by Suzy Cox
“Hey, I’m sorry, but they were the only things I could find at such short notice,” Nancy said. “It’s Halloween, you know. All the good costumes were rented out weeks ago.”
“That the best you can do?” Leon Clark called out, cracking up. “My five-year-old brother made a better costume than that. I mean, dudes, did you swipe those off your own beds?”
The other lacrosse guys laughed along with him. The team was decked out in expensive-looking Ghostbuster uniforms, just like the ones the guys in the movie wear: light gray jumpsuits, big black army boots, and proton packs on their backs to blast away spooks. They looked good.
“I hope those things don’t work for real or we’re in trouble,” Tess said, pointing at the proton packs. Whoa, was that a … joke?
“Who’s under there anyway?” Leon asked, trying to lift up the white sheet covering Nancy.
“No one you know!” she said, bouncing backward to avoid Leon’s hand.
The lax boys laughed even harder. “Hey, Leon! Whatcha doing? Get in here!” another Ghostbuster called from over by the Sedgwick Hotel’s door. “You’re missing the party.”
“There’s no party until the Leonmeister arrives!” he shouted, turning his back on Nancy and Lorna. He ran over to the other Ghostbuster and gave him a fist bump as the lax boys bundled into the hotel.
“Phew,” Nancy said. She and Lorna were standing shyly in a two-girl huddle. Nance had done her best, making sure the white sheets they were wearing went the whole way down to the floor—so that none of the Living would notice these ghosts didn’t have (visible) feet. Even so they looked totally lame.
On the way over from Saint Bartholomew’s, Nancy came up with a plan. Of course. We were going to split up into two teams. Tess and I were to remain invisible—so, if we needed to, we could follow any of the Living unseen.
Meanwhile she and Lorna were going to go into the party disguised as students—in costumes that the Living could see.
“These outfits are our safety net,” Nancy told Lorna. “You have to remember that we’re dealing with the Living here, not one of us. If David is in trouble, we might need to play by their rules to get him out without disturbing them and causing a scene.”
“She’s right,” I said. “What if we need to, say, call the cops on Library Girl? You can only ask one of the students or teachers to do that if you’re in disguise. Otherwise, if one of us suddenly materializes as an apparition on the dance floor it’ll freak everyone out. They’ll be more ghost sightings on the news than questionable anchor hairstyles. And that we don’t want, right?”
Standing outside the Sedgwick Hotel now—the old building from Ghostbusters where our Halloween dance was taking place tonight—I had to say I was glad I’d got the non-dress-up role.
Two Slimer ghosts—of very differing quality—lolloped by. One kid had rented a massive lime ball of a suit, complete with a flopping pink tongue and ectoplasm that dripped from his arms as he moved. The other was wearing jade skinny jeans and a T-shirt with ‘Prepared to be Slimed!’ scrawled on the front in green fluoro marker pen.
“Even booger-boy over there looks better than us,” Lorna moaned.
“Excuse me, ladies—or is it gents?” a guy said as he walked by Lorna and Nancy. He was all ripped suit trousers, messy shirt, and crooked Clark Kent glasses.
“What’s he meant to be?” Lorna asked. “He doesn’t look very ghostly to me.”
“Oh! I know!” Nancy said. “He’s the Keymaster! Haven’t you seen the movie?”
We all looked at her blankly. Maybe I needed to send Nancy on a cross-dimensional date with Brian? They seemed to have a lot in common.
“In the movie, one of the Living characters gets possessed by a hellhound and becomes the key to another dimension,” she explained. “Well, kinda.”
The Keymaster strode straight through me. We both shuddered. David.
“That’s him. He’s here and dressed as the Keythingy,” I said. “We have to go in, follow him. Quick.”
We entered the hotel lobby—Lorna and Nancy being careful to use the dark wood revolving door rather than just walk straight through it—and waited in front of a large gold elevator.
“I really hope no one pushes me,” Nancy whispered. “They could go straight through us, and all that would be left would be two sheets on the floor.”
