by Megan Atwood
“Thank you, Natalie,” Gloria said. “That was a bit of genius on my part, I do admit. And my sister and her friends were the perfect first audience. They spread the word faster than even I expected.”
“It would have been nice,” another voice called out, “if your story involved more people parts. It’s pretty funny how you get to play Verity Wentworth, and Pete gets to play Baron von Steuben, and the rest of us have to play farm animals.”
“ ‘Funny’ is not the word, dear Meg. I believe the word ‘genius’ still applies. But we are wasting precious time! Let us all relive this story of Verity Wentworth!”
Peter looked at Lizzie, Sarah, and Olive and made a motion for them to get going. It was perfect timing because the actors had started grumbling and milling about, and many of them were whispering in twos. No one was paying attention to the ground floor of the barn, so the four of them snuck out. Without discussing it, they walked to the picnic table and sat down.
Olive could see the disappointed looks on her friends’ faces. Sarah was the first one to speak: “So Gloria did make that all up.” Lizzie traced a shape with her finger on the picnic table, and Peter looked out toward the creek.
It was funny how much difference a day could make. Even finding out she was right, Olive was miserable. Because her friends were.
She took a deep breath. “So . . . two things,” she said. “Weird things have still been happening, right? I mean, Gloria likes attention, but even she doesn’t want to ruin the orchard. So I really don’t think she would start a fire or let the horses out. And I’m guessing she doesn’t know anything about wiring lamps. So all that stuff . . . is still unexplained. And remember how Sheriff Hadley said it was weird that the hay was moved right where he fell? We definitely still need to figure out exactly what happened there. Even if it wasn’t a ghost, there are still things to get to the bottom of!”
Peter, Lizzie, and Sarah nodded, but she could tell that the thought wasn’t very cheery. She went on, “But the second thing . . . well, I think we could have a lot of fun if we did a prank on Gloria, the way she did a prank on us.”
This perked everyone up. Sarah’s eyes got round and excited and she said, “YES. That is a great idea!”
Lizzie nodded and squeaked a little, and Peter said, “Yeahhh.” The mood at the table had lifted.
Olive smiled and pushed her glasses up. “Okay, so even Gloria thinks this is a made-up story. What if we pulled a prank that made it seem like it wasn’t made up?”
“Perfect,” Sarah said, but then got quiet.
After a second, Lizzie said, “How do we do that?”
Olive thought for a minute. “Can you record voices on your phone, Lizzie? Or Sarah?”
Lizzie nodded, but Sarah said, “My phone is so old it could be in Annabelle’s Antiques.”
Olive laughed. “Ours, too,” she said. “All because our dads didn’t want us playing games on the phone.” Peter just shook his head.
Lizzie said, “It’s only ’cause of my whole getting lost thing. This phone has GPS. And yeah, it also has a voice recorder thingy.”
“And do you remember that your mom talked about speakers and stuff in the barn? So that we could play spooky music during the haunted barn, Sarah?” Olive asked.
Sarah said, “Oh, yeah! I do remember that.”
Lizzie said, “I know they’re set up! I heard my dad playing something really old out there the other night. Plus! Oh!” she said, bouncing on the picnic table bench. “This is perfect too, because my phone is connected to the speakers! My mom tried it out the other night and needed to use my phone.” She squeaked, and Sarah high-fived her.
“Perfect! It’s like this was meant to be,” Olive said, even though she didn’t believe in that sort of thing. “I think it’s about time we show Gloria that she’s not the only one with some great ideas around here.”
CHAPTER 14
A Prank to Remember
Making the recording had been hilarious and hadn’t taken them any time at all. With the voice recorder, it had been incredibly easy. Sneaking back into the barn proved to be harder. The actors had gotten bored and many of them hung around outside for a while, talking. Olive heard a lot of them complaining about the silly roles they were playing. She overheard one boy saying, “I’m being wasted here! I’m more than a goat.”
But finally, as the sun began to set, all four of them made it into the barn. It was close to dinnertime, and the light in the barn was beginning to dim. It was just eerie enough to give their prank an authentic boost. Gloria yelled, “That’s a wrap!” and looked at her clipboard, taking her pen from behind her ear and making notes.
