming their chilling cries for everyone to hear. Tomfoolery rattled his chains and Boo blew his horn. They had a great time flying high up into the cold night sky on the back of Anna's broomstick.

Screams and chilling howls woke the good townsfolk of Manchester Falls, with much wicked laughter from Anna as they streamed across the rooftops.

"Whoopee," Anna yelled, happy to be free.

Below, a town resident yelled out his top floor window, "Hey, knock it off. People are trying to sleep!"

The man returned back to his bed and his wife asked, "What is it, honey?"

"Oh nothing," he said. "Just a witch and two ghosts riding around on a broomstick."

He froze in his tracks, realizing what he had just seen and went to the window to take another look. At the same time, Jackie ran to the open attic door. Seeing it unlocked, she hurried across the wooden floor up to the open window and half hung her body out the window to watch as the broom with a witch and two ghosts went zooming back and forth among the night's twinkling stars.

Jackie laughed and wished she could be part of the adventure with the resident witch and two ghosts.

Anna laughed, too, and so did the ghosts as they flew up high. When they came down, all the lights were turned on in the homes of Manchester Falls. Anna and the two ghosts had awoken everyone with their ghostly hoots and howls.

In one place where the three landed in the dark, they spied a home to haunt. Anna cast a spell, making her party of three into slender coils of light. Keeping to the shadows of the walls, they entered the dwelling and tried out their haunting handiwork.

Quietly stepping into the home, closer and closer to the bedrooms, Anna cast her wand to the first man sleeping in his bed. The wand spelled out nightmares to enter his mind. Then Tomfoolery and Boo did their part, shaking chains with earth shattering effects. They awakened the human occupants who became too frightened to scream or shout, especially when Boo squeezed in with them for a quick nap.

### CHAPTER 12

The three attic residents could have sat and admired their handiwork from a night of spooking. Instead, they ran out of the house, laughing and hooting and hollering.

Still excited, Anna yelled to her friends, "Get on the broom and we'll go to another house. Hurry while it's still dark out!"

Boo and Tomfoolery were tired from the evening's excitement and Anna flew them back home before it reached daylight.

Jackie was asleep and half frozen by the time Anna, Tomfoolery and little Boo came back to the attic window. She had stayed in the attic the whole time, waiting for the three to return home. Anna, seeing Jackie asleep, carried her down the stairs to her bed and tucked her in for the night.

Anna took the opportunity to sit by Jackie's bed, making sure she was all right, and tucking her teddy Russell under her arm for protection. Boo and Tomfoolery watched over her, too, and then headed back to the attic.

Before she left, Anna whispered in Jackie's ear, "Until later, little darling."

When morning came, Anna heard footsteps walking down the hall to Jackie's room. The witch hid under Jackie's bed when Amanda came in.

"Wake up, sleepy head," Jackie's mother said. "Time for breakfast, then off to school."

Anna liked Jackie's mom and thought she did a good job of keeping calm with all the fright nights that had been thrown her way. Amanda believed it was just the building settling in its old age.

Jackie awoke, not remembering the night before. Anna hid until the coast was clear and then went back to the attic.

"Is Jackie okay?" Boo asked.

"Yes, she's just heading off to school. She's fine."

"Good," Boo said. "I didn't want her to get sick from waiting for us all night. She needs to come with us one night and feel the freedom of one of your broom rides."

Anna needed to think about the first living human out at night, spooking. "We'll see."

***

A few weeks passed when Anna overheard Jackie and her dad talking one night in her bedroom. Anna stopped to listen at the door but, being too curious, she snuck into one corner of the ceiling to watch.

"Jackie, before you go to sleep, I want to talk to you," Anna heard Steve say.

"Okay, Daddy. What?" Jackie picked up Russell from the pillow and crawled under the covers.

"Mommy and I spoke to your counselor today. She said you're doing better at school." He sat on the edge of the bed and patted her foot under the blanket. "But..." clearing his throat, he went on, "we're worried that you're not making any friends."

"Oh, Daddy. I have friends." An innocent smile graced her face.

"At school? The teacher says you don't."

"Not at school. No."

"Then where?"

Jackie glanced around the room and pulled Russell closer.

"You mean your teddy bear?"

"Yes, but there's Anna and Boo and Tom..."

"Wait. I haven't met these friends. Where do they live?"

Resting her chin on the top of Russell's fuzzy head, she remained silent.

"Honey, where do your friends live?"

"Here," she whispered.

"Here? In this house?" Steve shook his head and gestured across the room. "No one lives here but you, Mommy and me."

"They do so live here." Anna watched Jackie's eyes turn defiant. "In the attic."

Anna froze. The last thing she needed was a nosy adult human traipsing through there.

"The attic." Steve sounded like he finally understood. "So, you mean you have _pretend_ friends who live in the attic. That's fine, sweetheart, but one day you should make some real friends — from school maybe."

"Anna _is_ real!" Tears clouded Jackie's face and, for a moment, Anna wanted to materialize right in front of Steve, just to prove Jackie right.

"It's all right, honey. If she's real to you, that's all that matters for now." Steve stood and kissed his daughter's forehead before tucking her in. "Sleep well."

He clicked off the lamp and left the room, closing the door behind him. In the dark, Jackie flung herself onto her stomach and cried into her pillow. "I'm _not_ lying. I'm not lying, Daddy."

Anna couldn't stand to see Jackie cry. She hurried to the attic and paced back and forth, muttering to herself. Ignoring her friends' questions of what was wrong, she walked to the window to stare at the night sky. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw her broomstick propped up in the corner, and a twinkle glimmered from her eye.

Anna waited until Steve and Amanda had gone to bed and been asleep for an hour. Then she woke Jackie and asked her to come up to the attic.

"We're going out the whole night," Anna said.

"Going out where?" The little girl yawned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"For a ride."

"On a _broomstick?"_ Jackie guessed.

"Yes. Would you like that?"

Jackie happily agreed, grabbed Russell and started for the door.

"Get your coat," Anna warned. "It's a chilly night."

Wearing her warm jacket, she followed Anna upstairs and saw the smiling faces of Boo and Tomfoolery.

"Glad to have you," Boo said.

"Welcome to the night flights," Tomfoolery added. "You will enjoy this tremendously."

Anna got on the broom and pointed to Jackie. "You sit behind me. Then Boo, then Tomfoolery."

When everyone got situated, Anna adjusted the owl feather in her hat and said the magic word. The broom lifted several feet from the floor and hovered by the window. Jackie grabbed onto Anna's waist for balance and looked down at her dangling feet.

"You ready?" Anna asked over her shoulder.

"I...I think so," Jackie answered.

Anna flew the broom a few yards out from the window and stopped, letting the little girl get used to it. Twisted branches from the old oak tree in the front yard reached into the night, and the resident owl hooted its greeting. Below them, the family car glinted moonlight from its bumpers and windows.

"Can you go higher?" Jackie asked.

Without a word, Anna started the broomstick again and circled the house once, climbing higher as they went. She quit worrying about Jackie when she heard her giggle.

"Hang on!" Anna warned, and zoomed away from the house. The breeze blew against Jackie's face and, for the first time in her short life, she felt free. Up here, she wasn't stupid, or slow, or shy.

"Faster!" she begged. Below them, houses and roads got smaller and smaller. Above them, Jackie thought they were close enough so she could touch the moon, or at least wear a cloud for a hat.

"Anna!" Boo called from behind Jackie.

"What?"

"You know where I want to go. I bet Jackie would like it, too."

"Okay." Anna swooped the broomstick to the left and they flew over a small creek before coming to a nearby town.

"Where are we going, Boo?" Jackie asked.

"A thieving rampage," he answered.

"A what?"

"His favorite candy store," Anna explained.

"Does he have a non-favorite one?" Tomfoolery teased from the back.

Anna commented, "They carry the best watermelon hard candy that I've ever had."

They landed on the shop roof and got off the broom. Anna tilted her head to study Jackie for a moment.

"I need to cast a spell to get you inside. Is that okay?"

Jackie nodded and closed her eyes. For a second, she felt her arms and legs tingle and her stomach tickle. When she opened her eyes, she stood inside the store, surrounded by glass cases and shelves full of every candy imaginable.

Jackie went to the Tootsie-pops first and put a few in her pocket. Grape and cherry were her favorite. She watched Boo run from shelf to shelf, shoving some candy in his mouth and leaving a wake of candy wrappers behind him. Anna was seen by Jackie placing silver coins in the man's cash register on the counter. Anna was not dishonest by any means.