“Shhh!” I said. “We need to pay attention. See where David’s going.”
Alanna Acland, dressed as some ghost called Gozer the Gozerian (“That’s the movie’s bad guy,” Nancy whispered. “It’s an ancient entity from another dimension.”) in a tight white jumpsuit, had spiked up her blond hair, put in red contacts and emptied half an Urban Decay counter on her face. She joined us. We all clambered into the elevator, the real ghosts being careful to stand at the back so no one touched them. David pressed the button marked Ballroom, where the party was taking place.
As soon as the doors opened, he dissolved into the crowd.
“Charlotte, Tess, follow him!” Nancy said. “We can’t lose him. We’ll be over here by the refreshment table. Trying not to get noticed.”
“There’s no chance of that in these costumes,” Lorna muttered.
I ran after David, narrowly missing a collision with Drama Drew, who made a very convincing Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. (I suppose he did have access to the entire drama club props store.)
“Hey, David,” said a girl in a frayed lace dress and white wig. She looked like something from Elizabethan times. Though her face was painted deathly white and a fake knife—covered in blood—poked out of her back. Cool costume. “How are you? Are you doing okay?”
David turned and his face softened. “Ali, how are you?” he asked.
I did a double take at my old best friend. Oh yes, she was in there. She looked so different, older somehow, but still Ali.
“I’m holding up,” she said quietly. “I spent the afternoon with Mr. and Mrs. Feldman, actually. They said you haven’t been around to see them, which I couldn’t believe. They asked how you were doing.” She gave David a searching look, which even I could see under all the face paint. “I told them you seemed fine. That you had a lot of new friends helping you out.”
David shuffled uncomfortably. “I’ve been keeping busy,” he said, rubbing his cheek and smudging the dirt he’d applied there even more. “But it’s been difficult.”
“It hasn’t looked that difficult,” Ali said. “If anything it looks like you’ve been having the time of your life.”
For about the fourth time this week, I wished I could hug her.
David flushed, then looked at his watch. It was 7:55.
“Actually Ali, I have to be someplace right now. But let’s catch up another time, yeah? Talk about Charlotte, keep her memory alive.”
He bolted before Ali could think of a worthy comeback.
“As if,” she said to herself, turning on her heel.
“Charlotte, we’ve got to keep going or we’ll lose him in this crowd,” Tess said.
She was right. The party was filling up. A girl from my lit class was manning the table where you could vote for the Scream King and Queen. Skeletons and spirits were projected onto the walls, so they flew around above our heads. And there were steaming “traps”—the boxes used to contain caught ghosts—all over the dance floor. Just in front of us, Leon and Jay were pretending to catch a sophomore girl with their proton rays. I seriously hoped they didn’t get a date out of that.
I spun back around to find that David had somehow gotten away from us and was heading for the elevator again. There were so many students in front of us. We couldn’t get through. There was only one thing for it. I looked at Tess and we exchanged a smile.
“Go!” she shouted.
We ran through the crowd, bashing through my class as we went. Behind us, we left a kinda Mexican wave in our wake of confused kids shivering for a second, then wondering why they’d felt the AC had suddenly turned on. We braked at the elevators, just as Davi
d pressed the call button.
“Hey, sexy!” Jamie and Kaitlynnn strutted over, blocking David’s way. “You’re not leaving already, are you?”
Kaitlynnn was wearing the shortest red dress I’d ever seen, with a tiny little cape on top. Jamie had paired fishnets with a pink princess dress. If princesses didn’t believe in wearing skirts, that is.
“Hey,” David said, looking them up and down. And back down again. Well, that was where your eyes were drawn to. “You do know the theme is Ghostbusters, right? What are you guys dressed as?”
Kaitlynnn smiled smugly. “We thought we’d be different, so I’m Little Dead Riding Hood and J is Ghouliet!”
“Get it?” Jamie asked. “Ghouliet! I’m here looking for my Romeo.”
Tess and I groaned. “Could she at least have put a dagger in her breast or carried a bottle of poison for authenticity?” Tess asked.
