Home, Sweet Haunt (2 page)

Nora could feel it in her bones.

Halloween had always been their favorite holiday. The three of them had celebrated it together every year since kindergarten. They played pranks on each other; every Halloween was a competition to see who could get the biggest scream. There was the annual haunted house at the recreation center and then they'd all go trick-or-treating in Hallie and Lindsay's building. The night would end with a sleepover at Hallie's apartment and an all-night scary movie marathon. Tonight was the first time Nora wouldn't be there.

Chatting about costumes and candy would definitely make Hallie and Lindsay think of her. They'd both tilt their heads and glance at her window.

It was going to happen. Nora was sure. And she'd be there to wave to them.

“I'm just saying,” Lucas began again, “when the fire department came, they used the old plans to the apartment building like a map. They left the blueprints here. There's a—”

“SHHHH,” Nora commanded.

Forty-two seconds until Hallie and Lindsay would be
on the street. She raised her hand and held it flat against the pane. Nora was ready to start waving.

“Your room used to be a butler's pantry room.” Lucas stared at the side of Nora's face. “Did you know that? These apartments were built to have servants who cooked and cleaned! The kids never had to do chores.” Lucas tried to get her attention as he said, “All your baby animal and band posters cover the original wallpaper.”

“Whatever.” Nora didn't care. She refused to look at him. Lucas continued yammering, but Nora stopped listening. Completely focused on the street below her window, she saw the shadows of her friends darken the sidewalk before she saw them in person.

“Hallie Malik!” Nora screamed at the top of her voice. She waved both her arms wildly. “Lindsay Sanchez! Up here!”

They didn't tip their heads.

The glass pane was thin. Several cracks had formed from the fire. It wasn't much of a barrier.

If she listened really closely, Nora could hear
them
talking about Kyle Murphy, a boy in their school. So why couldn't they hear
her
shouting their names like a maniac?

Nora noticed that Hallie was wearing a costume to school. In fact, as the girls stepped into the sunlight, Nora could see that both girls were wearing the outfits they'd all picked out together back in July.

Leggings and neon-colored lace tank tops. High-heeled shoes and teased-up hair. They were pop stars. This was so unfair.

Nora was supposed to be the third of their musical trio. They were going to lip-sync to their favorite song at the Halloween party at school.

To complete their outfits, the two girls were wearing matching yellow jackets with hand-embroidered flowers down the back and along one sleeve. Lindsay had found them in a small shop when she went to visit her grandmother in Mexico. She'd texted back pictures, and Nora and Hallie agreed they were perfect.

Lindsay was supposed to bring back three, but after the fire, she never stopped by to drop off Nora's jacket.

“Hey, did you get
me
a jacket?” Nora shouted toward the street below. “I'll wear mine, too. Just bring it over!”

She leaned toward the windowpane, screaming “Hey!” and “Hello!” and the girls' names over and over. But they didn't react.

“It's Halloween!” Nora shrieked. “Remember?! Remember me?!”

In frustration Nora clenched her hands into fists, when Lucas suddenly reached out and grabbed both Nora's arms.

“No!” he shouted at her, pulling her arms down. “Don't!”

“I only have a few more seconds.” Nora yanked her hands out of his. “They're crossing in front of our apartment building.”

“But the glass.” Lucas dove on top of Nora, pinning her arms to the bed. “It's weak.”

He was smaller than she was. Nora easily rolled him off of her and pushed past him. She pointed one hand at the door while preparing to smack the glass with her other. “I'm only going to make a loud noise.”

“It'll shatter!” Lucas screamed at the same time Nora yelled, “Get out of my way!” She kicked him hard in the shin. Lucas grabbed his leg. “Ow!”

Nora knew he wasn't really hurt. Lucas had always been an excellent actor.

While Lucas made a show of rolling around and groaning, Nora bolted forward. Peeking out the window,
she could see that the girls had already passed the park. Thirteen seconds until they disappeared from sight. This was it. This was her chance.

“No!!!” Lucas screamed, grabbing his sister around the waist.

Nora pushed him away with her bare feet and popped up behind the window frame. She gave the glass a huge banging pound with both fists simultaneously.

The banging sound was loud like Nora had hoped. And, just like Lucas said it would, the glass also crumbled into a million little pieces.

Nora did a quick check of her arms. No shards of glass stuck in them. No scratches either. Nora took advantage of the broken window.

“Hallie! Lindsay!” Nora leaned out the empty frame to see them looking up toward her broken bedroom window. Nora finally had their attention. “Happy Halloween!” she called down.

Hallie looked at Lindsay, eyes wide.

Lindsay glanced at the window, then at Hallie. Her mouth hung open in a perfect O.

Nora raised her hands above her head. “Come over later! Trick-or-treat in my building tonight! I'll ask my
parents. I'm sure they'll let me go with—” She lost her balance. “Aughhhhh!” Nora flailed as she fell forward and farther out the window.

Lucas grabbed Nora around the waist and pulled her back an instant before she fell, ten stories to the pavement below.

“No, no, no! Let go of me!” Nora kicked him in the shin and tore out of his arms. She peered out the window frame.

The street was empty.

Her friends were gone.

Nora spun on her brother, who was sitting on the edge of her bed holding his leg. “Get out of my room. Get out and never come back!”

“I saved your life.” Lucas stood up, leaning on his left leg. “You could have fallen out the window. You should be thanking me.”

“They didn't answer me!” Nora screamed. “They won't come over for trick-or-treating, and I'll never convince Mom and Dad to let me go out with them. No candy. No scary stories. Halloween is ruined! It's all your fault!” She threw a pillow off the bed at Lucas's head. He ducked and she missed. By a mile.

