by Megan Atwood
Madeleine had to hold in her surprised grin.
“Madeleine, this is Emma and Sophie,” Ophelia said, waving to two other girls in her corner. They’re twins, fraternal.” Madeleine couldn’t believe how different they looked. Emma had red hair and freckles. Sophie had super dark hair and eyebrows, dramatic against her pale skin. The only thing the two girls had in common were their startling blue eyes.
“Hi, Madeleine,” they said perkily, in unison. Madeleine tried not to be freaked out.
“And this is Kayley,” Ophelia said. Kayley winked at Madeleine, her brown eyes twinkling.
“Oh, Madeleine and I had a heart-to-heart in English.” She grinned at Ophelia, who did her best to remain haughty looking. “I was telling her that you suck in a lot of ways, but you’re no thief.”
Kayley took out a Twizzler and started eating it. Ophelia snatched it away.
“This is going to make you sugar crash, and you know Madame is going to make us fouetté a billion times today.” She threw the half-eaten Twizzler in the garbage, ignoring Kayley’s indignant, “Hey!”
Ophelia turned to Madeleine. “Kayley may be a little blunt and misguided, but she’s right. I didn’t steal anything. Which brings me to my next point.”
Madeleine leaned in. The other three girls did too.
“Madeleine, when was your necklace stolen?” Ophelia continued.
“The first night I was here.”
“Yes, but when?”
Madeleine paused for a second. “It happened during dinner. I didn’t go down to eat, but I sort of half-explored the hallway.”
Ophelia shot a knowing look at the other girls, who all nodded. “We all had something stolen at the same time. Ours was during dinner, when we were in the dining room. So I think later on tonight, we go exploring.”
Madeleine crinkled her eyebrows. “Where? We have no idea who might be doing this and no idea where to look.”
Ophelia leaned in. “Well, I don’t think it’s the girls here, because there’s no way anyone can hide anything for long in this place. And the boys can’t even access this wing.”
“Seriously,” Kayley said. “Everyone is in everyone’s business. You can’t sneeze without somebody knowing.”
“So we can rule out the second floor,” Ophelia said. She flipped her hair. “And none of our things were super expensive or anything. They just meant something to each of us.”
It was true, Madeleine thought. Her necklace wouldn’t be worth anything to anyone else. It was just something personal for her. She wondered what had been stolen from everyone else.
She asked Kayley, “What was stolen from you?”
“A pair of gloves I got from my grandma. They’re all torn and stained, so no one would want them. Except me, because my grandma passed away two years ago.” For once Kayley’s mischievous grin disappeared. Emma rubbed her shoulder.
Madeleine looked at Emma and Sophie. “And you two?”
“Our grandpa’s pocket watch,” said Emma.
“Our grandma’s locket, with a picture of her and our grandpa together. It plays ‘Let Me Call You Sweetheart,’” said Sophie.
Kayley rubbed the twins’ shoulders in turn.
“Yeah, that’s weird,” Madeleine said. “They’re all old or something too. Has anyone else had anything stolen?”
Ophelia waved her hand. “Oh, who cares about anyone else? The main thing is we have.” As Ophelia leaned in, Madame Puant entered the room and tapped her cane on the ground.
“Barre work, everyone! You were sloppy yesterday, and I want to see perfect turn out, perfect pointed toes, and deep pliés. No cheating. That means you, Kayley.”
Kayley rolled her eyes and looked to her bag. Probably for another Twizzler, Madeleine thought.
Then Madeleine realized she hadn’t even put on her shoes. She sat down fast and began suiting up.
While the piano player came in and started warming up with some scales, Emma, Sophie, Kayley, Ophelia, and Madeleine rushed to tie up their pointe shoes.
“Madeleine’s right,” Ophelia whispered. “Everything stolen was old and family-related but nothing expensive. So who would want to steal these things?”
All four of them shrugged.
Ophelia’s eyes sparkled. “A ghost, that’s who! So tonight we go ghost hunting.”
When Madame slammed her cane into the ground again, all five of them jumped.