“You expect that much?” I asked her.
“Well, you both look, um, great,” David said. “And I totally want to catch up with you later, but right now I’ve got to go and find Kristen. Sorry.”
“I thought you were picking her up from her town house?” Kaitlynnn asked.
“Come find us later, please,” Jamie said with a wink. So much for my rash “confession” putting her off. “I demand a dance.”
“Would I let you girls down?” David asked, smiling his most winning smile and pushing the elevator button again.
Creep.
“Nancy!” I shouted in the direction of the refreshment table, where Lorna was suspiciously eyeing Brian as he attacked a bowl of “eye scream.” “David’s going up onto the roof. If we’re not back in fifteen minutes come on up and save us or something.”
“Wait!” Nancy called, running over and dragging me away from Tess’s earshot. “Charlotte, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”
“Nance, this isn’t the time. David’s about to get in the elevator and—”
“I know, but please, please be careful, Charlotte. Don’t use any powers that we don’t know are safe.”
“Any powers? What do you mean?”
Nancy eyeballed me. “Don’t play dumb with me, Charlotte Feldman,” she said. “I’m smarter than Kristen and her cronies. I know you’ve been hanging out with Edison.”
“We were just …”
“Stop, I’ve seen him talking to you. Like the other day, when he was by the bleachers.” Crap, had everyone noticed that? “And—from your guilty expression—I’m imagining there have been quite a few more meet-ups than that. Look, I know how frustrated you are that finding your Key is taking some time.” Nancy looked me straight in the eyes, which would have been more dramatic if she wasn’t peering through two hastily cut holes in that old sheet. “I can guess what he was teaching you.” Nancy sighed. “There’s a reason I haven’t told you about certain things, Charlotte. They might not technically be illegal, but they’re not covered in the Rules for a reason—not every ghost can handle them. Please remember that there could be repercussions.”
David hit the button again.
“Nance, you have to trust me on this,” I said, keeping my eyes on David. “I won’t do anything stupid. But if it comes to a matter of life or death—well, I can’t promise I won’t do anything. I’m sorry.”
The elevator door was opening. David was getting in.
“Fine,” she said in a tight little voice. “I trust you, but please be safe. We’re here to call on the Living for help if you need us.”
“I know. And thanks,” I said, running over to Tess.
The doors were shutting. We had to move.
“Here we go,” she said. “Let’s bring home your Key.”
We jumped through the doors.
The last thing I saw as they closed was a small ghost walking slowly across the room, shaking her head every step of the way.
Chapter 28
BONG, BONG, BONG, BONG, BONG, BONG, bong, bong …
The bells in Saint Bartholomew’s Church echoed around the city as David stepped out of the elevator. Eight p.m.
“Showtime,” Tess said.
“Kristen?” David called out into the darkness. “You up here, you crazy girl? What’s with all the notes and the mystery? I could have just picked you up in a cab like everyone else.”
The roof was silent but for the noises of the city below. We were nine stories up, but that was barely kneeling in New York terms.
“Kinda claustrophobic up here, isn’t it?” Tess said, looking around. For once I totally agreed with her. It was suffocating.
Our eyes began to adjust to the light, which was only coming from the glare of the buildings around us. There were a couple of old broken tables up here and some rain-rusted chairs. Overgrown plants dominated one corner of the space. The roof didn’t look like it was hotel-guest ready. It felt more like a disused scrap yard than somewhere you wanted to hang out.
“It looks like no one’s been up here for months,” I whispered to Tess.
“Which, at the risk of sounding like Nancy Bossy Pants, isn’t exactly making me relax,” she said.
David must really have wanted to see Kristen. Because if I’d been him, I would have turned right around.
I scanned the roof. Dead girls and ex-boyfriends aside, I couldn’t see anyone else up here. But then, I couldn’t see a whole lot.
“Maybe Library Girl’s just playing a trick on David, to get him back for not noticing her or opening her letters?” I said.