Behind the same bale of hay as before, Peter, Olive, and Sarah waited for the perfect moment to play the recording. Olive kept an eye out toward the doors, making sure no actors wandered in. Lizzie sat next to her phone, ready to hit the Play button. The speakers had been hidden right under the hayloft’s floorboards, in the rafters, so the sound would be perfect for what they wanted to do.
Almost all of the actors had left, and it was just Gloria and a few of her friends in the hayloft. Olive could hear Gloria saying, “Method acting!” and “LIVE INTO YOUR PARTS, DARLINGS.” This made Olive roll her eyes, but the actors seemed to take Gloria very seriously. At some point, Olive wanted to investigate that strange phenomenon too.
When it was just Gloria and two other people in the hayloft, Olive knew it was time. They needed to play the prank on Gloria with witnesses. That would make everything seem that much more real.
Olive looked at Sarah, who nodded. Peter saw the look and nodded too. Lizzie glanced up, and all three of them nodded at her, their expressions serious. Lizzie pressed play.
“Gloooorrriiiiaaaaaa,” the recording said softly.
Gloria snapped her head up. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” one of the actors said.
“My name,” said Gloria.
The actor looked around. “I don’t think so.” She looked at the other actor.
“I heard something,” he said, but then he pointed to something in his hand. “Are you sure I should say this line, ‘I must have you’? What if I said, ‘As the crow flies, as the wind blows, as the sun must set in the east, I WILL have you’?”
Gloria fixed him with a stare—Olive could feel the ice from where she sat. “First, the sun sets in the west, my dear. Second, Baron von Steuben had no poetry in his heart! The line stays the same.”
“Glooooooorrrriiiiiaaaaa,” the recording said again. This time, Olive had to put her hand over her mouth to stop from laughing.
“There it is again!” Gloria said. “I know I heard it that time.”
The actor who had just been scolded by Gloria said, “Not everything is about you, Gloria. You can’t keep behaving like this. You’d better start listening to me . . .” He grabbed a bag and stood up straight. “Let’s go, Lyra,” he said to the other actor. “I’m sure my parents await us somewhere. If you want a ride, come with me.”
Lyra shrugged at Gloria and grabbed her bag too. They made their way down the ladder of the hayloft and walked out the barn doors. Olive, Sarah, and Lizzie ducked down low so they wouldn’t be seen. But as Olive watched the actors walk out, she realized there was no danger of that. The boy heatedly whispered to Lyra as they walked and didn’t look up once.
This wasn’t exactly what they’d planned—they’d hoped others would be there for the recording. But this was the next-best thing.
Olive motioned to Lizzie to up the volume on the phone just a little. She mimed “Play,” and Lizzie once again hit the button.
“Gloooooooorrrrriiiiaaaaaaaaaa,” the voice rang out again.
Now Gloria stood stock-still. She looked around, her eyes wide. Olive could see her swallowing hard, even in the dim light of the barn.
“Tellllll mmmmyyyy stooorrryyyyy,” the recording said, and Olive had to stop herself from giggling again.
Suddenly, Gloria stood up tall. “I KNE
W I was right, Verity. I knew it. I WILL tell your story. Mark my words! We shall avenge you!”
Now Olive, Peter, Sarah, and Lizzie all looked at each other. Gloria had thought she was telling a true story the whole time?
The recording said, “Tellllll myyyyy stoooooorrrryyyy . . . . OR ELSE!”
Just as the last word came out, a wind picked up somewhere outside and blew the hay around. Something slammed on top of the hayloft, and the barn floor rattled.
Without looking at each other, all four of them crouched and ran out the barn doors. Olive could hear Gloria saying, “I hear you, Verity!” and when she looked back, she saw Gloria jumping out of the hayloft and sprinting out the other end of the barn.
But Olive didn’t look long. Because nothing she knew could possibly have explained the sudden wind and the shaking barn. Or the sudden terrible feeling that they had not been alone.
CHAPTER 15
Stronger Together . . . Right??
At the picnic table, the four friends caught their breath. With the sun down, the trees seemed to be looming over them. The wind picked up and scattered leaves, and Olive shivered. Suddenly, everything looked dangerous and dark.
