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chapter one

DECEMBER 26

Call over

No one ever has before, but soht was a disaster

As quietly as I can, I slip out of the botto floor to the stairs My heart is beating so hard I wonder if it’s audible outside ofI want is to wake Theo and have to look hihts are cohesive

The second step fro out of a haunted house; it’s been victi our way up for ames and bed in the basement I stretch to carefully putwhen I land with no sound Not everyone is so lucky; that loose board has busted Theo sneaking in late—or early, depending on how you look at it—more times than I can count

Once I’o for speed It’s still dark; the house is quiet, but Uncle Ricky will be up soon This cabin is full of early risers Myof opportunity to figure out how to fix this is narrowing quickly

With a barrage offlip book through nore the , round the banister in my candy cane socks, sneak quietly down the hallway, and open the door to the narrower set of stairs leading to the attic At the top, I nudge open Benny’s door

“Benny,” I whisper into the chilly blackness “Benny, wake up It’s an eency”

A gravelly groan co on the light”

“No—”

“Yes” I reach over, flicking the switch and illuated to bunk beds in the basement, this attic is Benny’s bedroom every December, and I think it’s the best one in the house It has pitched ceilings and a long stained-glassat the far end that projects sunlight across the walls in brilliant stripes of blue, red, green, and orange The narroin bed up here shares the space with the organized clutter of family heirlooms, boxes of decorations for various holidays, and a wardrobe full of Grandma and Grandpa Hollis’s old winter clothes, frohable financial prospect for a high school principal froirls when I was a kid, I would play dress-up all alone up here, or sometimes with Benny as my audience

But now I don’t need an audience, I need a kind ear and a cold, hard shot of advice because I ae of hysteria