Mom sighed and stood up. “Let’s go in and have breakfast.”
“Nightmares are hungry business,” said Dad, scooping up Sally and putting her on his shoulders. She squealed with glee as he trotted toward the house, playing horse.
Now it was Mom’s turn to look stern and serious. “It isn’t more of this ghost business, is it, Jason? I don’t want to be worrying about you while we’re gone.”
I stopped in my tracks and stared at her. “Gone? Where are you going?”
“We got a call late last night,” said Mom. “Remember that firehouse we designed for Mayfield last spring? Apparently they’re having some problems with construction and they need us to go take a look at the site and make some changes.”
“You have to leave?”
Mom nodded. “We’ll be gone a week or so and we have to leave today—as soon as possible. But I don’t want to leave you here if you’re scared.”
“Scared? Of course I’m not scared.” That was partly true. I wasn’t scared when I was outside the house, in broad daylight. “I’m just, ah, I’m worried about Sally and her invisible playmate.”
Mom smiled. “Then I can trust you to keep a close eye on her while we’re gone?”
“Sure, Mom. Of course you can.”
“Good. Then let’s eat before the baby-sitter gets here.”
“Baby-sitter?”
Mom gave me a look. “I know you’re getting pretty big, Jason, but I still can’t leave you to handle a five-year-old all by yourself. The babysitter’s name is Katie. She’s seventeen and she comes highly recommended.”
The last thing I wanted was a bossy baby-sitter, but as I followed Mom into the house I tried to convince myself that maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
Mom and Dad would never let me and Sally camp out under the cherry tree every night. But maybe I could talk the baby-sitter into it.
Maybe she’d believe me.
35
The baby-sitter, Katie Lawrence, had kind of skinny legs but other than that she was pretty. Her hair was red and thick and came down to her shoulders. She had this little sprinkling of freckles on her nose and she smiled a lot.
She grinned at me when we were introduced and she didn’t seem bothered by the fact that Sally was scowling at her.
I showed her around the house while my parents finished packing. Wouldn’t you know, all the rooms looked sunny and pleasant in the late morning light. You’d never know what had happened the night before, or what was likely to happen again, as soon as the sun went down.
“What a neat old place,” said Katie as we came back downstairs. “I always wanted to see what this house looked like on the inside. It was shut up for so many years we used to dare each other to come here on Halloween.”
“Did anything ever happen?” I asked carefully. “On Halloween, I mean.”
Katie’s laughter rang out. “Of course not, silly. Although we never did anything more than run up and peek in the windows. I thought I saw a light one time,” she added, winking at me. “Like a candle, flickering in the attic.”
Just then my dad called me upstairs to help with the suitcases.
We loaded the suitcases into the station wagon and when we got back to the house Mom was giving Sally a hug and going over instructions with Katie one last time.
“Don’t hesitate to call us if there’s any problem,” she said again.
Dad cocked an eyebrow at Katie. “You don’t believe in ghosts, do you?” he asked with a smile.
Katie giggled. “No, of course not. There’s no such thing as ghosts. Why? Is this house haunted?”
She laughed like it was a pretty good joke.
“Jason thinks so,” said Dad, giving me a look. “But maybe you can convince him.”
I felt my face going red.
I said good-bye to Mom and Dad and they climbed into the car. I held Sally’s hand as they drove away.
A moment later the car turned the corner and they were gone.
Katie went back into the house, saying she wanted to unpack her things. “You know, there is something spooky about this house,” she called back. “I think I’m going to really like it here!”
I shivered at her carefree tone. We were on our own. Just me and Sally and a new baby-sitter who thought ghosts were cool.
And I was the only one who knew what was going on. Or did I, really?
I turned to Sally and smiled comfortingly. “You and me better keep an eye on that baby-sitter, make sure she doesn’t get in any trouble she can’t handle, right?”
That’s when I noticed that something was wrong with Sally’s face. Her expression was stiff and her eyes were blank. As if she was in a trance or something.
A chill ran through me.
“Sally?” My voice was shaky.
Sally’s head jerked to one side and then the other, like a puppet. Her eyes smoldered and glowed.
I fought the urge to leap away from her.
Then she opened her mouth and spoke. “I’m not Sally.”
The voice that came out of her mouth was rough, as if it hadn’t been used in a long time. And it had a hollow ring. As if it was coming from the inside of an empty tomb.
Sally’s face scowled at me and the strange voice growled again. “My name is Bobby,” she said. “And I’ve been dead for a long time.”
I was paralyzed. I wanted to run. I wanted to scream.
My little sister was possessed.
Turn the page to continue reading from the House on Cherry Street series
1
The baby-sitter didn’t believe in ghosts. “Don’t be silly,” she said. “There’s no such thing as a haunted house.”
Her name was Katie, and she was a teenager with red hair and an attitude—meaning she thought I was a total dweeb for trying to tell her about the ghosts in the house on Cherry Street.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I said stubbornly.
She smirked at me and then shaded her eyes, looking up at the decaying mansion my family had rented
