Ghost Hunt: Chilling Tales of the Unknown (20 page)

The only sound in TAPS headquarters was Lyssa clicking her pen against the desk.

“What a slow day,” she said to Mark.

“Yeah, where did all the ghosts go?” he asked.

“Guess we’re in a ghost-free zone right now,” Mike spoke up.

Lyssa suddenly had an idea. “You know what?” she said. “I’m going to check in on the Burtons.”

Lyssa picked up the phone and dialed the number. Eli’s voice answered on the other end.

“Hi, Eli. It’s Lyssa, from TAPS. I just called to see how you’re doing.”

“Hey, Lyssa,” he said. “Things are good. I did exactly like you said. I went to the graveyard and apologized. Then I cleaned up everything.”

“And…?”

“And our house has been normal ever since!” Eli said. Then he lowered his voice. “I don’t know what would’ve happened if you guys didn’t show up. Thanks so much for helping me.”

“You’re welcome,” Lyssa said. It felt really great being able to help the Burtons.

Lyssa smiled and thought: sometimes being ghost free was a very good thing—even for a Ghost Hunter.

^“
W
here are you?”
Miranda cried.

Four-year-old Miranda Johnston sat straight up in bed. Her back was pressed against the headboard. A strange tingling filled her whole body.

It didn’t hurt. Not quite. But pretty close.

Miranda’s pale blond hair tumbled around her shoulders as her head twisted from side to side. Her deep blue eyes were searching, peering into every corner of her bedroom.

“Where are you?” she asked again, in a whisper this time.

She hugged Polar Bear, her favorite stuffed animal, to her chest.

“I can’t see you,” Miranda whispered. “But I’m trying so hard!”

There was someone in the room with her. Miranda was only four years old, but she was absolutely sure about this.

“Don’t be a…” She began to sing in a high, breathy voice. She rocked from side to side.
“Don’t be a Little Louie Worrywart.”

Miranda giggled. Then she clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. The girl didn’t want her parents to come in and make her go to sleep. Not now.

“Oh, Grandma! That’s so funny. Okay. I promise not to tell.”

“Miranda… sweetheart. Who are you talking to?”

Miranda’s head jerked around. Her mother stood in the shadows of the bedroom doorway.

“What’s the matter, Mommy?” she asked. “You look funny.” Her mother’s eyes were open very wide. But her lips were twisted and pushed together tight. It was the same kind of face Miranda made after her mother made her take cough medicine.

Miranda’s mother came into the room. “You look pretty funny yourself. What are you doing up? It’s way past your bedtime.”

“I know
tha-at
,” Miranda said. Why did grown-ups always want to tell you stuff you already knew? “I went to sleep. Then I woke up because of Grandma Helen.”

“Grandma Helen,” her mother echoed.

She leaned over the bed to stare into Miranda’s face.

“Is that who you were talking to? Grandma Helen?”

“Uh-huh.” Miranda nodded. “Mommy—”

“But you know you can’t do that, right?” her mother interrupted. Her voice had a funny sound to it. The scared sound. “Miranda, sweetheart, you know Grandma Helen died three months ago.”

“I know,” Miranda said. “But Mommy—”

“What, sweetheart?” her mother asked.

“She’s standing right behind you.”

“Okay.” Jason’s voice rang out loud and clear over the speakerphone. “Let’s do our check-in on the Johnston case. Lyssa, why don’t you get us started?”

Lyssa leaned forward in her seat. She was riding with Grant and Jason in one of the SUVs. The TAPS team was on its way to investigate the Johnston home. Jen and the Hammond twins were squeezed into the equipment van.

“I talked to Mrs. Johnston last week,” Lyssa began. “She was pretty upset. She said her daughter, Miranda, claims she talks to her grandmother, Helen Johnston, in her bedroom at night. Grandma Helen
died
three months ago.”

“Anyone else in the family see her?” asked Jen. As usual, Jen was the first one to ask questions.

“Mrs. Johnston says she saw
something
in the hall near Miranda’s room. But she wasn’t sure who or what it was.”

“How old is the daughter?” The voice of one of the Hammond twins came through the speaker.

“Four years old,” Lyssa answered.

“Wow,” Jen said. “Have we ever investigated a case with someone this young?”

“Yes, we have.” Jason spoke up. “It isn’t easy.”

“Do you think we can
believe
her?” Jen sounded worried. Lyssa was thinking the very same question. When they got to the Johnston house, Jen would be in charge of where to place the cameras, voice recorders, and other equipment. If Miranda wasn’t telling the truth, Jen could wind up wasting a lot of time.

“It’s not that I think the little girl is lying,” Jen said. “But sometimes little kids don’t know the difference between real and make-believe.”

