The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow

by Jessica Haight

  “That must be what happened. And now we know Thurston wished for the blueprints,” Marcus said. “We have to find them!”

  “Maybe we’re not looking in the right places,” Lizzy said. “I think it’s time to look somewhere else.”

  “There are a million rooms in this house,” Fairday said, sounding vexed. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

  “I have an idea,” Marcus said.

  “What is it?” Lizzy asked, looking hopeful.

  “You’re not gonna like it, but I think we should check out the willow tree. Who knows? It’s magical, and there could be something that points us in the right direction.” He motioned out the window to the backyard.

  “But what if it comes alive and tries to attack us again?” Fairday said, her voice quavering.

  “Hmmm,” muttered Lizzy, watching Marcus with interest. “He might be right. There could be a hidden clue, and I think we should give it a try.”

  They pounded down the stairs, navigating their way through the workers and paint cans. A radio was blaring as the remodeling continued.

  “Fairday! Can you come here for a minute?” Mr. Morrow called out from the kitchen.

  “What’s up, Dad?” Fairday asked as she approached him, panting slightly and looking over her shoulder at her partners, who were both waiting anxiously by the door.

  “I tried looking for you before, but you kids must have been outside.”

  “Oh, we were taking Auntie Em for a walk,” she said, thinking fast on her feet. Fairday didn’t want to alert her dad to the fact that their dog was missing.

  “All right. Just an FYI. Mom’s going to be working late with the contractors, so it’s just us for dinner, which will be around seven. You can invite your new friend if you want.” He looked over at Marcus.

  “Um, okay. Thanks, Dad. What time is it now?” Fairday asked, realizing she had absolutely no concept of what time it was or how long they had been gone.

  Mr. Morrow checked his watch. “Quarter to five.”

  “Okay, see you at dinner. We’ll be in and out until then. Lots to explore!” Fairday grinned. Rushing over to her friends, she said, “Thank goodness there’s so much activity around here. My dad didn’t even really notice we were gone. It’s almost five, which means we were on the other side for about an hour.”

  “So it seems that time passes normally in the real world, even though it’s stopped on the other side,” Marcus said as they crossed the backyard, heading for the willow tree.

  “Yeah, and I’m pretty sure the other Begonia House is stuck at three o’clock on the day Ruby disappeared,” Lizzy surmised. “So the two houses are connected in that moment, with the other house trapped in the past and ours in the present.”

  “What about her, though?” Marcus asked. “If Ruby was trapped in there since her wedding day, we need to find out why. Maybe she didn’t want to get married or she was mad at her father? And how does she have those magical powers? You know, like putting us into a trance and making her hair move by itself?” He turned to Lizzy and Fairday, raising his eyebrows.

  Lizzy responded, gesturing for emphasis. “These are the questions we need to find the answers to, and we need to find them fast. Remember, Old Batty Begonia knows how to get in and out of the mirror without the brass key. She was able to coerce Margo and Auntie Em into it, and, Fairday, you saw the door in the mirror the first day you moved in.”

  “Yeah.” Fairday had seen the door in the mirror, and red shoes stepping back through it. “But I didn’t actually see her come out of there. Maybe Margo saw the sneakers in the mirror and went after them. I mean, you know, Margo’s not exactly shy. And maybe because she’s a baby, the laws of reality don’t apply to her. She didn’t seem to think there was anything strange about crawling through a mirror and pulling out a sneaker covered in jewels. Auntie Em’s a dog—who knows how the magic works with animals?”

  “I think you’re right about the baby thing, because how else could Margo hear us through the painting?” Lizzy asked.

  “But,” Marcus said, “you’ve been hearing bagpipe music since the first day you moved in. So she had to have been on this side when she was playing it. You wouldn’t have been able to hear it if she had been playing on the other side. Remember, your mom couldn’t hear you yelling from the other side of the painting. I’d bet a million bucks that Old Bats knows about the wardrobe.”

  “Marcus is right. I mean, we figured it out,” Lizzy replied.

  “By accident, though,” Fairday said, twisting the end of her ponytail. Some lunatic could invade her house whenever they felt like it, whether she wanted to believe it or not.