Tomfoolery and Boo snapped gum and ate too much taffy. They took a bag of goodies with them and got back on the broomstick. They ate their fill of candy on a cloud in the night sky and then buzzed off again.

Around and around they flew until Jackie felt like she would get sick from so much candy and from being dizzy. She had definitely turned green. Anna saw it was time to take Jackie home so she could get some sleep, while Tomfoolery and Boo pulled popped bubblegum off of their robes.

When Jackie climbed back in bed, she stopped Anna from leaving.

"Thank you for being my friend," she said.

"Your _real_ friend," Anna added, then left so the girl could sleep.

### CHAPTER 13

Many years passed. Steve, Amanda and Jackie remained at the manor. Anna, Tomfoolery and Boo managed to live happily in the attic, out of view from the parents. Jackie had now grown to a young girl just about Anna's age of sixteen and was now well acquainted with the attic residents.

Russell, the teddy bear, was now old and ragged. Jackie asked Anna if she could spell a charm to keep him looking brand new. Anna agreed and thought it was funny that Jackie's parents couldn't figure out how the teddy bear always looked so new despite its age.

One day new people moved in next door. The old house had been empty for over ten years. Jackie wondered who they were.

A few days later, Jackie woke up, already bored at the thought of the long day she would have to go through before night came and she could see her friends upstairs again. She got out of bed, ran her fingers through her hair and then dressed in a sweatshirt, shorts and a pair of pink flip-flops.

She heard a click at her door and hoped it was Anna sneaking down to see her. The handle turned and Jackie's father came in, but he was not alone.

"Hello, Jackie," he said. "You have a visitor."

Jackie turned her head and put the other person's face in perspective. _A girl, not a child and not an adult. Maybe around fifteen to seventeen._ She wore flat boots, jeans and a long-sleeved shirt.

"Honey," Steve said. "I'd like you to meet Elizabeth. She's the daughter of our new neighbors, Frank and Jessica Coleus. They just moved in." Steve's words were drowned out silently by the girls' cold faces to each other. "This is a golden chance to have at least one friend who you can talk to, and Elizabeth happens to go to your school, too."

Jackie said, "Father, I have friends."

"I know." He shook his head at Elizabeth to indicate _no she doesn't_.

"Yeah," Elizabeth added, "I go to the same school, but not in that special class you're in."

"Of course not, dear," Mr. McCaulou agreed. "Elizabeth is doing a project about you for school, so I thought she might want to meet you. Go ahead, Jackie. Say hello to Elizabeth," he pressured.

"Hello." She forced the words out.

"I'll be right by the door if you need me, pumpkin," Steve said and he walked out. Jackie edged herself farther into the corner of her bedroom to hide.

Elizabeth stood where she was and didn't move or speak for a moment, and then she said, "So what? Are you shy, too, on top of being stupid?"

"I'm not stupid, I'm smart," Jackie said.

"Umm yeah, I bet," Elizabeth commented. "Is that your teddy? You still carry a teddy bear?" She pointed to the bed.

"Yes, it was a gift from my parents."

"I heard you don't talk much. That's okay, I don't either," she said in a kinder tone. "We don't need to talk about anything if you don't want to. I can tape our interview." Elizabeth showed a small black and silver tape-recorder in her hand.

Jackie rubbed her arms nervously and started to come out of the corner. "Okay, that's fine." Jackie felt certain that Anna would be watching through the floorboards from the attic and that Boo would keep an eye on her, too. "So, what's this school project about? My class doesn't have projects like this."

"Oh, umm...I picked this one. To be honest, I made a big stink about wanting to do this," Elizabeth said. "Picture the open page alone...a teenage girl living in a manor that is hundreds of years old and haunted."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jackie said, looking away.

"I'm talking about kids living in a haunted building."

"Oh..."

"I wanted to know one." The visitor tipped herself forward to stare at Jackie.

"I guess," Jackie said. Her glance ricocheted back and forth. "Then you are out of luck!"

"I heard so much about this place when I moved here and learned a girl grew up in this house. Did you know the other kids call you the haunted demon girl?"

"Why is that?" Jackie asked, arms crossed and frowning.

"I heard that you talk to yourself or to the demons hidden in the house and that you're plum _loco_."

"I've only lived here for a few years though," Jackie said. "I'm not crazy."

"Hmmm, well...I wanted to write a short story on what it's like here and maybe have a sleepover in the attic."

Jackie shouted, "Attic, _no!"_ She knew she couldn't ever let this happen.

Elizabeth walked over to Jackie who backed away.

"You're all sweaty. What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked. "Want me to call your dad? Have I upset you in any way? I'm sorry if I did."

Elizabeth secretly turned on her recorder to catch anything Jackie might say. But Elizabeth's life was about to change forever.

"Don't touch her!" a strong female voice commanded from the ceiling. A quick succession of footsteps ran across its length.

Elizabeth stared at the ceiling, her mouth opened. "Good grief, is this normal?"

"What?" Jackie asked, playing dumb.

"The walls speak to you? Is it the ghost of Waverly Manor?"

Jackie said, "It's just mice. We have loads of mice and rats."

Elizabeth stuttered. "M...m...mice don't speak like that."

Jackie's father ran in and looked at Elizabeth standing on Jackie's bed, tapping the ceiling, and said, "No funny business, little lady. This is a nice home."

"No...no, Mr. McCaulou. This house is haunted. I heard a ghost!"

"What?"

Tears formed in Elizabeth's eyes and she couldn't hold them in. "The dead just spoke to me." Too much emotion filled her mind and for a moment, she looked demented.

Jackie let out a shout, amazed at what Anna had done.

"Shhh, it's ok, pumpkin," Jackie's father's soothing voice said, seeing how upset both girls were. After a moment, he asked, "Jackie, is everything okay?"

"Yeah."

"Well," Steve said, "I think it's best you go home, Elizabeth. You girls can talk some other time."

Jackie was relieved, and smiled. She walked with her father and Elizabeth out of the room. No one saw Elizabeth drop her recorder that had been left on.

Boo and Tomfoolery looked out the little basement window to see Elizabeth start to walk home after Steve and Jackie escorted her to the front door, apologizing for the fright. Then she realized she'd dropped her recorder during the excitement.

Elizabeth asked Jackie to run back upstairs and find it. Elizabeth took a few steps off the path and waited until Jackie came back and returned her recorder.

"Here you go. Thanks for coming by," Jackie said with a fake smile. "It was nice to have met you, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth thought _wait until the kids hear I met the crazy McCaulou girl of Waverly Manor_.

Jackie followed her dad inside and went to her room.

Steve closed the front door and said, "Good grief, what a nut case."

"What happened?" Amanda asked.

"She thought she saw or heard a ghost in Jackie's room."

"You two should get along nicely."

"Very funny, dear."

Now upstairs, Boo looked out the attic window with Tomfoolery. "Uh oh," he said. "This is not good. The girl won't forget her experience here."

"Yeah," Tomfoolery agreed. "We'll have to talk to Anna about this one. Not everyone will understand us like Jackie, and that means our days might be numbered here."

Anna snuck up through the stairs to Jackie's room and crawled up the foot of the bed and under the bed skirt.

Anna said, "Whooooh, I am the dead speaking to you, little girl."

Jackie broke out laughing. "Where are you?"

"I'm where the speaking dead live — under the bed. Whooooh."

Jackie got down on her knees, lifted the bed skirt and saw Anna.

"What a fool this girl Elizabeth is telling your dad the dead spoke to her." Anna slid out from under the bed and sat on it with Jackie. "So what's the deal with this girl? Why a book report on this old place and you, of all people?"

Jackie shrugged and sighed. "Beats me."

"She'll be a pest if we don't do something. I do declare a haunting will begin in her house soon."

Both girls laughed.

"Not to worry," Jackie said. "I will tell Elizabeth no to the interview and sleepover if she asks again."

***

That afternoon Elizabeth sat on the edge of her bed after telling her parents all about her experience at Waverly Manor. Her parents didn't believe her so she did the next best thing and called her Uncle Washouts T. Felton, a real live ghost hunter. He gave her instructions on what to do next.

Elizabeth listened on her recorder to the ghost sounds that came from Jackie's bedroom, and let her uncle listen in on the phone. She was horrified she captured so much.

She heard first the voice from the ceiling, buried under the noise of muffled talking in the same room.