“Um, can we go back to your house, Lizzie?” she asked.
Lizzie, white as a ghost, nodded. They walked fast to the house, all three of them checking behind them just in case.
“What was that?” Sarah asked as they walked.
Olive shook her head. She had no words. She had no explanation.
Peter said, “That was . . . scary.”
Lizzie squeaked.
Olive said, “I can’t think of one logical reason that wind came up. Not one. Except, I guess, winds do happen . . . and it is fall. . . .” But her words trailed off. Even she didn’t believe herself. She was right, of course. But that wind hadn’t felt . . . right, somehow.
“Well, at least we know not to go into the barn again!” Peter said, laughing.
But Olive stopped in the path. “Actually, Peter, that’s exactly what we’ll be doing.”
Lizzie and Sarah stopped too, and Peter’s eyebrows rose. “What do you mean?”
Olive pushed up her glasses. “I’m still not convinced we’re dealing with a ghost. But if that wind had something to do with anything ghostlike, then I think it’s time for phase two of our plan.” She squared her shoulders. “I think it’s time to meet Verity Wentworth.”
Peter groaned. “NOW you decide to embrace the idea of a ghost?”
Olive smiled. “Look, I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty excited for the zombie hayride and the haunted barn. Well, the fake haunted barn, anyway. It’s one of the first things that made us friends, right? I’m going to fight for that. I’m not about to let a two-hundred-year-old ghost ruin something we’ve been excited about for months. Or try to get in the way of something so important to our friendship.” She looked around and smiled at them, trying to look braver than she felt. “Besides—nothing can stop us if we’re together, right?”
Her brother and her friends looked back at her and nodded.
Olive sincerely hoped she was right.
• • •
That Saturday night, a week before the haunted barn officially opened, the four of them put on black clothes, waited until midnight, and snuck out of Lizzie’s house. They brought with them flashlights, crystals, a candle, and some words printed from the internet that Sarah had found.
Olive tried to gather her courage, but for some reason she found it hard to catch her breath. Even after they’d started on the path to the barn, with a huge full moon lighting the way, Olive felt like she was being watched. She did not like that feeling. Not only because it didn’t make any sense, but also because . . . well, being watched at night felt SUPER-creepy. No one spoke as they walked, but Olive could see the ghostly breath puffing out of all of their mouths. It was usually brisk this time of year, but the weather was all over the place, so fog hung above the pumpkin patch and covered the ground as they neared the barn. The wind blew softly and made the leaves skitter across the grass and the gravel. The sound made Olive wince.
They got to the doors of the barn and looked at each other.
“Ready?” Olive asked, though she did not feel ready in the least.
“Ready,” said Peter and Sarah. Lizzie squeaked.
They pushed the old barn doors, and the doors creaked open. The barn inside was half dark and inky, half lit by moonlight. Olive took a deep breath and stepped in.
It was like stepping into a freezer—somehow the air in the barn was colder than the air outside. Peter turned on his flashlight, and the rest of them got out theirs.
Sarah whispered, “Should we go to the hayloft?”
No one spoke, but they all walked to the ladder that led up to the hayloft. Peter went first, then Sarah, then Lizzie, then Olive. Olive had to stop herself from clambering up the ladder ahead of the others so she wouldn’t be the last one climbing. When they got to the top, Lizzie cleared an area in the middle of the loft and sat down cross-legged. They all followed suit.
Sarah cleared her throat. “I guess, we light the candle?” she whispered. Olive wasn’t sure why she was whispering, but she felt it was the right thing to do anyway.
Lizzie said, “Remember, we have to be really careful with the candle. We don’t want another fire here.” She mumbled, “My mom and dad would kill me if they knew I brought this in here. . . .” Then she swallowed and lit the candle, letting the smoke travel up. Aunt Willow had told them the smoke and their “intentions” would call Verity out to appear to them. Lizzie twirled the candle in the air and the light flickered off the walls. Then she whispered, “Now what?”
Olive cleared her throat. “Sarah, read the words you found. Maybe that will do something.”