Chapter 7
In English, Madeleine whispered to Kayley, “Where are we going to be hunting this ‘ghost’?”
Kayley shrugged. “Ophelia loves to be dramatic.”
As if she could hear them from the other side of the room, Ophelia squinted at them. Kayley pulled out a Tootsie Pop and gnawed on it.
“Do you think there are ghosts here?”
“Something is weird here. I don’t know what it is, but this place isn’t right. I don’t know if it’s a ghost, but I know something feels strange.”
Madeleine nodded. “I felt that way my very first night.”
At that moment, Mr. Barnes appeared in the doorway with Ms. Jamison, both of them staring at each other intently.
Kayley pointed at them with the Tootsie Pop. “We can’t even keep teachers here. Both of those guys are new, and so is our physics teacher.”
Mr. Barnes and Ms. Jamison seemed to be arguing with each other, Ms. Jamison throwing her hands up and Mr. Barnes shaking his head. Madeleine kept one eye on them, feeling a little protective of Mr. Barnes, and said, “Do you think Mr. Barnes is OK? He seems so nice, but he looks, like strung out.”
Mr. Barnes walked in the room as Madeleine finished her sentence.
Before Kayley turned back around, she said, “Yeah, he’s my favorite teacher here. But he definitely seems strung out. We’ll have to solve that mystery after we catch the ghost! … So Ophelia told you where to meet tonight, right?”
Madeleine shook her head.
“Duh. She probably doesn’t have your number yet. She texted us. Which is kind of dumb because texts don’t go through the walls of this place most of the time. The reception is all wonky. Anyway, we’re meeting at the end of the hall on the second floor. By those French doors.”
Madeleine shivered. She remembered the doors and echoes of running footsteps behind them.
“What time?”
“What other time?” Kayley grinned. “Midnight, of course.”
Just then, Mr. Barnes said, “All right, class. Let’s jump into some Poe. As you know, he was obsessed with death, and most of his poetry reflects this. But who doesn’t like a little bit of death on a fall afternoon?”
The class laughed a little, and Mr. Barnes’s eyes twinkled. Even so, Madeleine still thought he looked like death warmed over. His eyes were red rimmed, and his nose had that same raw look underneath as before. He looked tired. They would definitely have to figure out what was going on with him next. Madeleine knew good teachers were hard to come by.
Nothing in this place was normal, Madeleine thought. Then she chuckled to herself. Instead of running away, she was going hunting for danger. At midnight.
When the clock struck 11:56, Madeleine’s nerves hit an all-time high. At dinner, she’d sat with Kayley, Emma, Sophie, and Ophelia, and they’d formulated a barebones plan.
Meet at midnight at the end of the hall.
Make sure no hall monitors were out.
Bring a flashlight.
Wear a sweatshirt.
Bring a phone in case of emergency.
Bring chalk.
Madeleine double-checked her bag. She had everything.
When she’d asked Ophelia during dinner why they needed chalk, Ophelia said, “In case we need to write arrows to figure out the way back.”
Kayley, in what Madeleine was beginning to consider her signature move, rolled her eyes again. “God, Ophelia, it’s just the basement. We’re not exploring caves or anything.”
“It’s the deep basement, Kayley, not the props basement,” Ophelia had r
eplied. “I’m talking boiler room. I’ve seen the stairs on the far side of the props room.”
Sophie chimed in, “Why are we going to the boiler-room basement?”
Then it had been Ophelia’s turn to roll her eyes. “Because, where else would a ghost hide?”
Emma shook her head. “I’m not so sure …”
“Look, it’s not going to hurt to check it out, right?” Ophelia pleaded. “And anyway, it will give us some adventure. We can figure out a hiding place down there or something if we need it.” Her eyes flashed. “Plus, how secret agent will this be?”
Kayley snorted. “Yeah. Fun.”
Ophelia glared at her. “Then don’t come.”
Kayley shrugged. Madeleine had been able to tell there was no way she’d miss this adventure. “I should come just so you losers don’t get into trouble.”