The clearest was Anna speaking after Jackie and Elizabeth left the room with her father.

"Calling Jackie stupid!" Anna huffed. "I'll show her!" Static filled the recorder for a moment and then Anna spoke again. "I wonder how she'd like to be a big warty toad?"

Elizabeth told her uncle she was amazed the small recorder captured every sound, even the slightest spooky comment. She decided it sounded like there were more than twelve ghosts, when it was just Anna ranting after they left.

Elizabeth's uncle told her, "Start taking notes and we'll be by soon to help."

"We?" she asked.

"Yes, me and my ghost hunting partner, Sully. That's his nickname. His real name is Kevel Stutters."

Elizabeth ended the call and with pen in hand, she began taking notes for her book report.

Sunday I finally met spook girl who lives in the haunted manor next door. She was rude and couldn't speak like normal kids do. She mumbled like a ranting, demented idiot. While meeting her, the dead woke and spoke to me and a cry for help screamed out loud to me. I was hushed by the spook girl. Her red eyes met mine and she said for me to shush and that if I told a soul I would go blind.

I was told I must leave or I might be murdered by the spook girl and that she held the dead captive in the basement. The young spook girl showed me to the door, pressing her demon eyes on me while she watched my every move. I felt like the dead were calling my name for help, but they were trapped in the walls, forgotten in time in a tomb and held against their will, not getting a chance to continue on into the afterworld.

Reading her work so far, she smiled at how great all those lies sounded. No one threatened to murder her, and certainly no dead people called to her for help. The truth didn't matter though. Who could prove her wrong?

_Oh, boy,_ Elizabeth thought to herself, _I'll get an A for sure on this book report._

***

Warm rays of red and orange blanketed the vast landscape. Anna, Tomfoolery and Boo waited until nightfall to begin their haunting next door. Anna made plans of revenge. She would do something about the girl who upset Jackie. Jackie lay down to rest before night came and tonight's adventure began at Elizabeth's home.

Jackie's parents enjoyed the peace and quiet. They sat downstairs in their matching recliners, reading the newspaper and absorbed the beauty of the sunset. The huge front window cast beautiful vista views of the country. All was so serene no one knew at that moment Elizabeth was sneaking under the outside window ledge to the back door of the manor.

_The darkness of the doomed prophet had stepped into my life and taken a good look around,_ Elizabeth jotted down on her note pad.

Cobwebs and dust had occupied the spook girl's room for years, maybe even centuries. It seemed someone had left this room and the spirits that she spoke to nightly using a crystal ball stolen long ago from a witch.

When I was forced to leave the spook girl's room, I could see claw marks on the floorboards where the family dragged out their latest victims. There was a dark and eerie feeling like centuries of dead victims might be buried in the manor or in the backyard, left like forgotten souls that were once so full of life. Centuries ago the manor was probably a fine home until the demons took over and possessed the family against their will.

Elizabeth made her way to the back door and jiggled the knob, but found it locked. Shrugging, she turned to go back home.

Downstairs, raiding the fridge, Boo heard her. He unlocked the backdoor. Elizabeth saw it crack open on its own. She jotted down _the dead souls allowed me entrance to solve the mystery of what became of them in this manor of hell_.

Boo hovered just above Elizabeth with his ice cream carton in hand and large wooden spoon in his mouth. Elizabeth crept around the kitchen and continued taking notes.

Boo stayed quiet as a mouse, but he forgot about his ice cream and melted drops of it fell from his wooden spoon and hit the tablet Elizabeth was writing on.

Elizabeth saw it and said, "Awe, yuck." She looked up to see where the mess was coming from and jumped back in fright when she saw the silhouette of a ghost against the wall. It made him look ten feet tall.

Elizabeth fell, knocking over pots and pans in the kitchen. She began screaming and blazed out the back door.

Boo slammed the door shut behind her, locking it twice; once with the deadbolt and second with the chain. He put the wooden spoon in the cabinet, licking it clean first, then shoved the large gallon tub of ice cream into the freezer and flew up to the attic before Jackie's father ran into the kitchen.

"Darn ghost screams," Steve said. "I'll never get use to them."

Amanda ran into the kitchen behind him. "What's the matter, dear?"

"Now we get the ghostly encounters in the daylight."

"Oh, is that all? Come back and finish your paper. I'll make your favorite pot roast tonight. That will calm your fears," she said, patting her husband on the back.

***

Mysterious eerie figures swathed in the darkness of the attic lurked around hidden corners. The ghostly inhabitants of Waverly Manor prepared for their visit next door. The walls echoed with Anna's wicked laughter.

"Elizabeth, you will get yours tonight," she said.

Tomfoolery set the clock. It was time for the witching hour to begin.

### CHAPTER 14

Boo was with Tomfoolery in the storage closet in the attic, getting ready to do some spooking at Elizabeth's house. Anna would not tell them what her plan was to scare the young girl, but she said it would beat out everything she had done in the past.

Tomfoolery got his chains ready to rattle, and Boo's horn was fitted with a shoulder strap so he could carry it when he flew. When they first headed next door to Elizabeth's house, they lost track of Anna, figuring she was checking on Jackie downstairs.

Elizabeth read her beloved paper and thought it would be too scary for her teacher to believe come Monday morning when school started. She decided to add a calmer tone to her story and began to write, not knowing two ghosts stood by the window, watching her every move.

_I was almost changed into a cat_. _The family gave a witch's chant and cursed the wind, but I fought it hard to avoid the evil magic and keep myself human. The magic spells echoed out from afar and chased after me. I hid in the basement._

Boo looked to Tomfoolery. "She goes on and on with lies, doesn't she?"

"I dare say. Anna better get here soon and put a stop to these lies," Tomfoolery answered.

Anna stepped up behind Boo and Tomfoolery and whisked her open hand toward the window. Elizabeth sat for a moment longer and then heard a buzzing sound next to her ear. She flinched and then waved the buzzing sound away. Without warning, a thousand buzzing flies let loose in her bedroom. Elizabeth jumped around and screamed until her mom rushed in.

Anna zapped the flies away by closing her fist.

Elizabeth shook her head and shook her hair. "Mom, they've come to get me. Help, they're all over me!"

"Who's all over you, baby?" Elizabeth's mother tried to comfort her. "What is it?"

"The flies, they are all over me. Help me, Mom!"

"Honey," her mom shook both of her shoulders, "there are no flies in here. You must be overly tired. Earlier, at the McCaulou place, you said you heard a ghost and you're upset. Calm down and get ready for bed. You've had quite a day of imaginary fits. I'll have to call Dr. Hostetler tomorrow and have him examine you. I'll call the school and tell them you will be arriving late after the doctor's appointment."

Elizabeth got ready for bed and a few of the flies fell out of her hair. Her eyes widened, still imaging the swarm that was just there, but she did as her mother told her to and pulled back the top cover, not hearing Boo and Tomfoolery snickering behind Anna.

Not done, Anna's green eyes narrowed and her jaw tightened. From the tip of her wand, she cast a spell through the window and sent a large bubble drifting into the room. When it landed on the bed, it popped open and spiders by the dozens crawled out from under Elizabeth's bed sheets. Elizabeth turned around and jumped up and down, screaming.

"Spiders, spiders!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Her mother and father both flung the door of her bedroom open, grabbed her and dragged her into the living room to calm her down, but she was in hysterics.

"Spiders came to eat me!"

Tomfoolery, Boo and Anna had themselves a great big laugh outside Elizabeth's window.

"Aww," Boo said, "Jackie would have loved this."

"Drat!" Anna said. "I forget to wake Jackie to come with us. I told her I would too! Drat, double drat, granny's old farts. Dang."

Tomfoolery gave Anna a funny look. "Chill, okay?"

"Oh well," Anna said. "We'll come back and see what she's up to later. Come on; let's get back to the manor. We'll have to tell Jackie what happened when she comes up to the attic."

***

Back at the attic, Anna poked her bottom lip with a straight pin. She spit the blood out of her mouth on to the dirty attic floorboards and watched with interest as the glossy beads soaked into the wood.

"Good," she said.

Boo and Tomfoolery watched like they were being sucked in by an unseen underground force. The temperature of the room plummeted. Ice formed on the curtains and crusted around the lights in the ceiling. The glowing filaments in each bulb shrank and dimmed while the darkened room filled with a yellow, choking cloud of brimstone in which indistinct black shadows writhed and roiled. Her spell was almost complete.

