The closer he got, the more clearly Gabriel could see the house, its walls overgrown with ivy. Tall trees with thick branches rising into the still darkening sky stood to its eastern and western side. Again he squinted and his eyes made out a swing hanging from one of the horizontal branches, pointing at a cluster of trees growing behind it, spreading into a forest. The thatched roof looked old and here and there shingles were broken, reflecting the light of the occasional lighting zigzagging across the sky in different patterns.
As Gabriel found himself in front of the house, only a step away from its front yard, he saw that the wooden shutters lining its windows were in desperate need of a fresh layer of paint. Some even looked like they would fall off their hinges any second. The entire house seemed run-down, like no one lived there. And yet Gabriel saw lights.
Through a window on the first floor Gabriel spotted a long row of bookcases and a shaded floor lamp, shining down on what looked like the backrest of an old armchair. But no one was there, at least not that Gabriel saw.
Intrigued for a reason he couldn’t put his finger on, Gabriel stood in the pouring rain, letting his eyes sweep across the house that seemed like it did have a story hidden somewhere under its roof.
Just in that moment, a movement caught his eye.
A light was switched on in one of the upstairs rooms. Gabriel craned his neck, and although he couldn’t see the person in the room because of beige shades covering the window and barring his view, he could see her shadow reflected on them.
Long hair gathered in a ponytail, she moved past the window. Her short height suggested that she was not an adult, and again Gabriel flashed back to Eddie’s stories from the night of the bonfire.
New shivers ran down his back, shaking him out of his trance. Gabriel dragged his eyes from the silhouette in the upstairs window and continued down the path in front of the house. Occasionally he threw a look over his shoulder, wondering who she was.
***
“You saw who?” Liam asked at the other end of the line.
The moment Gabriel had gotten home, he had done his best to evade his grandparents’ eager questions and slipped into his room. Phone wedged between head and shoulder, he was hopping on one foot, trying to change into a dry pair of pants.
“The girl from Eddie’s story,” he panted, still out of breath from riding his bike through a mon-soon. “You know, that house near the bonfire.”
“Oh, you mean the House of Horrors?” Liam asked, an amused grin ringing in his voice.
Before Gabriel could say another word, he heard Eddie’s voice in the back. “What are you talking about? Who is that?”
“It’s Gabriel,” Liam stated. “He says he saw some girl as he came by your horror house.”
“What?” There was a high pitch to Eddie’s voice. “Put him on speaker.” A moment later he asked, “You saw her?”
“Not sure about her?” Gabriel said, doing his best to pull on a sweater without dropping the phone. “But yes, there was a girl in one of the upstairs rooms.”
“Awesome!”
At the other end of the line, Gabriel heard a door open and close.
“What’s going on?” Jordan asked.
“Gabriel is playing into Eddie’s delusions,” Liam said laughing. “He saw some girl at Mr. Hamilton’s house.”
“We should go check it out!” Eddie called. “C’mon guys, this is far too exciting to ignore.”
“What?” Jordan asked. “Now?”
Gabriel sank onto his bed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to set him off like that. I just thought I’d tell you.” But he felt goose bumps crawling up his arms at Eddie’s suggestion.
“C’mon,” Eddie whined. “We’re young, we’re crazy, let’s act on it.”
Everyone laughed at that.
“Okay, I guess that settles it,” he concluded. “Let’s meet at the intersection of Market and Willow at midnight. All in favor say aye.”
“Aye,” Gabriel said, catching himself off guard at how much he wanted this new adventure.
“All right,” Liam relented.
“You have to say aye,” Eddie demanded.
“Aye,” Liam repeated. “What about you?”
“Can’t let you go alone, now can I?” Jordan chuckled. “I’ll go tell Jack.”
***
A quarter to midnight, Gabriel tiptoed down the hall past his grandparents’ bedroom and headed straight for the front door. He used the key his grandfather had copied for him and snuck out of the house. When he put the key in his pocket though, Gabriel thought that his grandfather would have understood.