“That’s okay. Neither does Jason!” Grant joked.

Lyssa laughed out loud.

“A four-year-old having a sighting isn’t as weird as you might think,” said one of the twins. “We had our first sighting when we were six.”

“I still can’t get over the fact that you grew up in a haunted house,” Lyssa said. “I’m still trying to imagine what that was like.”

“Actually, it wasn’t bad, it was just home to us,” he replied. “I think it would be harder to move into a house and
then
find out it’s haunted!”

“But when you grow up with it, you think it’s normal,” the second Hammond twin chimed in. “Kids accept weird stuff a lot more easily than grown-ups do.”

“I never thought of it that way. That’s a good point, Mark.” Lyssa risked a guess about which twin was speaking.

“Mike,” the voice said. “Mark is driving.”

“Excuse me?”
Lyssa, Jason, and Grant all yelled at the same time.

As a researcher, Mark Hammond rocked. He could always dig up weird details nobody else would even think to look for. But when it came to the day-to-day stuff, Mark’s mind could wander. That made him a terrible driver!

“Calm down, everybody,” Jen said through the speakerphone. “He’s joking. No
way
I would ride with him.
I’m
driving.” She had to shout to be heard over the twins’ laughter.

“I think I see what Mike means about little kids accepting weird stuff,” Jen continued when the laughter died down. “Little kids believe in Santa Claus. They think the tooth fairy leaves a quarter under their pillow at night.”

“Kids are very open,” Jason agreed. “Sometimes they see and hear more than adults.”

“Because they don’t know they’re not supposed to,” Lyssa added.

“That’s right.”

“Hey, you guys, I think we’re almost there,” Jen said. “We just passed the library your directions mention, Lyssa.”

“Roger that,” Lyssa said. “We’re pulling up to the house. See you in a few. You got robbed, by the way. The tooth fairy always gave
me
a dollar!”

The whole team was laughing when Jason switched off the speakerphone.

“Thank you for coming,”
Mrs. Johnston said. She and her husband were sitting side by side on the couch.

Jason introduced the team to the Johnstons. Lyssa always felt proud when he called her the chief interviewer. Then Jen and the Hammond twins went outside to start unloading the equipment.

“So,” Mr. Johnston said, “what happens now?”

“We’d like to speak with your daughter,” Lyssa said. “She seems to be at the center of whatever is going on here.”

“She’s in her room,” Mrs. Johnston said. “I’ll take you up. Follow me.”

Lyssa stood up, but Jason and Grant stayed in their chairs.

“You go ahead,” Jason said. “Grant and I will stay with Mr. Johnston and take a tour of the downstairs.”

“Okay.” Lyssa nodded. Her heart pounded as she followed Mrs. Johnston up the stairs. She felt fluttery.
Is there really a ghost up here?

“Most of the sightings were upstairs, right?” she asked. Her legs felt a little shaky as they climbed the stairs.

“Yes. That’s right,” Mrs. Johnston said, nodding. “We sometimes hear noises in the rest of the house. But all the sightings have been in or around Miranda’s room.”

Lyssa and Mrs. Johnston reached the upstairs hall. Thick carpet muffled the sound of their footsteps.

“Here we are,” Mrs. Johnston said. She pushed open the first door on the right.

Lyssa took a deep breath and peeked into the room. She could see a young girl sitting on a fluffy pink area rug. Miranda Johnston had the palest blond hair Lyssa had ever seen. So pale, it was almost white.

Miranda was looking down at the stuffed polar bear she held in her lap. There was a child’s tea set on the rug in front of her.

“Miranda,” Mrs. Johnston said. “Sweetheart, this is one of the people Daddy and I told you about. Her name is Lyssa. She wants to talk to you about Grandma Helen.”

Miranda Johnston looked up. Lyssa felt a strange chill down her spine. Miranda’s eyes were bright blue and shiny, like doll eyes. They seemed to glow in the light from above.

“I can’t talk about Grandma Helen right now,” Miranda said in a high, clear voice. “Polar Bear and I are having a tea party.”

Those amazing blue eyes beamed into Lyssa’s. “
You’re
not invited.”

Okay,
Lyssa thought.

“That’s all right,” she said. She kept her voice friendly and cheerful. “Could I wait until you’re done? I really love stuffed animals.” She saw that Miranda’s bed was covered with them. “Would it be okay with you if I played with them a little?” Lyssa asked.

“Which one is your favorite?” Miranda asked. “If you
could
pick one. But you can’t. They’re
mine
.”

“This one, I think,” Lyssa said. She held up an orange striped cat with long white whiskers.

“Yes! That’s Henry,” Miranda said. “He’s my
favorite
, except for Polar Bear.”