From far away came the sound of many voices screaming. Pressure was suddenly applied to the door that led to the landing. It bulged inward, the timbers groaning. Footsteps from invisible feet pattered across the floorboards, and invisible mouths whispered wicked things from behind the bed Anna slept in and under the old writing desk that sat by the oval stained glass window.

The sounds became louder, prompting Tomfoolery and Boo to hide. Anna floated around a few feet off the floorboards and waited, hoping her spell wasn't going to take too long. She wanted to cast the dismissing spell later on Elizabeth.

"When the spell is finished, what will it _do?"_ Boo asked.

"Next time anyone comes to visit Elizabeth, the walls will run with streaks of blood."

"That's kinda harsh, Anna," Boo said.

"Maybe, we'll see!"

***

Later that day, Boo was practicing his new card tricks in front of the wall mirror, waiting for Jackie to come upstairs.

"Why are you learning card tricks?" Anna asked.

"I want to show Jackie. She's been asking me for some."

"Aww, that's sweet of you to work so hard for a friend."

Downstairs the McCaulou's were having their late night supper. Jackie was telling them that she didn't want the girl from next door to come over again. Steve and Amanda said they had been talking about that and they agreed. Jackie was happy for that.

She could hardly wait until dessert was over so she could go tell Anna, Boo and Tomfoolery the good news — no more Elizabeth.

Jackie's parents laughed and said the poor girl needed to get her head examined. Her mother called and said she may have gone overboard with the move to a new home and school.

They finished dinner, and after watching T.V. with her parents in the living room, Jackie said goodnight and hurried off to bed, forcing her eyes to stay awake. In spite of her effort, she fell asleep waiting for Anna to come get her.

### CHAPTER 15

"Graveyards are inhabited by all sorts of creatures," Anna said to Tomfoolery and Boo the next day. "Spooky creatures like werewolves, skeletons, vampires, and zombies. But the creatures that we most frequently associate with graveyards are ghosts. Some consider ghosts to be the souls of the ones who already died. Sorry, guys, but that's how it is."

"Like us, right?" Tomfoolery asked.

Anna nodded. "But the story you're about to hear is not about one of those ghosts we've heard of or met. In fact, you could say this ghost is a special one. A most unusual ghost indeed and friendly to all he encounters. Yes, my friends, I'm talking about _Casper, the Friendly Ghost._ "

Tomfoolery asked, "Who is Casper?"

Anna pulled a comic book from her lap and said, "It's all in here."

"Where'd you find it?" Boo asked.

"In the den. I snuck it out. I wanted to show you guys because I'm amazed they think of us as friendly. This must be a handbook to the living so they all think we are sweet and kind ghosts."

"We are," Boo interrupted.

"No we aren't." Tomfoolery elbowed Boo in the ribs.

"Shush," Anna said. "Now this story starts off in the middle of the graveyard. Casper is reading a book about how to make friends, like a ghost-to-human handbook for the living. I looked in my spell book all morning and saw nothing leading to a charm or spell, so it must be a theory."

Boo gasped and Tomfoolery blinked rapidly in disbelief.

"We are going to go out and make friends in our own cemetery," Anna stated with an enthusiastic voice, "Tonight! It has all sorts of advice to improve friendships. I'm sure that I'll be able to make new friends tonight and have more than just three of us go out haunting with the dearly departed.

"But," Boo asked, "aren't Tomfoolery and I the dearly departed, too?"

"Yes, we are. Why ask that?"

"Oh, just checking!

"Silly!!" Tomfoolery thumped Boo on the head. "Let me see that handbook." He took it out of Anna's hand.

"What a horrifying ghost this Casper is. Look at the front cover. His head is huge!"

Boo took away the comic from Tomfoolery. "Really? Let me see. He looks timid. Is this how we look?"

"Yeah sure." Anna grabbed the comic book back.

Tomfoolery turned to Anna. "We've been in the graveyard and haven't seen a dead soul once!"

"We'll go out tonight, explore the graves and sees who's haunting around out there, okay?" Anna said.

* * *

When darkness came and cloaked the backyard, Anna and the rest of the gang got ready to explore the graveyard. Well almost. The two ghosts were nervous, and Anna had to push them out the backdoor. Courage wasn't one of their best charms.

In the graveyard at the end of the manor's property, the owl hooted only once. There was silence everywhere while Jackie waited for her signal to come up to the attic, but that night there was none to hear.

Anna and Boo walked ahead. "But I already told you, Boo," Anna said gruffly, "I don't want to scare people to their death. I just want to have fun, and the more ghosts we can get, the bigger the reaction I'll get out of the living we haunt."

Boo replied as they got farther into the cemetery, "I understand. Tomfoolery and I are just happy haunting the manor now. Anna, don't get me wrong or get upset. We enjoy our broom rides out into the country with you. Boy, oh boy." Boo remembered back to the last one. "It was a fun time. The living will never forget our ghostly encounter, especially with your charm of double trouble you cast that night."

Anna and Boo stopped to see how far they'd come.

"I've never been out here before. I feel as blind as a cross-eyed bat would," Anna said to Boo, then spoke over her shoulder. "Come on, Tomfoolery. Hurry up. No one will pop out and grab at you. Come on now and don't be a scaredy cat."

Tomfoolery shook with much fear. "I'm no scaredy cat. This place is spooky."

"Aren't you from the manor cemetery?" Anna asked.

"No, Tomfoolery said. "I'm not. Aren't you, Anna?"

"No. When I...died, Boo was standing right there and was the first ghost to meet me. We searched for a long time until we found the Waverly house empty, so we just moved in. Then, when I found you one day, out in the rain, cold and with no home to haunt, I invited you to live with us. I have no idea where I'm buried."

"Oh," he said. "It seems strange to look back. I keep on asking myself, why on earth did I pick this way of life...er, of death? You know what I mean."

"Yes," Anna commented. "Different people help you along the way, but you should choose the best way for you. Your mind should be open so you can learn and be guided by your own feelings."

Anna placed her arm over Boo's shoulder and said, "I do hope every person will decide for themselves and try to make the world a better place. Do to others as you would have done to yourself. I know, I wish it was such a world. The manor's been my home as long as it's been a home for you and Tomfoolery. I know and remember no other place."

Boo smiled. "I've been thinking."

"Yes?" Anna looked out into the darkness and didn't see Tomfoolery. "Where has he gone off to?"

"I like Jackie and her folks," Boo said.

"Yeah, me too," Anna agreed. "They are so nice. I feel right at home. It's a lot better than when it was empty."

"Truly?" Boo asked.

Anna nodded.

"I'm happy to hear that."

"The couple who lived in the manor before was too easy to scare off, and they hated us from the get-go. We sure caused them a lot of grief. I guess it was too much for them."

"Yeah," Boo said. "The old man had a heart attack, but he survived."

"Remember when they brought in a medium to get us to speak to the living? What a nightmare! I think we found a family who will stay for a while which ensures us a home."

"Yes," Boo said, twiddling his thumbs, "it surely does."

***

The ticking clock counted down how long Jackie had been standing at the window or peering up through her ceiling. Jackie thought about sneaking out. She didn't want to be caught in the hallway by her parents after bedtime, but the entrance to the attic wasn't too far from her room.

Jackie took her chance when her parents were downstairs watching T.V. She crept into the hallway and walked down the long walkway without making a sound. There were two squeaking points on the floor she had to watch out for. She pressed her back against the wall to sidestep past the squeaky floorboards and felt proud of herself. She was nearly there, looking to the last hallway to the attic.

### CHAPTER 16

In the cemetery Anna saw the first name on the headstone in the old neglected part of the graveyard. The stone was over a hundred years old. The graveyard looked frightening at night. Dancing shadows thumped around the place and unkempt hedges rose jaggedly in the moonlight shadows toward the inky night sky. Bare skeletons, remaining untouched, laid below in their grave, thin fingers never able to open up their casket lid on their own. Moss covered the tiny cherubs, and the muddy water felt icy to the touch in the old bird bath.

Across the darkened grass, Tomfoolery spied movement near the rickety old shed. The twisted shadows almost made Tomfoolery gasp. Something most definitely was in the cemetery! With bated breath he pressed himself closer to the cold shadows and placed his flat hand over the large headstone before him. His heart pounded in his chest and he felt his stomach knot and twist while he tried to make out the shadow's consistency.

***

"Bulimia Foster, beloved Mother and grandmother to eighteen children and grandchildren. Wow," Boo said.

"She was very much loved," Anna said. "Look how big her tombstone is."