Finally, the rain had stopped, but the streets were still swamped with puddles, some of them knee-deep. So when Gabriel spotted the faint beams of his friends’ flashlights waiting for him in front of the House of Horror, his pant legs once again were soaked through. He already felt a slight chill raising goose bumps on his skin.
Why midnight? Gabriel had wondered. Because in the great stories it’s always midnight, Eddie had said.
“So? What now?” Jack asked as Gabriel came to a stop beside them. His head-tilt in combination with raised eyebrows and crossed arms clearly spoke volumes, and Gabriel regretted telling them about what he had seen. With a little bit of distance, it didn’t seem all that important any more.
Eddie stepped forward. “Where did you see her?”
Turning to the house, Gabriel pointed to the second window on the east side of the second floor.
“Crap, the lights are off now,” Eddie cursed, taking a step into the front yard.
“Of course, they are,” Jack hissed under his breath, going after him. “It’s past midnight. And would you please refrain from invading enemy territory without authorization? Actually, that’s an or-der.”
Eddie turned back. “Fine.” He shrugged. “You take point.”
For a moment, Jack hesitated. Then the expression on his face changed. Signaling them, he slowly dropped to his knees, holding out his hand, open palm parallel to the ground. “Keep low,” he said. “We’ll approach from the back.”
They all sank down and, following Jack, silently slipped through the grass to the back yard. The night was dark except for a few faint rays from overhead. The moon and a whole bunch of stars were out, more than Gabriel had ever seen in New York. As he turned his head though, something else caught his attention.
The farther he tried to look into the distance, the less he could see. The world appeared completely dark, like a pitch-black abyss. But when he looked over his right shoulder to the forest, he saw tiny lights dancing in the air.
“What are those?”
Jack turned to him, but when he followed his gaze, a frown appeared on his face. “Fireflies.” He shook his head. “Keep your focus. We’re on a mission.”
“Sorry,” Gabriel mumbled.
With narrowed eyes, Jack scanned their surroundings, while the others waited, kneeling patiently beside him in the grass. Even Jordan.
“All right, here is what we’ll do.” His eyes shifted to each one of them. “Jordan, you climb up this tree. Do a little reconnaissance. You need to be quick and quiet. Do not allow yourself to be captured.” She nodded. “Liam, you take Gabriel and check out the other side of the house.” More nods. “Eddie, you’re the look-out. Under no circumstances attempt to climb the tree.” Jack’s eyebrows rose imploringly. “There is no water here to cushion the fall, you got that?”
Grinning, Eddie nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“What are you gonna do?” Jordan asked.
“That’s ‘what are you gonna do, sir?’,” Jack corrected. He turned his head back to the front yard. “I’ll check out the entrance.” Again he turned to the group. “Do not set off any alarms. We need to be covert.” Again his eyes shifted over their surroundings. When everything remained quiet, he signaled them. “Move out.
Chapter 11 – Opportunity
With every step, Gabriel felt the soggy pull of mud on his shoes, but he stayed dow
n, quietly following after Liam to the other side of the house. Whenever they reached a window, they stopped, listening. But there were no sounds coming from inside the house, and they couldn’t spot a single beam of light shining in any of the rooms. The house lay in complete darkness.
“It is the middle of the night,” Liam whispered, kneeling behind the tool shed. “Whoever is in this house is probably asleep. This is a waste of time.”
Gabriel nodded. They should have waited till morning.
As they retraced their steps back to the meeting point, they came around the eastern wall to find Jordan hanging in the tree like a monkey. Her arms and legs were wrapped around a thick, horizontal branch, protruding from the trunk toward the window Gabriel had indicated before. Slowly, she inched forward, her hair blowing in the strong breeze. As she stopped and craned her neck to see, her right hand slipped off the branch.
In the next second she hung head-down in the tree, her legs the only thing keeping her from crashing to the ground.
Gabriel felt his heart skip a beat and heard Liam draw in a shocked breath at the same time.
Standing under the tree, Eddie’s face dropped. He recovered quickly though. “Stay there!” he hissed under his breath. “I’ll come for you.”
