The Mystery of the Grinning Gargoyle (7 page)

But again, they weren't quick enough.

“There's nothing outside this window, either,” said Jessie.

“And I don't hear the scratching anymore,” said Violet.

Violet was right. The four children heard nothing.

There was nothing but silence, and the snores coming from Grandfather Alden's bedroom.

Then another sound drowned out the silence and the snores.

But this sound wasn't a scratch, scratch, scratch.

This sound was a SCREAM!

“Aaaaahhhh!”

The scream was followed by another scream and another.

“Aaaaahhhh! Aaaaahhhh! Aaaaahhhh!”

The Alden children ran into the living room, but the screaming wasn't coming from there, either. The screams were not coming from anywhere inside the family's suite, but they were loud and clear.

“Aaaaahhhh!”

And it was clear that whoever was screaming so loud was scared and could use the Aldens' help.

CHAPTER
7

An Unsuspecting Suspect

The Alden children dashed out the door of their suite and ran down the dorm hallway, following the sound of the scream. They didn't have far to go.

The screaming was coming from the door marked 4B.

“Wait a second,” Jessie said. “Didn't Raven tell us that she lived in room 4B? Maybe this is some kind of act for her online videos.”

“Those screams sound pretty real to me,” said Henry. He knocked on the door and called, “Raven, are you in there? Are you okay?”

The screaming stopped. From inside the room a quivering voice asked, “Wh-wh-who's there?”

“It's the Alden children,” Henry said. “Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny. We heard screaming, and came to make sure everything was okay.”

The door to 4B opened a crack. A very frightened college student peeked out. Tears streamed down her face. But this wasn't a girl in black with black hair. This girl's hair was light brown and she wore pink pajamas with cupcakes on them. The girl tightly clutched a purple teddy bear to her chest.

“It was a gargoyle,” said the girl, opening the door and letting the Aldens come into the dorm room. “I saw it outside of my window.”

Violet put an arm around the girl and said, “I like your teddy bear. Purple is my favorite color.”

“And I like your pajamas,” Benny said. “Those cupcakes look really yummy!”

“Thanks,” the girl said, wiping tears from her eyes.

“You saw a gargoyle?” Henry asked. “There's nothing in the window.”

“The gargoyle was floating right there, grinning at me.” The girl pointed at her window. “I swear that I saw it. But it disappeared when you knocked on my door.”

“Where is Raven?” asked Jessie. “She told us that 4B was her dorm room. Do you think she's trying to scare you to make another one of her videos about the grinning gargoyles here at Goldwin University?”

“I'm Raven,” the girl said in a very quiet voice. “At least I am sometimes.”

The girl opened her closet and pointed to a row of black clothing hanging on hangers. Also hanging in the closet was a jet-black wig—the same hair the children had seen on Raven's head while she worked at the Bruin Beanery. Sitting on a shelf by a mirror was a jar of black eyeliner. The rest of the room wasn't so black and gloomy, though. Next to the black clothes hung pink and purple shirts and pairs of blue jeans. Hanging on the walls were pictures of horses and dolphins. Covering the dorm room's bed was a comforter decorated with hot-air balloons.

“I'm confused,” said Benny. “Raven isn't real? But she gave me those delicious chocolate chip cookies.”

The girl stopped looking scared for a second and smiled a very small smile. “I gave you those cookies, Benny. Like I said, I am Raven. At least I play her on the videos, and I dress up like her when I leave my dorm room.”

“So if those black clothes and black hair are just a costume you dress up in,” Violet said, “who are you in real life?”

“My name is Annabel,” the girl said. “I only wear those clothes and makeup and that wig to look cool. I just want people to like me. That's why I made those gargoyle videos, too. I wanted to be popular.”

“We know that the gargoyles aren't real,” said Jessie. “But your videos were fake, too?”

“They're fake,” Annabel admitted. “Just as fake as Raven was. I just acted like I saw gargoyles in the videos. I'd go to the library with a friend. He would hold the camera and I would pretend that the gargoyles appeared. And then tonight I did see a gargoyle.”

“So you were pretending to be someone else,” said Violet. “A made-up person…”

“Just like Holly Page,” Henry said. “I bet we couldn't find Holly Page in those old yearbooks because she's a made-up person, too, just like Annabel was only acting like Raven.”

“Annabel must be a pretty good actor,” said Benny, “because your screams sounded really real.”

“Oh, my screams were real tonight,” said Annabel. “I really did see a gargoyle in the window just now. I wasn't filming this to put it online. The gargoyle I saw was real.”

Jessie, Violet, and Benny didn't know whether to believe what Annabel was telling them—not after she hadn't been honest about everything else.

But Henry believed her. “We know that gargoyles are just stone statues, but I think she's telling the truth, guys,” he said, standing at the window. “She saw something. Look at this string hanging outside the glass. It looks like the string we saw at the library earlier tonight.”

Sure enough, hanging outside the window was a string.

“It looks like the string is hanging from someplace above your room,” Henry said.

“But the fourth floor is the top floor of Harper Hall,” said Annabel. “The only thing above my room is the roof.”

“Then we're headed to the roof,” said Henry.