"Do you feel remembered?" Boo asked.

"I do every time we haunt a house," Anna giggled.

"Yeah, I guess," Boo said. "But really, do you feel you were missed?"

"Gosh, who knows? It's been so long. Maybe."

Anna and Boo looked up from the weathered headstone, surprised to see their first cemetery ghost. They stood in the dark and watched quietly.

Boo nudged Anna. "Go ahead and try out Casper's idea to be friends with all the ghosts. Say hello!"

The lady spirit lazily flowed in the breeze, but acknowledged the two of them with a nod so they came closer.

"Hi, I'm Anna and this is Boo. We want to be friends."

Anna crumpled up the comic book in her right hand, trying to hide the human handbook to the dead.

The lady ghost seemed to fly up to Anna and Boo, but then Anna noticed she was just hanging from a wire and made out of old cloth and clothing and a plastic mask to make it look like a ghost was floating around the cemetery.

Boo said, "What's up with that?"

"Probably just some leftover decorations."

They continued onward. Anna and Boo slowly read through the rows of headstones. Tomfoolery still hadn't caught up. The many rows looked deserted, and he was nowhere to be seen.

"Maybe it has to be a full moon or All Hallows Eve," Anna said. This Casper guy came out for special events, perhaps. No one else was coming out from their graves. "It may have to do with the timing." Anna told Boo, "Jackie's dad has loads more reading material. Who knows, there may be more info on this. We might be doing it wrong. He has one called Archie Comics. I bet that has loads of ghost info for the living. What do you say we head back?"

"That's all right with me," Boo said. "Where's Tomfoolery?"

A couple of lingering souls in the old section peeked out from their graves, intrigued to see someone headed their way. The ghosts of the past were few and far between, most having moved on to the next life long ago, their last desires fulfilled or given up; their graves had likewise been abandoned by the living as none remained to remember their occupants. The afterlife in this corner of the cemetery was quiet most days, so it was no large surprise that a visitor in the old section caused an uproar for its inhabitants.

### CHAPTER 17

There had been a surge of interest in ghost hunting and other paranormal research in recent years, and that's why Elizabeth's Uncle Washouts T. Felton put her up to the idea of visiting the manor next door. He was fascinated with the afterlife and wanted to build his fame so his name would be remembered and his fortune made.

Midnight had descended, and it was pitch black except for a small streetlamp at the end of the driveway. It cast a pale, eerie glow which illuminated the graveyard.

Anna and Boo could be seen on the pathway. As they passed the gate to the older part to the cemetery, Tomfoolery froze from fear.

Two figures stepped out of the darkness. They were big, burly men, and they didn't look friendly. They moved toward Tomfoolery.

_Oh my gosh_ , Tomfoolery thought to himself, _I think they can see me_.

Only then did he open his mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

"Easy, ghost boy, no one can hear you," one of the men sneered. It was Washouts T. Felton III and he held special ghost hunting equipment.

"Hey, we got one," was all Tomfoolery heard. Before he could move, the other man lunged toward Tomfoolery and grabbed him.

"Let me go!" Tomfoolery pleaded.

But it was all in vain. Boo and Anna were still too far away. Nobody could hear him.

"I see you are a real ghost," a voice growled from behind Tomfoolery. "Let's take a look at you, shall we?"

Tomfoolery yelled for Anna and Boo as he turned around to face the large men. Poor Tomfoolery knew he was doomed.

Jackie stood in the hallway near the attic secret door, and she heard Tomfoolery's cries.

"Tomfoolery, where are you?" Jackie called.

Jackie knew she had to help her friend, and fast. But where was he? She stepped out of the shadows to the light in the hallway, ready to tap three times so Boo would let her into the attic, but before she could even open her mouth to scream she felt someone grab her from behind. Jackie struggled as a hand covered her mouth, but she was dragged out the back door of her home before her parents even knew it.

Elizabeth's face only appeared to Jackie for a brief moment. She saw Tomfoolery locked in a large steam trunk that the two men and Elizabeth put her into. Tomfoolery lay helpless and blindfolded. Into the darkness at full speed the van sped away.

Meanwhile, Anna and Boo returned to the attic, not knowing what had just happened. Boo worried about his friend and where he might be.

Anna said, "Tomfoolery is a big boy now, and he can take care of himself. He will be up before you know it. And besides, the night air will do him some good. I need to wait for Jackie's special knock."

Boo stayed by the open attic window and worried as he looked into the vast darkness of the backyard.

Boo whimpered, "Tomfoolery, where are you?"

* * *

Back in the van, Jackie rolled over. She could hear Elizabeth's voice speaking nonstop to the two men sitting beside her.

Elizabeth said, "I'll show everyone there are real ghosts and even a demon girl in that old haunted manor."

Tomfoolery whispered to Jackie, "They could see me clearly!"

Jackie answered, "They look like they're ghost hunters."

"Is that bad?"

"Yes," Jackie said. "They do all sorts of terrible things to you."

Tomfoolery shivered from the thought.

Jackie waddled herself forward to an air hole for a better look around.

"It's okay," Jackie said. "I have a plan."

She told Tomfoolery to be quiet until she could execute the plan and they could get away. Jackie wanted to cry, but she knew she had to be brave for Tomfoolery.

It amazed Jackie how one moment, one decision, one mistake, could change her life forever. If she had been a fraction of a second earlier or later, if she had not turned down that one hallway with the lamp, she may have not been captured. What scared her most was that there were bad people in her home. She wished Anna would wave her magical wand and turn them into toads. She had been at the wrong place at the wrong time, and it destroyed her.

Once Jackie's bare foot slipped through the bottom of the trunk she knew she had a way to get them out. When everyone left them alone she would try out her plan. The van took many turns and went over bumps that Jackie could feel in her kidneys. But soon it came to a halt and pulled up in front of a cottage. Jackie lifted her foot up so it would not show through the trunk while they were carried inside.

Jackie heard Elizabeth, "Uncle, by morning you will call the news media and the paranormal groups to showcase our brilliant catch?"

"Yes, after I reveal that ghost. I want to be the first."

"Thanks for doing this for me," Elizabeth said happily. "Mom and Dad think I'm spending the weekend with you and Aunt Rose in the country. I already wrote what the newspapers will say in the headlines: _Young girl's body found this morning on the highway_. The news reports will say it looked like a runaway got hit by a truck while she walked down the road in the dark. We will have to lay her out on highway eighty-seven after we kill her."

Jackie's eyes grew large. _What? Kill me?_ She tried to listen, but their voices got farther away.

Jackie turned to Tomfoolery and said, "Now is our chance. Do you have any weight to your body? We need to rock the trunk back and forth to flip it over."

They tried once and then again and it flipped to its side. Jackie waited to see if anyone would come back and placed her eye and ear to the hole. With a great big thrust of her foot, she kicked at the soft bottom of the trunk. It broke and she crawled out and looked at her surroundings. Tomfoolery floated out freely.

"We're on the other side of the county," Tomfoolery noted as he looked out the window to check the scenery. "So, what's next, Jackie?"

She chewed at the knotted rope that bound her hands and then they ran to the front door. Tomfoolery whisked out like a breeze with Jackie right behind him, running down the gravel road toward the woods.

Jackie warned, "Fly, Tomfoolery," as she heard Elizabeth scream bloody murder and run out the front door to stop them.

Jackie did a half turn around and saw the two large men running after her and Tomfoolery. They reached the edge of the woods and Jackie said, "I don't know where to go now."

"This is my expertise," Tomfoolery said. "Follow me."

### CHAPTER 18

Ducking behind a copse of trees, Tomfoolery pulled back a lower branch and held it, waiting. When the first pursuer started to pass, Tomfoolery let go of the branch. It sprung free and hit the man squarely in the chest and face, sending him crashing to the ground. His partner tripped over him and twisted his ankle.

After the attack, Tomfoolery became a scarier ghost, one who could take care of himself. He seemed to consider this and the terrified expression over his pale face changed to one now full of life and vim and vigor _._

Unable to speak, the large man laid on the ground as his partner did. The tree branch still waffled from the energy of the slap.

Tomfoolery sighed with relief, drawing his cloak closer around his body. "There! That will show you humans who's got the upper hand now, huh? How dare you pick on a little helpless girl such as Jackie?" He twisted around but, when he couldn't find her, he hurried down the trail.

Tomfoolery caught up to Jackie and found her crying, lying down by fallen log.