  “Yeah, it was an accident, but I’m sure she’s figured out that little trick,” Marcus said. “It’s great that we discovered it, but she probably uses the wardrobe all the time.”

  “Okay, now I definitely want to move back to the city,” Fairday said, giving Marcus and Lizzy an uneasy smile. She’d certainly had enough haunting to last her a lifetime.

  “What!” Marcus exclaimed. “And miss out on all this? Now, that would be crazy!” He nudged her jokingly as they continued walking across the barren backyard.

  Lizzy, Marcus, and Fairday slowed their pace as they came upon the willow. The tree stood before them, towering above their heads. Its twisted branches swayed ominously back and forth, creaking and groaning unpleasantly as they shifted in the breeze.

  Standing underneath the willow’s gnarled branches, Fairday looked up through the tangled web of dead leaves and twisted bark. The tree seemed to stretch right up to the skyline and felt very intimidating from where they were standing.

  “Gives me the creeps,” Lizzy murmured.

  “Sure does,” Marcus agreed. “Look at this thing. It must be at least a hundred years old.”

  Fairday began to move around the trunk, running her fingers over its rough surface. “In that picture, Eldrich was standing right here.” She stopped and glanced back at Lizzy and Marcus.

  “Yeah, that’s the spot,” Lizzy confirmed. “Do you see anything? Check around the base.”

  “No, uh…” Fairday bent down and searched the ground; then her eyes began moving up the tree as she scrutinized the bark. “Maybe there’s initials or something carved into it?”

  “Good thinking,” Lizzy replied. After a moment, she asked, “Anything?”

  “There!” Fairday shouted. She pointed to a dark knot in the trunk a few feet above her head. “I can see something sticking out.”

  “Here.” Marcus ran forward and knelt down on all fours. “Climb up on my back.”

  Fairday positioned herself and stood on top of Marcus. Finding her balance, she reached up and pulled herself onto a sturdy branch. Fairday extended her arms as far as possible and felt her fingers brush against something metallic. Risking tiptoes gave her just enough height to make a grab for the object. With one fell swoop, she had it in her hands. “Got it!” she yelled, stepping off the branch onto Marcus’s back and jumping to the ground.

  “A silver canister! Just like in the diary. Do you think it’s the blueprints?” Lizzy asked excitedly.

  After trying to pry the stopper out of the canister, they finally got it. Fairday pulled out the contents and held them up for Marcus and Lizzy to see. The package contained several long scrolls, which were held together with a strip of twine. She knelt on the ground and untied it, then unrolled the pages.

  “I don’t believe it! The blueprints!” Fairday gasped, looking at her partners in amazement.

  They all leaned in to get a closer look. “This is fantastic!” Lizzy clapped her hands with glee as she examined the papers now stretched out in the middle of their small circle. There were five sheets in all. Each revealed not only the measurements and dimensions of the house and its grounds, but also the handwritten words Ruby had talked about, wrapped around the edges of the pages. They seemed to be instructions phrased in rhyming riddles.

  “Look at this one,” Marcus said, pointi
ng to the first page, which showed the front of the house. Underneath the drawing of the entranceway was an inscription. He read the words out loud: “ ‘If a foe seeks to find a way in, and your wish is to never see them again, just speak your mind to the front door, and your enemies shall haunt you no more.’ ”

  “And listen to this!” Lizzy said, leaning over the third page. “ ‘When quiet cannot be found, ring a bell to silence all sound.’ ”

  They flipped through the pages, trying to take it all in. Each page was covered with the phrases, which encircled the sketches of the rooms, the grounds, and even the front gate. Fairday’s eyes shifted to the writing underneath the drawing of the gate. “ ‘Close these gates and find yourself protected, but remember, for all those who pass, fear not the unexpected.’ ” Whoever wrote that sure wasn’t kidding, Fairday thought.

  It seemed that every part of the Begonia House had some magical attribute to it. There were instructions on how to make rooms disappear at will and how to instantly hide unpleasant smells.