Madeleine had to hide a smile. She could almost feel Ophelia’s need for some sort of action. And why would it hurt to go exploring? Besides the expulsion that would obviously take place if they got caught …
Madeleine shook off that thought. Anyway, if their stolen things weren’t in the basement, maybe they’d be in the prop room. Besides, she really wanted to see what all the school held. And she had friends now. No way was she giving that up.
“So, midnight then?” she said to Ophelia.
“Midnight. Bring the stuff we talked about. And no telling anyone about this. It’s just for us.”
As the clock moved to 11:57, Madeleine wondered if she’d made the right decision.
She took a deep breath and patted her bag. “Well, it’s too late to duck out now,” she said. “Time to hunt a ghost.”
And then she stepped out the door into the dark, endless hallway, toward the door of her nightmares.
Chapter 8
A tap on Madeleine’s shoulder made her shriek. A hand wrapped itself around her mouth, and before she kicked the person, she recognized Kayley’s whisper: “Jeez, calm down! You’re making a ton of noise.”
Kayley relaxed her hand and let go. Madeleine stepped back and tried to control her breathing.
“You scared the crap out of me!” she whispered furiously.
“Clearly.” Kayley chewed on a gummy worm.
Out of spite, Madeleine grabbed the candy and threw it down.
“Hey!” Kayley said, but before she could retaliate, Ophelia, Sophie, and Emma materialized out of the shadows.
Ophelia scanned the abandoned hall. Then, satisfied, she whispered, “Did everyone bring their stuff?”
Everyone nodded. Madeleine could see the excitement and dread in everyone’s faces. It was exactly how she felt.
Ophelia said, “Let’s go.”
Adrenaline spiked through Madeleine’s body. Ophelia produced an old-fashioned key from a pocket and unlocked the French doors.
Madeleine said, “Where did you—”
Before she could finish, Ophelia waved the question away.
“Not important. What is is that I have it.” She walked through the French doors and Madeleine followed. Madeleine felt Kayley grab the back of her shirt, and Madeleine grabbed Ophelia’s in turn.
“I don’t want to be in back,” Emma whispered.
“Don’t be such a baby!” Sophie said.
But Madeleine didn’t blame her. The hallway behind the door was, if possible, even creepier than the stretch outside her room. The only lighting came from high windows that let strange shadows spill onto the floor. High windows and a single bright red Exit sign that shone at the hallway’s end. If Madeleine was going to turn back, now was the time. It was either suck it up and hunt a ghost or turn back. She swallowed and held on more tightly to Ophelia’s sweatshirt.
Ophelia stopped for a second and turned to the others. “I’m pretty sure that Exit sign marks the stairs to the basement.”
“Pretty sure?” Kayley whispered.
“Well, I’ve only been down here once!” Ophelia snapped. “And I never went through the door. We’re just going to have to try it.”
Kayley huffed, but Madeleine said, “We’ve already opened the door. We might as well see where it leads.”
Ophelia smiled at her, then turned around, and the five of them turned into a chain again.
When they reached the exit, Ophelia touched her hand to the door.
“Wait!” Emma said.
“Now what?” Ophelia said impatiently.
“What if an alarm goes off?”
“Well, be ready to run,” Kayley replied, and Ophelia squared her shoulders and pushed through the door.
Nothing happened.
Madeleine let go of a breath she’d been holding and resumed her place behind Ophelia. The group climbed down the dangerously dark concrete stairs until there were none left, and Ophelia pulled up the door’s latch.
The room was completely dark.
The air felt close and musty, like the inside of a coffin. Madeleine held tight onto Ophelia’s shirt.
She heard rustling behind her and then saw a flashlight beam go on. Then two more. She rummaged through her own bag and flicked on her own light. The beams began to scan the room.
The place, full of dark silhouettes, came to life. They were in the prop room.
Madeleine saw peasant outfits on one rack—she recognized them as costumes for Giselle. Her eyes moved to glittery masks and sleighs and a giant present she knew must be for The Nutcracker … This was a perfect room.
She heard a squeal and spun around. Her flashlight landed on Emma, who had thrown on a sparkly tiara and a boa.