"No, you can't make noises like that!" Tomfoolery hissed. "Somebody will hear you!"

Truly he didn't know what to say to the young girl to ease her pain. This was more of a job for her mother or at least Anna.

Tomfoolery gave a nervous look, staring at the back of the trail, seeing if the two men were on foot again. To his dismay, they were madder than before, running toward them.

"Now, now what's with the sad face?" Tomfoolery patted Jackie on the shoulder. "And all those wet tears streaming down your pretty little face? What's that all about? Seriously, kiddo, we need to get a move on! Jackie, please do not shut me out. Not now. Listen...hey, kiddo. Earth to Jackie. Listen to me, please. You've been very brave all this time. Even got us out of our capture alive. Now we have our chance at freedom if we keep our heads about us."

"Really?" Jackie said, wiping her tears away. "I've been brave?"

"Why, yes. You got us free. Remember the trunk and showing me the front door to our escape?"

"Yes." Jackie sounded a bit better. "I thought those two men caught you and I was left alone in the dark coldness of the forest...Lost!!"

"Aw, I wouldn't let that happen, but we need to get a move on and _now_."

Jackie hesitated, her hands in the icy air, unsure of what to do.

"Please. Hurry!" Tomfoolery pulled on her sleeve and got her to stand. With a nod, he led her away from the men.

Some part of her, some dark recess of her mind, told her it was all crazy and that any moment she would wake up and scold herself for dreaming such strange dreams. Anna would agree once she told her.

Jackie would have to be home by morning, to save Anna and Boo. The men would now have to go back to the house and capture Boo or Anna. What a nightmare! Among Jackie's tears, she wished Anna could come and pick them up by broomstick and whisk her back home to her warm bed waiting for her. If Jackie went for help to people of her own kind, then Boo, Anna and Tomfoolery would be found out and taken away.

Jackie could not let that happen. She needed to find their way back to home and tell Anna. Jackie had to keep being brave.

Not knowing which way was home, besides feeling helpless and lost, she had to think. Tomfoolery watched the trail. But it was all so real, there had to be a way out. Tomfoolery said he knew the woods.

"We'll have to get you out of the cold," Tomfoolery muttered through chattering teeth. Jackie saw him shivering, seeing he was colder than her. Tomfoolery's sallow skin was like ice.

"Hello." A voice called into her subconscious, bringing her back to the surface of her mind.

Jackie turned towards the voice only to see a shape disguised within the shadows cast from the nearby tree. Jackie could feel her heart start to race within her chest as his voice pierced her very soul.

"I have been waiting for you for a long time," the voice said as little Jackie was thrown into darkness standing next to Tomfoolery.

Tomfoolery said, "Be calm, Jackie. It's ok."

Lost within a black oblivion, Jackie swore she could hear hidden voices and told Tomfoolery standing next to her.

"I hear many voices," Jackie said. "I'm scared. Is it the two bad men?"

"No, dear. Help has come to take us away."

"Help? What help?" She still couldn't see anyone.

"The forest guardians," Tomfoolery explained.

The voice said, "What has been done is done. Now it's time to help the girl. She is with one of our own kind."

"She must be ok and not one of them," a second voice responded.

"Right. Show her the door."

"All right," another hidden voice said. Many whispers followed throughout the woods.

The one voice asked, "Whom might you be, young lady?"

Jackie stepped up a few feet in the darkness surrounding her. "I am Jackie."

The wood's magic had it own way of thinking and took pity on the two who needed help. It decided to open a hidden doorway with a huge grinding sound of iron and wood cracking as the ground lifted up near them.

A huge twenty foot or more door stood before them, made of shiny wrought iron and huge cut logs. A golden cast doorknob was small enough for child's hand. And now, a child was needed to open the huge door.

Many eerie thoughts drummed through Jackie's and Tomfoolery's minds when they heard the two men crashing down the trail. Along the darkened path, little fairies appeared, followed by the three ghost guardians of the magic door, all trying their best to hold back the two men with their magic.

Jackie leaned over, somehow knowing what to do, and placed her hand on the golden doorknob. Never opened before, it creaked, moaned and groaned, allowing her and Tomfoolery through the huge doorway.

The door shut behind Tomfoolery, who heard the two men cry in pain as the guardians stopped them just in time from following.

There had been so much happening, Jackie desperately tried to get one more word to Tomfoolery among all the excitement. She had no idea where she was stepping after the magical doorway shut. For a brief moment it was pitch dark and Jackie was trying to get her eyes readjusted.

The fate of the two ghost hunters didn't matter. Jackie figured those two mean, old men deserved whatever happened to them. Tomfoolery had every right!

Tomfoolery ranted heavily about the cold, his gleaming eyes being the only source of light for Jackie.

Not a lick or tick even a loosened stitch would stop Jackie now. It didn't matter that Jackie despised going any farther in the pitch dark than any other single human being her age would—in a very Magical Forest. The owls hooted, the singer bugs chimed their buzzers and a lone coyote bayed to the sky.

"Here." Tomfoolery pointed out the dangling charm on one of the trees. "Cross over and you're on my old stomping grounds. I know the spirits in here. We'll be sitting pretty. We'll be safe. A five minute walk up this trail and you'll be in my graveyard."

Jackie nodded. "Your graveyard? You have your own graveyard? How creepy." Jackie had to laugh.

"No, not as in saying it's mine. It's where I was buried."

"Can I see your grave?"

"Sure, maybe later. On the way through we have to cross the graveyard to get to the other side of the forest. Ok, girly?"

Jackie just smiled and held on to Tomfoolery's cloak.

"Do you know why our charms keep the living out?"

"I can speculate why," Jackie told her friend.

Tomfoolery looked puzzled, not knowing the meaning of the word _speculate_.

"It means that I can guess, but I'm not sure."

"Wow. All the extra reading with your mom and Anna really helped, huh?"

"Yep," Jackie said.

"So what's your guess?" Tomfoolery asked, filing away the new word. She shrugged, too busy concentrating on not tripping over the rough path. "The power behind the magic," Tomfoolery explained. "This part of the woods uses its special magic to protect, heal the dead, that sort of thing. Light, or good, magic is how it would be termed. Some ghosts and spirits are beings of dark, or evil, magic, though."

Jackie snorted.

"Narrow-mindedness, that sort of thinking. Magic itself isn't good or evil."

Jackie cocked her head, curious. "So what makes it good or bad?"

"The person's history from when they were living makes this list up. It's read when you die. All the things you have not done or wish to have done, all the bad things you have done, and all the special things you have achieved are weighed and measured in this safe place."

Jackie frowned in thought. "You are a judge, then?"

"Of course," Tomfoolery answered.

"So, what a person wants to do is what causes the magic to be good or bad after death?"

Tomfoolery nodded. "Yes. Emotions and control are big parts when it comes to using magic for the dead. Any truly strong emotion affects a spell and how well it works while you're a ghost."

Jackie asked, "Is the forest HAUNTED?"

"Yes. By far it's most haunted when everyone gathers on a full moon night, like it will be tomorrow night when we all come together.

"I wish Anna and Boo were flying past. We could signal her for help.

"That would be grand, Jackie."

The field that lay just ahead was full of apparitions next to their headstones. Many of the grave markers leaned forward, bent by age and weather. Mottled shades of gray colored the stones, and wind and rain had made much of the engraving illegible. Weeds, brown and dry from the cold, covered the graves and rattled in the breeze.

"Good health to you!" one ghost said, floating past Tomfoolery and Jackie.

"And the same to you," Tomfoolery hurried to reply, then stopped. "Look, Jackie, just to be polite, I know most of the ghosts here. No worries, ok?"

"All right. Most are like you and Boo?"

"Well most, I could say safely." Tomfoolery frowned and looked to another spirit. "I wish you good health, sir!" replied Tomfoolery

"And to you, kind sir." The ghost passed them on the trail down to the wooded valley.

"Acquaintances have ever so long ago bid the world farewell. The living have it all wrong," another ghost said in a quote as he went past and spoke while tipping his hat to Jackie.

Jackie quirkily relied, "And as to you, my dear good man, the ghost has the true path."

Tomfoolery said, "Very good, Jackie. That sounded just like one of them. You'll fit right in.

The path wavered before her vision when she grew momentarily lightheaded from so many ghosts and spirits floating by.

The wind spirit followed closely, wanting to meet Jackie, as Tomfoolery already knew her from long ago.

"Hi'a, Windy," Tomfoolery said. "Meet Jackie, my friend."

