* * * * *
"Why do we have to go get the flashlight?" Ana whimpered in fright. "It's so dark and scary in your house with the lights out. Why couldn't your dad just get it?"
"Because Caera had the nerve to volunteer us, and it was too late for me to say anything once mom had given us her typical speech about how considerate we were and everything." Claudia looked back at Caera, who was muttering something under her breath; probably something which would provoke an argument if Claudia heard what it was, but the girls were now fast approaching the Campbells' large rectangular library, and Claudia decided to ignore it.
Claudia pushed the door open and went in first, moving past the oblong aisles of books until she reached a door on the far side, about thirty feet from the main entrance. The small room beyond the door had once stored bookshelves, and several old racks full of dusty books still leaned against the back wall.
"Don't you guys ever dust in here?" Ana was saying.
"Yeah, but it just gets dusty again." Caera said, looking ahead to the storage room.
The twins' father used the room to store a lot of old junk that had accumulated over the years, spare equipment, tools, and batteries. Claudia hurried ahead, then tried to remember where he kept the flashlights. On her left, some shelves on the wall held various tools and extra light bulbs, and Claudia thought that she could see several flashlights on the edge of the top shelf.
She stood on the small stepladder and swiped at the top shelf; on her tiptoes she could just barely reach the flashlights. Finally grasping one, she lost her balance and fell back against the old, stone bookcase that was cemented to the wall, beyond which was the guesthouse at thirty feet away.
"Ouch!" Claudia screamed as a book from the rack fell on her head and onto the floor, opening to a withered yellow page. Claudia leaned forward and picked up the book, carefully shaking the dust from it before grabbing one of the fallen flashlights. Behind her the book had opened to a picture of the Campbell house, painted sometime before 1927.
Claudia could estimate the date because that was when the stables had been changed into a guesthouse, and the stables were shown in the picture she held in her hands. Claudia looked up as Caera and Ana suddenly entered the small room, coughing and waving their arms in the musty air.
"Turn on the flashlight," Caera commanded but saw that Claudia was still rubbing her head. Caera grabbed for the flashlight and turned it on, accidentally shining it in Claudia's eyes.
"Stop it, Caera!" Claudia griped as she put the book back on top of the bookcase, entering the main library before closing the door. Caera and Ana were already waiting for her in the hallway.