  When Fairday read, The rooms can easily change their size; walls will move before your eyes. Just say “voilà” with a flip of hand, and settle your mind on small or grand, she realized what she had said that made the walls in the third-floor room shift. It wasn’t my imagination! She really needed to start trusting her instincts more. Fairday wished she could tell her mother about that particular feature, because it would definitely make the renovations easier if her mom could ask a wall to shrink or stretch.

  On the fourth page, Fairday found what they were looking for. She pronounced each word slowly: “ ‘If in this place you wish to stay forever, to never age, nor in time wither, there is a door that you can’t see; if you want to find it, just use the key.’ ” Underneath the words, there was a drawing of the brass key and a sketch of the mirror.

  The wind began to pick up and caught the corner of the page Fairday was trying to read. “Let’s get inside,” she said, rolling up the blueprints. Rising to their feet, Lizzy and Marcus nodded in agreement.

  Heading back to the house, Fairday suddenly shrieked in terror as she pointed up at the balcony. “Look, up there!”

  A horrible face, partially obscured by wispy strands of long grayish hair, was watching them from above. Two skeletal hands slid onto the railing as the figure leaned over the edge and let out a terrifying cackle. Fairday could almost feel the black eyes gazing down at them. Its lips spread into a sneer as it turned and disappeared into the house.

  “Who was that?” Marcus blurted out. “Just how many freakos are running around this place?”

  “Oh!” Fairday shouted, grabbing for Lizzy’s arm. “Whoever that was is in the house with my family. We’ve got to do something! Auntie Em’s already been dog-napped. What if they try to take Margo next? Or…or…,” she stammered, feeling panicked as she rambled off her worst nightmares, “or what if whoever that was tries to kill my mom or dad?”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Lizzy said, squaring her shoulders. Poking the canister, she added, “Besides, we found these, and assuming the spells work, the house is on our side now.” She grabbed Fairday’s hand and gave it a tight squeeze. “We’re going to figure this out.”

  The DMS hesitated as they approached the entrance of the Begonia House. As Fairday opened the front door, they quietly peered in. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she flashed back to the day she and her parents had stood in the same spot. It had seemed foreboding then. Now she knew that all those spooky feelings had been spot on.

  This time, the house was not quiet. It was bustling with people and sounds. Fairday could hear squabbling voices in the room to their right. A radio was still playing in the background, and she could hear the contractors humming along to it as they banged their equipment. Rising above it all was the melodious voice of Margo echoing down to them, “OH! DUCKY, DUCKY, NO BATH! UCKY!”

  “I guess she doesn’t want a bath,” Fairday said with a smirk and a shrug of her shoulders.

  “Well, at least everything seems normal,” Lizzy said.

  “It sure does,” Marcus agreed. “It’s so hard to imagine some creepy person sneaking around in here with all this activity.”

  “Do you think whoever was on the balcony is waiting for us upstairs? I mean, it’s only been a few minutes,” Fairday worried.

  “Could be,” Lizzy mumbled.

  While climbing the grand staircase, Fairday said, “Wait! I have an idea!” She quickly turned back and bent down to grab something off the floor. Then she hurtled up the steps, taking them two at a time right to the top, where she knelt down in the hallway. She pulled the blueprints out of the canister and unrolled them on the floor.

  “What are you doing?” Marcus asked, leaning over her shoulder to see what was happening. Lizzy knelt down beside her with a puzzled expression.

  Fairday held up one of Margo’s abandoned toys: a pink plastic ball with yellow stars painted on it.

  “What’s that for?” Marcus asked, eyeing the object in her hand. Fairday shook it lightly and it jingled.

  “Ah!” Lizzy said, and then repeated the words she had read on page three of the blueprints. “If quiet cannot be found, ring a bell to silence all sound!” Her voice rose in excitement as she added, “Good thinking! Let’s see if it works!”

  Standing in the middle of the hallway, Fairday said the words under her breath, raised the ball into the air, and gave it a good shake. The bell inside tinkled merrily.

  Silence enveloped them. It was as if a thick cloud had settled over the house. All of the background noise was gone. Fairday opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Lizzy’s expression was one of bewilderment as she held her hand up, trying to touch her own soundless words.