“I’m Sleeping Beauty!” she cried. Everyone laughed. And as if a starting gun had gone off, they all scattered to look at different costumes.
“Look for antiquey things!” Madeleine said. “This might be the perfect place to hide our stuff.”
Ophelia put the flashlight under her chin and cackled. “Or to find a ghost!”
Madeleine roamed around, drawn to the costumes at the back of the room, the ones she knew came from Giselle. When she was close enough to inspect the costumes, though, she saw they were yellowed with age and covered in dust. Every prestigious school danced Giselle. Maybe she had just missed the newer costumes.
“Don’t touch those.” Madeleine almost jumped out of her skin.
Ophelia stood next to her. Out of the darkness, her voice shook. “These costumes haven’t been used since …”
Before Ophelia could finish the sentence, Kayley’s voice rang out.
“You guys. I think I found the door to the boiler room.”
It was old and wooden and crossed with metal bars, like some medieval torture chamber door. Ophelia reached out her hand to turn the knob, and the door swung open. Their five flashlights illuminated a narrow hallway and a set of old, stone steps, each and every step cracked and crumbling. The smell of mold, mildew, and graves crept into Madeleine’s nose.
After a moment of silence, Ophelia looked to the rest of them. “Well, it’s time to find our ghost.”
Chapter 9
More than ever, Madeleine wondered if the ghost hunt was such a great idea. She turned to Kayley, who turned to Sophie, who turned to Emma. Ophelia stared down the stairs, gathering her courage.
She started downward without a word.
Madeleine grabbed at the tail of Ophelia’s sweatshirt, flashlight in her other hand. She felt Kayley grab her sweatshirt as the other girls assumed the formation. The staircase was so narrow they could only go single file anyway. No one spoke.
Ophelia reached the bottom of the stairs, where another medieval-looking door stood before her. She turned the knob and swung the door open. Madeleine held on tight, then gasped.
Lights flickered above them. Ophelia turned around with her mouth agape and looked at her. Madeleine knew they were thinking the same thing: was someone else down there?
Ophelia turned back around and moved on, and in a moment, the girls found themselves in a stone tunnel, walls dark with what looked like soot or charcoal. Candl
es flickered at even intervals down the path, real ones, not electric lights like on the second floor. Up ahead, the tunnel appeared to break off in different directions.
Kayley whispered, “What in the world?”
Emma looked with big eyes at the other girls. “Maybe not this world.”
Ophelia gave her a withering stare. “Emma. Ghosts wouldn’t light candles. Or need them.”
“What if it’s a teacher?” Sophie said. “Or Madame Puant?”
Ophelia shook her head. “Look, what teacher is here at midnight? I’m guessing it’s some janitor or cook or someone who hides out down here.”
“But what about the whole heirloom thing?” Madeleine said. “And the ghost?”
Ophelia shrugged. “Well, I’m not writing off the ghost just yet. But if it’s some janitor, who knows? Maybe they have an antique fetish or something? Whatever. Let’s go figure it out.”
She started down the hall, but no one followed.
“Well?”
Madeleine spoke up: “Ophelia …”
“What.” Ophelia’s haughty expression was back.
“Someone is down here. Someone that could possibly get us in trouble.” Out of the corner of her eye, Madeleine saw Kayley nodding.
“I was all for this when I thought it might be a ghost, but now, if they see us, well … I can’t lose my scholarship.”
Ophelia’s shoulders slumped, and Madeleine took a big breath. She had taken a huge chance speaking out. But when she looked at everyone around her, all she saw were sympathetic looks. Even from Ophelia.
“All right,” Ophelia said. “Let’s go back. It’s not worth it. Besides,” she said, her haughty look returning, “the reason these candles are here is probably actually really boring.”
Madeleine felt her whole body relax and watched Emma, Sophie, and Kayley ease up at the same time.
And then they heard the scream.
Chapter 10
Every muscle in Madeleine’s body told her to run, yet she felt somehow paralyzed.
A look at all the girls told her they felt the same.
Sophie was the first one to speak. “What was that?”
“We have to help whoever it was,” Kayley said.