Peter added, “Let’s make sure the crystals are out too.”
The four of them opened their palms to expose the crystals while Lizzie kept moving the candle in circles. The smoke from the wick seemed to intensify, and soon the hayloft was hazy. Sarah, not whispering anymore, started saying the words she’d found.
“Dear Name of Spirit,” she started loudly.
Olive let out a nervous giggle, and Peter and Lizzie smiled. Olive said, “I think you’re supposed to put the name of the ghost in there.”
Sarah said, “Oh, yeah. Duh. Sorry. I’m nervous.” Lizzie patted her shoulder and she went on. “Dear Verity Wentworth, we come to you today to ask you to go to the light. We have heard your story. We know it needs to be told. Trust us and we will let the world know who wronged you. You are free.”
Nothing happened.
Olive didn’t know what she’d expected. Especially since she’d been skeptical from the beginning. But somehow, this was a letdown.
Sarah huffed out. “Well, that seemed pointless.”
Peter sighed. “It was worth a shot.”
Lizzie’s shoulders slumped. “I can’t help it; I’m a little disappointed,” she said, looking at the others.
But right at that moment, the candle blew out. And all their flashlights shut off on their own.
CHAPTER 16
Those Meddling Kids
Olive, Peter, Lizzie, and Sarah all screamed at the same time. The barn had turned pitch black—even the moonlight didn’t seem to be streaming in anymore. Olive stood up to hurry down the ladder but smacked right into Peter. Who smacked into Lizzie. Who smacked into Sarah. All four of them went down in a heap.
Then the light changed. Something seemed to glow outside the barn doors. As Olive watched in fear and fascination, a ghostly figure floated into the barn. It was a small woman dressed in clothes that looked like they were from long-ago colonial days. The woman seemed to be mouthing something and looking into the distance.
At the same time, a breeze came from nowhere and ruffled Olive’s hair, and a sound like a low moaning floated through the barn.
Olive couldn’t move. She had never before in her life seen anything so scary. This seemed so real.
The real Verity Wentworth—or her ghost, anyway—was actually haunting the orchard.
She had been wrong, clearly. Totally, 100 percent wrong.
The already-cold temperature in the barn dropped even lower, and now Olive could see her breath. She looked over at Lizzie, Sarah, and Peter and could see their breath too. When she looked down, she even saw the ghost’s breath.
Olive grabbed Peter’s hand and huddled close. She gathered up her courage and said, “Verity Wentworth. We know it is you. We WILL tell your story!” She felt Lizzie and Sarah and Peter all crowd against her. They would protect each other, Olive knew this for sure. Something rattled in the back of her mind, but before she could figure out what it was, the ghost spoke.
“It is tooooooo late,” the woman said, still looking off into the distance. “You didn’t believe . . . no one believes.” Then the woman turned suddenly to the four in the hayloft. She looked up and pointed at them. “YOU DIDN’T BELIEVE!” Her face turned into a mask of fury, and her breath came in uneven gasps. Olive felt her whole body stiffen in fear, and then . . . and then the thing rattling at the back of her mind came into focus.
The ghost’s breath.
Ghosts don’t breathe.
Olive snorted a little. Then she snorted a lot. Then she began hysterically laughing. Gloria and her friends had almost gotten them. Olive had to admit they were good. Sarah, Lizzie, and Peter stared at her like she’d lost her mind. That only made her giggle more. The “ghost” below even had a confused look on her face.
Finally, Olive got herself together and said, “All right, Gloria, that was pretty good. But you can come out now.”
The woman below the hayloft yelled, “There is no Gloria!”
But Olive stood tall and put her hands on her hips. “Oh, yeah? Okay, ghost, tell me why it is you’re breathing? I thought you were dead.” She felt Lizzie, Peter, and Sarah stand up straight beside her. She heard their giggles now too.
The woman below sputtered, “Th-this is but a phantom . . . it’s phantom breath! I . . . You have no idea . . .” Then the woman just stopped. “Ah, well. You got us. Gloria, they figured it out,” she said. She reached up and took off her wig. She reached under her skirts and took out a few lights and a flashlight, and other people came into the barn with flashlights too.