  Dropping to his knees, Marcus began scanning the blueprints. Fairday knew he was trying to find a way to undo the spell. It was, after all, very unsettling to open your mouth to say something and have nothing come out. He flipped the page over and pointed to a phrase written in a corner. Fairday and Lizzy leaned in to read the words: If it’s noise you wish to hear once more, stamp your foot, then slam a door.

  Without hesitation, Marcus hurried over to the nearest room and stamped his foot on the floor. He then flung open the door and slammed it closed. The busy sounds of the house filled the air once again.

  “Well, it definitely works,” Fairday said to her friends, breathing a gigantic sigh of relief that she could hear the words spilling out of her mouth as usual.

  “Yeah, it does,” Marcus replied, his cheeks flushed. “As freaked out as I was, that was cool!” He looked electrified at this new turn of events. “How much do you want to try out the rest of these?” He tossed the blueprints back to Fairday, and she stuffed them into the canister.

  “No time for that now,” Lizzy chimed in. “We’ve got a case to solve.”

  “Lizzy’s right. I can’t live here knowing there’s a crazy person on the loose.” Fairday paused, then added gravely, “More than one, actually.”

  Making their way down the hallway, Lizzy stopped at the portrait of Cora Lynn Begonia and gazed into her painted eyes.

  “Can you see anything?” Fairday asked.

  “No, nothing. We’ll have to look at the blueprints later and figure out how these things work.”

  They moved on to the door at the end of the hall. But before they started up the spiral staircase, Marcus stopped. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”

  “I think we should go back in, get Auntie Em, and try to find our packs. We can bring the blueprints with us to the other side,” Lizzy said.

  “What if they don’t work there?” Fairday asked. “We’ll be defenseless against Old Bats again. Probably end up back in the closet. We still have no idea how she managed to put us into that trance.”

  “We’ll just have to take our chances and see. Besides, we know how to get out of the closet, thanks to my curly hair and Marcus’s helpful brilliance,” Lizzy countered, smiling at her. “I me
an, what else can we do? We have to go back in, get your dog and our DMS packs and figure out a plan to stop her from haunting this house!”

  “True. But what should we do if she starts chasing us?” Fairday asked, wishing she was as brave as her best friend.

  “We should try to find Ruby Begonia first. Then maybe we can trap her,” Marcus said.

  “How the heck are we going to trap her? And what about the other person that’s wandering around in here? We have no idea who that was, but they certainly did not look friendly,” Lizzy said.

  “I don’t know. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens,” Marcus replied. Once again, they climbed up the spiral staircase, none of them knowing what awaited them.

  As they neared the top step, their pace slowed while they paused to listen for any indication of trouble. Fairday strained her ears, but it all seemed quiet and calm. Still, she knew she had to keep her wits about her as they proceeded single file through the open archway. Marcus was in the lead, and as he rounded the corner, he blurted out, “Oh my gosh!” Fairday’s heart skipped a beat, her stomach twisting into a knot at the tone of his voice. What had just happened?

  Lizzy was fast on his heels, blocking Fairday’s view. “Auntie Em! Our packs!” she exclaimed. Her eyes widened, and she instinctively ran forward to retrieve them.

  “Stop! It’s probably a trap!” Marcus yelled, grabbing her sleeve.

  Auntie Em sat tied to their backpacks, looking frightened. Fairday’s heart ached for her dog. It seemed like everything was right there. Upon further scrutiny, however, she realized they were actually in front of the door reflected on the other side of the mirror. Tricky, Fairday thought.

  “You’re right. Sorry,” Lizzy muttered. “I wasn’t thinking, and I really need to start looking before I leap.”

  “It seems like it’d be so easy to just grab them,” Fairday said forlornly.

  “Yeah, but remember—some things are too good to be true,” Lizzy replied. “I think Marcus is right. This is way too easy. It has to be a setup. I bet she’s just waiting on the other side, and as soon as we try to take them, BAM! She’ll appear in the mirror and grab us or put us into another trance.”