Spirits and Spells by Bruce Coville

Author:Bruce Coville
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781497668515
Publisher: Open Road Media

13

INTO THE CLOSET

Derek switched on his flashlight. “So you think the rod is in one of the bedrooms up there?” he said to Denise.

She nodded. “The first clue said something about ‘sleeping power.’ I think it was a pun. And this time Travis said, ‘Seek it in the Master room, Where the Master met his doom,’ which I figure has to mean the master bedroom. One of the Gulbrandsens must have died in bed or something.”

“We should have asked Travis if it was guarded,” said Jenny as they reached the top of the stairs.

“I don’t think that would have done any good,” said the creature. “He doesn’t know what’s going on now any more than we do. The whole thing is out of his control.”

Denise looked uneasy. “Speaking of guarded … did either of you hear anything funny when you were searching before?”

“No,” said Jenny. “Why?”

Denise looked away for a second, then said, “I thought I heard someone calling my name—my name for the game. I didn’t like it.”

“Maybe it was your imagination,” said Derek.

Denise snorted. “If it was, that would make it the only imaginary thing that’s happened so far tonight.”

“I guess you’re right,” said Derek. “But maybe that part is over.” He pointed the flashlight down the hallway. “Any idea which of these is the master bedroom?”

Denise shrugged. “No. I had only got through about half of them when I heard Matt yelling. And I wasn’t looking for a master bedroom then, just another clue of some kind.”

“Let’s pick up where you left off,” suggested Jenny.

With Denise in the lead, the three teens and the monster walked down the hall. All were uneasily aware that there might be something lurking behind any door, waiting to leap out and attack them.

The first three rooms they tried were obviously wrong. They were pleasant, or would be in the daytime, and once they were cleaned and scrubbed. But each was too small for a master bedroom.

“Look at this,” said Denise as they crossed the hall to try a fourth door. “It’s a long way to the next door—which could mean this is a big room. Maybe it’s the one.”

“Allow me,” said the creature. It slithered a tentacle past the three searchers and deftly twisted the doorknob.

The door swung open with a creak. Jenny rubbed her arms, trying to smooth down the goose bumps.

Derek stepped in and swung his flashlight around the room. “Looks good,” he said. “It’s still furnished.”

The others crowded in behind him.

“Look at that bed!” said Denise. “This has got to be it.”

The bed was a huge four-poster, covered by a dark, tattered canopy.

“I bet it’s someplace around that,” said Jenny. “Let’s look!”

Staying close together, they crossed the room. Denise got down on her hands and knees to search under the bed. Derek and Jenny looked on either side.

“Do you suppose it might be in that closet?” Jenny asked, gesturing to a door on her side of the bed.

“We’ll check there next,” said Derek.

The creature had extended two tentacles to the top of the canopy.

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