Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh

Author:Ellen Oh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-05-12T04:00:00+00:00

THE BASEMENT

Day 8—Monday lunchtime

Harper heard her mom calling everyone to lunch. She was not surprised to come down and see pizza on the table. It was from a chain and tasted more like cardboard with tomato sauce than real New York–style pizza. It didn’t even smell good. She thought of how Dayo’s house always smelled of the delicious food Mrs. Clayton made, and Harper was filled with envy. Even though her parents didn’t cook often, at least in New York there were so many good things to eat.

She looked over to where Michael was eating his pizza. He had his beat-up fire truck on the table. Yuna must have cleaned it up and given it back to him. He sat staring at the truck and eating his pizza like a robot.

A wave of homesickness hit Harper, and with the nightmares, the accidents, and the change in Michael, she had to fight hard to hold back her tears.

“I really hate it here,” she whispered.

Kelly, who was looking at her soggy pizza slice with disdain, dropped it on her plate with a disgusted sound.

“We gotta find a decent pizza place here,” she said. She looked up to see Harper wiping away the tears from her face. “Hey doughnut cannibal, why don’t we try to find a Krispy Kreme later? There’s supposed to be one where you can watch the doughnuts move down a conveyor belt and get covered in glaze.”

Harper blinked back her tears in surprise. “You’d really take me?”

“Yeah, I need a break, anyway,” Kelly said. “We should drive around and explore the neighborhood. There’s gotta be better food options around.”

“That would be awesome!” Harper was so excited. “And maybe we can find out where Grandma lives and visit her!”

Kelly swiveled her head to see if their mother was around before turning back and pressing her finger to her lips.

“Shush, what’s the matter with you? If you get me in trouble, Mom will take away my driving privileges,” Kelly said.

Harper deflated.

“Look, I want to see Grandma again, too,” Kelly said. “But Mom won’t let me drive too far yet since we’re in a new city and Grandma is in Maryland.”

“I’m sorry,” Harper said. She knew her sister was right. “But we can still drive around and look for a Krispy Kreme?”

Harper looked at Michael. Her brother loved doughnuts as much as she did.

“Hey, little buddy, snap out of it! Kelly’s gonna take us for doughnuts,” she said as she gave him a nudge on his shoulder. All she wanted was to see the old Michael react the way he used to. Instead, he slapped her hand and glared at her.

“I’m not going nowhere with you two boobs,” he snarled.

“What did you call me, you little brat?” Kelly snapped at him.

“Buzz off, you fat cow!”

“Why, you nasty little turd! I am so sick of you!”

“I hate you!” he snarled.

Kelly jumped out of her seat and lunged for Michael, who immediately began screaming, “Mom! Help! She’s trying to hurt me!”

Kelly backed off as Yuna came in from her office.

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