"Hello," Jackie answered back. "You're making the night air a bit chilly, aren't you?"

"Who, me? I haven't thought of that. I'll simmer down and that will stop the cold breeze that I produce. Nice to meet you."

"And you, too," Jackie commented back to Windy, the wind spirit.

Jackie turned back to Tomfoolery. "She was nice."

"Yes, she is, and helpful too."

Jackie drew a deep breath of the chilly air to calm herself, but found it did nothing more than make her shudder. The three ghostly guardians from earlier welcomed Jackie to their home.

"Hello," Jackie said, then whispered, "Pssst, Tomfoolery, they look nothing like you and Boo. A bit ragged and spooky, if you ask me."

"Yeah," Tomfoolery said, "guess so." He hadn't thought how he may have looked to Jackie all this time. "I guess we all look different to the living at times."

Jackie wrapped her arms about herself. She fought to rein her fear, but every tiny noise from the forest made her start from the shadows where she quietly followed Tomfoolery and the shadow guardians down the path.

### CHAPTER 19

An aspen leaf cracked beneath Jackie's bare feet and she pulled Tomfoolery in closer.

Tomfoolery said, "It's okay, kiddo. Just the nighttime sounds of the woods. They used to get me all jumpy too when I was just a lad."

Tomfoolery patted Jackie's hand as they saw a shadow whisk by. "It's nothing to be concerned about, all right?" Tomfoolery said.

Jackie squeaked out a tiny _all right_ with a slight tremble in her voice. Tomfoolery patted her hand a few more times.

Distorted shadows weaved into menacing shapes that seemed to claw at her legs, only bringing the unknown to her mind. Endurance, strength and an amazing will to survive the night surged through her fear. Being with Tomfoolery reassured her. Edging just above the trees, the big full moon almost appeared to smile down on her. A golden-white glow colored it, not like bleu cheese as Boo had always wished for, but a real one with shapely round eyes.

Leaves and pine needles blanketed the ground, giving off tarnished light when Jackie stepped on them. She trailed behind the others, coming closer to the valley of headstones that lay just ahead. Her icy breath puffed out in frosty ghosts' shapes.

Jackie stopped, heart jumping into her throat, a small sound of fright escaping her full lips. Her blue eyes widened with worry, and she turned her head to peer at the trail behind her. A curve of ruts and black holes stretched to a heavy tree line ahead, leading into the ebony distance which met her gaze, but nothing else stood in her sight.

Jackie was unable to see her friend. Tomfoolery couldn't help himself and hurried ahead to visit old friends. Jackie waited by the tallest tree in the clearing.

The tree moved. Its eyes blinked and it wiggled it ears and big nose. "Hello, child. Who might you be?"

"I'm Jackie. Pleased to meet you."

"We were talking about you earlier," the tree said.

Jackie couldn't believe she was carrying on a conversation with a real live talking tree.

"You were?" she asked.

"Yes," the talking tree said. "When you were running into the woods, we discussed if we should help or not. As you can see, we did agree to let you in."

"I thank you on behalf of myself and my friend, Tomfoolery. I need to find my way home to warn Anna and Boo."

"You don't mean Anna the witch, do you?"

"Yes."

"Anna is well known here. I'm surprised she let you go out after dark with only one ghost by your side."

"I was kidnapped from my home and so was poor Tomfoolery."

"Oh, sticky mess that is. There's a bad bunch of humans out there. My relatives met their grim fate by tree cutters. You must be special," the tree said.

"Me, special?" Jackie questioned.

"Yes, to be allowed in here. You may be the first human to my memory that's come this far in the valley."

Tomfoolery flew up and said hello to the talking tree and then turned to Jackie and said, "My friends in the woods will keep us for the night until the sun comes out and then we'll head toward home."

Jackie shook her head. "That's not a good idea. My parents will find me missing and the ghost hunters will head back to the manor. Who knows what they will do to my parents or Boo and Anna. We must find a way to head back tonight — and fast before first light appears."

"You're right."

Jackie caught herself holding her breath and forced it out.

"What's the matter, kiddo?" Tomfoolery asked.

"I thought I heard something."

Jackie could have sworn it came from somewhere behind, a harsh hiss of a thing that spoke her name. _Jackie-Jackie_

"No, that's impossible," Jackie said. "It sounded like Boo."

Jackie was glad not to be alone out here; if she was, she'd be more frightened than ever.

The woods has plenty of tricks to play. But Jackie could have sworn now she head Boo calling her to the attic to play.

A crashing of brush made her start. She jumped, losing her balance from the fright. Her heart pounded and she spun as the sound continued, retreating into the woods.

An animal of some sort. That's all it was, nothing more. Only her shattered nerves inflated it into something threatening.

"You're scaring yourself, silly girl," she said under her breath, hoping to convince herself she was jumping at the shadows. The words provided her little confidence or comfort.

Turning, she looked back for Tomfoolery and the others, but saw only a darkened trail suddenly grown as sinister as the road to Hell...Hell in the bowels of these haunted woods.

***

At the manor, Anna had gone down to Jackie's room and discovered she wasn't there.

"Has Tomfoolery come back from the cemetery yet, Boo?" she asked.

"No, and I can't feel his presence or Jackie's. We must do something to find them quickly."

Anna whistled for her spell book. She thumbed through the many pages and looked for the right spell to bring Jackie and Tomfoolery back to the attic. Then the spell was found, and Anna placed her finger on it.

"Here it is, Boo," she said. "It's a chant. To where you've been, to where you might think to have gone, you will both come back to me now. You have been summoned, and you must obey the 'Find Me' spell."

A ghost voice echoed in Jackie's ear. It was Tomfoolery. "Jackie, hurry. Grab my hand. Anna is summoning us to the attic with a spell. Hurry, kiddo. We are going home."

The next thing Jackie knew, she awoke in her bed. She looked at the clock on her bedroom wall. It had been ten minutes since dinner. Had the whole night happened? Maybe it had all been a dream.

A soft chuckle came next to her. It was the sound of Anna's voice. "You're home now and safe."

"Anna," Jackie cried and she reached out for a hug.

"Hi, honey," Anna said. "I'm so sorry you have gone through such a horrible ordeal."

"I'm glad to be home, and to see you. Is Tomfoolery okay, too?"

"Yes, I'm working on that right now. I added a time reversal spell to put a stop to the night's events before they happened."

"I understand," Jackie said. "How can I help?"

"Where were you when you were taken from the house?" Anna asked.

"In the hall just before the door to the attic."

"I need to go back to the manor cemetery and stop those men from taking Tomfoolery. You stay here just like before, all right, Jackie?"

She agreed.

Boo stood in the hallway and Anna whizzed by on her broom. "Elizabeth will be here soon to take Jackie," she said. "But this time she will only find you. Do your best spooking."

"All right, Anna, I'm on it. Never fear, Boo is here!"

Anna flew out the attic window to the cemetery where they last saw Tomfoolery.

"Hey, Anna," Tomfoolery shouted. "I'm back, but why here?"

"It's a time reversal spell. You must confront the two men with no fear. Rage with your chains and scare them away from the manor. Everything depends on this."

Tomfoolery waited in the darkness. He saw the van pull up without headlights in the driveway. Boo stood ready by the attic door upstairs, waiting for the girl to arrive. He heard her footsteps come around the corner. Boo wanted to scare the living daylights out of her.

Tomfoolery saw the two men with a net and a rope. They headed into the darkness of the cemetery right beside him. He was ready.

Anna landed her broomstick and took to the darkness of the trees by Tomfoolery. Pulling out her trusty wand, she watched closely. _Time for revenge_ , she said to herself.

Tomfoolery heard the same sounds that happened the first time. He froze but then remembered he had done this once already. He gathered his chains, this time feeling much braver.

Seconds later, two figures stepped out of the darkness. Tomfoolery knew this was his chance. They moved toward him. Anna pointed her wand and cast a growing spell toward Tomfoolery, making him ten feet tall in front of the two men. He shook and rattled his chains and flashed his red glowing eyes which frightened the two men. They turned and ran off, scared out of their wits.

Anna had a big laugh and Tomfoolery felt good that he frightened them off this time.

Anna said, "And don't come back now, you hear!"

Boo heard the men scream and walked out with his arms outstretched, making his cloak larger than life. "Boooooh-hooo-blaah," he said into the frightened face of Elizabeth.

She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. After a moment she said, "Don't eat me, please."

