“It’s a nice room for holding seances,” she said finally.
I laughed. “You’re not still into that weird ‘talking-to-the-spirits’ stuff, are you?”
Before she could answer, I heard voices outside. Boys’ voices.
I ran to the window and peered down to the front yard. The glass was so dust-smeared, I could barely see. But I recognized two guys from our class,
Zack Wheeling and Mojo Dyson, jogging up the front walk.
“Hey! I don’t believe it!” Addie exclaimed, right behind me. She moved instantly to the dresser mirror and began fixing her ponytail, checking herself
out.
The truth was, she and I had major crushes on both those guys. “What are they doing here?” Addie asked. “Did you invite them or something?”
“No way,” I said, leaning into the mirror, rubbing a dust smudge off my cheek and pushing my hair back into place.
By the time Addie and I came downstairs, Peter had already opened the door and was welcoming the two boys. “Is that your real name? Mojo?”
From halfway down the stairs, I could see Mojo turn red. That’s just his thing. If you talk to him, he blushes. Some kids are like that. I guess they have
really sensitive skin or something.
“No. It’s not my real name,” he told Peter.
“What’s your real name?” Peter demanded.
Mojo turned a darker red. “Not saying.”
Peter wouldn’t quit. He never does. “Why not? Is it something really dumb? Like Archibald?”
Mojo and Zack laughed. “How’d he guess your real name, Archibald?” Zack said.
“Hi, Archibald!” Addie called.
The guys looked up and saw us for the first time.
“Hey,” Zack said, giving us a quick, two-fingered salute. He always gave that salute. “What’s up?”
“What are you guys doing here?” I asked. It didn’t come out quite the way I meant it.
“We brought you a housewarming gift,” Mojo said.
“But we ate it on the way over,” Zack added, grinning. “Actually, it was two Snickers bars.”
“We were kind of hungry,” Mojo said.
“Nice,” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Well, this is it.” I motioned with one hand. “Our new palace. It’s—” Something caught my eye down the hall, and I
gasped.
The basement door—it had been jammed shut. Stuck.
Now it stood wide open again.
I turned to Peter. “How did you get the basement door open?”