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She sht into my hand I shone it into the crawl space The dirt floor extended through the darkness as far as the beaht The bea to my left A metal box

"There’s a box," I said "But I can’t reach it fro two steps and crawled in The space stunk of dirt and stale air, as if no one had been there in years

The ceiling was really low, so I had to waddle hunched over I ray ift box

"Is it locked?" Rae whispered She had cliht around the perin of a lock

"Well, open it," she said

Kneeling, I gripped the flashlight between ertips slid under the lid’s rinored her This roohost had wantedI could see in this barren, dark space

I’d seen boxes like this in ood Body parts were usually involved

But I had to know The lid started coled it One side caertips around the edge, trying to find what it was catching on It was a piece of paper

I tugged, and the paper ripped, leaving ments of words I found the part of the paper still stuck in the box and pulled, prying the lid with , and the paper ca in my lap Before I could think about whether I wanted to look, I was looking, staring straight down into the box

"Papers?" Rae said

"It looks like… files"

I reached into a folder marked 2002 and pulled out a sheaf of papers I read the first

"Property taxes" I flipped through the other pages "It’s just records of stuff they needed to keep They put them into a fireproof box and stored it here The door’s probably only locked so we don’t snoop"

"Or this isn’t what the ghost was telling you about Thatelse down here"

We spent tenmore than a dead o," I said, crouched onhere, and it’s freezing"

Rae shone the flashlight in et snippy," Rae said "I was just going to say it’s not cold"

I took her hand and wrapped it around ht? Feel the Stay if you want"

I started crawling away When Rae grabbedher over

"What’s with you?" she said

I rubbed my arms Tension stru my teeth

"I just--I was okay before but nowI just want to get out"

Rae crawled up beside oose bulittery, like you have a fever"

"Maybe I do Can we just--?"

"There’s so here, isn’t there?"

"No, I--" I stopped and looked around "Maybe I don’t know It’s just--I need to go"

"Okay" She handed ers closed around the flashlight, the light started to dilow

"Tell ," Rae whispered

I quickly handed it back to her The light surged, but only for a second Then it went out, plunging us into darkness Rae let out an oath A swish Light flared Rae’s face glowed behind the s would coaze going to the flame She stared at it like a child mesmerized by a campfire

"Rae!" I said

"Oh, uh, sorry" A sharp shake of her head We were almost at the door when I heard the distant sound of the baseht"

She extinguished it Not by waving it or blowing it, but by cupping the flame in her hand Then she tossed the dead match and the matchbook over her shoulder

"Girls?" Mrs Talbot called from the top of the stairs "Is your homework done?"

Homework Simon and Derek I checked my watch 7:58

I scrambled out of the crawl space

Twenty-four

I KNEW RAE WAS DISAPPOINTED by e’d found--or hadn’t I felt a weird kind of guilt, like a performer who failed to entertain But she never doubted I’d seen a ghost or that he’d told rateful for that

I returned the key, washed, then found Mrs Talbot and told her I was going upstairs forwith Derek and that Simon would be there She hesitated but only for a moment, then sent me off

I retrieved my newly arrived math text from my room and went around to the boys’ side The door was open Si a co hoe of ours, set at the back of the house instead of the front Sies ripped from a comic book, but when I squinted, I realized they were hand drawn Some were black-​and-​white, butfroes, done in a style that wasn’t quite otten in trouble for doodling in class Now I could see what he’d been working on

Derek’s walls were bare Books were stacked on his dresser and azines lay open on the bed Shoved to the back corner of his desk was some kind of contraption full of wires and pulleys A school project, I supposed, but if I had to build anything that complicated next year, I was doomed

I rapped on the doorframe

"Hey" Si to tell Derek we should go downstairs,you a hassle They didn’t, did they?"

I shook my head