Her terrible throw made Lucas laugh. He laughed so hard tears filled his eyes. When Nora scooped up a second pillow and tossed it again, he stuck out his tongue before dodging her throw.

“WAR!” Nora declared. She leaped on her brother and wrestled him to the ground.

He was small, but quick.

Lucas managed to roll away from Nora, swooping a pillow off the floor as he made his escape. With a wallop, he hit her soundly in the side of the head.

“Ooof!” Nora grunted, grabbing the other pillow and swinging it back at Lucas with all her might.

Direct hit. The pillow smacked Lucas square in the chest, throwing him backward. The seam burst open. Nora dove forward, hitting him over and over again with the torn pillow until feathers were everywhere.

Lucas chuckled as he hit her again with his own pillow. That pillow also ripped, and more feathers poured into the room.

Back and forth they went, swinging at each other until the pillowcases were empty. Then they started throwing handfuls of feathers at each other.

“I win!” Nora exclaimed, holding her brother's arms
behind his back. “And now you will suffer.”

“You did not win! I did!” Lucas giggled. With a mighty shove, he tipped her over and tried to hold her firm.

“This isn't funny.” Nora was struggling against his grasp when their mother walked into the room.

“What is going on here?” Nora's mother glanced around before calling, “Frank!” to her husband down the hall.

“Laura, I—” Mr. Wilson began as he reached Nora's bedroom. His voice dropped. “Whoa.”

Nora and Lucas were wrapped together on the floor, a tangled mess of arms and legs.

The room was covered with white feathers. It looked like it had snowed.

The window was broken.

And shattered glass covered Nora's bed.

When the mess was cleaned up, Lucas and Nora were both sent to shower. Then they had a “family meeting” in the living room. This was the second formal meeting ever in Wilson family history. The first one had been a few days after the fire. That meeting changed her life. Nora expected this one to be bad as well.

Nora sat back into the couch. The fabric had once been soft velvet, but velvet burned easily. Rough towels covered the holes, and the floppy cushions were held together with duct tape. The sofa smelled like burnt toast.

Lucas came in. His hair was wet and he was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Lucas stomped across the floor as usual. He was the loudest walker in the world. Nora
always wondered why the people who lived below never complained. After all, in an apartment building, their floor was someone's ceiling.

“That was fun today,” Lucas whispered to Nora. He took one last clumping step toward the couch. “We need to have more fun.”

Nora sneered at him.

“About our adventure—” Lucas began.

“Sit!” Mr. Wilson interrupted. He directed Lucas to the space next to Nora on the sofa.

Nora prepared herself to be punished. Although she had to wonder what more could be taken away from her.

“After what happened this morning, it has occurred to us that you've both gotten a little stir-crazy,” Mrs. Wilson said, tilting her head at the kids.

“So we've decided to let you go outside,” Nora's father put in. “Run around and blow off some steam.”

“We aren't in trouble?” Nora bolted up to her feet. At her father's strong stare she plopped back onto the couch, feeling the springs settle beneath her weight. Perhaps the day wasn't ruined after all.

“You'll need to do extra chores,” her mother said. “And an extra math assignment.”

Nora groaned.

“Does Lucas get extra math?” Nora asked.

“No,” her mother said. “He's younger than you, Nora. You should have known better than to fight with him.”

“He started it,” Nora complained, but then let the argument drop as she realized they'd said something more important. She had to be sure she'd heard right. “Wait, did you say we
can
go
out
of the apartment?” Nora would gladly do a million math assignments for an afternoon in the sun and a chance to see her friends.

“It's Halloween,” her father said, as if Nora hadn't already known. “A special occasion.”

“Yeah . . .” She wanted them to hurry to the going outside part.

“You can go to the park,” her father added, squashing Nora's plans to rush over to school and see all her old friends. Nora strained to hear when he turned to her mother and said in a whisper, “Mrs. Daugherty's living room window faces away from the park. It'll be fine as long as they hurry across the hall and avoid hanging around waiting for the elevator.” He glared at Nora and said in a louder voice, “Use the stairs.”

“Stairs?” But there were so many. Nora began to
complain, when her mother pinned her with a stern look.

“We will watch you from here.” Their own living room window looked out directly at the park. Her mother's voice was hard. “You may not go anywhere else.” She lowered her eyes at Nora and didn't blink.

Ugh.

Going to the park was so babyish. There were swings and a slide designed for kids half her age. Then again, the park was better than nothing at all. Plus, if she thought about it really hard, Nora was certain she could figure out a way to get Hallie and Lindsay to hang out with her there. She'd need a plan, that was all.

“Okay.” Again Nora began to get off the couch.

Her father stopped her escape. “You'll go today from noon to three.”

Nora slumped back down. “But school isn't out until three,” she whined. “Hallie and Lindsay don't come around the corner until twelve minutes after! With that rule, I won't see them.”

Mrs. Wilson shrugged. “It's for the best,” she said, flashing a glance at Nora's dad.

“That's the deal,” her father said. “Take it or leave it.”

“Hmmm.” Nora exhaled sharply. It wasn't like her
to break rules; that was Lucas's thing. But maybe, just this once, Nora could stay out an extra fifteen minutes. She'd do two million math problems for the chance to see her friends.

“I'm not finished,” Mr. Wilson said. “Nora, you have to take Lucas with you.”

“We can't go today.” Lucas grinned. “We're going to have a Halloween adventure right here in the building.”

“No, we're not,” Nora said, frowning. The only adventure she was going to have was outside. With her friends. Hanging with Lucas was not part of the plan.