From behind Boo, Anna said, "You've been caught by the demon of the manor. Let's take a look at you, shall we?" She pointed her wand at the young girl who shook like a leaf.

Jackie came running to see what was going on.

"Well," Anna said. "What do you want to do with her?"

Jackie stood back and thought for a minute.

Elizabeth pleaded, "Jackie, please don't let these demons eat me."

"Demons, huh? What you know of ghosts and demons is squat!"

Jackie whispered to Boo and then to Anna and over to Tomfoolery. "Remember our great night on the cloud?"

"Ah," they said in unison. "Good idea."

"Hey, you're more like us now, aren't you?" Tomfoolery said. "I do believe we have a young up-and-coming witch standing here amongst us."

"Yay," they all said as they placed Elizabeth on the back of Anna's broomstick.

Elizabeth pleaded, "Please don't."

"Oh, but we must," Jackie said. "You've been a bad girl."

"Come on." Anna grabbed Elizabeth by the neck.

"Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see," Anna said, and off they flew into the night sky.

Anna flew from the attic window with Elizabeth on the back of her broom, screaming and hollering at the top of her lungs, past the old mighty oak tree in the yard.

Boo laughed at the sight and Tomfoolery placed his hand in Jackie's, reassuring her that she was home and safe.

Elizabeth saw her house lights dim as they flew higher on Anna's broomstick.

Anna came to the little candy shop and with her wand spun a magical spiral mist, sending her and the young girl into the shop.

"Why...why are we here?" the girl cried. "What you are going to do to me? Eat me as the main course and have your fill with all this candy afterwards?"

Anna laughed. "You really need to be taught manners."

Anna grabbed a couple of handfuls of candy from each bin, placing the candy in her witch's hat. Before, Anna would leave payment for the candy. This time Anna was going to leave Elizabeth to take the rap for breaking into the store. Anna just smiled at the young girl's panicked, bewildered expression.

Anna grasped her broomstick.

The girl rushed toward Anna. "Don't leave me here!"

Anna pushed her to one side and went out the front door for the first time, setting off the burglar alarm. She magically locked the door so Elizabeth could not get out until the police came to find that she was the one taking candy all this time.

* * *

Back at Waverly Manor, Anna went to Jackie's room and found her in bed, but wide awake.

"You all right?" Anna asked.

"Yes. What an adventure!" Jackie squeezed Russell. "Elizabeth...?"

"Don't worry about her. She's going to be the center of attention all day tomorrow. I bet she forgets all about her report."

"Good!" Jackie settled back on her pillows. "I never knew when I first moved here that I would make such good friends. Thank you so much!"

"When I was alive, I didn't have any friends, either. Life was too hard. But now, I can't think of existing without good friends. Best friends...you."

Anna looked up at the ceiling. "BOO!" she hollered.

"What's the matter?" Jackie asked.

"He found the candy in my hat!!!"

The End

### Bonus Short Story:

### Haunted

At an older building in my hometown, I stood in the parking lot one afternoon, watching the goings on that day. Next to a Rite Aid and dry cleaners, a flag pole adorned the top of a large building. The California flag waved freely in the breeze near remodeled store fronts.

Los Gatos has many places where spirits walk freely around the unknowing, living inhabitants. The dead grow more alive in this town than we will ever know. Those who feel them will not tell.

Wraiths have more vitality today than ever before. Times are hard and many natives have moved away or died. Just a handful who are left know this story to be true.

In the quiet, friendly town of Los Gatos there is a well-known eatery by the name of Viva. Time stands still in this creaky old building on the boulevard. The restaurant is normally filled with laughter, twinkling glasses, and cheerful voices of those recounting their day, their week, and their world with other friends. Accompanying the cheer is the festive and ambient tones of both today and yesteryear.

The one scary spirit that resides hidden in Viva is well and waiting for you with a welcoming sigh. If you feel that pat on the back or a playful pinch, it should not be so easily dismissed after reading this.

Viva used to be the old stagecoach station in the early eighteen hundreds. In those days, good God-fearing men in town carried a sidearm. One day, thirty-two hooves pounded into the trail, kicking up dust and grit. It rose in a choking, stinging cloud made larger by the cut of the four heavy, iron-rimmed wheels into the uneven, dusty terrain to a newly built lumber town. Most of the billowing cloud of loose sand and gravel roiled up behind the stagecoach, but some of it blew in the open windows on the hot, dry wind, thickening the air, making it hard to breathe inside the stifling interior without coughing.

The loud creak of wood and the jangle of leather harness and metal buckles, the rumble of the wheels and the thundering hooves created an unholy racket, scaring the nearby wildlife away as it neared Los Gatos. People could see its dust trail pass the last town it left.

This din made it impossible to talk within the coach without shouting to be heard, not that anyone was talking. The steady lurch and jerk of the stagecoach shuddering over rocks and ruts, and the hard leather benches had numbed everyone into a weary stupor of resignation and led to a newly formed bruises.

They stared into space, at other passengers, or out the windows across the rolling landscape. A line of native oaks followed the nearby creek for the few miles that wound from the northwest. Rolling California scenery stretched to the coast, dotted with herds of cattle and sheep, dairies and farmland. The new churches, towns and cities being constructed along the way offered some visual variety.

During that time of the early eighteen hundreds, the bleak landscape around Los Gatos held only gnarled old oaks and mountain pine trees which shadowed the station, keeping some parts of it as the darkest in town.

When the stagecoach arrived at the station at five o'clock, a lone man, wearing an old duster, was leaning against the wall. He straightened and, with his arm outstretched and pistol in hand, walked to the coach before the horses came to a complete stop. The terrified passengers remained motionless, even though a thin layer of dust settled on their faces and clothes, and filled their lungs. The driver set the locking brake to the coach and raised his hands.

The lone man might have been down on his luck. Or maybe he didn't have any success panning for gold or working the many lumber camps. Perhaps he thought to get some fast cash on his way out of town by robbing the day's last stage in Los Gatos.

The gunman pulled on the small, metal latch of the coach door and pushed it open, telling everyone to step down to the ground and hand over their money purse.

"What's going on?" the passengers demanded.

The gunman could hear the passengers mutter and groan, unhappy to know they were being welcomed to town by a low account thief waiting to rob them of their riches.

The driver frowned, his mind clear on what he needed to do. His short barrel shotgun lay in his lap, his duster flap hiding his weapon. With the gunman distracted by the passengers, the driver pulled both levers back and, with his shotgun loaded, leaned over to one side of the coach.

The shotgun blast was all the passengers remembered hearing, the newspaper reporter commented in the town's daily. One man in an old brown duster lay by the coach, dead.

Many changes occurred in this little town as it grew. New places rose up and became what they are to this day. The stagecoach station may be forgotten but, in this lone gunman's mind and spirit, he is stuck in time at the old station that now is a local eatery.

Every day at dusk, rays of brilliant red and green enter through the many windows that line the restaurant. Swirling bright colors fill the eatery and illuminate even the darkest corners. Viva's staff hurries to shut the curtains so patrons won't be blinded. A few minutes later, they reopen the blinds, allowing in the fading light and stretched shadows of late afternoon.

These few dark moments give the ghostly inhabitant, the lone gunman, his chance to move from one side of the building to another. The creaky old building's stagecoach floor is now one of stone, but his booted footsteps make it shiver and shake near five o'clock, reverting back to the old west when he goes to meet the stage.

The permanent mist that hangs in the air in the cool twinkle of mornings is rendered an eerie silver and gray by the moon's faint glow. At night, evil seems to radiate from within every space of the building. This ghost doesn't wait until the afternoon to walk through the building and through time.

It all starts when the staff senses a ghost; the hair on their arms stands up and chills spider up and down their spines. The spirit kills the power in the building, shutting down the internet. Each time the owner reboots the system, it enjoys shutting it down a second time. It rings up the word "cash" on the register, then closes doors, opens drawers and plays tricks throughout the day. Hidden giggling brushes by someone's ear. A plate drops and an eerie wild cry sounds, only to be dismissed as a passing car. The silverware place settings are turned upside down on the napkins. Drinks move unaided along the bar to a different seat.

All of this is done by playful hands of a spirit that has no other choice than to make the best of his situation. The lone gunman is still at large in the old stage coach station, now Viva, a local eatery in Los Gatos. Just ask the staff.

##

For more of Jack Sorenson's work, see:

"Jack's School of Shines"

"Alana Weatherbee"

"Spooks and Magic"