But before he even got one hand on the tree, a low chuckle came from Jordan. “Don’t be an idiot! Stay where you are.”
Wrapping her legs tighter around the branch, hanging about twelve feet in the air, Jordan started swinging back and forth. Slowly, she gained momentum. She reached out with her arms and on the fifth try was able to grab hold of the branch again. Pulling herself up, Jordan once more craned her neck to look in through the window, but after a second she shook her head. Then she started climbing down.
“See anything?” Eddie asked as she let herself drop to the ground beside them.
Jordan shook her head. “Blinds were drawn and lights were off. This is a waste of time.”
“My words exactly,” Liam said.
A moment later, Jack returned from his expedition to the front yard. “Anything?”
They all shook their heads. “You?”
A smug grin spread over his face.
Eddie’s eyes opened wide. “You found something!” he accused. Turning to the others, he repeated, “He found something!” Again he looked at Jack. “What is it? Tell us!”
“Calm down,” Jordan said, giving him a slight shove. “You’re going to hyperventilate.”
Eddie jumped up and down. “I’m just so excited.”
“Yes, we get that,” Jordan said, placing a hand on Eddie’s shoulder to keep him still. “So, what did you find…sir?”
“Well, it says Hamilton on the mailbox,” Jack started, keeping his voice low.
Liam nodded. “We know that. It’s because a Mr. Hamilton lives here.”
“Try not to be a smart-ass,” Jack chided. “It says Hamilton on the mailbox, but inside I found a small package addressed to…” He paused for dramatic effect.
“Oh c’mon, tell us!” Eddie whined, eyes narrowing.
“…a Hannah Porter,” Jack finished.
“Who is Hannah Porter?” Gabriel asked, looking at the others, but they all shrugged.
“Never heard of her,” Liam said. “Maybe she is a friend or a relative.”
“Having her mail send here?” Jack wondered. “I don’t know about this. I mean there is clearly nothing else for us to do here tonight, but we should definitely keep our eyes open.”
“But don’t you think she’s the girl Gabriel saw at the window?” Eddie asked, disappointment clear in his voice. “Can we just leave her here?”
“What do you propose we do?” Jack asked. “We don’t know anything about what is going on here.”
“But she could be in trouble,” Eddie insisted.
“This is not one of your stories,” Jordan reminded him. “There are no ghosts, zombies or axe-murderers involved, got that?”
Eddie’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know?”
After looking around herself, Jordan again turned to him. “Do you see any?”
Eddie sighed. “Fine. But mark my words, there is something going on here.”
***
After a few more days of mud football, the rain finally stopped. By then Cat was miserable. Trapped in the house all day due to her strong aversion to water, she had become ill-tempered, howling and whining from sunrise to sunset, sometimes even through the night. To top things off, her mood had infected Jordan’s, who snapped at her brother and the rest of them even more than she normally did. So when the clouds finally shifted from a dark and heavy gray to a light and fluffy white and the sky turned pale blue once more, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Waiting for the ground to dry off, they sat on the front porch of Liam’s home, enjoying the first rays of sunshine. “Hey, does your grandpa know about us going over to Mr. Hamilton’s the other night?” Liam asked. “I ran into him this morning when my mom made me take out the trash. He asked whether we did something fun this weekend and…I don’t know…he looked at me in a weird way. I’m not sure, but it could have been a wink even.”
Gabriel nodded. “I think he knows I left the house, but I don’t think he knows where I went.”
The morning after their nightly expedition, Gabriel had stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and yawning loudly. As he had sat down to breakfast, his grandfather had grinned at him in that strange way that seemed to scream I know what you did. Gabriel had avoided looking directly at him, but the moment he had gotten up from the table, his grandfather had cleared his throat and said, “I’m glad the key came in handy.”
“Do you think that’s gonna be a problem?” Jack asked, leaning forward.
Gabriel shook his head. “No, I don’t think he minds.” He smiled. “I think he’s the kind of grandpa who remembers well what it was like being our age.”