“Charlotte, if she’s the one who pushed you, I think that’s about as likely as Ed not using sarcasm as a defense mechanism.” Tess walked to the edge of the roof and looked down at the street below.
I wasn’t sure I’d heard Tess use his nickname before. The way she did was different from how she talked about Lorna or Nancy. She sounded less … neutral.
“Edison is kinda difficult to figure out.” I opened my mouth before I could stop the words escaping and instantly regretted them. I hardly dared make eye contact with Tess.
A strange look passed over her face. Tess turned and sat on the roof’s edge, swinging her feet over the side. I wondered what would happen if she slipped and fell. Nothing could hurt her now, but would she scream? Or calmly fall to the concrete below, then pick herself back up again, like something from an old Road Runner cartoon. I wondered if the sidewalk would stop her. Or if she’d fall straight through it and down into the subway and sewers underneath.
“Do you want to figure him out?” Tess kept her face turned away from me.
I felt myself blush in the darkness. I hoped she wouldn’t whip around and see.
“No, it’s-it’s not that,” I said, stuttering. “It’s just that it’s strange, him living with us in the hotel, but not being part of the Agency. I wonder what he does with his time. That’s all.” I tried to make my voice sound confident and final. Like that was it. Mild curiosity. Conversation over.
“He was here when I got to the Attesa, you know?” Tess said, looking out into the night. There were no lights on in the office just below us. It made the building look sad and empty. “We’re the two longest-serving residents.”
I kept quiet and let Tess carry on talking. Was this why Nancy had put her on my team? To make us talk and maybe she’d see that I wasn’t so bad after all.
“If things go your way tonight, you could be gone—you’ll never know what this is like,” she said. “Some people never go over to the Other Side because they don’t want to, but some of us aren’t lucky enough to find our own Keys.” She looked back at me with an exhausted expression in her eyes.
“Then let’s make sure Charlotte isn’t one of them, shall we?” Edison ported onto the roof next to me with a pop! and half smiled. “What, you really thought I was gonna miss the big showdown?”
There was a screeching sound as the fire-escape door creaked open. Tess jumped up. Light, watchful footsteps echoed on the metal steps.
“Kristen? Is that you?” David calle
d into the darkness.
Step by step, more and more of the person who’d just opened the door came into view. Her sandy hair caught the moonlight as she climbed up onto the roof.
“You’re not Kristen,” David said unnecessarily.
“You’re going to wish I was,” she said as the fire door slammed below her.
Chapter 29
“SORRY, WHO ARE YOU?” DAVID ASKED AS LIBRARY Girl walked across the roof toward him. She wore a simple black knee-length dress and tan wedges. She’d carefully tied back her hair in a ponytail, but already wisps of sandy curls were breaking free. She’d even put on some mascara. Library Girl must have been preparing for this moment all day. For the first time—seeing her in the moonlight instead of buttoned up and scowling in the library stacks—I noticed that she was actually really pretty.
Pretty unhinged?
Her face fell. “Who am I? Who am I? This is exactly what I’m talking about,” she muttered to herself. “After everything I’ve done.” She stopped, realized she was rambling and focused on David again with an intense smile. “Come on, do you really still have no idea who I am, David?”
“Um, no,” David said, looking at her as if she were potentially a psychiatrist’s-couch escapee. “I’m up here waiting for someone special, actually,” he said. “There’s this girl and we’re sort of dating. Well, she, like, really wants us to be. She’ll be along any second, so you might want to leave before then—I think she’s got something big planned, so we’ll need some alone time.”
How rude.
“The girl you’re ‘sort of dating’?” Library Girl said. Her smile faded. “How can you be ‘sort of dating’ someone? What’s wrong with you? Your girlfriend only died last week and already you’ve ‘sort of’ replaced her? You seemed so into Charlotte every time I saw you together in the library.”
David clicked his fingers in the air. “That’s where I’ve seen you,” he said. “You’re that sophomore who works in the library! I remember you now.”
“You do?” she said, her voice switching back to happy mode.
“Yeah, you’re always in there, like a busy little bookworm.”