“That sounds like fun!” Benny shouted. “Let's go!”

“I'm sorry, guys,” said Annabel. “My days of hunting gargoyles are done. I think I'll stay in my room. But if you want to get to the roof, take the stairs at the end of the hall. The door at the top opens out onto the roof—sometimes I go up there at night to watch the stars.”

Benny had already started down the hall and up the stairs, so his sisters and brother had to run fast to catch up with him. They were all in such a hurry that no one heard the sound of footsteps running down the stairs, or the sound of the exit door opening and slamming shut.

The four Alden children went through the door at the top of the stairs and, sure enough, above them shined the moon and the constellations of the night sky.

“I see the Big Dipper!” Benny said.

“And look,” said Jessie, “that constellation shaped like a hunter is called Orion.”

“I wonder if Orion has ever gone gargoyle hunting like us,” said Benny.

“I don't know,” Henry said, “but I think we're pretty close to catching whoever is behind this mystery. Come on, the area right over there should be directly above Raven's, er, Annabel's room. Just be careful, since we're on the roof of a building.”

The roof of Harper Hall was flat, but the children walked carefully to the edge.

“Here's the string,” said Benny, holding one end of the string up in the air.

“So whoever is scaring people must be dangling the gargoyle from a string,” Henry explained. “They must have used the same trick at the library, hanging the gargoyle that we saw from the window on the top floor.”

“But those gargoyles are part of the library,” said Jessie. “I don't see how somebody could pull a heavy stone statue off of a building and hang it from a little piece of string like a piñata at a birthday party.”

Benny held the other end of the string in his hand. “It looks like this string is broken. The gargoyle must have fallen.”

“Benny's right,” Henry said, cautiously peeking over the edge of the roof. “I can see something in the bushes below.”

“I see it, too,” said Violet. “It's gray and has wings. It's a gargoyle!”

While Annabel had been frightened by the gargoyle that appeared at Harper Hall, the Alden children weren't scared at all. Back to the stairway door they hurried, and down the stairs to the ground floor they raced.

Once again, Benny led the way. Once he was through the door he ran and around the side of the dorm to the bushes they'd seen from the roof.

“It is a gargoyle!” Benny yelled. “And it's not heavy at all.”

Henry, Jessie, and Violet turned the corner to see their little brother standing in the middle of a green, prickly bush. In Benny's hand was a gray, grinning gargoyle held high over his head.

“We can be sure that's not a real statue now,” said Jessie.

“Yeah,” said Henry. “Benny might be strong for a kid, but nobody could lift one of the real gargoyles over his head.”

Violet looked puzzled. “That gargoyle looks just like the statues on top of the library, though. If it's not a real statue, what is it?”

Jessie took the gargoyle from Benny and helped her little brother out of the bushes. She tapped the grinning creature with her finger. A dusting of white powder showered down from the bottom of the gargoyle. “This isn't made of stone,” she said. “It's made out of papier-mâché.”

“Papier-mâché!” said Violet. “I know where I've heard that word before. It was on a book at the library.”

“Then we need to go back to the library so we can finally solve the mystery of the grinning gargoyles,” Henry said.

“And we will,” said Jessie, “just as soon as we get a good night's sleep. We have a very big day tomorrow.”

The Alden children took the papier-mâché gargoyle with them as they headed back into Harper Hall. Leaving the papier-mâché gargoyle with Annabel—to show her it had been a sculpture and not a living, breathing creature outside her window—the Aldens headed back to suite 4A.

“I think Annabel had the right idea, wearing those pretty pajamas to bed,” Violet yawned as the children reached the front door of their suite.

“That reminds me of something you said back in Annabel's room,” said Henry, holding the door for his siblings. “You said Raven was a made-up person, and I realized that Holly Page was made-up, too. I've been thinking about that ever since, and I think there's someone whose name sounds a little bit like Holly and who spends the day looking through pages and pages.”

“I think you're right, Henry,” said Jessie. “And I think after we get some rest tonight, we know who to talk to.”

CHAPTER
8

Checked Out

The next morning, Jessie woke her brothers and sister very early.

“I'm tired,” said Benny. “We were up so late.”

“We're going to be busy today,” Jessie said. “There's the groundbreaking ceremony, and then the big game…”

“And we still have the mystery to solve, too,” said Henry, stretching his arms and climbing out of bed. “Let's head right to the library.”

“I'll leave a note for Grandfather,” Violet said, pulling a purple pen and a pad of paper from her purple duffel bag. “We can meet him at the ceremony once we have finished our work.”

On the way to the library, the Aldens stopped at the Bruin Beanery.

Behind the counter was a smiling girl with light-brown hair. On the girl's chest was a name badge that said Annabel.

“Hi, Raven!” said Benny. “I mean, Annabel. We're going to have a little breakfast before we go to the library.”

“What would you like?” Annabel asked. “Breakfast is on the house.”

“On the house?” Benny asked. “Don't you mean on the roof?”

Annabel laughed. “It means that whatever you kids want to eat for breakfast is free. It's my way of saying thank you for helping me last night when I was scared.”

“Thank you,” Violet said. “You're really nice, Annabel.”