Ghost Hunter's Daughter by Dan Poblocki

Author:Dan Poblocki [Poblocki, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2020-09-01T16:00:00+00:00

CLAIRE WAS HESITANT to press her ear against the grimy door, but she did it anyway. From down the hall, Dolly’s voice continued to echo, her words blurry from the distance. Could she maybe hurry this up, Claire thought, then felt immediately guilty. The girl was going out of her way to help, after all.

Another noise caught her attention. An odd groaning. Just behind her.

Ehhh.

Lucas stood rigid next to the sink. His throat was gurgling. His eyes looked glassy, and he stared toward the far side of the restroom where the stall door remained shut.

Claire’s first instinct was to reach out and shake him, not because he looked so odd, but because she worried the noise he was making would alert the secretary. As soon as she touched his arm, however, she realized that something was wrong.

He didn’t react.

In fact, his gurgling grew louder.

EHHH.

“Lucas!” she whispered harshly. No answer. His eyes were fixated on something she couldn’t see. Something by the stall. If he kept this up, Mrs. Carmichael would come running. Claire stepped in front of him, but he stared right through her as if she were invisible. There was terror churning in his eyes. His mouth was an open O. Grabbing his face, she tried to force his jaw shut. But this only made the sound come out of his nose, changed it into a piercing hum. She covered his mouth and nose with her hand. But it didn’t help. In a moment, Lucas might start screaming.

Footsteps were coming down the hallway.

Panicked, Claire grabbed his shoulders and turned him to face the exit. The door began to swing inward. If they didn’t move, immediately, whoever this was would spot them. She grabbed him again, holding her breath, then lunged with him toward the wall. After what felt like forever, Dolly’s face appeared from around the door. She scrunched up her brow in confusion at the sight of them—Claire’s arms wrapped around Lucas’s chest from behind—but she didn’t say a word before motioning for them to follow her.

Claire turned Lucas around. He blinked at her and then shuddered, coming back to himself. She felt her breath release from her lungs. She hadn’t even realized she’d been holding it.

You okay? she mouthed to him.

He nodded groggily.

She wanted to grill him, to ask him what had happened, what he’d seen. But Dolly was watching them impatiently from the doorway, so Claire took his hand and led him out to the hallway, trying not to tremble. When he didn’t squeeze her hand back, she grew even more worried. He must have had another vision. A bad one. Had her mother been involved?

Dolly brought them to the end of the hallway and into a cramped room with a murky overhead light. If this was supposed to be an evidence locker, it wasn’t very secure. There was a single wall of shelves that reached up to the ceiling, and each shelf was divided into numbered sections. Most of these sections contained boxes or accordion files, but one spot near the bottom was different.

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