“That’s the best kind,” Jordan said, ruffling Cat’s fur.
“All right,” Liam said. “Then let’s talk about something else. I had another look at the third riddle and I think I was able to figure some of it out.”
All eyes turned to him.
Gabriel had to admit he had forgotten all about the third riddle, but he could feel a tingle crawl over his skin at its mention.
“Awesome!” Eddie beamed. Standing still was not his thing. “Where do we go?”
“Slow down,” Jordan chided. “Let’s hear him out first.”
“Okay, I think I figured out the first four lines,” Liam said, taking out his cell phone, and read them to the rest of the group. “Under a high roof I sleep, Open with no wall, In my ear the owl’s call, Not only at night do I count sheep.”
Jordan shook her head. “Okay, you already lost me.”
Liam grinned. “Well, I think the high-roof-and-no-wall part means it is outside.”
“That really limits the places to look,” Jack said, a snarky tone in his voice.
“Not finished,” Liam retorted. “I was thinking the owl’s call tells us it’s near a forest.” As Jack opened his mouth again, Liam lifted a hand to stop him. “And I thought that the thing about the sheep could refer to Mr. Garner.”
“Because he’s a sheep?” Eddie asked frowning.
“No doofus, because he is the only one in Kenton Woods who has sheep. And he always keeps them on his eastern field which is right by…?”
“The edge of the forest,” Jordan said. “Not bad.”
“What? Do you think it’s buried somewhere in the field?” Eddie asked.
Liam shrugged. “I don’t know. But I don’t think they just left it there, lying in the grass.”
Jack raised his hand. “I don’t mean to be a buzz kill, but that’s a pretty big field. Any ideas where on that field we oughta dig?”
Liam shook his head. “That’s the part I haven’t figured out yet.”
“What does the rest of the riddle say?” Jordan asked, sipping her lemonade.
“E
h.” Liam scrolled down. “For far my arms reach, You have need for aid, From the ol’factory mate, Something only he can teach.”
“And you lost me again,” Jordan complained, turning her attention back to Cat, still lying sleepily by her feet.
“What’s that ol’factory thing mean?” Eddie asked. “There are no factories around here. Old or new.”
“I don’t know,” Liam admitted.
“It says mate,” Gabriel pointed out. “And there is the word aid. Maybe it means we need help from someone else.”
“Who?” Eddie asked.
“That’s what we need to figure out,” Liam said.
***
The Fourth of July parade was a big deal in Kenton Woods. The whole town was out, lining Market Street to both sides, cheering and waving little flags as floats pulled by tractors and pick-up trucks rolled by on their way to Town Square. Volunteers had spent weeks, decorating the floats with layers of paint and yards of fabric. Stars of a brilliant white shone on midnight blue backgrounds while the red-white stripe pattern seemed to burst with life and energy. Uncle Sam was a favored theme, and his colorful top hat could be seen everywhere, on old and young heads alike.
In-between floats, marching bands played their hearts out, glowing with the triumph of their performance. Crowds cheered and applauded, and Gabriel was swept away with the rest of them. At home, he had sometimes watched the Fourth of July parade on TV, but experiencing it here with his friends by his side felt different. His blood bubbled over and his feet wouldn’t keep still.
“There she is,” Liam told Gabriel, pointing at his sister. A huge smile on her face, Nahla stood tall on one of the floats, waving at the crowd. Ribbons of blue, red and white were braided into her chestnut hair, matching earrings of the same color dangling just above her shoulder. “And the one with the blonde curls to her right is Kaitlin. Her BFF. You rarely see one without the other.”
Gabriel laughed. “You mean like us?” His eyes swept over their little group.
“Ha, I guess you’re right,” Liam chuckled. “Never saw it that way.”
Pushing through the crowd, Eddie came rushing toward them, his face flushed.
“What’s with you?” Jordan asked grinning. “Forgot to breathe?”
Eddie was indeed panting. “Funny, but no.” Hands on his knees, he leaned over, breathing in deeply. “I saw him. He’s by the refreshment stands on Town Square.”