The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by McKenzie Paige

Author:McKenzie, Paige [McKenzie, Paige]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2014-10-23T04:36:41+00:00

CHapTer eIGHTeen

puzzle pieces

On the way to school the next day, I practice the speech I’m

planning to unleash on Nolan the instant I see him: I’ve decided

that I’m not one of those guardian angel guys. I mean, we don’t

even know if anyone is. We just have Professor Jones’s book

to go on, and it might not even be a real book. He might have

his own private printing press hidden in that building for all we

know. It certainly looked like there was plenty of available space.

I don’t mean to sound cynical, but all of this sounds a little too

out of this world to be true.

The last line of the speech is the part that’s tripping me up.

Because the fact that my house is haunted in the first place is

plenty out of this world, too. Nolan will be quick to point out

that if one out of this world thing can be true, why not another?

And I’m having trouble coming up with any kind of counter-

argument for that.

It’s almost Thanksgiving. I’m finally not the only student

bundled up with a hat and scarf every morning. Today, I’m

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Puzzle Pieces

151

wearing a cozy grey cardigan that’s at least two sizes too big;

the sleeves hang long past my wrists and I don’t even bother

trying to roll them up because they’re keeping my hands warm.

In fact, with such long sleeves, I don’t need gloves. Someone in

the sweater business should totally try to corner that market: ex-

tra-long-sleeved sweaters so you don’t need gloves to keep your

hands warm! They’d make millions. Or maybe not: everyone

else at school is wearing clothes that actually fit them, so it’s pos-

sible that I’d be the only customer for a product like that.

It’s a Thursday, and we don’t have visual arts on Thursdays,

so my best chance to catch Nolan is in the halls between classes.

But he catches me first, and starts talking before I can launch

into my speech.

“I’m coming over after school today,” he declares. “I read

something more.”

We don’t have much time before class, so I try to condense

my speech into a single sentence.

“Listen Nolan, I think you might be putting a lot of faith in a

tattered old book that a potentially crazy old man gave you.” Out

of the corner of my eye, I see Ms. Wilde leaning against a wall of

lockers down the hall. There’s no way she can hear us with the

sound of kids shouting and laughing, lockers being opened and

slammed shut. Still, it feels like she might be listening.

I shake my head. Get a grip, Sunshine.

Before I can say anymore, Nolan counters, “I’m not just put-

ting faith in a tattered old book. I found more online last night.”

The bell rings and he heads to class before I can say that he’s

totally undermined the rest of my argument.

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The Haunting of Sunshine Girl

Later, Nolan sits at my kitchen table once more, me across from

him. This time, instead of the book laid out in front of him,

there’s a stack of pages he printed off the Internet.

“What did you do, Google the word luiseach and print all the

facts off Wikipedia?”

Nolan laughs nervously.

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